Reviews

I saw Johnny Jupiter on my grandmother's TV also, however it was on the DuMont TV network and the year was 1953. Ironically, my grandparents had a DuMont brand TV cabinet set that included radio and record player. Dallas had ABC (chan.8), NBC (chan.5) and CBS (chan.4) stations and I was significantly older before independent KFJZ (channel 11--now KTVT) started up. Therefore Slam Bang Theater with Micky&Amanda and Icky Twerp or Nightmare with Gorgon are very clear memories from 4-5 years later.

I never saw Johnny Jupiter again after 1953 so my memories of the show are quite fuzzy. I certainly don't remember the Robot being as crude as the pictures I found on the internet earlier today. I always thought that it was unlikely copies of the show could be found since only Kinescopes were possible in 1953. However, other things like Your Show of Shows have turned up, primarily in the Sid Caesar DVDs. Although I've been looking for evidence of Johnny Jupiter being available somewhere, it was only today that I found some guy who lists availability of that 1953 season. I hope to buy it after pay day at end of the month.

Unfortunately, I tend to mix characters from Johnny Jupiter with those from Howdy Doody, but I do know that Johnny's robot "Reject" was generally helpful to Duckweather, while "Deject" came across as his evil twin.

This is a funny movie about dark subjects: blackmail and death. Debbie Reynolds is a famous stage actress whose TV writer husband (Glenn Ford) is approached by blackmailers who threaten to ruin her career by releasing some early photos of her. Glenn will defend his wife's honor, even if someone has to die. The new gazebo being built in his back yard is a tempting hiding place for the evidence. Will the police and his best friend, the D.A. (Rob Reiner) find him out? And what about that pigeon?

The film is black and white and dates back to the 1960s, but so is The Loved One. The Loved One has been released on DVD. Why would an Oscar nominated comedy with big name stars like The Gazebo not be available on DVD?

It shows on American cable channels occasionally but needs more fan pressure to get it released.

Quarlo__Kobrigny__Privt__RN_CN_TN_TO!

I saw this when broadcast in 1964 and retained scattered detail ever since. This episode led me to purchase the second season set of Outer Limits so I could check the accuracy of my memory. (Not perfect. I thought his last name was Kobrigniak but had his 'serial number' as close as intelligibility allows.

My point in this detail is that when I first saw Terminator on VHS tape rented from a video store in 1985, THIS is the association I flashed on. This was before the internet and IMDb so I had no way of knowing Harlan Ellison wrote the script for 'Soldier' but I did review the credits to see if I could determine a link between two stories where soldiers from an apocalyptic future are transported back in time to fight it out in "the present".

Harlan Ellison was a prolific Sci-Fi writer and produced a number of excellent stories both in print and for visual media but I was more into Asimov and barely knew his name in 1964. I don't think the way he does and some of his stories (I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream) leave me cold. However, though I may disagree with Ellison's view of many things, I think he got it right when he claimed credit for the idea behind Terminator. The details are different and the franchise has evolved into a time travel conundrum that writers are still playing with in Sara Conner Chronicles, but where else have you heard of the basic premise?

The future in the 40s, 50s, and early 60s was almost always a bright utopia. ("The Marching Morons" not withstanding) This is not true in 'Soldier' and I think the similarities with Terminator are to many to ignore.

Ellison probably should not get a credit saying "based on" but certainly you might describe The Terminator as "inspired by a story by Harlan Ellison". Cameron would have been 10 years old when this played on TV. Maybe he did not 'memorize' it the way I did seeing that broadcast at age 17, but I'll bet he saw it...even if he does not really remember doing so. Memory works that way. "Inspired by".

My wife and I were the two oldest people at the midnight showing of Revenge of the Sith; just us and about 500 college kids spread through 5 of the 16 theaters at our local multiplex. The crowd was enthusiastic. I generally don't like to see movies in theaters because of crowd behavior, but these kids were well behaved and their positive response and standing ovation when the final credits rolled echoed my own feelings.

I could see Captain Blood's sailing ship battles in one scene, and the landing from Airport in another. All the old phrases were included. What would a Star Wars episode be without "I've got a bad feeling about this."? When people slam the film and refer to it as the worst thing ever, I cannot help wondering what they are looking for. If I want deathless prose I'll watch Richard III. After pages of glowing reports I skipped to the tail end of the line because I KNEW that there are people who would have read them and have to react negatively, whether it was truly appropriate or not. "Search your feelings." Are you slamming ROTS because you "must" speak truth, or because you feel you must different and might even attract a little attention to yourselves? After all, most of the positive reviews have '0-1 people found this helpful.' The negative attract a lot more attention. Be sure that you are not coming from "the Dark Side" when you write scathing reports.

OK, enough Lucas-inspired psychobabble. The movie works for me because it's interesting, covers all the plot lines and explains everything from the prior 5 movies. It is a tour de force of special effects, they don't GENERALLY detract from the story telling. Sometimes the camera frames too closely to a flashing light saber battle and you only see movement and light, but it's transient. Even the "hokey" details that are only included in the first 1/3 of the film which I have heard referred to as "cartoonish droids" help to lighten the introduction to something you know must end like a Greek tragedy.

No, I did not let myself become too immersed in the descent of Annakin into the pit of anxiety, fear, and anger that drives him to murder and darkness. I thought the way he was suborned by Palpatine/Sidious through his love of Padme made a logical explanation for his behavior.

I can agree with critics who say that the Jedi seemed vulnerable and even ignoble at times, but that is true of all people and Jedi should be no exception. That it helps pave the way for their own destruction seems just.

I personally feel that this film is a worthy ending to the Star Wars cycle and more than that, *I* think it is equal to The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, it ends with Vader and Sidious staring at the skeleton of a Death Star, and we know that after the first one they managed to get near completion of another in far less than 20 years...but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it took lots of R&D (research and development) to get it "right" the first time. That process would not have been necessary with a second model.

Of course, I cannot personally reconcile making the Kessel Run in xx parsecs because it's a measure of distance, not time...but I've seen books that explain how such a statement could be made. In other words, with enough time one can rationalize Anything, including contempt for a film like ROTS that does not deserve it.

My favorite film for many years has been "The Seven Samurai" and my favorite director has been Kurosawa. No, Lucas has not displaced the master, but his film does take top place in my heart. Revenge of the Sith is my favorite. (Of course, I rate "Gunga Din" and "Better Off Dead" higher than I rate "Citizen Kane" so you have a sense of my warped perspective.)

May The Force Be With You..........Always.

and The Schwartz too!!

Everyone has been raving about SIDEWAYS. I have seen the word "hilarious" attached to this film. I rather expected that something which is classified as an adventure, comedy, drama would at least make me smile. I remember this movie thoroughly and looking back it's not a disappointment because it does involve you in real characters with real flaws and average problems. However, it is NOT a comedy in the traditional sense. Certain recent comedies try so hard to be funny that they include scenes that are ghastly and embarrassing; nowadays that passes as humor. This film has no jokes, barely approaches any slapstick or other physical humor. Usually you could only laugh if you are sadistic, but the film is engaging, and I found myself rooting for the protagonists. It's NOT light amusement. It's certainly not "Hilarious". (And thank heavens they deleted the scenes about the dog from the final cut or I could not recommend the film to anyone. Why were those ever created?)

It is amazing how much the world has changed in the last 58 years. 58 years? Yes!

Reviewers who fault this movie for it's patriotism and display of martial force in the midst of a "holiday" movie are obviously too young to know what the world was like when this was made. It was a time of greater innocence, greater danger and greater racial discrimination. The innocence was that of the children and the general public who could take a "standard Hollywood plot" at face value. It was a time of danger, not necessarily from within society itself (as now when crime makes streets unsafe) but from the outside with dictators killing millions while they battle for world domination. Those tanks and planes WERE freedom. Without them we would be yelling "Seig Heil" today and would not have the right to critique a simple movie. The State would have made it for you and "you Will like it"!

As the "black face" routine was showing I turned to my family and said that I was sure that despite the "classic" status of this film there were probably a lot of people wincing as they watched Bing Crosby with burnt cork all over him.

I'm sure that before he died Bing too winced a little bit at that number, but taken in the context of history it was to be expected. Al Jolson made a career of blackface and never regretted it for a minute. Most of the American population accepted that that's "the way it is". Only in the last 40 years have we learned that's NOT the way it is.

Things change and it's understandable that after almost 60 years certain depictions of society as it existed then would be out of place today. 20 years ago the movie was popular but the music was certainly out of style. With the resurgence of the "big band sound" in the last 5-10 years people are noticing that Bob Crosby and the Bobcats were participants. No doubt a certain amount of nepotism existed, but Bob Crosby was not Billy Carter to Bing's Jimmy Carter. (Anyone under 20 can now run and look up Jimmy and Billy Carter.) Bob Crosby achieved a certain amount of star status with some of his recordings. He had 4 chart topping hits and led bands for almost 50 years. He was always eclipsed by his older brother, but then Bing Crosby was THE biggest star of that time, at least among singers.

Bob's music was a Dixieland style and it lent a lightness to the big band orchestrations of Irving Berlin's songs that might have otherwise made the music ponderous, too much so for this light comedy at least.

Remember, finally that when Holiday Inn came out we were losing WW2. The Pacific was a Japanese ocean, the Atlantic was virtually controlled by German U-Boats and Allied ships were being sunk within sight of American cities. The Axis also controlled all of Europe and the Russians were being rolled back into their own homeland.

Holiday Inn was escapist entertainment from this bleak reality and it is understandable if some martial patriotism was included to hearten the home front.

For 90% of the U.S., snow at Christmas is the exception rather than the rule, but the emotions expressed by the song White Christmas hit exactly the feelings of millions of soldiers taken from their homes to fight a war. If Holiday Inn did nothing else, it gave Americans something to believe in and remember when things were at their darkest.

"May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be White."

Spaced Invaders tries to walk a line between children's entertainment and adult humor. That they fell off the beam a few times is reflected in the negative comments of others. However, it is cartoon humor and does give a message of tolerance and cooperation that can be overlooked in the silliness. At least the movie does not take itself seriously. I have seen it at least twice in the last 9 years and was amused enough not to change the channel, but not so amused that I could recommend others pay money to rent it.

If after watching it you find yourself saying "What the Hell was that?" it means you "got" the movie OR missed the mark