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tresjolie9
Reviews
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Laughably Bad!
I caught this movie late one night on a local independent station. I thought I was watching it as part of something like MST3K or Monster Vision, but I was mistaken!
This movie features Raquel Welch, running around in a fully revealing "cave girl" uniform. After seeing this, I am thoroughly convinced that she was a template for Pam Anderson!
Aside from that, it also features "animated dinosaurs." These are along the lines of Godzilla and other famous "B movies" At times the scenes with them look they were filmed with a "wallpaper backdrop."
Chicago Hope (1994)
Had Its Good and Bad Eras
During its 6 season run, Chicago Hope had several inceptions, which different viewers either like or dislike.
When the show first started out, during the David E. Kelly/Jeffery Geiger era, it was pretty good. It had a dynamic cast, and exciting characters. It primarily dealt with issues of law, and the life of the Jeffery Geiger, a troubled cardiologist, whose wife had drowned his baby during a schizophrenic episode. The most fascinating aspect of the show was "will Jeffery Geiger go crazy.'
During the show's second season, David E. Kelly decided to leave. The lawyer, Alan Birch was killed off, and Jeffery Geiger took a `leave of absence.' At this point, many of the David E. Kelly and Mandy Patinkin fans decided to give up, saying that the show was no longer as good. With the loss of Alan Birch, the `law aspect' of the show disappeared. However others prefer the `post DEK period.' The show became more of an ensemble, with a great mix of characters. There was quiet Aaron Shutt, who was a good supporting character, feminist Kate Austin, tough Billy Kronk (who ended up in a relationship with his polar opposite, Diane Grad), lothario Danny Nyland and fatherly Philip Watters. Later on Jack McNeil, an orthopedist with a gambling addiction, and Rocky Caroll, a no nonsense doctor were added. This mix of characters did a good job carrying the show for the next two seasons. These seasons were some of the best television I have ever seen. They included storylines involving Danny Nyland and Billy Kronk helping out an inner city youth `doctor.' Kate Austin dealing with her difficult ex husband, and precocious daughter.
But, by the fourth season, things began to crumble. Danny Nyland (my favorite character), was written out, without a clear reason. Diane and Billy became engaged, married and then parents within one season! Because of this Billy began to loose the edge that made his character interesting. But the biggest nail in the coffin was the fact that Aaron's character had changed overnight! After an aneurysm, he went from being a neurosurgeon, to a psychiatrist. The show attempted to show the more `emotional' side of Aaron, but we had already seen that various times beforehand. Instead of developing the character, they changed him overnight into a `caring sensitive guys,' who attempts to help boys whose brothers had committed suicide. To replace Aaron they added a new neurosurgeon, Lisa Catera (named after a car commercial 'lease a catera). While the character would not have been that bad had they added her a season or two beforehand, the fact that she was `Aaron's replacement' and that she was getting too many storylines, gave the audience the impression that she was being shoved down our throats. Because of this, she became one of the shows most loathed characters.
By the fifth season, things began to deteriorate completely. Philip Watters was turned from a fatherly figure, into a man whose regretted having an affair with his wife. This was horrible. Two seasons beforehand he revealed to Billy Kronk, that he woke up with and went to bed with the same women for 30 years, and in the episode after Alan's death, felt guilty about starting a relationship with another women. They did a lame storyline with Kate Austin going into space...and added yet ANOTHER annoying character played by Eric Stoltz, who was diagnosing people using his 6th sense. By this point, many frustrated fans began quitting. It clearly should have been the end of the show, but for some odd reason, CBS gave it `a second chance.' In the final episode of that season, they suddenly fired four major characters, Kate Austin, Billy Kronk, Dennis Hancock, and Lisa Catera. As a longtime fan of the show, I would have preferred seeing what happened to them, despite their deterioration
The sixth season was an attempt to bring the show back to its roots. While Jeffery Geiger was brought back, he wasn't the same character he was first season. He lost his `will he lose it edge.' He became the `evil one' who fired the rest of the cast. In addition to Geiger, they had three new female doctors running around the hospital. It was very difficult to bond to these characters, especially in the 'absence' of the ones from the previous season. David E. Kelly, was supposed to stay at the helm, but abandoned the show, prompting Jeffery Geiger, to leave the show quickly, this time to take care of his daughter (who had been aged into an annoying 6 year old, a stark contrast to Kate Austin's daughter). By the time the show was done, it had deteriorated once again. In the final episodes of the show, the hospital was purchased by an eccentric millionaire played by James Garner. The last episode was a sad reminder of what the show had become. It dealt with a paralyzed millionaire(who did something in computers) making a pair of `fake hands' so he could move again.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
Pleasantly Surprised
I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Last year, I refused to see it, expecting yet another of one of the recent "teeny bopper" films, where half the jokes revolve around sex and sexual descriptions. While this film DOES have a few jokes about people thinking about sex, they comprise of about 1/4 of the film. There are also no "sex jokes." Instead there is a lot of original material, revolving around space aliens, chinese food drive throughs, ostrich farms, and "how do I get the directions to where my car is from the DMV lady." It was actually highly enjoyable!
Port Charles (1997)
This show was screwed from the begining!
I hate to say this, but from its inception in 1997, the show had been screwed.
First off, I heard that ABC was actually planning a "spin off" with two other characters from GH, Ned and Lois....a silly but fun couple on GH.
The show was supposed to take place in Brooklyn...
However; that fell through, so GH decided to use its other "silly couple" Kevin and Lucy. One problem....the characters and couple's history was not as developed, which quickly became evident in the first few months of the show! Kevin and Lucy were a comic relief, twice a week attraction during their days on GH. On PC, they got old very rapidly.
The other problem with the show from the inception was the interns. From the get go, all but two of them, (Chris and Eve) were dull and disgustingly sweet! Some, such as Karen, were recasts, with little resemblance to the original Karen on GH, because of this, I didn't buy her as Karen, or care about the character! Its interesting because of all the original interns LEFT on the show, only Chris and Eve are still there after 5 years!
The writers quickly caught onto these first two "inceptional problems" and spent the second two months trying to fix them! They killed off some of the initial interns, (anyone remember Jake?) gave some contrived prior histories (Matt a gangster, and Julie a murder) and recasted the rest, (Joe and Karen) hoping to make them "less sweet." To combat the Lucy/Kevin problem, they decided to BREAK THEM UP. Now I didn't mind them breaking up, but they ended up shoving a new, absolutely INTOLERABLE couple down our throats, the infamous Kevin and Eve. In the process of the infamous "K'eve" they completely destroyed the character of Kevin! They had him doing things like singing Karaoke in bars, and making love in a toystore, things that the Kevin from GH would NEVER be doing!
Eventually the show deteriorated into "psychic espionage" at which point I gave up and never looked back! I'm glad I did too, because later on they imported some teens for a "teen storyline" then "vampires."
Borrowed Hearts (1997)
Disgustingly Sweet!!!!!
The one reason I had for watching this film was Eric McCormack. In this film he is GORGEOUS!!!!!
Unfortunately the plot is so disgustingly sweet, and the little girl so disgustingly irksome, that whatever Eric McCormack contributes to it is lost :(