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Reviews
Shrek (2001)
Pure Gold
Thank God for Dreamworks -- once again, they've put together a movie with more on its mind than dollar signs. I would like very much to know who could possibly vote this movie a mere 1 -- other than the cursèd minions of Michael Eisner, who are no doubt sleeping uneasy these days as Shrek passes the $100 million mark.
So what does Dreamworks have that Disney -- after so many years, and so many great films -- lacks ? Imagination. A willingness to take risks. Cleverness. An understanding of double meanings ("compensating for something," hmmm ?). But, really, it can all be boiled down to one thing -- one thing that isn't easy to find in Hollywood these days -- Inspiration. The indefinable, unreproducable 'it' that suggests that the movie was not some mass-produced machine-movie but something crafted. Something decent.
By all means, don't miss Shrek. With so much drek coming out of Hollywood these days, we need to support the good stuff.
Eerie, Indiana (1991)
Contained an excellent dark edge.
I only saw about three episodes of this show when it aired on the Fox network, but of what I remember I like. Key to the show was its dark, almost Tim Burton-esque view of a 'normal' suburban town -- from a psychotic 1950's-era mom whose unique use of Tupperware allows her immortality, to a ritual designed to appease an annual Midwest tornado, the show consistently showed a creativity well worth a half-hour on Saturday mornings. And yet, as most good network shows seem to be these day, it was canceled after its first season. Go figure.
Dr. T & the Women (2000)
Look, I hate to bring this up...
But I've been reading reviews of this movie, and is it just me, but does the plot sound strangely like that of the Japanese animation product Tenchi Muyo ? Because if Altman is getting his ideas from anime now, he must be very low on inspiration!
SeaQuest DSV: To Be or Not to Be (1993)
Some of the best science fiction of the 90's.
I personally am very fond of the first season of this series. The first few plots were, of course, a little unstable, but the acting was memorable and the premise was interesting.
What I most liked about the show, in truth, was its solid scientific backing. Many sci-fi shows require, at least, a stretching of science -- which is of course excusable, because, after all, suspension of disbelief is the cornerstone of fiction. But SeaQuest was a science fiction show that was very much down to Earth. The technology it sported was recognizable, without losing the futuristic element. But at the same time it was able to come up with solid plots.
Again, I am only talking about the first season. As has been noted on this page by at least one other viewer, after the first season everything simply went downhill, cultimating in the horrible spinoff series SeaQuest 2032. The only memorable character after that point was the genetically engineered janitor -- the only good moments of the second season have to do with him.
Animal Farm (1999)
Very good
Animal Farm struck me as being very faithful to the book. The effects come off without a hitch, and the talent cannot be matched (but, of course, talent a movie does not make; remember Mars Attacks ?)
Some reviewers have, as of late, been very hard on this movie, mostly for the attempt at a happy ending. TIME Magazine, as I recall, decried the 'tyranny of the Disney era.' I would have to argue that, on the contrary, what appears to be a happy ending is not a happy ending at all. Look at what happened on the Farm -- the Jones were corrupted, Napoleon was corrupted. What makes everyone jump to the conclusion that just because the dog optimistically says that 'we will be at last free,' it means that it will work out that way, contrary to the point of the entire movie ? Think a little past the literal, please.