susannah-5 Reviews

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

We don't call this Star Trek the Motionless Picture for nothing.

[1/10 · 4 June 2002]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture should have been a big heads up for Treksters that Gene Roddenberry was losing his way -- either that or his vision of Star Trek was always markedly different from what most viewers thought they were seeing.

The studio also had a hand in sending the production down a wrong road, mistaking the popularity of Star Wars, which was released two years earlier, for audience fascination with special effects.

The film is very deliberately paced -- Slow Motion Picture would be a generous subtitle. It lacks virtually all of the charm and humour with which the series was infused. The chemistry between the actors, and so the characters, is entirely absent.

The plot, what there is of it, seems to be based on The Changeling, an episode of the old Star Trek series, and on a bad episode of Space: 1999.

For a real reunion of the crew of the Enterprise, forget this blunder and look at Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Nicholas Meyer knew what virtues make Star Trek the pop-cult phenomenon it is, and he knew how to put it on the big screen.

Murphy's Romance (1985)

easy goin' romance

[9/10 · 11 December 2001]

Murphy's Romance is the kind of film that proves a story can be told about nice people, facing comical and/or difficult circumstances, and be as lively and attention-grabbing as anything else.

Sally Field gives an understated performance as a woman with an unusual occupation (at least for the movies) who starts a new life in a desert town. James Garner, who patented the understated performance, is the local pharmacist (also an unusual occupation for the movies; the last time a pharmacist was even a minor character in a film was probably It's a Wonderful Life), who guides the newcomer toward potential love interests, all the while subtly romancing her himself.

Complications ensue when the good-for-nothing ex-husband turns up, and Field's character's young son gets to contrast his bone-idle dad with a real man. The movie is warm, witty and well-filmed. Alas, James Garner, in his best role, ran into the same problem as Harrison Ford, in his best role: Both were nominated for Oscars the year William Hurt starred in Kiss of the Spider Woman, and at the Oscars, cross-dressing usually trumps everything else.

The Avengers (1998)

Falling for the old "edit out what the test audience didn't like" trick

[7/10 · 13 August 2001]

Oh, wait, that's from Get Smart, not The Avengers.

No matter. As a longtime fan of The Avengers (since childhood), I will say, right off the bat, that this movie did not fail on all levels. If nothing else, the makers of this film understood, at least, what The Avengers was about. This puts them head and shoulders above, say, the makers of The Wild Wild West movie, who had only the most rudimentary (and faulty) knowledge of what made that series an icon of popular American culture.

They might not have been successful in the execution, but they did understand what made The Avengers tick, and if the studio heads hadn't ordered extreme and desperate editing, we might have been able to see more of what the filmmakers imagined.

Two scenes stand out as perfect examples of this understanding: When Mrs. Peel tries to escape by running endlessly down an Escher-like staircase, and when Steed and Mrs. Peel walk on water in giant bubbles. Sean Connery's eccentric megalomaniac (so much more interesting than a serious, conservative megalomaniac) fit right in with the The Avenger's roster of enemies.

Whatever sense of fun the movie had (and The Avengers tv series never seemed to take itself too seriously; does anyone remember Steed being shrunk to the size of a mouse and jabbing a villain in the ankle with a fountain pen?) was destroyed when the nut jobs at the studio fell for the old "edit out what the test audience didn't like" trick, and put a botched film on the screen. Too bad these studio honchos have such weak nerves and such short memories; will they never learn?

The Closet (2001)

hold-your-sides funny

[9/10 · 29 May 2001]

If this film comes to your neighbourhood, make haste to see it. Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu -- known in the United States, I think, mainly for costume dramas like La Reine Margot and the Man in the Iron Mask -- are perfect in this comedy of errors.

This is a mostly cheerful movie -- dark overtones are smoothed over and villains mostly get their come-uppance -- and the sight gags are inspired. The presentation of the damage control efforts of the corporation -- including sudden sponsorship of a float in the local gay pride parade -- are wickedly funny.

Maximum Bob (1998)

too good for abc

[10/10 · 26 April 2001]

This wonderful series veered slightly from the book, but mostly in ways necessary to make an ongoing TV show. The tone, the characterization, the feel were all right on target.

The casting was superb. Although Elmore Leonard pictured Harry Dean Stanton to play the judge, Beau Bridges brought so much verve and energy to the part it became difficult to imagine anybody else in the role. Liz Vassey was excellent, and the supporting cast and guest stars pulled the whole thing together.

Production values were very high, and writing and direction top-notch. Ordinary and eccentric people, getting on with the day to day business of living -- or not -- in some backwater of Florida isn't something we see every day on TV, and credit is due the producers for going out of their way to get this series on the air.

There was a higher ratio of comedy to drama than is usual in a one hour show, and this may have scared the network. Is ABC so crammed with exciting, original, well-written, well-produced programming that it could afford to let this one get away?

Only a few episodes were aired, and, alas, no other network picked it up; one might imagine that Showtime or HBO, with their commitment to original programming might have been interested.

It's interesting to note how well Barry Sonnenfeld captured the spirit of Elmore Leonard's book in this series, and how poorly he captured the spirit of "The Wild Wild West" TV series in his ghastly, unbelievably bad film version.

Get Smart (1995)

Missed it by that much

[7/10 · 16 March 2000]

It's too bad this series was cancelled so quickly, because by the last episode or so, it really became Get Smart. This last episode featured Bernie Kopell reprising his role as KAOS agent Siegfried; Siegfried and his daughter are holding Max and 99's son, Zach, hostage. Zach and Siegfried's daughter both bemoan their weird childhoods as the children of spies; Zach says his parents lied and said they worked for a greeting card company. Siegfried's daughter replies, "He told us he was the doctor on a cruise ship!" (In case anyone doesn't know, Kopell played the ship's doctor for years on The Love Boat.) Whenever Don Adams and Barbara Feldon were on screen, though, the newer characters were blown away. In another episode, Max and 99 are at an embassy party and go out for a romantic stroll on the terrace. Too bad we didn't stay with them, and were stuck with the younger (less funny, less appealing) characters at the party. It's like the producers and writers were feeling their way, and were almost there.

Swashbuckler (1976)

Not a great movie, but a fun one

[8/10 · 16 March 2000]

It looks like this movie was done on the cheap, but it is a lot of fun, anyway. Robert Shaw is terrific and has a twinkle in his eye the whole time, Peter Boyle is such a wonderfully bad villain, Genevieve Bujold is sort of a cut rate Princess Leia, and the theme music really makes you feel like you're sailing the high seas. Not to mention James Earl Jones, who looks fit and trim in this movie.

Visas and Virtue (1997)

Get out your handkerchiefs when you see this excellent film.

[10/10 · 10 November 1999]

If you get a chance to see this film, grab it!

I saw "Visas and Virtue" the week after it won the Academy Award for best live action short, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house by the time it ended. With good reason: In telling the story of the Japanese consul in Lithuania who, against the orders of his government and at great personal risk, continued to grant transit visas to Jews fleeing Hitler, the film makers touch several deep places; it is difficult to resist the emotional pull of the themes they explore.

Beautifully shot, mostly in black and white, the story is told both richly and economically. Crammed into about half an hour are such story threads as how the consul and his wife carefully arrange the interviews so that the rules are technically followed, how the stress of both the external crisis of war and refugees and the internal one of personal honor and loyalty and right action affects their family, and the desperation and gratitude of the people who are helped and who, unexpectedly, can help him.

It's a great shame that a short film like this won't be seen by the large audience it deserves.