meltingclock Reviews

Family Guy (1999– )

If you were born in the 70s and know a lot about pop culture, than this show is really funny. If not than...

[12 July 2001]

This is a funny show if you're old enough, young enough, while knowledgeable enough to appreciate it and understand it. Younger viewers born throughout the majority of the 80s won't understand many of the pop culture references dealing with TV shows of the time or even childhood in jokes. Baby Boomers as well will be mostly confused. Even the difference between me born in 1978 and somebody born in 1982, is a pretty big cultural gap. I think this is destined to be a cult show that only a certain era or generation of people can truly enjoy. That it's scheduled Thursday nights at 8:00 in the fall against both "Survivor" and "Friends" either means one of two things: cancellation or UPN.

The Minus Man (1999)

My Take on what the Ending Meant

[9 July 2001]

From my perspective, the state trooper at the end of the film, is the long lost daughter of the couple Owen Wilson's character was staying with. Although we are made to believe that she is dead, I think the reason her mother was murdered and her father blamed for the crime, was that she either did it, or hired Owen Wilson to do it. When they are both driving away at the end of the film and the trooper flashes her light in Owen Wilson's car, she smiles. Viewers may just chalk this up to her recognizing him from earlier in the movie when she found him at the side of the road. But I believe that the arrow sign flashing on the highway in either direction <->, is meant to ask the viewer who they believe the true muderer is, the state trooper or Owen Wilson ? Or maybe even that both of them are similar in nature and therefore connected.

My Wife and Kids (2000–2005)

One of the best family shows to come down the pipe in years !

[4 April 2001]

When I first heard about this sitcom I was a bit leery because his last show "Damon" was basically a show that didn't use his comedic gifts to their full potential. This show however does all that and more. You forget just how funny he was ten years ago on "In Living Color". The cast is well chosen, and the humor is smart and edgy. Although the plot lines are of the basic family sitcom variety, it's done in such a way that it seems fresh and new. The family doesn't try to be perfect either and I think that's what's gonna separate this show from the rest. If it keeps going like this for another year, I'd be really surprised if it didn't crack the top ten.

American Psycho (2000)

The first rule when making a movie set in the mid to late 80s -- NO EARTH TONES !

[31 March 2001]

This was probably the biggest mistake of American Psycho. Outside of that however, the performances were great. Especially Christian Bale. Usually when British actors try doing an American accent you can still catch it a little bit. His was the best I've seen. Overall the film was hilarious and cool though could have used the sleekness of "Bright Lights, Big City".

Family Ties (1982–1989)

As 80s as Garbage Pail Kids and Rubix Cubes !

[31 March 2001]

Shows like "Family Ties" don't exist anymore. I mean there are plenty of shows that make you laugh, but there aren't enough that mix that with real feeling and sentiment. The episode "My name is Alex" where he struggles with his belief in life and God after a friend's car accident was one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen. The character of Alex P. Keaton is easily one of the best characters in the history of the medium. Michael J. Fox was able to show his talent both comedically and dramatically in a complex role that fit perfectly with the image of the young, yuppie, money hungry boomer of the eighties. Michael Gross, Scott Valentine and Marc Price were also classic scene stealers. Sadly, the creator Gary David Goldberg said there would never be a "Family Ties" reunion because everything the eighties stood for was over.

Rated X (2000 TV Movie)

Good Movie

[30 March 2001]

Charlie Sheen's performance was really good and probably his best since the Platoon/Wall Street years. Emilio Estevez also was very good in his role. Though not on the level with something like Boogie Nights or The People Vs. Larry Flynt, it was still a solid movie. Slow in parts, though no worse than any other famous Showtime or HBO biopics.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

This film is more real than you think

[30 March 2001]

Although done in the way of a mindless action film, this movie is steeped more in reality than you might think. It's true that there are hundreds of leftover POW's still alive in Vietnam. Many of them however have been moved over to Laos, Cambodia, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. In the early eighties, Ronald Reagan tried to establish two rescue missions but stopped them at the last minute because their rescue would bring up a secret war the U.S. fought in Laos in the late sixties and early seventies. Many U.S. MIA's/POW's are from this secret war that no one was supposed to know about. Anyway, rather than try rescuing them, they felt that by "liquidating the merchandise" i.e. killing the POW's, the U.S. government could avoid embarrassment and let the pain of Vietnam die off. In fact, Vietnam did offer a number of live POW's to Reagan his first week of office for $ 4 billion dollars but they rejected this offer and continue to claim there are no more live POW's there, even though they have been tracking them by satellite for decades. What makes Rambo so disturbing is, this movie made $ 150 million at the box office, and Reagan even referenced it in a speech he gave once, yet no one in the media reports on the topic anymore. They instead look at it like they do the movie, simply a fantasy.

The Tao of Steve (2000)

Nothing Spectacular

[28 March 2001]

This movie was kind of flat and predictable. With all the good reviews it got, I expected more. One thing though I have to give credit to is the setting. Santa Fe was a great backdrop and it should be used more in films. With most of the scenes set outside, it brought brightness to what otherwise could have been a really dreary film. The two lead characters were good, though there was this one character with a space between his teeth that was horrible. The scene where they're playing poker and he's asking who Steve McGarrett and Steve Austin were was a testament to not only bad acting, but also horrible cliched screenwriting. 70s pop culture references need to be put to rest. Let's at least move on into the eighties. Overall, I say don't waste your money at the video store on this, though if it comes on TV, watch it if there's nothing else on.

Sledge Hammer! (1986–1988)

Great Underrated Cult Show

[29 December 2000]

A hidden gem from the eighties. In-jokes seemed to be the rage at ABC around the '86-87 and '87-88 seasons (Moonlighting, Growing Pains etc.) and this was no exception. A cool look, a lot of pop culture riffs, and an original in every way. How many other half hour sitcoms had action and adventure like this but still maintained a comic edge ? I rented four episodes from the video store ten years after the show went off the air and still found it funny. Like Miami Vice, the look of the show was very much of the time. Too bad it was scheduled opposite it on Friday nights.

Growing Pains (1985–1992)

What happened ?

[10 December 2000]

This show was one of the best shows of the eighties at its peak. From the '88-89 season on however it got worse and worse with each subsequent year, until it just collapsed by the time the early nineties arrived. Starting off a little slow but still funny, the show kicked it into overdrive during its second and third seasons ('86-87 and '87-88). Not only did it have smart, original humour based in pop culture references and 'Moonlighting' style in-jokes with the audience, but it was also touching, even if it did cross over into the realm of sappiness on occasion. The '88-89 season however brought with it a bunch of problems, Kirk Cameron's mullett style haircut the least of them. The baby was born, breaking up the show's focus on the core family. Mike graduated high school, diminishing a lot of the funny supporting characters like Boner, Eddie, Coach Lubbock, Principal Dewitt etc. They still showed up from time to time (some of them in their own series) but it wasn't the same. I know that there was no way of preventing this, but taking Mike and then eventually Carol out of this enclosed, familiar environment made the show uneven, with new characters and settings coming and going each week. Julie the babysitter, Grandma Erma, Wally, and Luke all brought nothing to the show except bad episodes.

The shift in the characters clothing from bright colorful pastels to dark earth tones was another turnoff, at least from a viewer's standpoint. Again this might be just due to the changing of the times. I think a new producer came aboard after the show sold into syndication and that's why the series got so lame from this point on. Also I heard that because of his religion, Kirk Cameron was editing the scripts to make sure they fit in with his conservative beliefs. Whatever the reason, this show went out with a whimper when it left the air in 1992, and probably totaled more years as a bad show, than I think it should have as the good one that most people remember.