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JMTtor
Reviews
The X Files: Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' (1996)
Perhaps the best X-Files episode of all!
This X-Files has it all: a superb guest cast of both unknowns and extremely well-knowns, great writing, wry tongue-in-cheek humor, and homages to more sci-fi (and abduction fanatic "fact") stories than one would think possible in the alloted time. Charles Nelson Reilly gives a beautifully understated performance in the title role (showing that he's more than a one-trick pony when someone gives him a chance); Jesse Ventura utters more polysyllabic words than I thought he knew, and the other "Man in Black" (whose face is obscured until late in the story) is a hoot.
I've watched this episode more times than I can count, and it seems I'm always noticing a new detail that further enhances the tale. If you have the opportunity to purchase a collection with this as one of the episodes -- jump on it!
Living in Oblivion (1995)
A hidden gem for movie fans
This is "The Actor's Nightmare" for the film industry. The entire ensemble cast is perfect, both "names" and unknowns.
If you've ever been involved in making a film (even as a student), your heart will ache for them even as you laugh out loud -- and quite probably even if you have no personal experience with film-making you'll have new insights on why making something where the finished product runs a relatively short time can take forever to capture.
I initially thought "Chad Palomino" HAD to be a sendup of Brad Pitt -- and while listening to the director's commentary I nearly choked hearing him say Pitt was originally slated to play that role but ended up with a conflict (apparently finishing "Legends of the Fall") and had to back out.
Steve Buscemi, already a favorite of mine from many indies, is a revelation in this film; he has a "leading man" quality, for lack of a better term, that I hadn't seen from him before (presumably because his "look" makes most directors loathe to cast him as anything but an odd duck), but he's still as interesting as in anything else I've seen him do.
Spend some time with this film; you won't be disappointed!