Actuarial Science Movie Reviews

Doug Trumbull's Silent Running came out at a time when the ecology was more of an issue for most folks. The themes of the 60's inform every frame just as they provided the subtext for 2001. It's not a perfect film but perfection isn't the point; it's a good, entertaining film with a solid message at its core.

The effects work was dazzling for its time and few films from the same time frame had anything remotely as good. Although the script is occasionally weak, Bruce Dern's marvelous performance is the solid center piece of the film.

Basically Dern is among a crew of astronauts that are guarding the last reminants of Earth's forests. The world has become a less than hospitable place; overpopulation has ruined much of our planet. When an order to destroy the orbiting biodome comes down, Freeman (Dern)rebels and ends up killing his indifferent crewmates. Freeman cuts himself off from Earth and ends up leaving the solar system with only three robot companions for company.

To say any more about the plot would spoil it. While the film's ecological message is admirable, the film's logic if flawed. Trumbull's direction, effects work and Dern's marvelous performance dominate the film and make even the weakest moments of the film work. As a man out of step with his time, Dern manages to breathe life into the character of Freeman. He becomes more than a cypher and or a sympbol. Dern's performance makes Freeman's temporary insanity and his anguish very real.

The DVD comes complete with a period documentary as well as a commentary by Douglas Trumbull and Bruce Dern as well as a number of other interesting bonus features. The picture quality is pretty good overall and the sound solid. The sound hasn't been remixed for Dolby 5.1.

Growing up, this movie was a favorite of mine. So I thought it a treat to watch this movie with older eyes. What a difference a few years can make!

"Silent Running" is a pro-environment film, and thus captures the flavor of the era of the Late '60's and early '70's. After nuclear pollution, the United States took the surviving plants and put them on space freighters with the intent to re-foliate the sick planet.

Freeman Lowell (a symbolic name, if there ever was one), is the only person who really cares abut the plant and the importance they hold for humanity. I think the very young Bruce Dern really captures the essence of the man. However, Freeman Lowell, the character, remains an enigma to me. He is passionate about plants, but once the funding is lost, and the order is given to destroy the plants, he goes crazy. Dern plays Lowell much like Gregory Peck played Captain Ahab: all eye-rolling and strange inflection in the voices. Is Lowell a green messiah, or is he really the Unabomber in the s1st Century?

In order to save some of plants, Lowell kills the rest of his crewmates, and manages to treat the plants with the help of the three drones, or robots. Once again, I ma getting an eco-terrorist message from this movie. Once again, I feel like I am watching the Unabomber.

For a good environmental move, I would recommend the classic Star Trek IV: The Voyage home. This is the whale one, and, of course, takes place in San Francisco. The environment gets saved without any homicide, which is really the way we should go about solving the problem.

Lastly, there is two problems of plausibility. If all the plants are removed from the earth, what is filling their nitch in the ecosystem? What is replenishing the oxygen and stopping the erosion? Presumably artificial means of replenishing cannot keep up for an entire planet.

The second issue had to do with preserving the plants. I cannot remember and do not know the state of cryogenics in the early 1970's, but it would be possible to freeze the seed of plants in the same way we freeze celebrities heads. They would get preserved one way or the other. Admittedly, this criticism may be unfair, since I do not know how cryogenics were in that period. But it is something to think about.

So much for the story, no to everything else.

The special effects (which is the defining characteristic of a sci-fi flick) show the advancements made with "2001." They have the great look that "Space:1999," and foreshadow the things that Lucas would be doing six years later. With the exception of Saturn, which was taken before the Voyager 1 and 2 probes got there, everything is perfect.

Of course the drone steal the show. I have to say, these are the most singular looking-and the most charming-robots ever seen in a movie. Even Vincent from "The Black Hole," or even R2-D2 would be hard pressed to keep up with these cuddly little guys. Although they say nothing, you get a sense of their emotions and often poignant feelings. These robots compensate for any other flaw in the movie.

By the way, they had amputated Viet-Nam vets inside the costumes. They were just waling on their hands. Kudos to the movie producers to giving these guys some work, and for creating absolutely endearing robots.

Hailed by some as one of the best science-fiction movies of the 1970s, Silent Running is a quirky, unique movie that conveys a serious ecological message in an unforgettable manner. To be honest, I had never heard of this movie before, but the premise of the film intrigued me, as did the knowledge that a prominent special effects man for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull, directed it. Almost despite itself, the movie moved me in places, and I ended up quite enjoying it, even though there are many things about it I didn't particularly like. Many would consider this a boring movie, I am sure, as there are no fierce battles fought or alien beings threatening to destroy mankind. Silent Running is a thinking man's science-fiction film that succeeds or fails on its compelling storyline alone.

The story takes place some time in earth's near future, at a time when all plant life has been destroyed on the planet in some unexplained way; America's last forest land still exists, however - millions of miles out in space on board the Valley Forge. The ship carries along several huge geodesic domes filled with trees, flowers, garden plants, etc., along with much of the animal life that goes with them. A crew of four mans the ship, with the help of a number of mechanical drones, but only one, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) really cares about the forests in his care. We first meet the other three crew members racing willy-nilly around the ship in jeep like go-carts, thinking nothing of trampling a bunch of flowers or taking shortcuts through the grass. In person, they are even less likeable, making fun of Lowell's idealism and basically harrumphing on their own belief that the forests have no importance whatsoever. Lowell himself starts off on the wrong foot, in my opinion, in terms of the audience's reaction to him. The man is a wide-eyed zealot seemingly about two steps away from madness of a dangerous kind; I agreed with everything he said about the importance of the forests, but his words are somewhat lost on the listener (and the crew) because he is simply annoying in his fanaticism. His mood doesn't improve when the crew gets word that they are to destroy the forests and return home to commercial service. Freeman can't handle such a decision, so he does what he feels he must in order to save the last vestige of earth's forests still in existence.

The second half of the film revolves solely around Freeman, as he is basically stranded in space with his forest. His only companions are (originally) three drones, and in my opinion these little robotic guys steal the show. This is a 1971 film, so the drones are by no means technologically exotic, yet these things do have their own personalities; there are a couple of especially poignant moments with the drones that I would like to have seen explored on their own terms, but this would have wandered a little too far afield from the premise of the film. The ending is actually quite touching and, perhaps more importantly, it feels right to this viewer.

There is certainly a strong undercurrent of allegory working in this storyline. Freeman's fellow crew members represent society at large; their lack of concern for the forests and dismissal of any ecological cares at all are meant to be a condemnation of contemporary society's uncaring and unthinking attitude toward ecology on the planet. Freeman is an evangelical fanatic on the subject, a voice crying in a wilderness that may not survive much longer if things continue as they are; up until the very end, he does not give up hope, though, and that is the inspirational message that stays with the viewer after the movie ends. It's a rather somber and depressing movie for the most part, yet I, who would not call myself an environmentalist of any kind, was touched both emotionally and intellectually by the film. Freeman and his crewmates represent the extreme weights on both sides of the environmentalism/commercialism scale, and it is up to us, the viewers, to find a way to balance those opposing weights on our home planet.

Doug Trumbull's Silent Running came out at a time when the ecology was more of an issue for most folks. The themes of the 60's inform every frame just as they provided the subtext for 2001. It's not a perfect film but perfection isn't the point; it's a good, entertaining film with a solid message at its core.

The effects work was dazzling for its time and few films from the same time frame had anything remotely as good. Although the script is occasionally weak, Bruce Dern's marvelous performance is the solid center piece of the film.

Basically Dern is among a crew of astronauts that are guarding the last reminants of Earth's forests. The world has become a less than hospitable place; overpopulation has ruined much of our planet. When an order to destroy the orbiting biodome comes down, Freeman (Dern)rebels and ends up killing his indifferent crewmates. Freeman cuts himself off from Earth and ends up leaving the solar system with only three robot companions for company.

To say any more about the plot would spoil it. While the film's ecological message is admirable, the film's logic if flawed. Trumbull's direction, effects work and Dern's marvelous performance dominate the film and make even the weakest moments of the film work. As a man out of step with his time, Dern manages to breathe life into the character of Freeman. He becomes more than a cypher and or a sympbol. Dern's performance makes Freeman's temporary insanity and his anguish very real.

The DVD comes complete with a period documentary as well as a commentary by Douglas Trumbull and Bruce Dern as well as a number of other interesting bonus features. The picture quality is pretty good overall and the sound solid. The sound hasn't been remixed for Dolby 5.1.

Growing up, this movie was a favorite of mine. So I thought it a treat to watch this movie with older eyes. What a difference a few years can make!

"Silent Running" is a pro-environment film, and thus captures the flavor of the era of the Late '60's and early '70's. After nuclear pollution, the United States took the surviving plants and put them on space freighters with the intent to re-foliate the sick planet.

Freeman Lowell (a symbolic name, if there ever was one), is the only person who really cares abut the plant and the importance they hold for humanity. I think the very young Bruce Dern really captures the essence of the man. However, Freeman Lowell, the character, remains an enigma to me. He is passionate about plants, but once the funding is lost, and the order is given to destroy the plants, he goes crazy. Dern plays Lowell much like Gregory Peck played Captain Ahab: all eye-rolling and strange inflection in the voices. Is Lowell a green messiah, or is he really the Unabomber in the s1st Century?

In order to save some of plants, Lowell kills the rest of his crewmates, and manages to treat the plants with the help of the three drones, or robots. Once again, I ma getting an eco-terrorist message from this movie. Once again, I feel like I am watching the Unabomber.

For a good environmental move, I would recommend the classic Star Trek IV: The Voyage home. This is the whale one, and, of course, takes place in San Francisco. The environment gets saved without any homicide, which is really the way we should go about solving the problem.

Lastly, there is two problems of plausibility. If all the plants are removed from the earth, what is filling their nitch in the ecosystem? What is replenishing the oxygen and stopping the erosion? Presumably artificial means of replenishing cannot keep up for an entire planet.

The second issue had to do with preserving the plants. I cannot remember and do not know the state of cryogenics in the early 1970's, but it would be possible to freeze the seed of plants in the same way we freeze celebrities heads. They would get preserved one way or the other. Admittedly, this criticism may be unfair, since I do not know how cryogenics were in that period. But it is something to think about.

So much for the story, no to everything else.

The special effects (which is the defining characteristic of a sci-fi flick) show the advancements made with "2001." They have the great look that "Space:1999," and foreshadow the things that Lucas would be doing six years later. With the exception of Saturn, which was taken before the Voyager 1 and 2 probes got there, everything is perfect.

Of course the drone steal the show. I have to say, these are the most singular looking-and the most charming-robots ever seen in a movie. Even Vincent from "The Black Hole," or even R2-D2 would be hard pressed to keep up with these cuddly little guys. Although they say nothing, you get a sense of their emotions and often poignant feelings. These robots compensate for any other flaw in the movie.

By the way, they had amputated Viet-Nam vets inside the costumes. They were just waling on their hands. Kudos to the movie producers to giving these guys some work, and for creating absolutely endearing robots.

Hailed by some as one of the best science-fiction movies of the 1970s, Silent Running is a quirky, unique movie that conveys a serious ecological message in an unforgettable manner. To be honest, I had never heard of this movie before, but the premise of the film intrigued me, as did the knowledge that a prominent special effects man for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull, directed it. Almost despite itself, the movie moved me in places, and I ended up quite enjoying it, even though there are many things about it I didn't particularly like. Many would consider this a boring movie, I am sure, as there are no fierce battles fought or alien beings threatening to destroy mankind. Silent Running is a thinking man's science-fiction film that succeeds or fails on its compelling storyline alone.

The story takes place some time in earth's near future, at a time when all plant life has been destroyed on the planet in some unexplained way; America's last forest land still exists, however - millions of miles out in space on board the Valley Forge. The ship carries along several huge geodesic domes filled with trees, flowers, garden plants, etc., along with much of the animal life that goes with them. A crew of four mans the ship, with the help of a number of mechanical drones, but only one, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) really cares about the forests in his care. We first meet the other three crew members racing willy-nilly around the ship in jeep like go-carts, thinking nothing of trampling a bunch of flowers or taking shortcuts through the grass. In person, they are even less likeable, making fun of Lowell's idealism and basically harrumphing on their own belief that the forests have no importance whatsoever. Lowell himself starts off on the wrong foot, in my opinion, in terms of the audience's reaction to him. The man is a wide-eyed zealot seemingly about two steps away from madness of a dangerous kind; I agreed with everything he said about the importance of the forests, but his words are somewhat lost on the listener (and the crew) because he is simply annoying in his fanaticism. His mood doesn't improve when the crew gets word that they are to destroy the forests and return home to commercial service. Freeman can't handle such a decision, so he does what he feels he must in order to save the last vestige of earth's forests still in existence.

The second half of the film revolves solely around Freeman, as he is basically stranded in space with his forest. His only companions are (originally) three drones, and in my opinion these little robotic guys steal the show. This is a 1971 film, so the drones are by no means technologically exotic, yet these things do have their own personalities; there are a couple of especially poignant moments with the drones that I would like to have seen explored on their own terms, but this would have wandered a little too far afield from the premise of the film. The ending is actually quite touching and, perhaps more importantly, it feels right to this viewer.

There is certainly a strong undercurrent of allegory working in this storyline. Freeman's fellow crew members represent society at large; their lack of concern for the forests and dismissal of any ecological cares at all are meant to be a condemnation of contemporary society's uncaring and unthinking attitude toward ecology on the planet. Freeman is an evangelical fanatic on the subject, a voice crying in a wilderness that may not survive much longer if things continue as they are; up until the very end, he does not give up hope, though, and that is the inspirational message that stays with the viewer after the movie ends. It's a rather somber and depressing movie for the most part, yet I, who would not call myself an environmentalist of any kind, was touched both emotionally and intellectually by the film. Freeman and his crewmates represent the extreme weights on both sides of the environmentalism/commercialism scale, and it is up to us, the viewers, to find a way to balance those opposing weights on our home planet.

"Running Man" is based on a story by Richard Bachman, a.k.a. Stephen King writing under pseudonym.

It takes place in the near future, where everything is run by the media and the government. Kind of like right now. In the future, there isn't much selection on television. All there is is "The Running Man"--hosted by Damon Killian (Richard Dawson, host of "Family Fortune" in real life)--a show that features convicts, or "runners" being chased by madmen, or "stalkers." It's a bit like a futuristic gladiator sport. No one ever, ever wins the show. But Schwarzenegger has yet to play. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richards, also known as The Butcher of Bakersfield, for firing upon a crowd of humans in a food strike. Only one problem. He's been framed--he never shot anyone. After Arnie escapes from jail, Damon Killian wants his hands on him for the show--so they hunt him down and bring him in. Damon offers Ben a deal--if he goes on the show, he'll let his friends from jail go free. But if he doesn't...he puts his friends on. So Richards agrees to play the game, only to find that Damon has put his friends-from-jail in the show anyway. Right before being launched in the arena, Ben Richards says to Damon, "Hey, Damon. I'll be back." There is a pause. "Only in a rerun," Damon says. Yeah, right.

This movie is about as action-packed and adrenaline-punched an action movie you're going to see in a while. We see an excuse for Schwarzenegger being thrown into an arena with killers, where he must use his brains, strategy, and most of all muscles, to kill the stalkers. But the thing is, the excuse for throwing Schwarzenegger in the arena is a good one. They didn't completely ignore the plot; they don't even throw him in the arena until at least a half hour into the film. They set up the plot first, which is nice.

Arnold proves his acting talent is not just in his muscles once again. Too many people make fun of Schwarzenegger's acting skills, but to tell you the truth, I prefer him over Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone any day. Bruce and Sly are mumblers, in my opinion. Anyway, I like Arnold in this movie, because unlike in "The Terminator" where he is an indestructible cyborg, he is a vincible human with emotions in this film. We see a different side to Schwarzenegger, and it's pretty nice.

Richard Dawson is surprisingly good as Damon. I love his charisma on screen. Of course he's good at playing a gameshow host--he himself was one--but he also has a very good acting talent. Check out the scene where he offers Arnold a deal for going on the show. Look how smug he is in that scene, and how well he delivers his lines. He envelops his character very well. An underrated actor if ever I saw one. He comes off slightly creepy and slightly likable.

This movie is good fun no matter how you slice and dice it. I've often noticed it has a bit of a weird vibe to it, but then I realized that's just the sci-fi/futuristic vibe of the film. I've felt it before when watching sci-fi films. There's something about them. When I watch a film, or a certain genre, I get different vibes. Sci-fi gives me a weird vibe that is undescribable. This film gives that vibe to me. It sounds weird, but I think a lot of people get "vibes" and don't realize it.

I recently viewed this movie twice in less than a day; once at night and once in the morning. It just goes to show how easy it is to watch. It is strictly a fun, action film with lots of imagination and charisma. Easy to watch with a high re-watch factor.

What would you rather do with 90 minutes of your life on a Friday night than watch Arnold Schwarzenegger get to knock some skulls together in a gladiator arena? Exactly.

The Running Man is a film based on a surprisingly good short story by Stephen King. King's tale, a sort of beefed-up '1984', has a man on the run not only from the law, but from a repressive society at large. It's gritty, gruesome, and so different from the film as to be nearly unrecognizable.

The film itself is quite good, although it should be noted from the onset that it has a lot of truly agonizing mid-1980s styles and mannerisms. Some seem almost farcical, such as the earrings and female hairstyles, but if you can look beyond them you'll likely enjoy this film. In a nutshell, good ol' Arnie plays a cop (really a special police trooper) who refuses to fire on unarmed food rioters and is arrested. Society has been transformed into a totalitarian nightmare where the masses are controlled through the media and spoon-fed various gameshows such as 'Climbing for Dollars' where people try to avoid attack dogs and earn cash prizes, and of course the most popular, the Running Man. The Running Man itself is a gameshow in which fugitives are released into 200 square blocks (the "game zone") of burnt out LA and then chased around by stalkers as a live studio audience watches. You can probably see where this is going.

Long story short, of course Arnie and his buddies end up in The Running Man show and are chased around by some colorful and entertaining stalkers. The film does a fairly good job of playing around with the underlying social commentaries of facism and media control (Robocop actually does a better job, and there are similar tongue-in-cheek remarks made in Starship Troopers). Stalkers are picked to chase our heroes by housewives who like them "big and cuddly," audience members are chosen a la The Price is Right to win extra prizes including "The Running Man Home Version" board game, and as Arnie smashes, bludgeons, mauls, and one-liners his way through the various stalkers sent to kill him, he gradually wins over the crowd, and manages to roll back the media control gripping the masses.

The film isn't nearly as gritty as the novel, and often seems downright cartoonish, with stalkers effectively interchangeable with modern professional wrestlers (in a few cases literally, such as Jesse "Captain Freedom" Ventura, who does a hilarious turn as a retired champion tapped to do away with vexatious Ahnold and who refuses to wear pastic robot armor for the home audience). All in all the film is a guilty pleasure with its endlessly entertaining one-liners and is about on par with Total Recall for its production values. As Arnold pictures go, I think it loses out to classics such as Conan the Barbarian or Predator, but still deserves a place in your DVD library.

Conspiracy, Arnold, Action, perfect recipe for a perfect movie. You won't be disappointed.

A large fan of the book 451 may watch this movie in hopes for a deeper and more potent film, but be presented with a tangent. The book made the reader truely feel for the characters through simple dialogue, but the movie skewed from that and edited large important portions/characters/ideals from it's presentation. Though a movie is subjected to mpaa/budjects/deadlines it could have used them to thier advantage. Not to say this film is dissapointing, but it just doesn't feel right compared to the book.

If someone asked me If I had seen the movie, I wouldn't be able to tell them I had, because I wouldn't quite want to put the creators down who did a moderate film, but as a fan of the book I would simply say I hadn't seen it - to prevent any explanations.

The movie "Fahrenheit 451" has always been regarded as a strange, stiff movie, curious not only in the casting, but also in the stilted feelings of the main character and abrupt changes in pacing. I think that is part of its appeal.

Ever since it's release in the mid 1960's the film has had a special appeal to the 10 year old in me. From the afternoon movie appearances on WXYZ TV 7 4:30 pm Movie (edited for time, commercial content, and any suggestion of sexual content) to the occassional late night replay, it's a facinating look at a future society of rules, regulation, control and totalitarianism run rampant.

True, it is difficult to understand Oscar(Montag)Werner's speech at times, and you wonder how he ever linked up with Linda/Julie Christie in the first place... but I think that only helps to underscore his growing sense of not-fitting it, not belonging, alienation, and loneliness. His dying love for her is evident in his frantic attempts to save her, but even in that effort, while the technicians work to casually revive her in the next room, he can only listen in... not actually DO anything to help save the woman he married... as she is restored to a participating member of 'the family'.

There are many images that stay with me, some 35 years since I first saw the film. I frequently remember the run for darkness in front of the apartment complex/condos... and the errie predictive precursor to "America's Most Wanted" program.... "Let every citizen stand at his front door and watch for...Guy Montag..."

In this modern day of MTV, the obsession with mindless reality shows like "Dog Eat Dog", "Fear Factor" and "The Real World"... we have to wonder how close we have grown to this futuristic world of mind-numbing cable television. As the 80s rock band "The Tubes" said, "What do you want from Life? To get cable TV and watch it every night?"

This movie, as awkward as it is and always has been, should be required viewing for every high school literature class... in the hopes that some of the brighter students will recognise their classmates and the dangers of becoming one of the "family".

By the way, did you hear that the new plazma wide screen TV's are coming down in price? If you rush now, you can buy a second one for Christmas and install it in your family room... then you'll only need two more before you are completely immersed in cable TV 24/7.....

Think about it.

Thank you Mr. Ray Bradbury, Mr. Francis Trufau, Mr. Bernard Hermann, Mr. Guy Montag...

Sci-fi drama from the classic Ray Bradbury novel about a future civilization that bans the written word, burns all books and punishes readers. The film is a curiously touching and visually haunting masterpiece (lushly photographed by Nicolas Roeg) with an excellent score by Bernard Herrmann. Oskar Werner and Julie Christie are the lovers who attempt to preserve a part of history by memorizing whole novels. In a dual role, Christine also plays the ignorant wife who collaborates with the authorities. The final scene of the recitation of "David Copperfield" in snow-covered woods will linger in your mind for a long time. Director Francois Truffaut's first film in English.

A large fan of the book 451 may watch this movie in hopes for a deeper and more potent film, but be presented with a tangent. The book made the reader truely feel for the characters through simple dialogue, but the movie skewed from that and edited large important portions/characters/ideals from it's presentation. Though a movie is subjected to mpaa/budjects/deadlines it could have used them to thier advantage. Not to say this film is dissapointing, but it just doesn't feel right compared to the book.

If someone asked me If I had seen the movie, I wouldn't be able to tell them I had, because I wouldn't quite want to put the creators down who did a moderate film, but as a fan of the book I would simply say I hadn't seen it - to prevent any explanations.

The movie "Fahrenheit 451" has always been regarded as a strange, stiff movie, curious not only in the casting, but also in the stilted feelings of the main character and abrupt changes in pacing. I think that is part of its appeal.

Ever since it's release in the mid 1960's the film has had a special appeal to the 10 year old in me. From the afternoon movie appearances on WXYZ TV 7 4:30 pm Movie (edited for time, commercial content, and any suggestion of sexual content) to the occassional late night replay, it's a facinating look at a future society of rules, regulation, control and totalitarianism run rampant.

True, it is difficult to understand Oscar(Montag)Werner's speech at times, and you wonder how he ever linked up with Linda/Julie Christie in the first place... but I think that only helps to underscore his growing sense of not-fitting it, not belonging, alienation, and loneliness. His dying love for her is evident in his frantic attempts to save her, but even in that effort, while the technicians work to casually revive her in the next room, he can only listen in... not actually DO anything to help save the woman he married... as she is restored to a participating member of 'the family'.

There are many images that stay with me, some 35 years since I first saw the film. I frequently remember the run for darkness in front of the apartment complex/condos... and the errie predictive precursor to "America's Most Wanted" program.... "Let every citizen stand at his front door and watch for...Guy Montag..."

In this modern day of MTV, the obsession with mindless reality shows like "Dog Eat Dog", "Fear Factor" and "The Real World"... we have to wonder how close we have grown to this futuristic world of mind-numbing cable television. As the 80s rock band "The Tubes" said, "What do you want from Life? To get cable TV and watch it every night?"

This movie, as awkward as it is and always has been, should be required viewing for every high school literature class... in the hopes that some of the brighter students will recognise their classmates and the dangers of becoming one of the "family".

By the way, did you hear that the new plazma wide screen TV's are coming down in price? If you rush now, you can buy a second one for Christmas and install it in your family room... then you'll only need two more before you are completely immersed in cable TV 24/7.....

Think about it.

Thank you Mr. Ray Bradbury, Mr. Francis Trufau, Mr. Bernard Hermann, Mr. Guy Montag...

Sci-fi drama from the classic Ray Bradbury novel about a future civilization that bans the written word, burns all books and punishes readers. The film is a curiously touching and visually haunting masterpiece (lushly photographed by Nicolas Roeg) with an excellent score by Bernard Herrmann. Oskar Werner and Julie Christie are the lovers who attempt to preserve a part of history by memorizing whole novels. In a dual role, Christine also plays the ignorant wife who collaborates with the authorities. The final scene of the recitation of "David Copperfield" in snow-covered woods will linger in your mind for a long time. Director Francois Truffaut's first film in English.

Despite all the problems, a lot was going for this sci-fi thriller. Good special-effects, good production design and excellent art direction were all ahead of its time (1979). Yet, despite the 20+ million budget the whole movie collapses upon itself with the absolute dumbest dialogue of all time and the most annoying bunch of robotic characters that one cannot help but wonder - what the hell happened?

The prominent area of blame is the screen writers. These folks should have had the reins pulled in on them during the editing phase. The plot has holes, the ending is ambiguous, rules of physics have been ignored and most of the robotic characters (VINCENT and the sentry-'bots) grate on the nerves of the viewer. However, that's not the most glaring eye sore. While the Black Hole still has plenty to offer in visual splendor, even for today's standards, the one thing that keeps me from referring it to a friend (for fear that I will be scorned and ridiculed for ages to come) is the cardboard performances of a talented cast that didn't have anything interesting to say.

The crew of the deep-space exploration vehicle "Palomino" is returning to earth after a fruitless search for alien civilizations when they stumble across a once lost ship hovering at the edge of a huge black hole in this 1980 flick that Starlog magazine billed as Disney's $25 million gamble. The gamble did not pay off for reasons that become quickly clear and are reinforced throughout the flick - dated special effects and a thin plot that's an obvious pastiche of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Frankenstein" and "Moby Dick".

The ship turns out to be the "Cygnus" a one of a kind mammoth wonder designed by the equally enigmatic Hans Rheinhardt (Maximillian Schell). Though a huge ship, Rheinhardt is mysteriously the only surviving member of the crew - never a good sign in sci-fi. In place of the crew, Rheinhardt appears to have built an army of androids - militant sentries, faceless androids who give the ship the air of a medieval abbey, and Maximillian (no relation) a silent, floating enforcer with whirring blades where his hands should be and a single unblinking eye that seems fixed in an evil stare. Rheinhardt fetes the Palomino crew (which quickly gets over its apprehensions of the reclusive master of the Cygnus) and invites them to witness his planned entry into the nearby black hole. Rheinhardt has pioneered a type of gravity engine which he believes will allow him to enter the black hole safely and learn of its mysteries. As they poke around however, our heroes of the Palomino only find disturbing clues as to what Rheinhardt has been doing all those missing years (the most ominous appears to be an elaborate funeral held by the androids) and even begin to wonder if they will be allowed to escape the Cygnus.

"The Black Hole" doesn't turn up on cable that often, so it's worth at least a rental. The effects are so dated, it's pointless to even try comparing them to anything of our CGI age. Instead, they have their own unique quality which keeps you from dismissing it. The look of the Cygnus seems very un-spaceship like (wide halls and sweeping spaces, unlike the claustrophobic corridors and cloistered nooks of Nostromo) which makes the flick look even more interesting, but only as an extremely expensive episode of "Dr. Who". The problem with the look is that the film has no frame of reference for the state of technology in the future age in which the story occurs. How much of the Cygnus and its robot crew is supposed to amaze us? Are hordes of monkish androids an unsurprising thing to find? Who knows. They could have handled that better by making Roddy Macdowell's character V.I.N.CENT an android, which would have given the Palomino (and us) a better frame of reference. The dialog won't win any awards, but it's not the hokum that others have called it (though with the talent available, the script was bound to fall short). The flick's biggest hurdle is that it's unclear who its for - too violent and ambiguous (especially at the end) for kids, but not exciting enough for adults or teens (like the lasergun battles - no teen would buy robot-sentries who manage to stand still while humans blast them). Schell is great as the sinister Rheinhardt (I don't think he's that overplayed) while Tim Bottoms is also great as the Palomino's resident hot-head. Anthony Perkins seems underplayed as the Palomino crewman who actually buys into Rheinhardt's fantasies, while Ernest Borgnine gets some laughs as the Palomino's journalist who alternates between snooping and cowering (but always thinks of himself). Though it's easy to see what went wrong, I still like to catch this flick when its on. When it came to decide between financing either this flick on one hand or 2 more Herby movies, a sequel to "The Apple Dumpling Gang" and, another remake of "Parent Trap", "The Black Hole" was still the better idea.

Ok, so this sci fi movie isn't great. But, on the good side, it isn't too bad either.

I like the concept of Disney writing this movie where Ernest Borgnine,Yvette Mimeux,Anthony Perkins are on a mission to chart a black hole in 2130.

Personally, I like the whole idea of the scientist Max Schnell, wanting to take the crew into the black hole.

The ending was great. Some people don't get it. Too cereberal for them I suppose. Ok, it isn't 2001. It isn't supposed to be.
This movie needs to be judged on its own. And when it is, it's pretty good.

Aside from the dialog, and the cute robots, the story is good.

well, this movie was ok, but you can't see anything because it's too dark and there is no lighting in it at all. i feel that movies.ign.com best implemented the problem with this film. it tries to include too many new concepts and ideas into one film about the supernatural or vampires(note: not a direct quote). maybe the reason other people that wrote reviews for this movie enjoyed it more than me was because they were capable of making sense of about 1/8 of it which is more than i could say for myself. you may think this is because of my intelligence or comprehension, some of that maybe true but most was in part of a way too complicated storyline. this movie could have been the second movie of a trilogy, seeing as how the producers and writers and everyone else invloved thought it wouldn't be necessary to explain why anything in the movie was happening.

I had been looking forward to the release of this movie all summer long, and it was a great movie! I anxiously await the release of this DVD.

The movie, as most of you probably know, is about a war that has been going on between werewolves and vampires. And it is THIS that is the primary focus of the plot (as opposed to the vampire and werewolf lore itself). The werewolves have been researching their bloodlines and discovered a human who shares a common ancestor with both the werewolves and the vampires. The werewolves seek out this human, and this is noted by Selene (Kate Beckinsale), who decides to make it her mission to discover the importance of this particular human.

Unfortunately, the writers decided not to delve too deeply into vampire and werewolf lore. I was pretty disappointed by the fact that the supernatural abilities of these supernatural beings were not really emphasized. Instead, the writers chose to merely stick guns in the hands of the vampires and werewolves. In addition, the mythology was slightly different from what I've read and seen before in previous vampire and werewolf books and movies. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but if you are going to change things from what people are used to, then it should be explained in slightly more detail.

This aside, the movie was still pretty incredible. The plot was exceptional, which is not necessarily always the case with most action movies, and the action kept me entertained throughout the movie's entirety. The effects were great, and the creepy lighting added to the atmosphere of the film. The make-up and costumes were also outstanding, as was the acting. I anxiously await the sequel (and based on how the movie ended, there WILL be a sequel)!

The extras on this DVD look awesome! I am really interested in checking out the stunts, make-up, and effects featurettes. I am also intrigued to listen to the writer's commentary. Over all, I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in vampires, werewolves, and pretty much anything occult or gothic. I know I plan on pre-ordering this DVD!

This was a great movie! I have seen it three times and would have seen it a fourth, but the DVD will be out soon, so I'll wait for that.
You have to understand....this is an ACTION film! This is not meant to be slow and artistic. Underworld should not be compaired to "Interview with the Vampire" or "Bram Stokers Dracula." Those were DRAMAS. One of my friends said to me "I wanted more 'Interview...' and this is totally unfair. The trailer told you what this film was about. It's about a war between vampires and Lycans (warewolves). It has guns, fighting and a love story subplot. It's Romeo & Juliet with fangs -- but it's great.
Every vampire film slightly re-defines what the vampire is. Underworld has nice visual ideas and it is easy to find yourself taken in by this world. The characters take themselves seriously and the short dramatic scenes that are there are fine. In fact, I would say that I cannot fault anyones acting except for "Kraven." He was one-dimensional, but so what?
I admit this is not the well-crafted masterpiece that "Interview" was, but this is an ACTION film. You don't go see "True Lies" and expect "Shakespeare in Love", do you? When you go see "The Mummy", are you expecting the acting calibre of "A Beautiful Mind?"
Underworld was a great story. It has guns and fighting and it's about a bitter war. These are creatures at war, fighting for their survival and they don't have time to say "I never drink....wine."

and ps. Kate Beckinsale can bite me -anytime. ;-)

well, this movie was ok, but you can't see anything because it's too dark and there is no lighting in it at all. i feel that movies.ign.com best implemented the problem with this film. it tries to include too many new concepts and ideas into one film about the supernatural or vampires(note: not a direct quote). maybe the reason other people that wrote reviews for this movie enjoyed it more than me was because they were capable of making sense of about 1/8 of it which is more than i could say for myself. you may think this is because of my intelligence or comprehension, some of that maybe true but most was in part of a way too complicated storyline. this movie could have been the second movie of a trilogy, seeing as how the producers and writers and everyone else invloved thought it wouldn't be necessary to explain why anything in the movie was happening.

I had been looking forward to the release of this movie all summer long, and it was a great movie! I anxiously await the release of this DVD.

The movie, as most of you probably know, is about a war that has been going on between werewolves and vampires. And it is THIS that is the primary focus of the plot (as opposed to the vampire and werewolf lore itself). The werewolves have been researching their bloodlines and discovered a human who shares a common ancestor with both the werewolves and the vampires. The werewolves seek out this human, and this is noted by Selene (Kate Beckinsale), who decides to make it her mission to discover the importance of this particular human.

Unfortunately, the writers decided not to delve too deeply into vampire and werewolf lore. I was pretty disappointed by the fact that the supernatural abilities of these supernatural beings were not really emphasized. Instead, the writers chose to merely stick guns in the hands of the vampires and werewolves. In addition, the mythology was slightly different from what I've read and seen before in previous vampire and werewolf books and movies. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but if you are going to change things from what people are used to, then it should be explained in slightly more detail.

This aside, the movie was still pretty incredible. The plot was exceptional, which is not necessarily always the case with most action movies, and the action kept me entertained throughout the movie's entirety. The effects were great, and the creepy lighting added to the atmosphere of the film. The make-up and costumes were also outstanding, as was the acting. I anxiously await the sequel (and based on how the movie ended, there WILL be a sequel)!

The extras on this DVD look awesome! I am really interested in checking out the stunts, make-up, and effects featurettes. I am also intrigued to listen to the writer's commentary. Over all, I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in vampires, werewolves, and pretty much anything occult or gothic. I know I plan on pre-ordering this DVD!

This was a great movie! I have seen it three times and would have seen it a fourth, but the DVD will be out soon, so I'll wait for that.
You have to understand....this is an ACTION film! This is not meant to be slow and artistic. Underworld should not be compaired to "Interview with the Vampire" or "Bram Stokers Dracula." Those were DRAMAS. One of my friends said to me "I wanted more 'Interview...' and this is totally unfair. The trailer told you what this film was about. It's about a war between vampires and Lycans (warewolves). It has guns, fighting and a love story subplot. It's Romeo & Juliet with fangs -- but it's great.
Every vampire film slightly re-defines what the vampire is. Underworld has nice visual ideas and it is easy to find yourself taken in by this world. The characters take themselves seriously and the short dramatic scenes that are there are fine. In fact, I would say that I cannot fault anyones acting except for "Kraven." He was one-dimensional, but so what?
I admit this is not the well-crafted masterpiece that "Interview" was, but this is an ACTION film. You don't go see "True Lies" and expect "Shakespeare in Love", do you? When you go see "The Mummy", are you expecting the acting calibre of "A Beautiful Mind?"
Underworld was a great story. It has guns and fighting and it's about a bitter war. These are creatures at war, fighting for their survival and they don't have time to say "I never drink....wine."

and ps. Kate Beckinsale can bite me -anytime. ;-)

A team of Astronauts intercepting Halley's comet during its near Earth flyby, discover a monstrously huge alien spaceship hiding in its tail. Apparently derelict, (sound familiar?) the ship is found to contain hundreds of seemingly dead aliens resembling large bats, and three humans sleeping inside of crystal shafts. Having no choice (for astronauts that is; while the rest of us would have at least considered the idea of taking a really long video and leaving it at that), the crew of the spaceship Churchill recover the three bodies and head home. A strange epidemic breaks out on the Churchill, slowly but surely draining the life of its crew, except for Commander Carlson (Steve Railsback) who ironically enough, made the call to enter the derelict in the first place. Flash-forward a few weeks when the Churchill returns to Earth. Astronauts rendezvousing in orbit with Churchill find the ship gutted completely - everything inside completely burned except for the three aliens. (No, I don't know how the Churchill managed to settle into orbit from deep-space transit when it's completely dead). Being astronauts as much as those on Churchill, the latter astronauts return to Earth, and bring with them the three aliens (doesn't anybody pack a camcorder on these trips? The Churchill astronauts had only one chance to decide whether or not to bring their souvenirs back before the alien ship returned with Halley into the void. But the latter astronauts - ironically flying on the Columbia - could have left its three hitchhikers in orbit indefinitely). Back on terra-firms, the aliens come alive and are revealed to be vampires - sucking out souls instead of blood - from their victims. The victims in turn, become shriveled up zombies who are forced to steal the life-force of others or die a gruesome death, creating an ever widening chain of destruction. Using their powers, the alien trio - led by the beautiful, but evil (and gratuitously nude) Mathilda May - kick off a vampire epidemic. Suspecting that the alien trio has more than a coincidental resemblance to the vampires of legend, Dr. Hans Fallada (Frank Finlay) and British SAS Colonel Caine (Peter Firth) search for clues to end the epidemic and save the world. soon, they get a boost when Churchill's escape pod lands on Earth carrying the very live (but messed up) Col. Carlsen. Carlsen's survival, we soon learn, is no coincidence. Though having the power to invade the bodies of some victims, a mental link between Carlsen and the vampire queen helps clue our heroes into her whereabouts. Torn between his feelings for the "space girl" (that's what the credits call her, I didn't make that up!) and the rest of humanity, Carlsen remains barely able to resist her. Tracking the alien across the English countryside, Carlsen and Caine return to London to find the city gripped by an outbreak of soul-vampirism, and rotting zombies. In the depths of the city, with mankind on the edge of annihilation, Carlsen confronts the vampire queen (that's a lot better than "space girl", right?) and his own feelings, and reconciles his dilemma in time for the climax.

So, why doesn't this movie rock? Based on the cult novel "Space Vampires" by Colin Wilson, the film doesn't exactly give the devil its due. The first hour manages to sustain a lot of tension, despite how obvious it riffs on "Alien" (astronauts find the seeds of doom in a huge derelict alien ship), making the decline that much worse in the rest of the film. Most of the terror stems from not being sure at first just what sort of movie "Lifeforce" is. Getting to Earth, we soon learn exactly what kind of movie it is - with its aloof British characters and Mathilda May's flesh, "Lifeforce" is revealed as a modern-day version of the Hammer Studios' movies of the 1960's and early 1970's. (This flick could have appeared in 1972, with John Phillip Law as Carlsen, Ingrid Pitt in Mathilda May's role, Christopher Lee as Fallada, and Peter Cushing as Dr. Armstrong, the role played by Patrick Stewart). The characters seem one-note - Caine is too much a take-charge guy to realize that his 9mm won't help him; Carlsen is just nuts. The effects are actually good for the story, but they highlight what a simple story it is. There are some other plausibility and continuity problems - the research center where the aliens are brought, is smack inside of London, and not miles away from nowhere like Area-51, or at least inside of a city that the world cares less for than London. The aliens have been here before, Carlsen tells Caine without elaboration. This hint of a past presence on Earth clues us in that there's more to the story than we're seeing. Whether it's a better story is debatable, but it couldn't be less interesting. And what's the deal with Carlsen and Queen Vamp? A link that strong has to have a story behind it, but the script takes it as a given. (Railsback is actually a subtly powerful presence, but it's hard to see the attraction - maybe the space girl should have waited a few years to catch him starring in that bio-pic about serial grave robber Ed Gein). Lastly, the film wastes what should be some incredibly comic moments, like having Caine trying to brief the Prime Minister while he turns into a vampire, or having Carlsen bond with the space girl - while she inhabits the body of Patrick Stewart (see why Cushing would have been cool?). One scene, in which it develops that Dr. Fallada has become a vampire, actually deserves a chuckle. When I first caught this flick at the multiplex in the summer of '85, the wit-starved audience instead whooped it up. The film never loses its spookiness, but Tobe Hooper was shooting for something higher. Still fresh off "Poltergeist" Hooper never sustains the horror because he never fleshes out the underlying evil of the story nor creates any real characters for it to sink its fangs into.

Movie Overview:
Space vampires wipe out shuttle crews and invade Earth to steal human kind's "life force."
Small side note:
Like all of the best space vampires, they are beautiful naked young people and scoff at wearing clothes.

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Review:
We've all had friends that made odd movie recommendations to us. When my friend told me that "Lifeforce" was one of the all-time classic vampire movies, I took up his suggestion and we rented "Lifeforce." I had no idea what I was in for!

The movie starts out on a very serious tone with the space shuttle "Churchill" (the film had many British film crew) exploring the Halley's comet. Hidden within the comet, they find a derelict alien spacecraft and we get to meet Carlsen, the shuttle's brash American commander (I think his character represents how Brits see Americans). Of course, Carlsen is unable to resist exploring the alien spacecraft so a team enters the wreck to explore. They find numerous bat-like alien corpses as well as three beautiful naked human-like aliens trapped in crystal cocoons, which they decide to bring back to the ship. At this point, the "Churchill" decides to return to earth. On the trip back, members of the crew contract a deadly disease and begin literally wasting away.

At this point, the film transitions back to earth at the SRC (Space Research Center), a sort of British NASA, headed by Dr. Fallada, a gray-haired eccentric scientist who has been studying "life forces." We learn that the "Churchill" returned to Earth orbit and isn't responding to communication attempts. Another shuttle is sent up to explore and they find a burned out "Churchill," which has been the victim of a freak fire. The crew has been burnt to bony crisps and the only survivors are the three alien humanoids in the crystal cocoons, which the new crew brings down from orbit to the SRC. The "Churchill's" record tape was, of course, destroyed in the fire.

At the SRC, the three alien humanoids (two male and one female) are put into quarantine and put under guard by bumbling British security men (The female's goofy guard looked like he came from the filming of a Benny Hill episode). The female humanoid, played by a beautiful naked Mathilda May, comes alive at this point and seduces AKA sucks the life force out of the bumbling guard with the classic line "use my body." Hereafter, she is known as "space girl" The guard becomes a living skeletal corpse AKA space vampire and tries to suck the life force out of other SRC employees until the SAS commander, played by Peter Firth, shows up and is appointed to hunt down the escaped space vampires. We also learn that Carlsen was the only survivor of the "Churchill" and he survived the shuttle disaster by leaving in an escape pod. He shortly joins Peter Firth and the two of them set off to catch the space vampires who can possess human bodies. During the chase, Railsback AKA Carlsen has many flashback scenes to "what really happened on the shuttle" and we learn that he has a "special connection" to "Space Girl."

At this point, the film starts to become campier and campier. As if "use my body" wasn't a silly enough line, the lines keep getting sillier. During an interrogation scene of a nurse suspected to be possessed by "space girl," Railsback tells Firth that he must be rough with the nurse because the vampire is a masochist and that Firth might want to leave. Firth nonchalantly replies "No worries, I'm a natural voyeur!" We find the vampire next in Patrick Stewart's body and the "female vampire" forces Railsback to give Stewart (the goof possessed by "Space Girl") a smooch. Yuck, but very funny. It doesn't take long for the search for "Space Girl" to turn into an invasion movie as "Space Girl" escapes with one of the male vampires and turns London into a zombie town. Firth and Railsback predictably hunt down the two space vampires and the ending isn't what one might have suspected (I don't want to give it away).

Despite the horrible sound of the plot, the film was enormously entertaining. My friend and I were laughing out loud at the silly scenes trying to take themselves seriously. I thoroughly enjoyed the film although it was incredibly cheesy. This is definitely no art film (despite some artful cinematography) although it was just plain fun!

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Plot:
- Don't watch this movie for the plot.
- Little to no character development.
- Lots of lost story leads.
- Wooden acting.
- B-movie sexual "naughtiness."

Special Effects:
- Unbelievable for 1985.
- Effects by John Dykstra (famous for "Star Wars")
- Great zombies.
- Great vampire death scenes.

Acting and Directing:
- Tobe Hooper - director known for "Poltergeist"
- Menachem and Yoram Globus - Israeli producers
- Mathilda May (Also was in "The Jackal" with Bruce Willis), the "Space Girl" AKA the naked space vampire
- Frank Finlay, as Dr. Hans Fallada, weirdo scientist
- Peter Firth, the SAS commander and voyeur
- Steve Railsback, Carlsen, the American "animal" astronaut
- Patrick Stewart AKA Jon Luc Picard (in a pre-Star Trek role)

DVD Features:
- No extras.
- No filmography.
- No special features.
- Does include subtitling / audio options.

Favorite Parts:
- Great zombies.
- Incredibly silly space vampires.
- Incredible cinematography during space shuttle / comet episodes.

- Loosely based on Colin Wilson's adult sci-fi novel, "The Space Vampires"
- Henry Mancini's wonderful operatic score
- Some of the campiest lines ever put in a movie!

I recommend this movie as a campy classic despite its' silliness.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Mann, Mathida May was perfect for this movie no mistakes in that decision. If you were going to make it believable that she was perfect and men couldn't help their desire she was it. I probably would have been a fool and fell apart myself. I mean how can you resist such a perfect specimen evil or alien? Gee wizz and when she looks at the guys with that sensual look to lure them into her arms Mann! There is one scene when she is completley nude and she looks at this guy and says "use my Body" I'm like goodness this is too much to watch alone. But anyway on the real this is a well put together movie and timeless. Mathilda was a Timeless beauty, the script is unlike anything else ever done. The special effects were well done and Timeless! But that Mathilda May mann,was extremley sexy in this movie and unbearable to watch. She had a sensual voice the way she moved the expressions on her face would drive you insane! The only Seduction that is even remotley measurable to this performance in Physical attraction and attitude was Jaime Pressly's 1997 film "Poison Ivy 3 The New Seduction". I don't know what to characterize this film because it is very sensual. But if you want to know who Mathilda May was? She was a vampire from space that took on the appearance of the perfect woman in the main characters head. And boy, does he have a great idea of what the perfect woman is suppose to look like. She in so many words read his mind and they had some type of exotic connection. And boy, Was he having a hard time with the fact she was evil. She loved him but will he be sucked in, or will he save england?

Or any book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child? Great storytellers, intelligent writing that absorbs the reader. The original book version of The Relic is a great place to start. As for the movie, your time is too valuable; life is too short. Avoid it at all costs.

This is a great monster/creature movie for a rainy afternoon. The movie takes place in Chicago's Field Museum with towering great halls, dark corners and sub-basements that have sub-basements. People start to disappear and the police begin to search the museum. As the gala opening night of a major exhibition approaches and the body count goes up museum officials try to downplay any possibility of danger to the invited guests. Of course an uninvited guest literally drops in with the idea of dining on Society's Upper Crust.

The movie was based on the book "Relic" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The book was more gruesome than the movie and I couldn't put it down until the last page even though I had to go to work the next morning. Preston and Child have written several books since Relic, set in various locales, and each with a new twist.

These are books I don't loan out, I read them again and again.

It's not every day that I find a creature movie that I really like, but THIS ON IS AWESOME! The creature effects are by Stan Winston whom I love and admire so much. The creature is nothing short of cool and the story is pretty good. I actually liked the book more, but that's you call. This movie features very creepy environments, wonderful editing, and I just love that monster! It has some cool action scenes too that are definatley worth seeing. If you like good special effects, Tom Sizemore, the very hot Penelope Ann Miller, or just a good scary movie, then pick this one up! You won't be dissapointed!