Reviews

One can hope that someday someone will make "Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers" and get it right. Paul Verhoeven admits not reading the book and I often wonder if screenwriter Neumeier did, either. The movie takes everything the book was about and turns it on its head. It uses only the broadest outlines of the story, (big arachnids at war with humans) and then turns it into Hollywood pap. They got the story wrong, the message wrong, the characters wrong, the relationships wrong, the politics wrong, everything is wrong. And even judging the movie and not considering the book they butchered, this is a lousy movie with an insipid anti-war message mixed in with flashy CGI effects and gratuitous violence and sex. And that's just wrong.

While it took a few episodes for "Firefly" to find its way, the appeal here isn't space battles or science fiction weirdness (absolutely zero alien species). It's the interplay of the characters and the different worlds they encounter (See esp. "Jaynestown"). Yes, this is a space western right down to the clothes, weapons, dialogue and plots (in the second episode they rob a train!).

Yes, there are some niggles such as the ATV they drive (in 500 years there's been no improvement past the internal combustion engine?), the weapons which aren't even modern 21st century technology (I can understand slug throwers since hand-held energy weapons may never be practical but I can go to my local gun shop and buy better weapons today), and what is the Inara character for other than to look beautiful and add some sex to the show?

However, Fox is already starting to pre-empt it a lot, so "Firefly" is probably not long for this world. Maybe Sci-Fi will pick it up.

This cliché ridden, predictable, dumb beyond comprehension, music video-styled mess ain't it. The cheesy CGI graphics, needless slow-mo "bullet time" shots, and impossible camera angles only add to the video game look and feel of the film. The gratuitous shots of scantily clad females, while nice, only perpetuate this film's image as obnoxious eye candy. For some reason "Driven" reminded me of "Showgirls," another absolutely vacuous movie based on the premise that pretty visuals make a good movie. Or maybe it was just the appearance of Gina Gershon.

Okay, it's 1977: post-Watergate, post-Vietnam, yet another "energy crisis" is on and that doesn't include the dope in the White House. Inflation is having its way with us and our "leaders" are telling us it's our fault. America has lived with the 55 mph National Speed limit for 5 years now and is sick of it. Our cars are bloated, under-powered (thanks to emission controls), unreliable nanny-state mobiles that won't start until you put your seatbelt on. America needed a hero and Ronald Reagan was three years away. We found it in Burt Reynolds and his black Trans Am. Flaunting authority by bringing non-union made beer out of the West, driving oh so much over 55, and having fun while doing it. Why, they don't even wear seatbelts! Buford T. Justice represented the over-bearing, over-stuffed, and corrupt authority doggedly pursuing that he can not cage: the will to be free! This movie was the first movie of the '80's: fun for fun sake and, as the Bandit said, "mostly for the money." The best line in the movie: Sally Fields apparently unscripted "I'm stuck in this CB movie and I don't even have a handle." This is the funniest movie to come out of a very un-fun time. Now if they were smuggling cigarettes it would be the perfect '90's film.