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Reviews
Mildred Pierce (1945)
A film full of unlikeable characters
It's hard to say I enjoyed a movie when nearly every character in it is so thoroughly unlikeable. Crawford as the title character, as well as Veda Pierce, and both of Mildred's husbands, are all either selfish or (in Mildred's case) so motivated to achieve their goals that everything else falls by the wayside. As such, it's hard to say that I was "rooting" for any of these people to come to a happy end (well, except for Eve Arden's strong, sarcastic Ida, but she's only a supporting character).
The performances by the cast range from strong to excellent, but I wish they'd had material to work with that I could appreciate more.
Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998)
One of B5's weaker stories
I was very disappointed in this movie. Plotwise it was weak bordering on silly: Souls who can affect reality in the way they do? A mission apparently critical to the Soul Hunters entrusted to one of their younger members? And the whole B-story with the "holobrothel" and the lawsuit against the station was so awful that at one point I blurted out to the television, "Why are you wasting my time with this?"
Thematically, "River of Souls" didn't really go into the question of the soul in any more depth than the original episode "Soul Hunter" did. We see that Soul Hunters can make mistakes, but we still don't get a feeling for their culture. (Are there any female Soul Hunters?)
The acting was okay, given the material they had to work with, and the special effects - especially the planetscapes in the first act - were very impressive. But overall, I'd say give this one a miss.
Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998)
A good adventure yarn
"Thirdspace" doesn't pretend to be anything other than light (or maybe dark is a better word) adventure, and it works fine on that basis. Admittedly, I have a weakness for "humanity finds a really old alien artifact out there and tries to figure out what it's for" stories. Such stories are often disappointing because we never find out what it's for; in "Thirdspace", we do find out, and then everyone rather wishes they hadn't.
Sterling special effects and a good script make this the best of the B5 TV-movies so far (through "River of Souls"). The plot is a little dodgy in that the degree of control the denizens of Thirdspace exert over the gate to their dimension seems inexplicable great, but overall the tension is high through most of the episode, and it's good to see Ivanova again.
The X Files (1998)
Another frustrating X-Files episode
I watched The X-Files for the first two-plus seasons of the series, and gave it up when it became clear that nothing would really be resolved. This film was just like the series in that regard.
Evidence of an extraterrestrial invasion (via a lethal virus) comes to the attention of Our Heroes, Mulder and Scully, and they spend the film chasing after evidence of the virus. However, the film is peppered with comments and events that make little sense: Despite the lethality of the virus, some humans (the oft-alluded to "shadow government") seem to be supporting and aiding the aliens in their schemes. Why? We never find out. The aliens are remarked as having been "the original inhabitants of Earth", which also doesn't make much sense. Nor does the rather silly "delivery system" for the virus.
And, of course, there's the fundamental problem with X-Files plotting: The immensely powerful men in the shadows seem unable to actually find a couple of assassins to just take out Mulder and Scully, the people giving them so much trouble.
The dialogue is witty and entertaining, and there are some genuinely fun and exciting moments in the film, but I want stories that actually go somewhere. If you look at this film with more than a superficial eye, its shallowness becomes apparent.