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NParisi4256
Star Trek II
JFK
Blade Runner
The Truman Show
Almost Famous
Field of Dreams
Die Hard 2
Star Trek IV
Spider-Man 2
Groundhog Day
River's Edge
Spider-Man
Batman Begins
Memento
Hair
Pan's Labyrinth
Gattaca
My top 10 TV series:
1. The Twilight Zone
2. Star Trek (TOS)
3. NYPD Blue
4. Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)
5. Law & Order
6. Star Trek (TNG)
7. The Honeymooners
8. Dungeons & Dragons (animated)
9. The Fugitive
10. E.R.
Ratings
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Reviews
The Twilight Zone: Mirror Image (1960)
The fragility of identity
Mirror Image concerns a woman who discovers a double of herself during an overnight stay in a bus station. Is she losing her mind, or does the double actually exist? One of the series' earliest dealings with the question of identity - man's (or woman's) struggle to hold onto it and how it can be attacked by natural or supernatural means. That question of identity would be revisited several times in the series' run. This one is particularly notable for the fact that the protagonist is a woman, and she generally keeps herself from degenerating into hysterics despite the circumstances. That's notable for 1959-1960 television. Very good episode.
The Truman Show (1998)
One of the Best Films of the '90s
Screenwriter Andrew Niccol followed up his inspired but slightly uneven debut (Gattaca) with this brilliant, Peter Weir directed film. Those looking for Dumb and Dumber should look elsewhere. I can still remember the inappropriate laughter from those in the theatre during a very profound scene in which Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) actually touches the limits of his known world for the first time. Those who were looking for Ace Ventura were just dying to laugh at something - those who weren't saw the scene for the philosophical statement it really was.
This is an intelligent, innovative take on what is actually a fairly standard SF convention - the idea of an enclosed universe, combined with the discovery by an inhabitant of that universe that "reality" is not what it seems.
Many thought Jim Carrey got snubbed for a best actor nomination (most prominently Carrey himself), but the real injustice here was that the film was not even nominated for best picture. Niccol was nominated for best screenplay, and deserved to win as well.
This is speculative fiction of a kind that Hollywood rarely produces. Gattaca is also highly recommended and, despite Niccol's misstep with "Simone," he's still a talent to be watched.