Reviews

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES picks up where the first left off and revolves around a mystery surrounding the disapperance of taylor. At the same time astronaughts from earth crash land in the future and one survives to take up the quest for taylor. While the search goes on for taylor the apes in ape city are planning a military foray into the forbidden zone; a foray that will bring them face to face and into conflict with mentally superior humans who live in a dead city. BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES promises alot and delivers and is adventure on a grand scale. The only thing holding it back are awkward subplots where the humans worship a atom bomb and sing to it. The film handles the lack of charlton hestons involvement well and structured the story around that impedement. Out of ten stars this film gets eight.

TERMINATOR 3 is not a bad film on it's own. The film sufferes from plot problems and continuity problems. TERMINATOR 3 is worth one view but it's definetly not a multiple viewing movie. TERMINATOR 1 and 2 are hard acts to follow in this film and this film does not recapture the grandure of either of those films. What i liked was the villian was more in step with the original terminator film. A popcorn and coke film T3 boasts hollywood stunts and eyegrabbing special effects. However many of the attributes that make this film worthwhile hurt it criticaally. The film has plot holes and continuity problems as big as nebraska. The plot holes are of a scope and breadth I would expect in a z grade action picture but not in a first rate action film; these plot holes I might add never show up in the first two films. TERMINATOR 3 is worth a view but buyer beware. If you expect a fun time with a popcorn and coke....by all means go. If you are a discriminating fan who looks deeper you may be dissappointed.

The program focuses on a deaf cop who solves crimes in a FBI task force. The show is a crime drama but the show also deals with the disability the main character has and how she deals with it each day. This appraoch is unusual in broadcast tv and makes for the unusual appeal of this program. SUE THOMAS is a good show; it's a good crime drama and drama period.

The sliver shamrock commercials in this film make viewing annoying. HALLOWEEN III fails because it has nothing to do with the rest of the series. There was a attempt to do something original and different yet that proved to be something that didn't kept the audiences attention as well as Michael Myers did. HALLOWEEN III is just plain boring. Avoid this film like the plague.

FEAR FACTOR is a show of dangerous dares and disgusting edibles which currently airs on NBC. I guess the one that got me was the horse rectum as a edible. This show will do anything and that includes having participants eat horse rectum. I suppose the prise money is worth it but I don't know if anyone could pay me enough to eat horse ass on tv.

FORBIDDEN PLANET is one of the few worthwhile 1950's sci-fi films. In a era of bad smog monster films this one burst on the scene and paved the way for STAR TREK and STAR WARS. Unpretentious and totally believable this is worth a view and a good family film.

The conclusion to this film, is perhaps one of the best as far as movies go. The film tells the tale of navy pilots having to bomb a series of bridges in korea. The film overall is good and in keeping with most period war films, yet the end was different from those of that era. I like the approach to it and the delivery. I won't divulge too much here but I recommend this film.

There was a second season remote viewer episode that comes to mind that was exceptionally well made. The episode revolved around a woman with esp who used it to contact a alien life force. In series with starships it gets expensive to reach out and explore new life forms but with PSI FACTOR they got creative and didn't need a big fancy space ship to do it with (or the sets that come with it). IN the series of episodes about this character there was total suspension of disbelief.

RENEGADES is a great formula film from Jack Sholder. The films format is action adventure with a heavy native american theme. The film tells the tale of police corruption, mafia dirty dealings and the theft of a sacred lance from a native american tribe. The film has predictable elements yet is worthwhile. Of note is the directing style of sholder which is kinetic enough to keep the audience interested. RENEGADES is formula but succeds at being good formula; good formula never fails. I recommend this film as a popcorn and coke film.

This film had the potential to be good yet suffered from being lackluster. OMEGA CODE 2 had many things going for it; one of which was a all star cast, yet this did not enhance the film. The problem with the film was the translation of the script to the screen. Omega Code 2 will be liked by fans of the original yet I found the film a letdown. The film does boast some battle sequences which make the production look glossed. OMEGA CODE 2 fails for die hard film scrutiny yet passes for popcorn and coke film fans. One flaw is having a bad frame job scripted into the film for the president when he won't join Stone Alexander. The plot point is unbelievable and distracting.

According to this film there is a rapture and a second chance at salvation in christ folowing it. In the bible there is no second chance at redemption. The parable of the bridegroom points out that there is no second chance. Is the film flawed? I would say so. The plot has christ doing a pretzel in the sky while a second chance is bestowed on mankind. Why would christ ressurect the dead and rapture the christians only to have to do it again at the end foretold in this films explanation of events? I rest my case.

LEFT BEHIND is the first film in a series and is based on the best selling novel. The film tells the tale of those left behind following a biblical rapture. The film is good and its production values excellent. I was suprised with how goood the first film was. Not since MARK 4 had a film come along with so much going for it.

shapeshifting martian turning into christ for a priest? controversial? not really when you understand the literary context to the scene. In the film the martians use shape shifting tied to telepathy to stay alive. Yet, they find they can't control the shape shifting. This makes for interesting plot points. The scene with christ was controversial for tv at the time.

This program uses a news style format tv show to coney every week that the world is coming to an end. The producers are of the opinion we live in the "last days" as foretold in the BIBLE and face all manner of peril and wrath. The show has had a long run. Jack does the show with his wife rexella and when not hashing over the danger we are all in shamlessly plugs the video of the week he wants you to buy. A interesting show for believers and scoffers to say the least.

BATMAN was played straight and wasn't like the campy 60's tv show of the same name. The success of the film can be attributed to the ad campaign and the serious nature the film was given. BATMAN was played out straight and not camped out farce. The film went on to be a blockbuster.

DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND is well written and acted. In the episode the character trent has a glass automated hand which talks. This could be a dumb thing like a bad KNIGHT RIDER episode but in reality the episode works well. The suspension of disbelief is pulled off in this episode and it boasts fine production design as well.

Hitler in this program is portrayed as a flawed human being not as a monster. Political genius and former art student not a monster. The architect of the holocaust displayed in tv cinema. This film has a controversial nature but nothing good is said of hitler in it. Hitler is portrayed as history rightly has him pigeon-holed, a rising butcher. A great family movie filled with history.

FIRE DOWN BELOW is a film which is not one of segal's best. This film was his second outing as a eco-friendly action hero. The film has many problems one of which has sagal leaving a character alone to die while he sings and plays guitar at the local blue grass fest....yes blue grass fest. The core plot is a EPA man is sent in to avenge the death of another agent and get the goods on a firm dumping waste in the back hills of a place like kentucky. FIRE DOWN BELOW made me feel lame while watching it; like I was wasting time. A pointless film I recommend this film only to die hard sagal fans.

BEYOND THUNDERDOME is the third installment in the MAD MAX film series.

This film finds max as hero to a group of children. The film also finds max getting caught up in intrigue in a place called bartertown. Max finds himself caught between two warring forces battling for control of that city. The film is not as good as THE ROAD WARRIOR but is a good sequel. The film is worth watching yet is in the wake of a tough act to follow; that being the second film in the series. I recommend this film to potential viewers.

TOP GUN is about a navy flying school for the best students in the navy. The story revolves around two men who get sent there. The film was about as pro navy as you can get with some theaters letting the navy set up recruiting tables outside theatres showing the film. TOP GUN was a first in the new home video market being a big seller on VHS. The film was released on home video with several pop commercials on the tape. The marketing of the video was a tie in and was uncommon at the time; home video was a new territory.

One of the best magnum episodes revolves around a russian advisor magnum knew in vietnam named Ivan and his return into magnums life. This story dealt with magnums stay as a POW and the role this russian played as his captor. The two part episode was a great piece of story telling and the story drew in rick and tc as well.

What's shocking is that this incredible story is not contrivied it is true. I find this film to be one of the better foreign films to have come out in recent years. What aids this particular film is it's connection to reality and the real events of the holocaust and world war 2.

The pilot dealt with a salvage firm building a space craft to go to the moon made from junk parts. SALVAGE 1 was about a salave firm that would go anywhere, anytime to salvage something....even to the moon to get old apollo program gear. A great idea for a string of tv movies but it ran out of gas as a tv show. Still as a boy it lit the fires of my imagination the way Buster Crabbe serials did in my grandfathers.

PLANET EARTH and GENESIS 2 were fun pilots. PLANET EARTH was set on a earth after a nuclear war yet, was ahead of it's time. It's a shame roddenberry couldn't get a syndication deal like Gerry Anderson of SPACE 1999. Syndication would have helped this show more than network airings.

This episode finds a shuttlecraft full of enterprise personel marooned on a hostile world as kirk battles a ticking clock to locate the lost crewmen. The shuttlecraft galileo passes through a space storm only to be stuck on the surface of a hostile world ruled by giant neanderthal looking creatures who hurl giant spears. SPOCK, MCCOY and SCOTTY are among the crew on the planet, as the crew battles the creatures and against time to get airborne again so the enterprise can find them. THE GALILEO SEVEN is a good episode and features one of the STAR TREK trademarks which is the death of secondary characters or crewmen dressed in red shirts. For science fiction adventure at it's best check out this title.