Reviews

Notable in JAG lore for being the first episode where Catherine Bell's United States Marine Corps Major Sarah 'Mac' MacKenzie debuts alongside season one holdover Harmon Rabb Jr, played by David James Elliott. After JAG was cancelled by NBC, it was picked up by CBS and ran for another nine seasons, featuring the DJE/CB combo all the way to the end.

In "We the People", the Declaration of Independence, is stolen by some disgruntled Marines (in what is a cool opening sequence) and Mac has a connection to the case, thus being handed the assignment by Steven Culp's Clayton Webb. Whilst Mac believes she is only Rabb's partner on the mission to return the Declaration, of course we all know better.

The only annoying thing about the season two premiere is that the season one cliffhanger isn't even mentioned. I mean, last we saw of Rabb was him being arrested for murder. Then, to start this season, he's getting a medal from President Clinton, and working with someone who looks a heck of a lot like the person whose murder he was arrested for (of course, both were played by Catherine Bell). Some continuity issues, but a good episode nonetheless.

Rewatching this after a while, I forgot how good a political thriller "Clear and Present Danger" is.

Whilst the story of a secret CIA-run drug war in Colombia gone horribly wrong could not hope to replicate the intricacies of the Tom Clancy novel on which it is based, the script writers have crafted a movie that starts off slowly, setting the scene and establishing the players, before coming home with a wet sail.

Harrison Ford is supreme as Jack Ryan. He is the best Ryan there ever has or will be. I thought Willem Dafoe played John Clark with the necessary edge and enjoyed the performances of Henry Czerny as Ritter and Harris Yulin as Cutter, the two (American) protagonists. Joaquim de Almedia as Cortez, the real bad guy, was pretty good as well. James Earl Jones had limited screen time as Ryan's mentor, James Greer.

Spectacular action sequences (especially those in the jungle) interposed with Washington intrigue makes for a well-rounded movie. You know, it might even be better than "The Hunt for Red October," which is often mentioned as being the best Jack Ryan movie of all.

Director Taika Waititi brought the best parts of "Thor: Ragnarok" to the sequel, but the New Zealander, who also stars as the voice of Korg, couldn't - and you'll pardon the pun here, I hope - make lighting strike twice.

There were times when I thought I was watching a parody of Thor as we knew him from earlier movies. The jokes that worked in "Ragnarok" didn't work here. The scenes with Zeus (Russell Crowe, one of many Australian or New Zealand actors and actresses featuring) were just dumb and don't even get me started on the goats.

A film that could have been better and arguably should have been better. Hemsworth was a shadow of his former monolithic self and Christian Bale, barely recognisable, wasn't really all that much of a villain. Not even Natalie Portman's return as fan favourite Dr Jane Foster or Waititi as Korg could save this one. Unfortunately. Best the shelve Thor if this is as good as it gets.

Niagara Falls is the backdrop for this Jocelyn Hudon (one of my favourites) /Dan Jeanotte vehicle and arguably should receive top billing with the two stars, as the scenery is nothing short of spectacular.

The plot is similar to what we've seen before: Hudon's Madeline is a very organised organiser whose fiance gets annoyed with that trait and breaks up with her five weeks before the wedding. And five weeks before their Niagara Falls honeymoon (which she has planned to the hour), so Madeline goes with her sister and there meets Jeanotte's Mike, a tour guide who is Madeline's opposite. He teaches her to step outside of her comfort zone...and of course, after some early hostility, they fall in love. It's your classic Hallmark plot, nothing new or imaginative.

However, "Falling in Love in Niagara" works thanks to the stunning backdrop - at times it's like a travel doco / love letter to Niagara Falls - and the chemistry between Hudon and Jeanotte, which is off-the-charts good.

Pound for pound, the best of the Clancy novel adaptions, fractionally beating out Patriot Games. Of course, you can hardly expect the movie versions of these Jack Ryan thrillers to be anywhere near as good as the books, given the many intricate plot lines (that play out in length fashion) and details Clancy has in his novels - there simply isn't time in a movie to include them all. Director John McTiernan and the writers have captured the gist of what is an undeniably thrilling story.

Alec Baldwin is just okay as Jack Ryan. This might be the best Ryan movie but he trails Harrison Ford as the best Jack Ryan.

Sean Connery, despite his complete abandonment of anything approaching a Russian accent, does a good job bringing Captain Marko Ramius, who wants to defect to the United States with a brand-new Russian attack submarine, alive. One of Connery's more iconic roles.

Courtney B. Vance, Sam Neill, James L. Jones, Joss Ackland, Stellan Skarsgard and Tim Curry - all good.

Less of a balls-to-the-wall actioner than some might have expected but there is tension - below the ocean surface and in the halls of power in Washington D. C. - aplenty.

A great film!

For a TV movie, "Sahara" had very good production values allowing for some impressive battle sequences, and a strong cast including the headliner, Jim Belushi as Sergeant Joe Gunn of the US Army Tank Detachment, and some good Australian actors including Mark Lee (of "Gallipoli" fame) and Underbelly's Simon Westaway.

An uncomplicated movie, where the desert is as much the enemy as Rommel's Afrika Korps was, set shortly before the events of the Battle of El Alamein and after the Fall of Tobruk, Gunn's tank picks up a motley crew of British and Australian soldiers stranded in the desert, and they must find water whilst retreating to rejoin Allied forces to make a stand.

There are a few cliched moments, but that's to be expected in a film like this - Westaway's Australian soldier, Williams, is straight from Central Casting. They certainly don't make it any less watchable.

It would have been a straight ten star rating for me, except for one thing: the portrayal of United States Marine Corps Colonel Everett, who arrives from Earth with a detachment of soldiers to hold Atlantis against the Wraith threat and sets about stamping his authority for better or worse, but mostly for worse. I almost preferred the Genii, who have a cameo in the season finale, to Everett.

Clayton Landey is the actor responsible and he has put in one of the all-time shocking performances. In fact "shocking" really doesn't do his efforts justice.

Other than that, "The Siege: Part 2" was high on thrills and tension as the Wraith attack Atlantis. There are some really cool action scenes and the season finale fades to black with Sheppard on a heroic mission... I guess we'll have to wait until next season to find out what happens.

"The Siege: Part 1" is - as you would expect from the title - the first of a double episode to close out the first Stargate: Atlantis season and it is a good one.

With the Wraith approaching, there is no time to lose. McKay thinks an Ancient weapon can be repaired in time and head off to try and make that happen. Elsewhere, the tension between Teyla and Bates reaches boiling point. The latter thinks the former is a serious risk to the Atlantis team since it was revealed that she has some Wraith tendencies, especially when under their influence. And there are suggestions of a Wraith spy on Atlantis...

A spectacular ending to the episode sets up the season one finale perfectly.

There is so much going on here and it's so messy, confusing and lengthy that I don't know where to start.

The story is centered around Barry Allen aka The Flash, The Justice League has expanded with heroes pulled from the various earths of the Multiverse to fight back against the Anti-Monitor, which is out to destroy all the earths. Barry must get tired moving from one universe to another.

There are more costumed superheroes than you can poke a stick at, and other DC favourites like Lois Lane and some bad guys, with a talented cast of actors voicing these characters. But it's all too helter-skelter to be any good.

Suffice it to say, there have been many far better WB Animation movies featuring the Justice League than this one. The second instalment can only get better. Hopefully...

The first use - that I can remember, anyway - of a dream sequence in Stargate: Atlantis. Also, the first episode that is centered wholly around Teyla, one of the more interesting characters. Been waiting for this kind of episode.

In "The Gift", she is haunted by nightmares and ends up finding out via an elderly Athonosian woman that she can sense the presence of the Wraith. It turns out that she is actually part Wraith, thanks to genetic experimentation in the past. Teyla can even communicate with the Wraith, though when she is under their influence, it's as though she is an extension of them...which is definitely bad news for the Atlantis crew.

A strong episode with a cliffhanger.

Letters from Pegasus picks up where the last episode, "The Brotherhood" left off...with the Wraith fleet ("an alien armada," according to McKay) is bearing down on Atlantis and things don't look good.

Thankfully - to a point, anyway - McKay is able to come up with a way to get messages back to earth. The Atlantis team have the chance to record limited personnel communiques. Except for Teyla and Sheppard, who are off spying on the Wraith fleet, on yet another primitive planet, with specific orders not to take on the entire enemy fleet.

A bittersweet episode with the Atlantis crew facing their mortality and recording messages for their loved ones. Declarations of love, as well. And some record their gripes, too.

Sheppard and Teyla disagree initially about getting natives off the planet before the Wraith arrive. Then they witness the Wraith culling a village.

Samantha Tapping has a cameo right at the end of the episode as her Stargate: SG1 character, Samantha Carter.

Not as good as the previous episode, but you get through to the end, through all the usual drama that comes with strange races and the ever-present Wraith threat, and you realise it's only the beginning of the crisis - cool mini-cliffhanger to whet our appetites for the next episode.

This episode sees the return of the Genii, who are always looking for ways to cause Sheppard and co trouble - you can always guarantee there'll be drama and some good action when the Genii are involved. And it also guarantees that Major Sheppard will get a chance to go full-commando, which is never a bad thing.

There's a mysterious brotherhood and the presence of a deep-space scanner is revealed.

Off the top, it's hard not to agree with the vast majority of previous reviews: "Before I Sleep" is the best episode of Stargate: Atlantis so far. Good acting, a good script and an original story that was very engrossing. The forty-two minute episode flew by.

Sheppard figures out - somehow - that it is Dr Weir's birthday and presents her with a token to mark the occasion. Then, when patrolling through a laboratory, the Atlantis crew find a woman who has been frozen for thousands of years. The big surprise? That person is a time-travelling Dr Weir, who hails from an alternate timeline, where the Atlantis mission didn't quite happen as it did in this timeline.

The final chapter of Masters of the Air was as good as I expected, with American POWs sent on an unrelenting march through the bitter German countryside, assailed by snow, wind and sleet and freezing temperatures, as their German captors tried to keep them away from advancing Allied forces. The scenes where the camp they end up in is finally liberated will definitely tug at your heart strings.

Ultimately, the war ends and the men of the Bloody Hundredth are left to take stock. The last 15-20 minutes were very poignant, as was the information about the main protagonists. Well done to those in charge of casting: they really nailed it.

Brilliant television from start to finish. And a fitting tribute to the men who flew countless missions over occupied Europe, often paying the ultimate price. We should be thankful, as the world we live in today is in large part thanks to their bravery.

Lots going on. The June 6 1944 D-Day raids over Normandy take place during the first third of the episode, and there are some stunning visuals of planes flying over the enormous Allied fleet, then over the invasion beaches. "Masters of the Air" is nothing if not visually spectacular.

For the first time, Tuskegee airmen feature - not before time, either. The African American pilots are going after French targets in support of the D-Day invasions, and face race-related roadblocks for promotion, not to mention taunting by Germans when they are shot down and captured. That these men continued to fight and die is quite a story of heroism. They deserve a miniseries of their own, really.

Meanwhile, the rest of the downed Allied airmen learn of D-Day and the Russian's breaching German borders and are left to ponder and prepare for what that might mean for them in the future.

There are two key storylines running through the seventh episode: the fate of those downed fliers who are German POWs deep behind enemy lines trying to get every little scrap of information about the progress of the war and when/if they might be rescued...and the men of the Bloody Hundredth who are still flying missions over Germany and especially over the heart of Nazism, Berlin.

Black Monday - March 6, 1944, three months before the D-Day invasions - is referenced early on, as a notably horrific day for American forces. The Hundredth is not spared.

Rosenthal's crew makes their twenty-fifth successful mission, which is the threshold to send them home. But there is news on that front that truly upsets the pilots, and Rosie himself makes a momentous decision.

"Human beings weren't meant to behave this way," is perhaps the most poignant and correct line of all that have been uttered to this point. Not meant to behave...but somehow we did, and do. Food for thought.

A tense episode. I like how 'Masters of the Air' doesn't just show the fate of the pilots in the air, but also those who are lucky - or perhaps unlucky - to be shot down and survive. The scenes of Americans landing in Germany and set upon by the local populace who call them "terror bombers" (rough, but understandable) are very hard to watch at times. Well done, but hard to watch. That's the mark of good TV though.

Enjoyed hearing the "Over-paid, over-sexed and over here," to describe the American forces in Britain. This was a popular saying here in Australia when the United States Marine Corps arrived in places like Melbourne.

Strong episode. Again.

There is a lot that can be said (and probably has been said at this point) about The Fifth Element, but the main thing is that the movie is undeniably a truckload of fun.

A good versus evil storyline (who doesn't love one of those?), Hollywood superstar Bruce Willis plays Major Korben Dallas with a wink and a nod to the audience, the action is almost as over-the-top as the personalities of some of the other characters - I'm looking at you, Chris Tucker - there are one-liners galore, and the visuals are just brilliant. And, honestly, who doesn't love a movie where the bad guy is played by Garry Oldman. He does it better than most.

From start to finish, "The Fifth Element" delivers A-grade entertainment.

More than halfway through the first season of Stargate: Atlantis and in "Sanctuary", we see a more diplomatic side - and, dare we say it, romantic side? - of Major Sheppard. By now, we all know he can get into and out of a gunfight like it's nobody's business, but seeing him take care of business sans a machine gun was a good piece of character development for Atlantis' main military man.

The Wraith loom large over this episode, as they have over pretty much every one so far. Sheppard and the Atlantis crew meet with a high priestess from what seems like a fairly primitive and spiritual race about a weapon that keeps the Wraith at arm's length.