Reviews

This movie borrows heavily from the earlier Austin Powers films (notably the second one). Fans of SNL will even catch glimpses of Mike's characters from his time on that show. What remains is wall-to-wall toilet humor. Furthermore, his portrayals of Austin and especially Dr Evil are not as consistent and focused as the first two movies. If you are a die-hard fan, there is enough here to get some reasonable laughs and not feel cheated. Otherwise, stick with the first two movies.

I can't figure out why people are going gaga over this movie. From a technical standpoint, its solid. The fighting scenes are exciting and well executed. But beyond that, what is there to like? There is no social context to speak of. The characters are one-dimensional. The story itself is frusturating and uninspiring. I was hoping for something patriotic and uplifting, but got neither.

The PG-13 rating was created, in part, to account for movies like this that are more violent than a straight "PG" would indicate. However, this movie has inexplicably not been re-rated to PG-13 since its release. Be forewarned that it contains dark scenes and intensely violent imagery (a man getting his heart ripped out while still alive then getting lowered into lava). This film would obviously get a PG-13 rating today.

The first "Babe" has a consistently mystical feel that makes the movie wonderful to watch. "Pig in the City" also creates a feeling, but it is more of a detached haze that is somewhere between enjoyment and horror. The first movie has many touching moments that generate actual emotion, while most "touching" scenes in this movie seem somewhat forced. Also, various scenes go on way to long (the dog chase, the raid, and the restaurant). It still adds up to a quality movie, but it's not the masterpiece the first movie is.

I found this mini-series quite entertaining. However, don't be fooled by the advertising or the title... All the promotional material featured scenes of New York scenery transforming into mountains and castles and such. It looked like it the premise would be that there was some rift from a fantasy world into our world, which would have been pretty cool. But actually, nearly all the action took place in the fantasy world, with only passing references to the "10th Kingdom". But all in all it was a solid story with an average degree of predictablilty. It was also set up for a sequel, which would definitely be worth watching.

For all the Homicide junkies out there, this movie was great! Every single character that ever was on the show made an appearance in the movie. It helped to resolve some (but not all) issues from the series. Unfortunately, unless you actually did watch the series, most of the enjoyment would be lost, as the movie made heavy references to every season of the show's existence. This probably would have been appropriate as a series finale as opposed to being a separate movie, but we gotta take what we can get. I hope they make more movies, and continue to feature Homicide characters on Law and Order.

This movie was ok the first time I saw it, but the second time it was great. I was not prepared for the Jar Jar character, and I probably payed too much attention to him - the next time around I was prepared, and the movie was much more balanced and thoroughly entertaining. Is Phantom Menace as good as the originals? Its really impossible to say - the original Star Wars transcended the screen and became a social phenomenon. Phantom Menace can not and does not try to live up these standards - its impossible. I think people have dumped on it because they expected a mystical experience - but as with many other movies, if you actively look for it you may miss it. And don't forget that this move is part 1 of a new trilogy, who knows what Lucas has in store. Would "The Empire Strikes Back" have been considered a good movie if "Jedi" hadn't followed it? Before we reserve final judgement, lets see what George Lucas, a master storyteller, has to offer.

Seeing this movie can be dangerous business. One would think that the combination of two great stars such as Beatty + Hoffman would generally end up as entertaining. This movie must be the exception that proves this rule. Unless everything else in the video store has been rented, and your cable is broken, and you have removed all the grout from your bathroom tiles, I would avoid this movie.

Home Movies is one of the more sophisticated shows on television right now. It bears many similarities to the show Dr. Katz, another excellent show. How often does any show, animated or live action, deal with issues of growing up with a single parent? Its pretty rare - the pilot of Home Movies was one of the first shows I've seen that touch on this subject. The main character, Brendon, projects his hopes and fears into his rudimentary home movies. The humor is quick and easy to miss, the dialog come fast like a stream of consciousness. The animation is rudimentary, but this is obviously on purpose - the focus of this show is not the artwork but the dialog.

Too many people watch animated shows looking for obvious sight gags, contained in such shows as The Simpsons - they won't be found in this show however. The point of Home Movies is see how Brendon confronts his world - not to see a bunch of funny one liners and one time gags. This show displays a perceptiveness about life and a level of subtlety that is rarely matched. If you are tied to traditional notions of plot and artistic detail, I suggest you avoid this show because you probably wont like it. If you enjoy a departure from the norm and enjoy the finding and sharing the details of life, I heartily recommend Home Movies.

Very few shows on TV explore really bother to explore father-son relationships, and Frasier is perhaps the only one to deal with how a grown man relates to his father. The episode in which Frasier accidentally makes his father cry is one of the best: as soon as Frasier sees his father crying, he starts crying himself. Then Niles walks in, sees his father crying, and he starts crying too. It was one of the show's best moments, and few sitcoms rarely attain that level of emotion (maybe MASH and All in the Family). Watch this show!

This show was a spin-off from Ducktales, another highly successful Disney afternoon series. Darkwing Duck chronicles the adventures of Drake Mallard aka Darkwing Duck and his sidekick Launchpad McQuack (directly imported from Ducktales, my favorite character). What made this show really work though was the villains - Megavolt, Quackerjack, and my favorite, the sinister Negaduck. It never took itself too seriously, and always was a good time. Definitely worth checking out in reruns.

Now that Mike Judge has made a fortune off Beavis and Butthead, he gets to do what he wants - thankfully his creativity extends far beyond the crude (though very funny) humor of his previous series. KOTH has its share of humor, but I think it shines because of the perceptiveness it displays about life. The series is full of very touching moments between Hank and his son Bobby, which rang very true with me, since I am an only child (Hank has a narrow urethra, so Bobby is his only offspring). All in all, this is a great show to watch, and I hope it stays on the air for a long time.

One of the main problems (and features) with The Simpsons was a lack of internal continuity - the first 10 minutes of the show rarely had anything to do with the ending. Now this is fine, but after 10 seasons that style has run its course.

Futurama solves these problems by providing a better formed premise and room for continuing storylines. Already we have the large premise of "The Future". Then there is the storyline of the professor and the delivery company. Finally, the episodes already aired have a strong internal consistency which the Simpsons always lacked - the final closet gag from episode 2 is a good example. From a purely plot standpoint, Futurama is much more satisfying to watch.

But is it as funny? From what I've seen so far, I think so - its definitely funnier than the Simpsons have been the past few years. And there is no reason to think that the show wont get funnier as time goes on. The characters have come together nicely, and I really look forward to seeing how they develop. Good work Matt!