Reviews

...but now we call them discriminating call girls who investigate men's finances and who won't sleep with a rich man without that marriage license. And forget that "it was harmless and it was also the times". Lynching was part of the times, also. So was sex discriminating. Does that mean the woman that Emmet Till whistled at was "empowered" by getting him lynched for looking at her sexually and not as a whole human? And don't think I'm being way too heavy. If these women had not found true love and married lovelessly rich men, they would have deprived their wealthy husbands of wives who truly cared for them. What if today we made a film about guys who only wanted to marry busty blondes with tiny waists. And one of the jokes would be "are you a man or a girl?" Also funny, what if, any time up to just a few years ago, a rich young guy married a girl who loved and cared for him who only made love to her dutifully and passionless a couple of times a month because, you see, he was gay and needed a cover. That would be a riot, wouldn't it? No? Gays have had it worse much worse than females for a lot longer and it's never been illegal to be a woman. So I think marrying for cover has rich comedic gold. You?

This is not a joke or an expression of sarcasm. But before I start praising this film, I need to address 2 science complaints made about TTFAW. First, what good would be achieved by saving a few seeds for study? What good would aliens get if THEY stole some newly born humans and raised them? Would they learn anything about our technology or defense systems or capabilities? No, of course not. And neither would we learn anything from growing little Things in an earth environment except what was learned in the film. And two, why would a group of our top scientists push for examining the Thing in a non-sterile setting? They wouldn't, and to the film's credit only about half of the scientists belong in the "I want my Christmas present NOW!" group.

Here is what makes this film the GOAT: 1. Only two human characters die in this ww3, and they are never shown, only named. Could have been a bloodbath of Eskimos and minor characters.

2. NIKKI NEVER SCREAMS! Compare that to, say, the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Plus, she tells the military how to fight the Thing and is the first to spot the Big Freeze.

3. The movie is defiantly pro sex, right down to its last double-entendre. The first (after a couple of typical HAWKSian references to anal sex) is this: try to untangle the evening date/sleepover in Anchorage 3 weeks prior to the start of the film. As in when would NIKKI have had the chance to see Capt. Henry's legs if she hadn't slept with him? The weather would have been just as cold and blizzard-y, so no need for bermuda shorts. The censors fell asleep on that one.

4. the military boys mock atomic energy and atomic bombs even though as career Air Force men they would still be bombing Japan without the two atomic bombs shortening the war.

5. Ned Scott reports that Dr. Carrington was injured in the struggle against the Thing. And the co-pilot says "Good for you, Scottie." 6. When Ned quips "they'll probably make you a general for destroying evidence they were wrong" he was right. Hawks was against bureaucracy no matter the scale and viewed self-perpetuating bureaucracies as being by their very existences anti-human.

See if you can find another movie that touches all these bases and I'll show you...another copy of TTFAW.

Ever listen to an album or read a book or see a painting that you found compelling but no one else around you could even tolerate? Gypsy is like that. Ever see the movie Unfaithful and wonder why Diane Lane's character was willing to risk everything in her life for her affair? 'Excitement' doesn't really answer the question. Gypsy does. And Watts actually lays it all out in speech about school bullying at the very end of the season. It's all about power, power and control and secrecy, all of which add up to excitement. And that kind of excitement is so full of power that it's impossible to walk away from...if you can pull it off. She goes for Sydney because of Sam's description of her. She wants to test her sexual power against the younger woman's sexual power. And she wins. Sophie Cookson never stood a chance against the screen's sexiest woman alive - Naomi Watts. I half expected Watts to seduce Sam just to show him what real excitement was. As for the other characters, Watts wants to fix one and is apparently grooming the other (Allison) to be a submissive...whatever Watts wants to do with/to her. I also doubt that gender plays a part in State's scheming; she merely uses what/who comes her way as a therapist. And she's probably already discovered that men are too easy. After all, Jean is played by NAOMI F. WATTS!!! I was surprised that those suburban husbands weren't lining up to make a play for her. But then men were probably too intimidated by her looks - you can't cast a Watts or a Kidman or a Paltrow and ask her to play an average woman; do that, and you're asking viewers to watch science fiction. Gypsy is like an album by the velvet underground or Roxy music or a Faulkner novel or a Rothko painting. It sucks you into its own beauty and artistry and truth whether you like it or not.

I don't care how well acted, well produced, well written, and well designed this episode was (and it was all these things), I want Alarm/Ms. Sage!!!!!!!! She's capable of being hot,cute, sexy, and sweet at the same time. And also very charismatic. In fact, I hoped she and Capt. Mercer would come together romantically because he's not in the least intimidated by her physical strength. This may ruin the show for me. Goddamn MacFarlane and everyone who advocated Halston's departure from THE ORVILLE!

A few good plot holes, the always great Kevin Bacon, and nothing else. Plot Holes:

Tom Cruise: His character magically becomes a great trial lawyer his first time in a courtroom!! He APOLOGIZES TO DEMI MOORE AFTER THE SCREWUP(?) OF ALL HER SCREWUPS!!! She did not know where her client was at a key moment(?), This after her bungling objection to the doctor and her lie to her client about returning to his unit (which to be fair Cruise didn't know about)......but this is a big Hollywood American movie and the attractive lead female actress has to be treated with kid gloves, no matter what she does.

Jack.Nicholson's star is on the rise: he's to be the new operations manager for some national intelligence unit. Yet a Lieutenant goads him into a Perry Mason moment that has an easy calm answer: "Why the two orders? Because I'm not perfect. Because my Marines, though, the best in the world, are not perfect. Because even though up to now, my orders have always been obeyed, I recognized how incendiary this situation was. It's peacetime and peacetime Marine's are chomping at the bit to kick some ass. So I decided to play it safe. My Marine's always follow my orders but there's a first time for everything. So I played it safe." He should have admitted everything from, calmly and PROUDLY. "This is an accident in training. I'm deeply sorry for Santiago, but the cold truth is that it was an accident." Admitting this from the start would therefore put the heart of the movie front and center: who defends us and how do, they behave. Demi Moore: What is Internal Affairs doing inserting itself into an ongoing trial? They're supposed to be an after the fact unit. Everything she does screws up the defense. I guess she'll arrest herself once she completes the paperwork. Everything about her character screams Protect Jack Nicholson's character at all costs! She lies, she bungles, she bullies, she taunts Cruise. Only Kevin Bacon seems to know what is partially going on and warns Cruise about calling 'Nicholson to the stand. He tells Cruise this as his best friend and personal lawyer. Only the absurd Perry Mason moment, the deus ex machina, saves the day. Something to think about: remember the original MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE? Remember Janet Leigh's bizarre character? The writer told the director who told William Friedman that she only made sense if she was a Soviet agent assigned to seduce Sinatra's character in order to keep an eye on the investigation. The writer (Richard Condon)could 't understand why no one picked up on Leigh's ridiculous behavior. The same goes for Demi Moore's character. She's a saboteur, working for the very top brass.

Originally this was a play about how best to defend this country and the correct way those at the 'sharp end' (the men and women on the front lines) should conduct themselves during peacetime, no matter how shaky the 'peace.' Writer Aaron Sorkin took no sides, although you could feel his sympathy lay with Col. Jessup and Lt. Kendricks, even though no one outside the military would want to hang around with them as friends. But something happened to the story on its way to the screen: Rob Reiner. Listen to the dvd commentary and you'll discover that he saw a much different play than the rest of the world. Reiner saw a play about himself and his attempt to get out from under the shadow of his legendary father Carl Reiner. He had zero interest in what makes career military personnel tick or how they behave. He instantly decided 'Nicholson bad, Cruise good' and quickly moved on to what he felt was the real.story: Rob Reiner vs. Carl Reiner. Look at the film and think about a few things that make no sense. First, Jessup is supposed to be a star on the rise, the future director of operations for the NSC. That he would provide a Perry Mason moment and erupt in anger under the rather easily dismissable questioning of a Lt. J.g. is ludicrous. If he felt caught by Cruise, a future Ops Director would calmly state his position regarding the training of young men who are placed at the very front of a peacetime military's potential hot spots. Ask any combat veteran about his training, and he or she will tell you that nothing can approximate the terror and chaos of a suddenly hot war. They will also tell you 'the tougher the training and discipline, the better. And if people die in training, it's tragic but unavoidable. Second, Tom Cruise goes from a plea-bargaining lawyer to the best trial lawyer in the Navy in sixty seconds flat. Actually, he didn't win the case; Jessup handed it to him by going to pieces on the stand. Thank God for the NSC that he revealed his volatile nature before his 'star' rose any further. Third and most glaringly ridiculous is Demi Moore's Internal Affairs lawyer Lt. Cmdr Jo Galloway. She weasels her way onto the defense team, putting her supposedly impartial finger on the scales and siding with the defense instead of watching both sides and presenting any reports or judgements after the trial. Do police internal affairs cops go on ride-alongs to prevent law enforcement wrongdoing? Of course not! It would make no sense. Fourth, Galloway proves time after time after time that she has no business being in a courtroom on EITHER side, prosecution OR defense, and a capital murder case is no place for on the job training. She lies to Downey about his being able to return to his unit, she doesn't verify his whereabouts when Kendrick orders the code red, she pushes Cruise to put Jessup on the stand and 'GET' the Perry Mason moment from him, without having the slightest idea as to how to do such an impossible thing, and once Cruise agrees to such a ridiculous (or seemingly ridiculous)thing, she warns him just before entering the courtroom that if he goes too far, she essentially would have to recommend that he be court-martial. Given her lies to her client, her colossal blunders, and her push-pull about questioning Jessup on the stand, she should arrest herself after the trial or at least disbarred herself. Six, what does Tom Cruise do after yelling at her after her biggest mistake (in completely justified anger) and her fantasy of 'getting' an under-oath confession from Jessup? Cruise APOLOGIZES to her!! I guess that Reiner lives in a completely whipped world where attractive females can do no wrong and must be knelt before. Seven, the only way Galloway makes sense in this movie is that she's there to sabotage the defense and protect Jessup. That and only that would explain her actions, probably as an order from above and possibly as Jessie's sometime lover. Seven, Dawson and Downey would, in the real world, be found guilty of voluntary manslaughter at the least. After all, they DID cause the death of Santiago while commiting assault upon him, a horrific assault. And the 'only following orders' defense has NEVER worked, not for Nazis, not for Calley, nor for Manson Family followers. Never, never, never. Only a Presidential pardon saved Calley. This is a slick, facile piece of pop entertainment if you put your brain on hold and don't think. Still, somewhere deep in this piece of cheese is a good movie about the collision of military and civilian mores. Oliver Stone would have been the perfect director;say what you want about his politics, the man KNOWS war and it's uneasy relationship to the home front. And he knows EXACTLY who fights in wars, what is expected of them, and what it takes to win. This movie gets four stars for only one reason: the presence of Kevin Bacon as Cruise's best friend, attorney-of-record, and the only voice of reason within miles of this movie, probably because Reiner has no interest in the government's case. Rob Reiner is of course known first and foremost as a romantic comedy director; this movie did nothing to change that. Cindy Dare