Lunch With the Telly

 Yeah. I watch TV. DEAL.

Many (not all)* of my generation were the first TV generation. With multiple channels (sometimes as many as FIVE!), the rise of prime time, local shows from Afternoon movies to children's shows like Bozo or jumping Kenny Rogers, Saturday Morning Cartoons, and the advent of LIVING COLOR, TV was spectacular! Especially for an imaginative introvert like me.

Now that I am retired (for the most part) and with dozens of channels and streaming services, I could turn to an Ursula with a remote.

But I haven't. I still have my prime time habit. The big difference is I no longer have to be at the TV at a set time, or I miss the show. I don't even have to record a show on a VHS tape (like I often had to do with Buffy). I can call up any of tens of thousands of programs when I'm ready to watch.

During the rest of the day, there is not much. I used to watch morning news, but they've all been swallowed by right-wing media moguls, blathering far-right talking points. Even MSNOW has the interminably awful Joe Scarborough.

About the only thing in the daytime now is an occasional soccer game.

And, of course, my lunch program.

I'm a den eater. I like to eat while watching something. Particularly when it's just me. So, I have my lunchtime program.

I rotate between watching three programs. They change over time, as I complete different series. These are the three I'm rotating between now -

Smallville, which I am currently in Season 9, is part of a broader Superman re-watch that I have been doing for several years. I started with the Max Fleischer cartoons of the forties and have been moving forward chronologically. This includes movies (Christopher Reeve Superman), cartoons (Superman: The Animated Series), and TV shows (The Adventures of Superman)**

Currently, Season 9 puts me in 2009 of my re-watch. I like Smallville. Tom Welling does a good job of portraying a young Clark Kent. Erica Durance is outstanding as Lois Lane, capturing her wise-cracking intensity and bold spirit.

Sometimes the storylines are repetitive, focusing too much on characters being possessed so that the actors can present a different personality. And the WB network made teenage angst a specialty. But over the years, they presented a good number of characters from the DC comics. Green Arrow is portrayed by Justin Hartley, who went on to some minor series like This Is Us and Tracker.

I usually watch half a season at a time, one episode each lunch hour.

After that, the next one in rotation is -

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, filling my mystery/anthology slot.

Before this, I watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a half-hour anthology that ran seven seasons. Any anthology series will have a mix of really great episodes with some meh episodes. It's amazing how many spouses wanted to kill each other.

For someone of my age, seeing some of the actors I recognize from that time is fascinating. Some are in their pre-movie star phase, such as Robert Redford.

I usually watch six episodes before rotating to -

The Avengers, filling my spy/SCiFi slot.

I'm in season 3, and Emman Peel isn't even in it yet. John Steed's partner is Honor Blackman, who played the Bond girl, Pussy Galore, in Goldfinger.

The episodes are ok, in black and white, with cheap sets. Sometimes the episodes are suggestive of what's to come as it veers more into camp and sci-fi. I'm patient, though. We'll get there.

Earlier this slot was filled with The Man From U.N.C.L.E, a favorite from my youth. I still have Season 4 to see, but I have to buy that. It's not accessible any other way.

This is all courtesy of the power of streaming.  

Happy viewing - whatever your cup of tea and crumpet!

**I mean, all of that generation were in that TV era - just not all became as absorbed in it as I did. In fourth grade, some of my classmates proclaimed loudly that they NEVER watched TV.  Then those same classmates did a skit in class based on The Jack Parr show (the forerunner to Johnny Carson). At the time, I didn't even know who the hell that was.

* Those mentioned are just examples of each category.  There are a number of others, such as The Adventures of Lois & Clark, where Dean Cain, the far-right extremist and short-lived ICE agent, plays Superman.  To be fair, I did not know that when the show was originally on.

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 65 - 59

  I received this issue of Remind, or what Alison calls "my old people magazine," which ranks the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does feature many pop culture stories, primarily from the 1950s through the 1990s, though there are references to earlier decades as well. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, and "where are they now" issues, among others. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts on them. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own on a 1 to 10 scale. I am starting to grade some movies by fraction, such as grading a 7 as 7.3.  

65)

Mad Max

Year: 1979  IMDb: 6.8 Tom: 6.3  Had I seen before?   No?  Service found on: HBO MAX

No quite what I was expecting.  More of a revenge picture, with more muted elements of dystopian science fiction than I was expecting. Nevertheless, Mel Gibson plays his role well, and the basic story is good, if not that surprising.  The sequels were right to play up the more "future gone bad" elements of it, and the vehicle racing scenes. 

64)

The Invisible Man

Year: 1933  IMDb: 7.3  Tom: 7.1  Had I seen before?   No  Service found on: Library Rental

Being a huge H.G Wells fan, I find it hard to beleive I hadn't seen this before.  Securing this movie was a real challenge, and that may be part of why.  It took a while for even the library to find a copy for me.  I rhought it might be timid in showing The Invisible Man in broader settings, but it included village scenes, and that the invisibility had driven him mad. Claude Rains is amazing projecting a complex character descending into madness, even as he is wrapped from head to toe. 

63)

 Men In Black

 

Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.3  Tom: 8.0  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Starz

I found this movie quite enjoyavble. A delightful and surprising assortment of clever aliens, this is a great blend of comedy and scifi action. Both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Johns are on their A game, and make a great team, with real chemistry and charisma.  Sometimes you rewatch a movie, and it does not live up to your memories of it.  Not so with this one! 

62)

 

 Westworld

 

Year: 1973  IMDb: 6.9 Tom: 7.7  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Prime Rental

Some ports of this were very pro forma.  But, overall, it's another one I found better than I remembered.  Although concentreated on Westworld, they do show other parks, and I enjoyed that.  Yul Brynner as the relentless gunslinger android was top notch.  It was lees than two hours, so it clearly couIdn't get into the depths that that the excellent (if often confusing) TV series could.  But you got the gist - wealthy elites using everyone else as background players in their little dramas.   

61)

Them!

Year: 1954  IMDb: 7.2 Tom: 6.6  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Fawsome

Giant ants!  And boy, are they mean! The first of the "big bug" movie, and one that played on the fear of the use of atomic weapons, and the damage that may come just from testing.  The beginning and middle is better than the ending.  Over the course of the movie, they become less of a threat in that they are fairly easily put down. The real threat lies in their ability to colonize almost faster than they can be eliminated. And the implication that this might not be the last mutation coming out of the atomic era.  And from cinema, at least, it wasn't the last one.  Atomic mutation became a popular theme for decades to come.

60)

 The Incredible Shrinking Man

  Year: 1957  IMDb: 7.6  Tom: 7.1  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Prime Rental

Speaking of playing off of the atomic theme, going through a cloud of radioactive pesticides results in a man who is slowly shrinking.  As he goes through the unrelenting stages, he befriends some little people (until he shrinks smaller than them), lives in a doll house and is threatened by the family cat (chased into the basement), and duels with a spider.  The ending is more bleak than I remembered.  It tries to play it off as a cosmic wonder, but I'm not buying it.  Ant Man he is not. There is no clear promise of some wondrous sub-atomic universe.  Adapted from a story by Richard Matheson, one of our most cinematic science fiction writers, who also wrote the book Psycho is based on.

59)

 

The Fifth Element

  Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.6  Tom: 7.5  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Pluto                                                                                TV

There are a number of movies on this list that use dreamy or borderline incoherent themes, like Barbarella, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and they don't always hit the mark with me as they do with some people.  The Fifth Element is the exception that proves the rule.  I like its quirkiness and the strange places it goes. It has many over-the-top characters and weird scenes. And for the most part, I loved it.  I had forgotten how much I like Bruce Willis, and Gary Oldman's character was a lot of fun. There has been some modern criticism of Leeloo's costuming, but, in the context of the movie, it made a lot of sense. I enjoyed revisiting this movie.

 

As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

          70) Galaxy Quest 8

          68) Time After Time 8

          67) Superman 8 

          63) Men In Black 8  

Next up? We have a challenging dystopian dietary choice, John Carpenter's purest sceince fiction opus, a raging virus, Dsvid Bowir, who goes there?, and the bad days of not partying in 1999.

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 72 - 66

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 72 - 66

  I received this issue of Remind, or what Alison calls "my old people magazine," which ranks the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does have many pop culture stories, focusing primarily on the 1950s through the 1990s, although there are some references to earlier decades as well. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, and "where are they now" issues, among others. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts on them. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own on a 1 to 10 scale.

72)

Silent Running

Year: 1972  IMDb: 6.6 Tom: 5  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Classic Movies & TV

Interesting in theory, kind of dull in execution.  Burce Dern plays a man determined to keep what may be the last plant life/forest left, one that is in a domed bubble on a spaceship. There is still life on Earth.  How it's getting along without vegetation, I'm not sure.  Lots of bits with robots.  

71)

 THX 1138

 

Year: 1971  IMDb: 6.6 Tom: 6  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

This is George Lucas's first work, and it started as a student film!  Given that, it's pretty good. Robert Duvall, in an early role, effectively plays the man trying to escape a dystopian society. Francis Ford Coppola even had a hand in getting the film made.  I found it a little disjointed, and some of the plot hard to follow, but it did have an effective dystopian feel to it.  

70)

Galaxy Quest

Year: 1999  IMDb: 7.4 Tom: 8  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Pluto TV

Great send up of 60s style science fiction, especailly Star Trek.  Humorous, with above average special effects and make up/costuming (special notr to Sigourney Weaver).  This is and the first Santa Clause movie are the only things I've seen Tim Allen in, including TV series. All the characters are enjoyable, especially Alan Rickman as the frustrated Spock stand-in. I enjoyed the oportunity to see it again, and it held up pretty well! 

 69)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Year: 1975  IMDb: 7.4 Tom: 6  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Prime Purchase

When the phrase cult classic comes to mind, this is the first one people think of.  Some places had (or maybe even have) this film running at midnight, with attendees wearing outfits from it, and chanting well-known lines.  Me? I thought it was okay, good but not worthy of worship.  Tim Allen romps through this move with as much joy and verve as I've ever seen from an acting performance.  I do love the song Time Warp.

68) 

Time After Time

 

Year: 1979  IMDb: 7 Tom: 8  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

Time travel? Yes, please!  HG Wells? Oh, thank you! A romance that I actually cared about?  Yes!  I'm not a big romance person, but this one was so beleivable and affectionate, I couldn't resist.  Malcolm McDowall and Mary Steenbergen became a real-life couple, married for a while (in Hollywood, little lasts forever).  HG Wells, with the Time Machine used in his novel of the same name, pursues an escaped Jack the Ripper (played engagingly by David Warner) to 1970s San Francsico.  The time travel did not focus on paradoxes or how we can't change things, but instead delvered a fast paced story that made sense.

67)

Superman

Year: 1978  IMDb: 7.4  Tom: 8  Had I seen it before?   Yes!  Service found on: HBO Max

There a number of missteps in this movie, but there is also a lot to love.  Way too long is spent on the origin story.  Lex Luthor is played a bit too broadly by Gene Hackman. The flying around Earth to turn back time is quite a reach, even for a comic book superhero.  But Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman? Perfection!  The scenes with his Lois and the Daily Planet family? Loved it! And the montage of Superman's first super feats, rescuing kittens and interrupting robberies in progress?  As a lifelong Superman fan, it was the kind of stuff I had waited a lifetime to see.

Superman II was, up until that time, the movie that most effectively felt like a comic book.  And the 2025 Superman movie?  I can't even talk about that movie without breaking down into tears of joy. 

66)

Dune

A David Lynch extravaganza! I'm not sure if what I saw was an edited version, but the story unfolded okay until the last half hour, which rushed through almost half of the novel it's based on. It was et with atmosphere and some strong characters, but the scripting was shaky.

Year: 1984  IMDb: 6.7  Tom: 7  Had I seen before?   Yes!  Service found on: Netflix

As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

          70) Galaxy Quest 8

          68) Time After Time 8

          67) Superman 8 

Next up? We turn invisible, dress in black, rampage an amusement park, get small, and find a new element..

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 79 - 73

  I received this issue of Remind, or what Alison calls "my old people magazine," which ranks the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does have many pop culture stories, focusing primarily on the 1950s through the 1990s, although there are some references to earlier decades. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, where are they now issues, and much more. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own on a 1 to 10 scale.

79)

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Year: 1954  IMDb: 6.9 Tom: 6  Had I seen before?   No  Service found on: Flixhouse

Bits of  this seemed familiar, but I don't recall seeing it in it's entirety. This is not so much one of those movies about how humankind has caused mutations with their destructive acitivity, but more about our encroachment into areas where we're not supposed to be treading too hard. The creature is a predator, true, but it's mostly defending its territory, and all its moves are met with hostility. The overall feel is kinda retro, but I think it's underwater photography was actually ahead for its time.

78)

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Year: 1931  IMDb: 7.6 Tom: 7  Had I seen before? No Service found on: Classic Movies & TV

This is a great rendering of this classic tale, really quite sharp and dramitic.  Fredric March is incredible, winning his first Best Picture Oscar for his performance. It does back away from some of the seedier aspects of Hyde's personality. The ending does not quite lead up to the impact you would expect, but I find that true in a lot of movies. The monster is actually more vulnerable than you would expect.

77)

 

The Time Machine

Year: 1960  IMDb: 7.5 Tom: 8 Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Classic Movies & TV

My favorite author when I was young was H. G. Wells, so much so that in 7th grade I was determined that my writing career would use the pen name T. M. Strait.  Some of my love for his works came from his books and stories, but it also came from the movies. And one of the best was this 1960 adaption of The Time Machine.  Done with special effects flair by Director George Pal, and with the gifted Rod Taylor in the lead role, it was one of the first time travel movies I saw that really felt like a journey to the future.  Moving from 1899 with stops during the 20th Century, and then sweeping some 800,000 years into the future, reflecting an exaggeration of the social trends we see presently. 

76)

 

Night of the Comet

Year: 1984  IMDb: 6.3 Tom: 7 Had I seen before? Unsure  Service found on: MGM+

Maybe I've seen this before.  All I can say for sure is that this time it stood out to me more than I was expecting.  Valley girls surviving a horrible apocalypse brought on by a closely passing comet?  Sounds weird, but it was more quirky than stupid.  

75)

 The Truman Show

Year: 1998  IMDb: 8.0 Tom: 8 Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

Some movies don't age well.  This isn't one of them. It's theme, of our lives being more and more turned into a reality show, is more relevant than ever. And the special effects used still hold up.  Jim Carrey gives one of his strongest performances. I think more and more of us are questioning whether what's happening around us is real, or whether we are stuck in the Matrix.

74)

 

   Gattaca

Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.7 Tom: 7 Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

I liked this pretty well, but I wanted to like it more. It reflects a near futire where most people are genetically engineered at the time of conception. Those who aren't are considered inferior.  Discrimantion against them isn't official but it exists nonetheless.  This centers around a character who is not genetically engineered (refereed to as in-valids) and tries to pass by disguising himself as someone is engineered but disabled by an accident.   My hesitation on the movie is that the character really wanted to go to Titan, and I REALLY wanted to see that happen, but the movie ended before it transpired. Another important by-product of this movie is Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) - it's where Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman met and began their relationship.

73)

 

Barbarella

Year: 1968  IMDb: 5.9 Tom: 6 Had I seen before? No  Service found on: Prime Rental

Yowza! Is this movie weird! The plot kept making me feel like I needed a drug check.  Hard to follow, but it was fun.  Not quite the X-rated romp some are led to believe, it's actually rated PG.  It seems maybe a little bit much for that rating, but it's not a raunchfest either.  Jane Fonda is beautiful and enthusiastic in the part, if not a shining beacon of acting ability (which she would prove to be in later films).  The chief antagonist is named Durand-Durand, and yes, that is the inspiration for the band named Duran-Duran!  Girls on film!

As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

Next up? We go on a Quest of the Galaxy, a couple of time romps, and a movie featuring the greatest superhero of all time.

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 3 No. 86 - 80

  I received this issue of Remind, or what Alison calls "my old people magazine," which ranks the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does have many pop culture stories, focusing primarily on the 1950s through the 1990s, although there are some references to earlier decades. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, where are they now issues, and much more. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own on a 1 to 10 scale.

86)

Videodrome

Year: 1983  IMDb: 7.2 Tom: 4  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Peacock

I say yes that I have seen this, but I think I had blocked most of this from my mind.  As I will again. I am figuring out that body horro, which David Crionenberg specializes in is not my thing.  Additionally, the plot is deliberately confusing.  Fine, if you want to take the time to anaylyze it.  I did not.  Positive side?  It had Deborah Harry in a feature role, a singing favorite of mine from the group Blondie (easily in my top ten bands).  Negative side?  In addition to the goopy guts and bizarrre storyline, the lead was James Woods, who has turned super-repulsive MAGA MAX in his senior years.

85)

Repo Man

Year: 1984  IMDb: 6.8 Tom: 5  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Prime Rental

This fared a little bit better than Videodrome, but not much. At least I could follow the story even though I wasn't all that interested. Emilio Estevez plays a punk rocker who has had little job success, taking a job helping repo men. There are some aliens and a glowing item in a car trunk. Often, the science fiction elements are minimized and muted. It was an okay but not memorable trip.

84)

Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.3 Tom: 8 Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Peacock

Don't think about this one too much. The idea of exchanging faces like they do is not much in the realm of possibility, even for a science fiction film. But Nicolas Cage and John Travolta do some first-rate acting in this, switching personalities and helping make the implausible at least slightly plausible. It's filled with action, and it's a fun ride.  

83)

Marooned

Year: 1969  IMDb: 5.1 Tom: 5 Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Tubi

Oy. Unlike 2001:A Space Oddesy, this one has not aged well. Big budget and big star production, with a slow moving and dull story that made me have to snack and hydrate to stay awake through. It's a shame. It had my Dad's quasi-lookalike in it, Gregory Peck. And a very game, Gene Hackman. I get it. Astronauts stranded in space. Will we get them back or not? Oh, please! Just get on with it. 2 hr and 14 14-minute runtime felt like six hours. And since it was Tubi, I'd have to sit through innumerable commercials. This is emblematic of what science fiction was often like before Star Wars.

    82) 

Quatermass and the Pit

Boy, did this one take a while to find! Part of the problem is that the movie has a different name in American distribution - Five Million Years to Earth. But when I finally found it, it was pretty good! Set in London, an archeological excavation unveils an alien spacecraft, and the danger increases as the movie progresses. Well plotted, you think the movie is, like many movies of its time, cut short where it could go. But it does not! Loved the pacing and acceleration of this nifty little story. Unlike Marooned, it still holds up really well!

81)

The Adventures of Buckeroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Year: 1984  IMDb: 6.2 Tom: 5 Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: MGM+

Sounds exciting, don't it? Sometimes campy is good. Sometimes, it misses the mark. This hits occasionally but mostly misses the mark. I think it's trying to play off Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, but that's a guess. Most of it is played too cool for school, and the intriguing multi-dimensional premise is not used well. John Lithgow plays the villain, and he leaves no scenery unchewed.

80)

Altered States

Year: 1980  IMDb: 6.9 Tom: 5 Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Prime Rental

Another oy. More body horror and incoherent plot. Something to do with sensory deprivation and reverting to a more unevolved state. I think. I'm not sure. About ten or fifteen minutes of it near the two-thirds mark was interesting (like a Jekyll and Hyde thing), but most of it was not my cup of tea.

I know there was a big time gap between this one and the last one (October 24). I'm doing the best I can. They're not always easy to find, and the dystopian horror of our country's real-life descent has been very distracting.

The good news is that I have already seen four of the next seven films on the list, so it shouldn't be too much longer.

Unless, of course, in the meantime, I am sent to a reeducation camp.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

AOC '28!