Movies
A true sci-fi classic. I'd never seen the film before, but I was aware of the twist at the end. Not that it matters a lot, this film is more of a police procedural set in a dystopian version of the future (which is already the past now, as the film is set in 2022). Somewhat entertaining, but not very good. Real food has become a luxury, most people are forced to eat products from Soylent Green, processed foods that give them the necessary nutrients. Only the rich can afford actual vegetables and meat. When one of the directors of the Soylent Green company is murdered, a detective wants to get to the bottom of the case. The performances are pretty bad and the world-building could've used a bit more care. That said, the story is pretty amusing, the pacing is okay and the finale delivers. It's easy to say why this became a cult favorite, but it's hardly a timeless classic. Still, slightly better than I expected it to be.Read all
I used to watch the animated series of this when I was a kid, which I liked a lot back then. The live-action version is quite a bit cheesier and more ridiculous, but it has a similar sort of charm. The film hasn't aged well at all, but apart from the slow and dragged-out intro, it's still pretty cute. A scientist with important info lands in a coma. He is brought to a lab where they have a machine that can shrink objects and people. A special mission is being prepared to send a group of scientists into his comatose body in order to revive the patient. It'll be a long and perilous journey. The first half hour isn't all that interesting. It's rather slow and has a lot of unnecessary dialogue. The voyage is what this film is all about, and even though many of the effects are pretty silly by modern standards, it's fun that they were so committed to them. It's not the worst classic sci-fi I've seen, but it was smart to redo this as animation.Read all
An adaptation of Jules Verne's famous book. I think I read it in my teens and liked it quite a bit, the film adaptation is a different story. Even though there's a star-studded cast and the film no doubt had a decent budget to work with, Verne's adventure end up a bit too cheesy-looking, not at all what I imagined when I read the book. A mysterious creature is threatening ships at sea. On land the tales are scoffed at, but the fact remains that quite a few ships are ending up on the bottom of the ocean, so an expedition is sent out to investigate the matter. After months at sea they deem the story false, but then they spot a suspicious-looking machine in the water. The cheesy decors are certainly charming and the fight with the kraken is a classic, but it's enough to turn this film into a sprawling adventure. There's a bit too much dialogue and a few too many dead moments to keep the momentum going. This would've been a lot better had they cut about 30 minutes of filler material.Read all
A very simple noir. I honestly don't think you can get more core genre than The Narrow Margin. The setting is reduced to a single train, there's a lot of men in hats trying to be as spiffy as possible, while the damsel in distress has quite the foul mouth of her own. Add a plot twist and that's your classic film noir right there. Agent Brown is tasked to get the wife of a notorious gangster to Los Angeles, as she's willing to testify against the Mafia. They take the train, but their journey isn't as inconspicuous as they'd hoped. Before long many people are on Brown's tail, trying to convince him that the woman is better dead than alive. The performances are rather poor and the setting isn't really put to good use, but the pacing is decent and I do prefer this limited location noirs. There's not much time to get bored and once the little twist has been revealed, the film races towards its finale. It's all a bit plain, but there's some entertainment value here.Read all
