The Big Whadoo

Like Ali, an interesting story made into an uninteresting movie. The filmmakers must have had a checklist for things to include in this movie like 40s race relations, what the soldiers were going to do after the war, the leader ravaged by battle, ect. When the characters are not engaged in war movie cliches, they are involved in over-choreographed battle ballets making war look like a circus rather than a struggle. Multi-angled shots of explosions, slow motion shots of people flying through the air, and kung-fu knife fights took me right out of the movie. There is a place to use fancy explosion scenes and choreographed fights, but not in a war-is-hell movie like this tried to be. If you like watching blood spill, knife fights, and explosions in slow motion, then this is the movie for you, and a fast forward button.

I saw this movie when it first came out, and I really didn't pay much attention to cinema back then. After I watched it I figured all action movies were going to be as good as this one. What a shock is was to find that T2 is one of the best action movies ever, and 9 of 10 action movies simply refuse to be enjoyable. The action is beautifully done, and the special effects are amazing 11 years later.

Tony Randall's scene where he trashes on TV made me feel like a little baby. Later in life Randall goes on to the Odd Couple, his own show, and a top notch stooge on Letterman. Randall's great on Letterman, and he's surprisingly great in this movie which is amazingly dated.

This show is breathtaking still to this day. This show displays some of the lamest writing and cheesiest acting ever seen, but the show is entertaining to me in its contradictions. The main characters bask in their popularity openly ostracizing the exaggerated nerds without the show's plot featuring a moral consequence, but each week there is a "back to school special" ending where a character learns the error in their ways. My favorite contradiction is how the characters were in the show, and what they have become to the day.

--Mark-Paul Gosselaar now tries to shed the "pretty boy" image for NYPD Blue (which loves to hire former child actors for some reason) that was the only reason he was hired on Saved by the Bell. Young girls watch shows with cute guys, it's a marketing fact.

--Mario Lopez played a tough-guy jock on the show always assulting nerds and exhibiting "jock-like" characteristics. Now Lopez can be found on a talk show called The Other Half which is a woman's talk show like The View only with four men, making Lopez appear as masculine as Barbara Walters.

--Elizabeth Berkley is my favorite contradiction because it's so black and white. Liz played the cynical feminist (as cynical a bubbly Malibu feminist could be) always getting into everyone's business and bringing the whole crew down. Now I've barely seen her in a movie where she wares clothes. I must say my jaw hit the floor when I saw her in Showgirls - an interactive movie where if you don't fast-forward to all the sex scenes, you fall asleep - where she was braless like a feminist, although the bra was on the floor instead of on fire.

But not all the characters are contradictions I suppose. The other three cast members stayed remarkably true to their Saved by the Bell cast members.

--Tiffani "with an I" Thiessen still plays pretty girls, and will play pretty girls, weather bitchy or sweet, until she's 90, when she will have lost her attractive appearance in the year 2061.

--Lark Voorhies doesn't get as much work as Thiessen unfortunately, but in the shows Voorhies works, she maintains her BAP character to a tee. See her performance as "Carlton's" lady in the show "In the House" if you are lucky enough to catch it.

--I saved the best for last, of course. Dustin Diamond stayed with the Screech character for 11 years, giving the character a cult-like status similar to Urkel and ALF. The nerd that was cool enough to hang out with the popular kids was an inspiration for all high school outcasts. Thank you Dustin "Screech" Diamond.

The story is hard to follow, and some characters just appear for no reason, but The Big Lebowski is still my favorite movie. The story makes more sense if you watch the movie ten times or so. The characters in the movie are the most entertaining I have ever seen, and make the movie worth watching as much as possible. John Goodman's performance alone is worth seeing the movie ten times to understand the story.

Finally, a show that laughs at reality TV. People settle disputes by bowling, and they have a chance to win prizes like old Chargers and Minnesota lodge vacations. Polka bands replace loud power-chord synth, and the necessary vixens are replaced by the Queen Pins, the clumsy and average-looking Vanna Whites that flank the sides of the lane. The hosts of the show take the action about as serious as a fake heart attack. Usually about half way through the show, one of the hosts takes sides with one of the contestants. This show is a lot like Survivor, only people are supposed to take Survivor seriously.

I've had bad feelings about this show, and after seeing it I do have mixed feelings. The dialogue is brilliant. Of course, half the shows on TV's dialogue would make The Tick's dialogue sound like the words of God. It's the great stupid dialogue that everyone thinks they can create, but just end up being unfunny and annoying to the point that it just p***es me off.

I just don't know why The Tick needs to be a live action show since the cartoon one was fantastic. The special effects look akward, and the characters just don't fit their characters as well as the cartoon. Dave Putty's eyes aren't big enough to be innocent and child-like as the animated Tick, and that takes away from the character. I am disappointed with the live action Tick, but with the current state of television it's still a pretty good show.