Next Stop, Wonderland (1998)

This is a film I have wanted to watch for long time, but had a hard time tracking down a copy.  My motivation for watching this film was that Boston's most notorious DJ, Charles Laquidara makes an appearance in this film.  Unfortunately, his appearance is extremely short, and only stood out because of his voice, for those who recognize it.

The film itself is fairly good, and is labeled a romantic comedy, though it may be stretching the use of the word comedy.  It featured some good shots of Boston, as well as all outdoor shots being in Boston, make it clear this movie was filmed in Boston.  It makes a good nostalgic trip for those who know Boston, but offers little in the way of a tour of the city (not that was it intended to).

The cast of actors did well in all their perspective roles, though there was nary a Boston accent to be heard.  While Hope Davis is beautiful, she appears quite a bit younger in the posters for the film than she appears in the actual film.  Holland Taylor also appears in the film, who was hard to place, but turns out to have had a prominent role of the 80s sitcom Bossom Buddies.

Unfortunately, the attraction and attachment between the two lead characters was never suitably established, so their real motivation for getting together is unclear.  It would be nice if there had been a second part to this film, to show what made their relationship work, when all their previous relationships had failed, though perhaps we are supposed to deduce that from their personalities as shown in the film.

Zardoz (1974)

I was watching an episode of Futurama, and the professor had taken the crew to a uniform shop where they were trying on different uniforms.  I recongnized uniforms from Dune, Barbarella and Star Trek, amongst others.  But the professor was wearing such an outlandish uniform I couldn't understand why the writers would put him such a ridiculous and obviously made up uniform.  Later on, I did a little searching and found out how wrong I was.  I had found Zardoz.

Real Science fiction is when the author either comments on problems in society, while making the story in a future setting, or the consequences and implications of technology.

Space Fantasy is more like an adventure set in space, not usually examining the consequences and implications of technology.

Zardoz is not really either of these, though set in the future, the technology represented is all preindustrial.    Perhaps it is a questioning of the fallacies of immortality, much like the struldbrugs of Gulliver's Travels, but without the consequences of aging, and in that way could be considered science fiction.

The story starts of without much explanation, and with several puzzling events.  To say its strange is an understatement, but after the first few minutes, the story continues and is somewhat mundane, with a few strange events here and there.

It's hard to find anything outstandingly redeeming about this film, though you could say that Zardoz spouts a extreme right wing view, quite literally.

To be honest, it's difficult to comprehend why Sean Connery would make such a film. But after reading his bio, it seems after he quit the James Bond series (twice), few studios would hire him, which might explain why he made this film.

Kuffs (1992)

I didn't know this film existed, and I have a positive image of Christian Slater, though I have seen few of his films, I've always enjoyed his performances.  The film Heathers is one of my favorite movies.  I hadn't heard of any film Mila Jovovich had made before The Fifth Element, as I naively believed that was her first role.  I thought she was outstanding in that film, they way her character progressed from not speaking English to learning it step by step.  I also have seen very few films with Bruce Boxleitner (the title role in TRON) so that also peeked my interest.  Also Troy Evans is in this film.  You may remember him as having a prominent role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

My primary motivation in this film was to see Mila Jovovich.  I have never found her overwhelming attractive, and I thought her first scene in this film did little to change that image, I was surprised at how long her legs appeared.  It turns out she was very young when she made this film, only 15.

Anyhow this film has what I would consider a trade mark of Christian Slater,with a LOT of exposition, talking directly to the camera.  The director made some odd choices, giving the film a quirky feel.  The plot was interesting enough, making for an enjoyable, though not remarkable, film.

The Broken Chain (1993)

After catching the last half of the film Geronimo (1994), I did a little research and found that Wes Studi (who played the title role) had also made a TV film called "The Broken Chain" about the Iroquois Nation.  Wes Studi himself should be considered a (Cherokee) national treasure, but I don't want to go off on a tangent right now.

Anyhow, the film fairly accurately captures the historical events, as well as native American culture, along with the story that should be told.  It is certainly a significant historical event, one too often unknown and forgotten that everyone should at least have a basic understanding of, as the concept of a united nation was based on it, as was the foundation of the United States.

The only problem is that film seems to be lacking in realism in one respect, that is the over use of the English language.  While I release people don't like to read subtitles, it doesn't show an accurate reflection of how native American's would have primarily used their own language when speaking with each other.