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Fail Safe, a review by Jon

Fail Safe
3 out of 5

First shown live on television, this remake of the 1964 film is a serious spin on Dr. Strangelove. American bombers heading for Russia with a nuclear payload have just passed the "fail safe" point and can't be recalled as they are trained to ignore all radio communication in case the enemy are trying to fool them. A malfunction means they have orders to bomb Moscow. The President and his generals work desperately to rectify the mistake, going so far as to help the Russians shoot them down. Should all else fail, the President has a terrible price to pay to prove it was a mistake and avert war.

This is an oddity. I haven't seen the original, but of course I am very familiar with Kubrick's wonderfully black comedy. The story is just about strong enough to take serious in a genuine "What if?" scenario, except I really hope our leaders have better contingency plans than this. I found the ending a little too contrived and noble to take seriously, but up until that point, it was a well played exercise in how paranoia will undo us all. Overall Kubrick highlighting the absurdity makes a stronger impression, but this is still worth seeing.

Being shown live means it can't escape being stagey and frequently dull, but the cast is fantastic and mostly from film and TV so their unusual one-take chance gives the whole thing an edge. So it both succeeds and fails by the same decision to go live. All the actors do well, especially Harvey Keitel, Sam Shepard, Brian Dennehy, Noah Wyle and Hank Azaria, but I think George Clooney as the bomber pilot and in particular Richard Dreyfuss as the President excel in arguably harder roles.

It's short at 85 minutes so if you enjoy Strangelove, give it a chance.

That's "enjoy Strangelove", by the way, as in "Dr.". Not "enjoy strange love" as in... something else...

(From Jon's Random Reviews on January 28th, 2009)

Safety Last!, a review by GSyren

Title	Safety Last! (715515-106511)
Director	Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Actors	Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, Westcott B. Clarke
Produced	1923 in United States
Runtime	74 minutes
Audio	Music Only PCM 2-Channel Stereo, Music Only PCM Mono, Commentary Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	None
Overview
My thoughts	Safety Last!that Thief of BagdadMetropolisThe General. There are a few others, too. But I think that my number one favorite is Safety Last!
My rating	4.5 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on August 26th, 2013)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Genshiken: Complete Collection (2004/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 325 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
Calling all Scruffy Nerd-Herders!

Welcome to the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture

It is Sasahara's first day of college and a fateful choice awaits him: which college clubs will he chose to join? But Sasahara is no ordinary young man - a dark secret lurks within his soul. For one thing, he knows what "cosplay" is, how to unlock all the secret characters in "Guilty Gear X," what the plot twist is in episode twenty-five of "Kujibiki Unbalance" because he's read the manga, he's heard of doujinshi, and he needs to know more. Enter Genshiken, the barely legitimized Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, home to all subspecies of Otaku!

Now Otaku can watch this complete series from the safety of their own basements!!

Contains all 12 episodes of Genshiken plus 3 episodes of Kubijiki Unbalance.


Genshiken
1.01 Gendai ni okeru Shikaku o Chuushin to shita Bunka no Kenkyuu (2004-10-10)
Writer: Shimoku Kio (Original Material By), Michiko Yokote (Screenwriter)
Director: Takashi Ikehata
Cast: Japanese Voice Cast), Takanori Oyama (Kanji Sasahara (voice)), Mitsuki Saiga (Makoto Kosaga (voice)), Satsuki Yukino (Saki Kasukabo (voice)), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Harunobu Madarame (voice)), Tomokazu Seki (Soichiro Tamaka (voice)), Kenji Nomura (Mitsumori Kugayama (voice)), Yuji Ueda (Chairman (voice)), Eiji Yanagisawa (Takayanagi (voice)), Daisuke Kirii (Senior (voice)), Tarusuke Shingaki (Male Student (voice)), Takayuki Kondo (Background Voice A (voice)), Tsugumi Higasayama (Part-Time Worker (voice)), Kujibiki Unbalance), Yuka Imai (Chihiro Enomoto (voice)), Akemi Kanda (Tokino Akiyama (voice)), Yuko Kaida (Izumi Tachibana (voice)), Yukari Tamura (Komaki Asagiri (voice)), Saeko Chiba (Ritsuko Kubel Kettenkrad (voice)), Ayako Kawasumi (Kasumi Kisaragi (voice)), Kana Ueda (Risa Humvee (voice)), Haruko Momoi (Shinobu Enomoto (voice)), Kenichi Suzumura (Mugio Rokuhara (voice)), Ikue Otani (Renko Kamishakuji (voice)), Yuko Goto (Kaoruko Yamada (voice)), Nanae Kato (Kenji Suzuki (voice)), Taro Yamaguchi (Kenji Suzuki (voice)), English Voice Cast), Genshiken), Michael Perreca (Sasahara Kanji (voice)), Carol Jacobanis (Saki Kasukabe (voice)), Kenneth Robert Marlo (Kosake Makoto (voice)), Michael Alston Baley (Haraguchi (voice)), Rachael Lillis (Ohno (voice)), Bill Rogers (Tamaka Soichiro (voice)), Rome Elliot (Kugayana Mitsunori (voice)), William Hirsh (Takayanagi (voice)), Chunky Mon (Narrator (voice)), Jessica Loseth (Cosplayer (voice)), Randall Burton (Ex-Boyfriend (voice)), Tim Breese (Additional Voices (voice)), Meg Francis (Additional Voices (voice)), Ryan Vernierre (Additional Voices (voice)), Jim Festante (Additional Voices (voice)), Joe D. Rob Notoris (Additional Voices (voice)), John Carey (Additional Voices (voice)), Brian MacMullen (Additional Voices (voice)), Todd Garbeil (Additional Voices (voice)), Brian Maillard (Additional Voices (voice)), Mandy Bonhomme (Additional Voices (voice)), Zoe Fries (Additional Voices (voice)), Kujibiki), Rich McNanna (Chihiro Enomoto (voice)), Veronica Taylor (Tokino Akiyama (voice)), Rachael Lillis (Vice President (voice)), Angora Deb (Kamishakuji Renko (voice)), Liz Johnson (Shinobu Enomoto (voice)), Zoe Fries (President (voice)), Lisa Ortiz (Yamada Kaoruko (voice)), Mandy Bonhomme (Komaki Asagiri (voice)), Meg Francis (Izumi Tachibama (voice)), Amanda Veautour (Treasurer (voice)), Tim Breese (Kaburaki (voice)), Tim Breese (Additional Voices (voice)), Ryan Vernierre (Additional Voices (voice)), Jim Festante (Additional Voices (voice)), Rob Notoris (Additional Voices (voice)), John Carey (Additional Voices (voice)), Brian MacMullen (Additional Voices (voice)), Todd Garbeil (Additional Voices (voice)), Brian Maillard (Additional Voices (voice))

Genshiken is one of my favourite mangas. The anime is a good and faithful adaption of it. Though I hope they will make a third season to complete the storyline of the manga. The pilot begins with the opening of the in-verse anime the characters love to watch and discuss. This can confuse first time viewers.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 25th, 2011)