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Star Trek: Generations, a review by DJ Doena

Star Trek: Generations



Patrick Stewart ... Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes ... Commander William T. Riker
Brent Spiner ... Lt. Commander Data
LeVar Burton ... Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn ... Lt. / Lt. Commander Worf
Gates McFadden ... Commander / Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis ... Commander Deanna Troi
Malcolm McDowell ... Dr. Tolian Soran
James Doohan ... Capt. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
Walter Koenig ... Commander Pavel Chekov
William Shatner ... Captain James T. Kirk, retired
Alan Ruck ... Capt. John Harriman
Jacqueline Kim ... Ensign Demora Sulu

2293. Retired Captain Kirk is invited to the ship's christening of the Enterprise-B. But then the ships gets an emergency call from two refugee vessels and the Enterprise comes to aid. But on that mission Kirk dies. 2371. The Enterprise-D under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard gets an emergency from the Armagosa observatory. They find only a few survivors but they can't conclude their investigation because the Armagosa sun collapses. And the Enterprise has to prevent that such thing happens again.

My opinion:
I don't know. Personally I don't think it is a good idea to bring these two crews together (i.e. it was only Kirk) with the help of a time distortion element. It felt constructed. And Captain Harriman's incompetence was just a vessel for letting Kirk being the hero for one last time. I also didn't like what was going on aboard the new Enterprise. Picard's reaction to the death of his nephew - it wasn't just like him, somehow it didn't felt right. Additionally I hate Data's emotion chip. The scenes with him were ridiculous and in the movies to come we becomes more and more a figure of fun.
The movie went up from the moment when Picard and Kirk met in the Nexus. But it also set another standard for a TNG movie. Picard fights every enemy with his own bare hands in the great finale and he kills them all - directly or indirectly.

(From Weekend Star Trek Marathon on February 10th, 2008)

The Twilight Samurai, a review by Antares

The Twilight Samurai (2002) 90/100 - All throughout the film I saw the influences of most of the great Japanese directors, with one exception. No Kurosawa. You get the tragedy of Mizoguchi, the family depth of Ozu and the bushido breakdown of Kobayashi. I don't know why, but for years I thought this was just an anime film, and my disdain for that kind of animation, kept me from watching this hauntingly beautiful and tragic film. It's definitely not a film for those who like a good blood letting in their chanbara escapades. The pacing is drawn out and it lets you immerse yourself into the day to day struggles of Seibei and his small family. You want him to find some happiness as he struggles to provide for his family in the midst of impending civil war and a famine which is ravaging the peasantry. I only wish I got to watch a better copy of the film, instead of the washed out version I found on Hiroyuki Sanada's wall.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on August 2nd, 2020)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Dinosaurs: Seasons One and Two (1991/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Buena Vista Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 676 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English

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Plot:
Meet the Sinclairs -- the funniest family in 60 million years! They're just your average family with one BIG difference. They're dinosaurs, living the good life in sixty million and three B.C.!

Daddy Earl, his wife Fran, their kids, Robbie, Charlene, and the Baby, and feisty Grandma Ethyl, bring a hilarious Jurassic twist to daily life as they eat, drink, make merry, and get their kicks watching cavemen rub rocks together.

Based on an idea by Jim Henson, the award-winning comedy series features state-of-the-art puppetry and audioanimatronics. For the first time, you can enjoy the complete first two seasons and rediscover the pre-hysterical fun all over again.


Dinosaurs
1.01 The Mighty Megalosaurus
Writer: Michael Jacobs (Created By), Bob Young (Created By), Michael Jacobs (Writer), Bob Young (Writer)
Director: William Dear
Cast: Dave Goelz (Earl Sinclair), Bill Barretta (Earl Sinclair), Stuart Pankin (Earl Sinclair (voice)), Allan Trautman (Fran Sinclair), Mitchel Young Evans (Fran Sinclair), Jessica Walter (Fran Sinclair (voice)), Steve Whitmire (Robbie Sinclair), Leif Tilden (Robbie Sinclair), Jason Willinger (Robbie Sinclair (voice)), Bruce Lanoil (Charlene Sinclair), Arlene Lorre (Charlene Sinclair), Sally Struthers (Charlene Sinclair (voice)), Kevin Clash (Baby Sinclair), John Kennedy (Baby Sinclair), David Greenaway (Roy Hess), Pons Maar (Roy Hess), Sam McMurray (Roy Hess (voice)), Steve Whitmire (B.P. Richfield), Sherman Hemsley (B.P. Richfield (voice)), Brian Henson (Arthur Henson), Terri Hardin (Additional Dinosaur Performer), Michelan Sisti (Additional Dinosaur Performer), Jack Tate (Additional Dinosaur Performer), Teri La Porte (Cavepeople), Michelan Sisti (Cavepeople)

I enjoyed this series while it was on TV. It also had a fitting ending. Strangely this time around I felt the pilot was a little slow. Like they weren't really comfortable with the big dinosaurs suits yet.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 7th, 2011)