howard@sfmag.UUCP (H.M.Moskovitz) (07/10/85)
Explorers Review by: H. Moskovitz @ AT&T Info. Systems, Summit, NJ Explorers --------- Directed by Joe Dante (of Poltergeist fame) Starring: No one I knew I was unfortunate enough to receive tickets to the NYC premier of this film (invitation only). In a word, I, and everyone else I talked to afterward, HATED this movie. The story itself is ludicrous: three Junior High School kids have dreams in which they see electronic circuits that they later build. The circuit they build is a force field (that they run using an Apple //c computer). They use this force field to build a spaceship (out of an old amusement park ride chair) and travel into space only to meet a pair of adolescent aliens! The acting is so-so and the script horrendous! DUMB things like a 14 year-old kid looking at a bunch of gibberish that flashes by his CRT in 2 seconds and deciding that this circuit (which mysteriously creates its own software despite that it's just a small collection of resistors) is asking for coordinates in 3-dimensional space relative to the computer, and 4 hours later this kid has his entire basement, objects and all, parameterized into a 3-D vector graphic contour map! In general, the plot is dull and silly, the script insulting and boring, and the entire alien encounter dumb and ridiculous. The best part of the movie was an alien hamming it on stage, lip syncing a Little Richard rocker (which, by the way, was hacked up into a music video starring Robert Palmer of Power Station fame). I will use Dennis Cunnigham's (CBS) method of rating. He recently rated a film a '2' on a 1-10 scale saying: "You may wonder about the 2. Well in the summer ALL movies auto- matically get a 1 for air conditioning!" In this case the movie gets a 0. Normally it would get a 1, but since it IS summer and the theater was stifling, it loses even that! Take your $5 and spend it on the rerun of E.T. or Gremlins. Howard Moskovitz AT&T Info. Systems attunix!howard
webber@utcs.UUCP (R. D. Webber) (07/28/85)
In article <629@sfmag.UUCP> howard@sfmag.UUCP (H.M.Moskovitz) writes: > > Explorers > Review by: H. Moskovitz @ AT&T Info. Systems, Summit, NJ > >Explorers >--------- >Directed by Joe Dante (of Poltergeist fame) Sorry, of Gremlins infamy. >Starring: No one I knew > > In a word, I, and everyone else I talked to afterward, HATED this movie. The overall evaluation I have to agree with, but ut nheinot its foundations. > The story itself is ludicrous: three Junior High School kids >have dreams in which they see electronic circuits that they later build. >The circuit they build is a force field (that they run using an Apple //c >computer). They use this force field to build a spaceship (out of an old >amusement park ride chair) and travel into space only to meet a pair of >adolescent aliens! Up to this point I felt that the moveie was staying within the acceptable limits of stupidity offor media sf. I t was certainly no more stupid than, say, *jTThis Island EarthI* from which it was partially devirived. This is, after all, fantasy, an d the better informed members of tha e audience can expect to grit their teeth in any*any s* such film these days (viz. *2010*, *Star Wars* "CE3K"). > The acting is so-so and the script horrendous! DUMB things like >a 14 year-old kid looking at a bunch of gibberish that flashes by his >CRT in 2 seconds and deciding that this circuit (which mysteriously >creates its own software despite that it's just a small collection >of resistors) is asking for coordinates in 3-dimensional space relative >to the computer, and 4 hours later this kid has his entire basement, >objects and all, parameterized into a 3-D vector graphic contour map! Again, suspension of disbelief is callefd for here. At least the software self-generation part was handled consistently with the later "take-over" in the film. > In general, the plot is dull and silly, the script insulting >and boring, and the entire alien encounter dumb and ridiculous. The >best part of the movie was an alien hamming it on stage, lip syncing >a Little Richard rocker (which, by the way, was hacked up into a music >video starring Robert Palmer of Power Station fame). The alien hamming was the main part of the alien encounter, though, and, as you say, that was dumb and ridiculous. > Take your $5 and spend it on the rerun of E.T. or Gremlins. > Gremlins, by the same directory, suffered from the same sorts of excesses as Expolorers, thourgh, and was possibly mymuch dumber and infinitely more insluulting. I have my doubtas about jEE.T., too. In general, Joe Dante seems to suffer from an overgrown sized opininflated opiniton on of his own worth and sense of humour. Both All of Explorers, Gremlins, and the DAntante jsection of the Twilight Zo0ne ne morvie have exist in a moral vacuum. , leave a hugh3ee number of loose plot ends dangling, and contain too many references and derito and devirifvvations from the work of others (e.g. "Charles M. Jones JUniunior High School"). The original review of this film, in a nutshell, missed the main point of importance, IMHO: this is still another sickening, morally degraded movie in the "My father was stuck in the chimney ..." sick-joke tradition of Gremlins.; that such films could be commericaial successes is frightening. Bob Webber Dept. of Metallurgy and Mateirials Science, University of Toronto P.S. My terminal is currently introducing spurious characters during listing operations. The last time this happened, it was due to the induction furnace down the hall. All linews in this review were checked, and read clearly at some point (i.e. one time out of five I looked at them). If the file is unreadable, yuou have my most profound apologiews.
ayers@convexs.UUCP (07/31/85)
> In a word, I, and everyone else I talked to afterward, HATED this movie.
you didn't talk to me, but then, neither did I...
blues, II
(shi dobu nan)