chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (02/14/84)
Over the weekend I went and saw the new movie 'Android' starring Klaus
(Nosferatu) Kinski. This is a small budget (not low budget) film very
loosely based upon 'Frankenstein'. Kinski is a research scientist doing
work on a satellite in space on androids. Android research, however, is
illegal because androids have been outlawed after a group of them went
berserk in Munich, killing and raping. Kinski is assisted by an adroid, Max
404 (very well played by an actor credited only as 'himself'). While the
Dr. is working on the ultimate android (blond, stacked, and submissive),
Max is showing signs of the Munich syndrome, with a fixation on Earth and
women. A disabled ship lands on the satellite with three escaped convicts
on them, one of them a woman, and the movie takes off. Any further
discussion would probably give away things that are better left for the
movie.
Klaus Kinski is very understated in the role, and handles it very well. All
of the acting in the movie is well done. The plot has some nice twists in
it, the sets and special effects (only a few, thank god) are wonderful. The
humor in the movie is sometimes reminiscent of Dark Star, but the overall
feeling of the movie is closer to Alien or 2001. It's good. Very good.
Potentially a new classic in SF. See it. Now.
Rating: ****.5 (out of 5) worth full price admission AND standing in line
in the rain.
--
From the house at Pooh Corner: Chuq 'Nuke Wobegon' Von Rospach
{fortune,menlo70}!nsc!chuqui Have you hugged your Pooh today?
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pieecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) (01/24/85)
ANDROID
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
New World Pictures was founded by Roger Corman, Hollywood's monkey-
see-monkey-do man. Corman has always made films to follow trends that
others start. To ride the trend of special-effects-oriented space operas,
New World made BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, then re-used the footage in several
other films like GALAXY OF TERROR, FORBIDDEN WORLD, and SPACE RAIDERS. Most
of these are throwaways with lots of effects, nudity, and mindless action.
From this unpromising background came a rather surprising science fiction
film, ANDROID. Just how it slipped through is not clear except that it
seems to be a co-production with a group calling themselves Android
Productions.
ANDROID combines the exploitation elements with the charming story of
Max 404, a robot (not an "android," incidentally) with an insatiable
curiosity about humans. Max listens to rock and roll and the blues, watches
movies like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and dreams about leaving his space
station and going to Chicago. Like in the more recent STARMAN, the title
character tries to pass for human but never really makes it. Still, he
seems far more human than the stereotypes around him, including Klaus Kinski
as Max's scientist-creator who rules over Max in a space station, and three
criminals hiding from the police on the station. The screenplay is witty
and Dan Oppar's acting as Max is always entertaining. This is not a great
film, but it is a pleasure to watch in a way that few SF films are these
days.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrl