mathnews2@watdcsu.UUCP (mathNOOS [editors]) (07/25/84)
The n-4 Starfighter
As n goes to infinity, so does the time it takes for this movie to
actually get going. In all honesty, I must say immediately that I was
not impressed. While there are several good movies showing around at
the theatres, this is not one of them. Even though many scenes use
the Cray X-MP Supercomputer (listed in the credits at the end), they
are flat and generally lifeless. They try to present many extremely
intricate images and the graphics capabilities are admittedly
overwhelming, but Walt Disney accomplished a much better job which is
more lively and much more realistic using conventional methods for
Bambi, Snow White, and Cinderella.
In general, the movie style was frequently undecided as to what
direction it would take. At times turning to an adventuresome drama,
it would suddenly swing about and be a parody of science fiction paro-
dies. The only bright moments arose when the beta unit was having
trouble with assassins or certain internal operations (such as an
over-sensitive hearing system requiring the removal of the head to
properly repair). I hate to give low ratings, but on technical it
gets 6.5, acting gets 6, and script gets 1 (the story is actually that
bad), for a score of 4.4. Technical was for attempting to tame the
Cray, as other than that, there was nothing to distinguish the movie
as much better than mediocre. Acting is up to six as they were actu-
ally sufficiently upon their toes to create a few bright moments in a
burnt-out story.
Marcel Kahnt
mathnews2@watdcsu
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