Chandler81
Joined Oct 2002
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews11
Chandler81's rating
The pilot doesn't exactly fill me with confidence for the quality of this series. Grey's Anatomy tries really hard to seem like ER's hardcore little brother. The senior doctors are so mean to the interns it's like Full Metal Jacket with scalpels; it's barely credible. A "Nazi" surgeon who orders her interns not to wake her unless a patient is physically dying? Nobody behaves like this. Interns who are practically stabbing each other in the back to get "In the game". You're joking right? Grey's is trying way too hard.
Honestly, Grey's Anatomy's characters remind me a lot of Scrubs. But while Scrubs' Cox character was a superficial bully written with humorous intent, he is the only character behaving as such in that show. The pilot of Grey's features a hospital full of venomous, bullying doctors (aside from the heartthrob lead male doctor of course, ouch). It just looks silly. Indeed, while originally Scrubs was simply a sharp medical satire, when watched under the shadow of Grey's Anatomy it becomes an unbelievably accurate parody. I can hardly believe the local hype about this being the new number 1 show in the US. Is TV really getting that bad?
I certainly hope Grey's Anatomy improves after episode one, though I can't say I'm remotely inclined to find out.
Honestly, Grey's Anatomy's characters remind me a lot of Scrubs. But while Scrubs' Cox character was a superficial bully written with humorous intent, he is the only character behaving as such in that show. The pilot of Grey's features a hospital full of venomous, bullying doctors (aside from the heartthrob lead male doctor of course, ouch). It just looks silly. Indeed, while originally Scrubs was simply a sharp medical satire, when watched under the shadow of Grey's Anatomy it becomes an unbelievably accurate parody. I can hardly believe the local hype about this being the new number 1 show in the US. Is TV really getting that bad?
I certainly hope Grey's Anatomy improves after episode one, though I can't say I'm remotely inclined to find out.
I was excited to see Empire Records for the first time a few years ago. I had several friends and acquaintances who raved about it and I was more than impressed to see Toad the Wet Sprocket and Gin Blossoms on the soundtrack. Talk about being disappointed. This is a dull film with little merit beyond the obvious appeal of its idle fantasy. "We're young and we have problems but we stick together and straighten ourselves out with a party" seems to be the single puerile point this movie drives for.
The characters are almost without exception completely unlikable and poorly developed (although the bald girl is rather cool). One character blows all the record store's money at the beginning of the film, no reason given. Liv Tyler wants to sleep with her aging pop idol and elicits no sympathy. Zellweger actually does sleep with him and elicits even less. I wanted to slap them both. The artist with the coins in the floor is in love with Liv but I just wished he would see how impossibly stupid she was and date someone else. Maybe the bald girl, since she was the film's single redeeming character (and that's not saying much).
Worst of all is the erratic, potentially mentally ill manager played by Anthony LaPaglia. This is by no means a criticism of fine actor Anthony, but his character is appallingly written, shifting from nurturing and understanding father figure to angry and psychotic manager type between - and even within - scenes. Nothing about the film feels consistent or worth caring about.
If you want to watch a good film about music try High Fidelity or Almost Famous, where the characters are actually entertaining and well written and the stories not the stuff of ridiculous adolescent fantasy.
The characters are almost without exception completely unlikable and poorly developed (although the bald girl is rather cool). One character blows all the record store's money at the beginning of the film, no reason given. Liv Tyler wants to sleep with her aging pop idol and elicits no sympathy. Zellweger actually does sleep with him and elicits even less. I wanted to slap them both. The artist with the coins in the floor is in love with Liv but I just wished he would see how impossibly stupid she was and date someone else. Maybe the bald girl, since she was the film's single redeeming character (and that's not saying much).
Worst of all is the erratic, potentially mentally ill manager played by Anthony LaPaglia. This is by no means a criticism of fine actor Anthony, but his character is appallingly written, shifting from nurturing and understanding father figure to angry and psychotic manager type between - and even within - scenes. Nothing about the film feels consistent or worth caring about.
If you want to watch a good film about music try High Fidelity or Almost Famous, where the characters are actually entertaining and well written and the stories not the stuff of ridiculous adolescent fantasy.
Wing Commander is ultimately let down by some bad casting and a weak third act. Prinze was a rotten choice for Blair, undoubtedly selected to give the film more attraction to a younger target audience, but his inclusion feels like the film is trying too hard to project to that particular audience. With such a fine supporting cast (Karyo, Prochnow, Warner) it's a shame the leads are a real let down.
Unfortunately the plot is cliché-city with some poorly drawn characters (Maniac, Vagabond, Hobbes, Flash and Hawk were a far more interesting bunch in the games), but I feel this can be forgiven to an extent given the film's attempt to mesh more with classic war films than contemporary sci-fi. Of course, the film hardly accomplishes this, but again, with little other than Picard's continued adventures and the awful Star Wars prequels to compare with, Wing Commander at least deserves a little credit for trying. The film also feels like its struggling to find a satisfying conclusion. Obviously with the tight budget there's no room for a sequence par the climactic battles of Return of the Jedi, but even so the film needed a much tighter and more satisfying third act. As it stands, the final 40 minutes feel like sand bagging to hold the weak ending off for as long as possible.
The more cost effective advent of computer generated graphics has seen a shift in space stories to the arena of television productions (Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1, Space Above & Beyond, Galactica, DS9 & Voyager), so it is at least nice to see a space story on the cinema screen outside of regurgitated Trek offerings. The effects are quite reasonable and the battles entertaining, again taking a lot of WWII influences such as the torpedo battle between the Tiger Claw carrier and its opponent at the film's climax.
Yes, it's a weak, poorly acted story, but there are some interesting visual elements to the film; the costume and production design are superb and there's a reasonable amount of energy and tension in the battle sequences. I like that Wing Commander tries to create its own unique style of sci-fi universe. A few decent performances from the elder statesmen of the cast boost its credibility a little, and ultimately while the ingredients are all a little below average there's enough of interest to make the film entertaining and worth some more praise than it's earned.
6 stars.
Unfortunately the plot is cliché-city with some poorly drawn characters (Maniac, Vagabond, Hobbes, Flash and Hawk were a far more interesting bunch in the games), but I feel this can be forgiven to an extent given the film's attempt to mesh more with classic war films than contemporary sci-fi. Of course, the film hardly accomplishes this, but again, with little other than Picard's continued adventures and the awful Star Wars prequels to compare with, Wing Commander at least deserves a little credit for trying. The film also feels like its struggling to find a satisfying conclusion. Obviously with the tight budget there's no room for a sequence par the climactic battles of Return of the Jedi, but even so the film needed a much tighter and more satisfying third act. As it stands, the final 40 minutes feel like sand bagging to hold the weak ending off for as long as possible.
The more cost effective advent of computer generated graphics has seen a shift in space stories to the arena of television productions (Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1, Space Above & Beyond, Galactica, DS9 & Voyager), so it is at least nice to see a space story on the cinema screen outside of regurgitated Trek offerings. The effects are quite reasonable and the battles entertaining, again taking a lot of WWII influences such as the torpedo battle between the Tiger Claw carrier and its opponent at the film's climax.
Yes, it's a weak, poorly acted story, but there are some interesting visual elements to the film; the costume and production design are superb and there's a reasonable amount of energy and tension in the battle sequences. I like that Wing Commander tries to create its own unique style of sci-fi universe. A few decent performances from the elder statesmen of the cast boost its credibility a little, and ultimately while the ingredients are all a little below average there's enough of interest to make the film entertaining and worth some more praise than it's earned.
6 stars.