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Reviews
An Innocent Love (1982)
Avoid This One Unless You're Under 13 or Hypoglycemic
This is an incredibly sappy, trite movie. The acting mostly comes off as amateur (albeit the high end of amateur), which is kind of surprising, given the experience of some of the actors.
GENERAL SPOILERS FOLLOW
The character of Molly's boyfriend is such a jerk that it's hard to see what she sees in him (and a real shame that she never learns the depths of his crumminess). And it's hard to qualify this as a "coming of age" story, as I don't really feel like Harry has really gotten any more grown up by the end. Also, I think this movie is misrepresented in most of the descriptions which say that Harry and Molly fall in love -- Molly never falls in love with Harry, so this isn't really one of those "forbidden love" type movies at all, just a long story about a boy's crush. I'm really sorry I just wasted almost two hours watching this.
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)
Good movie; better pilot!
Interesting characters, good dialog -- an enjoyable beginning to what will hopefully be a great new series. Certainly much better than the weak pilot episode for the original Babylon 5 series which ended up being terrific. Adding a couple of regular characters over 40 would add a dose of maturity and weight to it that I think would be beneficial.
Center Stage (2000)
Entertaining dance scenes not enough to rescue trite script
I guess if you're a 12-16 year old girl (like most of the audience was), and this was the first movie of its type you'd ever seen, you might find it fresh and fascinating. As a 30-something woman however, I found nothing new or interesting in this film. All the stock characters/plot devices are there -- the bullemic overachiever, the Russian guy dancer, the naive good girl, the black girl with 'tude, the stage mother, the rescuing boyfriends...
On the plus side, I must admit the dance scenes were fun and some of the choreography refreshingly original. My recommendation is if you don't fit the target audience profile (female 12-16), you should save your money and wait for this movie to come to cable (to check out the dance scenes). In the meantime, if you want a better movie along a similar theme, rent The Turning Point.
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Silly, but lots of fun!
It's wonderful when a movie gives you *exactly* what you're in the mood for, and this one really struck the bullseye for me! I was in the mood for a light, fun movie with lots of laughs and that's exactly what I got. This movie is delightfully silly, and I got to do lots of sincere out-loud laughing throughout.
The cast is heavy on sit-com stars ("Elliot" and "Glenn" from "Just Shoot Me," "Leo" from "Veronica's Closet," and, of course, Tim Allen in the lead) as well as a couple of big-screen names, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman (I guess Tim Allen qualifies here too!), who all handle their reasonably simple roles with the right balance of broad humor and believability.
The plot is also pretty simple (which is appropriate), but the dialog and jokes are generally well written. Although I might quibble with how they present a science fiction convention (in my experience there are more women, fewer costumes, and the media guests usually seem genuinely happy to be there and are never in costume), this is a mild quibble. More on-point was the parody of a Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers-type science fiction show of the '70s ("Galaxy Quest" is more like those than like Star Trek). But it doesn't matter if you're not a science fiction fan -- the jokes are easily appreciated by anyone old enough to have watched the '70s sci-fi shows being parodied, even if you didn't actually watch them much. Kids will enjoy the plot, action, and more general humor. The kids in the audience I was in certainly seemed to be enjoying the movie, although I think the adults were laughing even louder. I know I was!
A Touch of Class (1973)
Lots of wit, tons of humor, and, yes, a touch of class
A very witty, funny movie about an affair between a spoiled, married American business man (George Segal) living in London and a somewhat caustic British fashion "stealer" (Glenda Jackson).
Whether they're fighting (some of the funniest verbal fight scenes ever!) or dealing with the reality of an affair (with some very poignant moments), the chemistry between Segal and Jackson works and the script is exceptional. Jackson's performance is particularly terrific; also notable is Paul Sorvino's performance as an irritating-but-wise friend.
IMPORTANT - If at all possible, watch the uncut, uncensored, uninterrupted version of this movie (i.e., don't watch it on broadcast television for the first time).