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rryland
Reviews
Max Q (1998)
Give it a miss
This film laboured along with some of the most predictable story lines and shallow characters ever seen. The writer obviously bought the playbook "How to write a space disaster movie" and followed it play by play. In particular, the stereo-typical use of astronauts talking to their loved ones from outer space - putting on a brave show in the face of disaster - has been done time and time again.
Max Q appears to have been written in the hope that the producers would throw $50 million at the project. But, judging by the latter half of the film which contained numerous lame attempts at special effects, the producers could only muster $50 thousand. To learn that the film was nominated for a "Special Visual Effects" Emmy has me absolutely gob-smacked.
I think a handful of high school students with a pass in Media Studies could have created more believable effects!
And the plot holes are too numerous to mention. But I will pick one out as an example. Now, I'm no NASA expert, but surely it's highly implausible that a worker attached to the shuttle simulator would suddenly hold a position of power in the control room when things start to go pear-shaped with the program. Surely there is someone more experienced at Mission Control who the Program Director would call on rather than a twenty-nine year old who has not been in the control room before.
The only saving grace for this film is the work of Bill Campbell. He manages to make a good attempt at salvaging something out of the train wreck that is this script.
I give this film 2 out of 10, with the above-average work of Bill Campbell in the lead role saving it from a lower mark.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
A brilliant portrayal of one man's triumph over schizophrenia
Being Australian, I'm often drawn to the work of our local acting talent, hence my eagerness to watch A Beautiful Mind. This film not only stars Russell Crowe (New Zealander by birth, but we now claim him as one of our own because he lives on the NSW north coast) but has also been lauded as an Academy Award possibility for best film, best director and best lead actor. The fact that Ron Howard directed this piece also put A Beautiful Mind into the "must see" category.
And I was not let down.
Russell played the role of a schizophrenic genius perfectly, with actions and facial expressions accurately reflective of sufferers of this condition. Whilst I felt the supporting cast merely held their own without any obvious standout performances, Ron Howard's brilliant interpretation of university life from the 1940s to the present capped off a wonderfully rounded story.
It was refreshing to witness a narrative on mental illness portrayed from the other side of the fence for a change. Too often we are led to believe that such people can't live in society like regular Joe's, but the writer has turned the story around so we view life through the eyes of the one who is suffering.
A big thumbs up to all involved.
9 out of 10.