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1/10
Stick a fork in Star Wars
15 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Imagine a stereotypically ironic & self-absorbed Millennial. Give him utter disdain for the cultural heritage of the original Star Wars trilogy, no humor, a craving for filthy lucre, and complete creative control of Episode VIII. Now take that insufferable little twit and plop him in a Gen X-er's body, and you get Rian Johnson and this movie.

Johnson's script is a dog's breakfast of clumsy cliches, pointless decisions, inexplicable motivations, wooden dialogue, lame hipster quips, and one-dimensional characters. You could trundle an AT-AT through the plot holes. It's as if he took a workable sequel script, added every halfwit Disney executive's boneheaded notes, deleted the original content, tossed it in a Cuisinart, and mashed the "purée" button.

The movie is a 3-hour slow speed chase, with Leia and the Resistance in the white Ford Bronco and Hux leading the cop cars. Snoke was a joke, remaining unexplained and unintimidating. Rose was pointless, except as a blatant sop to the diversity-über-alles crowd. Purple haired feminist lady Admiral was an annoying distraction. Hux was a dweeb. Phasma was mostly absent and otherwise inept. Porgs? Make 'em into McNuggets and feed 'em to Jar Jar.

Rey is truly a Mary Sue; Yoda pops in just to belabor that point and to crap on the entire premise of Episodes I to VI. Luke is a grumpy old man with a death wish. Leia only exists to remind the audience of what studio executives can do to a truly interesting and strong yet feminine heroine. New Han and New Lando try to chew the scenery but they haven't the chops or the charm to get it done. New Vader is still a spoiled brat with no depth.

The Star Wars franchise is dead and Disney killed it. It shambles clumsily forward like a revenue-hungry zombie, but it's dead nonetheless. Somebody should just put it out of its misery.
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1/10
Clumsy, preachy, boring
24 May 2002
The lame gags and jokes fall flat, the actors practically phone in their lines, and the long and frequent preaching about the evils of corporations and conservatives really gets annoying. If you want to be lectured about the ozone hole, AIDS, the burning Cuyahoga River, the homeless, and the virtues of loopy 1960s-style pothead activism, then this is the movie for you. But if you want laugh-out-loud humor, then rent something else.
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3/10
Not even worth the matinee price
11 March 2002
Other than some mildly interesting CGI effects, this movie sucked. Guy Pearce was stiffer than Al Gore at his prom, and the leading lady wasn't at all developed (of course, that's hard to do in ten minutes of total screen time). Jeremy Irons' character wasn't evil enough to involve me in the movie. And let's talk about suspension of disbelief. Precious little ever turned up about the paradoxes inherent in time travel, and nothing at all ever came up to explain how spinning some chunks of fresnel lenses around an easy chair permits one to jump into the past or the future. And pray tell, how does a hologram machine survive 800,000 years of inactivity ... much less manage to teach 21st century English to illiterate primitives? I was sorely disappointed. Don't waste your money.
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3/10
Phew! What's that awful smell?
12 February 2001
Oh, it's this extremely stinky movie. Silly me.

Seen the trailer on TV? Didn't think it was uproariously funny? Well, think about this: you just saw the funniest parts. Starting to get the picture? Save your money for something more humorous (say, for example, fake plastic vomit).

Jason Biggs' portrayal of irredeemable pantywaist "Silverman" left me feeling embarrassed for the skinny little dweeb, not laughing at him or rooting for him. I suspect Biggs was just being himself. Jack Black's one-dimensional slob "J.D." could learn a few things from studying John Belushi in Animal House. Steve Zahn (as "Wayne") had some mildly amusing moments, but none of them reach the "spit-your-Pepsi-through-your-nostrils" level. The female leads were nice eye-candy (picture a cute nun-in-training wearing a tight-fitting habit and an improbable matching miniskirt), but that's about it.

Look, I'm no snotty movie critic. I love screwball comedy as much as anybody else, but this flick just plain fails because it tries too hard to squeeze a laugh out of every possible situation. To paraphrase J. Montgomery Burns, it wallows in its own crapulence.
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6/10
It warmed this former Coastie's heart.
29 May 2000
This patriotic musical newsreel from WWII brought back memories of my days singing with the Coast Guard Academy Glee Club, accompanied by the one & only Coast Guard Band. The music was uplifting & patriotic, and the singing was especially good. Try to overlook the 1940s-vintage special effects during the combat scenes, & you'll enjoy this short feature immensely.
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