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Reviews
V.I. Warshawski (1991)
Such a missed opportunity
I'm coming at this as a fan of Kathleen Turner, the V.I. Warshawski series and of my home city of Chicago. This movie simply blew it.
The casting, at least, was perfect. Turner is perfectly cast as V.I. The voice, the look, the attitude, everything. She perfectly captures the character. Even the rest of the casting is good. Jay O. Sanders perfectly fits Murray (A red-headed Elliot Gould according the books) and Dennehy is Bobby Mallory.
The problem is script and direction. They took bits and pieces from at least four different books and threw them together, badly. They watered down V.I. (tho Turner did a hell of a job of working through it). The movie loses its way at the end. It's just a mess. The directing was half-hearted. And they never got much of the character of Chicago, which is a major part of V.I. herself.
This could have been a great movie. V.I. is one of the great unsung female characters in mystery fiction. Chicago is one of the great cities of the world. And the stories in the series are full and complex. And this movie wasn't any of it.
It's good for the hardcore Kathleen Turner fans. She is the best part of this movie and manages to get the character to show through the bad dialog. But this movie could have been so much more. Hopefully a good adaption could be done at some point.
Deep Impact (1998)
One of the best disaster films of the past 20 years
Deep Impact stands out among other disaster movies, even those made since 1998. Simply because it recognizes the people.
I love disaster movies as much as the next guy (who doesn't love watching LA bite it?). Big booms, explosions, panic in the streets. It's fun. But Deep Impact uses its excellent special effects in support of the story, not as a replacement.
Over the course of the movie, you learn about the characters (main and supporting) and start to care about them. Which means you're invested in their survival (not guaranteed either). Instead of faceless millions, you see individuals in danger, which gives them a much stronger impact.
I actually get chills at the climax, not because of the special effects (though it is cool to see New York get slammed by a megawave). It's from the astronauts making the sacrifice without fanfare and making final touching goodbyes to their families. Jenny Lerner and her estranged father on the beach as the wave approaches and her whispering "Daddy" in their last moments. Sarah's parents holding each other quietly holding each other as people try to flee the wave. Sarah and Leo carrying Sarah's sister to high ground in a desperate attempt to escape the wave.
Well worth the two hours and good for those who like both the big bangs and a good story.
Battle of Los Angeles (2011)
I have standards, low ones. And this is below them.
This is actually the worst movie from either SyFy or The Asylum. Bad script, horrible special effects, the actors didn't even try to work, bad direction, bad set design. I'm actually surprised I sat through the whole thing. Best I can figure is I was hoping that at some point it would turn into a good cheesy movie. What I got was Limburger gone bad.
The only redeeming thing about the movie is Nia Peeples. And not because of her acting. She sooooo phoned it in. I swear you could actually see her thinking "I hope the check for this crap actually clears." But she still looks hot.
SyFy and The Asylum do occasionally do good work (check out Asylum's "Monster." Totally worth the time. This is so far from it. I mean, seriously. Could the at least PRETEND to try to make an actual movie?
Atomic Train (1999)
Stupid, but then, why else watch TV disaster movies?
If you want a considered, thoughtful movie about the dangers of transporting nuclear waste, don't bother.
If you want a few hours of mindless fun, explosions, "drama," cheesy special effects and "Denver" biting it, then you're good.
The plot holes are huge, the script weak, the situation completely unrealistic and the special effects are what you'd expect for early-200s television. But it's fun. I enjoyed it. I liked seeing Kristen Davis in a role completely different than her "Sex and the City" role (she actually kicks a little butt and has a nice no-BS attitude). And I'm always up for a fun disaster movie. Worth watching if you've got nothing better to do on a dreary Sunday afternoon.