Change Your Image
Michael Steen
Reviews
Jim Gaffigan: Dark Pale (2023)
What happened?
I love Jim Gaffigan. A new special is always a cause for celebration. But not this time. After the dying in a plane crash jokes, we moved on to funeral jokes. And then we got to the diarrhea jokes. I'm sorry (glad) to say that I didn't watch the whole special, nor am I ever likely to. My wife and I watched about 10 minutes of it, and I kept looking at her and listening, waiting for her to laugh. She didn't. Nor did I. I finally turned to her and admitted that I hadn't laughed once, and she agreed. It was just one cringe after another. I'm glad I didn't fork over hard-earned $$$ to go sit in an auditorium and be subjected to this. Jim, what's happened to you?
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
This film is an embarrassment
Granted that it was 1961 and that special effects were not what they are today; this film is still one of the most inane "science fiction" pieces I have ever seen. From the first scene when the diving sub's rudder jerks rapidly (in the manner of a small plastic model), to the preposterous notion that the VanAllen belts could catch fire, to the absolutley BIZARRE notion that they still have 3 1/2 weeks left until the earth's temperature climbs from 135 DEGREES to 170 DEGREES and wipes out civlilization, this film just could not be any more ridiculous. Even from the opening credits, when a fairly comic style of title font was overlaid with a "Love Boat" type theme song by Frankie Avalon, I could tell this was a film that had absolutely no idea what it was or where it was going. Pity poor Walter Pidgeon, saddled with a lame turkey like this one at the end of a distinguished film career. And even though Barbara Eden had no more business on a submarine than my Aunt Tillie, she was still a delicious bit of eye candy that (just barely) redeemed an otherwise unwatchable film. Do yourself a favor and skip this one; jump right to the TV series with Richard Basehart. At least the TV show had enough sense not to actually take itself that seriously.