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Damnaliens DVD Review by Steve Sawicki
Note: order the films from Amazon by
following the hyperlinks to buy junk food for the aliens and keep them
away from the dog.) Want a second opinion? We suggest www.imdb.com
- Ernest
After much thought and a
great deal of thinking, I have concluded that Hollywood indeed has the right
idea when it comes to resolutions. They ignore them. I believe we should
embrace this attitude and emulate the obvious benefits such a philosophy
garners. First, we shall be able to forever eschew the new, avoiding all that
trying to be trendy and up to date. Second we shall be able to forever rejoice
in the old, regardless of how embarrassing or dated it might be. Third, we
shall never need to have an original thought again, relying instead on what
others have thought before us. Finally we need never take responsibility since
there are always so many different ways to spread the blame for things. Let me
give you some examples.
Recent
Releases / Classics
/ SFTV / Anime
 Recent
Releases -
What do you get when you cross a science
fiction idea with a horror director?
Signs, of course. Mel Gibson shows us the full range of facial expressions
in this film, easily moving from confusion to uncertainty to bewilderment and
back again. This flick crosses War of the Worlds overtones with some very
spooky effects. But it’s all for naught as nothing is ever explained. It’s
evident that Shyamalan hired the Star Trek logic idiot to make sure everything
made sense. It’s pretty to look at and it’s well done enough so that you think
it’s actually better than it is. Once you start thinking about it though you
realize it’s nothing more than leftovers, and not very well done ones at that.
 Are
there aliens among us or is it all just a delusional fantasy.
K-PAX,
grabs this dilemma by the throat and makes it a theme. Kevin Spacey is a man
who is either a delusional nut or a real alien from space. The question is,
which is he? An excellent question which the excellent acting almost pulls
off until the idiot director decides he wants to finish it all with an
ambiguous ending.
 Classics -
The landscape is covered with snow, the air has
a decided chill to it, unless you’re in Chicago where it’s barely above
freezing, and your thoughts constantly turn to zombies.
Blood of
the Zombie, will satisfy all your zombie needs. Got a craving to see
the undead walk again? Want to see them make some flesh sandwiches? Want yet
one more reason to stay inside?
  Before
liberation there were women who were forced to bend their will to that of their
mate.
Prehistoric Women, details just such events. Journey back to the
good/bad old days when men were men, women were women and both were eaten by
large mammals. It’s a sure bet these aren’t the days most people want to return
to when they talk about how things used to be better.
 SFTV
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Complete Third Season.
You would think, even with Sunnydale being a Hellmouth, that the demons and
their ilk would figure out that it’s just not a great place to manifest. Never
mind since if they stopped coming we’d have to stop watching. This is perhaps
the best complete season of any television show. The plot lines that run
through the year are exceptional and the characters, both new and old, are worth
watching.
 Just
when you thought it was safe to return to the cosmos, out comes
Andromeda, Season I, Volume 4. Kevin Sorbo swaggers his way through
the universe in this Gene Roddenberry vehicle which pits a starship crew
boldly going where no one has gone before in order to make the federation a
better place. The Captain’s a hands on kind of guy, the first office kind of
cool and aloof, the ships computer a woman and the rest of the cast ethnically
varied. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?
 Before
there was Star Trek there was
Flash
Gordon, Classic TV Series. Return with us to
yesteryear when things were very different. Spaceships actually made noise in
space! Ships acted as if there were in 2 dimensions instead of 3! The captain
of the ship actually did most of the dirty work! Logic was bent to apply to the
script instead of the laws of science! Thank goodness we’re parsecs away from
that kind of thing now!
 Anime
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My life is finally complete, now that
Robotech,
New Generation, Complete Collection, has arrived. Plenty of giant
robots rumbling about the
countryside, kicking the butts of other giant robots and mumbling their way
through the
minimally animated scenery. A must have for completists.
As if the big lugs weren’t
enough, this month also brings out
Banner of
Stars, No Turning Back, Volume 1. This 13-part series (also known as
Celestial Banner) is the sequel to Crest of the Stars which came out in 1999.
Three years have passed since the conclusion of the first series and yet not
much has changed. Jinto Lin continues to stick by the side of Lafial, the Abh
alien princess although she treats him like Earth trailer trash. An odd series
with some odd characters exhibiting some odd behaviors. Nothing we haven’t seen
before however.
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