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Author Topic: 70's Sci-Fi Marathon: The Reviews  (Read 3877 times)

Ben Jackson

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Re: 70's Sci-Fi Marathon: The Reviews
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2008, 02:43:34 PM »
I'd just like to use this thread to suggest a name for the marathon awards: The Carousels. Which movies should be renewed?

TimELiebe

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Re: 70's Sci-Fi Marathon: The Reviews
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2008, 12:50:03 PM »
I have admired The Andromeda Strain ever since I saw it in theaters in its initial release.  Watching it again for this marathon, I still enjoyed it, despite its flaws in continuity and the predictability of its ending.

I'm guessin' many would find it boring after the initial sequences in Piedmont: not much happens action-wise.  I'm a scientist (or was before I retired) and so I loved the laboratory and experimentation scenes.  The quest for knowledge is exciting to me, and when you put that quest in a context of such dire consequences, that is all I need to be thoroughly engrossed.  I understand, however, why this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

I'm curious about what the guys will say about the use of split screen in this film.  Coincidentally, I watched Ang Lee's "Hulk" for the first time on Adam's recommendation from the movies-that-bombed Top 5 (I liked it). It also uses split screen, but with a clearer purpose.  Lee used it to simulate the look and feel of the layout of frames in comic books.  It's less clear why director Wise used it in the Andromeda Strain, and I'm not sure it added anything to the film.  I'm not sure it detracted from it either, so I'm interested in what the guys think.

Impish - I really enjoyed the original ANDROMEDA STRAIN, too. I thought it was a suspenseful, intelligent SF movie for its time (I didn't find the investigation of Andromeda "boring" at all, but an absorbing mystery), and doesn't date nearly as badly as, say, OMEGA MAN, SOYLENT GREEN or LOGAN'S RUN did.

It holds up especially well in light of the ridiculously insulting Scott Brothers' miniseries remake A&E recently aired. My own politics are decidedly Leftist, and have gotten more so after Eight Years of Bush - and I found the remake's world-destroying, "They Know Too Much" e-VIL Homeland Security/Government Conspiracy hard to swallow! Moreover, at several key points in the remake I had no clue what was supposed to be happening, or why it was happening except that it "looked exciting" (which reeks of Tony Scott's work, though he didn't personally direct this). It's like the old saw about good SF and Fantasy says, "It can be impossible - it cannot be improbable."


 

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