Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Data
Title: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Year: 2011
Length: 105 minutes
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Writers: Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, based (very loosely and distantly) on a novel by Pierre Boulle
Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis
With: Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Tyler Labine, Jamie Harris, David Hewlett
Music: Patrick Doyle
Cinematography: Andrew Lesnie
Editing: Conrad Buff IV, Mark Goldblatt
I saw it: in the theater, a couple weeks ago
Synopsis: intelligent apes escape from San Francisco

My reaction
Concept: Remaking the fourth movie in a franchise that never should have had a sequel in the first place?  Who could have thought this was a good idea for long enough to figure out that it would work?
Story:
Characters: The apes are very good. The humans are crap.
Dialog: It’s great that they go without dialog as much as they do. Especially since every time someone opens his mouth, a steaming pile of crap pours out.
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting: The human characters are just kind of there, but the apes are all excellent. Serkis is amazing.
Music:
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, ). It’s badly marred by the persistence of James Franco’s character, staying prominent in the movie long after he no longer serves a purpose.  But that’s not such a big deal, since the movie is otherwise completely awesome.
Objective Rating (Average):

Heaven Can Wait

Data
Title: Heaven Can Wait
Year: 1943
Length: 112 minutes
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writer: Samson Raphaelson, based on a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete
Starring: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche
With: Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern, Helene Reynolds, Aubrey Mather, Tod Andrews
Music: Alfred Newman
Cinematography: Edward Cronjager
Editing: Dorothy Spencer
Oscars: nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography (color)
I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), a couple weeks ago
Synopsis: a man tells his life story, hoping to gain admission to Hell

My reaction
Concept: Too bad they ignore the concept for 90% of the movie.
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). Starts off funny, but turns tedious. The focus is on a love story that you’re never given reason to care about.
Objective Rating (Average):

Charade

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 7 of 13

Data
Title: Charade
Year: 1963
Length: 113 minutes
Director: Stanley Donen
Writer: Peter Stone, based on a story by Stone & Marc Behm
Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn
With: Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, Jacques Marin, Paul Bonifas, Thomas Chelimsky
Music: Henry Mancini
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: Jim Clark
Oscars: nominated for Best Song (“Charade”)
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a couple weeks ago
Synopsis: a widow is attacked by people after her husband’s money

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). Weird movie. Sort of a parody of Hitchcock, except it takes the suspense seriously, and it’s entirely possible that it isn’t intentionally mimicking Hitchcock and is ripping him off. I’m not always sure if things are supposed to be funny or not, or if the humor is meant to be the focus or just mood-lightener. But I guess it’s a good movie… I’m pretty sure it is. I’ll have watch it a few times before I can tell whether I’m enjoying it or not. I did enjoy watching it, but I might have just been enjoying how perplexed it made me.
Objective Rating (Average):

100 great movies

I don’t expect to do any posting for the next few weeks, so rather than leave “The Lights of Zetar” at the top of my blog that whole time, here’s this.

Starting in on Roger Ebert’s first book of great movies has got me thinking, what 100 titles would I have picked as a collection of “The Great Movies” – trying to make a list that’s objective and well-rounded, but still represents my favorites and my taste, all the while not putting too much thought into it.  It’s an interesting exercise, and I recommend it for anyone trying to put off doing housework.

12 Angry Men, 1957
25th Hour, 2002
The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938
Alien, 1979
All About Eve, 1950
Amélie, 2001
American Beauty, 1999
Anatomy of a Murder, 1959
Another Year, 2010
Back to the Future, 1985
The Big Lebowski, 1998
The Blues Brothers, 1980
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961
The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957
Brief Encounter, 1945
Casablanca, 1942
Children of Men, 2006
A Christmas Story, 1983
The Circus, 1928
The Conversation, 1974
Cool Hand Luke, 1967
Dark City, 1998
The Dark Crystal, 1982
The Dark Knight, 2008
The Departed, 2006
Dog Day Afternoon, 1975
Dr. Strangelove, 1964
Dumbo, 1941
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004
The Exorcist, 1973
Fargo, 1996
Finding Nemo, 2003
First Blood, 1982
Frankenstein, 1931
The Godfather, 1972
The Grapes of Wrath, 1940
Harold and Maude, 1971
In Bruges, 2008
In the Heat of the Night, 1967
The Incredibles, 2004
Inglourious Basterds, 2009
Kill Bill, 2003-2004
King Kong, 1933
Labyrinth, 1986
The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988
Leone’s Dollars trilogy, 1964-1966
M, 1931
Magnolia, 1999
The Maltese Falcon, 1941
The Manchurian Candidate, 1962
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, 1977
Mary and Max, 2009
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975
Moon, 2009
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939
The Muppet Movie, 1979
My Neighbor Totoro, 1988
Network, 1976
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975
Planet of the Apes, 1968
The Princess Bride, 1987
Pulp Fiction, 1994
Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
Rear Window, 1954
Rebecca, 1940
The Red Shoes, 1948
Reservoir Dogs, 1992
Rocky, 1976
Roshomon, 1950
Seven Samurai, 1954
Shadow of a Doubt, 1943
Sherlock Jr., 1924
The Shining, 1980
The Shop Around the Corner, 1940
The Silence of the Lambs, 1991
The Sixth Sense, 1999
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937
Stalag 17, 1953
Star Wars, 1977
Stangers on a Train, 1951
La Strada, 1954
Taxi Driver, 1976
The Thin Man, 1934
The Third Man, 1949
Time Bandits, 1981
To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
Touch of Evil, 1958
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948
True Grit, 2010
Twelve Monkeys, 1995
Up, 2009
Vertigo, 1958
Wall-E, 2008
Where the Wild Things Are, 2009
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971
Winter’s Bone, 2010
Witness for the Prosecution, 1957
The Wizard of Oz, 1939
Yojimbo, 1961

Star Trek: “The Lights of Zetar”

Data
Title: Star Trek: “The Lights of Zetar”
Year: 1969
Network: NBC
Episode: the eighteenth (of twenty-four) from season three; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Herbert Kenwith
Writers: Jeremy Tarcher & Shari Lewis
Starring: William Shatner
With: Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Jan Shutan, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage
Cinematography: Al Francis
Editing: Donald R. Rode
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: Space Energy of Doom possesses a young science officer

My reaction
Concept:
Story: Sorry, but you forgot the scene in which it is explained how they know that pressure changes are deadly to beings of pure energy…
Characters: Chicks dig patronizing harassment from their bosses.
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design: The alien voice is pretty cool.
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). It might have been good, if only they’d figured out some way for it to make any sense.
Objective Rating (Average):

Deliverance

Data
Title: Deliverance
Year: 1972
Length: 110 minutes
Director: John Boorman
Writer: James Dickey, based on his novel
Starring: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds
With: Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Ed Ramey, Billy Redden, Seamon Glass, Randall Deal, Bill McKinney, Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward, James Dickey, Macon McCalman
Music: Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandel
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing: Tom Priestley
Oscars: nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Editing
I saw it: on video a few times, most recently yesterday (rented from Netflix)
Synopsis: four friends canoe into the wilderness of the deep south

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). Completely engrossing but too unpleasant to be enjoyable.
Objective Rating (Average):

Star Trek: “That Which Survives”

Data
Title: Star Trek: “That Which Survives”
Year: 1969
Network: NBC
Episode: the seventeenth (of twenty-four) from season three; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas; story by D.C. Fontana
Starring: William Shatner
With: Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Lee Meriwether, James Doohan, George Takei
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Fred Steiner
Cinematography: Al Francis
Editing: Fabien D. Tordjmann
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: haunted by a woman who is deadly to the touch

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, ). There’s hardly a single exchange in this whole episode in which someone – usually Kirk or Spock – doesn’t bitch someone out. It’s like the leads have been replaced by internet commenters. Sulu and Scotty can’t get a word out without someone jumping down their throats to inform them that “actually, you’re wrong about this little detail, and I’m smarter than you.” Even if the story was good, it would still be too horrible to watch.
Objective Rating (Average):

Doctor Who #55: Terror of the Autons

Data
Title: Doctor Who: “Terror of the Autons”
Year: 1971
Network: BBC
Episodes: 4, at 25 minutes each; the first story (of five) from season eight
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Barry Letts
Writer: Robert Holmes
Starring: Jon Pertwee
With: Nicholas Courtney, Roger Delgado, Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, John Levene, Michael Wisher, Harry Towb, Stephen Jack, Barbara Leake, Christopher Burgess, John Baskcomb
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Dudley Simpson
Editing: Geoffrey Botterill
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: The Master helps plastic-controlling aliens invade Earth

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). The Master’s introduction to the series. Sadly, the fact that he’s a renegade Timelord has no relevence to the plot. If you could call it a plot. Apart from a handful of nice character moments, everything is done quite badly. But it’s a campy sort of bad that’s entertaining.
Objective Rating (Average):

Carrotblanca

Data
Title: “Carrotblanca”
Year: 1995
Length: 8 minutes
Director: Douglas McCarthy
Writers: Tim Cahill & Julie McNally Cahill
Starring: Greg Burson
With: Joe Alaskey, Bob Bergen, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille
Music: Richard Stone
I saw it: on video (Casablanca bonus feature), a couple days ago
Synopsis: Casablanca as performed by Looney Tunes characters

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). It’s basically the game of recasting the movie; there’s nothing more to it. But I love that game (for instance, imagine your favorite TV show as Muppets), and they do a good job of it – although personally I think Marvin would have made a better Nazi than Yosemite Sam.
Objective Rating (Average):

Casablanca

from my 1st Ebert’s Great Movies Marathon, part 1 of 13

Data
Title: Casablanca
Year: 1942
Length: 102 minutes
Director: Michael Curtiz
Writers: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein & Howard Koch, based on a play by Murray Burnett & Joan Alison
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman
With: Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall, Madeleine Lebeau, Dooley Wilson, Joy Page, John Qualen, Leonid Kinskey, Curt Bois
Music: Max Steiner (and non-original music)
Cinematography: Arthur Edeson
Editing: Owen Marks
Oscars: won (in 1944) for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay; nominated for Best Actor (Bogart), Best Supporting Actor (Rains), Best Cinematography (black-and-white), Best Score (dramatic or comedy) and Best Editing
I saw it: on video many times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: a wealthy, influential rogue in WWII Morocco refuses to take sides

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting: Bergman is great. The rest are too perfectly cast to not be good.
Music:
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, ). It’s not possible to like movies and not love Casablanca. It just can’t be done.
Objective Rating (Average):

And, what’s Ebert got to say?
– “…who sacrifice love for a higher purpose. This is immensely appealing; the viewer is not only able to imagine winning the love of Humphrey Bogart or Ingrid Bergman, but unselfishly renouncing it…” Maybe. I don’t think so. We certainly do not see anyone win anybody’s love in the movie. We do see a lot of love between Isla and Laszlo. Rick is an emotionally immature jack-hole for most of the movie. And he’s smart enough to know he’s been a jack-hole, and that he’s not giving up anything with Ilsa apart from some sex and maybe a couple years of resentful relationship. It’s helping Laszlo at all, with or without Ilsa, that involves a sacrifice.
– “The plot, a trifle to hang the emotions on…” Um… no. Just no.
– “The richness of the supporting characters. . . set the moral stage for the decisions of the major characters.” Okay. But more importantly, they’re interesting and entertaining in themselves.
– “…Rains as the perhaps subtly bisexual police chief…” Cute.
– “It plays like a favorite musical album; the more I know it, the more I like it.” Agreed. I happened to have watched it three times in less than a year, and it still keeps getting better.

[update of a previous post – original is here]

VSM: Ebert’s Great Movies, part 1

Who says I can’t watch two marathons at the same time?

Moving at a reasonable pace, and assuming he keeps adding new movies to his list on a regular basis, it would take more than a decade to watch all of Roger Ebert’s Great Movies. If nothing else, it’s a reminder that I’ll never run out of good movies to watch – by the time I’d finish watching the last of them, I wouldn’t remember watching the first of them.  Well.  Here we go.  Starting with the contents of Book I, sorted according to the articles’ dates on his website: the first 13 Great Movies.

Very Slow Marathon #6 – The 1st Ebert’s Great Movies Marathon
[note: You can find this list above in the Very Slow Marathons tab.]

1. Casablanca, 1942
2. Ikiru, 1952
3. Vertigo, 1958
4. A Hard Day’s Night, 1964
5. Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, 1953
6. The Night of the Hunter, 1955
7. The Third Man, 1949
8. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
9. La Dolce Vita, 1960
10. L’Avventura, 1960
11. The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928
12. The Godfather, 1972
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

Star Trek: “The Mark of Gideon”

Data
Title: Star Trek: “The Mark of Gideon”
Year: 1969
Network: NBC
Episode: the sixteenth (of twenty-four) from season three; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Jud Taylor
Writers: George F. Slavin & Stanley Adams
Starring: William Shatner
With: Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Sharon Acker, David Hurst
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Fred Steiner
Cinematography: Al Francis
Editing: Fabien D. Tordjmann
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: Kirk’s beamed onto an empty Enterprise

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters: Granted, the plot hinges on their being bad characters, but that hardly forgives it.
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). The strange and creepy mystery in the first half of the episode is enough to make me enjoy it, but the frustrating nonsense of the second half is enough to stop me from liking it.
Objective Rating (Average):

The Children’s Hour

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 6 of 13

Data
Title: The Children’s Hour
Year: 1961
Length: 107 minutes
Director: William Wyler
Writer: John Michael Hayes, adapted by Lillian Hellman from her play
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine
With: James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Bainter, Karen Balkin, Veronica Cartwright, Mimi Gibson
Music: Alex North
Cinematography: Franz Planer
Editing: Robert Swink
Oscars: nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Bainter), Best Cinematography (black-and-white), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (black-and-white), Best Costume Design (black-and-white) and Best Sound
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a couple days ago
Synopsis: a kid accuses her teachers of being lesbians

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). I don’t know what to make of this movie. The filmmakers seem to have seen the story as being about the damage of cruel gossip, whereas now its turned into a story about bigotry. A lot of it doesn’t work particularly well because of that disparity. But since the characters are done so well, it ultimately does still work. It doesn’t try to condemn or redeem its characters to make the audience feel better about things; it’s too obliviously of its time to even know where to start (or at least it was forced by the production code to appear to be oblivious). Consequently, it’s probably more powerfully tragic than a modern adaptation could be. When Audrey’s character holds her head high at the end and proudly walks away, what is that supposed to mean? Probably something very different to me than it meant to Audrey or Wyler. But maybe not.
Objective Rating (Average):

Captain America

Data
Title: Captain America: The First Avenger
Year: 2011
Length: 124 minutes
Director: Joe Johnston
Writers: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, based on comic books by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby
Starring: Chris Evans
With: Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Richard Armitage, Stanley Tucci, Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, Kenneth Choi, JJ Feild, Bruno Ricci
Music: Alan Silvestri, Alan Menken
Cinematography: Shelly Johnson
Editing: Robert Dalva, Jeffrey Ford
I saw it: in the theater, a few days ago
Synopsis: patriotic, WWII super-soldier

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters: Unusually strong/likable characters for a comic book movie.
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting: With moments of greatness.
Music:
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). Lots of fun.  Showin’ X-Men how period superheroes are done.
Objective Rating (Average):

Star Trek: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”

Data
Title: Star Trek: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”
Year: 1969
Network: NBC
Episode: the fifteenth (of twenty-four) from season three; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Jud Taylor
Writer: Oliver Crawford; story by Gene L. Coon
Starring: William Shatner
With: Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Frank Gorshin, Lou Antonio, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Fred Steiner
Cinematography: Al Francis
Editing: Donald R. Rode
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently a few days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: star-bellied sneeches (in Space!)

My reaction
Concept:
Story: It starts out promising, until they run out of ideas and give somebody god-like powers.
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, ). Moralizing nonsense, made nearly unbearable by terrible pacing. There’s enough script here for a 30-minute episode, tops.
Objective Rating (Average):

Lonesome Ghosts

Data
Title: “Lonesome Ghosts”
Year: 1937
Length: 9 minutes
Director: Burt Gillett
Writer: Dick Friel
With: Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig, Walt Disney, Clarence Nash
Music: Albert Hay Malotte
I saw it: on video (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad bonus feature), a few days ago
Synopsis: Micky, Donald and Goofy hunt ghosts

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, ). Donald’s the only one who’s funny, and he only gets about 30 seconds of screen time.
Objective Rating (Average):

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Data
Title: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Year: 1949
Length: 68 minutes
Directors: James Algar, Clyde Geronimi & Jack Kinney
Writers: Erdman Penner, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears, Homer Brightman & Harry Reeves, based on stories by Washington Irving and Kenneth Grahame
Starring: Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone
With: Eric Blore, J. Pat O’Malley, John McLeish, Colin Campbell, Campbell Grant, Claud Allister
Music: Oliver Wallace (score); Don Raye & Gene de Paul (songs)
Editing: John O. Young
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a few days ago
Synopsis: a toad is arrested for car theft, and a schoolteacher hits on a pretty rich girl

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, ). The Mr. Toad section would be bad, except the title character’s animators make him entertaining to watch. The Ichabod section is much to long and aimless, but it does have a strangely interesting sense of style. There’s no reason at all for the two sections to be part of the same film; Toad probably should have been a feature, and Ichabod a short.
Objective Rating (Average):

Star Trek: “Whom Gods Destroy”

Data
Title: Star Trek: “Whom Gods Destroy”
Year: 1969
Network: NBC
Episode: the fourteenth (of twenty-four) from season three; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Writer: Lee Erwin, story by Erwin & Jerry Sohl
Starring: William Shatner
With: Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Steve Ihnat, Yvonne Craig, James Doohan, Keye Luke
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Fred Steiner
Cinematography: Al Francis
Editing: Bill Brame
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently a few days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: mental patients take control of an asylum (in Space!)

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). There are a couple plot holes, but they’re not bad enough to undermine the story too much. A good script, but it really demanded to be carried by the performances of the guest stars, who are not remarkable.
Objective Rating (Average):

Moby Dick

Data
Title: Moby Dick
Year: 1956
Length: 116 minutes
Director: John Huston
Writers: Ray Bradbury & John Huston, based on the novel by Herman Melville
Starring: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart
With: Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice, Harry Andrews, Bernard Miles, Noel Purcell, Edric Connor, Mervyn Johns, Joseph Tomelty, Philip Stainton, Royal Dano, Seamus Kelly, Friedrich von Ledebur, Orson Welles
Music: Philip Sainton
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Editing: Russell Lloyd
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a few days ago
Synopsis: whale hunters hunt a whale

My reaction
Concept: As much as I dislike the book, it should be easy (if expensive) to make an excellent movie out of it.
Story: According to IMDb’s trivia, Ray Bradbury didn’t read the book. This is obvious.
Characters: One of the book’s only strengths is that, while it is horribly tedious in communicating its characters, it does have what are possibly the greatest characters in American literature. So, where are they?
Dialog: Early in the movie, there is lots of great dialog, taken directly from the book. Later, presumably as Bradbury gives up on reading, it becomes progressively more and more pointless and ineffective.
Pacing: Sadly, this is the only area in which this movie is faithful to the book: it’s interesting, well-written and promising in the beginning, but then after they set out to sea, it suddenly becomes impossibly tedious. Melville accomplishes this by writing essays; Bradbury achieves the same effect by being a boring, hack writer.
Cinematography:
Special effects/design: The visuals start out great, but get worse and worse as things approach the climax. The quality of an effect is inversely proportional to its importance to the story.
Acting: Oh, Gregory Peck… what were you thinking? Worst. Casting. Ever.
Music:
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, ). I can think of a lot of criticisms for the book.  (And I mean a lot of them; I spent more than three months forcing myself to get through that thing, and it was a harrowing experience.) But I have to say, never did I think, “I wish this was more like a Ray Bradbury story,” or, “I wish the whales were smaller and generally harmless,” or, “I wish Captain Ahab was younger and more charming.”
Objective Rating (Average):

Star Trek: “Elaan of Troyius”

Data
Title: Star Trek: “Elaan of Troyius”
Year: 1968
Network: NBC
Episode: the thirteenth (of twenty-four) from season three; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas
Starring: William Shatner
With: Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, France Nuyen, Jay Robinson, Tony Young, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Fred Steiner
Cinematography: Gerald Perry Finnerman
Editing: Donald R. Rode
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: the Enterprise transports an arrogant princess

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). There’s a nice space battle, although it doesn’t quite make sense (I don’t think the writer was aware of what “lightspeed” means) and the same sort of stuff is done much better in the first season. Most of the episode isn’t as much fun, but it’s alright.
Objective Rating (Average):