Lost in Space Review

Possible spoilers ahead!

Netflix’s “Lost in Space” is based on the classic 1960s family sci-fi series created by Irwin Allen. The series saw a family of castaways thrown into deep space along with a manipulative old doctor, a young hot-shot pilot, and an overprotective robot. The premise was the same for a 1998 film version, but the execution was flawed to say the least. The new “Lost In Space” on the other hand, is rather good.

The series premiere and follow-up episodes deliver an exciting, fun, and surprisingly dramatic, re-imagining of the original series. In the new “Lost in Space,” Toby Stephens stars as John Robinson. He’s a Marine and absentee father trying to re-connect with his wife and kids after spending years away from home.

His estranged wife Maureen is played by the always great Molly Parker. Maureen is a genius-level engineer and with John gone most of the time, she became the primary caregiver to their three children: Penny Robinson (Mina Sundwall) is the wild child, Judy (Taylor Russell) is only 18 but already a doctor, and finally there is Will (Maxwell Jenkins), the youngest member of the family, and the center of most of the action.

I wasn’t sure how the whole estranged family angle would work, but I found it to be quite effective and one of the show’s best plotlines. Having a divided family gave the Robinson kids the opportunity to develop rather quickly. By episode two we know plenty about each of the Robinson kids, including their strengths and weaknesses and their individual personalities. We also see how their parents fractured relationship is affectiong each kid.

In this “Lost in Space, the Robinson family find themselves on a distant planet, however, they are not alone. Along for the adventure are, Parker Posey as the new Dr. Smith (with a nice little twist), and Ignacio Serricchio as Don West. Unlike previous versions, this Don West is not a hotshot pilot, but a mechanic with a fondness for smuggling and a chicken named Debbie. Watch the show, I promise the chicken thing will all make sense.

But that’s not everyone stranded on the planet. The new series sees the family as one of many survivors of a colonization effort set for Alpha Centauri. When their space station is attacked, many families escape in their Jupiter lifeboats. Many survive the crash landing, but have no way to contact the space station.

This is a big change from the old tv show and the 1998 movie. I don’t know how long time fans will feel about this, but for me, the change works. It works in large part because it gives the Robinsons other people to interact with. Therefore, new relationships are formed; Doctor Smith can play more mind games; and new adventures are launched.

In the acting department, Toby Stephens is very good as John Robinson. Stephens has really improved as an actor since his dreadful work in “Die Another Day.” His character here is a complex one, but the actor delivers a solid performance as a never-say-die soldier. John is also well aware of his failures as a father, and is trying to make amends.

Meanwhile, Molly Parker’s Maureen is fiercely independent and easily the smartest person in the family. Quite often, we see Maureen working out a problem while at the same team teaching her children how she’s doing something. It becomes clear from early on that the kids have much more in common with her, than with John. However, Maureen is also willing to break the rules, if it can ensure a better future for her children.

I should also mention that Parker and Stephens have great chemistry even when their characters are bickering with one another. But the two were at their best when they find themselves stuck in one of the Chariots.

The same can be said of the Robinson children, especially in later episodes when situations force each of them to carry the weight of an episode. The standouts for me were Penny Robinson (Mina Sundwall), and Judy (Taylor Russell). Will on the other hand, got annoying. However, I don’t blame Maxwell Jenkins for this. I think the blame goes to the script which made Will extremely naive and borderline stupid. But I will say that the character improved in the last couple of episodes.

The cast is solid for the most part, even the other survivors were surprisingly strong in supporting roles. But when it’s all said and done, Parker Posey steals the show in “Lost in Space.” She is awesome as Doctor Smith, and she’s scary too. Posey had this look in her eyes that makes you believe she would kill anyone to achieve her goals.

For the most part, “Lost In Space” impressed me with its unique take on a classic. The character development was strong, as was the world building, not just on the planet, but for the space station too. With this show, Netflix has delivered a fun sci-fi family adventure that had plenty of twists and turns that left me wanting more.

“Lost in Space” score: A-

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The Crossing Review

Possible spoilers ahead!

I have been a fan of Steve Zahn since I saw him in 1996’s “That Thing You Do.” But I have to admit I had a hard time picturing him as the leading man on the new ABC show “The Crossing.” In the drama, Zahn plays a small town sheriff named Jude Ellis. He’s only been on the job for a few weeks, but he suddenly finds himself dealing with an unusual crisis when hundreds of bodies wash up on a local beach. 47 of them however, survive, and that’s where the mystery starts.

The local authorities don’t find any signs of a crashed airliner or of a sunken ship that would explain where all these people came from. But soon enough the mysterious arrivals inform the sheriff that they are refugees not from some other place but some other time. They have come from an America 180 years from now, hoping to escape a great war and the “genetic overlords” that caused it.

However, before Zahn can get more answers from the survivors, his involvement om the case is curtailed by a higher authority in the form of Sandrine Holt’s Homeland Security agent Emma Ren.They don’t see eye to eye on much, but it’s clear from the start that both of them want to help the survivors however they can. But neither knows that the mystery of the 47 goes deeper than either of them could have imagined.

As I mentioned at the start, I’m a Steve Zahn fan, but I wasn’t sure he could pull off the role of the sheriff. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. Zahn was terrific in the part, and he looks better than ever. This isn’t the pudgy guy from “Saving Silverman” or the goofball from “Happy, Texas.” This Steve Zahn is in shape, and he’s a much better dramatic actor than I would have thought.

Also good in the series is Sandrine Holt as Homeland Security agent Emma Ren. Instead of going the usual route of a tough as nails agent that always goes by the books, “The Crossing” gives agent Ren a nice amount of heart. Yeah, she has bosses she needs to answer to. But it was nice to see that she does want to help these people. Holt and Zahn play well off each other, so I suspect the rest of the season may explore that relationship.

The rest of the cast included Rick Gomez as Ellis’ deputy, and Simone Kessell as a time traveler out on her own looking for her daughter. All the characters are appealing enough that I wanted to know more about them, especially Simone Kessell. The actors all do a good job selling the dialogue as the show’s main plot is explained from various angles.

All in all, I thought the pilot to “The Crossing” was well acted, well paced, and full of surprises. I like he premise of the show, and everything looked really good for a network show. Hopefully, ABC will give the series time to build and audience as the events unfold and build towards something big.

“The Crossing” score: B+

Baseball 101

As I’ve mentioned countless times on this here blog, I am a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan ever since I can remember. I was fan even when the Sox found new and mysterious ways to break my heart each fall during the post season.

But ever since they won three World Series, things are a bit different. I actually go into every new season with some hope that maybe this is the year that the Red Sox do it again. This season is not different, and I’m excited the Sox have a nice little winning streak going on.

But just when I thought nothing else in baseball could shock me anymore, this happened yesterday afternoon during the Sox home opener…

Wifey: Dinner’s here!

Me: I can’t right now. The Sox are down by one in the bottom of the ninth.

15 or so minutes later…

Wifey: Is the game over yet?

Me: No, but the Sox tied it and they’re going to extra innings.

Wifey: So who’s winning?

Me: They’re about to start extra innings

Wifey: That doesn’t tell me who’s winning.

Now I know how the pizza guy in Ferris Bueller felt.

 

 

 

 

Worth a Look: Housesitter

The summer of 1992 was a big one. Summer ’92 saw the presidential race heat up, and Barcelona hosting the Olympic games. This was also the summer Whoopi Goldberg became a nun, where there was no crying in baseball, and when Batman returned to the big screen.

But there’s also a little romantic comedy from this time that always gets forgotten:  “Housesitter.”

“Housesitter” was directed by Frank Oz, and starred Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. Martin plays Newton Davis, a Boston architect who has designed his dream house and in the opening credits asks his childhood sweetheart Becky (Dana Delaney) to marry him. She says no, and monthes later the heartbroken Newt tells everything to a waitress named Gwen (Goldie Hawn).

Learning that the house Newton designed is sitting empty in a quaint little New England town, Gwen goes there and introduces herself around town as Newt’s wife. She also moves into the house and furnishes the place, on credit and in Newton’s name. Weeks go by before Newt returns to the town and discover Gwen’s deception. But by then, Gwen has succeeded in making friends of Newt’s parents and his former love, Becky.

However, Newton immediately goes with the flow to get what he wants: a promotion at work, and to win back the love of Dana Delaney’s Becky. Gwen agrees to help him, an in exchange she gets to stay in the house. The two pretend they are married, then stage a phony divorce in front of the entire town. But of course, things don’t go quite as planned.

A movie like this shouldn’t work because both of these characters are lying most of the time. It’s hard to root for characters who are deceiving so many other people deliberately. But watching “Housesitter” in the theater, I got it. Newt and Gwen both want something, and working together might be the only way the each achieve their goals.

But what made the film work, was the great work of Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. The two actors have great chemistry together and their one on one scenes are some of the film’s best. There are some great verbal fights between the two. Martin and Hawn also have one of the funniest scenes with the a reverend Newt’s parents bring by to help with their relationship “troubles.”

Goldie Hawn also delivers with some epic facial expressions throughout the film. Wheter its at the Budapest restaurant, or when she finds her fake parents, or when she tells Becky the story of how her and Newton “met.” Hawn’s meeting Newtons parents for the first time was also pretty epic, and sweet at the same time.

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are helped by an excellent supporting cast. Dana Delaney, Donald Moffat and Julie Harris as Newt’s parents, and by Richard B. Shull and Laurel Cronin (a homeless couple who are pressed into service as Gwen’s parents), all deliver wonderful performances.

what I also liked about the cast, was that each supporting character had something to do. By the time the film ends, each of them has played a part in some way shape or form in the main plot.

The final reason I enjoy “Housesitter” is because it was shot in my home state. The town scenes were shot in Cohasset and Concord, Massachusetts, two places I’ve been too mutltiple times over the years. Each summer I would go to multiple concerts and shows at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset.

The scenes in downtown Boston were shot near where I would eventually go to art school, including the scenes featuring the Budapest restaurant. The restaurant you see in the film, was an actual restaurant near the Prudential Center area. Although I don’t remember if the restaurant was named the Budapest or not, it was still there while as I going to school. I remember when it was announced it was closing, it was a big story because the restaurant had been around for quite some time.

“Housesitter” is just a sweet and funny movie, with a rather innovative premise. I wish more people would give this movie a shot because it really is a wonderful little comedy. The setting, and the town people, and the performances from Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, all combine to make this one of the few romantic comedies I can honestly say I love.

Why I hate The Breakfast Club

For people my age and anyone who was young in the 1980’s, “The Breakfast Club” is one of those movies everyone liked because we grew up in that era. Yeah, not for me though. Truth of the matter is I hate the movie, but it wasn’t always like that. But I have a good reason disliking this movie, and it all started my freshman year of college.

Between fall of 1997 and the spring of 1999, I attended school at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater Ma. My major at the time was media communications, with a minor in graphic design.

I was excited to go to school at BSC, but soon discovered the school made it almost impossible for freshmen to get into the classes we needed for our major. During my freshman year, I was only able to take two of the required courses, one of which was a speech class.

The required speech class was three days a week, but with two different professors. On Monday, we met in a large auditorium with one teacher, and on Wednesday and Friday we’d meet in a regular classroom with a different teacher. It was in the regular classroom where my problems with “The Breakfast Club.”

One Friday, we were assigned to watch the movie, and the professor told us to just enjoy it. No need to take notes or anything. Everyone in the class was probably thinking “watch a movie for homework? cool.” So I watched it, and I liked certain parts of it, and I did laugh here and there. But I wouldn’t say it became a favorite of mine or anything. As far as I was concerned, this would be the only time I had to watch “The Breakfast Club,” but boy was I wrong!

The following Wednesday, the professor that had assigned the movie, asked us our initial thoughts about it. Even then I thought it was an odd way for her to phrase the question, but I soon found out why she said “Initial thoughts.” At the end of class, she told us to watch the movie again, but this time focus only on Judd Nelson’s John Bender. Oh, and be sure to take notes this time.

That Friday in class, we discussed the character of Bender, and what we thought of him and his actions. As fas as I was concerned, that should have been the end of my relationship with “The Breakfast Club,” but the professor had other ideas. For the weekend, she told us to watch the movie again and to focus on Molly Ringwald’ss Claire Standish.

The next week, we did it all over again for Emilio Estevez as Andy Clark. And as if that weren’t enough, we rounded things out by watching the movie again, and only for Anthony Michael Hall’s Brian Johnson.

After a couple of weeks, I had watched “The Breakfast Club” a total of five times. That was over twenty years ago now, but even today I cannot bring myself to watch the movie. This is one case where a homework assignment completley ruined a movie for me. Ah well, at least I passed the class.

Book Review: Roger Moore: À Bientôt . . .

Synopsis:

In À Bientôt, delivered, along with his own hand-drawn sketches, to his publisher mere days before he passed away, Roger looks back on his life—and gives it his trademark sideways glance. Nostalgic, funny, charming and, most importantly, very human, his reflections on age and aging encompass all aspects of this universal experience, from reminiscences on childhood and “what might have been;” keeping abreast of the everchanging times; senior moments, memory and getting to grips with technology; the joys—and frustrations—of travel; work and play.

Along with these he tells of the intense happiness—and some equally intense sadnesses—of family life. Featuring his own sketches throughout, this book sees Roger at his most open and forthright. The true stories and situations he shares in this warm and intimate book reveal a “Bond unbound,” the human being inside the action-adventure character that made him so famous the world over. Always upbeat and—as ever—endearingly self-effacing and unpretentious, he shares the joys he experienced every day along with the tiny triumphs that life brings to us all at the most unexpected times

A Brief History:

I have been a fan of Roger Moore’s work on the big and small screen for most of my life. Whether it was as The Saint, James Bond, or even in “Boat Trip,” Moore was always great. But over the last few years, my attention was turned from his acting, to his books.

In fact, some of my favorite books over the last few years have been written by Roger Moore. So being a fan of Mr. Moore, there was no way I was going to pass on his final book, “Roger Moore: À Bientôt . . .”

My Thoughts:

If you’re expecting a play by-play account of Moore’s time as James Bond, you’re out of luck. This time, Roger Moore focuses more on family, relationships, and some fun stories he had before, during, and after his time as 007. In this book Moore writes quite a bit about his wife Kristina, his kids, and the res of his family. I would say “Roger Moore: À Bientôt . . .” is easily the most personal book Moore wrote.

Throughout the book, Moore has these interludes he called “What if,” which detail roles he passed on, or missed out on. I don’t want to spoil any of these stories, but I will say that many of them were fascinating, and thought-provoking. A few of these “What If” moments left me wondering what might have been, or what we might have missed out on if Roger Moore had chosen a different path during his long career. And at least one “What if” left me scratching my head wondering how Roger Moore would have been in that particular role.

Final word and score:

It saddens me that “Roger Moore: À Bientôt . . .” is the last book I’ll ever read by Roger Moore. I’m going to miss reading his funny stories about something that happened to him at airports, or as he got older, or something took place at home with his wife Kristina. But most of all I’m going to miss his wit.

As sad as his passing was, I have to admit “Roger Moore: À Bientôt . . .” was a perfect way to end. This is one of those rare books that I will definitely read again, and again. So thank you Roger Moore for the fun 007 movies, the Saint, and all the great laughs your books always brought.

“Roger Moore: À Bientôt . . .” score: A+

 

I paid to see that: Just Visiting

Ahh, the early 2000’s. Tthis was a strange era in movies. Everything Hollywood made during this time seemed more innocent, less serious, and more colorful. While there were some decent movies during this period, many others were rather forgettable, like 2001’s “Just Visiting.”

This edition of I Paid to See That is a unique one. That’s because unlike most of the movies I write about in this series, I did not see 2001’s “Just Visiting” in the theater. Now that I think about it, I didn’t even see the movie the year it came out. It would not be until May of 2002 that I finally saw this time traveling comedy. But I’ll get back to this is a bit.

First off, if  you don’t remember the film, “Just Visiting” was directed by Jean-Marie Gaubert and it’s a remake of a French film which I’m assuming is better than this flick. “Just Visiting” does have a good cast though, it stars Jean Reno, Christina Applegate, Christian Clavier, Malcolm McDowell, Tara Reid, and Bridgette Wilson.

Jean Reno is Sir Thibault, a French knight who is to marry the beautiful Rosalind (Christina Applegate). His vassal Andre (Christian Clavier) si always with him, trotting happily behind the cart. Some bad stuff happens during a celebration, so Thibault asks a sorcerer (Malcolm McDowell) to send them back in time just enough so they can set things right.

The wizard, miscalculates the spell and sends them to modern-day Chicago, where the knight and serf are terrified by elevated trains, trucks, and by skyscrapers. The time travelers soon run into Thibault’s great-great-great-great-great granddaughter Julia (Christina Applegate again). She’s the sole heir to the family’s old European fortune, founded centuries ago by Thibault, and she is the spitting image of his beloved Rosalind. But her boyfriend, Hunter (Matthew Ross), wants her to sell the family’s European estate, so he can get his hands on the money.

That’s the basis for this movie, but is also where things get tricky. In many ways, “Just Visiting” is a romantic comedy, but Thibault can’t fall in love with Julia, since she is his great-great-great-great-greatgranddaughter. But since the girl looks exactly like the woman he loves, he comes to care for her deeply and tries to protect her from Hunter.

So how does the film deal with the protagonist not being able to fall for the female lead? Simple: the film turns the romantic plotline over to Andre.

Andre ends up falling in love with Angelique (Tara Reid), providing the film with a few laughs along the way. Everything the couple do becomes an adventure, including their first car ride which scares the daylights out Thibault.

But eventually Andre starts liking the city, and when the sorcerer prepares to return them to the Middle Ages, he is against it. This is where he delivers what is arguably the film’s best line: “I want to stay here, where I can eat doughnuts and wear exciting men’s fashions at rock-bottom prices.”

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t see “Just Visiting” on the big screen. When the film was released, I really didn’t have any interest in seeing it. Then, when it hit dvd, I just skipped it. But in 2002, my friends and I decided to take a trip down to New York City for a few days. We could have driven ourselves there, or taken an Amtrak down. But no, we decided to take the 6 am bus from Boston’s South Station.

As we departed the city, the tv’s on the bus flared on. I was hoping something good would come on, even the Today Show would have been fine. But sadly, I was out of luck. Our lone viewing choice was, you guessed it, “Just Visiting.” Faced with few other entertainment choices on the bus, I decided to watch the entire movie.

At only 88 minutes long, “Just Visiting” is a short movie. I was done watching it by the time our bus drove through Hartford, Connecticut. But for the rest of the ride to New York, I couldn’t stop thinking about the damn movie. Questions and random thoughts kept popping up in my head, like:

• Who greenlit this thing?
• Jean Reno deserves better than this!
• So this is what happened to Malcolm McDowell’s career after he killed Captain kirk.
• Does the butterfly effect matter anymore?
• This is Tara Reid’s best work.

And on and on these silly thoughts went. Had I seen “Just Visiting” in the theater in 2002, things might have been different. At least I only would have paid around $8 to see the movie. But instead, I felt like I paid roughly $65 to see the movie, since that’s what the bus ticket to New York cost me.

Quite frankly, I want my 88 minutes back.