Category: Movie/Long Subject Reviews

Readings from the diary of a famous (and successful) propagandist.

A study in how an intelligent person can warp words, emotions, actions, and even reality itself to the utmost degree to serve their chosen purpose.

Inspirationally Scary Quote: “Our propaganda is considered to be exemplary…not just by the German press, but by the international press too…now we will show what the apparatus can achieve, if you know how to use it.”

Grade: B-

1/17/13: See ‘Pupdate: Documentary Grade Edits’.  Grade: C+

Broken record.

Sorta-fun little action movie that gets less and less fun as it goes along. 

I say “little” because you’ve seen it all before.  Well…except the old “dropping down and firing the gun from between the heroine’s legs” trick…if I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a million times…

It’s like someone took all the outtakes and spare parts from ‘Con Air’ and ‘The Rock’ and just decided to make the same movie…ONE…MORE…TIME!

Also, Howie Long’s acting comes up just a little bit short.

Inspirational Quote: “Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons…”

Grade: D+

7/14/18: The Great Grade Update. Wretched, but a little bit fun. My fav re-watched moment is when a guy gets hit in the head with a hammer and proceeds to jump back a few feet before falling on the ground dead. Awfully decent of him. Grade: D-

“Lost Python” my a$$. 

I know Cleese said it, but when he said it he was an old man who had forgotten what it was like to actually write a funny joke.

Izzard rants with the irreverence and SOME of the wit of ‘Flying Circus’, but he’s not nearly as good as Cleese was in his prime.  Or Idle, or Chapman, or Palin, or Jones, or Gilliam.  So at best Izzard would have to be the distant 7th Python…and he’d have to fight with Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland over that honor.

So with that bullsh1t comparison aside, he’s a fairly funny guy: he’s got some intelligence and some wit.  He doesn’t have any timing, unfortunately…his comedy is haphazard rant mode. 

I suppose, in that way, his standup could be seen as similar to ‘Flying Circus’.  But only on the shallowest, most meaningless basis.

‘Flying Circus’ was haphazard because they wrote brilliant (and brilliantly TIMED) bits and then needed to somehow link them together…so they went with Gilliam’s brilliant haphazard nonsense. 

Izzard’s haphazard cuz that’s how he is.  And unlike Gilliam, he ain’t brilliant.

So what’s the big deal?

Grade: C+

To save you almost 3 hours of wasted time…

Watch the opening bits by Eddie Izzard, Jon Stewart w/Kim Jong-un, and Russell Brand w/some other guy.  Then stop. 

After that, it’s best summed up by a guy yawning during Sarah Silverman’s routine.

Grade: D-

Horrible music, horrible FX, horrible acting, horrible writing, horrible fake boobs, horrible gothy angst attempts, horrible “noone understands me” laments, horrible band product placement, horrible hair extensions, horrible HAIKIBA! moments, horribly dull blood ritual for Nosferatu, horribly easy-to-kill vampires.

Makes sex, drugs, rock n’ roll and devil worship seem just kinda boring.

56:05 – Oh thank God.

1:02:26 – Don’t LAUGH during a blood ceremony! HOLD IT IN, GIRL!

Grade: F-

Hey…it’s the same judgy-wudgy as in ‘Disorder In The Court’.

Almost as bad as ‘Triumph Of The Will’, but a HECK of a lot funnier. 

Oops.  I meant SCARIER. 

This reveals what is almost as much a danger to the world as the Wiccan Agenda! Dun Dun DUN!

Featuring plenty of good old-fashioned wholesome TOBACCO smoking.

Graded like ‘Troll 2’, or pure hydro.

Grade: C

Dull, tedious crime drama interspersed with rare helpings of muddled superstition and conflicting musical backgrounds.  The only good thing about it is that it’s well-acted.  But that doesn’t stop it from being terminally boring.

Grade: D-

Lots of public domain footage pasted together and crudely overdubbed.  And by crudely I mean it’s not exactly brilliant and it’s not exactly family-friendly.

The only problem is I actually laughed a few times, so I can’t say it’s truly worthless.  Although when I WASN’T laughing, which was the majority of the time, I was thinking “My GOD this sucks”.

It’s like ‘What’s Up, Tiger Lily?’ done to bad sci-fi/softcore porn/50’s B&W nostalgia.

Grade: D

A “travesty”?  Come on.  That implies a massive fall from grace/greatness, which in this case is simply not possible.  Greatness must first exist for it to be desecrated/lost.

I saw the animated series when it was new, on Liquid Television.  It was amazing and incredible to me then, with visuals that were simply beyond both belief and description: grandiose and grotesque.

But I also had NO FCKEN IDEA what was going on, nor do I now looking back on it.

So if all you’re looking for is a collection of fantastic someone-else’s-dreamscape images to stare at and go “Wow…” to, this film treatment won’t do it.  Watch the original.

But I’ve reached the point in the growth of my somewhat-limited creativity/imagination that I can conjure up my own surreal dreamscapes if/when I want to by the simple expedient of closing my eyes, and I can imbue them with my OWN meaning…not wonder what some other guy was thinking when he made up his.

Unlike the original, there’s a coherent story that you can follow here, if you want to…nothing amazing or incredible, but at least comprehensible.  And somewhat interesting.  And it’s only “not weird” in comparison to the series…it’s VERY weird.

“Dumbed-down-for-the-masses” this ain’t.  “Made-sensible-for-the-sane”, more like it.

Aeon’s incredible acrobatic abilities and precision and a lot of this movie’s FX are like the attempt to climb the north face of the Uxbridge Road: Like them or not, you’ve got to admire the skill that goes into them.

Inspirational Quote: “We’re meant to die.  That’s what makes anything about us matter.”

AND…”Whatever we are, we’re not anarchists.  There have to be rules.”

Grade: C+

Not nearly as scary as the Nerve-Ending Fairy.

Thankfully the writer went to the trouble of making quite a few really bad, boring characters to utter the really bad, boring lines.  It’s only fair to spread ’em around.

Carrie Anne Fleming is a lot less interesting here than she is in ‘Jenifer’, even though she doesn’t wear any disfiguring makeup and actually speaks.  Her appearance here seems to be saying “I’m a SERIOUS actress.  I can do DRAMA.” No you’re not, no you can’t.

30:58 – Great Parenting 101 (Mother rescues child from the sight of extreme overacting)

Inspirational Quote: “What’s your d1ck doin’ over there, Chuck?”

Grade: F

*Sliced and Spliced from 9/29/12 – Behold*

Opening = Demon Summoning For Dummies

It’s all creepy/cool until he kicks over a candle. Twice. At least the theme music has the sense to stop then.

So, I think it’s gonna be this attempt at an amazingly grandiose gothic love story…and then I find out suddenly it’s gonna be this attempt at a gothy comedy/horror parody.  And then it sort of keeps switching back and forth.

Points for…originality?  No…somewhat-uniqueness, in the willingness to do really
silly things and risk being REALLY horrific instead of just generic-horrific.

It’s not PARTICULARLY funny. It’s actually…kind of…sweet.

It’s also weird, quirky, “different”, and…hmmm…

“Please…DON’T say it’s ‘fascinating’…”
“No. *Slight Headshake* But it is…interesting.”

Inspirational Quote: “You summoned me for LOVE???”

Grade: C+

9/30/12: Warning: Having seen this once, you might want to watch it again shortly thereafter.
When I watched it again, I found myself wishing semi-fervently (it’s not THAT good a movie) that
everyone/thing but the main characters could be completely erased as meaningless, or at least
drastically reduced in air time, and replaced with more interaction between the only things that
matter. All the others are just annoying, and make me think “Why am I watching this???”…until it
goes back to the main characters. Then I understand.

I also understand why I semi-fervently wish this was much better written.

Grade: B (Unless you’ve never experienced intense suffering in your life…then it remains C+)

10/15/12: In the final analysis, even a downtrodden “lovelorn” cynic like myself must
say with extreme conviction that the potential upside to watching this film (“Wow…”) is
completely worth the potential downside (“Stupid…”). I think the first…I can’t help it.
It’s how I’m wired. And I’m glad.

Grade: B+

5/25/15: “You just pray to see (something) that hasn’t changed…
one that looks (to) you exactly as it did before.”

Grade: B+

Lots of quasi-mythology and nipple talk make for a mildly interesting setup.

Then it just gets pretty stupid, unable to decide between silly-stupid and “scary”-stupid.

The theory that the reason it’s so meaningless and disjointed is because it’s about tripping on mushrooms is one that is strongly advanced by the director, the actors, and some of their friends.

Grade: F

Black and white silent with subtitles.

Short film version of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story of the same name.

Mildly intriguing, in a non-terrifying cheezy sort of way, with some interesting observations.  But it’s better either played or read about in one of any number of superior forms; some by Lovecraft, some by those he inspired.

Grade: D+

7/14/18: The Great Grade Update. Grade: C-

Horrible but certainly not horrifying.

1:04:00 – Even in death, they manage to give her another cleavage shot.

1:14:44 – And one for the road.

Favorite Dumb Moment: Eerie “GENERATOR” sign music.

Grade: F

Three unconvincing actors play three dumb unconvincing friends who buy a box with a supposed ghost inside of it in this unconvincing horror flick.

Note to self: When attempting to purchase an angry, tormented rampaging spirit ALWAYS have enough room on credit card.

Grade: F

French with subtitles.

But don’t let that dissuade you.  Because if you like this type of movie, it’s actually pretty good.  Pretty gory, but if you can deal with that, worth watching.

It’s an infection movie that’s much more akin to ’28 Days Later’ and “Rage” than anything zombie-ish.  Not only for the behavior of the infected, but because it’s shot in a way that’s fairly reminiscent of ’28 Days Later’, and actually almost as well.

Other similiarities: believable characters (some), a love story (of sorts) amidst the carnage, and lots of interesting visuals: some disturbing, some pretty.  I’m not saying it’s as good…it’s not.  Part of that has to do with the budget (a full evacuation of large parts of a major city costs money) and part with the mediocrity of some of the supporting cast.

But the two main actors are quite good, especially the female lead, who conveys a fairly wide range of emotions/nuances of character, along with great warmth and dedication towards the…being…she loves.

Maybe I’m getting too artsy here, but it seems to me that with the mostly cold/blue/icy images, the director was attempting to portray the bleakness and lack of feeling or mercy of the world and most of its characters, to which the leads stand in stark contrast.

One of the infected is actually more decent than some of the humans.  Why does it seem I’m ALWAYS saying that regarding non-human life forms???

Grade: B-

When an old church is burned down, an ancient, flatulent evil with a really horrible diet and extremely silly walk is awakened and does boringly evil stuff on an incredibly inefficient scale.

Featuring the wimpiest sheriff ever to orchestrate a protection racket, and The Church Police.

Inspirational Quote: *BELCH*

Grade: F-

Macho, sexist, gory, meaningless.

BUT…

If you can deal with all that, it’s kinda fun.  Because it also features better-than-average dialogue/acting/directing than your typical cr@ppy horror/gore flick.

Highlights: useful garden gnome, mostly ineffective weaponry, tastelessly appropriate music.

Inspirational Quote: “Now is NOT the time to stop objectifying women.”

Grade: C-

Music by some kid on a synth machine.

Featuring the very rare “slapping zombie”.  Also featuring some grandiose post-apoc Ren Faire acting.

It’s got an unbelievably slight “Awwww…they tried for a touching drama” sort of charm.

The will is moderate but the script is horrible.

59:43 – HAIKIBA!

Inspirational Quote: “Holy Jesus Christmas Sh1t!”

Grade: F

Mediocrefellas.

Pesci’s a psycho, DeNiro’s relatively reasonable, violent sh1t happens.  And?

Only improvement: “Gimme Shelter” is better than the coda of “Layla”.

Grade: C+

7/14/18: The Great Grade Update. Grade: C

Sad.

Oodles of cleavage shots (no nudity) and bad dialogue.

Features two young actresses at the beginning and ending of their EXCITING careers.

Two questions I pondered while watching:
1) Is this ever going to get scary or interesting?
2) How badly did Tony Todd REALLY need the money from this?

Too dumb to even be offensive.  You can watch it to laugh at it, I guess…*Shrug*

Question:  Why does it have like half a dozen “Executive Producers”?
Answer: The director wanted to get all his friends in the credits.

Reminiscent of ‘Spinal Tap’…Nigel Tufnel: Lead Guitar.  David St. Hubbins: Lead Guitar.

Inspirationally Dumb Quote: “I’ll try to make this painless.” – Guy holding a bloody hammer

Grade: F-

Warning: In INCREDIBLY bad taste.

Now if it was utterly worthless, I wouldn’t bother to say that.  But it’s not.

It’s a fairly interesting set-up that turns into three (see below) really silly, cheezy intentionally B-grade “horror” movies.

1: Man vs. his own sperm in a life-or-death struggle.  Not bad.
2: ‘The Gay Werebear Musical’…dull and boring.
3: Hitler gets beaten to death with his own arm.  Not brilliant, but easily the best.  Features lots of World’s-Funniest-Joke-ish fake German, an utterly tasteless theory on ‘The Diary Of Anne Frank’, and a Jewish “Frankenstein’s Monster”.

Supposedly there are four movies, but number 4 is a tiny slice of nothingness that leads into the increasingly dull/cliche/please-let-it-end ending.

Recommendation: If you like cheeze and horrible taste, watch 1 and 3.

Grade: D+

Crud.

Another cr@ppy John Heard movie to add to my F list.

Don’t listen to the people that say you can enjoy this as camp.  It’s not nearly campy enough.  It’s just awful.

Grade: F

The first time I attempted to watch it I expected way too much, and stopped in disappointment. 

This time I expected mediocrity, and was therefore “pleasantly surprised”.

Violent but (thankfully) not extremely gory.  Why?  Either to avoid an “R”, or because it’s simply NOT NECESSARY.  If you want gore, watch a Rob Zombie sh1tfest.

Features Mulder’s dream job.

Cute, amusing, sweet, fun, disgusting and Cthulhu-esque.  With brilliant special effects.

Only problem: The writing isn’t as clever as it wants to be.  Or I want it to be, at least.

Observation: “Hellboy”, demon…one of the most decent beings in the movie.

Inspirational Quote: “What makes a man a man? … it’s the choices he makes.  Not how he starts things…but how he decides to end them.”

Grade: B

‘My Big Fat Artsy Gloomy Pre-Apocalyptic Wedding’.

OR, if you prefer: ‘…Infinitely Sad’

Well that was really horribly directed. 

“Let’s show exactly what happens in the first 8 minutes, with extremely interesting visuals in a sort of surreal, classical music-backed way…and then just make the really cool short vignette this should have been into a dull, ponderous waste of time.”

Like a typical “Only Happy When It Rains” person, the main character is traumatized by happiness (her own/that of anyone else) and becomes more and more content as horrible events approach. 

Some people have clinical/chemical depression, and deserve nothing but sympathy for something that is of absolutely no fault of their own.  Other people get depressed because they realize (occasionally) what nasty, dull, worthless little cusses they are. *’Glory’ rip…You rock, RGS*

Didn’t think I’d see another “heroine” so soon that made Clementine look sweet/interesting.

Warning: Possible PTM

Grade: D-

“Touching” dysfunctional family drama/horror movie.

The way it transitions seamlessly from drug-deal shootout to supposed (obscured by sheet) lesbian sex to birthday candle lighting to dumb dialogue to intermittent nipple shots back to dumb dialogue is a true monument to bad editing.  And writing.  And then there’s the bad acting.

Creepy-guy introduces new D+D spell: “Cause Light Menstruation” – Range: Touch.

You can tell the fangs are fake because of the extreme impediment to clear speech they provide.

Highlight: Tense, nerve-wracking shootout from opposite sides of the same car.

Guest Review: “What the Hell is that???” – Steve Martin

It’s off streaming on December 1st, so HURRY!!!

Grade: F-

Watching ‘Babe’ was a truly moving experience.

Watching ‘Gordy’ makes me want to eat a GLT.

It’s so remarkably fluffy that you can’t really HATE it, but that’s all it is: fluff.  It’s an after-school special with a talking pig, the sort of movie that even as a small child I would scoff at as childish.

I think it’s a good bet anyone above toddler age would concur with me on that.

Features lots of exciting livestock footage.

Grade: D-

11/18/16: The heartwarming tale of Phil Gordian’s attempt to infiltrate the world’s- Oh. Nevermind, just a stupid ‘Babe’ ripoff. Grade: D-

The calm, pleasant way in which a society that celebrates rape, murder, and pointless brutality is presented and portrayed is horrifying.

Kubrick’s direction and the language he instills into the nightmare-fantasy make it that much more believable, hence truly foreboding and scary.

But the scariest thing to me in this gruesome little masterpiece is that some people watch Alex and his droogs with admiration instead of revulsion.

The second scariest thing is the calm, pleasant way in which the government adapts to anything and everything that gets in the way of the necessary progress of the State.

Inspirational Quote: “Goodness comes from within.  Goodness is chosen.  When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.”

Grade: A

*CLICK* cr@ppy zombie movie, over.  *CLICK*

This goes for “drama” instead of comedy with the gore.

It fails.

There’s also a blatantly obvious attempt to imitate the ending of ’28 Days Later’.

It also fails.

Useful Info Picked Up:  Apparently keeping low to the ground is a good idea vs. zombies as well as smoke inhalation.

Grade: F

Longggggggggggg slowwwwwwwwww buildddddddduppppppp to fairly dull attempted morality play.

Grade: F

A small-scale “infection” horror/drama that’s based a lot more on emotion/tension/anticipation than on violence.  Decent and watchable…and short.

Grade: C

Stupid “zombie” gore flick.  In Japanese!

I looked for a good place to put a “HAIKIBA!” in this review, but could not find one…so here’s the best I could do:

Rollin rollin rollin…
Get that dumbness rollin…
Keep that dumbness rollin, Hell-Drive!

OR

It’s dumb in Japanese I think it’s dumb in Japanese I really THINK so!

Grade: F

Spike Lee executive producing doesn’t do any more to help this than George A. Romero helps ‘Deadtime Stories’.  But unlike ‘Deadtime Stories’, this isn’t horrific.

It’s just REALLY mediocre.

Grade: D

Fairly intelligent and cleverly macabre/campy without being overly gory.  Nothing special, but it’s worth watching if you like such things.

First film: Christian Slater and Steve Buscemi try to out-creepy each other.

Second film: Adorable yet DANGEROUS kitty cat.  Sort of like the ‘Holy Grail’ rabbit.

Third film: Predictable yet fairly interesting take on promises.

All intertwined by an impeccable suburbanite cannibal.

Grade: C+

9/1/23: The third is easily the best; it’s actually kind of sad and touching. I’d recommend watching it, and the little connecting (and ending) bits, and skipping the first two. I don’t get how I found them “cleverly macabre/campy”, but I did write this almost 11 years ago and I was probably in a better mood. Grade: C-

Features the captain from ‘Firefly’/’Serenity’, if you care. 

Also features some very grotesque images, some just nasty and some so surreal they’re kinda funny in a campy, H.P. Lovecraft-would-have-approved sort of way.

It’s an alien possession/infiltration movie, sort of like ‘Invasion Of The Body Snatchers’ (only not as good) or ‘The Puppet Masters’ (with better acting).  It’s also a comedy, unlike either of those…so basically it’s horror/comedy/”interesting” visuals. 

If you like that, good…if not, there’s nothing else.  Meaning there’s no real drama or characters.  But who cares?

Not me.  I put this just a notch below ‘The Return Of The Living Dead’ and ‘Fido’ in the gleefully enjoyable intelligent camp horror/comedy category.

Lesson Learned: Never threaten a man-squid.

Inspirational Fight: Painted-Japanese Nails vs. Slug-Thing

Inspirational Quote: “…I turn into a FCKEN mollusc, I’m gonna sue those bastards”

Grade: B-

Charming…truly charming.  And funny.

I could do without some of the songs…but some of them actually fit well.

Special review for Crusading Atheists/Antitheists: LIES, all LIES!  Tell your kids!

Inspirational Quote: “That’s right, fool!  Now I’m a FLYING talking donkey!”

Grade: A-

No need for a plot summary: It’s ‘Spinal Tap’ with “weird dog show enthusiasts” replacing “dumb rock bands”.  Personally, I don’t think it’s as inspired or as funny.  But it’s still good.

Inspirational Quote: “Go to the hotel and GET Busy Bee!!!”

Grade: B

Zombies.  En Francais.

There’s a very brief set-up, then it gets really violent and gory…for a little while, at least.  But even if you like violent and gory, you probably won’t like this.

Since this movie has pretentious (unfulfilled) aspirations to be serious and meaningful,  there are long lulls between the violent scenes.  But unlike, say, ‘Land Of The Dead’, they’re dull, boring lulls, serving to alienate and frustrate gore fiends and those that make the mistake of reading the subtitles looking for a good story equally as much.

Usually the reason I don’t like watching foreign-language films is that I have to worry about missing some nuance in acting or emotion while I’m reading the subtitles.  Here, since the dialogue is just as bad in French as a generic American zombie flick, the only thing the subtitles do is take up screen space.

Lots of head-butting, too.

Grade: F

They’re not zombies, they’re angry moving dead people.

The gore was pretty heavy at the time, but it’s run-of-the-mill by today’s standards.

So the only charm is in the slight intelligence and EXTREME campiness of it.

Sort of like ‘Dead Alive’, only not as good…plus this takes a bit to get going and is mostly dull at the start.

Grade: C-

A must-see for hockey fans.

The trade that took an amazing player away from his amazing supporting cast, and an amazing supporting cast away from him.  Horrible.

Grade: B

1/17/13: See ‘Pupdate: Documentary Grade Edits’.  Grade: C+

Released the same year as ‘Braveheart’, but it’s very little like it.  To say they’re both about Scotsmen is obvious, but ‘Braveheart’ is a grand, majestic, powerful quasi-historic epic.

This is simply a study of characters and of the nature of character.  It’s fairly well-made and fairly well-acted, but compared to ‘Braveheart’, just not-as and not-nearly-as.  Not as powerful, either…because at times the drama seems more forced than real.

As for other comparisons, Liam Neeson’s Robert Roy MacGregor is just as noble as William Wallace or Robert the Bruce, while Tim Roth’s Archibald is just as despicable as King Edward and just as foppish as his son.  Of course, like ‘Braveheart’, it’s just a movie.

Inspirational Quote: “Honor is…what no man can give you.  And none can take away.”

Grade: B-

7/14/18: The Great Grade Update. Grade: C+

She’s ramped it up a little cuz it’s HBO, but it’s still exactly the same act.  And this isn’t the best of the four versions I’ve seen, so there’s no point in watching it.

Grade: C+

Redundant Girl: No Change

Grade: D

This is better than 1 if only because 2 is closer to the end than 1.

Part One: Impeccable Cave Cannibals

Part Three: Featuring the worst song ever written and hissing dust.

Grade: F

A laughably wretched/wretchedly laughable horror anthology doesn’t get any better because George A. Romero puts his name on it and does some really bad intros for each segment.

But don’t blame George for creating this…that honor goes to writer Jeff Monahan. 

Just blame him for thinking his name still carries any weight after ‘Survival’.

Grade: F-

Opening: “Throw me the whip!”

More akin to the show than ‘Demon Knight’ was.  Because it’s more cheezy and silly.  But, like the show, it’s also a bit of fun.

Dennis Miller’s got a lot of one-liners in this baby, cha cha.  My personal fav given recent viewing: “Weird Duchov-nian riff”.

Grade: C

Intro: Naughty little birdies.  Kinda cute.

I don’t think a plot summary is really necessary: It’s a kids movie that’s just smart enough for adults.  Which is rather common of Pixar, I think.  Unfortunately, what’s also common of Pixar, from what I’ve seen, is that the “smart enough for adults” part isn’t nearly smart enough to watch every single variation on it.  And I prefer DreamWorks, anyway.

But, as to its charm…

Guest Review, paraphrased:

“Oh Mugsy…it’s adorable.” – Rocky

Grade: B-

It’s an incredibly dull, stupid, boring zombie flick.

Only moments of interest: “First Blood” after 27 1/2 minutes of buildup, and a scene around 32:20 that I have dubbed “The Broken Promise”.

Grade: F

Brief interviews with various Trekkies.

The opening bit and the title makes it out to be a parody of Star Trek fanaticism, but that’s a completely false impression.  There’s no humor at all after that, and it’s basically just an “exploration” of the “meaning” of Star Trek.  If you’re not a Trekkie, you’ll probably think it’s an incredibly fawning treatment of a tv show.  I like Star Trek, but even I find it FAR too sentimental and self-worshipping.

To say it’s pretentious would be…an understatement.  It’s beyond pretentious, into laughable.

Yes, there are moving moments…but they’re not because of Star Trek.  They’re because you see people that are feeling obvious deep emotion.  Such deep emotion is common to life, not exclusive in any way to Star Trek.

As Shatner himself said later in the taken-from-SNL bit used to open this, “It’s just a tv show, it’s just a tv show!!”

Grade: D-

1/17/13: See ‘Pupdate: Documentary Grade Edits’.  Grade: F

It’s a dramedy.  As such, it’s a bit overwrought. 

There are moments that are so over-acted/over-emotioned that they belong in a soap opera, but there are also some fairly charming and sweet moments.  It’s got the requisite obstacles to be overcome, and if you like “feel-good” movies that are a bit quirky, this could do the trick. 

Not really my cup of tea…but it’s watchable.

Grade: D+

5/3/14: Not my cup of tea AT ALL.  But, still…watchable.  Grade: D