Science Fiction Movies: Reviews & Discussions

JOHN BADHAM & ALLY SHEEDY DOUBLE FEATURE


WARGAMES (1983)



WarGames has one of the dumbest premises for a major Hollywood film. A high school computer genius (Matthew Broderick) and his gal pal (Ally Sheedy) accidentally hack into the United States nuclear defense system and almost launch World War III. This is a movie that should have been mocked and everyone involved should have been ridiculed, but instead, it was one of the biggest hits of 1983 and received three Academy Award nominations including Best Original Screenplay. How did that happen? The answer: WarGames is very well-executed. All the actors create believable characters, which is very important when you're tackling an outrageous concept, and director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) knows when to wink at the audience and when to play it straight. This is a film that could have been a disaster with lesser talent involved. It just comes to show that with the right approach any story can succeed.

A says computer expert and Ally Sheedy fapper, @dukeleto .


SHORT CIRCUIT (1986)



Jibbs favorite pick-up line.

Unless you're a cold-hearted bastard like Dracula , it's impossible to dislike Short Circuit. Johnny 5 is one of the funniest and sweetest robots in the history of cinema. I could watch a hundred movies starring this character. But it is this Disney-Meets-Spielberg aspect that also hurts the movie. In a story about a company that develops robots for the military, this film is shockingly inoffensive - unless you want to complain about Fisher Stevens playing Apu from The Simpsons. Short Circuit is so adorable and good-natured that a pre-schooler can watch it and enjoy it. That's not what you want from a movie that's supposed to challenge the moral implications of using robots to bomb Russia. Even E.T. has more balls than Short Circuit. Regardless, the strengths of Short Circuit are too big to ignore. Johnny 5 is great. Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy are great. The music by David Shire is criminally underrated. Director John Badham's excitement for the film is in every frame. Despite it's flaws, Short Circuit is just too much fun to dismiss.

B+ says Chappie fan, SnoBorderZero .

Sadly, not the worst thing you have called me.

Jibbs SnoBorderZero

In the future.

Italian poster for THX. They promoted it as a Francis Ford Coppola movie.

Haven't seen it before, I should check it out.

Christopher Lloyd is a national treasure.

One more week.

Dear Frizzo the Clown ,

Today, October 21, 2015, I went to Target to buy Back to the Future on Blu-Ray and they were sold out. Sold out! Meanwhile, the store was overstocked with Back to the Future on DVD. DVD! Don't ever disrespect me like this again.

On a related note, I did buy that Jurassic World steel can or whatever. Yeah, you fuckers weren't sold out of that.

I also saw that Aladdin Blu-Ray with the storybook. I would have bought it but I bought Aladdin at Wal-Mart last week. Last time I impulse buy something.