C+ |
**½ |
-1|
Teens & Up
[T]he new
Hitchhiker’s Guide has the whimsical look and absurdist feel of Adams’s universe, which remains best known in its novelized form but which
originated as a radio series and was later realized as a BBC television series, a set of records, a computer game, and even stage adaptations. What it’s missing is the subversive commentary, the razor-edged deconstruction of human foibles. We get Adams the absurdist, but not Adams the provocateur.
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B+ |
***½ |
+0|
Teens & Up
Based on the whimsical comic book series of the same name,
Men in Black looks superficially like another
Independence Day-style big-budget summer special-effects
extravaganza with a catchy three-letter acronym. Yet
MIB
is smarter, leaner, funnier, and more human than most entries in
the genre, relying less on spectacle than on the chemistry of the
two leads and the wit of the script for its appeal.
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C- |
** |
+0|
Teens & Up
Beyond more action and bigger effects, the sequel brings
nothing new to the table. You’ll wait in vain for satirical
"revelations" about the presence of aliens among us to match the
wit of the jokes in the original about cab drivers or the World’s
Fair. Instead, we get limp gags like the one about the Post
Office being staffed by aliens. (Why? Is it a joke about postal
efficiency? The "going postal" stereotype? The fact that they
make rounds? What?)
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B |
*** |
+0|
Teens & Up
Besides satirizing
Star Trek’s fan base,
Galaxy Quest also takes aim both at the absurdities of the show itself and also at the behind-the-scenes reality. Most of the obvious
Trek conventions are targeted: the principle that any extraneous character on an away mission always dies; the shipwide crisis that requires crew members to crawl through endless ducts; the isolation of the captain on a hostile planet where he must do hand-to-hand combat with an alien monster.
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