bicyclerepairman57 Reviews

Revolution: The Plague Dogs (2012) Season 1, Episode 4

wander ruins of the Midwest again, find mean dogs & a guy who trained them, But problems arise- you learn more in flashbacks- so ; who will be a token 'RedShirt'.

[5/10 · 8 October 2012]

Still the main problem with this is that old devil 'Verisimlatude': I might buy the "electrical grid" going down, but Batteries? stand-alone circuits like generators? Give me a break. I'll stop complaining only to see where the next plot twist takes the storyline- but parts of the 'set-up' were a bit insulting.

Another problem is, everyone looks too clean & well fed. Motorized transport seems to be non-existent, sailboats are in damned short supply, so how come everyone decides to live in the interior of the Midwest? And as for getting around: okay we're walking across the continent...some folks for years...how come everyone looks so 'soft'. You have people burning up calories, doing hard-scrabble farming to survive, and no-one should be living large- and one guy weighs about 300#, and everyone else looks like they showered twice a day. Some of the settings almost work- but Production values seem to be a lot off. You don't get a feeling for how damn long it would take to go anywhere in the world of this show, with the reduced mobility resulting from having no motor or animal- based transportation. I mean going from 'somewhere in Illinois',to the city of Chicago, seemingly in a few hours on foot, with little effort? This is getting tiring- NO pun intended. The basic idea- Civilization collapsed due to no communications and no mobility, is a rich and used-often concept....but please- there would be a greater number of people looking pretty damned tired & dirty, far more than this crew was, as they wandered around the country. And how come so many of the men do not have beards? Or does the one thing that survived from before the power went off was 'really Good Razorblades?'

Prometheus (I) (2012)

Could and should, have been better.

[6/10 · 11 June 2012]

Given the origin of the 'Ideas as developed' in this , and loosely based on ideas in the original 1979 film scripts, (including those various 'shelved ideas'; the ones that were thought-up, but never made into production), it's a wonder that Scott claimed to want to make what was supposed to be part of the "combined,O'Bannon-Giger-Scott-Alien Mythos". The characters in this Film, were acting out of one of the most blatant examples of 'Script-writer says so' doing things that ensured their own demise. If this were anything based on actual events- we could only see that any space exploration, no matter how technologically advanced, still caused severe intellectual damage in anyone foolish (or unfortunate) enough to partake in it. The characters did implausibly stupid things, and seemed to use little/none, of the supposedly high-technology, that they were surrounded by. Also- for whatever reason- some of the tech shown in the film, seemed to contradict other tech shown. For example: A "viewing system" for watching people's Dreams while in Cryo-sleep, and a "flying drone-ball", that makes a 3-d model of the interior of the 'Temple', yet the ship's crew relies on large windows, to make a random (Lucky?) landing on planet-surfaces. And just how did David, (the android) know how to work all those controls in the ship? Or speak the language of the 'Engineers', presumably they had never been heard to speak, by any ancestor of any animal, let alone a human. Or why did David (the android) 'know what the Mission was", that the large humanoid 'Engineers' actually were going on. This Film, while visually stunning; (using some of HR Gieger's designs & ideas, from the original script proposals of the 1979 Alien Film) had some huge Logic holes, you could drive one of those 'Military style transporters' through I enjoyed it- it was almost an exercise in 'Redoing the first Alien", just bigger budget, louder, faster... It was sort of a problem relationship: a decent visual, but essentially a 'Grade B' picture, like that exciting 'significant other' who drinks to much and embarrasses you and damages some of your stuff.

Me and Veronica (1992)

Family drama: Dealing with Betrayal, and family relationship issues, co-mingled with depression, and bleakness of blue-collar NJ Shore life.

[7/10 · 31 October 2007]

Set "somewhere in Coastal NJ" ; but shot primarily in Monmouth County's Northern Bayshore areas, "Me & Veronica" is a quiet, and somewhat depressing film; dealing with issues of family links, bad mating and employment decisions, and the poor (or limited) options afforded the people making those decisions.

The use of Monmouth County NJ, for scenes of the movie, like most films done on location, mingles disparate geographical points into a canvas of scenes that had us locals saying : "You can't get there from that other place", which is as good an example of any for the advice on "Why you should not learn Geography or History; from Movies or TV".

There were some "errors", probably only ones that local folks might know, but might probably be chalked up to "Artistic License and/or Necessity". Often characters in Films, will make an "in-film"-journey of a few steps; but the scenes they are moving in are divided by several miles in "real-life" The "Bud's Dog House" seen as Veronica (Patricia Wettig) walks to Fannie's house, really did exist- actually a few streets away from the Film "Fannie's house". The "Dog-Houdse" was a tradition of a local homeowner, as a place to party, drink and barbecue with friends. Erroniously, it was long thought to be a memorial to a dead child; it sadly disappeared some years ago, as ownership of the houses has changed in the area.

There is NO Ferry from NJ, to Rikers Island ( a NY City Jail).

When on their "getting re-acquainted weekend": bicycling ; the two sisters, (Fannie and Veronica) are wandering about Sandy Hook's Fort Hancock. It was not a prison, that they are in, but a artillery gun position. Fort Hancock, from 1780's until 1974; was a defense point for approaches to NY City and Harbour and until 1914, an Artillary testing grounds. Fort Hancock, until 1974, when decommissioned; was the main NY Harbour missile defense launch position; it is now part of Gateway National Park., It was not a prison, but a artillery position.

The Flood scene with rowboat, on Rt.36, was shot in Bradley Beach NJ's 'Sylvan Lake'.

The "shouting at the Storm-Flood Warning" scene, was shot on top of the (often shown during storms on TV weather shows), SeaBright NJ, Ocean Ave. Sea-Wall. This is a barrier to waves, keeping them from sweeping away this slender community, that is built where the Atlantic Ocean wants to return. This ea-wall also is shown in the weather-related film "Day After" ( on TV in the background) as the students are wandering around NY City- attempting to work out getting home with really bad storms sweeping the nation.

The Trailer Park ( Circle Trailer Park, of Rt 35) where Veronica's kids are,was/is in Eatontown NJ; South of most of the areas shot in the making of the film.

The Bar where Fannie( Elizabeth Mc Govern) worked, (long closed down) was /Is located under the 1930's built Rt.36 Bridge, which crosses from Sandy Hook /Seabright to Atlantic Highlands. The bar building is still there- but it has been vacant for a few years.)

When Fannie is seen leaving the Fabric store-( which was apparently in FairHaven or Red Bank- opinions differ) she turns onto a street that runs up to the Keansburg Amusement Park (which still exists) another journey of several miles- made by mere steps in the film.

Fannie( Elizabeth Mc Govern)had a very strange accent- seemingly Boston by-way-of-Bayonne- but hey- NJ has a raft of odd localized accents that may not be as distinctly different as one from the area might think.

Of course the film was not made to entertain only local Monmouth County film-nerds; - but it was a small picture, and under-advertised (very limited distribution).. But it has appeal, with extra points going for any trivia buff who can name 2 other Monmouth County NJ shot-films that Elizabeth Mc Govern was working in.

RAGTIME : her scenes shot outside; taking part in a 1900's Motion Picture Making, out/inside the Essex / Sussex Hotel; in (Spring Lake NJ)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN America: with Robert Deniro, driving around the Lake, and Ocean Avenue, Spring Lake NJ