sedenhansen-61849 Reviews

The Fall Guy (2024)

Lots of fun

[9/10 · 4 May 2024]

Ryan Gosling plays the titular stuntman, who is coaxed into a film production that gives him the opportunity to try and tie up some major loose ends in his life. Emily Blunt plays the director of the film-within-a-film, called Metalstorm.

The Fall Guy simultaneously depicts and spoofs the making a big-budget action film, with outsized personalities and egos clashing or combining with practical concerns large, small, and absurd. There's a lot a meta humor in how the relationships between the characters, and the relationship of the movie to the audience, are handled. There's lots of fun with props, too! The lighthearted vein of the story is consistent throughout and makes what would be distractions elsewhere part of the fun.

The personalities of all the characters are the main propulsion for the story; how the characters react to situations is as interesting as the situations themselves.

I've not seen the 1980's tv series staring Lee Majors that this movie was inspired by, and therefore can't speak to many references or easter eggs that might be contained in it; I can say that the film certainly stands on its own.

Worth seeing and re-seeing!

Daylight's End (2016)

Mildless action and a catalogue of cliches

[5/10 · 20 April 2024]

This is a post-apocalyptic action film in which the world has been devastated by a plague that turned most people into a sort of zombie/vampire combo, leaving the remnants of humanity struggling to survive.

I found myself ticking off a list of film cliches and tropes as I watched. There's the obligatory rough, resourceful and staid hero (called Rourke) traversing the devastated and perilous landscape in a car which looks like it was done up by Mad Max detailing, the slow reveal of his initially-covered face, the guy's pleasant dream sequence interrupted by ugly reality, the tense but slow reveal of the creatures he's up against, and a shootout in which the black guy dies first. Plus a scene that feels like a copy of one from "Terminator Salvation" except that it makes no sense here. And that's in the first few minutes.

Rourke falls in with a group of survivors who have made a police station into a fortress, but hope to escape to a safer place far away. The rest of the film follows a cliched and clunky path. The several gun battle fight scenes are staged poorly; who is where and what the objectives are is always unclear. In the battles, everyone wears heavy protective equipment except the young, pretty women who prefer to battle in tank tops. Scenes that are supposed to be at night are clearly filmed by day with heavy filters (and sometimes without them). Dialogue often consists of spontaneous, pointless shouting matches. Character development is sporadic and typically occurs just before that character meets their end. Jump scares are so predicable they hardly qualify as such. Cowardly or selfish characters get to meet their own special ends before the main action resumes. The 'good guys' make dumb and obvious mistakes. Eventually, the film hardly seems to care about the main goal being met.

In short, if you're in the mood for a mindless post-apocalyptic action movie, this could suffice. If you want something with originality, solid characters, or technical proficiency, look elsewhere.

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

A mixed bag of story and visuals

[5/10 · 20 April 2024]

Studio Ghibli has produced many memorable and wonderful films. It's also produced several that are too bizarre for their own good, and this one leans much more in that direction.

A boy, Mahito, moves from the city to the countryside during World War 2. He has recently lost his mother, his father has remarried, and he is having a difficult time adjusting to the many uncertainties and changes. A persistently annoying heron soon has Mahito embarking on a strange and surreal adventure where reality is altered and bent, with many bizarre dangers present.

The story unfortunately lacks focus (possibly due to having multiple source materials), as various characters, elements and entities emerge and contest with one another, often incongruently. The Ghibli film this most reminded me of was Pom Poco, sometimes described as "the strangest animated film ever". There are some memorable creatures, revelations and conflicts, but the sheer weirdness (and unpleasantness) of some of the story makes it very difficult to appreciate the whole.

That this film won the best animated feature Oscar demonstrates the propensity of the Academy to recognize films that do things no other film has done, whether or not those things are worth doing.

Civil War (2024)

Raw, startling and chilling

[7/10 · 20 April 2024]

The film follow a group of war reporters as they travel from a damaged New York City to a besieged Washington D. C. through a civil war-torn landscape strewn with destruction and danger. The story is told in an original way, in that the details of how things got they way they are and exactly what's happening are scarce; many question that would naturally arise are not answered by a narrator, flashbacks, or exposition-prone characters. It is a refreshing departure for an action-genre film.

The main characters are three seasoned journalists (who have arguably seen too much) and one neophyte. The situations they find themselves in are fraught with danger and uncertainty; there's often no telling whether many of the people they encounter will regard them as friend or foe, and whether they are decent, fanatical or just crazy, until it's possibly too late. The cinematic rules of engagement are not followed; violence can, and does, erupt suddenly, and is often rendered quite gruesomely.

The most disturbing takeaway from the film is how no one emerges unscathed, whether or not they are physically hurt. Decency and even sanity are as frequently casualties as persons themselves. The question isn't so much who will win, but if anything decent can survive, and how long and terrible a shadow will be cast over the future.

Everyone, and especially people who casually discuss the possibility of civil war, would be wise to take a hard look at the costs. This movie successfully argues that they are too high.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wish (1998) Season 3, Episode 9

Frightening alternative world

[8/10 · 17 November 2023]

This episdoe in excellent both for what it does and doesn;t do as an alternate-reality story. The setup is very well done; too often, tv shows start with a character expressing some discontent (feeling pressured, neglected, taken for granted, etc) which everything in first third or so of the episode aggravates. Here, there's really no indication which way things will go. When they alternative world (or at least, alternative Sunnydale) is entered, no one takes the role of Mr. Or Ms. Exposition to tell Cordelia what's happened over the past couple of years; compare to Stephen King's "11/22/63" in which a time traveler changes a past event, returns to an altered present, encounters someone he knows and promptly gets a rundown of recent history by claiming he has amnesia of everything since the altered event; not having this sort of infodump is a refreshing change. Exploring the dark side of all the characters is insightful while also scary. This episode also marks Anya's first appearance in the series. One of the series better episodes, and also sets up "Doppelgangland" one of the very best!

Dave (1993)

Fanciful fun and prescient

[9/10 · 9 June 2023]

Just re-watched this film after many years; I liked it when it was new and like it even more now. The performances, writing, and cinematography are great. The story is far-fetched, but its hard to resent the ride, with its feel-good vibe of most everyone doing the right thing when given the opportunity, and few holdouts of badness getting their just desserts.

Seeing the movie now, it's remarkable how it foretold future events, such as a president having inappropriate relations with a White House staffer bringing serious consequences (a la Clinton & Lewinsky), another staffer with way-outsized influence (Alexander/Rove), and a shamelessly lecherous president (Mitchell/Trump).

Having a multitude of politicians and media personalities portraying themselves (sometimes with a great sense of humor) is an added bonus. A wonderful watch and re-watch.

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

A Pleasant Follow-Up

[7/10 · 5 October 2022]

This long-time-in-the-making sequel expands on the original film by providing a backstory for the Sanderson sisters, and rather than including all the main characters from the original, provides a new group of present-day protagonists who cross paths which the witches when they inevitably return. This works to the film's advantage, as the new characters are quite likable and are dramatically freed to traverse new territory. It's also worth noting that most all the main characters are female, rather groundbreaking casting.

Modern technology, such as cell phones and robot vacuums, are used to good comic and dramatic effect. Also, improved special effects help with such things as the flying scenes, magic spells, and sets such as the graveyard.

The sequel thankfully avoids the first film's occasionally icky aesthetics, and drops some of the weirder messages, such as the idea that a 15-year-old virgin is an aberration worthy of ridicule.

A great easter egg is a meta-tribute to Gary and Penny Marshall, both involved in the original film and no long with us.

The ending leaves the door open for another sequel, which hopefully won't be as long in coming!

Paper Girls: A New Period (2022) Season 1, Episode 5

New temporal setting, new issues

[7/10 · 28 August 2022]

This episode continues the series' pattern of combining plot elements from the graphic novel (though sometimes shifting the characters involved) with wholly invented events . It also continues the pattern of taking the path of least expense in production; whereas in the graphic novel the girls' trips to near-future Stony Stream included one in the winter and one in the summer, here the trips are both in the early summer (though the summers are 20 years apart) and thus easier to film.

Moving from a life-and-death situation at the start to the logistics of newly-necessary feminine hygiene was a nice personal touch, as was KJ's insights into her own future. While she avoids coming face-to-face with her future self (a bow to the source material, where KJ's future self is not seen or mentioned), she gains information from stealthy (though not stealthy enough, in my opinion) observation and talking with her future self's friend, Lauren.

KJ's easy rapport with Lauren is a nice touch, and makes sense given how well her future self and Lauren will one day (or already have) hit it off. KJs discovery of just how much future KJ and Lauren have hit it off was poignant, and actually improved on the book, setting up a deeper personal journey.

Tiffany's frustration with the emotional roller-coasters of her cohorts, and her decision to contact her future self (although that seems to be a recipe for emotional disaster based on experiences of the other so far) promises some rich developments.

On a side note, Lauren seems very similar to Robin in Stranger Things 4, both in personality and appearance; typecasting at work?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body (2001) Season 5, Episode 16

Deeply moving, insightful and groundbreaking

[9/10 · 14 June 2022]

This episode is jarring, haunting and takes on the shock and disorientation that attends the death of a loved one. The sense of being completely adrift after being thrust into an unthinkable situation is conveyed with remarkable effectiveness. Buffy's initial flashbacks and flights of imagination really capture the mind flailing (and failing) to make sense of a situation it's not ready to accept.

The story also provides great insight into all of the main characters, as they struggle to understand what's going on and react appropriately. Willow, with her fixation on getting the "right" outfit, Anya's rambling and gut-wrenching monologue as she struggles to make sense of death, which was, to her, the foreign concept until very recently, and the insight into Dawn's life away from the group, with its emotional ups and downs that are about to get supplanted with something far out of proportion to anything that's come before, are unforgettable.

The absence of music (outside the credits) in this episode very much fits; music is used in TV and film to tell the audience how to feel, whether expectant, happy, sad, whimsical, triumphant, etc. Here there's no emotional guidance; no one is sure how to feel, and no one can tell anyone else how they should be feeling. Everyone is on their own tumultuous emotional journey, reacting to their own, or another's, sudden rushes of feeling with no compass.

The vampire attack in the morgue at the end reminds everyone (characters and audience alike) of the continuing dangers of this world (especially in Sunnydale), that the world and its attendant perils do not stop even when it seems to have stopped for you, and that, however devastating, there are worse things than natural death.

This a episode is also remarkable in that it is the first time Willow and Tara share an onscreen kiss. This is when they have been a couple for a *year*. This was in a series that is not shy about physical intimacy, from Buffy's busy (if rollercoaster-y) love life to Anya's extreme frankness on the topic. While Buffy and Riley, in "Where the Wild Things Are", spent most of the episode making eyes, making out, or making love; Willow and Tara's far mellower displays of affection (occasional hand holding, knee patting, and hair-stroking) feel like a glaring double standard. Looking back on the network TV of the time, there clearly was a double standard; while shows were fine with gay characters in the abstract, they avoided going anywhere near same-gender physical intimacy. One of the quintessential 1990's shows about twentysomethings, Melrose Place, had a main character who was gay; he lived a remarkably romance-free life, especially compared to the other main characters, and one time he kissed a man (a one-off guest star, at that) variable camera speeds, long shots and cutaways reduced the "kiss" to a "what exactly was that?" moment. An even more popular show with a similar demographic focus, "Friends", had a lesbian couple as recurring characters, but they didn't kiss onscreen, even at their own wedding! Kudos to BtVS for breaking that barrier, however belatedly.

Snowed-Inn Christmas (2017 TV Movie)

Christmas magic :)

[8/10 · 5 October 2021]

Really enjoyed this one. The two leads really anchor the film and give it its heart. Pretty much every supporting player is really good as well. The magical elements are very straightforward, as are the standard romcom plot twists (the term "spoilers" scarcely applies to films like this) , but the overall atmosphere of the film, with charming leads, relatable issues and conflicts, good character development, wonderful sets that really feel like warm, inhabited settings, and a good helping of Christmas magic give this movie the makings of a holiday perennial.

Blown Away (1994)

One of the worst films I've ever seen

[1/10 · 16 May 2020]

This is one of the few films that so alienated me when saw it that I whispered to my wife "this movie isn't doing it for me" less than a quarter of the way in, a sentiment with which she concurred. The film is in trouble from the opening shot, in which the camera pans over a rocky, wave-swept shore before settling over a moonlit prison which is obviously a model. "Inside" the "prison" is a far- from-model prisoner, Ryan Gaerity. Played by a long-haired, Gaelic-speaking (both for this scene only) Tommy Lee Jones, he fatally stabs his cellmate, then combines chemicals he's hidden in various places, including inside himself (yuck), and using the cell's filthy toilet (more "yuck") as a casing , he sets of an explosion that blasts a large hole in the stone wall (rather than doing something sensible like destroying the much more fragile toilet). Having gotten out of the cell block in about the most conspicuous way imaginable, the movie asks the audience to believe he then gets away scot-free.

The action then shifts to Boston, where crack bomb squad member Jimmy Dove (Jeff Bridges) is on a tough assignment. A young woman's estranged boyfriend has rigged her computer with explosives which will detonate if she stops typing or the computer's drive runs out of space, then shot himself (making this murder/suicide the only one ever in which the suicide part is done first). The rest of the bomb squad brings in a robot to take over the typing, but when the robot malfunctions, Jimmy shoos everyone else and the robot out of the room and puts the poor woman back behind the keyboard; one of the cops could have done this, but you gotta have a damsel in distress (groan). As Jimmy gets to work on the computer/bomb, the sight of the shot-dead man on the floor causes him to have a vivid flashback of an injured woman lying on the ground and calling "Liam", to let the audience know "Jimmy" has a secret. The flashback trigger is bizarre, since other than the horizontal position of the person, nothing else is the same. Plus, the flashback is in black and white; is Jimmy/Liam color blind? Wouldn't that be a serious handicap in his line of work?

The film continues in this illogical vein, with the shared past of the two main characters revealed, lots of bombs, some explosions, convoluted twists and turns, weird photography, cliches, shifting characters, bad writing, and overacting. In a film about bombs, the film itself was the biggest bomb of all. The film "Speed", released around the same time (keeping with that odd 1990's pattern of two movies with the same subject matter being released close together) had plenty of flaws, but worked a whole lot better than this film. A case study in bad cinema.

Tales of the Black Freighter (2009 Video)

An improvement (of sorts) on the source material

[4/10 · 15 May 2020]

This animated version of the story-within-the-story in Watchmen tells the tale of the lone survivor of a pirate attack, who has a truly harrowing journey from the island on which he is marooned to his home town. the unnamed protagonist is certain that the pirates who destroyed his ship and crew will have gone on to do the same to his hometown, and sets out to avenge them. The adaptation improves upon the original narrative by avoiding the huge plot holes of the original; for one, the couple he encounters on the beach are actually there for a tryst, so that at least something in the protagonists assessment of them (taken directly from the book) has some recognizable correlation with reality. The encounter with the pirate sentry/scarecrow is glanced over, rather than having the sea captain make frankly absurd interpretations of the "sentry's" (in)actions. In the film, he hallucinates signs of a massacre upon entering the town, rather than failing to notice or wonder how his supposedly slaughtered and sacked hometown in none the worse for the wear. Finally, upon reaching his house, he is taken by surprise by the awake inhabitant, which makes what happens next more plausible than if said inhabitant had been sleeping in bed (as was the case in the book).

I've never much cared for the story, as a story; supposedly touching on deep philosophical themes and paralleling the action of the main Watchmen narrative, it came across as an overly long cautionary tale about the dangers of jumping to conclusions. Stories in which the reader is aware that the protagonist is dong the wrong thing long before said character is are annoying at best. The story never establishes why the protagonist is so certain the pirates are going to attack his town next, a certainty on which all his subsequent actions are based, and this disconnect sinks it. In addition, the story is extremely gruesome, which in additional to the nihilistic outcome, make it thoroughly unpleasant to see in either film or print.

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)

The whole is less than the sum of the parts

[4/10 · 29 March 2020]

Michael Moore's film takes a look at the events leading up to the Trump's election. He covers a lot of territory, including the Governor of Michigan taking on extraordinary powers, the Flint, Michigan water crisis, Obama's legacy, the 2016 Democratic primaries, the electoral college, the rise of Nazism, and the panic caused by the false missile warning in Hawaii. While each segment is interesting, Moore does not do so well in weaving them together into a cohesive narrative. Also, some segments raise more questions than they answer. For example, Moore interviews some disaffected West Virginia Democrats, who are upset that although Sanders handily won the popular vote in the primary, Clinton ended up with one more delegate from the state, due to the states "superdelegates" siding with her. Unmentioned is that Clinton handily won the same primary in 2008 over Obama; what changed? Did the voters there like Sanders that much more than Clinton and Clinton that much more than Obama? Do the voters of West Virginia like to go with the underdog in the primary contest? Is some other dynamic at work? Most important, since a more equitable or proportional allocation of the "superdelgates" wouldn't have changed the outcome, merely made the final numbers a bit closer, why does this even matter?

Overall, an okay film if you like Michael Moore films; certainly not his best.

The Holiday (2006)

A modern classic

[10/10 · 20 December 2018]

Love this movie! We've watched it most every year since first seeing it in the movie theater. The plot involves two very unlucky-in-love women, one in England and one in Los Angeles, who need to get away from their usual lives and exchange homes around Christmastime. Personal challenges and growth, and romance ensues. I've heard a good film described as one with "three good scenes and no bad ones"; I look forward to every scene in this film, and every performance is good from the four leads (Jack Black is a great bit of unconventional casting the works) to all the supporting roles. Great settings, music, and dialogue. The world these characters inhabit is an affluent one (like in so many other films), though that works here, too. A thoroughly enjoyable experience only a Scrooge wouldn't like.

Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Skip this one

[3/10 · 20 December 2018]

Adapted from the John Grisham Novella Skipping Christmas (in which he unwisely departed from his legal thriller turf), the film tells the tale of a newly empty-nest couple who decide to forgo all their usual commercial Christmas festivities in favor of saving the money and spending half the saved amount on a warm Caribbean cruise. All their neighbors, friends and associates react with disdain or panic at the news. Not since the dreadful "40 days and 40 nights", in which a young man's associates become bizarrely obsessed with his decision to try a few weeks of celibacy, have so many film characters been so preoccupied with something that doesn't concern them. The casting seems like so many stunts; Tim Allen, who literally became Santa in the "Santa Clause" franchise, here turns his back on all things Christmas; Jamie Lee Curtis feels terrorized in her own neighborhood, an oblique nod to her scream-queen film career origins; Dan Akroyd, who in "Driving Miss Daisy" rubbed his traditionally Jewish mother the wrong way with his wholehearted embrace of Christmas, here plays the "unelected ward boss" at the center of the neighborhood's efforts to bring the Kranks back into the Christmas fold, and the often -lawless Cheech Marin plays a cop (who seems exclusively based on one street). Spoiler alert (though anyone who has seen a preview would know this): their daughter decides she'll be coming home for Christmas after all, and the Kranks go on a crazy crash effort to get all the traditional decorations and foods in place in time for her arrival. In addition to lots of irrational or clichéd characters, lame slapstick that deifies both physics and common sense pervades the sitcom-y story. Plus there's an utterly throwaway subplot involving a burglar. My wife and I saw this film free online, and that was bad enough. Paying to see this film would have been a lot worse. One final irony was that the film was released in late 2004, just about the time the farcical notion of a "war on Christmas" was entering the public debate; this story is of a communal war on those who would dare turn their backs on Christmas, or at least, its commercial aspects.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

A darker and more ambiguous entry in the dino franchise

[7/10 · 4 October 2018]

Picking up three years after the previous film, the story starts with Isla Nublar, now abandoned to the jungle and the dinosaurs, imperiled by an erupting volcano. People in America are debating whether to rescue the dinosaurs form the island or not. Clare and Owen, who have gone their separate ways between the films, are reunited in a privately financed effort to rescue the dinosaurs instigated by an old associate of John Hammond. Joined by a couple of workers from Claire's "save the dinosaurs" group (who seem rather a copy of the control room quasi-couple from the previous film), they travel with a group of soldiers-of-fortune to the island and start rounding up dinosaurs as the volcano rumbles. Unsurprisingly (though surprisingly quickly), nasty ulterior motives emerge, and the characters find themselves fighting for their lives, those of the remaining dinosaurs, and their own moral compasses. The film is chock -full of references to earlier films in the franchise, which are fun to mentally tick off, and the audience is usually a step or two ahead of the action (what successes or setbacks will happen during the several escape efforts is usually easy to figure out). The film has an odd and uneasy relationship with violence; dinosaurs are seen dispatching humans in grisly ways, but person-to -person violence is handled squeamishly if at all. The filmmakers swing between a story of awed fascination and mortal terror, between clear-cut conflicts and moral ambiguities. Ultimately, the film can't quite decide on a tone or message as it zig and zags about the issue of the perils of the ever-expanding possibilities of science.

I Feel Pretty (2018)

A fun ride with Schumer

[7/10 · 6 May 2018]

Any Schumer plays Renee, and New York woman with various confidence issues she attributes to her less-than-supermodel appearance. After a mishap involving a blow to the head, she believes she has magically transformed into a conventionally gorgeous woman. No one else sees a difference, but her confidence surges and she starts pursuing men, jobs and attention with gusto. She soon finds a new boyfriend, and also finds herself advising the company's president, flirting with the president's highly-eligible-bachelor brother and bonding with the founder. While the last third of the film is a little choppy in its editing, and the overall messages are delivered with a heavy hand, Schumer's totally dedicated performance makes for a fun if not groundbreaking viewing experience. An enjoyable film, and more so than many reviews suggest.

The Twilight Zone: Evergreen (2002) Season 1, Episode 1

Bad parenting

[4/10 · 2 January 2017]

A very old-testament take on how to rear children; sort of Dobson on steroids - forget "dare to discipline", this is "dare to execute"! As other reviewers pointed out, the extremes to which the parents and community of Evergreen go to punish deviations from the imposed norm and infractions to the rules are chilling/horrifying. Plus, it notably lacks the sense of justice or karmic symmetry for which the original series was so famous. All in all, quite a dark tale.

This story bears remarkable similarities to the 1998 film "Disturbing behavior", in which the parents in an isolated town also go to extremes to create "good" kids, and the X-Files episode "Arcadia", in which a planned community's homeowner's rules are enforced though deadly (and supernatural) means.

Lastly, I know budgets are limited, but the episode should have contained something to show or explain why the community is essentially escape-proof; I can't remember if they even showed a fence!

Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)

A fun suburanite/spies mashup

[8/10 · 2 January 2017]

This film was a lot of fun! A suburban couple dedicated to their kids, careers and cul-de-sac neighborhood have their orderly lives upended by new neighbors who seem a bit larger than life and turn out to be just that. The film has fun with the characters (whose personalities drive a lot of the humor), their reactions to their changing situations, with everyone trying to keep their priorities straight. The conventions of spy movies are entertainingly employed and spoofed. Overall, a good mix of humor and action, and also has a sense of respect for all the characters.

Being in a similar stage of life and circumstances to the main characters (minus the car chases, explosions and such) likely added to the enjoyment.

The Twilight Zone: Joy Ride/Shelter Skelter/Private Channel (1987) Season 2, Episode 9

Joy Ride - a rampage from the past/"Skelter" -- good cast/"Channel" - still timely

[7/10 · 2 May 2016]

Joy Ride is a fast paced, short episode, which works to its advantage - a slower-paced story would have given the viewer too much time to think about the plot's implausibilities. The characters hot-wire a 1950's car in the driveway of its recently-deceased owner, and find themselves cruising streets that look like they did in the car's heyday.

The story elements greatly resemble some of those form the novel Christine (not so much the movie), in which riders in the titular car see scenes from the 1950's out the windows, and the spirit of the old owner (here also a killer) is taking possession of the new "owner".

The final scene, in which a gun has suddenly become old and useless, is reminiscent of the conclusion of a classic twilight zone episode, "A hundred yards over the rim".

"Shelter Skelter" is a real casting coup, which anthology shows in particular can achieve. This episode has both Joan Allen and Joe Mantegna in the leads. It also serves a chilling reminder to the fears of nuclear war which permeated the mid-1980's.

"Private Channel" remains very timely, as it describes the isolating effects of personal technology. That isolation gets completed inverted by the episodes premise, and the episode has a very moving ending.

The Twilight Zone: The Once and Future King/A Saucer of Loneliness (1986) Season 2, Episode 1

Interesting though uneven

[6/10 · 24 April 2016]

The twilight zone's second season kicks off with these two very different episodes. The Once and Future King poses and intriguing take on the possibility of an Elvis doppelganger. Interestingly, a 2015 film, "The Identical", explored the same premise, though in a different way. The psychological weight borne by the main character, however iffy the setup, and the loop nature of time and destiny, are intriguing. "A saucer of loneliness" tells and intriguing story, but is damaged by characters that are two-dimensional (plus cheesy special effects). The propensity of people to seek messianic guidance in life, and project their own expectations onto highly unusual events, is interestingly touched on.