Reviews

My favorite show of all time! Yeah, I thought this was so cool, and Larisa Oleynik was the first crush I ever had (AAAAWWWWWW). It was well written, funny-except when it it wanted to be serious, and just a great show overall. But since we couldn't afford to keep Nick, I couldn't see any episodes after Feb. 1996, and maybe that makes me think more of the show than I should. To me it's more the epidemy (now that doesn't look spelled right!) of having to say "Goodbye" to someone that you love, and KNOW you'll never see them again. And I still think that, because as far as I know, there are no plans to release this on DVD any time soon...yeah, life is mean! I've found that out for sure (though you can find an odd episode every here or there...but I never liked the bootleg copies of things much either).

So enough of my sad life:(....Most kids in 7th grade don't NEED powers like Alex gets to get them through life (unrealistic--for sure) but then again, how many towns have a super-evil chemical plants that is willing to do anything for "Progress at ANY cost"? Gee this show was fun to watch! Though I'd agree the diaglouge is a bit over developed (and even a little Politically Correct sometimes). My favorite parts were when the kids would have some reason to break into the plant (a video tape or something like that) like a kid's version of "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" (which years later I got hooked on that game series for probably the same reason) almost! Then you've got the plant's "security" team who are trying desperately to find the "kid from the accident"...very mean dudes (at least when I first watched the show...they seem more sympathetic to me now). I feel rather sad for Larisa Oleynik, not sure if she minds this role type-casting her.....but it's what I'll always remember her by.

Oh and BTW, the actor that plays Aaron Peirce from "24" is on here too as a school coach or something....too cool! Maybe he can get the producers of that show to get Larisa in next season of "24". I only bring it up 'cuz Jack Bauer is my other TV hero and I'd just love to see cross-over things, lol:). Both are set in California, so I'll just keep on dream'n...I can see it now, "Let me alone with that suspect for a few minutes....no, I don't need a car battery!"

On a metal table in the Virginian Pilot (a newspaper) distribution wharehouse at 3:30 AM, I saw my my first glimpse of what would become the best remembered film of 1997. The paper was running an article that April morning on what it's like to die by hypothermia and had a pic. from the film on the cover. Whether "L.A. Confidential" should've won best picture is a good question... All I knew was, I'd never seen any film that got so much hype in the months that followed.

You all know the plot. You know the ship sinks. But this movie isn't as bad as some say, because while it does contain the most silly and overused love story imaginable, traces of sincerity can be found everywhere. James Cameron really DID care about the Titanic sinking. It shows because the film does decently give the viewer a sense of whats going on. That's incredibly important because the subject matter is so terribly serious (1 THOUSAND 5 HUNDRED Peoples' lives ending). I'd have liked it better if the film had been solely on the sinking and not even but mentioned Jack and Rose, but I'll take what I can get. Finally a year later a film came out that's sole purpose was to be historically accurate. It wasn't perfect, but at least "Saving Private Ryan" didn't ask me to cry for anyone's death's there was no celine dion song playing through the credits and James Ryan didn't end the film by leaving a medal or something at the grave site. It (SPR) put out there what it wanted to say and let me come up with the rest. Had Titanic been that same kind of film, I might own a copy of it now. Instead I rent it every other year or so. The really sad thing though is that after this film was made, no laws to prevent future spinoffs were passed. The result was "Pearl Harbor". SAD. TERRIBLY SAD.

Who likes torture? Anyone who waits a whole week to see the next episode of this I guess. I'm one of them now. I started watching the first episode of Season 1 back when it aired in late 2001- then shut it off and went to sleep, never to see it again. Until this latest season started. So I've just seen the whole First Season on DVD and I say right now, no other Show ever made is this thrilling to watch. It's like all the best parts of Ransom and a war film put together. I found the whole background for the senator character to be a little boring, but everything else related to the story is just great. I noticed that a lot of different people wrote the episodes. Maybe that gives each one it's own personality, can't be sure. I won't give anything else away, but I will write this, This show takes the cliché "Don't Trust Anyone" to a whole 'nother level!

***** outta ***** PS:

Why does every suspect they catch never cooperate right away? They always, ALWAYS choose death or torture first...Do they ever learn?

Chris Columbus. The man who has done all he can associate Christmas was Violence and Slap-Stick Comedy. It works about as well in this film as any of the others (Jingle All the Way, Home Alone, etc.). Since I like those films a lot, I liked this one too. From the 4.5 rating, I feel a little alone! The Ham hunt was quite funny as well as the Frosty debacle. I'll never think of that Frosty the Snowman song the same way again:) What was the LoveBug and Reigndeer connection all about though? Free Frosty! Free Frosty!Free Frosty! Free Frosty!Free Frosty! Free Frosty! How silly is that? That's why most people don't like this film, I think. It's too silly and doesn't have much to do with real life.

PS: DO PEOPLE REALLY SPEND THAT MUCH MONEY ON Christmas? What was it he quoted, 3 or 6 thousands dollars.

"The Civil War" by Ken Burns. Now THAT is a documentary. A film that tells history for history's sake. I hope Mr. Moore wasn't too disappointed with what happened today. I can't imagine what it must be like to release a film months before an election that is so blatantly political and then see it have no impact on the end result. What a waste of money huh? I dearly hope that any profits he makes off the travesty of a film will go towards the building of the new tower at ground zero. I suppose it won't help the DVD sales now that the idiot who is responsible for 9/11 (total sarchasim here) just got re-elected with a 3 million plus lead! He even got Florida!!!!! OH YEAH:) Maybe we can finally get on with our lives as Americans and kill the enemies that stand against us instead of negotiate. I'm just glad that this film didn't fool too many people with its broad conspiracy theories about Bush and the Saudi Family. Not that I have anything against conspiracy theories in general. I believe Oswald was completely innocent but that is the subject of another film.

This is the definition of a Norfolk Library Film. No ones' heard of it. Now really Norfolk Library does have some films that are popular but they also have tons of films I know or care little about. I got this only 'cuz it had Larisa Oleynik in the credtis. What is she doing there? She has like 2 minutes of screen time. Not that this is anything new to films, but I was hoping to actually hear more than 4 sentences from her. Back to the Film...

A family wants to leave Hungary 'cuz it's communist. Great Idea but their youngest girl gets left behind. She eventually gets to LA when she's 6 years old but doesn't like it there. By the time she's 15 she hates everyone in her life and wants to go back to the simple world she left beind. This could be really good for a drama, and I'M SURE the real experience was better than the movie. This film was never sure where it wanted to go, starting in Black and White (ala Schindler's List) then switching to color. 99% of the problems that arise are because the mom never tells her daughter about what made Hungary so bad. When the girl does go back, she finds out any ways. What a waste of a plane ticket.

PS: That bridge is cool. It's the same picture as on a "Greater Vision" Album called "Far Beyond This Place"

The lead comment was that this show was a low point for ABC. I didn't see it that way back in September of 1996. We'd lost cable 8 months earlier and I was really missing the Nick version of "Doug". I was more the extatic to find out they were bring the show to a channel I still got. Then I saw the Trailer, and yes the show's plot, theme song, and everything else about it get turned upside-down. I maintain however the basic theme of the show was still the same. Doug still lived in Bluffington and still wrote in his Journal. That's all I needed to know.

This show depends a lot on seeing the Nick series but before long really becomes its own force as we are introduced to life at a Junior High-School that is under-construction. My favorite episode was the one where they were trapped in the school by a blizzard, and one of the kids goes off to find a secret paradise room, hidden in the Principal's Office. I've yet to find other shows that come close to story lines like that. The theme of my life for a long, long time. In fact, to this day, in my ENG classes at TCC I still will write my Narrative Stories in the "Doug" format of normal life adventures gone wrong. It works!

I've been asked when I tell little kids 6 years younger than me that "Doug" was my favorite TV show, what is it about? And's the beautiful thing about this show. It's called life and Doug writes about it in his journal, almost like an adventure theme, but with kind of situations that are ALMOST out of real life. Plus, like me, Doug has a very active imagination. I really ID'd with this shoe So much so, that for a long time afterwards, I started writing my journal entries the same way.

I never thought I'd even like this show until I got suckered into watching the episode where Doug is put on a printing committee or something and well, It would take to long to describe. I hear all these questions about why people in the show are different colors? Well, I didn't even notice it at first because in a way, the color of that person simply blends in with the rest of the animated world, and (this will sound CRAZY) I think it really makes the show more realistic. No one else to my knowledge has ever done this with a cartoon. The music was very good also and along with Rugrats made for a fun hour of Cable TV.