19 lines
1.6 KiB
Plaintext
19 lines
1.6 KiB
Plaintext
movies can do the two big es very well : educate and entertain .
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in the best of all possible worlds , they accomplish both .
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on the red planet , they fail entirely .
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in the near future , a manned mission is sent to mars to observe primitive plant growth .
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this film does a remarkable job of demonstrating exactly how exciting watching algae grow would be .
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after some mumbo-jumbo about an ecological disaster on earth and an interminable wait to reach the fourth planet , the ship falls apart almost as fast as the movie does .
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the ground crew of people you couldn't care less about is trapped on the surface without food , water or air and stalked by a deadly rogue cyberdog .
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the one potentially interesting character ( carrie-anne moss ) spends her time alone in the orbiting ship talking to a computer .
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attempting to graft " 2001 " esque space mysticism with " terminator " robot horror , first time director antony hoffman can't seem to figure out what's going on .
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neither can we .
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didn't he have anyone who could step back from the shooting and make sure there was a coherent story ?
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couldn't he have used the money saved by only having to pay half a dozen actors to hire a scriptwriter ?
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there are so many mis-steps .
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every opportunity to create dynamic tension is thwarted by plot holes and lackluster direction .
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why introduce the theme of faith vs . science if the crewman who could comment on it disappears early only to die _offscreen_ ?
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the audience begins the film waiting for something to happen .
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two hours later , they're still waiting .
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despite our greatest hopes , there is no life on the red planet .
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