I got a cheap copy of the Transformers movie through Sperhauk. The new one from last year. I watched it this morning and then finished off the last of The Adventures of Brisco County. I had never been a fan of the 80's Transformers cartoon. I liked the toys and still have a few in a box up in the actic. I mostly like Michael Bay, or at least I like some of his early movies a fair bit. Bad Boys, The Rock and Armagedden are all favorites, but only Bad Boys would get into my top 100 favorites. Sometimes I like style over substance, and Bay's music video style worked well for Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to play cops 'n robbers in. BB also had the cutest Tea Leoni ever, and Tcheky Karyo as a mean rotten villian. I'm always glad when he gets his in the end. Transformers has Shia LeBeouf and he's no Will Smith, or Martin Lawrence. I liked him in Holes and should watch that again soon. But that's a different movie and here he's a nervous fidget who happens to have his grandfather's glasses. Those glasses are important. They are a map to the Allspark. That's what the 2 groups of robots are after. It's a magical box that can make all the machines of earth alive. Sounds good until you learn that they would want to kill you. Oh, not so good. There's lots of action between the comedy. The action is pretty good but the comedy suffers. The movie even has the robots doing physical comedy as they try to hide from Shia's dad. At 143 minutes this could have been pared down by removing some of the comic subplots. I would not have missed some of the scenes. Not one bit.
I would want to watch every scene in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr, and more than once. It's a 1993 TV series that I find pretty darn entertaining. All 27 episodes are in one box plus there are some featurettes and a commentary over the 90 minute pilot by creator Carlton Cuse and star Bruce Campbell. Bruce, always a favorite of mine, plays Brisco County. He's a lawyer who'd rather ride about the west of 1893 being a bountry hunter. In the pilot his US Marshall father is killed by John Bly and his gang. The rich robber barrons hire Brisco to go after Bly and his band of scum. He's offen joined by Socrates Poole and Lord Bowler. John Austin plays an inventor who supplies the show with laughs and the occasional props. In the pilot he supplies a rocket. Brisco ties it to a rail car and uses it to catch up to the bad guys. Brisco is always looking for the coming thing. He embraces the future. There are a wonderful bunch of characters that keep appearing but three top my list. Dixie Cousins, the beautiful blonde saloon singer with the checkered past, who becomes Brisco's romantic interest. Comet, Brisco's horse, who's more intelligent than most people. Pete Hutter, with his interesting thoughts and speach patterns, and his obsessive desire not to have anyone touch his piece. The scripts were fun and action packed. The writers and cast worked hard on the show but it didn't catch on. Isn't that always the way. It got cut after the first season. The season works well as a unit, mosly wrapping up the John Bly story line. It had a definite science fiction sub plot involving time travel, but I liked it because it was so much fun to watch and the good guys were positive guys who saved the day.
Comments