ACTION

I have placed "sizzler ratings" next to movies to give you an idea of how good they are

	Armageddon
	Godzilla
	Lost in Space
	Star Trek: Insurrection
	Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
	Supernova
	X-Men

SUPERNOVA (2000)

Starring: James Spader, Angela Bisset
The plot: An emergency rescue vehicle receives a distress call from a remote mining outpost. When they get there, they find themselves nearly killed as the terrific gravity well around a Giant Blue Sun threatens to thrash them into the planet of the mining outpost. Tragedy averted, they have 17 hours and 10 minutes to escape before they will be sucked into the Sun, and it will take 17 hours and 01 minutes to charge the engine up ready for a D-Jump. While they wait, the source of the distress call comes barrelling up from the planet and docks with them, bearing mysterious cargo...
Comment: Hey! We've got James Spader and Angela Bisset! Hey! We've got a mega budget to do some pretty unreal special effects! Shame someone forgot to write a script with any credible semblance of a plot. I was sucked in by this erroneously named movie - don't let yourself be sucked in as well... (SPOILER - And before you comment, I know there was a hint of a supernova at the end of the film...)
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X-MEN (2000)

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin
The plot: It is the next phase in the evolution of the human race, and adolescents are emerging with powers that scare the ordinary humans. Charles Xavier believes the 'mutants' should be nurtured and accepted by mere mortals, but his counterpart, Magneto, believes humans will never accept mutants and thus, they must be forced to see reason. To this end, Magento develops a way to make sure that once and for all, humans accept mutants...
Comment: In the classic battle of good versus evil... Well, you know the outcome! Fortunately, unlike other over the top conversions of comic strip to movie screen, X-men plays out brilliant, no doubt owing to the superb direction, seamless special effects and a powerful cast. Although possibly in the beginning, a little too much time is devoted to fleshing out the powers of our hero's and anti-hero's, the movie quickly picks up pace and becomes a fast paced techno-action thriller. After all, what is 20 minutes of character development to clue in the millions who didn't even know the comic existed prior to the film, when you are most likely hoping to make a sequel or two?! No matter, it was sheer joy to watch two the two classically trained actors, Stewart and McKellan face off in this film. And for the uninformed (like myself), it was fun to see the many varied ways one can use the powers generated by a mutant gene... Go see the film!
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ARMAGEDDON (1998)

Starring: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler
The plot: The second of the "World destroyed by an asteroid" movies for the year, this one focuses on a rough and tumble team of misfit drillers being sent to drill into the asteroid and blow the darn thing apart before it hits Earth. Harry Stamper and his oil roughnecks have just 16 days to drill into the asteroid and plant a thermonuclear device. Meanwhile, as an afterthought, Stamper's daughter frets alongside NASA about her father and lover (2I.C., A.J. Frost) up there in Space in the race against time.
Comment: Well, you cannot deny that this film is full of hard hitting action from start to finish. Why they even bothered to write in a small role for Liv Tyler, I don't know - she really is the token woman in this action-packed movie. The movie wins brownie points for highlighting how pathetically prepared the Earth is for spotting any meterorites on collision courses and for using drillers instead of using mission specialists. However, the movie looses brownie points for the complete and utter total unreality of OIL drillers knowing how to drill that type of rock AND the unrealistically short time taken to sink an 800ft hole in solid iron with one drill bit! (Sorry, geology background being revealed here...).
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GODZILLA (1998)

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Hank Azaria, Jean Reno
The plot: No discernible plot and quite insulting to the original Japanese movies.
Comment: The critics were right in their unanimous condemnation of this movie. This is the worst thing Hollywood has produced since the Batman movies were made in the early '90's. It's definitely about time the Hollywood movie moguls ceased remaking old movies and started looking at the 1000's of original scripts and books that cross their desks. Stop insulting our intelligence!
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LOST IN SPACE (1998)

Starring: Matt Le Blanc, Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Heather Graham
The plot: A politically correct family is sent off into space to start expansion of the human race off crowded Planet Earth. However, along the way, they lost themselves and the plot.
Comment: Yet another remake of a TV series, and yet again, it fails. Surprise, surprise. If modern day TV shows have a hard time making it to the big screen, why should a 60's show succeed? Of course, with so many big names starring in the film you'd think it should work, but unfortunately, even good actors (and the jury is out on Matt Le Blanc falling into the 'good actor' category...) can't make a really bad script work. Let's face it, 1998 was a bad year for SF movies...
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STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (1998)

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathin Frakes, Brent Spinner, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn
The plot: Captain Picard is informed that Data has turned rebellious and threatened one of the Federation's secret observation studies of an isolated race. When Picard and the crew of the Enterprise arrive to try and save Data from destruction, Picard stumbles upon a dubious, Federation-supported operation that threatens not only the race being studied, but the bedrock of the Federation.
Comment: I would give this maximum rating - but I'm taking into account there may be a few deprived souls who don't care for Star Trek: The Next Generation. All the crew are present in this wonderful film, but like all Star Trek films involving The Next Generation, it just seems like an extended episode and makes one wish for the return of the series to TV. The new twists injected into plots and characters in the 3 TNG films are never fully explored in these films spaced (on average) 2 years apart. However, as another episode/movie, this is vintage Star Trek.
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STAR WARS I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd
The plot: A breakdown in negotiations and the rulers of the Planet Naboo have resulted in the Federation forming a blockade around Naboo. Then the dark force penetrates and tries to force the hand of young Queen Amidala. Enter stage right, two Jedi Knights to help restore the peace.
Comment: OK, we all knew this wasn't going to be as good as the 'original' Star Wars (or Episode 4...), but this one was a little disappointing anyway. If you suspend criticism (for a moment), the way reality is blended with FX is incredible in this movie (albeit, nothing we haven't already seen in Jurassic Park), and the action is fun to watch.

However, (da bad news) the script was rough and could have done with some polishing. Most movies aimed at children nowadays seem to be '2-tiered' with a subtle underplot that entertains the adults as well. Phantom Menace did not have the subtle '2nd tier' and further more, seem to ride on the coattails of the three previous Star Wars movies with lots of obvious marketing merchandise and things for kids. And the saddest thing is commenting that the computerised counterparts were better actors than the stilted performances offered by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor! It is OK to accept over-exagerated and bad acting from newcomers like Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in the original movie, but it is unexpected from such accomplished actors like Neeson and McGregor!

Criticism aside though, the way the 'reality' is blended with 'FX' is unbelievable.
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