Matum Reviews

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Ian McDiarmid rocks

[8/10 · 29 May 2005]

So much has been said in these comments that there's few left to add, but I'd like to pinpoint Ian's performance as the greatest amongst all. His gestures and, particularly, the modulation of his voice in every line (especially before he reveals as Darth Sidious) is a spectacle in its own. No one could have played a better Palpatine! Kudos to you Ian! On the other side, I didn't like Natalie, Cristopher (Dooku) and Samuel (Windu). They are great actors, but they just didn't play well this time.

Next there's the CGI FX. Why is it that the old models are *still* much more convincing as real-things? Is it the dirt on them? Is it that they are not "perfect" as mathematical CGI drawings? It's a bless that Empire Strikes Back was done in the 80ties, I just can't imagine how deceiving and cartoonish CGI made AT-ATs would have looked...

May the force be with you!

Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009)

Had you believed Star Wars if Luke smoked Marlboros?

[22 March 2005]

This series has many revolutionary aspects for the genre, such as the strong characters and the -quite annoying- permanent hand-held camera. But since everyone seem to be praising the series already, I will focus on a bad aspect, something that bothers me: How can I believe this group of Aliens (ok, humans -but not from Earth) dress just like us in 2005 (look at President and her assistant) and smoke the same cigarettes? Later on, in "planet Caprica", Boomer and a fellow partner enter a basement and find a transmitter: it turns out to be a radio-cassette box just like the one I had back in the 80's. And everywhere you look, it's full of familiar stuff there that remind us that there is no budget to reinvent stuff and we are just forced to believe that this other universe "just happens" to be too much like our own. Plots may be good, but as a science fiction show it just doesn't deliver.

The Six Million Dollar Man (1973 TV Movie)

The neverdated story.

[10/10 · 18 October 1999]

The six million dollar man is one of the greatest series ever. I can't understand why it doesn't have a full troupe of fans like other series, because it unarguably deserves it. Its permanence during its 5 seasons proofs this. I remember watching the episodes during my childhood and being fascinated by this man with extraordinary force! I ask myself who can be emotionless enough not to be amazed by a man who can run at the speed of a car, or jump to/from a 5-story building! For those of you who haven't heard, TSMDM is about an astronaut and test pilot who crashes and has some of his lost limbs rebuilt using bionics: he gets kind of iron/electronic legs, a right arm, and a telescopic eye (which makes him capable of seeing with super zoom and also in the infrared portion of the spectrum). All these replacements contribute to make him "better than he was before: better... stronger... faster."

Recently, when I realized that TSMDM was being showed again in the Sci-fi channel, I wondered myself if that mystic would still penetrate my mind, after 20 years. I've read many opinions that states that any movie was maybe Ok for its time, but bad or old fashioned nowadays. You can not consider art as if it were a technology: art is just timeless GOOD or BAD, and simply fulfills our expectations at certain moments or not, but are us who changes, not the art itself. The Six Million Dollar Man is the Good type, because besides the hero, it has good, interesting, and -most important- credible arguments (a point where "The Bionic Woman" lacks). I like specially the episodes involving robots, perhaps the toughest enemies that Steve Austin has to confront; the ones involving nuclear weapons are among the classics too; and the multipart episodes with The Bionic Woman are a great novel themselves.

The acting is performed by Lee Majors as TSMDM and Richard Anderson as the everlasting Oscar Goldman. Maybe someday one of them enters the IMDB and, why not, they find themselves reading this comment; then the following words are for them: Thank you for stimulating my imagination yesterday and today, thank you for all the fun I feel when watching your adventures, and thank you for adding your little chunk of happiness to my life, contributing to make it better than already is.

Cosmos (1980)

A "must" for anyone carrying a throbbing heart.

[8 March 1999]

Such apparently disassociated issues as deciphering hieroglyphics from ancient Egyptians and accompanying the Voyager spacecraft along its planetary tour meet up in these wonderful series. Carl Sagan not only transmits the facts, but also and perhaps most important, his enthusiasm swoops down deeply into the spectator skin.

Sagan (who hosts the series himself) magnificently shows that science is the art of solving Nature's mysteries. Every topic that is encompassed in Cosmos, is shown as so: Beginning in the knot, showing the big efforts that are made to untie it, and the final breath-out of the human mind prevailing over the (previously) unknown. Not only science, but everyday subjects are researched as well, such as astrology or the UFO phenomenon. History also shares a good role in Cosmos.

Overall, the great production and the soundtrack make this series a MUST for everyone carrying a throbbing heart.

Hackers (1995)

Huh??? what am I watching?

[12 January 1999]

What the hell is this??? Is it a movie or a 2 hour rapper video-clip?? I guess it's a video-clip, because as a computer movie is totally unbelievable. What are those alienated cyber-buildings and micro-chips graphics all about?

Hey DJ's !! If you wanna take a rest next Saturday, just play "Hackers" in the disco-dance's monitors and take a walk outside with your girlfriend.

The Knight of the Sword (1970)

Highly recommended, but only for those who know the history.

[8/10 · 28 December 1998]

This is the story of the great South American hero, General Don Jose de San Martin, one of the three great liberators of the American Colonies from the European empires, next to Washington and Bolivar. The storyline covers near a decade of his life; from the arrival of San Martin to Buenos Aires after his military training in Europe, going through all his historical battles (San Lorenzo, Maipú, Chacabuco), and ends when he encounters General Bolivar, after liberating North Argentina, Chile, and South Peru from the Spanish forces. Almost every historic event is shown, including the crossing of the Andes Mountains -by far the best representation of the whole movie-. This approach of showing everything, causes the movie to be too brief on each event, and explain little or nothing about the causes and motivations of each and every step of San Martin's feat. So, it's essential to have a previous knowledge of this frame of the American history if you intend to understand the film. Otherwise, you'll get dizzied by the somewhat clumsy series of battles and arrivals-at-conquered-cities.

El Santo de la Espada is made by Argentines, and undoubtedly intended for an Argentine public, and the hero is always preceding the man. A more sensitive side of San Martin's personality is also exercised in the various scenes where he is alone with his wife, though this is only half achieved. Some little trivia here: The director's cut originally portrayed San Martin crying while watching soldiers die in one of the battles, but this scene was deleted after censoring from the dictatorial military government of the time, which wouldn't allow any sign of weakness in Argentina's #1 national hero.

Overall, the movie is very well done having in mind the techy limitations of the time where it was done, and specifically, the limitations on Argentine's cinematography. The performances are acceptable in general, and Alfredo Alcon's is definitely outstanding: he will make you firmly believe that he is the San Martin you've studied about in school.