Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-05-25 (Sunday)

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

I watched:

The Andromeda Strain (4K disc) 1971 sci-fi movie based on a Michael
Crichton novel, directed by Robert Wise.  The story involves a group of
scientists racing against time to analyze and figure out how to destroy
a deadly virus from space.  I watched with a pretty good commentary
track.  On the commentary they talked a lot about the visual effects all
being done practically by Douglas Trumbull.  He also mentioned the plot
is very similar to another Crichton book called, "Sphere."  I also
happened to pick up on that plot similarity early on.  The commentary
also mentioned this movie features the one and only on screen cameo by
Crichton.

This was a great movie, and I didn't mind that one of the scientists was
sex swapped because I liked her performance. What I didn't care for was
Burgess Meridith, er, David Wayne suddenly starting to preach about
biological warfare in the middle of the crisis. Where the hell did that
come from?

Originally, I was going to watch that popular movie based on a Michael
Crichton story about the amusement park where the creator spared no
expense, but the attractions started to kill the guests, then I changed
my mind and decided to skip "Westworld."  Mainly because there is no
commentary track on the disc, and I really only cared about listening to
the commentary track.

Hey! There's no liabililty! There were signs all over the place warning
you NOT to feed the dinosaurs.

Westworld is entertaining but not great. The plot needed to be much
stronger when Yul Brynner isn't on screen.

Runaway (blu-ray) 1984 sci-fi movie written and directed by Michael
Crichton

Huh. I've never seen this and I forgot Crichton directed it.

Sphere (blu-ray) 1998 sci-fi movie based on a Michael Crichton novel,
directed by Barry Levison.

I absolutely despise this movie. The novel is readable but it's not one
of Crichton's better novels.

The only thing I can say about it is I despise Congo four times as much
because it was a dreadful adaptation of Crichton's best novel, the only
novel in which Crichton truly created a character and not just a plot
device, Amy the gorrila.