dalben

I second the comments below me, Family Guy just wasn't very imaginative

or witty. Cruelty and put-downs seem to be its stock-in-trade, and some

gags are just in terrible taste (A dog panting, a woman walking by, look

ing at dog, and dog says, "Don't flatter yourself"??) This show lacks

many attributes of the Simpsons - character development, plot, a

fleshed-out world in which the characters live (Springfield), smart

pop-culture references, and social critique, not to mention comic timing

and the ability to poke fun at one's self... Family Guy is total Bush

lea

The Finzi-Continis are a wealthy and privileged Italian family. It is shortly before WWII, a time when the Fascists are slowly taking away the rights and livelihoods of Jews, including the Finzi-Continis.

But none of this seems to pass the walls of their magnificent garden, where the children Micol and Alberto often invite their friends. One of their friends, Georgio, is hopelessly in love with the beautiful Micol. The way this film evokes such youthful, quixotic yearning, or a woman's growing awareness of physical beauty's power, is splendid.

The sadness I felt at the end came from knowing all along what would happen to all of them, rich and not-so-rich, and that they didn't recognize what lay in store for them until it was too late. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis was Vittorio De Sica's last hurrah, a masterpiece of neorealism, and timeless evocation of a time lost.

What a funny thrill ride this movie is! A man (Dennis Quaid) volunteers to be shrunk down to the size of a cell and injected into a rabbit. But terrorists are after this scientific breakthrough and by various hijinks he winds up being injected into the butt of a nervous grocery clerk, played by Martin Short. And that's just the beginning.

Innerspace shows Dennis Quaid at his most winning, and Short at his funniest. And of course, there's a very young Meg Ryan as their love interest. The jokes resonate with both kids and adults, and unlike most action-adventure films, the plot here is never short of ideas. And the effects are pretty neat too: as we see Quaid's character wander within the human body, we feel as much amazement and wonder as he does. LOTS of movies attempt to put you in outer space and worlds far away, but I can't think of one that has made the creative attempt of exploring our inner space.

I first saw "Innerspace" when I was 11. I didn't know who any of the lead actors were. I'd never seen Saturday Night Live. And I thought it was a great movie. Twelve years and hundreds of movies later, I still think it's wonderful.