dseliber

Don't we all have a movie that has a special place in our heart? A movie that isn't necessarily a great movie, but we love it so much that we wonder why other people don't. Mine is "What's Up, Doc?", a homage to the classic screwballs of the past - most notably compared to Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby".

The plot in brief: there are four people with four identical plaid traveling cases all staying on the same floor of the same hotel. One of the cases has igneous rocks, one has valuable jewels, one has secret government documents, and one has just odds and ends. Inevitably, the cases are eventually mismatched and end up in the wrong hands. The climax is a fantastic, riotous car chase through the streets of San Francisco (where better place to have one?) which has a wet finale.

I'm a serious moviegoer for the most part, but "What's Up, Doc?" is one of my sentimental favorites - a movie I like just because it makes me smile.

Say what you will about the soft ending, but this is one of the finest sci-fi films we've gotten in quite a while! Even from Steven Spielberg, you really couldn't have expected much more. Let's examine some of the plot:

Well, it takes place in 2057 in Washington D.C., and it explores a new system of crime-stopping in which crimes are predicted before they are committed, giving the police, or whatever they're called in 2057, enough time to arrest the would-be criminal before they commit their crime. Cool, eh? Well anyway, if you haven't already heard the next part: Tom Cruise is one of the head workers there, and not too far into the movie, HE is accused of committing a future crime. And as it turns out, he is accused of killing someone whom he's never heard of. And the plot certainly takes off from there, in which he tries to prove an error in the pre-crime system to clear his name. But to reveal any more would be ridiculous.

The bottom line with "Minority Report" is that it is another total triumph for master director Steven Spielberg, who takes advantage of numerous special effects AND a wonderful story. It is one of the years best!

Sequels are annoying. They think they can take the ideas from the original, and somehow build up a plot different enough and interesting enough to arouse people's interest in seeing it. And yes, people see it, but it really isn't any good. "Back to the Future" is perhaps the best 'sci-fi-comedy-thriller' ever made. Then they made "Back to the Future Part II", which I said was not an exception to that rule I mentioned, but indeed an improvement. But what about "Back to the Future Part III"? Does it meet the mediocre expectations everyone had? No. It exceeds them.

Honestly, "Back to the Future Part III" is just as good as the original "Back to the Future". On paper, it actually looks pretty boring; especially compared to the fast-packed action we got in the first two. And even after I've given you to storyline, you'll still have doubts. I'll explain my arguments contradicting that later on.

Here's the story: Just like BTTF2, BTTF3 takes place at the exact time BTTF2 left off. Marty goes back to 1955 Doc and Doc passes out. The first new scene is actually the funniest scene in the movie: Marty had taken Doc home, and it's now the next morning. Marty and Doc are lying on adjacent couches in Doc's den, and when Doc wakes up, he still doesn't realize Marty's there. Then he voice records the events of the previous night into some kind of 1955 tape recorder, and then Marty taps Doc on his shoulder and Doc turns around, and puts on a hilarious performance, of how shocked he is to see him. Well anyway, the movie proceeds with Marty reading 1985 Doc's letter, in which Doc tells him that he's buried the DeLorean he took with him to 1885 in a mine (so Marty can use it to go back to 1985). HOWEVER...the mine is right next to an old cemetery, and Marty comes across a familiar tombstone.

There's a whole lot more. As a matter of fact, what I just described is only the first 15 minutes or so. Hopefully, what I DID just tell you will convince you enough. And the bottom line of BTTF3 is: though Roger Ebert complained about how they've toned down on the time traveling quite a bit in this one, it really is just as fun and entertaining as the first and the second. The climax is especially wonderfully worth watching, as is the rest of it. Go see it.