May 08, 2008

Just finished watching a film Tom Selleck made back in 1984.
The film is called Runaway.  It's some type of futuristic film
where robots have become common place and some type of
police force has to be sent out to deal with robots that
malfunction.

I think this film is ridiculous.  The robots in this film are laugh-
able.  I'm surprised they didn't go with the tin-can look that
1950's robots had.  The robots are next to immobile that I
can't see any reason why Selleck's character moves around
so cautiously when all he has to do is basically run up to the
robot and tip it over, that's how slow and dim-witted the
robots appear to me.

The plot is pretty weak.  Selleck's character is a cop that
deals with these dim-witted slow-moving scrap-piles, but
a sub-plot is that he has vertigo and this will be used at
the end of the film.  Can anyone say "clichéd"?

The bad guy is played by Gene Simmons, lead singer
of the band KIZZ and I must say he looks just as silly
playing a bad guy as those piles of junk do playing the
parts of robots.  It's obvious to me he got the part just
because he was Gene Simmons and not because of
his skill at acting.

I really can't understand how some people actually
think this film was written "fairly" or even "well written".
It boggles my mind to think that some people are
completely incapable of distinguishing between bad
writing and great writing.

I guess that's just life.  Tom Selleck is a great actor,
but he seems to have terrible taste for picking
movie projects to get involved in.  That seems to
happen to a lot of great actors, Al Pacino seems to
have a tin ear for movie scripts as well.  Then you
got guys like Mel Gibson who just seem to go from
one blockbuster film to another blockbuster.  Either
Mel has good taste in film scripts, or he's just plain
lucky.

I personally don't think Mel is just lucky in picking
such great films to work with.  I think he has an eye
for what makes pretty good movies.

It's not just the script that makes a movie,
although it is the solid foundation upon which the
rest of the movie depends.  If the director doesn't
have good taste either, no matter how great the
script, you could still end up with a B movie even
if you have great actors and a great script.

If that director doesn't have a feel for what looks
cheesy and what looks good, or doesn't have an
ear for what sounds corny and what sounds
believable when it comes to dialogue, then you'll
probably end up with a film like Tom Selleck's
Runaway.

p.s. Forgot to mention one part that I wanted to
comment on specifically.  Near the start of the
film, when they're setting up the story, we get
to see Selleck and his new partner going out to
deal with a robot running amok in a cornfield
*a cornfield - how exciting! /sarcasm off* and
you see the two of them chasing after the little
scrap-pile.  You actually see both of them pounce
onto the robot, exactly as you'd expect to see
cartoon characters pouncing on someone or
something else.  You then see a big explosion in
the middle of the cornfield and the next scene
you actually see Selleck and his partner with
black powder burns on their faces, exactly as
you'd expect to see on cartoon characters after
something blows up in their faces.

This would be fine if the film were a comedy,
but it was not.  This film was suppose to be
a serious sci-fi flick.  Anyhow, to me, it speaks
volumes about the person directing this film.
I sure hope he never made another film after
this one.  I shudder to think he did.



November 24, 2007

Here are some more clips from the actual CBS original airing
of D&D way back in the early 80's.  The dates may be off,
so I don't really know what year these promos actually aired.
These are promos of the cartoon.



Click here to download the short clip, about 1.8megs big

This clip above is at least from 1984, and I recall seeing the
clip when I use to watch the cartoon.  The episode is from
the second season, so that pretty much places the promo
around 1984 or later.




Click here to download the short clip, about 1.8megs big

The clip above might be from 1983, since the episode is from
1983, but there's no way to know when this promo actually
aired.



Click here to download the short clip, about 1.8megs big

This clip above is almost exactly like the one above it, except
the voice over guy has different dialog.  I had to sync the
voice with the video on this clip, so the first split second of the
clip has no sound.



Click here to download the short clip, about 1.4megs big

The clip above I already talked about, it probably came out in
1983, because of the Airwolf pilot episode promo that came
out after this clip, but it could also have been aired in very early
1984.