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Reviews
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)
Somewhere in the middle
I didn't expect much from this movie, and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. Cage was his usual deadpan self, Alfred Molina was over the top, and obviously having fun. Jay Baruchels, however, didn't seem to be quite up to it. He never seemed to get either the "nerd" OR the "hero" character quite right. I would have preferred a movie just about Cage's character.
Shortly after watching this, I had the chance to watch the series "The Dresden Files", which has a similar theme. Nicolas Cage was a fan of the Dresden books, was involved with producing that series too, and I have a theory about what happened with this movie.
I think Cage started out wanting to make a "Dresden" movie, but couldn't sell it to Disney, or couldn't nail down the rights.
I think Disney did want to cash in on the "wizard" fad, so after lots of fiddling, Dresden got dropped, the Disney formula kicked in, the plot from Fantasia got overlaid onto the project, and it became a kind of magical "Karate Kid". This is what you get if you let a corporate committee decide how to make a movie.
I think this is Cage playing a part he wanted to play, the only way he could get it.
Man from Atlantis: Man from Atlantis (1977)
A couple of redeeming characteristics
This show was formula camp, but it had a couple of quirks that made it less painful to watch. Someone else commented on the recurring villain, Mr. Shubert, played by Victor Buono, but there was more to the character than he mentioned. In the pilot movie, Mr Shubert was indeed played relatively straight. He was the typical Bond-style villain with an elaborate secret underground(water) fortress, a submarine, and legions of heavily armed troops. In the series, however, the heroes seem to have taken over his base and fancy equipment, but left him free to plan new ventures. He appears several times in various episodes, but due to his dwindling resources, his plots are progressively less elaborate, till, in the end, he's reduced to planning some minor mischief from inside a miniature lighthouse at a marina with his one remaining loyal minion. By then, his character has come to resemble "King Tut", whom Mr. Buono played on the "Batman" TV series. Plotting, scheming, but ultimately incompetent. Mr. Shubert also has the obligatory daughter who becomes involved with, and ultimately saves, the hero, but instead of a leggy blond in a jumpsuit, she was a sort of plain, almost dumpy, brunette with horn rimmed glasses and an annoying laugh. Rather than becoming romantically involved with the hero, they become friends, although the series ended without this being developed further. At least the writers had the sense not to even TRY to take this premise too seriously. Otherwise it would have been another "Manimal".
Desk Set (1957)
The model for future consultants
As an IT consultant, I consider Richard Sumner to be the prototype for the present day geek. One of my favorite movie lines of all time comes when the network president offers Sumner a cushy office, and he turns it down. When the president asks Sumner "You don't care whether or not you impress anyone, do you?", Sumner's response: "Wait till you get my bill, you'll be impressed" should be the unofficial slogan for everyone in my profession. I love this movie, even with the somewhat thin plot, just for the characters!