Entertainment
R-Rated 90s Sci-Fi Thriller Somehow Has Better CGI Than Most Movies Today
By Robert Scucci
| Published
I’ve been putting it off for a very long time, but I finally revisited 1999’s Deep Blue Sea this past weekend, and I’m so glad I did. The funny thing about movies from this era is that the CGI is pretty terrible because it was relatively new technology, generally speaking. I remember laughing at the creature design when I was 11 years old, but after a few decades of CGI in movies somehow getting exceptionally worse, I was actually impressed by what I saw.
I think Deep Blue Sea’s real charm is its willingness to show us the monster, which is normally the worst thing you can do. Have you seen the Jurassic World movies or Disney’s Haunted Mansion (2023)? The screen is so dark during some sequences that you can’t even see what’s going on half the time, and it’s by design. Bury the CGI in darkness and nobody will notice how bad it is. But here’s the problem: nobody can see what the heck is going on, so everybody loses.
Deep Blue Sea, on the other hand, shows us shark attacks up close, for better or worse. Fortunately, everybody brings their A game to the table, and it never feels like a bunch of actors on a soundstage talking to a green screen. It feels lived in, even if it doesn’t always look like it. The moral here is that if you thought movies like Deep Blue Sea were crappy back in the ’90s because of their visual effects, it’s time to revisit them. They look so much better by comparison when pitted against the crap coming out today.
Let’s Make An Apex Predator Even Smarter, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Oh boy, where do we begin? Deep Blue Sea centers on the idea that shark brain tissue may be the key to curing, or at the very least slowing, the damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease. We’re introduced to doctors Susan McCallister (Saffron Burrows) and Jim Whitlock (Stellan Skarsgard), who are basically trying to play God in their underwater research compound. When one of the sharks escapes and wreaks havoc on the public, Samuel L. Jackson’s Russel Franklin, a corporate executive, is sent down to see what all the hubbub is about.
While visiting, he’s introduced to ex-con shark wrangler Carter Blake (Thomas Jane), marine biologist Janice Higgins (Jacqueline McKenzie), and engineer Tom Scoggins (Michael Rapaport), who are all moments away from watching all hell break loose in the form of a super-intelligent shark destroying the facility and eating anybody who gets in its way. Their one goal is to escape back into the ocean, which would be a terrible outcome because we soon find out that, in order to speed up their research, the scientists genetically engineered the sharks to have larger brains. That means there’s not only instinct behind all those razor-sharp rows of teeth, but advanced intelligence as well.
It wouldn’t be an action thriller without some comic relief, though, and that’s where LL Cool J’s Sherman Dudley comes in. Sherman spends most of his time cooking for the crew, quoting scripture, and getting into verbal spats with his pet parrot. He knows how to make the perfect omelet, and he wants the world to know it more than anything else.
Straight Up Popcorn Spectacle That We Should Fully Embrace
Deep Blue Sea is one of those movies you go into with low expectations thanks to hindsight and the film’s reputation for swinging and missing with its special effects. But even Roger Ebert, who once commented that the sharks looked like cartoons, gave the movie three out of four stars for being an effective thriller. Once the setup is out of the way, the whole thing is basically one action sequence after another in rapid succession, and sometimes that’s all you need from a movie.
The best way to think about Deep Blue Sea is as a big-budget B movie. It’s your standard monster movie survival fare, but with $82 million thrown at it, and it couldn’t be cast more perfectly. While it’s a far cry from Jaws, it still has a lot more going for it than the Sharknado films when it comes to set design and its overall level of seriousness.
Don’t get me wrong, Deep Blue Sea is a fun movie and has plenty of comic relief to go around, but at the end of the day it’s a big-budget sci-fi thriller that holds up shockingly well nearly 30 years after it made its initial splash.
As of this writing, Deep Blue Sea is streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
WWII Spy Thriller On Netflix Based On An Incredible True Story
By Jacob VanGundy
| Published
Operation Mincemeat is a spy thriller based on a true British intelligence operation from World War II. While the spy story is fascinating, and there was enough suspense to keep me watching, the movie is bogged down with unnecessary interpersonal drama. The result is an uneven, disappointing movie that doesn’t live up to its premise.
Based on Ben Macintyre’s book about the historical event, Operation Mincemeat is about a misdirection mission by British intelligence. To hide the Invasion of Sicily, a plot is hatched by British intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley to plant false information on a corpse and have it wash ashore.
To sell the fake soldier’s identity, a detailed backstory was constructed including a fictional fiance using a photo of the office’s secretary Jean Leslie.
The Period Drama Overshadows The Spy Intrigue
Operation Mincemeat brings together a fantastic cast of UK actors, who deliver great performances across the board. Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, and Kelly Macdonald play the movie’s three leads, making their characters feel real. The supporting cast also features great actors like Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn, Jason Issacs, Mark Gatiss, Paul Ritter, and Simon Russell Beale.
While I found the depiction of spycraft in Operation Mincemeat compelling it was weighed down with superfluous period drama elements. Much of the film’s runtime is dedicated to the love triangle between its three main characters, which adds a layer of unneeded personal drama that actively distracts from the spy mission’s inherent tension.
It’s the sort of tacked-on plotline that feels like it exists to meet period drama expectations, and I was unsurprised to learn it was invented whole cloth for the movie.
The Spycraft Is More Interesting
Some of the most interesting spy thriller moments of Operation Mincemeat are glossed over to dedicate more time to its boring love triangle. Numerous scenes depict the budding relationship between Ewen and Jean, while the head of Germany’s army intelligence discovering the plot and turning a blind eye to undermine the Nazi regime is given a single truncated scene.
As a fan of spy thrillers, I can’t help but feel like the movie prioritizes the wrong elements of its plot.
The pacing in Operation Mincemeat also suffers due to its love triangle. What should be a consistently suspenseful movie grinds to a halt halfway through to focus on the romantic subplot and the hostility it creates between Ewen and Charles. With a runtime of 128 minutes, it drags on for too long, drawing attention to its unneeded subplot.
Despite its shortcomings, Operation Mincemeat has a strong story at its core and it tells that story well when its focus isn’t divided. It’s at its best when it depicts the finer details of the operation and the construction of the soldier’s fictional life. With strong acting and directing, it’s well-made even when the writing falls short.
Fans of period dramas who also enjoy spy stories will likely enjoy Operation Mincemeat, while fans looking for a spy thriller like I was may find it disappointing. It’s a well-made movie bogged down by a single poor creative decision. You can watch the film version of one of history’s most fascinating spy stories for yourself on Netflix.
OPERATION MINCEMEAT SCORE
Entertainment
Stargate SG-1 Started A Series-Long Tradition And A Fan Favorite Running Joke
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
One thing you’ll notice when you’re (re)watching Stargate SG-1, is that Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) dies a lot. By the time he dies in Episode 12, “Fire and Water,” his death count is up to three (the movie, and “Nox”), which is a little high for a regular human. Then again, he doesn’t really die in “Fire and Water,” so should that even count? Stargate Command gives him a full funeral with military honors so to my mind, it counts as another notch for “Daniel Jackson is Dead.”
Daniel Jackson Is Dead. Again. For The Third Time.
“Fire and Water” opens with SG-1 coming back earlier than expected from their latest mission, looking all sad and dejected as Hammond asks what went wrong, and learns that “Jackson is dead.” Before the opening credits we see the whole military funeral, O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) giving a touching eulogy where he admits that Jackson is the heart of the team. Out of anger, O’Neill, likely a little drunk off of Molson’s, takes out the window of a car with a hockey stick (look quick and you’ll note it says “Anderson” on the stick) and angrily demands they movie it. It’s Hammond’s car, prompting a suddenly much calmer O’Neill to tell his boss that he needs to replace that window.
The SG-1 team slowly realizes that Daniel isn’t dead. Something messed with their minds to make them think he was. Turns out, Daniel’s alive, underwater in the lair of the aquatic merman Nem to help solve the thousand-year old mystery of what happened to his mate, Omoroca. We learn that Omoroca and Nem helped teach the ancient Babylonians until she was murdered by Belus, who of course, was a Goa’uld System Lord. It all goes back to the Goa’uld.
The Math Ain’t Mathing
The merman like Nem is played by Gerard Plunkett, who first appeared on Stargate SG-1 as Councilor Tuplo in “The Broca Divide,” starting the trend of actors playing multiple aliens during the show’s decade-long run. Nem never reappears, nor is he or Omoroca mentioned again, perhaps because someone behind the scenes did the math and realized the pair’s involvement with the ancient Babylonians and also the Goa’uld broke the timeline.
Jackson tells Nem that Omoroca helped inspire the Tau’ri rebellion against the Goa’uld. That took place in 3000 B.C.E. in Egypt, yet Jackson says Nem was on Earth 4,000 years ago working with the Babylonians. That maths out to roughly 2000 B.C.E., or a thousand years after the rebellion. Goa’uld being active on Earth and acting as Gods past that point doesn’t work with the timing of the burial of the Stargate.
“Fire and Water” is another in the long line of episodes that introduces an advanced species with deep ties to the roots of human civilization that we never see again. Get used to it, even Stargate Atlantis does this years later. It’s also not the last time that Jackson is killed in the line of duty. On its own, it’s a bit of an empty episode that alludes to bigger things, though it does get a little credit for Nem’s planet Oannes not looking like the woods of Vancouver for once.
Entertainment
EA reverses course, removes microtransactions from College Football 27
EA Sports announced it will remove all paid progression options from College Football 27‘s Dynasty and Road to Glory modes, reversing a decision that drew significant backlash from fans and content creators following the game’s launch.
In a statement posted to social media during the game’s launch week, the developer acknowledged that player feedback indicated the microtransactions “missed the mark.”
The studio said the paid options had been “added independent of deeper mode progression with the aim to give players more choice,” but conceded that “what you’ve said is that they’re not adding the value we intended.” EA said the changes would take effect the following morning, though it warned that players with existing College Point balances would lose the ability to apply them to Road to Glory or Dynasty once the features were removed, urging fans to spend their points beforehand.
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The reversal follows a wave of criticism after College Football 27‘s release, with fans organizing around the hashtag #CFBPlayDontPay to voice frustration over microtransactions appearing in the game’s single-player offline modes. The system allowed players to spend real money to instantly boost their coach or player’s development. For example, maxing out a coach in Dynasty from the start could cost as much as $100, more than the price of the game itself.
Compounding the frustration, EA also removed sliders that let players in College Football 25 and 26 manually adjust how much experience they earned, a feature that had let people level up faster without paying. With that option gone, spending money became the only way to speed up progression, which is what drove much of the backlash.
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Notably, the statement stopped short of ruling out microtransactions from the franchise going forward. EA said its “goal for live service plans in CFB28 and beyond will be to deliver valuable features and content with greater transparency and communication” — language suggesting paid content will return in some form in next year’s edition, even as the company walks back the current game’s implementation.
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