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Great dramatic performances all round. It takes a while to accept Lemon as a serious actor instead of the proverbial "Old Gill" who's constantly worrying about non-issues. And, truth be told, he doesn't do anything different here, but we get a sense that he's finally worried about something actually important and substantial and not just Matthau not flushing the toilet or his wife sleeping around on him.

I enjoy seeing the inner workings of factories and plants, and this was a great jobsite film not only about the nuclear power plant behind the scenes but also about the inner workings of news stations. The legendary Wilford Brimley finds his natural environs here as long-time company man in the nuclear facility, the type of role he was made for.

It's very competent as a thriller, there's a really good buildup and indeed quite a few surprises. However, the ending was a bit unsatisfying and I never really got what the whole fuss was about. I must say it doesn't make that much sense - wouldn't the company want to fix problems so that they don't get sued or fined? It's a bit one-sided and extreme, too and ultimately plays like some sort of anti-nuclear energy propaganda film.

Honourable Mentions: Micracle Mile (1988). Syndrom is rather pessimistic. You don't expect it to go as far as it does, but it does, much like Miracle Mile. What did you expect, though? In a nuclear disaster, indeed, everyone loses.

This isn't much of a Beatles movie aside from the fact that most of the soundtrack's songs are from that group, but the Beatles ends up just being a MacGuffin.

The real core of this movie is as a competent display of fast-paced physical comedy. You have characters tripping over each other, falling off things, fainting, and running up and down. All of this frenetic activity is indeed for the purposes of getting to the Beatles (or in the case of one character, getting away from the Beatles), but it could have been anything else and set in any other time period.

That's it, there's nothing much else to it. It seems to be in the vein of silent movies where most of the film had to have big frenetic actions of necessity. There is a little bit of variety to the humour, but it's mostly movement, tripping over things, facial expressions, and screaming.

It's not deep or meaningful in any way either. It deals with a very narrow sliver of the teenage condition in which girls (especially, but not exclusively), become enamored with popular celebrities so much that they lose their cool. It's presented but not commented on almost at all. In fact, even many of the few naysayers come to enjoy the Beatles on some level by the end.

Clearly the costuming, slang, and trends in popular culture are well done for the era, but that's to be expected. I suppose by the time this film came out it'd been only 13 short years since the Beatles had visited New York and these memories must have still been vivid in the minds of the production team. It's a very tasteful time capsule, though - even so close to the time period, they're mocking some of the trends and mentalities of the period. Quite good self-reflection and not at all overdone or sanctimonious.

Honourable Mentions: Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969) this movie was made in the 60s and basically about the 60s as experienced by the US white middle class. The critiques of the trends of the era seem funny and quaint because it takes itself so seriously with regard to trends and opinions most people of today would now find bizarre and dated.

This film is extremely shallow to the point that it has nothing if not for its artistry.

While Wesley Snipes looks and moves well for the role, at the end of the day he's just an anhedonic tough guy who's always frowning and growling commands tersely. I don't know what kind of an actor he would be in a drama, but here he's more expressionless than Arnold or Bronson. It's like watching a machine or robot on screen.

Which is appropriate to the nonsense plot. A bunch of vampires want to take over the world or something and need Blade's blood because he's the chosen one, but he hates them because they killed his mother, but he doesn't care that they killed his mother, etc, etc. It's an endless disorganized stream of fanfiction cliches.

I think most of the budget went into having the meat packing nightclub scene at the very beginning. That was really impressive. They were able to create a creepy evil atmosphere on strobe lights, facial expressions, animal carcasses.

And then the rest of the movie descends into the worst of the action flick cliches. It's car chase after gunfight, after lightsabre battle. And this works within this universe because they set it up to be so nonsensical that nobody will notice when the final epic fight is a katana fight even after a bunch of loud gun battles.

It was stylish, but should've just been a series of commercial, because the stylish can't counteract the cliche and boring for more than a minute or two.

Honourable Mentions: Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). Now there is a compelling action movie based mostly on style. The film takes place deep in a disintegrating Mexico and involves a continuous barrage of cruel violence but it never gets dull. The scenes change substantially, unlike blade where the whole film seems to take place in a fluorescent industrial-themed nightclub; and there's actual tension between the characters because they're not just unstoppable emotionless wrecking balls. Plus, it must be said the 90s CGI looks silly.