Kindergarten Cop - 1990

Imagine Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Directed by Ivan Reitman

Cast:

• Det. John Kimble – Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Joyce Palmeri – Penelope Ann Miller
• Det. Phoebe O'Hara – Pamela Reed
• Miss Schlowski – Linda Hunt
• Cullen Crisp, Sr. - Richard Tyson
• Eleanor Crisp – Carroll Baker
• Sylvester's Mom – Cathy Moriarty
• Samantha's Mom – Park Overall

Story: A hardcore narcotics detective and his partner go undercover to locate the runaway wife of a drug kingpin and their son in a rural Oregon town. Phoebe O'Hara is to substitute teach the kindergarten class while John Kimble looks around the town for clues. But on the night before they are to take their positions, O'Hara falls ill and Kimble is forced to fill the role as the teacher to the kindergarten class. Miss Schlowski looks on as the children run amok and Kimble almost loses his mind, but O'Hara saves the day, and by the end of the show the kids are loving their new teacher.

Review: Before this, I think everyone thought about Arnold as Conan or the Terminator. And you can hardly blame them. After all, Arnold is the muscular, imposing prototype for the majority of action heroes on the screen today. Even after Twins, Arnold had a lot of resistance to using him in non-action roles. But this role is the one that proved he could be funny and still make a great impresson on the audience and fans alike. Arnold is all the things any action hero would cringe at, polite, gentle, understanding, and even in touch with his feelings. Pamela Reed is the perfect foil for Arnold in this lighthearted comedy with a twist. Her presence on the screen provides just the right amount of pure comedy and tomfoolery to make the less than plausible scenes work. And as usual, she ends up with all the great lines. Penelope Ann Miller is, well, Penelope Ann Miller. Her role as the teacher across the hall from Arnold's class gives the two of them a few occasions to intermingle, but I think Reitman could have made a few more scenes work. Linda Hunt is absolutely delightful as the principal who looks on while this brooding hulk of a man tries to tame the wild children. Cathy Moriarity provides us with a look into the “single parent capital of the west”, and while her role is brief, her input and presence is remarkable. Overall, the film has a buoyancy that allows you to sit through the more placid moments and still want to stay in your seat to see what happens. The real stars are the kids, of course, and I would be remiss not to mention early appearances by Odette Yustman (now Annable), Adam Wylie, and Krystle and Tiffany Mataras, to mention just a few. Rated PG-13 for references to drugs, some language, and some violence, this film is a classic for the kids (I'd say 10 and up, but that is your call) and definitely a keeper for your collection.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - 2003

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

C-2 Pictures, Intermedia Films, IMF Internationale Medien und Film GmbH & Co. 3. Produktions KG

Directed by Jonathan Mostow

Cast:

• The Terminator – Arnold Schwarzenegger
• John Connor – Nick Stahl
• Katherine Brewster – Claire Danes
• T-X – Kristanna Loken
• Gen. Robert Brewster – David Andrews
• Dr. Silberman – Earl Boen

Story: John Connor is alive and well, and living “off the grid”. The original date for Judgment Day never happened. He suffers some injuries from a motorcycle accident and breaks into a veterinary clinic to care for his own wounds, and it just happens to be the same clinic where Katherine Brewster, an old acquaintance from Jr. High School, works. The newest Terminator is assigned to kill John Connor's lieutenants, chief among them: Katherine Brewster. As before a protector, another T-101, is sent back to protect John Connor (“Do you come off an assembly line?” “Yes.”)....or was he? This latest Terminator, the T-X, is cloaked in a female persona, and unlike her previous counterparts, is openly aggressive and does not attempt to conceal her actions from police or anyone else. The T-101 has its work cut out for it.

Review: As much fun as these movies are, whatever connection they had to the writings of Harlan Ellison (acknowledged in the credits of the original movie) are gone. Unlike the two previous movies, this one spans only one day. And what a day it is. We have here a total commitment to special effects and explosions instead of any character development or plot. Arnold looks damn good nearly twenty years after the original film, to his credit, and his acting is, well, predictably Arnold. In both T2 and T3, he breaks the machine character in several scenes and uses “human” tones and expressions when communicating with the real humans. Claire Danes' character is never really developed beyond the confused girl and veterinary assistant about to be married to a man she is not quite sure she wants to marry, although there is one fairly comedic scene where John Connor looks at her and says “You remind me of my mother.”. Earl Boen reprising his role as Dr. Silberman is priceless, especially when he spots the Terminator. Nick Stahl as John Connor just does not pan out. Edward Furlong in the second movie figured out the true nature of the character when the Terminator explains his mother has been telling the truth. We watch a transition from angry kid to the potential leader of the resistance. Stahl remains the man in denial of his destiny right up to the end. Kristanna Loken never breaks character, she is the perfect Terminator, driven, relentless and uncaring. There are some other inconsistencies, mostly the hit list T-X is following in Los Angeles, which would seem to be unnecessary since LA will be one of the cities wiped out when Judgment Day occurs. But to the credit of the art department, the special effects alone in this film are worth a look. Rated R for nudity, violence, and language, T3 is only collectible if you own the rest of the films and are obsessed with keeping the set intact.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day - 1991

Carolco Pictures, Pacific Western, Lightstorm Entertainment

Written and Directed by James Cameron

Cast:

• The Terminator – Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Sarah Connor – Linda Hamilton
• T-1000 – Robert Patrick
• John Connor – Edward Furlong
• Dr. Silberman – Earl Boen
• Miles Dyson – Joe Morton
• Tarissa Dyson – S. Epatha Merkerson
• Enrique Salceda – Castulo Guerra
• Janelle Voight – Jenette Goldstein
• Todd Voight – Xander Berkeley

Story: Skynet has sent another Terminator to kill his human nemesis, John Connor, this time to the year 1985, when Connor is about 14 years old. John is living with foster parents while Sarah Connor is being held in a State Mental institution, where she is under the care of Dr. Silberman, the doctor who originally interview Kyle Reese in the first film. This new Terminator is an experimental model that can adapt to its environment like a chameleon, and can change shapes at will. The resistance has sent through another protector, this time a reprogrammed copy of the original Terminator. With the protector's help, Sarah Connor attempts to stop the construction of Skynet by eliminating the man most responsible for its creation, Dr. Miles Dyson.

Review: Technically, this is a superb film that combines excellent sets with exceptional use of computer graphics and photography to create a better feeling than Terminator 1. However, as far as the plot goes, I have two problems. Problem #1 is this conversation from the first movie between Kyle Reese and Dr. Silberman:

Silberman: “Is that when you captured the lab and found...the time displacement equipment?”
Reese: “That's right. The Terminator had already gone through. Connor sent me to intercept and they blew the place.”
Silberman: “How are you supposed to get back?”
Reese: “I can't. Nobody goes home, nobody else goes through. It's just me and him.”

Therein lies the rub, as the Bard would say. How did the second Terminator get sent through by Skynet if its defense grid was smashed and the resistance had won? Now, to be fair, since Reese came from 2027 and the newly touted year in T2 is 2029, perhaps the resistance was premature in their boasting of victory and Skynet was able to rebuild the lab. But you have to admit, since we are talking about time travel, it does seem like a bit of an inconsistency.

Problem #2 is a bit more profound. At the end of T2, we witness the destruction of all of Dyson's work, the broken chip from the first Terminator, and the meltdown of both the T-1000 and the Protector. Therefore, if Skynet is never built, there is no Judgment Day, there is no time displacement device, Kyle Reese is never sent back from the future, and John Connor cannot exist. This would seem to preclude the making of a third film, but when logic and fantasy conflict, fantasy usually wins out.

There are a few other problems with T2, but they are not plot related. Edward Furlong, who was introduced in this film, does an excellent job of transitioning from budding juvenile delinquent to accepting his role as the destined leader of the resistance, but he is the only character that truly develops in the plot. Joe Morton and S. Epatha Merkerson do a fine job of portraying a family caught up in unbelievable circumstances, but overall this film relies heavily on the special effects and much less on the characters of the story. Somehow Cameron has lost the vision of Harlan Ellison and settled for the box office blitz as the purpose of the film. Rated R for violence and language, I would have to disagree and say PG-13. Collectible as the sequel to the original, by itself, not particularly.

The Terminator - 1984

Hemdale Film, Pacific Western, Euro Film Funding

Written and Directed by James Cameron

Cast:

• The Terminator – Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Sarah Connor – Linda Hamilton
• Kyle Reese – Micheal Biehn
• Dr. Peter Silberman – Earl Boen
• Lt. Ed Traxler – Paul Winfield
• Det. Hal Vukovich – Lance Henriksen
• Matt Buchanan – Rick Rossvich
• Future Terminator – Franco Columbu
• Punk Leader – Bill Paxton
• Punk – Brian Thompson

Story: SkyNet, a self-aware computer system in 2029, has waged an on-going war against the human race for more than thirty years, but the humans are about to conquer the machines. In an act of desperation, SkyNet has sent a Terminator back to 1984 to kill Sarah Conner, and prevent the leader of the resistance from being born. A soldier from the future, Kyle Reese, is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor, the mother of John Connor. The Terminator is a cyborg, a machine with human flesh surrounding its components, so it appears human. While running from the machine, Kyle confesses to Sarah the reason he volunteered for this one way mission: he has fallen in love with Sarah. In a moment to themselves, they make love, and unknowingly conceive John Connor.

Review: Based on the writings of science fiction author Harlan Ellison, James Cameron's dark vision of the future was a launching pad for several careers in Hollywood. Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the height of his career and appearance in 1984, so his size and musculature made him the perfect choice to play the killing machine from the future. Linda Hamilton became a star after a somewhat lackluster career by portraying Sarah Connor, a role she reprises in T2: Judgment Day. Micheal Biehn, a heretofore minor character actor, gained overnight popularity as Kyle Reese and went on to film other action films, including Navy Seals and Aliens. Even Lance Henriksen can claim a large amount of his success on his role as Det. Hal Vukovich, and both Bill Paxton and Brian Thompson were seen early in their careers thanks to their brief but memorable roles as the punks who first confront the Terminator.
While the special effects were not what we would expect to see now, for 1984 they were exceptional. The mechanical movements of Arnold were timed and precise, and the skeletal movements of the Terminator at the end of the film are matched with his character. There are some disparities in the plot, but those are the normal disparities that come with any time travel story. The action, once we get past the initial introduction of characters, is fast. Even when the action slows, the plot moves forward with a consistency rarely seen in action films, and the on-going development of the characters is well written and acted. Its popularity is apparent, since it has spawned no less that three sequels which manage to cover every question, including how John Conner got the scars across his face. Rated R for sex, language, and violence, older teens will probably not find the solitary scene between Sarah and Kyle too embarrassing, and the younger kids should be in bed. Definitely a collectible for any good collector.