Star Trek: Voyager: Season Four

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Four, 1997-1998. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor. Directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño (4 episodes), Alexander Singer (3), David Livingston (3), Winrich Kolbe (2), Anson Williams (2), Kenneth Biller (2), Allan Kroeker (2), Victor Lobl (2), LeVar Burton (1), Mike Vejar (1), Nancy Malone (1), Allan Eastman (1), Andrew Robinson (1) & Tim Russ (1). Written by Joe Menosky (9 episodes), Brannon Braga (8), Lisa Klink (5), Bryan Fuller (4), Jeri Taylor (3), Kenneth Biller (3), Harry 'Doc' Kloor (2), Jimmy Diggs (2), André Bormanis (2), Sherry Klein (1), Rick Williams (1), Andrew Shepard Price (1), Mark Gaberman (1), Robert J. Doherty (1), Steve J. Kay (1), Greg Elliot (1), Michael Perricone (1) & Rick Berman (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent). Seven of Nine shows up, and suddenly Voyager has a well-written character. It would have been better if they'd just started writing Janeway well (or Kes, for that matter). When they briefly did that in season two, it was pretty great. But I'll take what I can get. Meanwhile, the inanity of the other characters intensifies.
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). Usually terrible, with a couple surprising moments of greatness.
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's occasionally awful, but most episodes have something to offer, and a few are very good. I would have given it a 7/10, except that a lot of the mediocre episodes manage to be boring as well, which is a first for Star Trek.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

"The Arctic Giant"

"The Arctic Giant" (short), 1942. Superman vs. a giant dinosaur.

Directed by Dave Fleischer. Written by Bill Turner & Tedd Pierce, based on characters by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Starring Joan Alexander, Jackson Beck, Bud Collyer & Julian Noa.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It's not as visually amazing as previous Superman cartoons (although Metropolis does have some great architecture). On the other hand, Lois Lane is extra sassy.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.5/4 (Okay)

The Butterfly Effect

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 10 of 100



The Butterfly Effect, 2004. A man is able to relive and change moments in his childhood.

Written & directed by Eric Bress & J. Mackye Gruber. Starring Ashton Kutcher.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). It helps that almost no difficult acting was required of Ashton Kutcher.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). It's pretty clever, but not much else. There's lots of horrible stuff that happens just for the sake of having something horrible to happen. And a love story that exists for no apparent reason other than that the people involved are the main characters in the same movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)

Why Worry?

Why Worry?, 1923. A wealthy hypochondriac vacations in South America during a revolution.

Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor. Written by Taylor, with Ted Wilde, Tim Whelan & H.M. Walker. Starring Harold Lloyd.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's amusing, but not exceptionally so - the usual Harold Lloyd standard of pleasant and forgettable, with a few bigger laughs thrown in here and there.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)

[update of a previous post - original is here]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Two

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Two, 1997-1998. The vampire-hunting teenager fights more monsters.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by Whedon (5 episodes), Bruce Seth Green (5), David Greenwalt (2), David Semel (2), John T. Kretchmer (1), Ellen S. Pressman (1), David Solomon (1), Michael Lange (1), James A. Contner (1), Michael Gershman (1), Deran Sarafian (1) & James Whitmore, Jr. (1). Written by Whedon (7 episodes), Marti Noxon (6), David Greenwalt (3), Dean Batali (3), Rob Des Hotel (3), Ty King (2), Matt Kiene (1), Joe Reinkemeyer (1), Carl Ellsworth (1), Howard Gordon (1), David Fury (1) & Elin Hampton (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good). Occasionally great.
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Better than season one. About half of it follows the pattern of the first season (monster shows up, buffy kills it), while the rest is full-on soap opera. The former is getting tedious, while the latter is uneven but interestingly unpredictable.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

"Billion Dollar Limited"

"Billion Dollar Limited" (short), 1942. Superman vs. a train robbery.

Directed by Dave Fleischer. Written by Seymour Kneitel & Izzy Sparber, based on characters by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Starring Joan Alexander & Bud Collyer.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good). Lois Lane: Action Hero.
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good). Superman's up against more mundane challenges here - first a carload of gangsters, then a runaway train - which leaves less room for the brilliant science fiction design work the first two cartoons had.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). It was nice of Superman to stop that train, but I'm pretty sure Lois had the bad guys under control.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.8/4 (Good)

"The Mechanical Monsters"

"The Mechanical Monsters" (short), 1941. Superman vs. an army of robot thieves.

Directed by Dave Fleischer. Written by Izzy Sparber & Seymour Kneitel, based on characters by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Starring Joan Alexander & Bud Collyer.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Only two cartoons into the series, and already it's too repetitive. It doesn't do anything that the first one didn't do, and it doesn't do it quite as well. Still awesome, though. If I'd seen this one first, I probably would have given it a 9/10.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)

Lolita

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 9 of 100



Lolita, 1962. A man obsessed with a teenage girl marries her mother.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Written by Vladimir Nabokov, based on his book. Starring James Mason & Sue Lyon.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad). At least they made Lolita older. A story about taking advantage of a promiscuous teenager (which the movie is) makes for a decidedly less miserable movie-watching experience than a story about child-molesting (which the book is) would.
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). It isn't until the very end of the movie that we're given any sort of hint that everything we're seeing might not be real, which kind of defeats the purpose. I guess it would consequently be more interesting on a second viewing, but I have zero interest in watching it a second time. There just isn't anything in it to get you to care.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

"Superman"

"Superman" (short), 1941. A mad scientist intends to destroy Metropolis with a giant ray gun.

Directed by Dave Fleischer. Written by Seymour Kneitel & Izzy Sparber, based on characters by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Starring Joan Alexander, Jackson Beck, Bud Collyer, Jack Mercer & Julian Noa.

Concept: 3/4 (Good). Bonus points for Superman himself. (This is his first film.)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent). They do surprisingly well, for a 10-minute action-oriented cartoon.
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). In a perfect world, every super hero movie would aspire to be as awesome as this.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.8/4 2.9/4 (Good)

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World, 2013. Nihilistic space elves want to destroy the universe.

Directed by Alan Taylor. Written by Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely; story by Don Payne & Robert Rodat, based on a comic book by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby. Starring Chris Hemsworth.

Concept: 0/4 (Terrible)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Brainless and completely forgettable. The only reason to care about the character is because previous movies made him likable - which is enough to make the (mostly pretty good) action scenes work, which is in turn enough to make the movie entertaining.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

"We're in the Money"

"We're in the Money" (short), 1933. Toys in a department store sing and dance.

Directed by Rudolf Ising.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 0/4 (Terrible)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Extremely pointless. There is some nice dancing here and there, but not enough to make it worth watching.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.5/4 (Eh)

"Bosko's Picture Show"

"Bosko's Picture Show" (short), 1933. Bosko hosts a motion picture showing.

Directed by Friz Freleng & Hugh Harman. Starring Johnny Murray & Rochelle Hudson.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad). The sound is terrible; the newsreel sequence is largely unintelligible.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). The nature of the thing (a series of different "films") keeps it entertainingly unpredictable, although none of the components are especially good on their own.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

Taken

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 8 of 100



Taken, 2008. A retired spy hunts his daughter's kidnappers.

Directed by Pierre Morel. Written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen. Starring Liam Neeson.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Neeson has been doing the Action Hero thing for so long now, sometimes I forget that he used to be an Oscar-winning actor.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). There's a lot that's good about it. But in the end, action movies should be fun. And this is a movie about sex trafficking, which, go figure, is kind of a downer.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)

Despicable Me 2

Despicable Me 2, 2013. Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League.

Directed by Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud. Written by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio. Starring Steve Carell.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). More of the same as the first movie: disposable entertainment. The plot is tedious and could not be more predictable. You couldn't possibly care about anything that happens. But it's funny enough to be fun to watch.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season One

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season One, 1997. A vampire-hunting teenager moves to a new school.

Created by Joss Whedon. Directed by Bruce Seth Green (3 episodes), Charles Martin Smith (1), John T. Kretchmer (1), Stephen Cragg (1), David Semel (1), Scott Brazil (1), Stephen Posey (1), Ellen S. Pressman (1), Reza Badiyi (1) & Whedon (1). Written by Whedon (5 episodes), David Greenwalt (3), Rob Des Hotel (2), Dean Batali (2), Ashley Gable (2), Thomas A. Swyden (2), Dana Reston (1), Matt Kiene (1) & Joe Reinkemeyer (1). Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 1/4 (Bad)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Fun, but slightly repetitive and very low budget. I expected it to be better, based on how much people love it (and how much I love Firefly). Presumably it will improve in later seasons. The level of thought that seems to go into everything is promising.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.1/4 (Okay)

"The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon"

"The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" (short), 1933. Dinnerware sings and dances and is attacked by dough.

Directed by Rudolf Ising.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's pretty dull in the first half. Then things start getting weird. It's odd: the story here is a carbon copy of "It's Got Me Again," except with that one it was good in the first half and dull in the second half.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)

"Shuffle Off to Buffalo"

"Shuffle Off to Buffalo" (short), 1933. Singing and dancing at the baby factory.

Directed by Rudolf Ising. Starring Johnny Murray.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 0/4 (Terrible)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent).
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible, 0/4). Pointless, humorless, and featuring just about every kind of ethnic caricature (for no reason other than that it was easier than thinking up gags).
Objective Rating (Average): 1.2/4 (Bad)

The Fifth Element

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 7 of 100



The Fifth Element, 1997. A cab driver helps a genetically engineered girl save the world.

Directed by Luc Besson. Written by Besson & Robert Mark Kamen; story by Besson. Starring Bruce Willis & Milla Jovovich.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). A shameless and uninhibited celebration of 1970s and 80s sci-fi artwork and movies.
Acting: 3/4 (Good). I'd never actually seen a Milla Jovovich movie (apart from this one, which I last saw in the 90s). She's surprisingly good. Too bad she just makes B horror movies.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). Lots of fun. It pulls off a nearly impossible balance of not taking itself seriously, but also not quite being a comedy. It should never have worked - should have turned out a disastrous, big-budget sci-fi version of Hudson Hawk - but somehow it does.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.3/4 (Very good)

"I Like Mountain Music"

"I Like Mountain Music" (short), 1933. Magazine illustrations sing and dance in a drug store.

Directed by Rudolf Ising.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 0/4 (Terrible)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, 1/4). I don't get it.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.6/4 (Eh)

Safety Last

Safety Last!, 1923. A store clerk arranges a building-scaling promotional stunt.

Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor. Written by Hal Roach, Taylor & Tim Whelan, with H.M. Walker. Starring Harold Lloyd.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 0/4 (Terrible). It's like the first two thirds of the movie exist purely to make you not sympathize with Harold.
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). One of Lloyd's worst films. I can see why people like the climbing sequence (even though it's just a less-funny variant on a bit he's done before), but that only makes up a small part of an otherwise bad movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

[update of a previous post - original is here]

Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips, 2013. Somali pirates try to hijack a cargo ship.

Directed by Paul Greengrass. Written by Billy Ray, based on a book by Richard Phillips & Stephan Talty. Starring Tom Hanks & Barkhad Abdi.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 4/4 (Great)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 4/4 (Great)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). As suspense, it's a pretty great film - exciting, tense, and intelligent. And then there's the final scene - one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen. Hanks transforms the movie from just an expertly crafted thriller into one of the rare handful of films that I'm sure I'll never forget.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.7/4 (Great)

Monsters University

Monsters University, 2013. A young Mike and Sully go to scaring school.

Directed by Dan Scanlon. Written by Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird & Scanlon. Starring Billy Crystal & John Goodman.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). It had mediocre reviews (for Pixar), and it's a prequel. I didn't think there was much chance of it being anything but a disappointment. I was very wrong. It's at least as good, if not better than, Monsters, Inc. Like that movie, it doesn't have the emotional impact of some other Pixar films. But it's hilariously funny, and adorable, and all-around fun to watch.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.3/4 3.4/4 (Very good)

"The Blue Umbrella"

"The Blue Umbrella" (short), 2013. A pair of umbrellas meet on a crowded street.

Written & directed by Saschka Unseld.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad). It just kind of stops at the end, like they realized they were out of time and just said, "Okay, happy ending now."
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: n/a
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Cute, and very impressive visually.  It tries too hard and relentlessly to be Filled with Wonder, though, which, combined with the pop score, gives it the tone of a commercial.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.9/4 (Good)

Die Hard: With a Vengeance

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 6 of 100



Die Hard: With a Vengeance, 1995. A mad bomber toys with John McClane... or does he?

Directed by John McTiernan. Written by Jonathan Hensleigh. Starring Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons & Samuel L. Jackson.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent). Might have been a better idea if Speed hadn't already been made.
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent). It moves at a good pace, but there's just too much of it. Feels like watching two movies in one sitting.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Reasonably entertaining.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

"Bosko in Person"

"Bosko in Person" (short), 1933. Bosko and Honey sing and dance on stage.

Directed by Friz Freleng & Hugh Harman. Starring Johnny Murray & Rochelle Hudson.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). There is no story whatsoever, which is great for the cartoon, but I guess I can't call it a great story.
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Apart from some pop culture references (mostly over my head, naturally), this is non-stop delightful.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)