THE SECOND CIVIL WAR [1997]

Director Joe Dante & co. craft together a wonderfully witty political satire with the curiously swept under the carpet comedy The Second Civil War.
An immigration controversy tears the United States of America apart, which eerily reflects exactly what is happening the States right now.
What's played for exaggerated laughs here isn't all that over-blown when you take into the consideration some of the ridiculous words spoken in politics this past year.  Tackling such weighty subjects as immigration, political racism, mass shootings, outsourcing might have been a bit tongue-in-cheek 20 years ago but today it's all too real.  It transforms the film from a goofy spit on the American way of yesterday and into a frighteningly prophetic hilarious mirror reflection of today.

3 orphan cards out of 5

Meteor (1979)

A disaster movie that doesn't just have a ship or a city under threat, it has the entire world! Even so, it's standard fare, except for an unexpected edge that I won't reveal. It didn't prevent the script from being predictable, but it did provide an interesting angle from which to view events.
Sean Connery is the steadfast Scot saving the world from a natural disaster. In the process he even manages to build a cultural bridge between the American/Russian divide using his legendary sex-appeal.
The recurring cutaways to the approaching meteor, a chunk of jagged rock made more ominous by a booming bass line, were silly but fun.

2½ earth-bound splinters out of 5

Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

Given the chance I’ll always opt for the director’s preferred version of a film. I’ve never regretted that decision so badly before. John Huston coloured everything with a golden hue to make the title more relevant. It’s as if the film negative has been covered in amber or steeped in piss. It was distracting and hideous. Searching for pictures of the full colour version that was subsequently released turned up imagery that looks beautiful, lively and altogether more appealing. However, with Brando’s incomprehensible accent, awful acting and the stagnant plot being the same, the chances of me ever sitting down to it a second time are nil.

1½ peepers out of 5