Duo-in-progress

Still cogitating, but there will be a slumbering mouse, guile against royal claims, and mysteriously selective toxicity.

Last night I watched Outland. I saw it on the big screen, back when it opened, but I hadn't seen it since. I remember more or less liking it on first viewing;  I don't mind having seen it again, but at this point I don't think all that much of it. Connery is fine, to be sure, makes the role human and believable. When he loses words, and just says, "Oh, f$#k it," I was disappointed in both the script and the actor. I mean, sure, haul off and belt Sheppard;  but the line, the timing, the placement...downgraded the whole enterprise. Boyle was all right; the role did not call forth anything from him (and his was a varied talent). All the ballooning faces got tiresome. The bar got old. For most of the movie, the exchange between Lazarus and O'Neil was good, but then at the end, lapsed into the maudlin (against which Lazarus had scolded O'Neil earlier). The score was quite good, a notch better than the overall enterprise.

Shan't need to watch it again.