Rating: Summary: Boring, tedious, slow... Need I go on? Review: OK, I'll go on: For some reason this movie has a certain cult cache that gives it a hippness that it doesn't deserve. I sat through the entire 97 minutes because someone once told me it was a cool cult sci fi flick. What a waste of time. It just goes on and on with virtually no plot, no character development, lousy acting, [bad] music, unimaginative sets, and [bad] diaglogue. Otherwise, it wasn't too bad. If you value your time at all, you'll skip this one. If you want to see a cool "sci-fi noir" film, get Bladerunner (The Director's Cut), one of the best films ever made.
Rating: Summary: Great idea, poor execution and production Review: Boy, do they need a remake of this movie! There are a lot of great points in the movie, not to mention the creativity of the future world where a green pall continuously hangs in the sky, it's always 90-100 degrees, and the masses live off Soylent red, yellow, and green (no mention is ever made what the red and yellow are made of). Charlton Heston is the badly overworked detective living in a Manhattan hellhole where teems of people live on streets,stairwells, and in abandoned 1960's automobiles (but disappear at night). It is in the year 2022, Heston's character is in his 40's, but has never known what it is like eating real food until he snatches it from the luxury penthouse of a murdered executive, so my guess is according to this flick the worlds food supply was exhausted in the 1970's. During the investigation, Heston is enticed into a new world eating real food, drinking whiskey, hot running water and soap, air conditioning, and on top of all that, sleeping and showering with a beautiful young chick called "furniture". Heston is supported by a nice pleasant cast in such an unpleasant environment to include Edward G. Robinson as his roommate and partner who fondly recollects life in the good old days when we were a democracy that had fresh air, water, and plenty to eat(even though today technically his character was a baby boomer). Joseph Cotten has an all too brief role as the executive of Soylent products, and Brock Peters is Heston's boss. Money is a scarcity too and his boss has to split the pay between workers so they can get a few dollars every now and then. A wonderful idea for the story, but the sets look like sets and are just plain cheesy, production seems confined to a few areas, the "waste disposal" is more like a Con Edison plant, and everything looks so 70's. The only "futuristic" look I found were the Star Trek style doors on the penthouse and that Computer Space video game in it. Please! They need a remake and to have Heston in the role of Roth or Simonson this time.
Rating: Summary: Awesome Review: This 70's movie was just a preview of the GREENHOUSE effect on this planet earth. A warning, so to speak. And it seems we are experiencing it now. We need to take care of planet earth and her children!
Rating: Summary: Please RENT before you buy!! Review: It has been my experience that you either love this movie or you absolutely hate it. I LOVE it. It scared me to death as a little kid, made me think as a teenager, and now that I'm an adult it makes me howl with laughter. If you are a hardcore science fiction fan you must see this film. However, if you have never seen it, rent it before you buy it. You will either hate it and save your money, or love it and trip over the cat trying to make your way to the computer to order it as the closing credits scroll by. By the way, Tuesday is Soylent Green day. ;)
Rating: Summary: Makes You Think. Review: Soylent Green. How many times have you heard those two words and either wondered what they meant or were amused that you knew what the words mean? Soylent Green is a word from the movie SOYLENT GREEN.The movie stars Charlton Heston as Thorn, a cynical cop in the first part of the 21st century. The human population has exploded so much (over 40,000,000 living in NYC alone) that people literally live on stairs and food is no longer grown in the wild, but genetically produced in factory-like laboratories. Illiteracy is encouraged (only a few can actually read & write), many women live their lives as legal slaves called "furniture", mass riots are dispersed by using giant human scoops, the state sponsors giant suicide facilities called "Home", and soylent green is the best thing since sliced bread (literally). Thorn begins an investigation of a mysterious murder of a wealthy New Yorker. He is assisted in his investigation by the aged Sol (Edward G. Robinson), a reader who remembers when flowers blossomed and supermarkets overflowed with food. What begins as a simple murder investigation, soon turns into a cover up with ties leading all the way the governor and the massive Soylent Corporation (they produce half of the world's food supply). Thorn eventually makes a discovery that is even more chilling than Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE. Soylent Green isn't a great movie. It moves rather slow and there isn't any continuos action until the movie's last fifteen minutes. However, Heston and Robinson are both great in their roles. Also, the movie made a deep impact upon the culture of our society and is watching at least once for that reason alone.
Rating: Summary: Not for 7 Year Olds Review: I saw this film when I was seven years old and it scared ... me because I thought it was real!!! Fortuantely, Deathrace 2000 came along shortly thereafter to assauge my fright...I still don't know why my mother answered every question with, "don't do it, you'll burn in Hell..." yet let me watch this stuff at a young age. OH WELL.
Rating: Summary: We want Soylent Green on DVD!! Review: One of the all-time great sci-fi classics. The classic scene where rioters get tossed into dump trucks with steam shovels has been engraved permanently into my mind. At the risk of sounding crotchety, they just don't make them like that any more. This film does paint a bleak picture of the future, but not an impossible one. Everything that takes place in the movie could actually be visited upon the world some day, and what a grim world that would be. To see it depicted with such believability, such realism, is a rare thing that you just don't see produced by the Hollywood money mill any more. Most importantly, why is this movie not on DVD?
Rating: Summary: Soylent Green Review: I purchased this tape for the advanced environmental science course that I teach in our high school. Remembering the impact that this film had on my in the 70's, I thought it would be useful for my students as we learn about human population and food availability. Luckily, it's rated PG.
Rating: Summary: Unintentionally hilarious SF pulp movie Review: Some consider this a "bomb" but actually it is "da bomb!" The "People Scoops", "Furniture", and the Soylent Corporation are part of the dark vision of the near future. The unintentional humor and a "death with dignity' scene makes it great!
Rating: Summary: Less fattening, and doesn't taste too bad Review: Not terribly far into Soylent Green I looked over at my friends and said, "I'd never ever want to have kids if the world was like that." Then I realized how silly my statement is--I don't ever want kids, anyhow! However, that doesn't detract from the in-your-face message of the film: pollution is bad, recycling is a good thing, and never, never, never eat mystery food. I suppose a correlation could be drawn between Soylent Green and Frankenfood. All the other current parallels are obvious, like the greenhouse effect theme, the extinction of species theme, and the dogged survival of retro polyester clothing and cheesy lounge music. The film fits right into that whole dissolution of society genre along with 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, Fahrenheit 451, Logan's Run, and Blade Runner. When it comes right down to it, though, I really only wanted to watch the movie to hear and see Charlton Heston deliver that final and famous line. Little did I realize I'd be watching a darned good movie. The "scoops" in the riot scene made me chortle with glee (yeah, I'm sick). I was also very impressed by the performance of Edward G. Robinson as Charlton Heston's reminiscent flatmate. His death scene is brightly-lit and wonderfully coloured, in stark contrast to the rest of the sickly green film. If I was a sentimental person, I may have shed an emerald-tinted tear. Soylent Green, for all its downsides, must be a pretty nutritious food, though. I saw nary an obese/underweight person. Aside from the queue at the euthanasia clinic, everyone seemed to be in good health, although more than a bit grimy. Is it any wonder Chuck gets so excited at the thought of a shower and a bar of soap? The shower appeals to him even more than the suppliant and beautiful "furniture."
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