Soylent Green

Rating:
Summary: Not really "science fiction"......
Review: ......Actually of course it IS science fiction. But it was more of a warning message for the future. And, together with many similar voices, it may well have succeeded in exerting some of its intended impact. It was a warning against not just overpopulation but also loss of individuality, art, and humanity.

"Soylent Green" is a memorable film with a number of memorable scenes and images, and it has deservedly remained a cult classic. However, it is rarely mentioned in common parlance, and it isn't very well known . Why not? Perhaps its messages and images are just too horrible. But many of us believe they remain powerful, and important. I'm glad to see that its sales numbers are as good as they are.

Rating:
Summary: IT'S PEEEEOPLE!!!...
Review: Soylent Green sits in the borderland between a two star and a singleton. Since I liked the Phil Hartman skit that sprung from it, I'll give it three.

Really, that's pretty high for a movie that a science teacher once forced me to watch.

What you get here (in surprising widescreen glory) is the king of all the "hey! the world is going down the crapper and this is how we may someday have to live" movies. Charlton Heston had the honor of starring in both this one and the planet of the apes. How did he go on?

It must have been very hard indeed to see how he could ever match such pinnacles of the cinema.

Don't get me wrong...global warming SUCKS and if George W Bush is any indication, the apes are already in charge. I just question movies whose main purpose is to set up a scene where Charlton (an aside: just now I've realized I've never even heard of another man--or woman--named Charlton) "you damned dirty apes" Heston screams his head off in terror.

Mind you: both times he is screaming because of people.

So, if either film has a message, it is one that lines up with a Biblical truth. People were created for greatness. Yet in our desire to be our own gods, we have traded the meaning that comes from service and worship of and friendship with the true God for an illusion that crumbles under all the weight of our own unfulfilled desires.

This way lies self-destruction. This way lies the man screaming: "It's peeeeople!"

It is people indeed.



Rating:
Summary: "The Matrix" of 1973
Review: The music in this film is quite good, except the opening credits montage is kind of dark and light comedic sounding.

The actors = wonderful. Enough said.

I consider this film a lot like "The Matrix" movies...we never know what is down the rabbit hole until we take the plunge.



Rating:
Summary: A Recipe More Jealously Guarded Then Coca-Cola
Review: "Soylent Green" is one of the greatest "mystery meat" movies of all time!

It ranks right up there with the following rumored culinary capers:

General Tso's Chicken food is made out of cats.
Korean Bul Golgi is made out of dogs.
McDonald's milkshakes are made out of Frisbees.
Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets sometimes contain rats.
School lunch burgers are made out of God knows what.
Tripe is made out of brains.
Cheese Food is not made out of cheese.
McDonald's hamburgers are made out of a substance that narrowly fits the legal definition of beef.
Hormel has the honesty to call their mystery meat "Spam," rather than trying to shorhorn it into the legal definition of ham.
Tofu is made out of soybeans.
Thai food smells suspiciouly like Thai whorehouses.
Cheese Whiz has even less cheese than Cheese Food.
Mikey died from eating Pop Rocks and immediately drinking Coca-Cola.
Fruitcakes outlast cockroaches, and may, in fact, contain a few of the critters.
Redi-Whip is actually made of real milk, but deadheads buy it for its medicinal properties.
And, Soylent Green is made out of......

...made out of.....

Well, I won't give away this riveting shock ending that will have you sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation, in the only movie you'll see Joseph Cotten playing Pong and "Little Caesar" Edward G. Robinson reduced to riding an exercise bike to generate electricity.

But, I will drop a wee little hint:

It's made of the same stuff from which the Germans make lampshades.

You'll get my Soylent Green when you pry it from my Cold, Dead, Fingers, you damned dirty apes!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A classic cult of Sci-Fi!
Review: "Soylent Green" (1973 - 96 minutes), was directed by Richard Fleischer. We are in 2022. The city of New York has more than 40 million inhabitants. All the world suffers with the overpopulation and the main problem is the food scarcity. A pot of strawberries jelly can cost a human life and the voluntary death is stimulated by government clinics. In this picture of no life, synthetic food is produced in industries and the alimentary choices of the people are among the products Soylent Blue, Soylent Yellow and Soylent Green. When William Simonson, a high executive of the powerful Soylent Company, is mysteriously murdered, the detective Thorn [the actor Charlton Heston] starts to investigate the case. He counts with the aid of his old and wise partner, Sun Roth [the actor Edward G. Robinson, in his last work in the cinema]. Sun is the only one that still remembers how Earth was, with trees, fruits and democracy. Thorn solves the crime and the hideous truth about the secret ingredient of the Soylent Green. A classic cult of Science Fiction!



Rating:
Summary: Eraserhead meets Noah's Ark
Review: Anyone who feels Hollywood flicks have become really awful compared to those of yesteryear should pick this one up. The slant of corporate interests ruling a society of uninformed cattle is an interesting one and I think this could have been a decent flick if it was done properly but it wasn't. This is a pretty bad movie!

The characters are all superficial cookie cutter type personalities. Heston's love interest is really laughable and that part of the plot is cheesy enough to be from an old Matt Helm movie. The directing, well... someone should have explained to Richard Fleischer that when someone is shot in the back of the head with a 38 they don't so much scream about it as die (rather quickly).

The demographics are a little off as, amongst the hoards of milling masses (actually through the entire movie), I noticed all of five faces that weren't white. It seems that the writer of this flick didn't foresee anything about the informational age either as books (and supposedly any other sort current written word) are non existent. Apparently computers (or computer games specifically) in the year 2022 look a lot like a rudimentary version of Atari's old SPACE INVADERS or PONG complete with a black and white screen.

The masses in 2022 spend the majority of their time standing in lines and sleeping on stairways (which seems unnecessary considering the empty streets and alleyways all look much more comfortable). An astute viewer might find it interesting to watch someone with a gunshot legwound miraculously forget all about it while hopping into, climbing on top of, and jumping from moving garbage trucks... but I guess in 2022 gunshot wounds miraculously heal themselves in a few minutes.

Lets see; underdeveloped and uneven plotline, laughable love story, all around thin acting, retched musical score, terrible directing, horrible scriptwriting i.e.

"Shawna, it's me"

"Oh Thorn I'm so glad...I have to talk to you"

"Not now, there's no time"

"Then you cannot want me"

"Good, stay with him... I want you to stay with him always"

"Oh Thorn I want to live with you..."

The redheaded bit of "furniture" he's breaking up with is stunningly beautiful but suffers from a case of over acting/emoting that would make a William Shatner fan scream.

If this film had been directed by Ed Wood it would have become a cult classic. As it is it's just a sad example of Hollywood taking an interesting idea and processing it into Soylent Green.

Rating:
Summary: decent movie
Review: Soylent Green is a pretty good movie, definately not the best. It was interesting seeing how the world would be invisioned with 2 million people in NYC.

I would reccomend this movie to fans of sci-fi, culture films, and bad 70's fashion. However, there is blood and some violence it. Some scenes not for the weak of heart ;)

Rating:
Summary: Oh, the horror! The humanity!
Review: ChArlton Heston ives in a future of over crowded urban sprawl and global warming, and is a detective assigned to solve a murder. The more he learns, the uglier reality gets. Everything everywhere is dangerous. But, there's always Soylent Green, the high-nutrition food substitute. But, what exactly is Soylent Green?


*shudders in recollection*


The imagery is bleak, although more on the order of THE RUNNING MAN than the stylish BLADE RUNNER or sterile GATTACA. Charlton Heston is in one of his less memorable roles - except for the moment of revelation near the end. Edward G. Robinson shines as a nostalgic old man, longing for a past of Better Times. His stylish exit from life is right up there with the great death scenes in moviedom, along with John Wayne in THE SHOOTIST.


Overall, an interesting, albeit bleak, film. It's worth a watch for science fiction fans.

Rating:
Summary: SOYLENT GREEN IS ?????????????????????
Review: Set in the year 2022 Manhattan, cop Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates a murder and
uncovers a conspiracy about a corporate cover-up government control and a tasty cracker.
Good mix of sci-fi and police drama.