As Good As It Gets

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Well, I guess I'm the only one but I found this movie incredibly boring. I loved the sets, the old cars and how it was filmed -- very Spartan, and I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't. There's also some odd holes which others have mentioned too, like they find the virus in a box under a rock in a river and when the guy takes it out to check it, suddenly these two bad guys step out of nowhere. Why were they there? That part was pretty cheesy and unforgivable. Also, near the end there is a ridiculous struggle that takes place in a helicopter which is pretty laughable and the end of the movie literally comes out of nowhere.However, if you have nothing else to do and it happens to come on TV it might be worth watching if you have time to kill.

Get a load of those clogged LA freeways from the air. I've always wondered what my morning commute looks like to a flying bird. But then everybody's evacuating because nutcase Hoffman's (Basehart) going to let loose a deadly virus somewhere in the city. Barrett (Maharis) better get to him and the germ flask first or Hollywood won't be making any more of these disaster films.It's edge of the seat suspense the whole way. Events get a little complicated midway as we try to figure out who's doing what to whom and which side they're on. But that's okay since one development leads quickly to another. I especially like the set-up in the first part, where events in the lab unfold mysteriously. It's a heckuva hook, well staged and scripted.Actor Maharis is appropriately intense. I guess that makes sense since the fate of the world, no less, may depend on him. Lovely Francis is along as eye candy, while Basehart growls his lines from the bottom of a well. And is that the prickly Lou Grant (Asner) practicing his glower as a laconic thug.All in all, it's an ace thriller with a highway tour of the drier parts of LA county. However, I don't think I'll be risking a cold soda at Dodger stadium any time soon.

Just as Forbidden Planet was a forerunner to Star Trek so too was Satan Bug a forerunner to 24 and Jack Bauer. Forty some years later and it still has a look ahead of its time as well as a storyline as current today as it was back then. Though not filled with major stars of the time, Dana Andrews was near the end of his career, all the actors came from supporting roles in movies and TV, all were familiar faces and competent actors and a few would move on to bigger things like Anne Francis as Honey West, Frank Sutton as the sergeant on Gomer Pyle and James Doohan as Scotty on Star Trek. The storyline may be spread across a couple of days, but it's constantly moving in a 24 fashion, 2 hours versus 24 hours to be sure, but like today's 24 it never lightens up. Agent George Maharis is pulled back into the agency by a national emergency over the theft of a biological weapon and he's as disillusioned with the government as Jack Bauer can be and yet determined to do his job and save not only our country, but possibly the entire world. And though the story wraps up all too suddenly, like 24, the ending isn't all neat and tidy, perhaps a bit more real than more Hollywood, and it makes you wonder, what's next?

This is a good Sci-Fi Thriller about a secret laboratory that is studying Biochemical Weapons Research out in a remote desert area of Arizona. This secret plant is invaded by people who want to obtain this certain chemical which is called the "Satan Bug" in order to have complete control over the entire world which can cause complete destruction of the entire world. George Maharis, (Lee Barrett) sets out to find out who has been able to break into their labs along with Dana Andrews,(General Williams) who also has a daughter Ann Williams,(Anne Francis) who gets into the middle of this story about germ warfare. Edward Asner,(Veretti) plays one of the bad guys in this film and gives a great supporting role. This film was a head of its times and it fits in greatly with the year 2007 and all the talk about Weapons of Mass Destruction.