Cardboard Science: 20,000 leagues under the skin

FANTASTIC VOYAGE

Slow (and surprisingly dumb for a movie as pompous as this one often is), it nevertheless absolutely lives up to that title, even fifty years after the fact.

1966

Directed by Richard Fleischer

Written by Otto Klement, Jerome Bixby, and Harry Kleiner

With Stephen Boyd (Grant), Arthur Kennedy (Dr. Peter Duval), Raquel Welch (Cora Peterson), William Redfield (Capt. Bill Owens), Edmond O'Brien (Gen. Carter), Arthur O'Donnell (Col. Reid), and Donald Pleasence (Dr. Michaels)

Spoiler alert: high

Steven Spielberg, part XI: Not only of sight and sound, but of mind

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE

Plumbing his childhood once again, we find Spielberg teaming up with his pal John Landis, as well as Australian action-monger George Miller and rising schlockmeister Joe Dante, in order to bring their beloved TV show back to life.  You'll soon find yourself intently wishing that Spielberg, and especially Landis, hadn't bothered at all.  But then again, there's Miller and Dante, and what you wind up with is an anthology movie that averages out to legitimately awesome—particularly if you don't look too closely at any of the math you used to arrive at that conclusion.

1983

Directed by John Landis (Prologue, "Time Out"), Steven Spielberg ("Kick the Can"), Joe Dante ("It's a Good Life"), and George Miller ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet")

Written by John Landis (Prologue, "Time Out"), George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson, and Melissa Mathison ("Kick the Can"), Jerome Bixby and Richard Matheson ("It's a Good Life"), and Richard Matheson ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet")

With...

Prologue: Albert Brooks (The Driver) and Dan Akroyd (The Passenger)

"Time Out": Vic Morrow (Bill Connor)

"Kick the Can": Scatman Crothers (Mr. Bloom)

"It's a Good Life": Kathleen Quinlan (Helen Foley) and Jeremy Licht (Anthony)

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet": John Lithgow (John Valentine)

...and Burgess Meredith (The Narrator)

Spoiler alert: moderate