ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

JoeB131 Obviously forgotten today, and maybe that's a problem.Michael Crichton dealt in practical Science Fiction. How a potential technology could really cause problems in the here and now. This movie hit on a few of them, some of which HAVE come to .His premise is that computers could be used to simulate characters (already has happened) and that they could be used to influence us by using algorithms to calculate our optimum responses. (Again, probably happening now, even if we don't know about it.) The plot is that a plastic surgeon is asked to alter four women into perfect specimens, but three of them are killed after wards (they never really explain why.) In trying to protect the last, whom he develops a personal bond with, he uncovers a plot to use computer generated images (wow, and now they are real!) to manipulate our responses.A note on nudity. We have Susan Dey of Partridge family fame going topless in a couple of scenes. We'd NEVER see that now. If we are lucky, we might see a name actress have her head CGI'd (ironic) onto a body double. But usually, the MPAA would go completely nuts and give the film an R or NC-17 rating.Some things are dated, such as tape-reading computers and big hair on the women- SO 1980's. But the film's concepts hold up pretty well.

ispeedonthe405 Spoilers within.I just watched this again and it occurred to me that it still works in 2007. If anything the premise is even more believable now than it was 26 years ago. In that sense it was a pretty darn accurate bit of future prediction in of where our video and computer technology was going.I've always liked this movie. It stands as a classic underrated film and a fond memory of my childhood. I took two points off though, one for each of the two problems I have with it: First, they didn't provide enough motivation or explanation for killing the models. One of them seemed to have figured out what was really going on, so that makes sense. But the others? Was it just to avoid paying out their contracts? They made a point of saying how rich the RI company was, so the cost would seem to be trivial in comparison to murder.Second, it struck me as odd that they could accurately digitize human beings but they still shot the commercials on a real set. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Even today it's much easier to model a kitchen than it is to model a human being.Overall though it's still a solid and enjoyable flick. You could make this movie today and it would be a perfectly good film for 2007.

moonspinner55 A plastic surgeon in Los Angeles investigates after some of his most beautiful clients--all fashion models--turn up dead. '80's thriller looks dated now, however it has a terrific set-up and proves to be absorbing and exciting for about a third of its length, later resorting to assembly-line theatrics. Michael Crichton, who wrote and directed, certainly isn't enigmatic (he's a filmmaker who always cuts right to the chase), yet in hindsight his script makes very little sense. The cast is good, particularly Susan Dey as Albert Finney's sassy sidekick, but the characters themselves are awfully one-dimensional. Strictly as a time-filler, not bad. **1/2 from ****

xredgarnetx I seeing LOOKER in the theater and several times on TV years later. It no longer runs anywhere, and I was not aware it was available on video. Albert Finney is always worth a look, even in this pseudo-scientific potboiler about models being murdered and a mysterious corporation that may be behind the killings. It's a Michael Crichton novel written in the style of Robin Cook's COMA, so be prepared. Actually, COMA is a better film. But it's like WOLFEN,a Whitley Schreiber story about intelligent wolves loose in New York city. The movie is a dud except for Finney's presence. Hell, Finney even kept the fantasy flick BIG FISH interesting, and that's saying something indeed. If you want to see Finney in a really competent thriller, watch the made-for-TV THE GREEN MAN. It is a great ghost yarn, strictly intended for an adult audience.