EPOCH (2000) *** See!? I told you that the early 21st century was just as pregnant with the possibilities of cosmic and metaphysical perturbances as the 1950s! And here's a film to prove it. They didn't have anything that we don't have more of: political conformity and instability, militaristic imbeciles calling the diplomatic shots, rugged individualists saving the world by mocking it all; the obviously and impending likelihood of visitation by space creatures, extraterrestrial monoliths and balls of sacred electromagnetic light; and we have Ryan O'Neal, still handsome and distracted by unuttered thoughts, and gloriously past his prime. Finally, after all these years, a director who understands the not-so-subtle subtleties of B-movies. I have seen the future of low-rent, high-entertainment video absurdism and its name is Matt Codd. He doesn't miss anything, from the "whooooooh!" screeches of the heroes as they jump what turns out to be five feet off a ladder, to backgrounds fake enough to be considered the only possible heirs to the legacy of shooting actors looking astonished to a backdrop of photographs being jerked around. David Keith is perfect for this stuff, if there truely is a strain of humanity yearning towards Nietzsche's Übermann, I for one am willing to believe that it speaks caustically about weaponry in a gentle southern drawl, listens to George Jones, and has a healthy respect for love and included religions. I was just a little surprised that he didn't appear to be drinking much. And this was all in a tv movie, will someone please give this young man $50 million to work with...
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