Flashback Friday-Taxi Theme-TV Series (1978-1983) and Movie (2004)

Working as a taxi driver is not for everyone. But for some, it is the way they can pay the bills.

The classic 1970’s series, Taxi (1978-1983), focuses on a taxicab company. Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito) is the diminutive dispatcher who likes to insult his drivers. Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsch) is the unofficial leader of the drivers. They may have their ups and downs, but at the end of the day, this cab company stays together and supports each other.

In 2004, the movie Taxi delved into the buddy cop comedy genre with a new twist. Isabelle “Belle” Williams (Queen Latifah) is a cab driver who has information that break the case of female Brazilian bank robbers. Andrew “Andy” Washburn (Jimmy Kimmel) is a young and sometimes inept cop who teams up with Belle to break the case.  Can they find the criminals and bring them to justice or will Belle and Andy kill each other first?

Do I recommend them? My answer is following: yes to the TV show, no to the movie. The TV show, then and now is sarcastic, funny and entertaining. The movie is just plain bad.

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Flashback Friday- Stargate (1994)

Science fiction is an interesting genre. It can have mass appeal (aka Star Wars or Star Trek) or it can be appealing to fans of the genre.

In 1994, the movie Stargate told the story of two men who discover an alien planet where the civilization resembles Ancient Egypt.

During an archaeological expedition in 1928 in Egypt, a mysterious device is found among the artifacts. Decades later, Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is a linguist who is invited to decipher an ancient hieroglyph that is military property. The device allows the users to be transported to another planet. Daniel joins the team under the command of Colonel Jonathan ‘Jack’ O’Neil (Kurt Russell). The civilization they encounter looks remarkably like Ancient Egypt, including worship of the Sun God Ra (Jaye Davidson).  But there is more to this civilization and it is connected to the stargate.

While I love Star Wars, I would not say that overall I am a fan of science fiction. While there are many fans of this movie and the television shows that followed it, I personally found the movie to be too into the genre.

Do I recommend it? If you are a fan of the genre, then yes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t.