Word: blanded
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...hearing went on, the chairman began raging at the bland, measured responses of Federal Aviation Administrator Langhorne Bond. The more he heard, the angrier waxed California Congressman John Burton, chairman of a House subcommittee on transportation. The result was a hot clash on an urgent question that demands cold analysis if it is to be resolved: Has the FAA done all that it can and should do to prevent another DC-10 air disaster...
...devour each of the crew members. Once this narrative pattern is established, the only suspense involves the question of who will be eaten next. Since the movie's generally good actors (among them Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Sigourney Weaver) all play equally bland technicians, it is hard to make an emotional investment in the alien's pecking order. Indeed, the film's characters are so lifeless that one begins to wonder whether they might not be parodies of space-age bureaucrats. If so, the satire is far too flat...
Still, some habits die hard. If Saint Jack is not another complete embarrassment for Bogdanovich, it nonetheless reveals his deficiencies as a film maker. Again he describes emotions without ever feeling them; he flogs tired ideas to death and gets bland performances from his cast. Saint Jack shows off Bogdanovich's considerable craftsmanship, but it has the look of a high-minded movie, too empty to arouse any emotion other than indifference...
...alternative" into the association's name. IF. Stone, the archetype of maverick journalists, picked up on their discomfiture in his keynote speech that night: "I understand you have qualms about being called alternatives, and after looking at your papers, I must say you've got the most bland kind of alternative. You don't try to change the world, you just titillate...
Even as a love story, the film fails. Part of the problem is the stars, who are too bland, and at times charmless, to inspire much audience empathy. A sadder difficulty is the script's uncertainty of tone. Alex's and Sheila's batty home lives are presented in such outrageous broad strokes that the credibility of the couple's supposedly sincere romance is under mined. There are a few funny peripheral moments, especially those that focus on the mores of video dating, but there are also stale gags about wayward cars and coitus interruptus...