Galaxy Quest Written by David Howard and Robert Gordon Directed by Dean Parisot USA, 1999 “Never give up. Never surrender.” Truer words have never been spoken. In 1999, the science fiction genre was shaken up a bit by a movie so smart and so funny that no other film has managed to duplicate its greatness …
The phrase “for the fans” has a new definition, and its name is Veronica Mars. Here, at least, the descriptor doesn’t automatically speak ill qualitatively, as the long-rumored film based on the cult TV series only came to fruition thanks to a massively successful Kickstarter campaign last March. (The overwhelming response to the Veronica Mars campaign has since inspired a number of other filmmakers and actors to call upon their fans to help long-gestating projects become the real thing.) Veronica Mars, the film, will easily cater to the series’ most passionate fans, but it’s just as safe to assume that if you’re not that familiar with the three-season TV show, you might as well start there and eventually build your way up to the movie.
“The Perfect Mark” opens with Finch (Michael Emerson) undercover once more as a patient for Hayden Price (Aaron Staton), a con man posing as a hypnotherapist to get sensitive information out of people. In the opening scene, it looks like this hypnotherapist, fraud though he may be, might be able to squeeze some information from Finch about his past, but no, Finch is a tough nut to crack and it’ll probably be some time before the show reveals the hush-hush world of Finch’s pre-Machine life. All we know is that Finch might have been a legendary hacker in his past life and is still a wanted man, by his old name at least. Back to the case, though- Price has managed to get involved in the ugly affairs of everyone’s favorite corrupt police organization, HR, all in the search of an admittedly large score: a 1927 New York Yankees-signed baseball that could be sold for over four million dollars.