FRENCH FRIES and FULL MOON FEATURES part II: "Crash and Burn" and Checkers/Rally's Famous Seasoned Fries

In 1977 STAR WARS raised the bar for quality Science Fiction, particularly in terms of narrative scope and production value, and low budget spaceship movies seemed to be forever doomed to cower in its groundbreaking shadow. Two years later, Alien reduced that scope back to a more manageable (and affordable) scale, relying largely on atmosphere and performance. Once again, independent cheapies could lean on damp boiler rooms and matching jumpsuits to create a believable environment. 

1990's Crash and Burn takes place in the distant dystopian future of 2030(!) when the world has run out of money and computers have been outlawed(!!). Accordingly, there is a rebellion against this oppression, though our core cast doesn't really have a lot to do with that - at least not until it's suspected that one of them is a "Synth" (cyborg, android, etc.), which leads to a beat-for-beat rehash of the blood test scene from Carpenter's The Thing. Directed by Charles Band, the cast (and characters) are largely likable, featuring familiar faces like Megan Ward, Ralph Waite, Jack McGee, and Bill Moseley flexing his range all the way into mild-mannered and charming. It borrows from various James Cameron properties as usual, and characters spout exposition till their dying breaths, but it has a good momentum and a few classy effects. Also, one of its cleverest plot points is that computer technology became illegal in the 1990s so all of the dated devices are explained away very neatly. 

While pizza is still relegated to our ramshackle oven, we've obtained an air fryer for our continuing french fry affairs. In its maiden voyage is took on a bag of Checkers/Rally's Famous Seasoned Fries - though perhaps we're largely ignorant to the world of frozen french fries because we can't say we've ever heard of these (apart from the recognizable checkered bag that can be spotted in most grocery stores). But apart from the air fryer cooking them faster and more evenly than we're used to, the fries are noticeably more "seasoned" than your typical freezer burnt potato chunks - almost to the point that they needn't the embellishments of salt, ketchup, or other. They also maintained a consistent consistency of crispiness - which, again, may or may not have had something to do with the way they were cooked. Either way they were a success. 

The Movie: B

The Fries: A-