I'll always remember hiring this as a VHS video under its alternate title "Timescape" the same evening as hiring "Frankenstein Unbound" for mini time travel evening.Jeff Daniels is the reliable Daniels we've come to know in Arachnaphobia etc, and his position in the story has some curious parallels with that movie.The story is entertaining, ideal for fans of The Outer Limits or Twilight Zone; indeed it could have been an extended episode of these shows.There's a great man meets himself section, some great time travel plot twists, and to top it all, the appearance of Mr Time Tunnel in a funny suit! Great entertainment.

It took me two tries to finish this film. I'll explain.In the 1940's John W Campbell's Science Fiction magazine ASTOUNDING was in its Golden Age. It seemed that every issue contained material that moved the genre forward in some way. Anthologies of classic SF are crowded with stories from around that time. Among those stories was September 1946's VINTAGE SEASON, attributed to Lawrence O'Donnell but actually written by the husband and wife team of Henry Kuttner and Catherine L Moore.VINTAGE SEASON is really a mood piece, rather than a hard-plotted story. It has an atmosphere of decadence and languid eroticism that probably pushed the limits of what could be printed at that time in a magazine that was mainly read by children and young adults. Just as Hollywood at that time had to portray sex by implication rather than in explicit detail, so a more subtle approach was also required in print.So the first time I saw this film I threw the remote at the screen after 15 minutes. This wasn't the VINTAGE SEASON I knew and loved; this was just some crummy TV movie leeching off a classic original idea. I forgot about it – literally. That's why I taped it when it came around again, based on a decent write-up in the TV guide.This time around I must have been feeling a bit more mellow, as the remote stayed safely on the sofa. I reflected – could anyone actually film VINTAGE SEASON as it was written? And show it to an audience that had seen the BACK TO THE FUTURE films? I considered what I would do if I were the writer charged with developing the original story into a script that could be filmed with an adequate but not enormous budget and actors with mostly TV movie credentials. Taken on these terms, TIMESCAPE (its title in the UK) has to be judged a success. There is more sentimentality than I like and the plot elements are not handled with the rigour demanded by genre Science Fiction. But the story and characters that have been wrapped around Kuttner and Moore's original idea are sufficiently interesting and involving to compensate and the acting, production standards and effects work are more than good enough for a TV film.In summary, TIMESCAPE is a decent SF-based drama that viewers expecting a slam-bang FX epic will probably find dull but which will appeal to those who appreciate its more human-scale charms.

I keep finding real gems of films on late-night television here in England, and Grand Tour was no exception. Anyone can enjoy this film, whether they're a major sci-fi buff or not. As a matter of fact, I didn't figure out until I was pretty far into the movie that it was sci-fi at all! Which is to say--this movie might be the closest representation of what *would* happen if visitors from the future or outer space or somewhere showed up. Hollywood makes no appearance in this film. The story is intelligent, coherent and easy to follow. Every detail is taken care of easily and completely, so the story hangs together marvelously, unlike some sci-fi movies I could name. Everyone acts well and believably. Jeff Daniels proves his worth as a serious actor, and Adriana is one of the cutest and least-annoying child actors I've seen. The character of Oscar adds just the right amount of humour the movie needs. The script avoids cliches, as does the concept. I think the producers should've gone ahead and released Grand Tour theatrically, instead of merely on cable TV. Then maybe a wider audience would've (or could've) seen and enjoyed this fine example of what a good director can do with good actors acting a good script from a good story. What can I say?--the movie's good.

No one I know, outside my family of 4, has ever heard of this film; what a tremendous loss that is to science fiction, ideas, thoughtful and intelligent stories, and old-fashioned entertainment. The film is based on a fine old short-story, "Vintage Season," which, like the movie, is probably not reprinted in any current anthology. I am happy to have the tale in print, and happy to own a copy of this well made film created from it (I taped it 2 or 3 years ago from, I believe, HBO). Search this one out--perhaps it'll be on one of the premium cable channels again one day?--and enjoy clever, witty, and surprisingly memorable movie-making. You'll ponder the end of this one for weeks, guaranteed.