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Reviews
Dead of the Nite (2013)
Tony Todd owns the screen
Just watched dead of the nite and really enjoyed it.
Some great homages to some more well known movies, the story was original and had me guessing right up to the end. A decent cast includes Tony Todd who owns the screen as he does in every film he is in.
Cicely Tennant is a good leading lady, really plays up her role as the "desperate to be famous" drama queen and it was nice to see a fleeting cameo from scream queen Suzi Lorraine.
The film was made with a very small budget and gets a far too low mark from some on here so i'm giving it a ten as it deserves better recognition. Well done to all involved, I look forward to future projects.
A Dirty Shame (2004)
Abysmal....
An absolutely dreadful John Waters sex-"comedy" about a middle aged woman called Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman)who after a meeting with a mystical tow truck driver and a bump on the head, becomes transformed into a sex addict.
From here on the whole town seem getting "bumps" on the head and the whole place becomes an uncontrollable sex mad den.
It really is bottom of the barrel stuff, more cringe-worthy than funny. What on earth attracted a pretty good cast to this appalling junk is a mystery. The whole film is full of over the top annoying characters and seems to go on and on forever.
avoid at all costs.
Decoys (2004)
daft, yet fun teen horror flick
"Decoys" is a fun low budget teen horror about two guys, Luke and Roger trying to hook up with the (any of) the beautiful girls on campus. But when Luke sees something unusual, he begins to suspect that theirs something not quite right, and some of the girls may be in fact aliens!
A virtually unknown cast is aided by former Baywatch beauty Nicolle Eggert in a supporting role, Meghan Ory a standout as Alex, the slightly geeky (yet smolderingly sexy) friend of the two leads.
Not to be taken seriously by any means, it's a tongue in cheek, enjoyably daft "B" movie full of cute college girls
.need I say more!
Beyond the City Limits (2001)
A bit of a "rip off"
Sergei and Yuri are two small time Russian crooks who are attempting to hit the big time by ripping off a casino with the aid of a security guard and a couple of bent cops.
Misha (Nastassja Kinski) and Lexi (Alison Hannigan) are their Girlfriends, two of society's misfits with no real goals in life.
After an argument between Yuri and Lexi, the girls are kicked out of their house and by chance meet Helena (Jennifer Esposito) , an old friend of Mishas who has just got divorced from (yet still lives with) her loser cop husband Jack (Todd Field).
The girls decide to try and get in on the Casino job, and get revenge on the men in their lives who have betrayed them yet things go far from smooth, and anything but as planned.
"Rip it off" is only mildly entertaining at best and it isn't really a surprise that this confused and all in all uninteresting film sunk without trace here in the UK. The characters are either annoying or nasty and it's very hard to sympathise with anyone involved. Its watchable but really does fall quite wide of the mark.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Flawed, yet still enjoyable.
Big scale, Big budget, money no object, special effects extravaganza about a climatologist, Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) who notices that an abrupt, and massive, change of climate about to happen that could destroy the worked as we know it. Hall must try to figure out a way to prepare the world for what is about to happen. He must also get to his teenage son (Jake Gyllenhaal) in New York, which is being taken over by a new ice age.
Its cheesy, but surprisingly enjoyable, with frighteningly realistic special effects. The plot may not hold up to close scrutiny but the movie still has enough to keep you interested throughout.
From the makers of the 1996 smash hit Independence Day, this film knocks spots off that one, and provides good entertainment for the best part of two hours.
Before Sunrise (1995)
Funny, Real, Romantic yet tragic
A brilliantly observed story about a 20-somthing American man who meets a French girl on a train traveling through Europe.
Hawke and Delpy are fantastic as the young couple, Jesse and Celine who meet, who hit it off immediately and fall in love - for one night only. They know that they only have the few hours together before sunrise, before they have to go back to their normal lives, Jesse in America and Celine back in France.
A real gem of a film, totally unique - the whole film is basically a 2 character show, and you are right there beside them both as they discuss their hopes, dreams, ambitions, fears and their lives in general. Recommended viewing.
Freaky Friday (2003)
Great fun - Jamie's best role for years.
Fun and harmless remake of the popular 1977 Disney film of the same name.
Jamie and Lindsay star as a mother and teenage daughter, who don't exactly see eye to eye. They constantly argue and don't understand each others livelihoods and problems in any way shape or form. That is of course until they are magically transferred into each others bodies for a day with genuinely funny consequences.
Despite the over familiarity of this type of subject, it is handed with real skill and does more than enough to have you chuckling throughout and basically watching the stars make fools of themselves! Lindsay Lohan is great, but the real star of the show is Jamie Lee Curtis in her best performance for years, she clearly enjoys herself in her role as mother (and daughter!!).
The Descent (2005)
Entertaining British Horror
Neil Marshall follows on from his previous Brit-Horror outing, Dog Soldiers, with this tense gory offering about a group of female friends who every year meet up and participate in an adventure, this years excursion is Caving, in deepest darkest middle of nowhere.
Interesting characters and a tense storyline make this movie well worth watching and proves that Marshall really has got his finger on the pulse of what is a difficult genre to come up with new and interesting ideas. He does though, in parts, borrow from other movie makers to good effect and keeps you guessing as well as thinking about this film until well after the thought provoking ending.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
One of the most enjoyable movies of the 1980's
Fun, fast, and at times farcical with characters you care about and situations so funny they can make you fall off your seat.
Neal Paige is a marketing executive who is on his way back to his home in Chicago for thanksgiving. His first problem is he's running late, his 2nd problem is he seems to run into traveling shower curtain salesman Del Griffith at every turn. Things go from bad to worse and what should be a straight forward journey home turns into a journey through hell.
John Hughes clearly enjoys himself directing his fantastic script and throwing in a few Hughes regulars in show stealing small roles. Look for Kevin Bacon (She's having a Baby), and "Ferris Buellerites" Edie McClurg, Ben Stein and Lyman Ward.
sit back, buckle up and enjoy the mayhem!!
All the Way (1999)
All the Way (.....to the charity shop with the rest of my junk)
A Great fun idea A twenty-something guy needs to raise $30,000 in order to save his mothers house from being repossessed by the bank and his friends offer to help raise the cash needed by pooling their talents and making a porno movie!
The result is far from fun, it's a muddled bore with a script that's so awful it makes the scriptwriters fellow countrymen who write the likes of "Sons and Daughters" and "Home and Away" look like "best script" Oscar contenders.
The acting is also pretty substandard to say the least. All in all, a great big Australian mess.
More 'stay away' than 'All the way' - don't bother with this one.
Creep (2004)
Totally Preposterous UK Horror
All logic goes straight out of the train window in this British horror film, set in the London underground and starring the usually reliable Franka Potente (Run Lola Run), Franka plays Kate, a businesswoman on the way from an office party to meet friends who falls asleep at an underground station, only to wake up and find she has been locked in and finds herself being chased by "someone" or "something" with killer intentions.
Plot holes and unbelievability are rife and there are very few moments that are actually jumpy/ scary but plenty that are just plain dull.
All in all an unpleasant film that should just stay locked underground forever and do us all a favour.
The only plus point here is the inclusion in the cast of popular veteran actor Ken Campbell, who's done better than this that's even including "Erasmus Microman"!.
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
Gripping Penn gives a tour-de-force performance
An absolutely gripping, exhilarating fact based tale of a man so disillusioned with the "American Dream" that he plots to "make a difference" and attempts to assassinate President Richard Nixon.
Sean Penn is outstanding as Samuel J Bicke, a failing office furniture salesman with marriage problems who blames all his troubles on the government's contempt for the ordinary man on the street.
This drives him to desperate measures as he plots to kill the figurehead of his country believing this will solve the problems of 1970's America, forcing a change of thinking at the top.
This story never lets go for one moment, Penn is superb as a desperate man well and truly on the edge of sanity, while support from Don Cheadle as his would be business partner, Jack Thompson as his sleazy sales boss and Naomi Watts as his estranged wife, is well above average.
Truly captivating. Watch this film.
XX/XY (2002)
20 somethings have fun, then pay the consequences.
A tale of 3 twenty somethings who meet at a party and end up having a threesome.
two of the trilogy end up in an "open relationship", until feelings for each other get in the way and they end up drifting apart.
fast forward 10 years and the trio meet up again, their lives have taken them on different routes but this meeting makes them realise that they never really moved on from each other, and this could have a devastating effect on their "new" lives unless they come to terms with their feelings and sort out some problems that first surfaced years before.
Watchable relationship yarn, but the real problem is that all the characters are quite dislikable therefore its hard to feel sorry for any of them, and this reflects on the film - making it hard to enjoy and making it impossible care one bit about anyone involved in it.
Gravesend (1995)
In your face, raw tale of wasted youth.
Review of "Gravesend"
Quite gripping tale of 4 young men from the ghetto without a chance in life who find themselves in an uncontrollable situation after a careless prank goes totally wrong. From this moment on they are doomed, yet they desperately try and retrieve the situation the only way they know how - the criminal way, and this is when things spiral out of all proportion.
The raw talents and amateurism of this filmmaker really suit the mood of the whole film and its well worth checking out if you like similar themed movies.
The Grudge (2004)
Like an overlong "Twilight Zone" episode
Jason Behr and Sarah Michelle Gellar are a young American couple who have moved to live in Japan.
Gellar plays Karen, a young nurse who is called to a house to help care for an elderly lady who suffers from dementia and doesn't speak.
Within moments of entering the house, Karen starts to see creepy things happen and sees in a cupboard the house what she thinks is a young Japanese boy (with a terribly pale complexion!!).
The story then unravels to show the many other people who have come into contact with the house and when nasty things start to happen to them, things become clearer to what happened there in the past.
The story jumps back and too almost enough to make you sea sick, while it really doesn't do enough to either grip you, thrill you or even scare you that much. 45 minutes of material seems to be stretched over an hour and a half and the whole film generally feels like an overlong episode of the "Twilight Zone" Still watchable, but very over rated.
After the Storm (2001)
Slow paced, just watchable yarn
Very slow "thriller" about a sea scavenger (Bratt) who along with his seemingly naive girlfriend finds the wreck of a luxury yacht and raids it for the very sort after contents.
Unfortunately he is tracked down by another islands-man (Assante) and his "femme fatale" wife who demand a share of the profits, and then its all a question of trust - or lack of it.
Based on a story by Ernest Hemmingway, there really doesn't seem to be enough to keep you interested for the best part of an hour and forty mins, all in all though its worth a look but certainly not one to watch over and over and the "twist" at the end is predictable, yet doesn't really add up.
Bratt is quite good and Avital is cute - while the stunning scenery is most definitely a plus point.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Very strange but still funny in parts
Set in the summer of 1981 this film follows the fortunes of campers and camp supervisors on the last day of camp at Camp Firewood.
Some of the dialog truly is laugh out loud funny, yet some parts - like talking vegetable cans and NASA equipment falling from space is just plain weird.
There is also a rather disturbing edge to this film too - like a rather out of context gay sex scene, a child drowning while two camp supervisors "get it on", heavy drug use in one particular scene and a rather suggestive element of supervisor/camper relations....
Its certainly unique and will probably leave you scratching your head afterwards asking yourself "what the ****????"
Wonderland (2003)
Unpleasant film about drugs, drugs and more drugs
Its 1981 and John Holmes is the biggest adult film star there is (no pun intended)....
On July 1st 1981 police responded to a call at Wonderland avenue, where they discovered a quadruple homicide, which implicated porn star Holmes to be involved in this drug war crime.
A very unpleasant film that features drug taking of all kinds from beginning to end. Its very hard to watch or really care about any of the disturbed characters involved, and almost impossible to understand or identify with them.
This film is supposed to shed some light on what happened that fateful night - but it just ends up being confusing and pretty pointless. More information and background about Holmes and how he sunk so low to such a terrible existence would have been a far more interesting tale.
A real missed opportunity.
Collateral (2004)
Stylish slick thriller
A very stylish and slick thriller that really excites, mainly due to the great performances by Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise - in a very unusual role here.
Foxx plays LA cab driver Max who, when dropping off sexy lawyer Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), picks up a passenger who proves to be more than a little difficult! Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a hit-man, and orders Max to take him to 5 different destinations throughout the night, to carry out his hits.
What you may think could run out of steam pretty easily, really keeps the viewer glued to the screen and guessing how Max will get out of the nightmare situation he has found himself plunged into. Cruise is great as the cold hearted killer, and still oozes his usual charisma in a totally alien role to what he's used to.
Bringing Down the House (2003)
Great fun all round
Steve Martin plays tax attorney Peter Sanderson who meets Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah) on an "law and legal issues" internet chat room, believing her to be a "slim blonde" fellow lawyer, the two get on well and eventually arrange a date.
All is not what Peter expects, as Charlene is not only a large African American lady with a larger than life attitude - shes not a lawyer, but an ex con! - and brings with her a heck of a lot of trouble for him, bribing him into helping her clear her name for a crime she says she didn't commit.
The many over the top ridiculous scenarios that follow are truly very funny and do more than enough to paper over the cracks in a pretty thin storyline.
Martin, Latifah - and especially Eugene Levy, as Martins fellow lawyer friend - clearly really enjoy themselves here and it really shows in their excellent performances.
all in all good fun.
The Calcium Kid (2004)
Mildly enjoyable Docu-comedy
Filmed in the style of a documentary, this British comedy is mildly enjoyable, but doesn't really do enough to leave you craving any more that it delivers.
Orlando Bloom is Jimmy Connelly, a boxing mad Milkman who trains at the same London Gym as the British middle weight champion - who is due to fight the American champion in a matter of weeks.
While sparring, Champ lands a punch onto Jimmys head which breaks his hand, leaving his Arthur Daley type manager to look for a replacement for the fight to save his "reputation" Who steps in??....You guessed it!!, the "Calcium Kid" is invented and Jimmy gets a lot more than he bargained for!! Not bad of its kind, but its certainly no "Mike Bassett England Manager" - you can't help but feel this film only made it to cinemas due to lead Blooms new found stardom.
Repo Man (1984)
Muddled, boring, uninteresting tale.
Emilio Estevez is a teenage punk who gets fired from his job as a supermarket shelf stacker and gets tricked into life as a car repossession man by old timer Harry Dean Stanton.
What follows is a muddled, boring, uninteresting tale of all sorts of miserable characters on the trail of a 1964 Chevy Malibu - with a $20,000 bounty and a very mysterious cargo.
Estevez sulks his way through the film, and is fairly effective as the young loser, while Stanton is good as his "father figure" and mentor.
All in all not very impressive at all but nevertheless a film with a loyal following from cult British director Alex Cox.
RPM (1997)
Cheap production not helped by poor script and awful acting.
A professional American car thief goes to France to steal a prototype super car from an international car show for his oil baron/mobster boss - who sees the launch of this new alternative fuel vehicle as a major threat to his business.
Laughably cheap, unexciting, uninspiring caper not helped by poor casting, awful acting and a silly script.
the only plus points to this are the occasional nice car not forgetting the breathtaking scenery of the south of France. Its no surprise this film sat on the shelf for years without distribution.
One can only assume the likes of Famke Janssen and David Arquette quite desperately needed the money when they made this turkey.
Envy (2004)
Black and Stiller together - what a wasted opportunity!
Jack Black and Ben Stiller together in a comedy. The mouth waters doesn't it? Sadly thats where the excitement ends as what is played out is a hollow, unfunny, pointless little film - that not only wastes the comic talents of Black and Stiller - but also the acting talents of the likes of the usually reliable Christopher Walken and Rachel Weisz.
Black and Stiller play Neighbours and best friends who work at the same factory doing pretty mundane office jobs. That is of course, until Black comes up with an invention to "make Dog mess disappear" from a solution within a spray can and becomes very rich. Stiller, who passed up the opportunity to assist Black with his idea, is left to think of what might have been and gets insanely jealous in the process.
What follows is a mishmash of events of little interest and even less humour which will leave you really not caring at all how it all ends, and looking at your watch as time drags on - slowly.
Its watchable to a degree, but with such comedic heavyweights you can't help think what might have been.
Scenes of the Crime (2001)
Lazy ending to a good crime caper
This captivating little film obviously benefits by the great performances of the three male leads - Bridges, Abrahams and Wyle.
A mob boss' driver (Abrahams) accidentally gets mixed up in much more than he bargained and prepared for when a rival mob boss (Bridges) is kidnapped by his associate (Peter Greene) and bundled into the back of his van.
A very stagy film, with a very TV feel to it, its basically all shot in one location throughout but still manages to hold the viewers attention.
Only one negative, and its a big one - the ending. Just as the story seems as though its changing direction and gathering pace it ends abruptly, which spoils the film and leaves the viewer feeling cheated having to make do with the conclusion of the story and its characters hastily captioned on screen. Such a shame because an extra 15 mins of action instead of 15 seconds of words could have made this film a real find.