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Author Archives: Mark
Lion King 4/5
First watch! Rather finely paced story, with simple but smooth and pleasing animation, fine comedy characters, and a story that stays simple and effective. They really cast fine vocal talents too. I can see why this is considered a modern … Continue reading
Barbarella 3/5
This is archetypally 60s goofy fun. There’s a LOT of things wrong with it, such as the constant padding of the story and the absolutely terrible special effects, but you know what? It’s fun, it’s extremely creative in its look, … Continue reading
The Place Beyond the Pines 3.5/5
A rather overambitious movie that actually chops its 3 acts into 3 related, continuous but distinct stories, looking at fatherhood, and how absence and presence of a father (both literally, and absent by not paying attention) can affect the son, … Continue reading
Land of the Lost 2.5/5
Very mildly amusing, and feels like you’re rushing through a much bigger story. Or seeing the edited highlights of a 6 hour miniseries. I guess they wanted to hit the main story points of the original TV series, but that’s … Continue reading
Hunter Prey 3/5
Rather enjoyable, cheap but competently made that mixes elements of the Star Trek episode Arena, Battlefield Earth (and I mean the story, not the rank filmmaking), and Enemy Mine in a blender and comes up with a pretty satisfying product. … Continue reading
Down Periscope 3/5
Whilst this is a lightweight comedy/drama, I found it a very satisfying and fun watch, and even felt I learned something about crewing in a submarine. The cast was good, in particular the crew – even Rob Schneider was okay … Continue reading
Lesbian Vampire Killers 2.5/5
Passably entertaining and benefitting from some good cinematography and sound design, and some quite great-looking ladies, giving it an old Hammer vibe, it could definitely have been funnier, but James Corden and Paul McGann as a potty-mouthed vicar and a … Continue reading
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 4.5/5
Amazing debut from Guy Ritchie, who combines colourful characters and some dazzling camerawork with funny, highly-stylized dialogue. Even non-actors shine reasonably well in this (Lennie McLean and Vinnie Jones), and it’s cool to see some guys who I still enjoy … Continue reading
Snatch 4.5/5
Whilst Guy Ritchie’s directing career has been up and down (and I’m glad it’s now on the up, after his rather fine take on Sherlock Holmes), this reminds you why he deserves to still be in the game. Okay, there’s … Continue reading
Life Story 4/5
The discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick… I haven’t seen this since the first (and only?) time it was aired on the BBC, and there were whole scenes I remember quite distinctly. It takes the great … Continue reading
Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter 4/5
Made at the tail-end of the Hammer era of horror movies, this is a rip-roaring, swashbuckling horror movie, with Captain Kronos killing vampires with a Katana many years before Blade got to it, this is just a lot of fun. … Continue reading
Oblivion – Odd One Out 051
3.5/5 A decent enough scifi actioner, but it does cram about 5 hours of story into 2 hours. It also suffers because it successfully conjures up other, better scifi movies. You can detect 2001, Moon, Wall-E, Planet of the Apes, … Continue reading
Treasure Planet 2.5/5
A middling Disney effort, with some effective, if maybe a little jarring, mixing of traditional animation and CGI. It’s too long (15 less would have been better), but the main characters are well developed and charming, there’s some fun stuff … Continue reading
Stoker 4/5
This is an outrageously good-looking film, and every scene has tantalising and enthralling composition. It engages and keeps your attention. However… The motivations and character development of the main focus of this story is just odd. I will avoid spoilers … Continue reading
Galaxy of Terror 2.5/5
Well, it’s really cheap, but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, basically ripping off Alien and throwing in a good dose of Solaris as the driver for the mayhem. And some yucky alien-worm rape. However, to break it … Continue reading
Doghouse 3/5
Goofy horror movie that just about works. Some of it isn’t great – the dialogue is not good (it’s clichéd) but delivered with some gusto, and you can tell some of the scenes probably seemed much better on paper than … Continue reading
Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell 3/5
A Q and A with Kevin Smith of distinctly two halves. The first half (or more like, first hour) is pretty great, where he talks about his interaction with the Westboro Baptist Church, and the making of Red State. The … Continue reading
Thor The Dark World 3/5
A decent sequel to the impressive first one…and I say impressive, because it really shouldn’t have worked, Thor as a comic book character works, but I just couldn’t see how it could possibly work at a serious level when put … Continue reading
Visit to a Small Planet 3/5
Pretty good early Jerry Lewis movie, where there’s a distinct lack of mawkishness and plenty of goofy fun. The supporting cast is pretty good and energetic too, and there’s some nice touches, such as Jerry walking up a wall and … Continue reading
Submarine 3/5
Rather fine coming of age/emo drama that required a little patience to get used to during the first act, but actually quietly satisfying by the end. Rather nice direction, sound, acting and script.
Caddyshack 4.5/5
Superb comedy, so filled with gags and funny moments that it may just be the most rewatchable comedy ever. Everyone’s really on form, from Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield and the fantastic Ted Knight. When I watch this, I … Continue reading
In The Loop 3.5/5
Rather fine comedy, and a successful transfer of the small-screen ‘the thick of it’ to a big screen version. It never really flags, and because it’s so fast and furious, it stays fresh for a rewatch. Capaldi is brilliant in … Continue reading
National Lampoon’s Vacation 4/5
Very funny movie that started the Vacation series, which clearly peaked at Christmas Vacation. The Griswalds are fully-developed characters from the off (well, Clark and Ellen anyway, the kids were always changing actors/ages), and it’s also fun to see Cousin … Continue reading
Battle Beyond the Stars 3.5/5
Very fun scifi version of Seven Samurai from Roger Corman, with solid music, a decent script with witty touches (and a few laughs), and some thought and imagination showing through in the ship designs, different kinds of creatures that make … Continue reading
Uncle Buck 3.5/5
very solid John Hughes comedy, with an excellent turn by John Candy, and little Macaulay Culkin stealing scenes like there’s no tomorrow. The only problem I had with the film was the casting of the parents. They seemed not great … Continue reading
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy 2.5/5
A lesser A&C comedy, with some of their typical gagging, but nowhere near as good as their best work. Passable.
Stripes 3.5/5
A film of three parts really, and the first part isn’t as funny as I remember it. The first part is we get to see Bill Murray and Harold Ramis before they sign up. It’s a short segment, but I … Continue reading
David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3.5/5
Pretty solid documentary, where the incomparable David Attenborough lets you about the life histories of various exhibits that belongs to the National History Museum, London (a truly beautiful building, by the way). They realise this by using CGI to animate … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged 2014, 3.5/5, D, documentary
Comments Off on David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3.5/5
Evil Roy Slade 3.5/5
This is, I think, one of the best TV movies ever made, definitely the best TV-movie comedy. John Astin is in fine form, cackling and grinning his way through the goofy action, and also in fine form is Mickey Rooney, … Continue reading
Abby 3/5
This was a film of that was a distinct mix of good and bad (fittingly). Condemned to purgatory by legal threats from Warners about it being a ripoff of the Exorcist, it’s been hard to catch, and even now it’s … Continue reading