pricenicholas Reviews

Archie (2023)

Awful, one ep enough

[2/10 · 3 December 2023]

I don't know how others can give this a score of anything beyond a 3. It is cringe inducing wooden, cliched and historically inaccurate. The music selected for when Archie starts to tour with the Pender review is a bizarre choice and doesn't tie in with the moment or the mood it is trying to convey. Also, the use of black n white then alternating to colour doesn't add anything. I've just about finished ep 1 and won't be watching the rest. Comments have been made elsewhere about the poor job Isaacs has done with re-creating Grant, especially his mid Atlantic accent, but I wasn't overly familiar with his voice, so didn't notice.

Windrider (1986)

Definitely not a classic

[3/10 · 23 December 2013]

Saw this late on ABC, can see why they put it on in middle of night. This is amateur hour, watching this 'car crash',the dialogue, editing and special effects - shark/seal scene! - get worse and worse. When the 2 larrikins get honked by garbage truck and their retort is "Up yours, garbage breath", scriptwriters! Then when there is a drag between PC and the yobbos the dueling banjos start. Only interest is seeing young Kidman, Matt Parkinson and Alan Dale (Dr Karl) ironically in the band, Karl nursing muso ambitions early on.

On a side note, it would be more helpful and balanced if negative and positive reviews were put up as it seems that user reviews are only added when someone really likes the film. This leaves the user reviews unbalanced and some 'terrible' films get very high rating. Subjective, of course

Raja (2003)

Bad French cinema

[3/10 · 18 August 2009]

I knew that I had seen the main actor in another movie, but was not able to place it until I looked at his resume on IMDb - Pascal Greggory - and the movie - Gabrielle. Gabrielle was a typical French affair - drawn out, painfully introspective where you wanted the characters to do something, rather than pontificate in a tedious fashion. This did not bode well for a film with the same actor. He was egotistical, arrogant and abused his position of wealth. His actions were confusing, why did he want Youseff and Raja to marry to escape the policeman from Casablanca, but yet still wanted her to sleep with him. The explanation of converting the house to a hotel - with Youseff and Raja as running it - seemed absurd. I could not understand his actions and despised the character. He was juvenile and destructive in his actions and the story offered little to no character development. I want to clarify my above comment about French cinema because there are many excellent French films, e.g. La Haine, Amelie, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, A Self-Made Hero, etc.

Camino (2008)

This movie was terrible

[3/10 · 7 April 2009]

Having looked at some of the comments left by users about this movie I am not sure whether we saw the same movie.. the movie that i saw was so bad that i wanted to walk out after half an hour, except i was with someone and didn't want to upset them. the start of the movie - where the girl is on her deathbed, with family, hospital staff and clergy, got me interested. What had happened before ? why was she so sick ? etc. However, my attention soon waned as the movie refused to decide what it was. Was it a kid's movie ? well, it would certainly appeal to a female tween audience, i.e. things such as discovering boys, close relations with the father, etc, but graphically showing what happened in the operation. Did we really need to see inside her spine and that massive needle? The movie is confused by sub-plots and asides, such as the book she discovers - Mr Tweebly ?? - which could've played a much larger part in telling the story, but only gets a few mentions. And so out of context. It is like several different directors or editors just pasted scenes together, with no narrative or focus to push the story forward. The little girl was lovely, but sickly sweet in her demeanor, if her eyes widen once more in astonishment, i will scream. Everything that happened in the movie was signposted so blatantly that there was no surprise or anticipation, prime example being when her Dad dies in the car crash. Is the movie pro or anti-religion, it seems to be scathing in how religion can corrupt and divide families, but in the end all that the older sister does is put the 'unsuitable' book in the same cupboard as the more appropriate material. It said, at the end of the film, that it is based on a true story and that the person in question is waiting for beautification, so it is confusing as to the director's viewpoint. In summary, what looked like an interesting idea - looking back at the months before someone's death - was a hodgepodge of confusion, stupid fantastical scenes where she chases mice and is chased by the guardian angel and supporting characters who are predictable and not very likable. The film tries to do too much and ends up being very little. A movie to recommend where a young girl is the protagonist, which involves fantasy and supernatural themes and is entertaining is Pan's Labyrinth,