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Reviews
Joker (2019)
Derivative and cynical.
Having given it 24 hours I can now say I have an opinion on 'Joker' for what it's worth.
It's a cynical money grab masking as an art film. It's look,feel and plot are highly derivative of the films Taxi Driver, King of Comedy and a few others mixed in. If you haven't seen those ones it could seem original but it's not. Despite a great performance by Phoenix the film plods for the first hour as you watch a drop of fight club added in to the mix.
Funnily it's when the plot involves other batman characters it shows the weakness of the film itself and the oh so convenient inclusion of the death of the Wayne family into the final act feels added on. It did however make me want to watch Heath Ledger again.
I didn't hate it I just felt pointless.
Dante's Peak (1997)
The Granny
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a blooming liability.
The Night Comes for Us (2018)
Woah
Like having a double espresso to wash down amphetamines. It does exactly what you'd hope it does by delivering bone crunching, knife wielding, gun toting action. Absolutely insane violence.
The Square Peg (1958)
Norman Wisdom's Best Film. Nuff said.
All Norman Wisdom Films tend to follow a simple formula. Loveable Norman has a simple life, usually overlooked by a father figure (Mr Grimsdale) who takes care of him. An antagonist enters the frame and usually angers Wisdom. Much revenge type comedy ensues. Throw in a little child or children who needs help and a unfeasibly attractive woman for Norman to fall in love with. So once this formula has been established it's very unusual to expect anything else. Not that The Square peg does a great deal different but it looses the child element and offers up instead, Wisdom in two roles. The first is his standard 'Pitkin' role and the second is the evil Nazi general. Sure he camps up the Nazi and plays it for all the laughs possible but this film is nothing more than comic brilliance. The scene between Wisdom in his two characters and Hattie Jaques as a Teutonic opera singer is staggeringly funny.
The Postman (1997)
A great, epic, sunday afternoon film
Now there are many that would be put off by a Kevin Costner film
set in a post-apocalyptic future but they would be missing out. Of course this film is not without its faults, (Spoiler) ,especially the
final fight scene, but when weighed up to the rest of the film, and at
3 hours there's plenty of it, they just become secondary.
This film is an old style epic. One that you'd watch with the family
on a Sunday afternoon when the rain is falling and 3 hours later
find that much to your surprise you have a smile on your face. Sure the slight story and the very Pro-American theme might grate
at times. But the Postman is a lot better than people would think.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
A three hour film about walking.
Ok, so forget all the hype and think about it for a second. 3 hours in which nothing much happens except a bit of walking and then a bit of fighting does not a good film make. There may be those who are fans of the book and I don't doubt that to them this is a great film. But to anyone else who have never ventured into the world of Tolkien then it is a huge let down. There seems to be too much reliance on knowledge from the book as none of the characters seem to have any back story and we haven't got a clue to why they are prepared to take on the quest.
The action scenes are few and far between and when they do come they seem a bit lacklustre. The acting is nothing special and there are some scenes (The council meeting) where the effects people must have taken the day off. Which leaves the walking... there's a lot of it. In fact they're some of the best bits as New Zealand looks very nice. However that's all that gets done and after a while I was convinced that the film was going to show and advert for Millets or the Rambling association at the end. Painfully dull though if rambling or fantasy is not your thing.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
A three hour film about walking.
Ok, so forget all the hype and think about it for a second. 3 hours in which nothing much happens except a bit of walking and then a bit of fighting does not a good film make. There may be those who are fans of the book and I don't doubt that to them this is a great film. But to anyone else who have never ventured into the world of Tolkien then it is a huge let down. There seems to be too much reliance on knowledge from the book as none of the characters seem to have any back story and we haven't got a clue to why they are prepared to take on the quest.
The action scenes are few and far between and when they do come they seem a bit lacklustre. The acting is nothing special and there are some scenes (The council meeting) where the effects people must have taken the day off. Which leaves the walking... there's a lot of it. In fact they're some of the best bits as New Zealand looks very nice. However that's all that gets done and after a while I was convinced that the film was going to show and advert for Millets or the Rambling association at the end. Painfully dull though if rambling or fantasy is not your thing.
The Cannonball Run (1981)
A wonderful entertaining display of money over content
Ok so this film was never going to win any awards. It was never going to stand out in history as an all time classic. In fact I doubt if it will ever even become a cult classic. It is however highly entertaining twaddle made with the intention of making money and having fun. And to that extent it works.