It's good for the first half, but as soon as the plot kicks in it becomes horribly sentimental and predictable as no Scottish sterotype is left unplundered;
I mean for God's sake the plot revolves around cheeky Scots thieves stealing whiskey while wearing kilts. I'm surprised they didn't make their getaway on the backs of wild haggises.
Would have been shocking in the 70s, but now has been surpassed by all sorts of films and gross-out videos. Its simplistic message of fascism being bad because it leads people to torture those they perceive as "lesser" is insultingly obvious. Of mainly historical interest. Some of the frame compositions were well done.
Incisive, disturbing and funny, it's a fascinating story that tackles themes of innocence and corruption well, and is impressive on a lot of technical levels. The downsides were that people's reactions to Bubby sometimes seemed forced and unbelievable to help the story along, and the ending wasn't as strong as it should have been.
The director seems at a loss as to how he should handle the material. It obviously calls for a visceral disturbing tone of the sort that was being pioneered in the US by Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, but instead goes for the stately British gothic of the Hammer Horrors. An example of how being beholden to Hammer's success limited the advancement of the British horror, and would ultimately put an end to Hammer itself. That's not to say the film is without merit; it has good acting, and sometimes manages some creepy scenes and a sense of dread. The ending is laughable, though.
Worthless slasher with a stupid script, bad acting and unsatisfying kills. Kane just looks mildly petulant, the good-looking teens are cardboard cutouts, and the whole thing is incompetently directed and filled with unnecessary and annoying Saw-style fast cutting and speed ramping.
All the imaginative concepts and camerawork can't hide bad acting and a bad script that is simplistic and eventually tips into cheesy sentimentality. I also thought it looked horrible, with almost every scene run through various types of crude filter so it ended up looking like a teenager's instagram gallery.
For two thirds of the running time this is an engrossing and effective film, even though it does suffer from plot holes. For the last third, plot holes and stupid writing take over as it builds to a frustrating and predictable ending.
It's got some really good individual moments, some excitement, and the story has a lot more of an edge than you'd see in a Disney cartoon, but overall there were too many aimless scenes and rather poor direction that meant occasional loss of interest in the proceedings. I'm still not sure how I felt about the deus ex machina at the end - it was impressive, but the film seemed to have been taking a more sci-fi approach and then it brings in some inexplicable magic. Plus the crow was the usual terrible clumsy comic relief character that always seems to pop up in these animated films. He could have been written out with minimal changes to the story.
Disastrously misconceived. The performances and tone often seem right out of daytime kids TV (Tim Robbins is particularly awful), but it's interspersed with a lot of jarring adult humour, which along with all the other jokes, falls completely flat. It does build to a good climax and exerts a strong pull, like watching a car crash.
Has a lot of things to like about it, with a lot of nice character work at the beginning, though it fails to be anything like as funny as "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz". It's also somewhat effective in its use of invasion as a metaphor for commercialisation and alienation. When the aliens are first revealed with an exciting and shocking fight scene the film gains a lot of momentum, but although energy remains high, the story starts to unravel when
the script insists on the characters continuing their pub crawl despite the alien invasion and the murder of their friends
. Problems of logic continue to build up until it all falls apart in the final 15 minutes with a disappointing ending
with Simon Pegg having a long argument with a disembodied alien voice
.
I thought that not only was this the weakest of Wright's Cornetto trilogy, I thought it was also a bit weaker than Pegg and Frost's "Paul", as that was more consistently funny even if it was far less ambitious.
Phenomenally terrible, this truly has one of the worst screeplays of all time. I would say it starts to shade into "so bad it's good" territory, but for every unintentional laugh there's a period of frustrating inactivity where characters just stand around spouting inane dialogue.
Astonishingly gripping and moving film. Mikkelsen is often singled out for justly-deserved praise over his performance, but in fact every aspect of this film is exceptional. My stomach felt like it was tied in a knot the whole way through.
Alan Moore's elegantly written and witty comic is sanitised, Hollywoodised and filled with cliches by a terribly written screenplay which treats the audience with absolute contempt.
A striking film that ends in quite a moving way. Beautifully shot and scored, especially for the first half hour, taking full advantage of the wilds of Texas. My problems with it are entirely related to the story, which felt very artificial, with characters acting in a manner that served the script rather than a realistic way. Grand metaphors and abstract passions were elevated over a more humanistic realism.
Good setting that captures a creepy atmosphere of abandoned desolation. In all other respects this is a cliched and turgid below-par horror, full of plot holes, failed attempts at jump scares, disposable characters, and long scenes of running through dark rooms while the camera shakes all over the place.
Suprisingly good self-referential horror-comedy that prefigures a lot of the material in both "Scream" and "Cabin and the Woods". Lots of campy action and trashy enjoyment.
Reasonably well done black comedy with a very good ending, although as a whole, the film doesn't seem to coalesce as well as it should. It does tread a lot of ground covered by "A Clockwork Orange," and draws attention to this by using the same Purcell theme music, but to lesser effect.
This film is also notable for being astonishingly tasteless, playing a real-life serial-killer's relatively recent crimes for laughs, sometimes with wacky music playing in the background, and trying to get the viewer sympathising with the killer and against the victims.
Some great performances and good songs which was enough for me not to outright dislike it, but the story and direction let it down. It was pitched so melodramatically that it often tipped into laughability, and the story was filled with cliched scenes, endless coincidences, and a constant stream of new characters being introduced.
It's a decent rom-com that is pleasant, well-performed and at least initially amusing, but after a while I realised it was just coasting along and the all the characters being constantly quirky in a cliched indie-movie fashion started to become wearing.
Translated from the Latin, the title reads "Girls Gone Wild: Nude College Co-Eds". This film marks the first entry in Frampton's high-grossing soft-porn franchise.
A blatant mix of Nightmare on Elm Street, The Crow and Hellraiser, with Snoop Dogg as the undead killer. The curiosity value that implies is basically the only reason to watch the film. The problem that results from stealing from lots of other films is that none of it flows together, with frequent abrupt shifts in tone and genre that don't feel organic but instead give a patchwork feel. Focus flits between too large a number of characters, none of whom are given much development, and basic things like people's motivations are given little consideration.
Comments 251 - 275 of 501
Movie comment on Je vous salue, Sarajevo
ChrisReynolds
http://www.youpak.com/watch?v=ItEHvYi8KZIMovie comment on The Angels' Share
ChrisReynolds
It's good for the first half, but as soon as the plot kicks in it becomes horribly sentimental and predictable as no Scottish sterotype is left unplundered;Movie comment on Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
ChrisReynolds
Would have been shocking in the 70s, but now has been surpassed by all sorts of films and gross-out videos. Its simplistic message of fascism being bad because it leads people to torture those they perceive as "lesser" is insultingly obvious. Of mainly historical interest. Some of the frame compositions were well done.Movie comment on Bad Boy Bubby
ChrisReynolds
Incisive, disturbing and funny, it's a fascinating story that tackles themes of innocence and corruption well, and is impressive on a lot of technical levels. The downsides were that people's reactions to Bubby sometimes seemed forced and unbelievable to help the story along, and the ending wasn't as strong as it should have been.Movie comment on The Legend of Hell House
ChrisReynolds
The director seems at a loss as to how he should handle the material. It obviously calls for a visceral disturbing tone of the sort that was being pioneered in the US by Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, but instead goes for the stately British gothic of the Hammer Horrors. An example of how being beholden to Hammer's success limited the advancement of the British horror, and would ultimately put an end to Hammer itself. That's not to say the film is without merit; it has good acting, and sometimes manages some creepy scenes and a sense of dread. The ending is laughable, though.Movie comment on See No Evil
ChrisReynolds
Worthless slasher with a stupid script, bad acting and unsatisfying kills. Kane just looks mildly petulant, the good-looking teens are cardboard cutouts, and the whole thing is incompetently directed and filled with unnecessary and annoying Saw-style fast cutting and speed ramping.Movie comment on Ink
ChrisReynolds
All the imaginative concepts and camerawork can't hide bad acting and a bad script that is simplistic and eventually tips into cheesy sentimentality. I also thought it looked horrible, with almost every scene run through various types of crude filter so it ended up looking like a teenager's instagram gallery.Movie comment on The Dead
ChrisReynolds
The novel African setting and pretty scenery are the only interesting things in this solid but generally unremarkable and sometimes dull zombie film.Movie comment on L'arrivo di Wang
ChrisReynolds
For two thirds of the running time this is an engrossing and effective film, even though it does suffer from plot holes. For the last third, plot holes and stupid writing take over as it builds to a frustrating and predictable ending.Movie comment on The Secret of NIMH
ChrisReynolds
It's got some really good individual moments, some excitement, and the story has a lot more of an edge than you'd see in a Disney cartoon, but overall there were too many aimless scenes and rather poor direction that meant occasional loss of interest in the proceedings. I'm still not sure how I felt about the deus ex machina at the end - it was impressive, but the film seemed to have been taking a more sci-fi approach and then it brings in some inexplicable magic. Plus the crow was the usual terrible clumsy comic relief character that always seems to pop up in these animated films. He could have been written out with minimal changes to the story.Movie comment on Howard the Duck
ChrisReynolds
Disastrously misconceived. The performances and tone often seem right out of daytime kids TV (Tim Robbins is particularly awful), but it's interspersed with a lot of jarring adult humour, which along with all the other jokes, falls completely flat. It does build to a good climax and exerts a strong pull, like watching a car crash.Movie comment on Zardoz
ChrisReynolds
Sean Connery wonders around an illogical future that looks like a 70s hippy commune, looking as bored as I felt watching it.Movie comment on The World's End
ChrisReynolds
Has a lot of things to like about it, with a lot of nice character work at the beginning, though it fails to be anything like as funny as "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz". It's also somewhat effective in its use of invasion as a metaphor for commercialisation and alienation. When the aliens are first revealed with an exciting and shocking fight scene the film gains a lot of momentum, but although energy remains high, the story starts to unravel whenI thought that not only was this the weakest of Wright's Cornetto trilogy, I thought it was also a bit weaker than Pegg and Frost's "Paul", as that was more consistently funny even if it was far less ambitious.
Movie comment on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
ChrisReynolds
Phenomenally terrible, this truly has one of the worst screeplays of all time. I would say it starts to shade into "so bad it's good" territory, but for every unintentional laugh there's a period of frustrating inactivity where characters just stand around spouting inane dialogue.Movie comment on Jagten
ChrisReynolds
Astonishingly gripping and moving film. Mikkelsen is often singled out for justly-deserved praise over his performance, but in fact every aspect of this film is exceptional. My stomach felt like it was tied in a knot the whole way through.Movie comment on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
ChrisReynolds
Alan Moore's elegantly written and witty comic is sanitised, Hollywoodised and filled with cliches by a terribly written screenplay which treats the audience with absolute contempt.Movie comment on Paris, Texas
ChrisReynolds
A striking film that ends in quite a moving way. Beautifully shot and scored, especially for the first half hour, taking full advantage of the wilds of Texas. My problems with it are entirely related to the story, which felt very artificial, with characters acting in a manner that served the script rather than a realistic way. Grand metaphors and abstract passions were elevated over a more humanistic realism.Movie comment on Chernobyl Diaries
ChrisReynolds
Good setting that captures a creepy atmosphere of abandoned desolation. In all other respects this is a cliched and turgid below-par horror, full of plot holes, failed attempts at jump scares, disposable characters, and long scenes of running through dark rooms while the camera shakes all over the place.Movie comment on There's Nothing Out There
ChrisReynolds
Suprisingly good self-referential horror-comedy that prefigures a lot of the material in both "Scream" and "Cabin and the Woods". Lots of campy action and trashy enjoyment.Movie comment on The Young Poisoner's Handbook
ChrisReynolds
Reasonably well done black comedy with a very good ending, although as a whole, the film doesn't seem to coalesce as well as it should. It does tread a lot of ground covered by "A Clockwork Orange," and draws attention to this by using the same Purcell theme music, but to lesser effect.This film is also notable for being astonishingly tasteless, playing a real-life serial-killer's relatively recent crimes for laughs, sometimes with wacky music playing in the background, and trying to get the viewer sympathising with the killer and against the victims.
Movie comment on Les Misérables
ChrisReynolds
Some great performances and good songs which was enough for me not to outright dislike it, but the story and direction let it down. It was pitched so melodramatically that it often tipped into laughability, and the story was filled with cliched scenes, endless coincidences, and a constant stream of new characters being introduced.Movie comment on Garden State
ChrisReynolds
It's a decent rom-com that is pleasant, well-performed and at least initially amusing, but after a while I realised it was just coasting along and the all the characters being constantly quirky in a cliched indie-movie fashion started to become wearing.Movie comment on Ingenivm Nobis Ipsa Pvella Fecit: Part I
ChrisReynolds
Translated from the Latin, the title reads "Girls Gone Wild: Nude College Co-Eds". This film marks the first entry in Frampton's high-grossing soft-porn franchise.Movie comment on Bones
ChrisReynolds
A blatant mix of Nightmare on Elm Street, The Crow and Hellraiser, with Snoop Dogg as the undead killer. The curiosity value that implies is basically the only reason to watch the film. The problem that results from stealing from lots of other films is that none of it flows together, with frequent abrupt shifts in tone and genre that don't feel organic but instead give a patchwork feel. Focus flits between too large a number of characters, none of whom are given much development, and basic things like people's motivations are given little consideration.Movie comment on Fast Five
ChrisReynolds
Generic and forgettable apart from an excellent finale action scene that actually makes the rest of the film worth watching.Showing items 251 – 275 of 501