Welshfilmfan Reviews

Licence to Kill (1989)

The Best Bond Film

[10/10 · 6 March 2009]

'License To Kill' was the second and last Bond to star Timothy Dalton as 007 - despite playing Bond closer to Ian Fleming's original creation than any other actor given the role before or since, 'LTK' & 'The Living Daylights' were both relative box office disappointments, especially at the U.S Box Office as 'LTK' barely broke even on it's original release stateside although it did relatively well Worldwide but has consistently been voted the worst Bond Film in various publications over the years, which I think is very unfair as I believe 'LTK' to be the Best.

The story has Bond going rogue after his friend Felix Leitier is fed to a Shark & his Wife is brutally murdered on their wedding day, so Bond goes after the drug dealer responsible.

It has great co-stars in Carey Lovell, Robert Davi & Talisa Soto, Wonderful Locations and a great Title song by Gladys Knight.

'LTK' was at the time the most gritty and violent Bond movie made and was given a PG-13 in the U.S and a '15' rating in the UK which would have limited it's Box Office potential to a certain extent - but was such a breath of fresh air after Roger Moore's Sexist,camp & misogynistic portrayal.

At the Time Bond Producer Michael G. Wilson blamed budgetary problems, and Producer Albert Brocolli blamed poor marketing & a late name change from 'License Revoked' to 'License to Kill' for it's relative theatrical disappointment.

'LTK' is by the far the Best Bond Film made to date & Dalton played the role perfectly it's just a shame that he only has two Bonds to his name - both are far better than their reputation would have you believe.

Mindhunters (2004)

Good Stuff.....Not too shabby at all

[8/10 · 15 February 2009]

That with it's troubled post production - very few people have actually seen, Due to the Film's distribution rights going from 20th Century Fox to Dimension Films and being delayed not once, not twice, not three times - but a staggering FOUR times (because of The Weinstein/Miramax Split) before it was finally released in May 2005, 2 YEARS after completion to barely a 1000 Theaters, and making less than $4.5M on it's release - so don't be misled into thinking it's terrible due to it's Theatrical disappointment, it's actually a really good whodunit thriller set on a remote Island where The FBI sends it's agents for training on how to track Serial Killers, but someone on the Island is Setting ingenious traps and bumping the agents off one by one.

Starring Christian Slater,Val Kilmer,LL Cool J,Kathryn Morris,Johnny Lee Miller, Patricia Velasquez & Clifton Collins Jr - Mindhunters is different,very well written,acted and is quite possibly One Of Harlin's Best which deserves to be more widely seen.

8/10

The Langoliers (1995)

Great Story, Good TVM, But badly needed a larger budget

[8/10 · 15 February 2009]

In a TVM adaptation of Stephen King's Novel - 10 people wake up an a jetliner going from L.A. to Boston and realize that everybody else including the crew have disappeared into thin air as if a biblical rapture has occurred, leaving their watches,Pacemakers,Jewelery and whatnot behind - The group of passengers which include a Pilot (David Morse) A Mystery Writer (Dean Stockwell) a Soldier (Mark Lindsay Chapman) along with a teacher (Patricia Wettig) a token Black guy (Frankie Faison) A Blind Girl (Kate Maberly), A hippy chick (Kimber Riddle), A geeky guy (Christopher Collet) A stocky guy (Baxter Harris) and an obnoxious Businessman who ends up going insane (Bronson Pinchot) are the only people left aboard and are obviously in a state of shock and bewilderment and especially so when They can't get any contact from anybody on the ground and everywhere appears to be in darkness below the Clouds - so as they start to panic at the situation they find themselves in they decide to re-route the plane to Bangor International Airport in Maine (Author King's Hometown) and when they do finally land they find the World hasn't changed, but again everybody's disappeared and the surrounding area seems Dead, The air is odourless, The Food Tasteless,The Drinks Flat and Time seems to be moving much quicker - and a distant sound which at first only the blind girl can hear seems to be getting closer, but What is it? Where are They? Where is Everybody?

Review:- I'll start by saying I've not read the novel on which this TVM is based upon, but I found 'The Langoliers' an enjoyable, and at times gripping TVM, but you really have to suspend your disbelief throughout and many points within the Film make no sense whatsoever. While at 3 Hours...Yes 3 hours! that's NOT Including Ad Breaks it is FAR FAR too long and could have had 30-45 Minutes cut off it's running time, but this was a 2 part Mini-Series when It was originally shown which is why the plot was padded to within a inch of it's life and seems especially long when seen in one go like I did.

The Acting is pretty awful - but both Stockwell and Pinchot give it their best shot, The Special FX are pretty poor, the Climax with the 'Langoliers' especially so - but this was a TV Movie made 14 years ago, so I'll cut it some slack there. Directed & Produced by people who already had some experience translating King's work onto the Screen - they do pretty well, but seriously for what was a great story - It needed far more money thrown at it, better actors & a shorter running time

All in All a Very Good TVM - Which badly needs a big-budget remake

8/10

Flight of Fury (2007 Video)

Dire Stuff - The worst Seagal movie I've seen......so far

[1/10 · 12 February 2009]

'Flight Of Fury' is a shockingly dire but worst of all boring Action Film - I don't expect a lot from a Seagal Film, all I expect is to be moderately entertained for 90 or so minutes with some mindless action -unfortunately this doesn't even achieve that low expectation, The action scenes are few and far between, the plot (which is totally irrelevant in these Films) is needlessly complicated and confusing with huge plot holes throughout, The acting is truly abysmal - bordering on embarrassing with Seagal and his whispering One expression performance being the best among the sorry lot of 3rd raters - I find it hard to believe that anything close to $12M was spent on this dire mess unless $11M of that 12 was Seagal's Salary - I somehow doubt it! The one moment of any interest to Straight guys or gay girls is that out of seemingly nowhere two hot chicks end up in a lesbian sex scene of sorts complete with huge baps on display other than that - It's mediocre stuff which is no different to many of the Michael Dudikoff B-Movies I've endured

1/10

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Cheesy of Course, But it's the best Feel good Film of all time

[9/10 · 12 February 2009]

Even the hardest of hearts will soften after this 90 Minutes or so of pure entertainment, Yes it's Cheesy, Yes Brosnan is Hopelessly miscast and his singing voice is truly awful and the plot is totally irrelevant, but WHO CARES!

It's bright, Funny, Immensely watchable, even for someone like myself who isn't a big ABBA or Musical Fan - When I watched this I was having a really bad day, so I thought why not and Put in on - Mamma Mia put me in such a good mood, the songs are catchy & Cheery - Beautiful actors, beautiful locations and Streep is outstanding as is everybody apart from The Former 007 - Who actually signed onto the film without knowing what it was about, he signed purely because Streep was in it, and he gives it his best shot

Great Entertainment from start to finish - Watch it after a bad day and it'll put a smile back onto your face!

P.S. At time of writing, It's now become the UK'S highest Theatrical Grosser of all time, Overtaking Titanic and deservadly so.

****1/2 out of *****

Men in Black II (2002)

Short and Forgettable Cash-in Sequel ** / *****

[4/10 · 12 February 2009]

The first Men in Black Movie which came out in 1997, was a fun, Thrill ride of action, Comedy and FX, with great leads in Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones.

Fast Forward 5 years Later and we have the sequel - Men in Black 2, which I was looking forward to seeing having enjoyed the first, Well I gotta be honest I was hugely disappointed not only was this Short.... Way Short with Film & Credits coming in at UNDER 90 minutes, The Story was weak and by-the-numbers and Nobody's heart was in it - Smith & Jones were going through the motions and acted as If they couldn't be bothered and were in it purely for contractual reasons, The SFX while great after a while were tiresome and seemed to be overdone to a huge amount to cover the inadequacies in the plot - The Comedy was forced and where was Linda Fiorentino who took over Jones' role at the End of the first? She was nowhere to be seen & and as far as I recall no reason was given for her absence - although I know Fiorentino was a notoriously difficult actress to work with and she hasn't made a motion picture for many years, but a reference to her character would have been nice. Co-Stars which included Rosario Dawson, Johnny Knoxville, Lara Flynn Boyle & Rip Torn, were abysmal and close to embarrassing.

It was a huge hit of course - though not as big as it's predecessor, but quite frankly it didn't deserve to be a hit, It's just another example of Hollywood treating Cinema-goers as Mindless Idiots who'll watch anything with oodles of Effects, regardless of the quality of the script.

From as far back as 2005 there's been talk of a second sequel, Personally I think This shameless Cash-in Sequel Is quite enough thank you very much

**/*****

Black Dawn (2005 Video)

Better than expected Seagal Flick *** out of *****

[6/10 · 9 February 2009]

In 'Black Dawn' a sequel to Seagal's earlier Flick 'The Foreigner' from 2 years earlier again has Seagal playing Johnathan Cold a rogue CIA Agent, this time he's undercover infiltrating a group of terrorists who plan to detonate a Nuclear Bomb over Los Angeles.

As most will know the plot in a Steven Seagal Movie is rather irrelevant as it's usually just one big plot hole from start to finish & people will moan about Seagal's weight gain, duff acting, dubbing & obvious body doubles, but to be honest those who moan have far too much time on their hands. What do you really expect when you stick a Steven Seagal film into your DVD Player??? None of him films - even his best claim to be anything other than mindless action, and as such does what it says on the tin and is enjoyable if you just want undemanding cerebral pleasure.

Co-starring various non-entities including Tamara Davies, John Pyper-Ferguson & Julian Stone, Who all actually play their roles to an acceptable standard. From the Writer behind Wesley Snipes' STV flicks '7 Seconds' & 'The Detonator', Produced by 8 People including Seagal Himself & Andrew Stevens who has dozens of Straight to Video Pictures in his repertoire, and Directed by Cinematopgrapher Alexander Gryszynski who does a pretty good job at his first shot at Directing.

All in All not the best Film you're ever likely to see, not even the best in it's genre, but it's pretty good if your expectations are low

*** out of *****

Last Action Hero (1993)

Superb Action Thriller Satire with Arnie sending himself up. ****1/2 out of *****

[9/10 · 8 February 2009]

'Last Action Hero' is one of Schwartznegger's best movies, he sends himself up perfectly in a satire of the action genre and many of his own films.

The story is every kid's dream, of being transported into an action movie starring their favourite star.

Great co-stars including Anthony Quinn,Charles Dance & F.Murray Abraham - Well written with many in-jokes and references to many other films throughout & Action packed from start to finish and from the Director of Die Hard & Predator

At the time of it's release it was projected to be a huge hit - It didn't happen - on a huge budget (of it's time) of $85M it opened to only $15.4M and made a mere $50M stateside and $137M Worldwide - The fact it didn't make the huge business anticipated was probably down to opening the Week after Monster Hit (and at the time the highest grosser of all time) Jurassic Park, so it was a case of bad timing on behalf of the Studio - Sony ended up making a $27M declared loss on 'LAH' while not being in Pluto Nash Territory that's quite hefty!

The only small complaint I have, is that at 130 Minutes, it's rather TOO long and could been 15-20 Minutes shorter.

All in all a vastly underrated and under-appreciated Action Thriller that a lot of people don't 'get'

****1/2 out of *****

Gold (1974)

Dire Stuff...Gold left me cold.

[3/10 · 5 February 2009]

'Gold' or the far more interesting title 'The Great Gold Conspiracy' is a supposed Action Adventure Thriller, I'm afraid to say It's not Thrilling and is decidedly lacking in both Action & Adventure, I haven't read the Wilbur Smith Novel on which this is based, but I have to believe it's better than this boring old tosh - there are far too many pointless scenes and the romantic subplot between Roger Moore & Susannah York is overdone to a large extent and with co stars such as Ray Milland & John Gieulgud, I expected better - they are far too good for this nonsense, the best thing about it is Elmer Bernstein's Soundtrack

Should have been so much better considering the talent involved.

3/10

Ciao Manhattan (1972)

Ciao Edie!

[10/10 · 4 February 2009]

The very sad tale of Socialite & Warhol Muse Edie Sedgwick (1943-1971) who effectively plays herself in this odd Film, It took 5 years to film what with Edie in and out of Mental institutions so it doesn't make a great deal of sense, it follows her life in a large part from the time she left Warhol's 'Factory' and what the life of excess drugs did to her sanity, Edie was such a beautiful Fragile girl - who finally got her head together and got married (her wedding day video is edited into the end of the movie) but it was too late, her husband woke up on a Morning in November 1971 and found her dead beside him, she had died in her sleep from overdosing on her medication she was 28 - 'Ciao' was released months later and was virtually ignored on it's original release, but thankfully with the Jean Stein/George Plimpton Biography from 1982 and David Weisman (Co-Producer of 'Ciao' keeping her memory alive) and the well intentioned but disappointing and critically panned 'Factory Girl' which was sadly hacked to pieces by the Weinstein's - Edie is now more famous and popular than she ever was!

RIP EDIE

10/10

Just Another Secret (1989 TV Movie)

Surprisingly Good TV Movie.

[7/10 · 4 February 2009]

I received 'Just another Secret (1989)' free in a copy of a daily newspaper, and I'd never heard of it or The Freddy Forsyth Book on which it is based, and having checked IMDb and noticed that nobody has commented on it and very few have rated it so needless to say I didn't have high expectations when I Popped it into my DVD player,

I was expecting a terrible movie, but that wasn't what I got, it wasn't great, but not too bad either - on the whole it's a typical TV Movie from the late 80's on the dying days of the Cold War, It stars Beau Bridges as Jack Grant a CIA Agent whose persuaded to go undercover in Communist East Berlin to investigate the disappearance of CIA operatives in the State - When Jack gets there he soon finds out that there is a conspiracy to plunge the World into a far deeper Cold War....

Produced by LWT for UK Channel ITV, this is filled with familiar looking British Actors who you can't put a name to..

All in All a pretty good TVM, Which isn't too bad if your expectations are low.

7/10

To the Limit (1995)

Terrible, One of the worst!

[1/10 · 4 February 2009]

Yet another stinker from PM Entertainment, this one possibly being their worst, and especially if your a Gay boy like me, there is no reason to watch, you get to see The late Anna Nicole's Huge Breasts, her ass and even her bush at various points in this 'movie' which has to be it's only selling point, Yeah I Can understand straight boys find her attractive but a movie based on her showing her tits and bush throughout - it is a very shoddy excuse for a movie, as Anna Nicole isn't an actress. All she says between stripping off is 'Oh Sh*t' or 'Oh, Fu*k' between being banged by some guy or other, The 'plot' is totally incoherent and the acting by everybody is appalling, the script is dire and the action sequences are abysmal, If your a straight guy or a gay girl, you will enjoy seeing Anna-Nicole's showing her lady parts, other than that, give it a miss, If you're wondering why Anna-Nicole never became a 'actress' then look so further, amazingly Dick & Joe of PM Entertainment hired her again for 'Skyscraper' so obviously this made some money on Anna getting her titties out

* out of *****

Murphy's Law (1986)

Surprisingly Good 80s Bronson B Movie *** out of *****

[6/10 · 3 February 2009]

Another Charles Bronson Film from the 80's produced by Golan/Globus' Cannon Group - A Studio notorious throughout the 80s for making pretty trashy Films on a low budget starring Chuck Norris, Bronson or bigger stars out of work, so my expectations were very low....

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, I know it's not going to win any awards but for what is, it's pretty good.

Bronson plays Det. Jack Murphy a Middle aged cop with relationship and drink problems whose stripper Ex-Wife and his various Friends are being bumped off by someone - The Police force thinks it's him and so he's arrested and stuck in jail with a young carjacker Arabella Mcgee (Kathleen Wilhoite) who tried to steal his car earlier on - So to clear his name and find out whose killing his buddies and why - he breaks out of Prison still handcuffed to the initially reluctant Arabella.

The Script is neither here nor there in 'Cannon Films' although the Insults Aimed at Murphy from Arabella throughout border on ridiculous and are probably the oddest ever filmed.

There's plenty of action and is directed well from the Director of 'Cape Fear' & 'Guns of Navarone' J.Lee Thompson, who made quite a few films with Bronson.

All in All not great, but far better than you would expect.

*** out of *****

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

An Enjoyable film with a troubled Production

[8/10 · 1 February 2009]

Although 'LXG' doesn't reach it's full potential, it's still a better than average Hollywood Film and a nice piece of escapism - It's loosely based on a comic book series of the same name, It's set in an alternate turn of the 20th Century, where several characters are brought together, Allan Quatermain played by Sean Connery who leads the cast along with Tom Sawyer (Shane West), Captain Nemo (Nasseeruddin Shah), Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran) Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde (Jason Flemyng) & Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend)- they are all brought together by the even more mysterious 'M' (Richard Roxburgh) who wants to bring together a talented group of individuals known as 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' who aid the World in times of need, in this case to combat the threat of the 'Fantom' who is the mastermind behind a latest threat to World peace.

'LXG' is an lavish, enjoyable actioner, The set design is magnificent and the script for the most part is very good - Where the problems begin is that Connery had major disputes with the Director Stephen Norrington to such a degree that he vowed never to make another film, Norrington disliked the Studio Interference. The character of Tom Sawyer played by Shane West was NOT originally in the script, the character was added because The studio demanded an American in the Movie and give it some appeal to young audiences, Then the Studio put pressure on the Producers to finish quickly and then the Special FX didn't go to plan and although 'LXG' Had a pretty large budget of $78M, a stonking $17M of that went to Connery, leaving him the only 'big' star the producers could afford and to finish the disasters off the terrible floods in Europe during filming ruined $7M worth of sets. Norrington has vowed NEVER to Direct another film after this troubled production.

Taking all that into consideration it's remarkable 'LXG' made it to the big screen at all, and for what it is, it's a really fun thrill ride, but it was a disappointment at the Box Office taking $66.4 at the U.S B.O & $179M Worldwide and it was critically panned (overly harsh in my opinion) with a mere 16% fresh rating Ah well, I enjoyed it and so will You! **** out of *****

Epicenter (2000)

Low Budget Junk, but watchable junk

[3/10 · 1 February 2009]

Yet another in the seemingly endless list of Movies produced by the masters of 90's trash, Richard Pepin & Joseph Merhi and their PM Entertainment Group,

'Epicentre' is part Disaster Movie and part Trashy Thriller, and doesn't really work well at either, the best scenes here are scenes edited in from other movies, you have a tram running down the street from Edie Murphy's 1997 film 'Metro' you have the subway rolling over and over taken directly from 1995's 'Money Train' and other scenes taken directly from 1994's 'Speed'.

For a film set around an Earthquake hitting L.A. - it's well past half way in the movie that that disaster happens along with predictable cheesy FX - but considering the budget Dick and Joe usually work with, they're not too bad.

The worst part of Epicentre is like all 'PM' Productions, is the atrocious acting, it's headlined by Traci Lords a former hardcore porn star whose biggest claim to fame is starring in various porno shoots while still underage at just 17, she has since moved on to B Movie land, and doesn't convince in the slightest as a FBI agent, Maybe if this was a porno and she'd take her panties off half way through to ease the boredom - but no, i'm afraid not, Her co star is Gary Daniels an English (though sounding South African) Kickboxing champion turned 'actor' a sort of low rent 'Van Damme' who is one of the worst actors in living memory who somehow has appeared in close to 50, Trashy B Movies over the course of 20 years.. HOW??... with not a single one making it's way to a Movie Theater near you.. what a surprise! The only 'Big' name is Jeff Fahey.. when I say 'big' name - He has a face you recognise - but you can't remember or care what his name is.

Mediocre,By-the-numbers but Watchable enough trash - but It's a rip-off of so many better films it leaves itself rather pointless

*1/2 out of *****

Escape from New York (1981)

A Supberb Modern Classic with a great cast ***** out of *****

[10/10 · 31 January 2009]

'Escape From New York' is set in the near future (well... 1997), In a crime-ridden United States that has turned Manhattan Island in New York City into a Maximum Security Prison, Former Soldier and Legendary Fugitive 'Snake' Plissken (Kurt Russell) is given just 24 hours to find the President of the United States (Donald Pleasance)who has been captured by the inmates after 'Air Force One' crashes on the Island.

Review:- Escape from NY is one of the best films of all time, which has been often imitated but never bettered or even equalled, The cast is top notch with stars such as Lee Van Cleef,Donald Pleasence, Issac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton & Ernest Borgnine. it is by far Russell's best film and he fits the role of 'Snake' with ease, a role he wasn't first or even second choice to play, The studio at the time preferred Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones as at the time Russell was deemed too lightweight after numerous forgettable Disney Flicks, thankfully though Carpenter refused and Russell was cast.

'Escape' was a huge hit, it opened in 1981 to positive reviews and made $25.2M on it's original release and $50M Worldwide on a budget of only $6M.

This among various other modern classics such as 'Assault On Precinct 13 (1976), Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and The Thing (1982) solidified Carpenter's reputation as one of the best Filmmakers of all time, it's sad that in the years since he's become synonymous with trash, inferior sequels & remakes, including an unnecessary sequel to this 15 years later in 'Escape from L.A' (1996) because at the time Carpenter was having a tough time after numerous flops, and sadly, L.A. was no different, it was panned on it's original release for being inferior and it tanked taking only half it's budget.

I'm sad to report that a Remake of New York is on it's way in the foreseeable future, which was to star bland actor Gerard Butler before he dropped out, my advice...DON'T BOTHER, think of new ideas John - stop tarnishing your Originals with trashy PG-13 sequels!

***** out of *****

Firetrap (2001)

Hilariously Terrible

[3/10 · 29 January 2009]

Another stinker from the PM Entertainment group, and thankfully one of their last.

'Firetrap' is effectively a very low budgeted remake of 'The Towering Inferno' I don't mind Low budget B Movies as long as some effort is put into them - there is no effort whatsoever in 'Firetrap' is stars Dean'Superman'Cain, who is an absolutely terrible actor, seriously he has all the acting abilities of a porn star, but he turns out to be the best actor here and that's saying something, the rest are just a bunch of no hopers given the boot from various daytime soaps. The special FX are just rubbish, shots showing the burning building from the ground are among the worst I've ever seen, the fire looks like someone scribbled an orange pen at the front of the camera. on top of that there is not one character you actually root for - you hate everyone and hope they all die well before the 90 minutes are up.

The script is embarrassing - The red herring's are signposted well in advance, someone else has mentioned this but 'The scene where the janitor fights off a blazing fire engulfing the building with his broom....hilarious, or same janitor going into a room marked 'Hazardous Material', Were these scenes supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? somehow I doubt it

The one good point and only one good point was there was a fair bit of action in amongst the daytime soap dramatics which kept my attention, but so little care was given to everything in the film, I can't recommend it - Watch 'The Towering Inferno' instead

3/10

National Treasure (2004)

National Treasure (2004) **** out of *****

[8/10 · 29 January 2009]

Nicholas Cage plays Benjamin Gates, who comes from a long line of treasure hunters, as a young boy he was told by his grandfather (Christopher Plummer) of treasure hidden by the founding fathers, somewhere in the Country, now an older man, he sets out to find it, along with friend Riley (Justin Bartha) and Abigail (Diane Kruger) a curator at the National archives who becomes initially an unwilling participant and his sceptical Father (Jon Voight) but one of his former associates (Sean Bean) is after the treasure for himself and Ben has to stop him, and on top of that the FBI is on his trail led by Harvey Keitel.

Review:- Yes, I Agree 'National Treasure' is silly and absolutely preposterous - but that's what makes it such a great film, one that the entire family can enjoy - It is effectively Disney capitalising on 'The Da Vinci Code' and while the script might not stand up to much scrutiny, It's a joy to watch from start to finish and despite being over 2 hours long, you're never bored and looking at your watch, you're totally engrossed in the Film, no matter how many times you see it,

Director & Co-Producer Jon Turteltaub whose more well known for schmaltz (1993's Cool Runnings, 1995's While you were sleeping and 1996's Phenomenon) wisely keeps the schmaltz out for the most part and does a great job cranking up the tension.

The FX and set design are very good,without being OTT - so the $100M Budget was well spent, and was a very well deserved box office hit.

Stop bashing this movie and let your inner child come through.

followed by National Treasure: Book of secrets - which opened much larger and finished with a far higher gross, which is rare in sequels (they tend to open larger and finish smaller) so a second sequel is on the way.

**** out of *****

CSI: NY (2004–2013)

Great TV show! ***** out of *****

[10/10 · 27 January 2009]

It just goes to show, how successful the Original CSI was to have two other spin off's - Miami and NY, while still going strong itself, I prefer Miami & Las Vegas to this purely because I find Grissom & Horatio, that little more likable than Mac & The plot's of NY are rather too far fetched but they're minor complaints, on the whole it's another well made, acted, scripted & thrilling series with beautiful people catching killers in style.

it's now in it's 5th series and still going strong

It also goes to show there's no shame in failing Hollywood Stars turning to TV.

Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996)

Entertaining light hearted fluff

[27 January 2009]

I'm a sucker for detective shows so I love this show, I was too young when it first aired to watch it, so I catch the reruns and it's probably not for my generation - But I just love the way that Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) works out who killed who and why. Yeah I know it's highly improbable, a series about an old lady Mystery Writer and wherever she goes in the whole world, somebody ends up dead, to a degree It's a wonder she's got any friends left but what show isn't silly to a degree whether it be 'Diagnosis Murder' about a Murder solving Doctor or the underrated and cancelled too soon 'Father Dowling Mysteries' about a mystery solving Priest and Nun sidekick among many others - but it's just so likable and lighthearted fun when your having a bad day, and a world away from CSI.

The Simpsons (1989– )

One of the Greatest TV Shows of all time......

[10/10 · 27 January 2009]

I love this show, I was 4 years old when it stated and I've grown up with Homer,Marge,Bart,Lisa & Maggie,

But after 20 years now and a Disappointing Movie it's starting to show it's age, the 22 minute stories which were sweet and believable are now becoming far fetched and nigh on ridiculous, but it's still one of the best shows on TV. I just miss the standard of the earlier years, and hope that they don't milk it until it gets axed for falling viewers, it deserves to go out on a high.

10/10 season 1 to 11

7/10 season 11 onwards

Deal or No Deal? (2005–2023)

Who would have guessed that picking boxes at random would be so addictive?

[27 January 2009]

When 'Deal on no deal' was first mentioned in the National press before it started in 2005, they were very sceptical as was I, about how a 45 minute show, with just a contestant picking red boxes at random would be much of a hit, but here we are close to 4 years later, the show which stated in the Netherlands is now practically everywhere in the world very much like BBC's The Weakest Link,

There is no skill to this game - and I wish Noel Edmonds would stop banging on about....'How well you're playing the game' & 'psychological game of cat and mouse with the banker'

IT'S PICKING BOXES FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!

But I have to say I, like many others am addicted

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

Visually stunning & very well made ****1/2 out of *****

[9/10 · 27 January 2009]

Plot:- Set in the late 30's, In NYC as famous Scientists are disappearing from all over the world, and the City is attacked by giant robots, Ditzy newspaper reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltow) seeks out the help of her former Boyfriend Sky Captain (Jude Law) whose a leader of a band of flying mercenaries, so the two investigate the case, and as the City is attacked once more, Sky's partner Dex (Giovanni Ribsi) manages to find out the source of these attacks, and so begins an adventure in search of the Evil Mastermind behind the scheme who is hellbent on creating an Utopia and bringing an end to the current World in which we live.

Co-starring Angelina Jolie,Michael Gambon and the late Laurence Olivier.

Review:- Sky Captain & the World of tomorrow is quite possibly the most Visually stunning Film I've ever seen, everything is based upon the art deco period and looks beautifully made, and there's so many references to many great Film from the ground breaking Metropolis (1927) to Citizen Kane (1941) & King Kong (1933). what's incredibly to know is that EVERYTHING apart from the actors was made on blue screen (similar to Sin City)- but this is where the problem begins, as none of the actors work well with nothing but a blue screen behind them, They're all very wooden, especially Jude law, whose a cute guy sure but he's an average actor at best and can't carry a Film - which is what he has to do here, Because of the Blue screen effects meaning there was no set design the budget is a lot lower than you would expect at 'only' $40M which is much lower than most of Hollywood's output, but even at such a low production cost it still couldn't break even at the U.S Box office despite opening in 1st place, it finished with a disappointing $37.8M and pretty much flopped in the UK opening in 6th place and taking just £1.3M In it's entire run....this was very sad and might discourage Filmmakers going the same route, but I think the theatrical disappointment had much to do with Jude Law in the lead, had it been an American Actor or even a better British actor, I'm sure it would have done far better.

****1/2 out of *****

Humanoids from the Deep (1996 TV Movie)

''I'm gonna date your daughter, I didn't kill loads of monsters for nothing''.......** out of *****

[4/10 · 26 January 2009]

This 1996 B-Movie legend Roger Corman TV Movie was a remake to his earlier movie of the same name 16 years earlier,

It's absolutely ridiculous of course the plot goes something like this..... A bunch of death row prisoners are injected with a special gene by the military which turn them into Half-Man Half-Salmon Monsters in rubber suits I last saw on a 50's Monster movie, who terrorise a small town because some shady locals are dumping some nasty stuff into the sea, which these monsters feed on.

They kill the men.. but have sex with the woman and stick them in some sort of slimy cocoon. There is one hilarious scene in which a woman gives birth to a baby monster a-la Alien chestbuster and the locals try to batter it with baseball bats as it runs through a bar....Classic!!! The acting & FX are what you would expect from a movie called 'Humanoids from the deep'

** out of *****

Nowhere to Land (2000 TV Movie)

Good TVM *** out of *****

[6/10 · 26 January 2009]

This is one of many disaster TVM's, this time it's a jet liner heading from Sydney to L.A - It starts with a man boarding a Plane and leaving a bomb on board before faking illness and departing before take-off, why? because his ex-wife is on board along with her new husband who works for the Airline company in question, so it's time for revenge.

It's full of clichés from every single movie of it's genre, but the acting is pretty good by all especially Soap actor Jack Wagner & Ernie Hudson (Winston from Ghostbusters)

This TVM was clearly low budget - it uses footage from Hollywood Movie 'Executive Decision' for various scenes showing the outside of the aircraft, but the budget it does have, the Director (whose a veteran of these kind of TVM's) uses it very well & he tries to crank up the tension as best he can.

All in All, you've seen this before, better on a larger budget, but for what it is, it's pretty good