alan-potter-1 Reviews

Corpse Bride (2005)

Nowhere near as good as Nightmare before Christmas

[6/10 · 22 October 2005]

I have been looking forward to seeing this film for some time, what with all the teasers, etc, and I'm a great fan of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. But this film fails to deliver anything near as entertaining or witty as NBC. The music is almost instantly forgettable and I'd be more willing to believe that Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the songs rather than Danny Elfman (and that is not a compliment). Frequently, the words were difficult to make out and what I could hear sounded like lazy lyrics. And this was in a high quality cinema, not off a pirate DVD.

I went with my wife, my 8-year old son and a friend of his. The two boys were very good, although I was worried about them getting restless because of the pace of the plot, which I felt was very slow. My wife and I agreed that it had very little substance. And nowhere near as much humour as NBC.

The animation was as beautiful as ever, especially the Corpse Bride herself, but I found the almost monochromatic style in the living world irritating after a while. It was too dark or flat.

With such a fantastic line-up of actors it was a shame that their talents were not used to the best. The characters were too clichéd in my opinion.

I suppose in a way you are kept in suspense about what's going to happen in the end, but not that much. But I don't want to spoil it so I won't say exactly what happens...

SPOILER Let's just say that no rabbits are pulled out of hats...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Mostly harmless...

[7/10 · 14 May 2005]

I saw this today, along with my 13 yr old daughter. She hasn't read the books or heard the original radio series (I have) so we have different takes on it. She thought it was hilarious, I thought it was funny in parts but has obviously been modified so that it appeals more to the American market. The Vogon costumes are excellent and Marvin is awful. I saw a production of HHGTTG at the Rainbow theatre and Marvin was spot on. A camp guy in a silver suit with ridiculous epaulets who limped and sulked like a teenager. A stupid robotty thing whose only expressions were slightly shrugged shoulders and a drooping head didn't work for me. And neither did Alan Rickman. Normally I love his stuff but in this film he sounded like he wasn't interested in the role (rather than being a disinterested cyborg) and was doing it as a very bad voice-over.

Slartibartfast was good.

Before I put the spoilers in, I would just say that it's okay as a film but not much more. I did laugh out loud occasionally but that's about it.

<< SPOILER ALERT!!!>> First gripe: WTF is the point of the visit to the planet with the church on? The book didn't need it, and apart from having Mr. Malkovitch added to the cast list to add to attendance, I could see no point. They're obviously hoping to do a sequel but even so...

Who the hell was the women hanging around with the Vogons who ended up snogging Zaphod? Why did there have to be a romance between Arthur and Trillian/Trish? It really didn't matter (after all - he only talked to her for about ten minutes at a party before Zaphod nicked her) and the whole romance theme throughout the film was boring, hackneyed and irrelevant. Oh - and unconvincing.

Then we come to Zaphod... Was this a really low budget movie? Or did they decide to spend more money on Vogon costumes than they did on Zaphod? I thought the realisation of him was the stupidest I've seen. It just didn't work. The third arm appeared twice, the second time in the poorest quality CGI (it would have been better to get someone to stick their up his shirt) and having the head kept as a hostage was such a pathetic attempt at budget minimisation.

Valiant (2005)

Very British movie and good fun

[7/10 · 8 April 2005]

If you appreciated the Britishness of The Great Escape (ignoring Steve McQueen - oh and the Ozzie or whatever he was) and Chicken Run, this will appeal to you. With a great line-up of British actors, and a self-effacing script, this is a fun film.

It's very much set in the Dambusters/633 Squadron/Battle of Britain style of British Spunk and all the actors play along with that. There are some nice in-jokes too. I think it will appeal to all the family.

The seven out of ten, rather than a higher score, is simply because I think the scripting was a little bit lax. Had they worked a little harder they would have had a masterpiece. Here, it's at about the same level as Shark Tale, which also would have benefited from a little tightening.

Alan

Dark Star (1974)

I never realized Pinback wrote Alien!

[13 December 2004]

I first saw Dark Star about 25 years ago and have enthused about it ever since. It's definitely a movie that you've got to be in the mind for but it is funny, the music has the characteristic Carpenter style, is very hippyish in a lot of ways and the low-budget style works very well. The alien is great - apparently its feet are the ones used in "The Creature From The Black Lagoon"

It's a shame the DVD doesn't have any extras. I suppose there isn't much left lying around for them to use!

It's also incredible to think that it was only 5 years between the release of this and the release of Alien. Pinback is one of the characters in Dark Star, played by Dan O'Bannon and he is also the co-writer. Then he went on to write Alien!

Do see this film - but be in a laid-back mood when you do.

Bride & Prejudice (2004)

A more positive view

[18 October 2004]

My wife and I saw this film last night and loved it. It might have been a tad too long but then so is Pride and Prejudice. My wife is an English teacher and will be recommending the film to her pupils as a way of viewing P&P in a different way. It's a clever matching of the arranged marriages and aspirations in Indian society with the class system in Jane Austen's time.

The costumes are fantastic, the daughters stunningly beautiful, the colours are wonderful and the sets are very dramatic at times. I liked so much of the music that I'll be buying the soundtrack if they ever release one. I'll certainly be buying the DVD. Who cares about the lyrics? I never actually listened to them but just enjoyed the cadence. Anyway, the songs are supposed to be melodramatic, cheesy and sentimental.

I am not Asian, and this is (almost) my first Bollywood style film. Well, I've seen bits of Asoka but haven't quite watched it end to end yet. I'm also not usually a fan of musicals (which I think this film could be described as) but this one worked.

I would give this a 7 out of 10.