tyeve

The title of the review in Variety of this disappointing series said it perfectly: Ten Percent is "an Unnecessary Retread of the Source Material". If you watched the French original be sure to give this UK retread a pass. What's most irritating is that the only watchable character was played by Jim Broadbent. (You'll know why that's irritating if you watch the first episode. )

The Birth of Sake is something like the marriage between an art film and home movies...and not in a good way. There are a lot of arty shots, done nicely, good cinematography, but they really add nothing to the story of the making of sake.

The footage that shows sake being made is, to be kind, amateurish. Just like in home movies, where your cousins and aunts are acting a bit strange because the camera is on them, the candid shots are embarrassing and add little to the story of what the title purports to be the theme.

It's a good idea, and there's probably a good movie to be made about the exacting nature of the making of sake, but this is not that movie.

The only reason I gave this one star was because Toni Colette is in it. This is possibly the worst movie I have ever sat all the way through. As bad as it was through the length of the movie, it GOT EVEN WORSE at the end.

Why actors like Toni Colette and Richard E. Grant got involved with this piece of smarmy trash is unfathomable. Toni bravely shouldered her way through this sodden, unbelievable mess, but even she couldn't pull two stars out of me. As another reviewer noted, it like the absolute worst of mindless Hollywood pap, but the film is actually British!

Sorry, I don't mean to go on about how awful it was, but I'm still in shock from having watched it. I hope that kid never ever gets another role and, for pity's sake, can somebody please ban that writer/director from movie making?

That someone could have conceived this nonsense and then got it produced is incredible. That it actually aired on television and advertisers actually PAID TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH IT is mind boggling. This stomach-wrenching excuse for kid's programming is almost too vile to comment on. I've burned -- yes burned -- any Barney tapes that people have given my son. To find this awful programming in my library was an unpleasant surprise. And where, tell me where, do they get those smarmy kid actors? Have their parents no sense? Those kids will be on drugs before they're teenagers. Geez. The final insult is that I have to add this extra line to the review to get it on IMDb.

This movie is about swearing, smoking, drinking and gambling -- and, only incidentally, the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series. Even if you enjoy those pursuits, I can't imagine you liking it.

Maybe it's just me, but sitting around watching a bunch of losers keep losing seemed like a waste of time. The only character of interest was played by Sarah Polley. In fact, the only reason I gave this movie any stars was because of the presence of Sarah Polley. Unfortunately, she only appeared in a few too-short scenes. Any film with Sarah Polley automatically gets three extra stars from me. Three plus zero equals . . .

The script is ludicrous and might be better titled "Deus ex Machina Madness" for the number of irritating, out-of-the-blue, bizarre plot twists.

The longer I watched "Luck" the more I wondered, "What were these people thinking?" The director/writer, the producers, the funding agencies? Even Sarah -- what convinced her to waste her talent in what I found to be a very unsatisfying, almost shallow movie?

And I'm even Canadian, for chrissake! I love the legend of the 1972 series. What a waste.

I'm not a surfer, but, man, I sure wish I was. Before seeing this film, I was wary of a surfing movie made by the son of Bruce Brown, who made the famous surfing movie "The Endless Summer" something like 30 years ago. I expected that the son, Dana, would just be cashing in on his semi-famous name. But, those worries were unfounded. This documentary exudes a powerful love of and respect for the ocean. The surfing footage is unbelievable, it puts most special effects to shame, yet this is the real thing. The stunning cinematography complements the fabulous editing. I was spellbound. It's not often that I come away from watching a movie feeling exhilaration, awe, amazement. One word of advice -- watch it on the biggest, best screen you can find.

Is this the ultimate explosions movie or what? Kaos may not be much of a director but, shucks, he sure knows how to blow things up. Although the film is indeed as bad as the other reviewers have stated, I perversely found it enjoyable. Kinda like,: "Another explosion. Oh, man, this is too much!"

My ratings? Script 1/10; Directing 1/10; Title 0/10; Acting 3/10; Identifying Vancouver as Vancouver 6/10; Explosions unrateable! Balanced and blended rating at 1.77, I rounded it up to 2, then threw in another star for unintentional humour. Total = 3. Is it worth seeing? Probably not, but if you know Vancouver well enough to recognize the locations, and you can rent the DVD for a couple of bucks, and you have sufficient quantities of alcohol on hand. . .

I loved the first part of this movie. It was beautifully shot, with generally good acting, set in a country full of stories we in the western world know little of. But then something goes awry. That something is called "the script".

We're first introduced to the cyclo driver and his family, and are given a fascinating taste of life in HCM City. It's when the movie begins introducing shadowy, poorly wrought, cardboard-cutout characters that it loses me. The script moves from interesting, maybe even captivating, to confusing and ridiculous. The unbelievability of plot events becomes irritating.

My two biggest gripes are the script/story (by the director, Anh Hung Tran, and Trung Binh Nguyen) and the acting by the good/bad guy ("Poet") played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai. His acting was a bad take on old Peter Lorre movies. Think of Lorre in "Casablanca" - white suit, cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I found the Poet character unsympathetic, grating, and unbelievable. I cheered when he finally buys the farm. I had been secretly hoping for a meteorite to crash to earth, destroying the whole lot of them.

I have noticed that other reviewers have commented on this film being set against the background of noisy, active HCM City. Well, "background" is an understatement. There are only furtive glimpses of the city. I was longing for more views of HCM City and its life, and fewer interiors peopled with unsympathetic characters.

I await a Vietnamese movie with the production values found in this film. Meanwhile, I'm launching a campaign to see that Anh Hung Tran's license is revoked.