Kaiya Reviews (5)

Troy (2004)

Great Film. BANA was FANTASTIC!

[23 May 2004]

I was one of those people who had been eagerly anticipating the release of Troy for many many months and I thought that I would thoroughly enjoy it, and for the most I did. To be honest, the screenplay wasn't totally true to the original tale but hey, how many people are really gonna have read the Iliad? It was a very good adaption, very 'edge-of-the-seat' stuff there. The war, though long, was extremely exciting, though not for the faint hearted. I had never seen anyone get their throat sliced so graphically before I saw it, but some very good choreography there. The fight between Hector and Achilles is probably writing itself into cinematic history. It was superb and very emotional. Bana's performance gave me a huge lump in my throat. The costuming is very good, Bob Ringwood did a top job with that. The music was a bit disappointing though. It was quite monotonous and not exciting enough.

Now the more important aspects, however, it wasn't, surprisingly, the main cast members that did the most fantastic jobs. Brad Pitt made a good Achilles and I think the arrogance made a very nice touch to the character. Brian Cox was a superbly evil Agamemnon, I was sitting through most of the film wanting to spear the guy! I was though, very disappointed with Orlando Bloom. He doesn't seem to be getting any roles in which he doesn't play a softly spoken, lovelorn wimp and it really would be great if someone could give him a role which doesn't give him this stereotype and doesn't focus solely on his ability to fire arrows.

The supporting cast were absolutely fantastic. Peter O'Toole as Priam, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Rose Byrne as Briseis (who I actually think is the more beautiful) and Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus. Great acting there from them all. Now I come to my last few points. Although her role was very small Saffron Burrows was super. She played Andromache, wife of Hector and she really showed off her ability to totally capture the audiences attention.

And of course Eric Bana as Hector. He absolutely made the film for me. He was nothing less that totally fantastic. You could tell that he put his all into his role and he created such emotion within it. I can do nothing else but rave about his performance. Definitely the star of the show and if he continues to act like that, even with his policy of 'one movie a year' then he's going to get himself written down as one of the greats.

Ned Kelly (2003)

Not all it's cracked up to be

[19 April 2004]

To be honest the film didn't live up to my expectations. The fact that it was historically inaccurate didn't really bother me too much, it was that it seemed to be dragged out. It took a long time for the film to get meaty really and I kept waiting for something to happen. Though the main attractions in general were Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom I thought that Laurence Kinlan and Phil Barantini were quite brilliant, especially their death scenes - I shed a bucketful of tears.

Ned Kelly is one of those movies that I could only sit through once. It was a nice idea, good acting but a bit of a drag at times which is a shame.

Kate & Leopold (2001)

A little gem

[19 April 2004]

I have to say that I thought Hugh Jackman would totally biased my opinion on the film because I'm so in love with him :o) but I was pleasantly surprised. The plot, however impossible, was actually made believeable. The cast were fantastic. Meg Ryan at her usual best, Hugh Jackman in fine form and a brilliant supporting cast - especially Liev Schreiber (Stuart) and Breckin Meyer who plays her brother. For all of you rom-com sceptics out there I'd give this a go.

Though at times it can be a little cheesy (aren't they all a bit?) it's a feel good movie - great for curling up on the sofa when you're babysitting - just make sure you have some chocolate to go with it!

Quincy M.E. (1976–1983)

Why ever do we watch it?

[16 July 2003]

For me Quincy was more laughable than a serious series, simply for the reason that Jack Klugman or should I say Quincy, exaggerated at almost every opportunity. The shouting, the OTT hand gestures and also the fact that he thought he was funny when he so blatantly was irritating. He fancied himself as a bit of a ladies man, which is OK but do viewers really want to see a middle aged, 50 - odd guy hitting on beautiful young girls? Why do I watch it then? Well, I don't really but when I do it's purely for the comedy, laughing at the fact that the show, however lovable, is awfully bad!

Jaws: The Revenge (1987)

Definitely a miss

[15 July 2003]

I think that the whole of Hollywood was really trying to milk the whole Jaws pizzazz that was brought about by the first film which will remain one of the best scary movies in cinematic history. However, with Jaws 2 coming just up to expectations this is more than can be said for Jaws 3-D and the fourth and final picture in the series. The shark in jaws 3-D was laughably fake and the plot in jaws , the revenge somewhat comical. I mean, Ellen Brody thinks that this shark has some kind of vendetta against her family after her husband dies of a heart attack brought on by his fear of sharks and after her youngest son, Sean is killed by a great white whilst out at sea at a buoy. For crying out loud, why didn't the family just move to another costal place if they were that fond of the sea. Why, oh, why did they insist on staying at a place where 4 great white sharks have hunted and killed a multitude of people in the last 20 odd years? Surely that's enough to make you never want to go into the sea again, particularly if the population of great white sharks is after you and your family... Make up your own minds about it but my advice, give it a miss.