RusselleBell

We have,as a world of cinema goers,endured a truly massive tidal wave of remakes.Such glistening examples would be Bewitched,The stepford wives etc etc..But when it was announced there would be a new Kong in town,we understandably took a deep breath in. Knowing Peter Jackson was driving this tanker didn't make me feel more at ease either.A man who has come from god awful B movie hell,through the door way into mega multi million dollar nirvana,is the ugly duckling story of this decade. The cast made up of an uncertain batch of starlets also made me feel uneasy. But being wrong and being shown whats what,is the beauty of a truly well made film. I found everyone just perfect in this casting.If you can found even the slightest faults with your lead characters,then you know it isn't going to sit well.But in fairness,Jack Black has finally come into his own. This is his time it would seem with the last run of movies. I guess he has served a long tour of duty as stupid sidekick and comedy relief in so many films,they gave in and let him run with it!

Naomi Watts is a personal favourite of mine.A much underrated actress who again,has served her time and found some films that at least give a chance to showcase what she can do.If you have a broad film mind and can tolerate wishy washy movies with no direction..then you should check out Mulholland Drive.Her finest work to date in my humble. The alloted time of around 3 hours,is daunting.But i would say it carries this time perfectly from the humble beginnings,tracing our characters plight and what brought them all together,into the dark ,one time chartered island where we meet our true lead.

The CGI is the very best you;l see.The mind blowing Jurassic Park,gave us something new and believable with real life dinosaurs.This however,will just blow the lid off what has come before it. Every frame is pure delight.It doesn't rely on its effects so much As works alongside,but obviously work on this expensive scale does occasionally pull you into the CGI darkside from time to time. It isn't perfect and thats why it misses out on a 10/10. And what makes it ride a 9???? the ending,which i wont hint at.Suffice to say i thought it was more an afterthought in my eyes.

Its hard to say if a films worth a ticket admission these days,what with a slurry of terrible remakes and badly written comedy etc.But this is def your moneys worth and then some.Pure entertainment.

I've read a few of the previous reviews,and can only assume a majority who favourably rated it,either haven't seen nearly enough films,or more than likely are around there teen years and thus end that explanation.

Its truly terrible for all the reasons Hollywood is mocked for its machine like output of predictable dirge for the teenage masses.We have a collage of all the worst recent horror flicks made into a brand new,but even more awful slash flick. I my mind there are a few elements that make a half decent horror film. The key element is a soundtrack that fits the bill. Now that doesn't mean a breath taking film score by some high ranking composer like Thomas Newman for example.It just needs some depth and ideally not the 2 dozen clichés this film used,juts like so many others. The all so over used "its behind you,but it isn't really" directing with the totally unnecessary orchestra strike...its cheap and overused.

The characters are all truly shallow Orange county wannabes..Dawsons creek reject material and straight off a page of a catalogue 100%. No script comes close to defining its pointless cliché ridden prose.

The dumb-ass "im off to college,shaking the dust off my shoes of this cruddy town" blah blah and the split of the beautiful on screen couple. Plllllllllllllleeease no more..its killing me and the audience. The 90's success of scream and i know what you did last summer,was it was the very first run of films with a slight twist in them. Not like we're talking a leap in terms of film making.I'm being honest and will say they both got by in this crowded genre by the skin of there teeth.Byt there were marginally better setup than this.

There are few films id switch off and fewer still id walk out on.But i just couldn't take the full 90 minutes.You know when a films bad cos you clock watch all the time. Our "bad guy" character is no where near on par with anything or anyone who's come before.We have no real fear of him.We know its him from the get go and the mystery unfolds into a "i don't care" scenario.

If your a bit simple and easily pleased,then i feel you wont be reading this review or any other.You'l probably have an IQ of around 40 and a small humble vocabulary. Watch it and leave the theatre that bit thicker and more dead inside.You were warned.

Having been a true fan of the lampoons series before it went astray with banal titles of the last decade. This for me was the last true great in the series. Hughes has created Griswold fait accompli with a Christmas setting for our hapless working class hero. This film defines what Chevy Chase does best,and thats to be just himself and nothing less. The type of comedy here is certainly "family",but never suffers for its rating or toned down puns.Anything more crude or harsh would spoil what is perfect comedy. Chase brings his slapstick,clumsy by lovable Clark Griswold to life with every dry remark and sly retort. The finest display of this can be found near the films end,when he vents his disgust about his scrooge-like boss scrimping on the yearly bonus. Finally we have all the Griswold clan under one roof,and who better than cousin Eddie(Quaid)to sum up everything thats truly wrong about having relatives over during the holidays!!!!. You cant help but feel enormous sympathy for Clark and Ellen,enduring both sets of parents,as they torment each other with their little digs and snipes. An awesome comedy moment has to be Clarks grease assisted power sled scene with the make shift sled.Utter class A comedy for the whole family without loosing its grip. I don't think Chase has ever bettered this outing since and its a shame because we are all aware of what he can do when he's allowed to be CC.

For what seems like another romantic comedy,using the witty uncomfortable Firth as our Hugh Grant substitute,is actually rather cold in places. All these films have a warmth about them in some small way that acts as a backdrop in which to snuggle up and feel "involved" with its characters. But in reality,we don't actually care too much about Firth in this film. His rigid clichéd,English Hugh Grant act doesn't quite wash. While Grant makes this type of stumbling fool his own,Firth comes across as plain un-nervy at best. Heather Graham is the only merit cast wise.A nice touch of contrast in characters and obviously this was the entire premise of the film to have too totally polar personalities collide. Grahams eccentric wildness keeps us attracted and drawn but we're not in this for the supporting role.Her ability to snap in and out of a unstable fruitcake into a potential girlfriend,puts even more pressure on Firth's character. Enter Driver...for me she remains an underrated actress with a tainted CV that sadly doesn't explore what she really can do. She has been marred with too many girlfriend roles and this one has broken the camels back. What realism we got in "Skylar" in goodwill hunting,is a cold distant relative in Hope springs.. Yes,she's supposed to add the slightly cruella de ville element to this comedy..but all too well i feel and this separates the comedy with a knife at times.

On release,it was pretty much forgotten and just as well,as neither Graham,Firth or Driver will want this blazzened across their CV..maybe someone can painlessly erase this shortsighted film and replace it with another empty romantic farce???

As a fan of Driver's work,I'm drawn to watch pretty much anything she does. The best examples of her work are seen in the Governess and The circle of friends that helped launch her into the hearts of the American audience across the pond. But trading on that affection has meant selling your soul it would seem. At the time of filming,Duchovny himself was at his hottest property moment in his career.Not wishing to short sight his possible career path,but the massive reception for the X-files had also bought him some film leeway. So here we have the base for an excruciating indulgence. What we have in this film is basically smulchtz.Its a sickly sweet affair,playfully insulting your lighter side in the name of romantic comedy. Duchovny's wife has sadly departed but,..no wait!!..it turns out Driver needs a new heart..and ..er..yes she receives Duchovnys wife's's used thumper. Bring on the first plucked heart string at this point. Now as you well know,nothing in Hollywood romantic comedy comes easy. Theirs got to be the mechanism of a joke that propels us though this charade. You would clearly need to be gagged and bound in a box not to see where this is going.Its a case of "how will she tell him"..."how will he react"..oh i wonder.. The supporting cast is tastefully sublime,simmering away in the background.Belushi serves as a side comedic role as the best friends husband.In 1 or 2 scenes he could have taken the film himself and ordered everyone off the set i dare say!!!!. The quirky off beat manner that makes Driver so alluring and attractive to watch,is at least,present. Duchnoy however,seems to be as hollow as ever and rivalling Keanu Reeves in the wooden furniture impressions. It will appeal to a soft female audience who thrive on these heart warming,slightly too sickly for consumption films,but the average male will have hanged himself by the first 20 minutes(optimistic prediction).

I have to admit,i was 10 years old when this film arrived to rent on englands shores. I was captivated by the posters,trailers and talk of this film. Of all the childhood movies that capture youth,fun,excitement and the fairytale adventure element.This film seems to do it all by the truck load. I also love the fact it captured the 80's so well with the fashion,hairstyles and music,so even now it feels not so dated,but charming for its decade. Rather interestingly,the actors involved have nearly all come into a rather colourful on/off,or non existent career path since this film. Was it a curse??? OK,so the adult actors seemed to have made it unscathed,but practically all the child stars have become wayward shadows of the movie trade. So sad seeing as this film is most definitely a firm fave of people in my generation.It never fails to deliver that excitement even now and despite its age,first time viewers much the same age as me,are instantly drawn into the world of adventure seeking boys.

We all played these games as youngsters.You might have been a pirate or a young romantic.Cops and robbers or cowboys and indians.Its this imagination thats stunningly played out in a fantastic movie. Theirs actually little to fault with this film.If your honest,it would be shortsighted and cruel to judge such a film on critique applied to weightier titles.It is after all,a childs film forst and foremost,and with that said...it lives on inside me for all the smiles it brought me as a 10 year old boy all too full of his own flighty dreams and ambitions.

This is simply Scott's finest hour. There are a sheer plethora of futuristic films with vision. Films which crudely grope into a possible time ahead,when perhaps a post apocalyptic era is scattered with cliché upon cliché and often miss the whole point. What Ridley Scott achieved with this film,is an entirely possible scenario. It really does feel like a science fiction novel brought to life,but not so much as its derivative penned by Phillip K Dick(do androids dream of electric sheep?). Its a grimy,violent world inhabited by the sick,lower class,villainous second citizens who haven't quite made the grade for the off world colonies. We have a true smelting pot of nationalities.The heavy eastern references within china town like inner cities is particularly poignant.

This film also sees Ford in perfect casting.Theirs a rye charm that Ford has that no other actor could fake or fill quite as effortlessly. Its a mixed review depending on what version you have seen. For me,the directors cut is simply too cut. I preferred the audience friendly screening which had the wonderful narration. The finest moment with this narration has to be the moments described by Batty in his dying eyes and the summing up by Ford of this man/machines passion and love for life.. No other sci-fi futuristic film has ever made the grade before or since in my humble opinion. It captured the raw smells and light of a brutal future scarily depicted in films or even so well. From the chase scene with Zora to the flybys over the city capturing a stunning skyline,chimneys and skyscrapers in one shot. This is my favourite movie of all time for all the reasons above and many more i could effortlessly type all day and night.

as title..it could well have been made for TV in respective of its flow. In fact,an episode of the X-files could have covered this topic in one swoop with better suspense and more depth. So far,not entirely flattering seeing this cast alone should hold much more promise and depth,but sadly it truly misses the mark. Not wishing to submit a spoiler,but the "reveal" is all too soon and theirs no real guesswork or involvement for the paying audience. Films don't have to have complex twists,the all too favourite trend thats spiralling out of control,but need that something,that keeps bottoms on seats. The subject matter and idea are sound.But this lacks substance. If it was a judgment on performances alone,then all actors score high and the feeling is as true as its going to get with such lofty script and thinly veiled direction. This one falls easily into the "wait till it ships on DVD" section.

there's a fair amount of mercy you can give a festive film,purely out of sympathy. Yes there emoromous fun and no ones truly judging your work under this banner.It appears you can delve into this money making genre relatively unscathed regardless of its commercial outcome. This appears to be somewhat more risky for Affleck as he's already established as a fine young actor of the new generation of brat pack wannabees. Gandalfini truly makes this film worth watching alone.You are totally in his shoes from the get go and every reaction is shared. Affleck however portrays a slightly irritating character whos stretching your ability to feign cringing,with his off beat comedy tempo. It def feels an uneasy test bed for his comedy side..perhaps more forgivable than his cameo in Jay and silent bob,that only a Christmas film can truly waver.

Without doubt,this film is entirely Prochnows own.I feel that without his presence,it would have been nothing more than a thin washed out concept. Prochnow brings a unique character portrayal that helps define an otherwise weak and misguided film full of colourful "bending of biblical script". Moore is at her most naive and unscathed during this period of her career and this lends itself to not only the character,but her on screen allure. Sadly,Moore was never truly destined it seems to follow a film path which would include such work.i love this kind of suspense/thriller and feel its an early prelude to Shyamalan's work of the present day,but lacking the critical pace and twist that elevates such films into the topten.