funnypage Reviews

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

This is very, very British.

[13 April 2004]

In fact, it's the most british film i've seen in long, long time. More british than any of Richard Curtis' offerings, more british than even Harry Potter. The sense of place is strong in Shaun of the Dead. Possibly that could be an alienating feature, but in truth i loved it. Well done to all concerned.

It's also very funny, in a way that relies a lot on delivery and context. It's not quoteable, in that respect; the humour's difficult to relate to people who weren't there, but it's very funny on the screen. You'll just have to trust those of us who have seen it.

Despite that, it gets quite dark towards the end, and there are one or two lump-in-the-throat moments to go alongside the many edge-of-the-seat moments. This is very definitely a spoof, but it kind of works quite well as a Zombie film in its own right, here and there.

Also, i loved seeing Jessica Stevenson pop up here and there. Any chance of a Jess-centred sequel?

Intermission (2003)

I can't tell whether i'm being hard on this film or not...

[19 September 2003]

...i mean, i enjoyed it thoroughly, and i would definitely recommend it as a wonderful way to spend an evening, but sometimes it seemed like it couldn't quite accomplish everything it wanted to (or tried to).

It's very funny, that's a cert. The performances are wonderful right across the board, and the dialogue's rarely less than excellent. Everyone plays their parts to perfection - it's a wonderful cast, and they're all on top form. It's the director's first feature, as far as i know, an he handles it competently enough, keeping things moving and flashing back and forth between the large cast with a good sense of timing and an instinct for piquing the viewer's interest.

The thing that bugs me is the one aspect of the film that i'd felt certain of before i watched it -- the writing. Mark O Rowe's an excellent writer, but it seems in places that he sells a few characters short (especially when things get frantic towards the end). There were a few storythreads that i felt got a little short-changed in the rush to resolution. Having said that, there were tiny moments studded all through the film that back-handedly evoked genuine emotion. It was skillfully done, and in those small moments you knew you were watching the work of some very talented people, certainly not least of which was the writer. it's definitely a very, very good film, but i think if it had been allowed to end in a just ever-so-slightly messier way, it could have been a great one.

Anyway, i'm nitpicking. if you see it you'll enjoy it.

Oh, and i tried not to let this influence me too much, but I deeply, deeply fancy Kelly Mc Donald, so as far as i'm concerned, she's a serious plus point for this flick. I wish she could have used her real accent in the film...

The Cassidys (2001– )

Not worth it.

[1 August 2003]

The most unapologetically apalling crime against television there has ever been or will ever be. Shameless Friends rip-off that'll make you cry. Absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever. Run away from it. As fast as you can.

The Commitments (1991)

"I'm sorry you doubt me, Brother Rabbitte."

[1 August 2003]

If there was no other reason to watch this film, you could still watch it for the music. The band is superb, and would be worth the price of admission (or rental) alone. It'll have you dancing in front of your telly. No question.

Fortunately though, there's plenty of other reasons to see it, such as... (deep breath) the snappy, witty dialogue, the wonderful performances (musical and otherwise), the warm but insightful writing, the tremendously powerful direction, the brilliant chemistry of the actors in the band etc, etc, etc...

This is one hell of a film.

Also, i don't know if Joey "The Lips" Fagin was lying through his teeth about the rest of his exploits, but he could play the trumpet, couldn't he?

Bachelors Walk (2001–2003)

At Last!

[31 July 2003]

It's about time the Irish public had some successful home-grown comedy to call their own, and Bachelor's Walk is it. Okay, so it's not perfect. It's certainly not the insightful study of boom time Ireland that some people claimed it was. What it is though, is charming, witty, light-hearted and deeply Irish, and in the context of other Irish sit-coms like the Cassidys and Upwardly Mobile that hopelessly ape foreign styles and get it all so terribly wrong, I don't blame Ireland for falling head-over-heels in love with this little gem.

It's got its flaws, of course. The three affable, jobless wasters that the programme centres on didn't, for the longest time, seem to have any discernable means of paying for their easy-going, coffee-bar lifestyle in Dublin city centre. It doesn't quite manage to dodge the veneer of smugness that characterised much of nineties Ireland, and if I'd encountered some of the representations of rural Ireland that this programme made in a foreign sit-com, I'd have been pretty offended.

Despite all that, the writing is witty, and the direction superb. This programme, as I've said, is deeply Irish, but more specifically still, it's clearly in love with Dublin. It makes the city come to life around the characters - makes it a character in itself. More than any other single feature though, the performances carry the piece. The characters are all wonderfully written as likable bums, but the actors bring them to life with a wonderful chemistry and a magnificent shared charisma.

To outside eyes, there's probably nothing too groundbreaking about this admittedly charming but fairly unassuming little comedy/drama, but to anybody from Ireland who's seen the many missed opportunities that have characterised the recent history of our comedy output, this is something to see. I hope it's just the beginning. Here's to opening the floodgates!

(Okay, okay, so with RTE running the show, that mightn't seem likely, but a guy can hope, can't he?)

Cracker (1993–1996)

Cracking stuff (sorry!).

[31 July 2003]

It's impossible to overstate how classy this programme is. The cast are uniformly superb, Jimmy Mc Govern's writing is by times disturbing and violent, by times deeply compassionate, and the overall tone of the piece is dark and moody, but with just enough ascerbic humour to lighten the weight.

Coltrane is excellent here, but he's spoiled also; he's been given one of the best-written roles in TV history, but he portrays Fitz with effortless panache. No easy thing given the complexity of the character. He's an almost supernaturally gifted psychologist, but he can't understand his wife and son; he's capable of real understanding and compassion, but is an inveterate user of people despite himself.

The supporting cast are excellent, and those actors brought in to play "villains of the week" almost always hold their own. You'll cry when, at the end of "To Say I Love You", the young stutterer realises he'll never be able to say the things to his girlfriend that he wants to say. Robert Carlyle's Albie in "To Be Somebody" is one of the standout characters of the entire series. Fitz's final chat with the put-upon Catholic housewife in "Brotherly Love" is truly disturbing, but heartbreaking too. You'll feel for each of these characters, which is an amazing feat by all concerned in the making, considering their crimes are so graphically portrayed, and the show is so unflinching about revealing the kinds of effects violent crime has on survivors, and the families of the victims. This is classy television.

It's not without it's faults, of course. The standard does tend to take a nose-dive when Jimmy Mc Govern's not writing (not by much, sometimes, but always perceptibly) and the quite graphic nature of most of the episodes means this won't be to everyone's taste, but these are small flaws. This is wonderful stuff. It's impossible to overstate this fact, so i'll say it again: this is really classy television.

Spider-Man (2002)

With great power must come great responsibility...

[24 July 2003]

...and does Raimi live up to that responsibility? Oh yeah. God, it took me an age of jumping through hoops to see this film, but it was worth it. I'm pleasantly surprised by Raimi (i didn't like those Evil Dead films at all) but here i find that he's more than capable of handling small-scale character drama in an empathic and deeply compassionate way. In fact, he seems very much more comfortable dealing with the film as a straightforward character drama than an out-and-out superhero flick, and the first hour of the film, before anybody gets superpowers or becomes world-conquering megalomaniacs, is inargueably the strongest segment of the film. It's spellbinding.

The drawback, of course, is that the action sequences, though technically flawless, never seem to engage as much as the quieter moments. The Green Goblin basically accomplishes his goals halfway through, and the film lacks any urgency after that. While that could be forgivable in the context of a simple character piece, in an action film it's undeniably a flaw. Adding insult to this injury is the fact that Maguire and Defoe light up the screen when they act together as Peter and Norman, but never quite reach those heights when beating the tar out of each other as Green Goblin and Spider-man.

It's all forgivable, though, in the context of such an absorbing piece of fantasy cinema. There's too many wonderful pros to this film to spend time worrying about the cons. See Peter's heartwarming relationship with his Aunt, and how they cope with the loss of his Uncle together. See the almost sibling rivalry that intrudes on Peter's relationship with his best friend, Harry, as his relationship with Harry's Father grows stronger. And special mention must be made of Maguire's chemistry with Dunst. Kudos to all concerned for not shying away from MJ's (how to put this politely?)... outgoing, extra-friendly nature. She's no Madonna, but she's no whore either. Nice to see.

You might think this is an action-packed hollywood blockbuster, but really, it's not. It's something older, less cynical and more beautiful. Something steeped in garishly-tinted ink and cheap, pulpy paper. There's something in this film that lets you spend two hours believing that there's something in every ordinary person that's bigger than they know. That every second, we're asked to live up to our own responsibilities, and that if we just did, everything would finally be all right. This isn't a film about violent, angry, wisecracking men killing bad guys. It's a film that believes in heroes. Heroes all around us. Give it a chance, and it'll make you believe, too.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

terrible stuff.

[17 January 2003]

As trek fans go, I'm pretty middle of the road. I've followed the franchise through all it's various shapes and forms, and i know enough not to be mystified by most plots. But this was terrible. honestly terrible.

I don't know where the good reviews came from for this film. It's so silly. It's really laughable. There was just far too many plot holes and implausabilities for me to sit comfortably through it (and this is a trek film!). there's a lot of dead weight, loads of elements of the script that should have been refined or pruned (finding B-4, the bizarre mind-rape scene that seemed to come from nowhere, the memory download). i can't understand how someone can look at this film, see the gratuitous excess and wild leaps of logic and call it "lean" or "tightly scripted". It just makes no sense. It's not logical in the slightest.

I don't know. The trekkies seem to like it, so i suppose it did what it set out to, but I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't dedicated to the franchise. Go rent Insurrection instead; it captures the spirit of those small-scale Next Gen episodes wonderfully. Nemesis tries to do something much bigger and bolder, and fails miserably.

The Butcher Boy (1997)

"It'll be a bitter day for this town if the world comes to an end!"

[8 October 2002]

I love this film deeply. It's just about as funny as it can be, while remaining as tragic as any film I've seen. Welcome to the life of a young boy as those he loves and respects most take everything he values from him. Some people don't seem to get that process, but that's no big deal, it's their loss. The moment Stephen Rea (unfairly criticised in certain other posts here, i thought) tries to reach out to his son in the reform school only to discover he's too weak and his neglect has gone on too long is one of the most heartbreaking moments i've ever encountered in cinema.

There's nothing wrong with this film. That's an incredible statement, if you actually sit and think about it. But i stand over it.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

One of the best...

[4 October 2002]

Possibly my favourite Coen Brothers film. It's the one where they let it all hang loose and just go for the laugh. And they get it. Great stuff. You'll be quoting lines at people for months after. you won't be able to help yourself.

The Pink Panther (1963)

Not what i expected...

[4 October 2002]

but I loved it just the same. I'm one of those that was raised on later Clouseau offerings that were more slapstick than this original, and when i finally saw The Pink Panther, i was taken aback by its concern for plot and character. I was also surprised at how small a role Clouseau actually played in it. Having said that, i loved it. I'm even more impressed by a series I had always considered to be the apex of slapstick to so completely nail the romantic comedy format on the head. It's a testament to the talent of the creators and the versatility of the series. The film's definitely of its time, but that's no bad thing. Great stuff.

Signs (2002)

What more can you ask?

[13 September 2002]

You can tell just by watching this film that Shyamalan is trying hard to take on board and address the criticisms he recieved for Unbreakable. This film is more breathless, less thoughtful than his last. On the other hand, of course, it's faster and funnier. Whether the trade off was worth it or not is a matter of taste. I felt that some of the time Shyamalan's naturally ponderous, thoughtful style clashed a little with the more adrenalised sections of the film, but not intrusively so. I still enjoyed it. It's not as perfect as his last two features, but it's still a damn fine film. Roll on the next.

Scooby-Doo (2002)

Woeful

[13 September 2002]

Awful, awful, awful. It's completely unfaithful to the original. I'm not honestly sure that anyone involved in the film had ever actually seen a single episode of Scooby-Doo. Neither he nor Shaggy are supposed to be courageous swashbucklers. The ghosts are not supposed to be real. It's possible I'm being anal-retentive here, but i'm trying to get across to you the sheer "wrongness" of the film. It was terrible. Awful. And i was looking forward to it so much... >sob<

Bloody Sunday (2002)

Like a kick in the chest.

[15 May 2002]

This is an extremely visceral film, and thoroughly absorbing. The performances ar universally superb, right across the board, and the atmosphere of the day, both among the marchers and the defense forces is superbly created in the films harsh but compelling documentary style. If the film has a fault, it's the danger that it will replace the actual events of the day in the imaginations of the public, but considering it is so heavily based on documented accounts, I don't suppose you can blame it for that.

It's shot at very close quarters, and often there are dozens of people on screen, so it makes for heady viewing. Excellent stuff.

Unbreakable (2000)

You'll believe a man can fly.

[9 May 2002]

This movie is deliberately slow, very thoughtful and criminally underrated. It deliberately acts out against the percieved conventions of its genre, and is all the stronger for it. It's a very realist treatment of an utterly fantastic concept. If it hadn't been for the success of the Sixth Sense, I doubt it would ever have been made at all.

Like I said, it's slow, and it's far more concerned with its characters and their motivations than actually telling a story, but for anyone willing to sit quietly for two hours and get to know the characters, it's a magnificent experience. A real treat. Not for everybody, by any manner or means, but for some. An enormous treat for some.

Planet of the Apes (2001)

I payed money to see this...

[9 May 2002]

This is a terrible film. I have nothing against a good no-brainer action film, but this film is terrible. It's more hole than plot, even before you get to the "twist". The make-up's not bad and generally the effects are passable, but they're nothing special either, and they certainly can't rescue the film from its profound and obvious deficiencies. The performances are atrocious, even from those members of the cast that I know to be capable of much more. The plot is what most sticks in my craw though. Without even dignifying the "twist ending", the rest of the story makes no sense whatsoever either. It's terrible. Just awful.

Dogma (1999)

Are you offended yet?

[9 May 2002]

This film came in for an awful lot of stick when it was released. It offended a lot of people.

But you know what? It's also pretty good.

Don't let the self-named "moral majority" put you off. Kick back for an hour and a half. Swear and make blasphemous remarks. And, somewhere in the middle of it, you might also find a nugget of deceptive thoughtfulness and honesty. Brilliant.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

What the --?

[9 May 2002]

Superb performances. Brilliantly-paced storytelling. Direction that's maybe not quite as accomplished as it first seems, but is certainly good enough to do the needful.

It's the plot that makes the film though. It's magnificent. Those who lean back, bloated by their own sense of self-importance, and nonchalantly claim to have "gotten" the twist just don't get it. Or rather, they're falling for it. None of the questions raised by the film are answered. Not in any reasonable way. The plot is a web of lies, which saves what is potentially the biggest lie of all for the very end. It's wonderfully knowing, and it superbly leads the audience on a merry dance.

Who is Kaizer Soze? Don't let those who claim to know fool you. To this day, nobody knows for sure. That's the beauty of this film. And as films go, it's very beautiful indeed.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Funny as any other film I've seen.

[9/10 · 9 May 2002]

I can imagine Jimmy Stewart as Norville Barnes. The film is (on some levels at least) a sugary-sweet feel-good christmas story. It's incredibly arch by times, but manages to accomplish this without any bitter post-modern tang. It's brilliant fun.

On other levels though, it's a scathing satire on corporate mentality (a lot of the set design has a distinctly fascist feel to it) and a slightly-too-complex to totally fit the genre lesson at the end. These layers shouldn't work together, but they do. Very well. Excellent film.

Caged Fury (1990)

You'll laugh 'till you cry...

[9 May 2002]

...or cry 'till you laugh. One or the other. It's a terrible film, but you've got to be made of stone not to enjoy this. There is line drawn in the sand of the desert where all bad films dwell. It separates those films that are just bad from those that are so appallingly terrible they just have to be seen. The word tacky doesn't do this justice. you absolutely have to see this film. Get a couple of mates around and watch it with plenty of alcohol on standby. I promise you you'll enjoy it.

Plus, Dirk Ramsey? There's never been an action hero like him before. There never will be again. He should have his own theme tune.

Cookie's Fortune (1999)

Enjoyed it.

[30 April 2002]

I'd never seen another Altman film, so I watched this one not knowing quite what to expect. What I found was nice black humour, set against a cosy portrayal of small-town life. A weird flavour, but a good one, just the same. I enjoyed it and it's made me want to go look out some of the director's other stuff. That can't be bad, can it?