whistlerspa Reviews

Warehouse 13 (2009–2014)

Terrible

[2/10 · 6 May 2014]

Ham acted and infantile best describe this pile of drivel. Shame of it is they took a promising idea and then ruined it by clicheing it out of existence. The two leads act with the maturity of 9 year olds.

As an idea it was promising for the first few episodes and as a Sci Fi fan I looked forward to seeing all sorts of amazing artifacts that the team would struggle to locate,tag and bag,and all the mayhem that would ensue. But by S1 E4 it was showing that was not really what the show was about. What it is about I'm not too sure.

Agent Myka goes from tough competent agent to doey eyed lovesick worm and Pete grows younger and dafter with each episode. Don't get me started on Artie; how is a character like that even remotely a possible for the SS, and as for the preposterous Mrs P well.....Claudia is the only redeeming slightly non cardboard character IMO.

I confess I quit after seven episodes. Perhaps it improved but judging by other reviews I've read perhaps not. 2/10 for some of the special effects.

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Just ... Horrible

[1/10 · 19 November 2011]

This is a part review. Part because we only watched the first 50 minutes.

I try to watch entire movies of course but this one was just - disgusting. Why is it that every new Hollywood 'comedy' these days seems to feel the need to push the boundaries of bad taste ever further. Some of the language and sexual content matter of what we saw was really over the top and quite sick.

The scenario is that three guys hate their respective bosses because they are bullied, sexually harassed and the third is uncaring about the staff which is in contrast to his dead father. Kevin Spacey was good as the bully, Jennifer awful as the sexual predator and her prey's whiny sissy voice was cringingly agonising. The third boss seemed just - well idiotic.

It was so disappointing to hear the language that Jennifer Aniston spouted in the first 20 minutes and the motel scene with the three guys was extreme sleaze. The final straw for us was when they met a potential hit man (if that's who he turned out to be) called motherf****r which got repeated over and over in the scene.

That was enough for us - we left.

Incendies (2010)

Interesting but frustrating at times

[6/10 · 20 August 2011]

This film got off to a difficult start for me. Having spent time in the Middle East the initial sequences were frustrating as I was trying to work out where the film was set. Also the fictional war between Christians and Muslims was not realistic, which added to my confusion. I couldn't 'normalise' this film then.

Once I got over that, accepting it is a work of fiction or alternative history it them became easier to take on faceout of kilter value. The story was poignant and depicted human trials in a very realistic and gritty manner.

The story is set around Nawal - a Lebanese(?) woman who has her first child taken from her at birth and years later in Canada has a nervous breakdown leading to her death. In her will she charges her twins to search for their father, and brother (whom they did not know about) to give them each a letter in a sealed envelope.

Jeanne (the daughter) is prepared to do this but her brother Simon is reluctant and she sets off alone to the Middle East to begin the search.

I'll say no more regarding the plot except that the search uncovers surprising events in their mother's past and a traumatic conclusion.

Given the volatility of the region in which the story is set the events depicted could well have happened, but that she would send her children off on such a mission is not so believable.

Overall cinematography is beautiful and I thought the script and acting was excellent. A good film but not, in my opinion, the great one that some are saying it is.

Shutter Island (2010)

I will struggle to make 10 lines

[1/10 · 24 June 2011]

This film is unadulterated rubbish (1)

The plot is soo predictable - we know Di Caprio's a mental patient from about 10 minutes in (2 & 3).

This can be the missing bit - like the film's lack of credibility (4)

Would the staff of the mental institution bother to indulge his fantasies to this extent as a means of effecting a cure - probably not (5 & 6)

This film sends itself up by taking itself too seriously (7)

The supporting characters deliberately make themselves look sinister, the director tries to make the film play out like a modern remake of a Hitchcock movie - it fails to impress on any all level (8-10) there done it!

Sucker Punch (2011)

Don't miss the punch line

[7/10 · 24 June 2011]

I've read a lot of bad reviews on this film but feel that perhaps people are missing the point.

Yes- the movie is chaotic and confusing. It's difficult to know what if any of this film is set in the real world or if it's all a schoolgirl's paranoiac fantasies. But I think that's the whole purpose of the movie.

We don't know and it's quite a ride. Is her stepfather abusive? Is her sister? alive or dead? Is she in an institution for juvenile delinquent girls, a French finishing school for rich young debs, a child brothel in Eastern Europe, an American mental asylum or none of the above.

It doesn't matter. We're looking at the workings of an unbalanced mind or minds and it's graphically, and visually stunning, with a soundtrack to boot- and that's the beauty of it. Oh - and girls can do anything.

Just enjoy.

Paul (2011)

Sci Fi spoof of the year

[8/10 · 12 June 2011]

I loved this movie. Have been a fan of Pegg and Frost since Shaun of the Dead and enjoy their genius ability to spoof a genre and still make a thoroughly entertaining and funny movie

This time it's ET, Close Encounters .. , Alien and others that are lined up and blown out of the water, along with Roswell the FBI and comic book and gaming nerds. but all done with impeccably good British taste and style.

Seth Rogan (and I'm not usually a fan of his) is superb as the voice of the Alien Paul of the title, and a cameo from Sigourney Weaver complete a superb cast who all acquit themselves well.

The story is set around two British nerds doing a UFO themed tour of the US which starts at a Comic-Con convention. As they take to the road they encounter Paul who is being pursued by 'agents'. The chase heats up and other kooky characters join in and become part of the ensuing mayhem. I'll say no more... go see.

My only complaint is the overuse of bad language expletives far too often, and although effective on a few occasions are, largely unnecessary. and detract from an otherwise excellent script.

Unknown (I) (2011)

A mixed bag but entertaining

[6/10 · 6 June 2011]

Liam Neeson plays well ... Liam Neeson most of the time in his films and is always this tortured character wrestling with inner turmoils of one sort or another. I saw echoes of past work like Taken, Afterlife and even Love Actually creeping into his portrayal here. That may be a little unfair as he has played some great roles over the years but he did seem to be a little on auto-pilot for most of this one.

That being said I enjoyed the film, and I can always watch Diane Kruger, who is usually worthy in anything she's in (I forgive the terrible Eastern European accent is it?). As Neeson's leading lady in this film the chemistry didn't seem quite right though, and they seemed awkward in their scenes together unfortunately.

The story is initially intriguing and puzzling and keeps you guessing. A doctor and his wife arrive for a conference in Berlin - where he is due to speak at a Biotechnology conference. He leaves his briefcase at the airport and rushes back for it leaving his wife at the hotel. The taxi he's in, driven by Kruger, has an accident and he's comatose after she saves his life. When he wakes up he finds that another man (Aidan Quinn) has stolen his identity and his wife appears to be going along with it. What is going on and why? He tracks Kruger down and enlists her help to find the answers. Bruno Ganz is also roped in as an ex KGB spy now turned PI, and he embarrassingly overacts in his part.

About half way through I began to have suspicions regarding Neeson's character whose actions contradicted his apparent persona and this meant that I worked out the twist ending fairly comfortably with time to spare.

The hoods were suitably sinister but easily disposable, and seemed to wait for their fates however in the action scenes. Quinn (who worked well with Neeson in Michael Collins) was largely wasted in this though with way to little to do. I would have liked to have seen his part larger.

However as said this film entertained and was worth the watch in my opinion.

A Secret (2007)

Just Beautiful

[9/10 · 27 May 2011]

Beautifully filmed - stunning screenplay A simple story beautifully acted by the entire cast.

Stunningly beautiful female leads as well.

This film gets my vote as one of the best foreign language films I've seen. It can be a little slow moving in parts so it's a film that you want to watch when you are not in any hurry, just sit back and enjoy.

The story revolves around Francois growing up in 50's Paris who find out a family secret. It jumps from the 30's - 80's in telling the story and I thought it a nice touch filming the 80's section in black and white. Don't miss if you like good well acted drama.

Inception (2010)

I just don't see it either - am I dreaming?

[1/10 · 21 May 2011]

Like many others I cannot see this as a work of genius at all and believe this to be a really stupid movie.

The dream team that can manipulate your dreams and waking ideas - Yeah Right - 'in your dreams'. That about sums it all up.

The movie writes it's own rule book regarding dreams and assumes that time moves exponentially more slowly when you dream within dreams. There is no evidence for this as fact and my experience and understanding is that dreams can go both ways - sometimes an epic takes minutes and others an action takes hours.

So having said that the whole conceptual context falls apart and crumbles into absurdity. And why would movement in a dream affect a dream within a dream as occurs in this movie? When you dream you leave the real world behind - until you awaken.

This movie has been compared with the Matrix trilogy. Well it blatantly rips it off but that's another dream - or rather a fantasy. This movie doesn't even come close to Matrix which was truly original and at a stretch even plausible. This isn't.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Are you kidding me!!?

[1/10 · 21 May 2011]

This has to be (along with Inception) the daftest plot idea that I've ever seen in a movie and I really like Sci-Fi - a fan of it since the 50's.

It starts in a promising way with our hero (Damon) running for political office when he meets a ballerina who intrigues him in the "Mens" - cause enough for concern I would have thought. It quickly descends into initially stop us from meeting if you can, and then a ridiculous catch us if you can race after we do.

We are supposed to believe that there are aliens with living books that write the scripts of fate and control events. Judging by the number needed to manipulate events in just two people's lives there would have to be about 20 for every person on the planet. Where would we fit them all LOL? notwithstanding the hats that open pan dimensional doors and all the equipment that these aliens use. Truly ludicrous and definitely a paranoiac film for paranoiac times.

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

The movie's not alright.....

[1/10 · 21 May 2011]

We watched this on DVD and from the box cover it looked like a simple and intriguing story about two children contacting their biological sperm donor father. We anticipated that the movie would explore in an amusing way the effects that this would have on the lesbian couple's alternative family. Right?

Wrong!!What we got instead was flashes of hardcore gay porn, soft core lesbian porn and straight porn together with foul language and other random poor taste anecdotes. The butch Nic is supposed to be a medical professional but has a mouth on her like a sewer (great example for the kids) and seems to require the aforementioned gay porn in order to get off with her partner. She is also a nasty jealous control freak determined to metaphorically 'castrate' Paul (the sperm donor) for daring to try and become involved with the kids after they seek him out in the first instance.

Her partner, Jules, is a closet nymphomaniac and goes weak knees at the sight of the donor Paul's ' penis. Jules is a cruel bitch who does not hesitate to instantly dismiss her hard working Mexican gardener when he seems amused at her clandestine boinking of the donor Paul. Paul is appallingly treated by all after showing nothing but understanding, helpfulness and empathy for all.

Other than that the film fails to develop any real plot and both brother Laser (where did that come from), and sister Joni's character sub-plots and relationships fail to go anywhere, with characters dropping in and out of frame randomly. The same happens with Paul's other relationships and friendships.

At the end of this film I had no idea what the director was trying to achieve and could only see it as anti-heterosexual male propaganda. A truly awful film and a waste of a lot of good acting talent.