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Reviews
San Ging Dou yu Fei Tin Mau (1993)
Carry on Kung-Fu
This is silly. Lots of visual gags and slapstick - some of which fall flat, but enough of which are genuinely funny to make this an entertaining romp. There are plenty of side-swipes at martial arts movie cliches; although at times the farce does get out of hand and descends into Benny Hill territory. Funny film. 7/10.
Small Time Crooks (2000)
The first 15 minutes of this movie suck
The phraze "He has become a parody of himself" could have been coined especially for Woody Allen. Neurotic stumbling is all well and good for a young man; but to watch a character in his 60s showing the kind of character failings that he should have worked through in his 20s is slightly perverse!
Woody plays, well, Woody. If you've seen any of his films then you'll get the picture; and if you've seen "Love and Death" or "Manhattan" then you'll just feel annoyed that Woody appears to be doing the same routine 20 years later. That joke isn't funny anymore!
Anyway, maybe it's only the first 15 minutes that are bad... anybody who manages to watch for longer than that, please email and let me know how it all turns out! 4/10.
Restoration (1995)
When historical epics go wrong
Lavish sets and costumes; debauchery and intrigue set Restoration moving at a terrific pace and the film threatens to be a classic. The first half is extremely watchable. Sam Neill excels as the King; and Hugh Grant displays real acting talent as a manipulative court painter. Unfortunately, both Neill and Grant are on-screen far too infrequently, and that leaves the mis-cast Downey Jnr to trundle along alone as the film very quickly loses its rhythm and slows to crawling speed.
The film is far too ambitious. It's worth watching, if only for the first hour or so; but you will be left wondering what might have been had enough time and effort been given to character development, plot or history that is needed in order for it to become the historical epic that it trys to be. 6/10.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Superman + Homer Simpson = Forrest Gump
Hollywood produces this kind of feel-good movie all the time: They're corny and over-sentimental, they promote traditional family values and are an example of how the little guy can live the American dream, y'all. And Forrest Gump is guilty of all of this, but somehow it all fits together and is an entertaining and genuinely moving film.
Tom Hanks excels as lovable half-wit Forrest (kind of a cross between Homer Simpson and Superman) and gets into all sorts of nutty adventures whilst exploring America's recent social history. But essentially this is the story of Forrest's fruitless pursuit of his childhood sweetheart Jenny. Forrest's mental backwardness is never really taken too seriously in the film, but it forms a constant and unspoken division between Forrest and the girl of his dreams, and it is this subtle undercurrent throughout the whole film which makes is so watchable.
However, it's cringe-worthy and moving in equal measure - the scenes in which Forrest meets Elvis and John Lennon are incredibly naff. But overall it succeeds. Bizarrely, the film won the 1994 'best picture' Oscar ahead of Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption, and whilst it's clearly not in the same class as either of those two, this is the best corny, over-sentimental, feel-good film I've ever seen! 7/10.
Notting Hill (1999)
Nice fluffy kittens
It's not often that a sequel surpasses the original, but, like The Godfather Part II, Notting Hill starts where "Four Weddings" left off in this fumbling romantic comedy.
It's five years on, and Hugh (played by Hugh Grant) has divorced Andie McDougal and now owns a bookshop or something. But Hugh gets the shock of his life when Andie (now played by Julie Roberts) waltzes back into his bookshop one day and announces grandly that she's now a big-shot hollywood actress. Hugh is speechless and we are then treated to fully 20 minutes of "ums" "ahs" and "the thing is..." from Hugh.
But then the action really gets going as Hugh and Julia find themselves falling in love all over again. There's lots of familiar faces as all Hugh's toffy friends have married each other and now live together in a big house in a nice village called "Notting Hill". Fans of Scarlet will be shocked to discover that she's had a sex change and is now a man and is calling herself Spike. And is also Welsh!!!!
As in Four Weddings, the two love birds again find that the course of true romance never runs smooth. Andie goes back off to America leaving Hugh heart-broken. Again! And would you believe it, just as Hugh thinks he's in with a shot she reveals she's got a boyfriend. Again!! Talk about lightening striking twice!
Will poor Hugh ever learn!? Apparently not as the third film in this series "Nice Love" is due out in 2011, and I for one simply CANNOT WAIT!!!
La cité des enfants perdus (1995)
Surreally really boring
You could watch this film backwards and it would still make just as much sense. I watched the first ten minutes with avid interest - the lurid colours, the characters and the sets and props all seemed fantastically wonderful. However, there is no sense of progression or development, and theres no discernable plot or character analysis. Admittedly, there's a lot of imagination gone into the sets and the props, but unfortunately the reliance on these becomes too great and they gradually overwhealm the film until, finally, it disappears up it's own magical and fantasy-world backside.
The Elephant Man (1980)
elephantastic
Many of David Lynch's films leave you wondering if you're watching a pantomime by mistake - splice the overacting of Dennis Hopper with the bizarre facial contortions and howlings of Laura Dern and you have one of the Ugly Sisters from Cinderella.
But the combination of Lynch's dream-like style of story-telling and the moving, yet restrained, performances of John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins and Freddie Jones works exceptionally well. The Elephant Man is a truly moving study of human dignity told not only with style but with compassion and understanding too.
David Lynch should work with British actors more often.
9/10
Raging Bull (1980)
Lots of style, but little substance
Scorsese is at his best when he's not taking himself too seriously. King of Comedy and Goodfellas are fantastic films because there's an upbeat element of humour in them. But Raging Bull (like Taxi Driver) is the story of a destructive nobody. True, De Niro and Pesci give fantastic performances. But I think the film's reputation has been falsely enhanced by the legend surrounding De Niro's performance. At the end of the film I was left wondering what had persuaded Scorsese to make a movie about LaMotta in the first place. 7/10.