paul__kenworthy Reviews

Quite Ugly One Morning (2004 TV Movie)

quite interesting drama

[6/10 · 6 September 2004]

this is quite a good and interesting drama starring James Nesbitt.

Nesbitt plays a journalist who has a really bad hangover (the quite ugly one morning in the title) who walks in to a neighbors flat to find him brutally murdered, he then has to find out what happened.

Another sub-plot is the relationship between Nesbitt's character and the police officer on the case, this is a bit distracting from the main plot and doesn't really fit in the story, A good sub-plot is about a hit-man (the one that performed the murder, revealed early in the story) with a missing finger who then stays at a bed and breakfast who kills the owners (annette Crosbie) dog and tries to dispose of it, this is an interesting and entertaining sub-plot that doesn't have relevance on the story.

Nesbitt is fine in the lead role, Crosbie is good as the owner of the bed and breakfast, but this drama is let down by the relationship between Nesbitt and the officer.

Overall good drama, 6/10

Duplex (2003)

Nice Little Comedy

[8/10 · 4 September 2004]

i think that this is an entertaining and very funny comedy from Danny DeVito, Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore are well cast, but the real star of the film is Eileen Essel as the old lady.

Stiller and Barrymore are a married couple who buy a duplex in Brooklyn, they then find out that there is an old tenant who lives upstairs, she then starts to cause havoc on their personal lives by playing the TV all night and getting Stiller to do her chores all day, instead of letting him write his new book. Then it gets too much for them and they decide it is time to kill her.

There are some very funny slapstick comedy moments in this film, especially the scene where Stiller and Barrymore are giving the old lady C.P.R,

There is also a nice twist at the end of the film.

Danny De Vito decides to narrate the beginning and end of the story, Overall a nice little comedy with some very good comic performances by the main cast, some very funny jokes and a good script, 8/10

My Hero (2000–2007)

great show

[4 September 2004]

this show is absolutely hilarious, Ardal O'Hanlon is great as George Sunday / Thermoman, his role is the perfect follow on from Father Ted, the show that made him a star.

George is a superhero from the planet Ultron, who came to earth as a superhero, he doesn't know anything about human life and therefore seems to be a total idiot, this is perfect for O'Hanlon who played the same sort of role as Father Dougal Maguire in Father Ted.

There are many funny characters in this show, there is Piers, a doctor that is a nationwide celeberity, he also doesn't realize that no-one likes him. There is Mrs Raven the evil receptionist at Piers' clinic, who says something nasty at anyone she sees. Then there is Janet, she is George's wife, and she also works at the clinic, she has two parents that hate each other, Janet and George have a baby with superpowers, it can talk as well, in one episode George loses his memory and the child is then forced to save people using his superpowers.

There was many very good episodes in the four series, my favourite episode is where George goes on a super hero training course and he has a replacement called Hillary, that episode was hilarious.

Overall, a very funny TV show, with great characters, great scripts and a very good leading performance by Ardal O'Hanlon. 9/10

The Last Samurai (2003)

A Great Movie

[9/10 · 3 September 2004]

i found the last samurai to be a great film, Tom Cruise puts in a very good performance as Nathan Algren, The direction from Edward Zwick is top notch, there is some great scenery, and it is very insightful in to the people of the samurai.

Ken Watanabe is perfect as Katsumoto, the leader of the samurai that takes Algren prisoner after a battle in the woods, Algren then learns to respect the way of the samurai and helps them in their cause (to stop the Americans modernizing Japan)

The battle scenes in the Last Samurai are very well shot, they are very believable with the amounts of violence that there is, and Edward Zwick refrains from using the type of Samurai sword violence used by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill.

There is also a nice performance by Timothy Spall as Simon Graham, an englishman who helps Algren in many ways, the main way he helps is by translating books about the Samurai for Algren.

A lot of the dialogue is in Japanese, so if you are not prepared for this then it may put you off.

I would recommend this film, The actors are perfect for their roles, the direction is very good and very large battle scenes. 9/10

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

This movie is bad

[3/10 · 3 September 2004]

This is a very bad movie from director David Twohy, who previously made the low-budget sci-fi Horror Pitch Black, which made Vin Diesel a star.

The story for The Chronicles of Riddick is so bad that you wonder why they got such actors as Judi Dench to appear. An army called the Necromongers is going through the universe converting or killing everyone, no-one but Riddick seems to fight against this army, when they tell the people to join them they just agree straight away, without complaining.

The leader of the Necromongers (played by Colm Feore) has been to the promised land called The Underverse, he has been given special powers which allows him to move fast, which is an excuse for not-too-special-effects. And also allows for a totally 'Riddick-ulous' fight between him and Riddick.

Riddick has been a hunted man for 5 years and he has a bounty on his head, so when he gets captured he gets sent to a planet called Crematoria, which happens to be the place where a girl he likes is, this storyline has absolutely nothing to do with the Necromongers, its just an excuse for Vin Diesel to be covered in sweat and run away from a really badly designed wall of fire.

Some of the special effects are quite good, and they are the only reason why anyone would enjoy this film, the big statue that has four sides and four faces is quite impressive but there isn't much else that is good.

Judi Dench and Thandie Newton are completely wasted in very small roles, Aereon (played by Dench) seems to have some super powers but we then find out that she is a prisoner, and the development of the characters is none existent.

The fight scenes in this are just wrestling matches fought on big sets, that are only there because of the big budget, Riddick is supposed to be an unstoppable fighting machine, but he looks like he's just watched wrestling on TV and he thinks that it might help him win fights.

Overall, it is a bad movie with OK effects, terrible acting from Vin Diesel, the characters are pathetic and the script is even worse. 3/10