rabishopp's reviews

Routine and quite boring 1960s war film concentrating on the X-series of midget submarines. In this typical afternoon matinee movie James Caan appears as a totally miserable and humourless Canadian submarine commander. Presumably Caan appears to make the film saleable in North America. The underwater scenes and onshore action don't add up to much but the occasional glimpses of scenery around the Scottish lochs makes marginally for some of the tedium. The shoot out with German paratroopers has some tension and excitement. Overall, one for rainy, cold, wintery Sunday afternoons. 3/10.

This film just about takes the biscuit for product placement. From the first second to the end take we're under pressure to believe Fedex is the best thing ever to hit Planet Earth. We learn all about the Fedex methods, how packages are rushed from A to B and Tom lends his full weight to getting the Fedex message over, even to those disorganised Russians. The Fedex theme is skilfully woven through the whole film, with presumably Wilson contributing with basketballs ad infinitum. The Fedex packages keeping poor Tom alive. For those who ship by Fedex, UPS and others like DHL, I was particularly amused by Helen Hunt's cautionary references to "undeclared hazardous goods" being the probably cause of the plane crash. Heaven forbid, pilot error or some other employee disaster. And of course, Tom at the end shows how Fedex delivers regardless, as he appears on Fedex TV, with Fedex planes reaching as far as the horizon. As usual Helen Hunt is a miserable mess. How she managed to get into movies, well, enough said.

On the other hand, ignoring the Fedex overdose, Tom pulls the whole thing together and makes the movie. I was truly moved when he apologised to his escaping basketball.

Zemeckis must be one of the most talented directors who ever lived and Hanks is going to be a true legend. I can only hope the Hanks - Zemeckis partnership will strike gold again.

They should remake this film, perhaps with a different cast, perhaps with the same one but at least another few million in the budget. The story is interesting enough to deserve a makeover. It's been done before - LA Takedown and Heat for example. I'd grade this a "C+" and a "could try harder".

Not a bad movie at all. Better than one would think. Great special effects and good battle scenes. The sets were a bit tacky but it had potential. Not so far removed from reality. I never saw the video game so it was a new story to me. It looked a bit like Space: Above and Beyond. I reckon there was even scope for a TV series. I presume it was made in Oz as there was a lot of Antipodeans/Brits in it (and it was 20th Century Fox which has a stuido down there). However, the titles say it was made in Luxembourg ! If it had a slightly better script, more depth to the characters, it could have been a real classic. It was 70% of the way there.

Fine cast, excellent storyline and super locations. After a diet of US bang-'em up movies, this movie has a nice and unusual feel these days of European culture. It's also good to see a strong European cast encompassing nationals from Sweden, the UK and France. de Niro and Reno work excellently together. It would great to see Reno and de Niro working together in Ronin II.

This movie was the pits. Eddie Murphy thinks that he can be funny by talking loudly and using heavy accents. If an actor uses an accent, he could at least make sure his diction and pronunciation are intelligible to the audience. Half the message was lost on me. I couldn't understand hardly any of it. It was also crude, purile and humourless. Shame because Eddie's previous work wasn't bad at all. Lately, it's garbage.