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cremonese64
Reviews
Skyfall (2012)
Bond Is Back
Bond is back. Was there ever any doubt about it? Skyfall is a magnificent return to form for Bond and in the franchise's 50th year anniversary is almost certainly going to be considered one of the best Bond movies ever.
Skyfall is brilliantly acted, well paced, with some touches of dry humour and some great references to Bond movies past. Visually, the movie is stunning with some beautiful locations Shanghai and Macau being the standout places.
Sam Mendes has made his name through excellent art house movies, yet this is the British director's first British movie. An accomplished theatre director, Mendes is a real actors director and has got great performances out of his cast. Mendes is a rare director who rarely does a bad movie, and although Jarhead was perhaps a little misjudged, American Beauty, Revolutionary Road and Road to Perdition are masterpieces.
Craig is the best Bond and the best actor to play Bond. He is an experienced, rough around the edges and dangerous Bond who is entirely believable. Judi Dench has more to do than ever in this movie and her stunning performance should surely receive recognition. Bardem impresses and chews scenery as a very interesting villain whilst Naomi Harris and Bernice Marlohe are gorgeous as two very important characters. The cast is rounded off with a hugely effective role for Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw as the new Q. Even Albert Finney pops up to lend hugely experienced support in the gripping finale.
Bond is back, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Mad About Alice (2004)
Absolute Rubbish
Not so long ago, the BBC were churning out Quality Sitcoms such as The Vicar of Dibley, One Foot in the Grave and even My Family. But now, they have been filling the 8:30 on Friday slot with increasingly dire Sitcoms. Now we have this garbage. The subject Matter ruins it from the get go. A Woman (Amanda Holden), separated from her Ex (Theakston), gets together with him for the sake of their kid. Where does it go from here? All we are supposed to want them to do is eventually get together. And then What? Its gone down a dead end. Its simply a rehash of the Ross/Rachel thing from Friends, and fleshed out into a Full show. Holden is Good Looking, but isn't a very good actress. Even the adverts began with Amanda Holden in...That's always a bad start with a new show. The programme is what makes it great, not the actors. Theakston is terrible, The kids are ridiculously annoying and There are the same terrible cliched jokes we've heard hundreds of times before on superior shows. Is there a studio audience? Or did they record the Hysteria Ward of a hospital? The direction is poor, too and its oh so sad to see John Gordon Sinclair strutting his stuff alongside lesser Thespians, and on a very poor stage. I doubt this rubbish will be recommisioned.
Chase the Express (2000)
This one stank from a mile away!
This Is not a camp Trainspotting Sim. Just wanted to mpoint it out. Now where to start? Sony wanted a Game to challenge the likes of Silent Hill and Resident Evil. They have made a fair effort to make a Game out of this. But the glaring errors encountered when you first sample this experience could put you off for life. (Not seriously of course). To say Chase the Express has borrowed from Resident Evil is an understatement. Sure your battling Terrorists instead of A marauding army of the undead, and are In the Cozy Interior of the 342 to Zurich and not a Gothic House of Horrors, but the Tension and Atmosphere Is lost, and seems awfully familier to a certain Seagal film.
They have 'Lifted' The Inventory system and even the font for the Text! You will recognize it! Action Films cannot keep suspense. To make a good adventure you need suspense and Frankly Chase the Express has none of it. You'll walk down Car 14 and see a terrorist in the Distance. Now lets hunt him out. Only it is virtually impossible to do so. The camera, as Jack (That's you) moves across the cars, pans around him and in front of him? Huh? In front of him? You can't even see the terrorist. Also it seams he learned to shoot from Sesame Street, And about 60% of the shots fired will hit the Carriage, the door etc.
In resident Evil, Gamers slammed Capcom worldwide for Using Ugly door animations (Personally I liked the door animations) when you decide to walk through one. In Chase The Express, You get a Text message (Accompanied by White Static. Why?) Reminding you where you are. Were not likely to forget, Sony, we've been told the last 5 Doors. Irritating flaws like that make gamers turn away in disgust. Shame on you Sony! The Graphics are Glitchy in most Places. As I said before, When a Terrorist is revealed, the camera zooms in on the Spook, Revealing the worst Graphics on show ever! The Once Plush Redwood Interior of Car 12 has now been transformed into an ugly Pixilated Dog's dinner. The characters are Terribly Ugly, but thankfully you don't get a Close up on them. The Full motion Videos are Embarrassingly amateur, like from the primitive Sega CD. The characters have no Biographies or motives and you never really know what's going on. This is a Prime Example. Terrorists take over a 'Super' Train (This is for Plot As well) carrying the French ambassador and Ransom It off to NATO. If this is the case, why do they not even bother search for the Politician? They needed him! Don't tell me a lazy screenwriter 'couldn't be bothered to clean up these messes. As if this wasn't enough, the voice acting is terrible, even worse than Resident Evil. I mean where did they find these actors? Every conversation's tension is removed when the Actors spout off Rubbish in laughably put on Military accents and the clichéd Evil of the Baddies. There is also the Token Turncoat, But the twist is so easy to see coming, you can Duck, Camp out and eat a Sandwich before it is revealed. The only real strong point is The Lifespan. There are 4 Discs of action and even a Few alternate endings and Places. Secret character and Infinite ammunition wraps up a fair amount to come back for.
I found that this game is frustrating, Irritating and Painstakingly laughable at times. It rips off Resident Evil in every way it can and then ruins them In a Rushed and Frankly awful game. I recommend that you steer clear of this game, even if you find it cheap. If you really want to sample the 'Experience' Rent it first.
Messiah 2: Vengeance Is Mine (2002)
Nasty, yet superior TV Film
Messiah 2 is the sequel to 2001's grisly Messiah, which concentrated on an elite CID investigation into bizarre and seemingly motiveless murders. Soon enough it became apparent that the murderer chose his victims as their names corresponds with the twelve apostles.
Again, Messiah 2's killings have a biblical twist- the killer is targeting people who have literally got away with murder and thus have gained vengeance for wrongful convictions and unsolved murders. Yet, soon the killer branches out to specific targets, and a there could be a personal motive for this killer.
Messiah 2 begins with a sequence involving Red and his estranged brother. Unfortunately, when they meet up, Eric is dying from a stab wound, and Red begins trying to solve this case in conjunction with the main murder inquiry. There are some brutal scenes in Messiah, including a man being buried alive, bloody murder scenes and a man having his heart cut out. All it did lack was a decapitation. There is also a child murder, and its understandable therefore why release date was early 2003 rather October 2002, following the child murders in Britain.
Ken Stott returns as brooding, brilliant DCI Metcalfe, with Art Malik, Neil Dudgeon and Frances Grey making up his team, plus a plethora of new faces and british stars including Alums Armstrong who seems to be starring in everything these days, Vincent Regan and Shaun Dingwall (Touching Evil). Stott looks bored at times, yet is a magnificent character actor who really shines as the leading man. Malik is wasted in a small role, and Alun Armstrong excels as a destructive and tortured character who disappears about halfway through.
Although a little slow burning at times, and there is a tendency to stay at murder scenes a little too often (Another criticism of the first film), Messiah 2 is a gritty thriller, which will keep you on the edge of your seats right to the end, and the acting quality on offer is enough to keep you watching. The ending is typical of most thrillers, yet is completely absurd, as the identity of the killer is quite obvious. The character stood out completely as irrelevant in the context of the film and may as well had an `Iam a serial killer' Tattoo on their forehead. I wont name names, but try and look for the `Cracker' Connection. Also, Frances Grey as a full blown DS in a serious crimes squad at what, 25? That's ridiculous! Overall, Messiah is implausible and a little boring at times, yet it is an involving and memorable thriller, a rarity from the politically challenged BBC.
Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory (2001)
Fun but flawed
Smuggler's run 2 is an obvious improvement on the sequel, but it's sadly far too short and limited. From Rockstar I did expect better. It's not all bad, the plot is crap, but the flowing landscapes of Russia is a joy to see. Vietnam is bad but not awful. Using real time footage is also an obvious plus.
C
Death Train (1993)
Much better than expected!
The Death Train is a part political thriller/Hostage drama that balances the mix very well on both terms. General Konstantin Benin is a Russian Commander who desires the rebirth of Mother Russia, and the only way to do this is to deliver a bomb to Saddam Hussein by rail from Hamburg (Or somewhere in Deutschland) to the heart of Iraq. Benin Hires Alex Tierney, an American mercenary to deliver this Nuclear warhead, but he must do this via a train full of hostages. Trying to stop him is NATO Puppet master Malcolm Philpott and his Lackeys, Rugged hero Mike Graham and Green Sabrina Carver.
You might think at first that this film is resolved in patches of messy violent; this is simply not the case. It certainly isn't very violent and there are few tense shootouts that may actually put people off at first. There is also pretty decent directing, too. The scene where Benin turns away from the phone booth reminded me of The Exorcist, the Silence of the lambs and Ronin all in one go. Of course the movie does end in violence and actually ends on a poor high. The final action sequence is a real letdown unfortunately. As the movie goes on, most of the bad guys all end up getting shot dead by Sabrina for some reason. It would have been better to see a fight between Tierney and Graham, but that's that. And besides that would have put this film into B-List Jet Li Territory.
The characters are quite well developed really. Mike Graham is your typical action type, played by a rather bland Pierce Brosnan in his pre Bond Years. It's good that he got rid of his sasquatch style from the Lawnmower man. Patrick Stewart is good as Philpott, the head of the NATO operation and Alexandra Paul is feisty and very sexy as Sabrina. Unfortunately, Christopher Lee, a film ledged is wasted in a surprisingly small role. A little more development of his character would have been nice and Ted Levine who chilled us as The Evil; Buffalo Bill, is decently cast as Tierney but could have been a little more chilling. At the end of the day he couldn't scare a kid.
As it is, Death Train is a superior cheap movie. It won't win any Oscars but it was nice while it lasted. C+