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shaman1969
Reviews
Extremities (1986)
Excellent movie with great performances but....
I remember first seeing this movie back in the late 80s and I thought it was amazing.I just recently bought the DVD and watched it again. I think its an excellent movie with great performances by Farrah Fawcett and James Russo but I felt that the ending was a bit of a let down.I am amazed how some reviewers have commented that it was exploitative.Seriously you really need to get out more. I have seen plenty of rape/revenge movies that were way more exploitative than this.I Spit On Your Grave aka Day Of The Woman is one example.I thought the movie explored the issue of rape and/or sexual assault and how the legal system often leaves the victim feeling powerless very well.Okay she is not actually raped but at the beginning of the movie her attacker holds a knife to her throat and forces her to touch his genitals.Even though that is not actual rape it is still sexual assault. A thought provoking movie that I highly recommend despite the weak ending.
The Wave (1981)
Thought Provoking
I have just finished watching this movie on Google video. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine.My friend would not tell me what it was about but he said I should watch it because its a really interesting program. After watching I must say that I was greatly impressed.The Wave is a frightening study of group psychology.It was apparently based on an actual event in a high school in California over a one week period in April 1967.It is about a history teacher who conducts a psychological experiment on his students who are studying Nazi Germany.The movie delivers a very powerful message.It shows how easily people can be brain washed under the right conditions and if the right techniques are used.Nazi Germany was over 60 years ago but what this program shows is how easily the events that took place in Nazi Germany could be repeated.What makes it all the more frightening is that in the real case study the teacher had virtually the whole class brain washed inside of a week.A very thought provoking program that should definitely be shown in schools.
Bats: Human Harvest (2007)
A good popcorn movie
On a routine mission in Iraq a group of Delta soldiers recover a computer hard drive from an Alqueda training camp detailing the location of weapons specialist Dr Walsh. After witnessing the termination of his top secret weapons development program Dr Walsh finds an alternative funding source and sets up a new research facility deep in the notorious Belzan forest in Chechnya where he is developing weapons and selling them to Chechnyan rebels.The team of Deltas is sent on a black ops mission to retrieve the doctor and his technology before the Russians find him and his lab.What the Delta team soon discover is that the doctors latest weapons is a flock of large carnivorous bats that have been genetically altered to develop a taste for human flesh. I found this movie to be much better than what I was expecting.There is lots of action and lots of blood. Its more or less what you would expect from a creature feature. The acting isn't great but its passable. I have certainly seen worse.Overall its an enjoyable movie for what it is. A good popcorn movie.
Drowning Mona (2000)
Best comedy I have seen in a long time
Drowning Mona would have to be one of the best comedies I have seen in a long time. I watched it on TV late one night and I really enjoyed it. It has a great cast with Danny Devito,Jamie Lee Curtis,Bette Midler and Neve Campbell.Most comedies these days seem to have to rely on smutty jokes and coarse language to be funny(ie American Pie) but this didn't.Don't get me wrong I am not knocking American Pie because I love that movie.Drowning Mona reminded me very much of the eighties dark comedies Ruthless People which also starred Danny Devito and Bette Midler and Throw Momma From The Train.It wasn't as funny as those but it was along the same line.I loved Bette Midler in Outrageous Fortune and Ruthless People and I thought she was great in this too even though she only played a relatively small role.I cant understand why so many people slam this movie.It is entertaining,funny,well acted and it is also a good murder mystery.
7th Heaven (1996)
A show with morals
I really enjoyed watching this show for about the first 7 or 8 seasons. After that it started to get a bit boring and the story lines were not as good as they were in the earlier seasons.Okay I will admit that it is a bit corny and cheesy but it is still a good show. One of the things that I really like about the show is that it teaches good moral values. There is no swearing,no sex,no violence and no drug use which makes a nice change from a lot of the TV shows these days. There are very few TV shows around these days that teach good moral values like 7th Heaven. Most of the TV shows these days are either violent crime shows or reality shows like Big Brother or Survivor, that are all based on greed and where the contestants are really nasty to each other. Watching 7th Heaven makes a nice change from all that. The show does not try and preach to its audience which I think is a good thing too.It deals with a whole range of social issues such as teenage sex, teenage pregnancy, drugs and child abuse.
Vampire Clan (2002)
Vampire Clan
I remember hearing about this case at the time.The case generated a lot of publicity because of its bizarre nature.It also reignited the debate about whether certain types of movies, games and music inspire real life crimes.This was because the teenagers had apparently been playing a fantasy role playing game called Vampire:The Masquerade and they took the fantasy too far.They started to actually believe that they really were vampires with special powers and they would drink each others blood.I really enjoyed the movie although their were some inaccuracies and they left out some things that I thought they shouldn't have.Like in his confession Rod Ferrell said that he beat both of Heathers parents to death with a crowbar.He beat the father to death with a crowbar but the mother was stabbed to death.I also thought they should have mentioned the role playing game.It was not mentioned once which was surprising seeing as how it was one of the main features of the case. Also I thought they should have had more about Rods relationship with his mother which was only mentioned very briefly.I thought that the acting from the main characters was excellent especially Drew Fuller who played the part of the groups psychotic leader Rod Ferrell.I love movies based on true crimes and this one is well worth checking out.
Lord of the Flies (1990)
I love this movie
I love this movie and I don't know why so many people bag it.I have seen it several times and I actually own a copy.I must confess though that I have never read the novel or seen the original 1963 version.People who have read the novel have said that they found the movie disappointing.Movies are never as good as books.There are always different interpretations in movies and it is sometimes very hard to convey certain elements of a story in a book in a film.Several people have said they thought the acting was terrible.I thought the two lead actors Balthazar Getty(Ralph) and Chris Furrhr(Jack)were excellent and they both played their parts really well.Balthazar Getty is a great actor who I think is very underrated.Okay so they replaced the British kids from the novel with American kids.So what who cares.Its still a great story and the whole point and theme of the story which is to show how children unsupervised by adults can turn into savages and become uncivilized is still there.Also since when was swearing uncivilized?I noticed one reviewer commented on the fact that there was a lot of swearing and that the idea was that the kids were supposed to be polite and civilized before they became uncivilized.If swearing is uncivilized then we must all be because we all do it from time to time.There was not a lot of swearing anyway it was only occasionally.I have certainly seen and heard a lot worse.Get over it.I thought the cinematography was great too.If you like stories involving people stranded on a deserted island as I do then I recommend that you check it out.
After School Special (2003)
I really enjoyed this movie.
I totally disagree with the other review posted about this film.I really enjoyed this movie.I recently rented this movie on DVD and I thought it was funny and entertaining.Certainly better than American Pie 3:The Wedding.Erik Von Detten,Tony Denman and Daniel Farber who played the three main characters give impressive performances as three high school geeks who decide to make their own porno movie.I thought that Erik Von Detten who plays the part of Deakin Lewis was the best of the three. OK its certainly not in the same league as American Pie and American Pie 2 but it is a fun entertaining movie.See it if you enjoyed the movies Road Trip or Eurotrip.
Paradise Beach (1993)
This show was pretty bad
This show was pretty bad but unlike the person who wrote the previous review I wouldn't say it was the worst show ever on Australian television.There have been a couple of Australian shows worse than Paradise Beach. One of those shows was an early eighties show called Holiday Island.It was a soapie set in a resort on a tropical island.The series which was supposed to be set in Queensland was mostly filmed in Melbourne.There were some scenes where you could actually see the goose bumps on the actors because they were so cold from filming scenes wearing swimwear during a Melbourne winter.There was even a scene where you could see condensation from the breaths of the actors.Yes the acting in Paradise Beach was terrible however there were some interesting faces who appeared in the series such as Matt Latanzi(Olivia Newton Johns ex-husband), Isla Fisher from Scooby Doo and The Wedding Crashers and Ingo Rademacher from Another World.It was good to watch if you like to see hunks or babes in scantily clad swimwear.The story lines at the beginning were pretty terrible but towards the series end they really started to improve and the show really started to pick up.Unfortunately though that all came too late and the show was canceled.