Tag Archives: G

Galaxy of Terror 2.5/5

Galaxy of Terror

Well, it’s really cheap, but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, basically ripping off Alien and throwing in a good dose of Solaris as the driver for the mayhem. And some yucky alien-worm rape. However, to break it down:

The Good – some of the set design and ideas. Robert Englund!

The Bad – Not scary at all, blatant, poorly executed rip of Alien.

The Odd -Joanie from Happy Days acting all grown-up actress/nutty. Nutty ending. Alien worm/tentacle rape. It tries to get all existential at the end, which doesn’t fit the cheap and cheerful vibe.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3/5

Ghost Rider

Gleefully goofy Ghost Rider movie that’s propped up by Edris Elba as a French special ops monk and Christopher Lambert as a walking walloftext, we have the fiery spirit of vengeance going at it with Eastern European gangsters, arms dealers and Satan’s little helpers with glee. We also get Cage in more full-on crazy mode compared to the tamer Cage from movie 1.

However, it is a bit of a mess of a storyline, and the Crank-treatment doesn’t quite work as well here as the first Crank movie this was made by the guys that made Crank, if you don’t know what I’m going on about), but there are some hilarious odd bits and nice CGI/mad scenes.

Not quite the roasted turkey some reviewers suggested it was.

Ghost Rider 3.5/5

Ghost Rider

watched this at the cinema when it first came out and rather enjoyed it, but wanted to check it again, at it seems to be kicked around a fair bit.

I enjoyed it just as much this time, but to break it down

– the good: the presentation of Ghost Rider is fantastic. The flaming skull the bike, the chain weapon. All great. And Sam Elliott. Good visual direction and sound design during the action.
– the bad: the villains were weak,
far too weedy for GR. The execution of the nonaction elements was poor. satan’s CGI shadow.
– the odd: Cage’s displaced acting and his obsession about monkey videos, jelly beans, and The Carpenters.

Get the Gringo 3/5

Get the Gringo

Yep, we have Mel Gibson doing what he’s good at, which is excessively violent action genre movies. This one’s quite unusual and not what I expected, as he spends most of the time in a Mexican prison, but it’s fun, it’s cool that this action guy is seen planning and thinking through how to get what he wants, with a touch of the conman thrown in. Fun.

God Bless America 4/5

God Bless America

This is the only liberal revenge fantasy movie I know of. It turns the usual vigilante/justified killer genre movie on its head by changing the target of the anger-fuelled killings from the usual right-wing demons like foreigners, lefties and the underclass into liberal hate-figures like reality show judges, those horrible right-wing commentators who are always loathsome to any decent person, and so on. And feels satisfying for it.

This was terrific. I thought the direction was clean and elegant without being showy, the story was smart, the dialogue was a little Tarantino-esque and Diablo Cody-esque (which I think Goldthwaite lampooned himself, by lifting dialogue from Jackie Brown and directly referencing Juno) but in a good, fun way, and the last act was quite ferocious. the opening scene bothered me a little, as it was just too ferocious for my taste.

Joel Murray in particular was terrific.

You have to see this, it is currently streaming on Netflix US.

Groundhog Day 5/5

Groundhog Day

Beautifully constructed film that does three things nearly perfectly: entertains, enthrals, and enlightens.

The script is a million miles away from the A->Z scripts so often found in romantic comedies, and the turns taken keep you guessing, and you realise you’re seeing something akin to growing wisdom with more and more experience.

When forced to live the same day over and over and over, we get Murray (beautifully playing his part) as the cynical weather reporter caught in a never ending loop of time. During this time, he gets depressed, bored, angry in turns, being even more nasty to those around him, or using this unique circumstance to find out about the people he has to interact with, and try and exploit this knowledge (to seduce women, for example). In fact, sometimes it may appear he is actually in some sort of hell of his own making.

Gradually he learns to accept what his happening, and tries to help people – but sometimes even this proves impossible (he helps an old tramp, spends some time with him, but before the day’s out, the old fellow dies anyway).

He gradually stops doing superficial stuff, and starts to actually do something positive with all this time on his hands, and tries to use it in a less superficial or selfish way. He learns the piano for example after being charmed by a piano piece playing on the radio, and uses this new skill to entertain at a party. He takes time to help people, (stopping a kid hurting or even killing himself for example) knowing it’s pointless anyway as the next day it all starts again. (how long is all this? 10 years? 100 years? 10,000 years?). Through all this, he comes to understand himself better, and release and enjoy the nice side of himself, falling in love (not just lust) with the leading lady.

A great story, great script and perfect comedy acting all rolled up. It’s one of those films that transcends grouping – not just a comedy, not just a drama, not just a romance, and it works well on every level.

Another Groundhog Day Review