Greg1138 Reviews

Hollow Man II (2006 Video)

Surprisingly Effective.....

[7/10 · 5 October 2006]

I thought I would give this a go, after spotting an advert for it in a well-known UK film magazine. I knew Hollow Man 2 was in production, and as a fan of the first movie I was a little non-plussed to find the sequel getting a Direct-to-DVD release.

So I wasn't really expecting much...

I was pleasantly surprised therefore to find an engaging little movie - very much in the spirit of the first (no brain, no logic, full speed ahead with cardboard characters and a plot straight from the back of a 40-year-old comic). It has many faults - Christian Slater just ain't up to the job any more (but seems to be enjoying himself), a long and overly-talky middle act, some extremely ropey visual effects (though it has to be said that there are many good ones despite the obviously low budget), a blatant re-use of a scene from the original Hollow Man not-very-well-disguised, and a conclusion that felt very rushed - dare I suggest the budget ran out?

On the plus side however the 2-dimensional characters are engaging, there are one or two great jump-out-of-seat moments, tips of the hat to not only the original movie but also HG Wells' novel "The Invisible Man", effective use of music (which is all new - not a rehash of Goldsmiths original) and an overall sense of fun (That's Executive Producer Paul Verhoeven shining through, I think) - despite the nasty moments!

To the people that are slating this saying "It's not as good as the first, really disappointed" etc etc, I simply have to wonder exactly what they were expecting! Shakespeare this ain't...

But to the people who are open-minded enough to give this an honest go, you will get out exactly what you put into it. It's not Shakespeare, but it certainly is Hollow Man.

If this is the future for the Hollow Man franchise (there is the obligatory - but well executed - set-up for a Hollow Man 3), it could be an awful, awful lot worse.

Bring 'em on!!

Omen IV: The Awakening (1991 TV Movie)

What a big, big shame....

[1 November 2003]

This should have been one to watch....

The Final Conflict (or "Omen III") ended with Damien Thorn being killed with just one of the Daggers of Meggido - therefore whilst the Physical Body was dead, the Spiritual Body is still alive.... .....so it's reborn into a dull TV movie....

There's some good talent on show - the ever-reliable Fay Grant takes the lead, whilst Mikes Wood and Lerner add bolstering support. Even a very young Asia Vieira puts on a cracker of a performance.....Jonathan Sheffer's musical score adds immesurably to the proceedings, too... ....but hat ever happened to the script/direction/production values is anybodies guess...it just doesn't go anywhere, and deservedly ended up on the DTV shelves of your local Potboiler Video Shop.....

It has some good moments (one in particular with a Wrecking Ball!) and the storyline is sound - but this is no way to follow up 3 of the best psychological horror movies of the past 30 years. Bernhard and Neufeld should have known better....

This is one movie that's begging for a big-budget re-make - maybe it would be a reasonable idea to go back to Gordon McGills novel for the plot/storyline....just let us all forget that this sorry mess ever got made, shall we?

Rendezvous (1976)

What the hell????????

[10/10 · 3 October 2003]

Hmmm.....I won the DVD of this movie - and I was totally unimpressed. Less than 9 minutes long? No cast? (Actually, there are a couple, but more on that later), no effects? No script? Come on, what were they trying to pull???!?!?!

And then I watched it.

Car lovers, you HAVE to see this movie. A break-neck drive through a 1976 Paris dawn in what must have been one of the fastest cars around at the time. All sorts of rumours surround this film - was the driver of the car a hired Formula 1 Driver? - having seen it, this would not surprise me.........was the director immediately arrested following it's first showing? Again, this would not surprise me.

No script, No effects, No editing - yep, it was all done in one take, and the DVD supposes a reason for this - and only the briefest appearance by "Actors" for the surprise ending.......and it is a surprise - not for nothing does this movie have this title...

Watch it if you get a chance, but not before securely fastening your seatbelt!!!!!!!!!! The kind of movie that Cine2000 and IMax were invented for.....

The Second Coming (2003)

Striking.....

[21 April 2003]

Yep, the second episode of this two-parter is rather bum-numbing stuff, but it's worth the wait...

Written by Russell Davies - who has stirred up controversy before - this is a "What if?" story about the second coming of Jesus...on it's initial showing in the UK, it was criticised for it's "Blasphemy", which is a little odd since it's nothing of the sort...

Set in Manchester, England, Christopher Eccleston returns after disappearing for 40 days and nights and proclaims that he is the Son of God. I won't spoil things for any viewers out there with the "Is he or Isn't he?" stuff - suffice to say that he finds it somewhat difficult to convince people....

Well worth the price of a DVD to catch this interesting drama...

Dragon Fighter (2003 Video)

Well - actually it ain't that bad...

[21 January 2003]

Sure it's got it's weaknesses - it's inconsistencies are annoying, the effects (though, for the most part excellent) occasionally vere towards laughable, and the acting ain't gonna win any Oscars this year....(Razzies, anyone?)...

BUT - it's driven along by a good, solid premise (obviously inspired by Jurassic Park, complete with moral debate), a considerable amount of effort by the star to keep it going - he does an admirable job, incidentally - and the aforementioned mostly-excellent special effects.

My biggest moan about the film is the dreadful soundtrack. Not only was it drab and boring, believe it or not - don't know if you noticed - the damn thing stopped about 10 minutes before the end of the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, the movie was obviously made to cash in on the DTV-likers who heard how bad Reign of Fire was, but it shows alot about the movie market these days when the supposed DTV clunker is actually 5 times better than the movie it was made to cash in on, doesn't it?

Rent it, catch it on Cable (I saw it on Sci-fi UK)....it'll engross you for an hour or so, and you'll walk away wondering, as I did, why it wasn't given a bit more of a budget - it certainly deserved it...

Do I hear the words "Big Budget Remake", anyone......?

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

Pardon?

[22 October 2002]

OhmyohmyohmyohMY!!!

I rented this out the day after seeing Blair Witch Project (which, incidentally, scared the pants off of me...) hadtoseethesequel....hadtoseethesequel......

Do yourself a favour - if you have seen the first movie but not this one - SKIP IT!!!!!! WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE!!!!!!!!

There is nothing I hate worse than a movie that goes out of it's way to insult the intelligence of the audience. Not only does it ignore the basic premise of the original, but it has the most HUMUNGOUS cop-out of an ending you have EVER seen in your life... ...it's a good job that video-rental stores don't have a "Satisfaction, or your money back" guarantee - if they did, most would surely have gone bankrupt over this movie...

It's not all bad - there are some good performances and some great cinematography, but PERLEASE! If you are going to make a sequel (or rather, follow-up) to a movie do NOT attempt to grind that movie's memory into the dust and give us a buck-fifty rehash with all the good bits missed out...

Just goes to show how much use throwing budget at a movie can be if you ain't got the ideas...

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Woah boy!! What happened?!??!??

[21 October 2002]

Truthfully, this should have been the WORST film on the face of the planet..consider the evidence:

Storyline - dross... Cast - dross (or so we thought...) Camera work - worse than dross... Publicity - non-existent Budget - less than a years salary

I watched this film for the first time last night, thinking it a decent filler until the next show - and wanting to see what the fuss was about...

SO - I repeat - WHAT HAPPENED????

How did all of these dross elements come together into such a terrifyingly and disturbingly claustrophobic film?

The answer is elusive (if it weren't, Ed Wood would have got a few more Oscars!). I think it is that which "Makes" the movie. Elusiveness...there is no direction at any point in this film - apart from the closing seconds as Heather runs down the stairs. Everything is hidden - to be honest, I don't want to watch this again to SEE who that was standing in the corner - the vagueness is, I think, what set this film up to succeed. Even the title is vague, the camerawork is vague, everything about this movie is a BLUR...and I think that this is what captured the imaginations of both the makers and, subsequently, the viewers.

My "Decent Filler", quite frankly, scared the hell out of me (or into me - depends on your point of view!). I have hired the sequel out tonight, but can't help thinking (as obviously everyone else did except the producers) that it is on to a loser...

Don't look outside your front door in the morning...

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Attack of the Groans.......

[10/10 · 24 May 2002]

Let's be honest about things for a second...

Every one of the original trilogy was slated at some point by a large amount of people - these days, 20 years later, there are just more means to do it and therefore everyone has to voice an opinion somewhere...and to the people who sit in front of the PC slagging off the movie and pointing out the bad bits I say these 8 words...

IT'S ONLY A MOVIE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To those of us who enjoy Star Wars for what it is i.e. ENTERTAINMENT, Episode II is a delicious slice of escapist wonder, exactly the same as the previous 4 episodes (Yes - I most certainly include Episode I in that statement!). It is never going to be perfect - show me a film that is? for those people who don't like it - FINE! GO AND MAKE A BETTER MOVIE!!!!! (Oops, sorry Mr Spielberg!)

It is a movie that encompasses, and enhances, elements of all 4 previous outings, and takes them to the next step...OK, so people think the script ain't up to much - and to those people I say look at the original Star Wars (Or A New Hope for the purists, if you insist) - the script was far worse then!! Characters? Everyone laughed out loud at the droids in that movie - in fact fans have had something to moan about in each of the movies (Jedi Master is a MUPPET!!!! Galaxy saved by TEDDY BEARS!!!!!). In fact that brings me to the one PERSONAL dislike of Ep II - the somewhat IN MY OPINION misplaced humour, hence the title of my post...please notice that I emphasise IN MY OPINION - I am not trying, like many people on here, to ram my opinion down your throat.

To the people who don't like it I say FINE!!! Go and watch something else you DO enjoy! But if you have nothing better to do than go on about how bad YOU think it is, you desperately need help my friends...

To the vast, vast majority of people out there who DO like Ep II, join me in shouting one big MR LUCAS, EPISODE III CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Harry Connick Jr.: The New York Big Band Concert (1993 Video)

Basically, a musical genius at work...

[10/10 · 19 July 2001]

From the scintillating opening bars of "Sweet Georgia Brown" to the humour and musicianship of the encore - this is simply one of the best big band concerts you will see.

Sure, he has been compared to Sinatra, Como et al, but this video is more than proof that this man is not only capable of holding his own, he is also capable of picking the finest musicians in the West and ramming the whole package down your throat in style!

Containing music from 2 or 3 of his Jazz albums, and a few more classics just to show off a little more, if you are a big band music lover you will finish watching this video and sit there feeling that you have just been in the auditorium. The delightful playing by some of the best (Leroy Jones, Dave Schumacher and my own hero, Roger Ingram) grabs you from minute 1.

The showmanship demonstrated by "Harry" throughout the show is astounding, as is his extraordinarily natural ability to play, entertain, and sing his heart out all at the same time.

Sit back, then, and enjoy watching a true genious at work. Be prepared, though, for complaints from the neighbours when you are forced to turn your TV up to full volume and dance all over the house.

A true joy.