vad-2 Reviews

Warrior Queen (2003 TV Movie)

A bad script,poor quality production and opportunity missed

[29 September 2003]

I watched this on prime-time television with the expectation of seeing a good production. There is nothing that I can write about this poor quality production which would recommend it. The events of this part of our history are not well documented but Boudica did exist so at the very least we should have been treated to a more realistic portrayal of her and her exploits. Alex Kingston acted the part well but she was handicapped by a bad script, poor supporting actors and very unrealistic scenery and props. This was a lost opportunity to show a piece of English history to a generation who probably know little about the past. Even a computer generated Star Wars type film would have been preferable to this production. There is little more to say but please do better next time English history is being screened.

In the Line of Fire (1993)

A very good vintage Clint Eastwood film, exciting and dramatic

[29 September 2003]

This film was, as expected, a dramatic, exciting and topical story. Very much the stuff of novels after the Kennedy assassination but convincingly acted with a good script and will be remembered as another Eastwood classic. Like all his films, this one will be watched many times as it will never date.

Cast Away (2000)

The best film that I have seen so far this year

[21 February 2001]

I enjoyed this film because it had a touch of realism and the event portrayed could happen to anybody who flies frequently, that is if one was lucky enough to survive a sea crash. The actual crash was well done and very convincing.

I liked the way the film began and ended. It related fate, something to which we all suffer. I was left really wanting to know if Chuck was going to have a new life with the lady who owned the Fed Ex which he returned. It would make a nice sequel film.

It is easy to find fault with Chucks stay on the island. How did he survive looking so well for four years with not enough food and wood for his stomach and fire. How did he avoid fatal infection after being cut so badly and his rescue was most unlikely. But remembering that it was only a story, the acting by Tom Hanks deserves an award, the direction was excellent and effects well done. I would like to know if many stunt men were used. The story jumped around and left large gaps. It would have been good to have these gaps filled and the film longer.

Congratulations to the production team for an excellent and enjoyable film.

Wonder Boys (2000)

An amusing but generally disappointing film

[6 November 2000]

I knew that this was not a typically Douglas type film from an interview that I saw on film night so I was expecting something different. I was not expecting to be bored with feeling that I had wasted my money and time in going to see it.

The story was slow to start and when I did find out what it was about, it made no sense. The characters were certainly mixed and although the events were just plausable, the combination did not work. The happy ever-after ending was nice but seemed not to align with the what went on before. The film was well directed and well acted but it did doing anything for me, but maybe I am too stuck on the type of films that I expect Michael Douglas to be in. What is wrong with stero-typing anyway !

Gladiator (2000)

A very enjoyable and well produced film

[11 July 2000]

I always enjoy films about the Roman period and this one did not disappoint me. The opening battle scence was spectacular. I thought that Russel Crowe was slightly miscast in the part of main character Maximus, although his acting was good. The computer graphics were well done the scenes of ancient Rome were impressive but some of the animation was too repetiive and became unbeleivable. I rate this film along with other greats like Spartacus and Braveheart. Lets have many more

White Squall (1996)

A well-produced and directed film of a true story

[15 January 2000]

I saw this film on TV for the first time last week. Although the story line was a little weak, the film sequences at sea were excellent, particularly the final storm (white squall) in which the boy actors portrayed the reality of the tragedy.

Jeff Bridges gave a good performance as the captain whose task was to instil discipline and develop the characters of the boys in his charge. However, some members of the crew were miscast.

I highly recommend this film.

Extreme Measures (1996)

A very topical subject making the film thought provoking

[23 November 1999]

First I want to comment on the subject of the film which is one which is now becoming for society a real issue -the right to experiment on humans for advancing medical science now that to this with animals is becoming increasingly difficult. This was placed in the context of an exciting thriller which starts with a patient's body disappearing from a hospital after death from an unknown cause. Hugh Grant plays an unlikely English doctor in a New York hospital who for some reason is disturbed by the man's death and goes on a roller coaster investigation leading him down a path of disaster. Gene Hackman plays the good villian in usual style. The was too much dependence on violence and not enough on storyline and good direction, but I enjoyed the suspense and recommend it to be seen. For me the very end of the film was most significant, it really summed up the ethical problems that many medical researchers will be confronted with in the next century when knowledge and technology will give opportunities to advance medicine beyond our widest dreams.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

A good thought provoking and entertaining film

[15 October 1999]

After overcoming my reservations, I went to see the film and was enjoyed it. The production, direction and acting were excellent. But then that could be expected from a Kubrick film.

It showed how sexual feelings and erotic behavour can be portrayed and expressed within a storyline with a degree of sophistication, not leaving the audience feeling that it was all that mattered. Many couples have private feelings but cannot express them to each other but live out their fantasies in many different ways. Kubrick showed us how one couple were able to do it and survive. I still have a difficulty with understanding the meaning of the title but then I am a scientist and am probably looking for a meaning that is not there. Anyway a thought provoking and entertaining film and I recommend everyone to see it.

Rear Window (1954)

An enjoyable nostalgic look at an old movie

[1 June 1999]

For the third time in the last five years or more! I saw this film again on TV. It was preceded by a film about Hitchock so this time I was looking for his identity as a Director more than the content of the film.

I was disappointed with the story, the acting from two great actors, and the very limited set. There was no suspense that normally could be expected from a Hitchcock film, even taking account that I had seen it before.

The problem is that films date, we expect more now from writers, actors, producers and directors. Everything moves on and up. For example does anybody really enjoy silent movies anymore. Would our children ever bother to see them?

Although current technology in film making does not replace good acting and a good storyline, it does save a film which is deficient in these. We used to accept almost anything put on the magic screen, because it was an experience. Now we want more. I wonder if the producers of the new Star Wars epic have learnt the lesson - not rely on any one of the following three, all are important, storyline first, acting and then the effects to stimulate the senses. Although I have not seen the film yet, and I will when it comes to the UK, I suspect by the many negative comments that there is too much reliance on technology and not enough on story and acting. I hope I'm wrong . If not, an ideal chance to get it right would have been missed . I will reserve judgement.

RoboCop 3 (1993)

Very third rate film

[16 May 1999]

I switched off after 30 minutes. This is an example of what started as a good idea became exploited to be silly, even worse than the Batman series. I always enjoy the special effects but do like a plausible story line.

Please do not make any more Robocops. Producers and writers try some more ideas and let's have some imagination.

RoboCop (1987)

An imaginative idea with good effects but poor story line and a lack of realism

[9 May 1999]

I saw this film for the second time on television and although it portrayed a good idea based on a number of earlier man-made robotic super heroes, as with many such sci-fi films there is too much reliance on effects and not enough on the story. I fear that producers and scriptwriters seem to think that people who watch such films lack intelligence when quite the reverse is true. The idea that robots could one day be used to carry out law-enforcement may be a possibility but I suspect genetic engineering may take us in another direction when criminal tendency will be eliminated from humans when those all important genes will be modified, but then other forms of human failing will have to be treated. But that assumes that we shall not be replaced by robots for everything. The Robocop ends up being the good guy who kills the bad guy and the bad robot and who lives to make Robcop 2 and 3. The question that will always be asked is who decides what is good and right, the programmer or as one day he will be, the robot programmer who makes his descendents? But then that's been dealt with in the Exterminator films, or has it?

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

A shocking but realistic film

[8 April 1999]

After the opening scenes of the film, the rather limited dialogue began to put me off but when I became used to the F-word and realised that for the type of people being portrayed it was their normal language, then I stayed for the duration. Like so many banned films, one had to watch it to see why it had been so maligned.

I was not so shocked at the violence or blood, in fact the latter was not so realistic looking. The only guy I felt sad about was the poor cop who was captured and tortured by Mr Blonde. He was doomed from the start. The film had the usual messages about friendship, trust, comradeship and all the human non-virtues. In an unexpected way the violence and evil help to make portray them more vividly. Films of this sort do not make society a better place or really provide entertainment but occasionally we need them to drag us from the cosiness of our living rooms to the realities of criminal life on the streets of our cities. It goes on everywhere, in the streets of the cities, in countries, on Continents (the atrocities taking place in Kosovo make some of the scenes in this film seem like friendly games). Society needs to be shocked sometimes to bring its citizens back to reality of the human situation.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

An excellent film with some deep thought provoking meanings

[25 March 1999]

Films that invoke volumous comments are either visually sensional, objects of media hype or emotionally stimulating. Shawshank Redemption falls into the latter category. I saw it for the first time on television, it did not need the wide screen or dramatic visual effects because it had been well-adapted from Stephen King's book to portray something that has worried everyone at some time in their lives. Being convicted of a crime that they did not commit and locked up for life with the very worst types of human beings. How being institutionalised is the only way to survive, but when it ends there is no way to go, no way to return to a former life. All human existence is based on a survival instinct. Once that is destroyed, death is a welcome relief.

The story hinges around three men, one who never lost it and escaped to live again, one who nearly lost it but re-gained hope from the first and one who lost it and killed himself. Although the setting was the harsh and hostile environment of prison, it could have been any other institution, a hospital, an old peoples home even a family home.

Andy Dufresne is different because he never lost the hope of escape, he used the weaknesses of others, the corruption of prison officials, the internal prison system to help his long term plan. He had the great advantage over the others, including the Prison staff of being , intellignet knowledgable and clever. Such people always win through. I did not know what the end was going to be, a clever piece of filming. Although the meassage was not lost,

It should give encouragement to all those who find themselves in a similar position. The justice system, although far from perfect is much improved so miscarriages can now be corrected. But I still wounder what it must feel like to be in the situation of Andy Dufresne but without his abilities.

Let's have more such films that provoke the senses and emotions as this one did. I make no excuse in adding to the hundreds of comments already make on this film , although I have not read them because I wanted mine to be original. But no doubt other thinking people would have made similar comments. I hope that writers, producers and sponsors read these comments and take note when making more such films

Crimson Tide (1995)

An excellent fast moving thought-provoking film

[1 March 1999]

There have been few war-type films (Saving Private Ryan was another) which have been so thought-provoking. The acting and action was excellent as could be expected from such a cast so my comments are really centred on the story line and its presentation. Set in the scenario of the post-cold war Russia, which is still with us, the basic confrontation which faces every naval commander of a nuclear submarine was brought to stark reality in this film. Who has the final say when it comes to pushing the button? Dependence on technology which is not infallible highlights the weakness of humans who become its slaves rather its masters. Ultimately the stark choice between life and death, between fiction and reality can become blurred when cut off from the world inside a deep sea submarine. How many times has this happened one can only wonder. Since we are all here it can be assummed that the CExcO portrayed by Denzel Washington always won or the type of persons portrayed by Hackman do not exist. Good triumphed over evil.

I wonder what happened to the men who mutineered, they seem to have been forgiven, for an offence still punishable by death, at least in the British navy. It's easy to criticise many technical mistakes in the film and some of the improbabilities but the main points were made and shown well. This film rates just as high as Red October, which was of a similar theme but also excellent. I wonder if Burt Lancaster ever sees these films? In its day Run Silent Run Deep had a lot to recommend it, but that is for another Comment at another time when I see it again

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

A very well produced and enjoyable British film

[14 February 1999]

I had some reservations about seeing this film but these were completely dismissed after seeing it. Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow acted out their parts well and actually conveyed that chemistry that is needed to bring lovers together. The wit and detailed period costumes, wonderful visuals, and a solid cast - headed by Fiennes and Paltrow and supported by Judi Dench, Geoffrey Rush, and Ben Affleck, created for me one of the most enjoyable fims I have seen this year. And it's British even with an American lead actress (excellent accent) and money from the US. Perhaps that's the answer, UK talent, novelty and American money and marketing. It deserves to win awards, they should go to Gwyneth Paltrow, the writers, producers, directors and the costume designers.

Jude (1996)

An excellent film adaptation from a classic book

[23 January 1999]

This film must rate as one of the greats. Keeping the full meaning of Hardy's stories set in Victorian England requires skill in production and direction. This film achieves that. The portrayal of the central characters Jude and Sue was well done by Chris Eccleston and Kate Winslet. The latter now an esteemed actress from Titanic. Some of the scenery and script could have been more realistic but as we move further from Victorian England only historians and those with very long memories would know. I would have liked a little more explanation and time spent on some of the actions, like the reason why Jude's first wife went away. It was a love story with a tragic ending which demonstrated the intensity of belief and importance people of the time placed in propriety and religion. Let's have more good film adaptations of the classics.

Braveheart (1995)

An excellent and very moving film

[9 January 1999]

Congratulations to all concerned with the making of this excellent film. I can only think of words of praise. The background set in the highlands of Scotland with its gripping scenery in the barbaric 13th Century brought both the realism and conditions under which people who lived in those times had to endure. The film did not rely on gimmicks, but pure storyline and professional acting. Even the brutality of mediaeval warfare was handled with accuracy and not used to shock but to portray reality. Essentially based on the power of love,freedom and national pride, Mel Gibson takes the character from the boy who sees his father killed, his new wife murdered and his country controlled by a foreign power through Scottish nobles who were only concerned at protecting their own selfish interests and survival. For me it was the last scene when Wallace endures public torture and death before giving up his principle - the importance of Freedom which embodies everything that drives the human spirit. Again an excellent film. This is what film making should be about. I look forward to seeing the sequel.

Apollo 13 (I) (1995)

An excellent film depicting a unique true life drama

[2 January 1999]

I saw this film for the third time on TV last night and was again enthralled by the drama. It's way ahead of any of the fictional space films, but then true events will always be so. The film deserved its award.

Tom Hanks and the other actors played their parts well.

Perhaps most important, this film records an historical event in the human endeavour to conquer space. As we move into the 21st century, which will bring many exciting space missions, there will undoubtedly be other incidents like Apollo 13, which technology will enable us to see live as it happens.

The new international space station being constructed and the prospects of our grandchildren being able to take vacations on a revolving Earth satellite will bring Arthur Clarke's visions to reality. No doubt we can expect many more fims about space but film makers please keep a sense of reality and scientific accuracy as seen in Apollo 13.

Speed (1994)

Great, fast moving action packed movie

[23 December 1998]

I enjoyed this film because it was pure action, fast moving and full of suspense. So much so that I could leave my chair in case I might miss something.

I liked the opening which set the scene. Obviously some of the actions were improbable, too many coincidences and near to hand equipment etc. but the quick thinking cop who save the lives of the poor devils trapped in the lift was admirable. Wouldn't it be comforting to believe that such cops existed.

The bad guy was too good a bad guy so his character was rather unreal. The plot was good. I really did not know how it would end. The end was rather far-fetched but altogether the idea was well thought out. Trying to maintain 50mph on a Los Angeles highway without crashing I love to see. Having experinece such driving in LA and other US cities, that would be a real feat.

The girl driving the bus was too nice looking and although her acting was good she was wrongly cast. For a start she did not look strong enough to handle the bus. They should have used a large well built lady, more typical of the sort you find on LA buses (no disrespect to such ladies).

Anyway I enjoyed the film (I actually saw it on TV) for the reason stated above. Maybe I will see its sequel about a boat in similar difficulties . I hope the plot is different. Hollywood tend to re-use themes and degrade them. Let's hope I'm wrong

The Mask of Zorro (1998)

One of the best films of 1998

[20 December 1998]

The cast was well chosen, the acting excellent as could be expected from such a cast. The rich plot was enhanced by good visuals and clever action shots - the stunt men had a field day. The Californian Robin Hood type character, Zorro in reality was not as nice as portrayed but it's the theme that's important. Antony Hopkins I understand did some of the fencing etc.

What I enjoyed about this old style adventure film was that it did not rely on too many special effects, pornographic sex scenes and over done bloodshed. Yes, there had to be some of the latter, but it was done in the western style and therefore acceptable. I enjoyed watching the stunningly beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones and the swashbuckling Banderas. The choreography was excellent.

Overall an excellent romantic-action-adventure film. Let's have some more like this in 1999.

The House of the Spirits (1993)

A well acted but over-ambitious film

[20 December 1998]

The film was based on a good storyline, well-acted but over- ambitious in trying to cover too wide a time span. The cast of well-known and established actors and actresses did as could be expected and gave the film a high profile. I think they were wasted. For example the minor part played by Antonia Banderous did little for the actor or the film.

Although I have not read the book I suspect the film was a poor adaption. Not enough was made of the so-called powers of the main character played by Meryl Streep. The film lost its way but although I saw it on television it was worth the time spent watching it. My message to film makers adapting from books is to add value to the story through visual interpretation rather than detract through poor character representation. Overall not a bad film

El Condor (1970)

An Exciting good old style film

[15 December 1998]

I enjoyed this film which I saw on television, but I did see it originally at the cinema long before IMDB or its directors were in existence.

Vintage Lee Van Cleef and Jim Browm acted out their parts well. I always like these type of Westerns, they never date, but then I grew up on them. The stories always have the same theme but, coupled to the acting and stunning western scenery, they always capture me. Having been fortunate enough to visit the scenery in the US in Arizona, New Mexico and California, the films give me added pleasure. Hope they go on remaking them so as to benefit from the new technology

Antz (1998)

An excellent film and a milestone in computer generated animation

[23 November 1998]

I enjoyed this film because of its technical excellence, its simplicity and sound track which made the ant-characters have personalities and behave like humans. This was, of course, the intention, Walt Disney did it decades ago, but using state-of the art computer techniques added a new dimension to the realism. The opening remarks by the central character with Woody Allen's voice were both funny and memorable. Congratulations to the production team and let's have many more like this based on the animal, insect etc. kingdom. It serves not only as entertainment but also conveys a powerful message about ourselves, the humans who have dominance over all other life-forms or do we?

This film was not for the very young but the title and publicity may have been slightly misleading. At the cinema that I attended in Manchester there were many young children, who in some cases may have expected a different type of film. This is not meant to be a criticism but should be considered when marketing the film.

I await the next film with eager anticipation.

The Truman Show (1998)

The film was a novel concept but unrealistic

[10 November 1998]

Although a novel concept, the film was unrealistic. The character was conditioned by his environment but all healthy humans have curiosity. They are not programmed machines. Maybe in the future genetically modified people will be like Truman. In the context of the film he is made to look stupid and oblivious of his man-made surroundings. In reality he would have discovered the truth much earlier. The film however, raised more interesting points about the captive audience and how the distinction between fact and fiction, reality and make-believe can become blurred when people want to escape from their own existence. The giant leaps in technology that can be expected will make films like the Truman show seem like the silent movies of the 20s' to our grandchildren. I look forward to the exciting possibilities that the future will bring but, as in the film, we must always be brought back to reality.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

a very well-produced and acted film

[7 November 1998]

I naturally compared this latest version of Halloween with the earlier versions so was not surprised at the action. Unfortunately, because the theme was established, there were no surprises. However, it was well produced and acted. More use could have been made of the effects which were not available at the time of the original. Also please be more innovative with the storyline when resurrecting old themes.

Presumably now that Michael Myers has lost his head, that is the last we shall see of him, or will there be a resurrection from the dead?