Reviews

Bruce Campbell and Ellen Sandweiss go out for a picnic while Scott Spiegel and Mary Valenti play Monopoly. Ellen is told by Bruce about the whole place being an indian burial ground, before falling asleep. She wakes up to find Bruce missing, and then there's a whole lot of running, stabbing, and POV shots. Sam Raimi made this film for $1,600 on Super-8 over one weekend. This film is a real treat for Evil Dead fans, because, despite lacking Campbell's Ashness (where he was a wimp in Evil Dead, and progressed into an asshole in Army of Darkness), it contains many scenes that would later be seen in Evil Deads 1 and 2, and Sam Raimi's Evil POV shots. It is also atmospheric and quite scary, something that seems almost impossible given the budget. Evil Dead fans will love this, and it is worth searching the net for bootleg copies of the film (as Anchor bay were unable to provide the film on the new Limited Edition Evil Dead DVD), for anyone else, this film would only appeal to aspiring filmakers.

6/10 Anyone with a casual interest in film

8/10 Evil Dead fans like myself

Despite being made on a low-budget, having bad acting, shaky camerawork and a plot that is best described as thin, this is one of the best splatter films ever made and is a great movie to watch with a bunch of mates.

Aliens are invading earth (well New Zealand actually), and are going to turn the human race into a new fast food on their planet. To stop this from happening, the government send in... 'THE BOYS.'

The plot is just an excuse for some brilliant homemade make-up splatter effects, and some well choreographed action set-pieces. Peter Jackson directs, writes, photographs, does the make-up effects and the best performances in the film, and it's easy to see some of the brilliant touches that would go into his later work.

This is an enjoyable film to watch, especially after a curry and a few beers with your mates, but make sure you've finished your curry before watching. This is called BAD TASTE remember!

9/10

(It is also worth noting that any wannabe filmakers out there should get anchor bay's limited edition DVD, this has some excellent tips such as homemade weapons and effects and $20 Stedicams)

I watched this film after reading a DVD review of it. They only gave it 2/5 (probably because it had crap picture) and I thought it would be really bad. But one day I managed to catch it on Sci-Fi channel and was blown away. Well kind of. This is cheap. The camerawork, acting and effects are so bad that the illusion of it being a movie never seems real, and I think this is why it works. Me and my mate laughed our heads off every second of it. I can't wait to see what Peter Jackson does with the Lord of The Rings trilogy after seeing this superb piece of work.

4/5 Flawed genius. (The flawed factor is the genius part)

I have been reborn!!!

On the cover of this film, Roger Corman is quoted as saying "If Alfred Hitchcock partnered with Walt Disney they'd make a picture like this." He couldn't be more right.

The story is about a pop idol Mima, who is sheding her squeaky-clean image for that of an actress. Along the way, she is raped onscreen for a sleazy television show, and does a nude shoot for a men's magazine. This makes her dirty, as her old self tells her. She finds a web site detailing every intimate little detail in her life, and believes that she is being stalked by a strange man. Her personality splits in two, into herself and her old, clean, self which tries to murder her. While she is battling her old self, all of those who contributed to her downfall are being grusomely murdered.

This movie has been critisized by others on this very site, saying that the film was boring in the first 40 minutes. How wrong they are. In Hitchcock's films, (take Psycho for example) he builds up character for the first half-hour until the slashing. This does the same, because if we were not built up to believe that Mima's character is not real-i.e 3-dimensional, then we would feel no sense of loss and disorientation when all hell breaks loose in Mima's life (and the editing room).

A first class film with twists all the way. Should be seen by any movie fan with a mature mind. Even though it will probably collect dust in the anime section of the video store.

5/5

Only beaten in the anime stakes by Ghost in the Shell (2nd) and Akira (1st). Pure genius.

The Greatest Film Ever Made! This is my description of Evil Dead 2, you will probably want to ask why the sequel to a crappy 1982 gore-fest is the Greatest Film Ever, but I'll get on to that later.

The film starts with a re-run of the first Evil Dead, only it has been re-shot. In this new version, only Ash(Bruce Cambell) and Linda go to the cabin, not five of them as there originally was. This pretty much renders the first film obsolete, but it should clarify that this is not a re-make, but a sequel. After this 'mini-Evil Dead' Ash is thrown through the woods on an unseen revolving crucifix. Then the film really starts.

Ash is alone in the cabin, where he slowly becomes insane, and his hand becomes possessed ("Give me back my hand!") It is at this point in the movie that the audience should realise that this is not a straight horror film. It is a comedy-horror. When Ash's hand is possessed we see the best pysical comedy ever seen! Easily beatng Jim Carrey beating himself up in Me, Myself & Irene.

Then some people come to the cabin and the film shifts into blood-soaked high gear, and we are taken on a rip-roaring rollercoaster of a ride, ending up in the best set-up for a sequel ever!

Now, you are probably still wondering why I have called it the Greatest Movie Ever. It is because no other film has combined so many genres and made it work. It has Horror. It has comedy. It has action. It has a bit set in Medival times. It has cheese(Bruce Cambell's performance in the first 5 minutes). There's a sort of romantic-thing going on between Ash and Linda (Yes, I know, It's disgusting). I could go on. To sum it up...

Groovy...

Magnolia is possibly the best film of 2000! At first I was put off by the running time, but it goes by in a flash. The film starts with a series of 'coincidental' events, which is followed by a quick look at all the characters. Then the film starts properly, where we are plunged into 6 stories set across L.A in one day.

First there is the story of TJ Mackey, a sex therepist who hasn't spoken to his father for 15 years. His father is on his deathbed, trying to find his son to say a few last words to him. His wife, (who at first married him for money) is realising that she now loves him, but is feeding him the morphine, that while kepping the pain low, is killing him quicker. There is a cop who starts going out with a coke addict, whose father is the host of a TV gameshow called what do kids know? On his show, there is a child genius who is being bullied into doing the show by his father, and there is the man who was a child genius on the show 30 years before. These all are connected, by the ending which brings L.A to a halt, and all the characters together. There is a central theme in this movie, and it is about how children can be ruined later on in life, by what their parents do to them as children.

As a film, the acting is flawless, the camerawork superlative, and the writing better than anything else last year (except American Beauty). Well worth watching. Again, and again, and again...

FIGHT CLUB IS THE GREATEST FILM OF 1999! But wait, let me start at the beginning. Contrary to popular belief, FIGHT CLUB is not a "depraved film about a bunch of guys who beat each other up, which will turn all men into Space Monkeys." It is the deepest, most intelligent and stylish film for ages.

We start in the Narrator's (Edward Norton) brain and we stay there for the rest of the film. We go out of his brain, through his nostril's and down the barrel of a gun in a beginning sequence to rival Se7en's. Then we see that Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is holding the gun. Then we swoop down the building and into a van, where there are explosives which are going to be used to destroy all the major credit card company's buildings. "I know this," tells the Narrator, "because Tyler knows this." You won't know what any of this means until the final credits.

We go back a little, to the days of the Narrator's insomnia, which is only cured by going to cancer support groups. Everything is fine for the Narrator until a woman named Marla Singer (Helen Bonham Carter) starts 'visiting' the support groups too. They work out squedules and Narrator can sleep again. Then he meets Tyler Durden on a plane and it all hits the fan.

They start up a Fight Club for all of those who are like the Narrator, which soon leads to terrorist attacks on consumerism. Oh yeah, there's also a killer twist thrown in for good measure.

What makes Fight Club the best film for ages is that the script itself is superb, and the direction by David Fincher is his most darkest and stylish yet. The lighting is lowkey, there is some Matrixy camerawork, there are subliminal messages (which are pointed out on the DVD commentry) and Fincher sometimes wobbles the fabric of the film itself.

All in all, a first class package, superb performances, direction, oh, and let's not forget the perfect music from the Dust Brothers. A first class film, and a wake-up call for the Generation Xers. "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, you are the same decaying organic matter as everything else! We are all members of the same compost heap!"

Easily Cameron's best film. Aliens is an amazing film which was made for a mere $16 million which puts this years crappy CGI fests to shame.

The story starts off with Ripley drifting through space 52 years after the first film. She is told that there is a colony on the planet where the first alien was found and that they had lost contact with. She is sent there with a bunch of marines and then hell breaks loose. The colony is desolate, the only survivor being a small girl, Newt(one of only two child actors who could ever act, the other being Haley Joel Osment). Oh yes, plus there's the small fact that the Aliens have taken over it. There are some stunning action sequences involving the aliens and some brilliant characterisations. Sigourney Weaver is at a career best as Ripley, the only female hero ever to be taken seriously. There are some very funny moments and the aliens are b****y scary. All in all, a first class film, thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. Oh, and if you can hunt it down, there's a director's cut which adds more character material and an extra action sequence doing the rounds. 10/10

There are few films that have revolutionised cinema. Citizen Kane. The Godfather. Jaws. Die Hard. Reservoir Dogs. Before Reservoir Dogs came onto the scene, we were stuck with any crappy script making it's way to film within a year of it being written. The 80s were a bad time for movies. The excellence of the 70s movies(Godfather, Jaws, Apocalapse Now, Taxi Driver) had gone. Video had meant cinemas were not as popular as before. Then came one small film made an a tiny budget with no- name (except Harvey Keitel) actors, written and directed by a newcomer who had dropped out of school at 16 and worked in a video store until now. This little film was the best thing to happen in cinema for a long time. It was a simple story about a heist gone wrong. It was set in a warehouse. But it was told with a set of flashbacks to make it more complicated than that. There were pop-culture refrences throughout this film, and the acting was superb. Did I mention it contained lots of profanitisin' and violence which sparked up controversy? A cops ear being cut off to the sounds of 'Stuck in the middle with you'. This was a great film without cliche's and was incredibly original(apart from the fact that it was a story 'borrowed' from 'city on fire'. Tarantino's 2nd best.

You walk into this film not knowing what the Matrix is. You take your seat and watch the trailers. The green Warner Brothers (green? you ask) trademark comes up, and without warning you are thrust into the Wachowski brothers grand vision. 2 hours of excitement later, you stumble out of the cinema, knowing what the Matrix is.

This is one great movie. Keanu Reeves is cooler than cool as Neo. The Wachowski brothers skilful direction is brilliant. The special effects sequences will blow you away, did I mention the government lobby scene?

The film starts off with a 'what is real?' first half, and then the first kung-fu sequence makes way for an action- packed, John Woo-esque second half with slomo and style cranked up all the way to the top. Did I mention the government lobby scene?

Keanu becomes Cool Keanu, Carrie-Anne Moss is a real find and Hugo Weaving is perfect in his against typecasting role as the evil Agent Smith.

You may notice in this review that I have not revealed what the Matrix is. Like the trailer says, 'You have to see it for yourself.'

Excellent. Best film of '99. 9/10.

Chicken Run. I state this first, it's not as good as Wallace & Gromit, or the Toy Story films. Yet, it is better than A Bug's Life. It's about chickens. Escaping from a prison-esque farm. It starts off alright, yet there is too much dialogue (which isn't that good) and some jokes are just not funny. The chickens are also not very 3 dimensional characters(Babs being the one exception). That's the bad points out of the way.

Now onto the good points. The action packed second half is superb (especially the Raiders of the Lost Ark take) and there are some hilarious jokes. Some characters are brilliant, (Babs and the two rats)and every scene with Mr Tweedy is hilarious ("So now it's gnomes" had me in stiches) and there are some incredibly inventive ideas. A good film, kids'll love it for the fun. Teens (I'm one myself) will even enjoy it because of the action and jokes. Adults will enjoy the takes on Great Escape and Indiana Jones. One of the few films that the whole family will enjoy and that I enjoyed. Cheers Aardman. 8/10.

From the opening scene you know that this is a good film, and at the end scene you'll want to watch it again. There are 3 stories, each revolving around L.A crime. The first one is about an overdose, the second (and weirdest) is about a boxer and the third (in my opinion the best) about 'divine intervention'. Quentien Tarantino puts these stories into the blender, adds the best ensemble cast ever seen, style, the coolest dialogue ever and some excellent music and the result is a first class movie. The greatest movie ever made! 10/10.