The Truth About Love (2004) Movie Review

I don’t usually watch a lot of Romantic Comedies, mostly on the basis that RomComs are so pedantic and uninspiring as to be insulting to one’s intelligence. As such, my intermittent doses of RomComs usually come about when the star of said RomCom is someone I find appealing that their presence...

January 17th, 2005 | Read More

Bride and Prejudice (2004) Movie Review

Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride and Prejudice”, supposedly a modern retelling (Bollywood style) of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, allows me to break out my favorite line when reviewing movies such as these: It is what it is, and if you went into this film knowing what...

January 17th, 2005 | Read More

Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) Movie Review

“Dead Man’s Shoes” has been playing at various international festivals, and has been described as revitalizing the slasher film in much the same way that “28 Days Later” recently did to the zombie genre. There is some truth to this, as “Dead Man’s Shoes”...

September 30th, 2004 | Read More

Hardware (1990) Movie Review

One of the bleakest, most inventive, and nihilistic films of the 1990s was barely noticed when it was first released, but thanks to cable and video rentals, “Hardware” has slowly gained a following that has earned it cult status. Deservedly so, for “Hardware” is a dark and daring...

September 25th, 2004 | Read More

Death Machine (1995) Movie Review

When you get right down to it, Stephen Norrington’s debut film, “Death Machine”, is pretty stupid. And I don’t even mean that in a disparaging way, because although it is without a doubt a derivative genre film trying to skate by on a B-Movie level budget, “Death Machine”...

August 22nd, 2004 | Read More

Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999) Movie Review

The Doctor Who series has been many things over the past few decades, but funny has never been one of them. And while director John Henderson and writer Steven Moffat may have only a tentative grasp on the Time Lord, they’ve nevertheless made a wickedly amusing parody sure to leave fans in stitches....

July 8th, 2004 | Read More

Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) Movie Review

After a few years of no new Doctor Who, fans of the show would have been tickled to watch Tom Baker read from the Gallifrey dictionary for 2 hours. Instead, they got a 15-minute crossover with the “Eastenders” as part of the Children in Need charity telethon. While quite flawed and illogical,...

July 8th, 2004 | Read More

Lighthouse (1999) Movie Review

There’s no doubt the British Slasher “Lighthouse” (aka “Dead of Night”) could have been much better. It has an interesting premise, but the execution lacks proficiency and there’s a dullness about the whole thing that’s hard to figure out. The characters are...

June 19th, 2004 | Read More

Doctor Who: The Movie (1996) Movie Review

Ever since “Doctor Who” had its final sign-off in 1989, fans have been clamoring for its resurrection. They got their wish in May of 1996, when a joint BBC/Universal Films production was released on the FOX Television network. While obviously an Americanized version of the classic British...

June 14th, 2004 | Read More

LD 50 Lethal Dose (2003) Movie Review

For about 30 minutes, one almost believed “Lethal Dose” was going to become something great. Alas, an uninteresting Act 1 and a laughably absurd (not to mention wholly clich’d) Act 3 ruined the day. “Lethal Dose” opens with animal activist commandos breaking into an animal...

May 31st, 2004 | Read More

Shaun of the Dead (2003) Movie Review

Who knew the Brits cared about making anything other than quirky romantic comedies, quirky gangster comedies, and quirky period comedies? Apparently there’s more to the British movie industry than yet another — and yet strangely familiar — romantic comedy starring sometime-john Hugh...

March 24th, 2004 | Read More

I Capture the Castle (2003) Movie Review

It’s probably just as well that the English film “I Capture the Castle” never states what time period its story is taking place in. The film, about an eccentric family that themselves itself living in a rundown castle in the English countryside, could have taken place anywhere and in...

September 23rd, 2003 | Read More

Johnny English (2004) Movie Review

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know why spy parodies aren’t as funny as they should be. After all, when you’re freed of the responsibility of coming up with a half-decent plot, shouldn’t your entire time be spent coming up with jokes and gags? As was the case with “Agent...

August 17th, 2003 | Read More

Alone (2001) Movie Review

I am reasonably certain there was a good movie in the British Serial Killer film “Alone”, but the final product is, alas, not so good. Even if you could survive first-time director Philip Claydon’s extreme A.D.D.-inspired directing style, you’d still have to deal with a cast of...

August 2nd, 2003 | Read More

Ghost Rig (aka The Devil’s Tattoo, 2001) Movie Review

The British horror film “Ghost Rig”, essentially a Last Stand in a Haunted House movie set on an oil rig, immediately peaks my attention. Not because it’s an outstanding horror flick, but because of something much simpler. Originally released in 2001 as “The Devil’s Tattoo”,...

July 14th, 2003 | Read More

Birthday Girl (2001) Movie Review

I don’t think I’m ruining anything by saying that Nicole Kidman (”The Others”) stars in “Birthday Girl” as a Russian mail-order bride who turns out to be one part of a 3-person con operation. This also adds to my ongoing theory that movie trailers nowadays are only...

June 20th, 2003 | Read More

Princess of Thieves (2001) Movie Review

It’s unfathomable that I wouldn’t like “Princess of Thieves”. It has everything I’ve come to appreciate — it’s a period movie, it has swords and horses, knights and battles, the Robin Hood legend, and best of all, a gorgeous lead in the young Miss Keira Knightley....

June 15th, 2003 | Read More

Deathwatch (2002) Movie Review

As further proof of the sad state of horror films nowadays, I give you the British movie “Deathwatch” and the recently reviewed Spanish/U.S. collaboration “Darkness”. Two films, made by very competent directors using super slick visuals, a big budget, a competent cast, and from...

April 4th, 2003 | Read More

28 Days Later (2002) Movie Review

My reaction to Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” would probably be a lot more positive if I hadn’t just finished watching Tom Savini’s 1990 remake of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”. I mention this only because “28 Days Later” is, in...

March 27th, 2003 | Read More

Bravo Two Zero (1999) Movie Review

There have been surprisingly few movies made about the 1991 Gulf War. My guess is because there’s not an engaging villain, largely due to Saddam Hussein’s mythical “5th Largest Army in the World” crumbling like Madonna’s acting career — that is, arriving with much...

February 25th, 2003 | Read More