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

Samurai aka Samourais (2002) Movie Review

Generally speaking, blending genres is a good idea, and while it requires a delicate touch to pull off, when properly handled the result is a film that appeals to the viewer on several levels, as well as being more rewarding as a result of the blending. However, when handled in a ham-fisted fashion,...

December 12th, 2004 | Read More

In My Skin (2002) Movie Review

Cannibalism is a popular theme in lowbrow exploitation cinema, exemplified by films such as “Cannibal Holocaust” and “The Untold Story”, though the subject rarely rears its ugly head in more artistically and critically acceptable fare. The French film “In My Skin”...

November 30th, 2004 | Read More

Immortel ad vitam (aka Immortal, 2004) Movie Review

It seems like 2004 will be known as ‘The Year of the Virtual Movie Set.’ “Immortel” is one of four films that are garnering notice this year for being almost entirely filmed on blue/green screen with the majority of the on-screen visuals added digitally in post production (the...

October 30th, 2004 | Read More

Secret Agents (2004) Movie Review

The French don’t generally do a lot of straight action movies, or if they do, you don’t hear a lot about them. “Crimson Rivers” (which starred “Secret Agents’” Vincent Cassel) was a stab at the popular serial killer genre, and in a way it succeeded — enough...

October 10th, 2004 | 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

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) Movie Review

With all the recent hype and furor surrounding Asian gore films such as “Ichi the Killer” and more extreme fare like the “Guinea Pig” series, it’s sometimes easy to forget the wave of splatter that surged forth from Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Whilst some of...

September 22nd, 2004 | Read More

Cronos (1993) Movie Review

The Mexican movie “Cronos” is undoubtedly one of the better horror films of the 1990s. At times unsettling, at other times moving and compassionate, this is a vampire film that never conforms to any of the given rules or wisdom regarding the genre. Beautifully made, this is a true gem; a...

September 2nd, 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

Ranarna (aka At Point Blank, 2004) Movie Review

It’s a mystery why the Swedes don’t make more action films like “Ranarna” or “Executive Protection”, when they seem to do it just as well as everyone else. Maybe it’s because the locals don’t appreciate the combination of realism and Hollywood-esque shoot’em...

July 27th, 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

The Alzheimer Case (aka The Memory of a Killer, 2003) Movie Review

Cop films are cop films regardless of the accents of the cops. Rather it’s Dutch, as in the case of “The Alzheimer Case”, or an American product, you can expect the usual conventions of the genre to surface. To wit: the bureaucratic process that blocks our hero’s progress; a superior...

May 23rd, 2004 | Read More

The Locals (2003) Movie Review

The first thing you notice about Greg Page’s “The Locals” is this: cinematographer Bret Nichols has no idea how to light a movie, much less a horror film. Our New Zealand film opens with urbanites Grant (John Barker) and Paul (Dwayne Cameron) on their way to the coast for some surfing,...

April 30th, 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

Dead End (2001) Movie Review

“Dead End”, a French production by French filmmakers with an all-American cast, is all geared toward “getting” the audience with a slick Twist Ending. So, knowing that, your only recourse is to sit through the whole thing trying to piece together the evidence and outguess the...

March 17th, 2004 | Read More