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

Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Movie Review

“Dark Fury” is a 30-minute self-contained animated story that takes place between the events of “Pitch Black” and the just released “Chronicles of Riddick”. It’s not really anything necessary, and I suspect only fans of the Riddick character will enjoy the film...

June 16th, 2004 | Read More

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) Movie Review

As pure spectacle, “The Chronicles of Riddick” is quite an achievement. But as a narrative story, it’s sporadic and unwieldy. For those in the dark (no pun intended), “Riddick” is the sequel to “Pitch Black”, a horror film in the guise of sci-fi. In that earlier...

June 14th, 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

The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Movie Review

Any film that bears the credit “directed by Roland Emmerich” is not going to be particularly deep. It’s likely to be a vapid, two-hour waste of time. It’s too bad that “The Day After Tomorrow” continues the trend. The film begins dramatically, with the climate of...

June 1st, 2004 | Read More

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004) Movie Review

Sometimes you wonder why studios make sequels when there seems to be no reason and certainly no creative impetus to do so. Take “Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation”, a movie where the title probably took longer to come up with than the actual script. Even though the screenplay was...

May 10th, 2004 | Read More

The Guyver (1991) Movie Review

“The Guyver” was one of the first in a series of Western film adaptations of anime, released in hopes of capitalizing on the success of “Akira”. Given the cold shoulder when initially released in the USA, New Line Pictures gave the film another shot by releasing it as a director’s...

May 1st, 2004 | Read More

Thought Crimes (2003) Movie Review

“Thought Crimes” is an origins episode. Even though it’s being sold as a 90-minute movie, anyone familiar with episodic TV can tell you right away that “Thought Crimes” was a 2-hour TV pilot that never materialized into a regular show. Which is an awful shame, because this...

April 26th, 2004 | Read More

Timeline (2003) Movie Review

For some reason people in “Timeline” are constantly talking over each other. I’m not sure if director Richard Donner (”Lethal Weapon”) planned this, but the end result is irritating as hell. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the TV show “Southpark”, where whenever...

April 4th, 2004 | Read More

Dragon Head (2003) Movie Review

George Iida’s “Dragon Head” opens with high school student Teru (Satoshi Tsumabuki) waking up inside a bullet train. Teru is the sole survivor of a terrible train accident, and all of his classmates are dead. If that wasn’t bad enough, the tunnel they were going through has collapsed,...

March 12th, 2004 | Read More

The Butterfly Effect (2004) Movie Review

Sometimes a brilliant idea is wasted on an average film, which is unfortunately the case with “The Butterfly Effect”. The movie possesses an incredibly imaginative concept, but can’t manage to translate it into a consistently engaging movie. Much of the film’s weakness lies in...

February 8th, 2004 | Read More

Natural City (2003) Movie Review

One obstacle in the way of the new South Korean sci-fi film “Natural City” isn’t the undeniable fact that its every construction is derivative of Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner”, but that the film is, as a whole, inexplicable. The hero R (Ji-tae Yu) is an inexplicable...

January 21st, 2004 | Read More

G-Saviour (2000) Movie Review

Gundam fans that have been yearning for a live-action version of their favorite anime may be surprised to learn that one has already been made. They will probably be even more surprised to discover what an average production it is. While the film does display some impressive computer generated effects,...

January 14th, 2004 | Read More

Time Quest (2003) Movie Review

Robert Dyke’s “Time Quest” is one of those movies that really had the potential to be something special. But alas, the film’s second half is a combination of silly happenstance and, in the last 20 minutes, extraneous footage that don’t seem to have any purpose for existing...

January 3rd, 2004 | Read More

Star Trek 8: First Contact (1996) Movie Review

“Star Trek” has never been like any of the other science fiction franchises out there. It’s always had a distinctive look, feel, and vibe to its aesthetics and storylines that I find attractive. Also, I have always considered “Star Trek” technology to be more feasible than...

December 13th, 2003 | Read More

The Matrix: Revolutions (2003) Movie Review

Who knew the Wachowski brothers had a Jesus Christ fixation? As it turns out, the entire “Matrix” series is nothing more than a remake of Jesus’ life. Who would have thunk it? “The Matrix: Revolutions” opens with human rebels Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss),...

November 19th, 2003 | Read More

Elysium (2003) Movie Review

If you approach it correctly, the South Korean animation “Elysium” really isn’t that bad. I mean, it is quite unremarkable, that goes without saying. The whole movie is essentially a 70-minute episode of “The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” (or whatever title the show...

November 16th, 2003 | Read More

Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision (2003) Movie Review

It’s always been my contention that the reason Time Travel movies are such a niche genre (with the exception of the “Terminator” movies, which has defied the parameters of the genre and become something completely different) is the inherent problems associated with making films about...

September 11th, 2003 | Read More

Clockstoppers (2002) Movie Review

I guess it’s no surprise that “Clockstoppers”, a movie produced by the fine folks over at Nickelodeon — a TV network that caters exclusively to kids — is filled with gaping plot holes and enough continuity errors to make your head spin. That is, this would be the case if...

August 3rd, 2003 | Read More