Beyond Thunderdome is the weakest of the three Max movies but is still worth watching, too many cute moments and forced situations decrease the impact of the otherwise engaging story.
Category Archives: DVD
Mad Max 2
Another excellent outing for Mad Max this time showing us the complete breakdown of order and the power of oil; with an increase in the comic element providing some light relief, Mad Max 2 is easier viewing than the first movie but no less entertaining.
Mad Max
Mad Max holds up despite being 30 years old, presenting a gripping and gritty view of the near future and spawning a generation of look-alike films.
Stripes
A classic Reitman comedy staring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, Stripes is funny and embarassing in equal measure yet still delivers a fun feel good experience.
Stargate
A well produced, engaging sci-fi actioner with some excellent performances and only a few marginally annoying elements which let it down.
Hellboy
Hellboy is an entertaining and engaging action fantasy film with stunning visuals and only a few minor flaws.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
An above average comedy with some engaging characters and just enough solid laughs to keep you going and Pegg holding the movie together.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
You don’t have to have watched any porn to enjoy Zack and Miri, but it certainly helps. If you needed evidence that Kevin Smith can make just about anything in life both funny and heart-warming at the same time, then this movie is it. Zack and Miri are best friends and have been since school. They share an appartment because neither of them can afford it on their own, and they complement each other. It’s clear to everyone viewing that they should be in love, married and enjoying life together but because they’ve been friends for so long, they don’t see anything other than that when they look at each other.
A trip to a high school re-union where Zack meets a male porn star, a few missed bills and having their power and water cut off force Zack and Miri to a rather weird solution to raise cash – they should film a porno and distribute it to their ex-high school companions. They gather a few friends and employ a few more colourful individuals and set about making their movie. Needless to say, it doesn’t go to plan, but eventually they get under way and the moment arrives where Zack and Miri have to do it. I’ll leave the content there, you’ll have to watch and find out what happens.
If you’d seen any Kevin Smith films and then saw Zack and Miri without knowing Kevin wrote it, you’d probably be able to spot it anyway. His trademark dialog is strewn throughout although it’s slightly more refined than it was in say, Clerks II. This is probably because it’s not two guys mouthing off to each other for a change, however it doesn’t detract from the humour in that dialog and there’s plenty to laugh about. The situations are funny without being too twee, all the characters are amusing if a little flat and the story isn’t quite as straightforward as I’d expected. There’s one laugh-out-loud and cry-for-days moment which made us both laugh so hard it hurt, and plenty of good relaxed funny moments. While the ending certainly won’t come as a surprise, the journey is worthwhile and interesting.
Zack and Miri do indeed make a porno, and learn an awful lot about themselves, each other and the business in the process.
Bulletproof Monk
I bought this movie an age ago, and then I read a review saying it was pure tripe. So it sat on the shelf for a long old while in the ‘to watch’ section. However, the universe works in karmic ways and while a friend was visiting, we asked her what she wanted to watch and she picked this. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It’s a pretty straight forward buddy movie, an Asian monk protecting an ancient scroll, a young American martial arts movie loving kid and the love interest. The monk takes the kid under his wing (even if the kid doesn’t know it), prophecies are fulfilled and the world is saved.
There are some above-average action sequences, some sassy dialog, some tin-pot wisdom and a couple of scenes which make you glad you watched. There are some frustrations as well, the villain introduces some over complex technology near the end to explain away one minor plot issue that could have been countered in more simple and pleasing ways and bits of the final battle leave a sour taste in the mouth for their paint-by-numbers feel. Overall though it satisfies the comedy action glands and presses some of the right buttons. Certainly no more than 5/10 but it’s a solid 5.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Simon Pegg is a funny man. He’s a comic. He conveys humour with his face, his stance, his voice, his very presence and it’s a good job because without him, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People would have been a very average movie. With him, it’s on the better than average side of funny. Pegg plays an entertainment journalist given the chance to move to America and join a world famous magazine, there he meets the stars, forges a career, screws plenty of things up and falls in love. It’s a straight by the book romantic comedy with a few decently amusing scenes that Pegg carries pretty much throughout.
I didn’t find Kirsten very comfortable in her role at all, and the rest of the cast has hardly enough screen time to make any kind of impression.
No where near the quality of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz or even Run Fatboy, Run, but still worth a giggle.