Being a collection of reviews of films seen in the last few months, either in cinema, on planes, on TV, or on DVD.
- Mrs Henderson Presents
Sweet film. Utterly Judi-Dench-by-numbers, but well-made and well-told nevertheless. Even the sight of Bob Hoskins with his kit off wasn’t enough to sour the experience. Though it was close, I admit. - War of the Worlds
Saw this on a plane and was underwhelmed, partly because I am hugely and perversely fond of the Jeff Waynes prog-rock seventies musical version, in which your imagination does a lot more of the work, and partly because the screen at my seat was a bit broken and underexposed, which made it difficult to see a lot of the stuff that was going on in the dark. Having said that, the main reason I was unimpressed is probably down to the fact that I loathe Tom Cruise in just about everything. Sorry. - Anchorman
Really didn’t get this at all. Like an overly-hyped SNL skit in feature form. - King Kong
Not having seen all of the original (I know, shocking), this seemed to be a marriage of LOTR and Jurassic Park. The CGI was mostly very impressive (save a few moments of stiff-haired inactivity) and Jack Black was not entirely irritating (always a plus) but I couldn’t help feeling that the whole thing was just too long. The first half an hour could happily have been chopped to ten minutes of establishing story, I thought, and because there was such a lot of set-up, and a lot of frenzied and exciting running around the island, the last chunk - back in New York - felt like something of an anti-climax. The high point was definitely on the island, and after that, it was all downhill, really. You know how sometimes there’s a Director’s Cut of a movie? I wonder if we could make an Audience’s Cut of this film… - Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Silly, sweet, and a very enjoyable way to spend an evening, munching popcorn in the dark. I especially liked the chase sequences. - Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
I am so, so sorry. I don’t know what posessed me to add this to my DVD rental service queue. In my defence, I can’t remember doing it, and I can only surmise that I may have been SUI (surfing under the influence - a fineable offence) one night. Suffice to say, it was exactly what you might imagine it would be. There was Sandra Bullock. There were costumes. There was a wafer-thin sequel plot. Etc. - A Lot Like Love
Now, I have a vaguely tenuous connection with this film - a friend of mine used to be roommates with the guy that wrote this - and yet, I can only say that this was a lot like so many other films that it left very little impression on me. Having said that, I did see it on a plane, and I probably wasn’t paying too much attention. Also, Ashton Kutcher gets on my tits. - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
I’m glad I saw this, though I can’t help the niggling feeling that my childhood imagination was more Narniesque than any film could ever be. I guess that’s what happens when classics get made into movies, but it doesn’t make it any easier to approach. I did enjoy this, however, and there were only a few moments of weirdness - first, when Lucy entered Narnia, it was all a bit child-acTOR for my liking - all wide-eyed wonderment. Secondly, the beavers. I just couldn’t watch them without knowing it was Dawn French and Ray Winstone, because their voices are so familiar. Difficult to suspend disbelief when celebrity drags you back. The third proble was tht I foound myself havign a bit of a crisis of conscience about whether it was alright or somehow madly perverse to find James McAvoy ever-so-slightly attractive, given that he was playing a) childhood story character Mr Tumnus and b) a fawn, albeit a half-humany-slightly-yummy one. Hmm. - The Terminal
Oh Tom, Tom, Tom. Really, that accent, that film. No, no, no. Please, don’t do that to yourself - or us - again. *Shakes head with chagrin* - Kinsey
You know, whenever I see Liam Neeson on screen - and especially in a film all about sexuality - I just can’t get out of my head the story that someone once told me about his - ahem - well-endowed nature. Poor Liam. There he is, acting his little socks off up on the screen, for the entertainment of the general public, and all I can do is sit there trying to shake off the mental image of two Coke cans stacked on top of each other. Philistine. - Amadeus
It was cold, it was dark, it was midwinter on the Isle of Mull and there was no TV reception, so we watched this old classic. It’s still a great film, but by GOD that laugh is irritating. - Monster in Law
Simply monstrous. I was trapped on a transatlantic flight. That’s the only possible explanation. - Kicking & Screaming
You would have to drag me kicking and screaming to see this film again. Horrible. Same transatlantic flight as above. - Mr & Mrs Smith
I must admit that I was watching this on a redeye flight, and fell asleep halfway through this one, waking up just 5 minutes before the end. It was enjoyable enough, I suppose, but I didn’t feel particularly robbed by snoozing through most of it. - The Station Agent
Surprisingly engaging. A very gentle film, in which not a right lot happens, but one which I nevertheless enjoyed being with, for a while. - I Heart Huckabees
I could see how this film was potentially good, but it just annoyed me. Perhaps I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
