Film Reviews by JD

I re watched as recommended by a youtuber.

His reason was you watch it once when your young and enjoy the action and sci-fi. But think nothing more.

Then you watch it again, older with wiser eyes and its like a different film.

Indeed, not only is this still thoroughly enjoyable (and trounces almost any modern scifi) it also has wit and humour and clever political messaging (note i say clever, not the clumsy and irritating 'support who i say for or else' messages you get today)

It also completely avoids comparison with Aliens (the king of all action sci-fi). Where any other soldiers v aliens film would almost always copy from or just head down a path which would lead to comparison and a nasty defeat. This seems to skillfully set itself far enough apart to be incomparable.

Probably worthy of 5 stars, but as its not quiet up there with Robocop or Aliens i give it 4. But its a must see 4.

This has a the feeling of an 'alien on earth' type film.

group of people v an unknown entity.

In principle its fine, why not.

But its executed so badly. Its obviously been done on a very small budget but that no excuse for how bad this is. Indeed, after watching darkstar its become apparent to me haivng no budget wont stop a good (ok, carpenter is a bit more than good!) director making a great film.

There are plenty of lingering close ups in perfect light on items out of the costume cupboard re-purposed for monster effects

It also has far to many horrible inconsistences. The creatures senses appear poorly developed, an old woman loads a pistol by forcing bullets into the handle, car issues are scripted and acted out with what is clearly zero mechanical knowledge. (thinking about it i dont think the bullets were even for that particular weapon!)

There is lots of running around and yelling, one of the cast just wimpers all the time.

The creatures itself was interesting on the whole. How it hunted, its method of attack (it looked silly but appears to be a case of deliberate injury) its life cycle. But all of this was just teased and just used to move the story on and give reasons for people to scream. Not increase our knowledge and fear of it.

Youd be better off watching Alien or the thing again (even the original thing come to think of it. Thats a much better film than this)

AER says it perfectly.

All i can add is the family and i unanimously agreed this was one of the worst films we have ever seen. How it got on my list i dont know.

They should make more documentaries like this.

Having someone like Bruce Willis demonstrate things you shouldnt do in this situation really adds some interest.

Not only does this documentry show you what not to do if your home is invaded by a couple of loons, it also shows you what not to do if you ARE a deranged loon. Few programs run such information in parallel so well.

I came away a new person. I learnt so much watching this. Tomorrow im going to take my family through the list of things not to do, that i learnt from this.

I cant wait for part 2 which shows us what we should do. Be it the invaded, or invaders

As per everyone elses reviews, seriously, dont watch this garbage.

I never liked this when i was kid. I didnt get all the rambling and poignant moments. The action was short and lacked excitement etc etc.

but now im older I can see why this is such a revered film amongst fans.

You need to understand trek and the relationships between the characters to really appreciate it.

Here we see Kirk as an old man, he is past his prime and even makes mistakes. But he stands out as a brilliant leader.

There is also the chemistry of the main 3 actors. Something I felt was a massive fail and missing of the point in the reboot. The 3 work fantastically together. Completely different characters that use there differences for humour, subvertly explaining whats happening, offering balanced views. Often a scene is made up of few words. Because the words used really count. Its brilliant stuff.

To be fair its not a 5 star film. It shows its age and would likely bore most people. But compared to any trek made today this is an utter masterpeice and true to what is real star trek.

My parents loved this, and watching it with them changed my political view for ever.

Not because of the clear bias in the show, but how it made clear what really does happen when you let a certain type of person have such influence. So rather than question or accept a policy or decision directly the question often becomes 'who gains what' And as the show points out, the 'who gains what' can often comprise of several layers!

But beside the politics its actually pretty funny. In the most part thanks to the brilliant Rik Mayall. The guy was massively talented and fantastic entertainer.

Few things stand the test of time, but Rik has. Watching him today as a parent he is every bit as funny as when i first watched him as a child.

Given the cast i figured this might be ok.

How wrong could i be. The story is just everywhere and so full of 'character does x coz plot'.

Nothing makes sense, and the only thing of remoted interest - Ron and Malcolms relationship is little more than teased.

Vinny - I need somewhere to stay

Woman who has never seen him before - Ok, here's my keys.

This is one really, really bad film.

This film seems to have bad ratings across the net and indeed at first it came across pretty naff.

But this is one of those rare films that just keeps getting better - even the very last moments of the film had me gripped.

It keeps throwing twists at you and what started (well for me) as just a bunch of annoying characters i wanted to switch off - by the end you have investment in each of them.

There does seem to be quite a few glaring errors through the film (such as a girl who's facial makeup changes scene to scene or a soldier who walks off without his rifle) but as the film progressed and given its nature I was left wondering if id missed something and there was some reason for such odd things.

I really enjoyed this film and have no shame in giving it 4 stars.

Ill admit to not having seen the original bad boys yet (dont know why, just never got round to it)

But i was expecting good things given the 2 lead characters.

In that assumption i failed to consider the complete lack of film making talent in hollywood at the moment.

Right from the start this film sets the tone as utter trash. And it just doesnt recover.

I love Will Smith (not that way, although i could if i was) and ill say i dont think ive ever not enjoyed a film he has been in, even rubbish ones. This sadly bucks that trend. Its so bad even the super cool Will can do nothing to recover it - but worse still he seems to be enjoying himself being centre of attention in this rubbish.

As my girlfriend said, Life is short and we shouldnt be spending it watching rubbish like this.

Churchill is largely lauded as a hero, although to many who read history the feelings arent quite this flattering.

The film i feared would simply charge down the former route but to be fair it does make the viewer aware Churchill was a flawed leader.

Although he does across more cuddly than anything at times.

I cant comment on the films accuracy (ive read a lot of military history so only seen a catalogue of failures at Churchills hands) so had to take it as it came.

As a film I just saw more of a reminder of those dark days we endured - and conquered as a nation than anything hugely entertaining.

I'd read about the military aspect of this event but was unaware of the 'people' side. As such i cant say how true all this is, but i get the impression due to the apparent complete lack of over/unrealistic drama they have tried to keep it accurate.

Firstly the filming, acting, script are all fantastic.

And while there isnt much to make a film of - it was a slaughter - it remains captivating and plays right down the middle keeping true to its story and not deviating with hip western issues being thrown in randomly to send a message or try to spice it up.

In the first part of the film the hotels moto is mentioned 'the customer is god' which is great for a place proud of its service.

but the moto is repeated later and its incredibly sad to think these people still thought it applied while they were being shot at. Its very brave but really, just run away! At that point its really up to the states security services to fix the problem. Which of course is another aspect to this story.

Its a well done film and worth a watch, but more than anything its worth watching to appreciate the sacrifice and bravery of the staff.

And how a countries military focus left a huge city totally unprotected....

Last time i watched it was over 20 years ago and having just watched the final Rambo film thought id treat the Wife and Son to the film that started the ever worsening franchise.

Now im older and more critical, plus with all of the high budgets and learning from past films we have now you have to wonder if a film of this vintage can stand up at all, let alone be compared to modern action films.

But this is one oldie that comes out fighting with moves long since forgotten.

Its just fantastic, Im no fan of Sly but he is just brilliant in this. And Brian D is superb, while Sly does the arm flexing Brain is flexing his acting muscles and even my 9 year old son pointed out what a top job he was doing.

Throughout the film there are reminders of the trauma Rambo has gone through - and his breakdown at the end adds a depth and emotion you just dont expect from a film like this.

On this pass i also noticed something i didnt see before - check behind the sheriffs desk. There is more to this film than meets the eye.

And we dont get shakey cam action from actors who cant fight. Action here is short and blunt. It lacks some of the polish you get today - but its to the point and avoids being naff. Action is actually limited with good amounts of dialogue in between and its this dialogue that probably makes the film so special. It even throws in some dry humour.

This is a lesson in how to make a film of this type. I never have and never will compare modern films to this, its just not fair. They dont stand a chance.

Sadly this doesnt apply for the other Rambo films. This is First Blood, leave it at that!

So 20+ years after i first saw this film and its better than i remember. Awesome stuff.

Its been a long time since i last watched this so thought id give it another go.

And it didnt disapoint. Its quirky, but brilliant. And being older i could appreciate it even more.

Although it looks like a low budget film it has some quality actors, both Gyllenhaals are brilliant and there is a brilliant soundtrack.

Its one of those rare films that doesnt do things just because 'the plot says so'.

Its fantastic and ive not even mentioned the weird and fascinating storyline for the film.

Im giving it 5 stars, this is superb stuff.

Ive never been a fan of Sly. Imo his career has largely been made off the back of two of the greatest films ever made (FB and Rocky)

But i was impressed with the presence he brought to this film. Sadly thats all this film has. John Rambos presence. Everything else about it is terrible and worse still it comes across as utterly pointless.

First Blood was epic. One of those films that was never going to be bettered or replicated, least of all by silly sequels. It should of been left alone and this final film in the saga only goes to prove that.

2 stars, not worth watching unless you really are a die hard Stallone fan. Nothing in it for anyone else.

Rush was a huge surprise to me. It was brilliant. Even my partner thought it was great.

What that did was bring the larger than life characters of hunt and lauda to the forefront and pushed much of the 'boring' (for most movie goers!) engineering and racing to the back.

This story is a bit different. Yes it tells the story of 2 great men, Ken and Carol but the film is based on Fords first lemans victory.

As such there is a lot of car action. And this is risky in my opinion. As a racer myself i found the car scenes cheesy and inaccurate. Theirs lots of changing up and down gears at 200mph, cars braking from 200-50 in a matter of metres, drivers staring at each other at 200mph etc all very silly, etc.

That said, the Ferraris and GT40's looked gorgeous and it was great seeing a real willow springs.

Outside of that its well done. They are forced to quickly mention, twice, the GT40 was sent over from england which was funny given its a story of american success! Well apart from the driver/engineer Ken of course....

The film covers lots of interesting points, the brake reliability and the chapman like rule bending approach to get around it, and then getting one over the famously awkward french stewards. The Corporate US approach v European racer approach and many other little things are well handled and keep the film interesting.

Its a good film telling the story of one of the most iconic cars ever made, 2 great men and 2 legendary companies.

I just wish they had left the cheese at home.