Film Reviews by HM

Starts ok but disolves into 'the usual'. Action overtakes brains sadly. Haven't seen the first film and this doesn't inspire me to try. Cronenberg come back all is forgiven.

Nice Cgi shame about the movie/story. Baddie from first film comes back as a blue Avatar with a few other previously 'dead' soldiers. Mind transfer into Avatar bodies you see. Anyway the plot is simply this bunch hitching a ride with other human colonisers trying to kill the hero of previous movie also an Avatar. Dumb. 3 hours of pretty pictures rather like Grimwald, another bore fest. The blue people meet the aqua grey version of themselves. Petty teenage rivralries supposedly appealing to youth; cliche after cliche sadly.

I wound parts on not wishing to endure the agony. And of course the final shootout between poorly armed goodies and well armed badies who cannot it a cow's bum with a banjo finishes things, pretty much like all dumb and dumber action films.

I hear there is a third one to be relased; no thanks.

Based on a true story? Really? Anyway it is funny, tongue in cheek and exciting. A pocorn and a few beers movie. About 5 times more entertaining than the dismal Way of Water. Want to chuckle along to a daft thriller? Look no further. Having this around as an emergency movie will be a good idea in case you land a stinker Avatar type dissapointment. You can pop this on and be entertained in well under 3 hours!!

Emma Thompson plays a frumpy widowed older woman who hires a male prostitute; cue guilt complex and soul searching by old lady. We go through 4 or 5 meetings as she continually tries to avoid what she wants. This became extremely irritating and I found myself winding foreward to avoid more of the same. In addition, the gigilo is invited to form a relationship with her as if he got into prostitution to look after old ladies.

A familier tale of a woman trying to remodel a man. I doubt any male of the species will enjoy this nonesense, although old women trying to shag a tall handsom young man may go for it!

A bunch of criminals hide away while the heat dies down having shot a cop during a heist. Although set up like a Tarantino film, the dialogue is nowhere near as smart. Conversations are not particularly intersting. You just know it is going to kick off. Supernatural events also occur which seem out of place and don't work. A film best avoided IMO.

First half or more of the film deals with a civil servant in 1950s Britain living a dull existance. A 6 months to live death sentence given to him by his doctor, has him self analyse his hitherto existence dwelt in a rut of his own making. Off he goes to live it up a bit and sample what he has been missing. All well and good, entertaining and engaging, however, the last part of the film is over sentimental as we learn more about him and his past deeds. The film drags on a bit at this point frankly so that the finale is a dissapointment. A shame as performances up to now were very good.

Sadly you have to sign up for the whole collection of series. Colour and a memorable theme tune appeared in later series. McGoohan is brilliant in the lead role and would surely have been a great Bond? Typical of the period the scripts are smart condensed and straight to the point. The formula? John Drake has a punch up and always seems to have a pretty female involved. The plots are good though and are usually based abroad somewhere exotic, even if it is actually Wales or a back drop shot of Istanbul etc.

Definitely worth a hire to enjoy a season of a very good 1960s action/thriller stuff. Enjoy.

A young woman feels she is being watched by a man over the road. A serial killer is on the loose but he is arrested, so who is this guy? Maybe the real killer? She encounters this odd lonley character but instead of reassurig her, she seems to be loosing her mind, maybe there is a mental health issue. Is it just her imagination or a real threat? Her boyfriend is around for protection, so what could go wrong? Well it does get creepy without being unrealistic. Needless to say things develop with a few twists. An enjoyable thriller which held my attention.

A small community off the coast of 1920s Ireland. Two men who appear to be crofters of some sort although no sign of how they make a living arises, fall out. Brendon Gleeson decides never to talk to his friend Colin Farrell without any hint of why and we don't find out either. Farrell insists in talking to him so Gleeson threatens to mutilate himself if he does. Gloomy and dark the two spar for the films duration. The whole thing doesn't make sense unless the Gleeson character is supposed to have gone mad. Attempts at humour don't really work, apart from a donkey running joke.

Pretentious or just badly conceived? Search me. Boring and unrewarding. You have been warned.

A twist on flying saucers. That is the only interesting thing about this overlong (well, it felt like it!) movie. A horse rancher who provides performing neddies to Hollywood movie makers investigates ariel phenomenon over his ranch. People dissapear but a lack of suspense lets the whole plot down.

A Finnish (bi-sexual) girl meets a drunken Russian on a train. How any female could develop a relationship with this idiot I don't know. I found myself winding the movie on to avoid anymore poinless mundane conversation between them. He comes across as a drunken Norman Wisdom 'the Gimp' but without being funny! A dull story and not well paced at all. Will you stay awake? Probably not.

Good action scenes and back story but it limps along with irrelevent personality portraits and is too long. A 30 minute cut may have kept the momentum going. It ends abruptly without a clean tidy up of the 'true story'.

Never heard of this band, so it was an education of sorts. Not into heavy metal? It probably won't matter as it is a documentory about personalities really. The music isn't up to much, however, the band were an art school creation wanting to be as garish and shocking as posibble and they succeded on that front! The look they have has clearly influenced other bands to dress up (Slipknot and Lordy spring ot mind). So, an interesting doc and worth a look.

A twisting plot intrigues and Cage's charisma helps lift it a notch higher than it may have deserved. It certainly kept me wondering what was coming next as we learn more about each character. A decent action/mystery thriller and entertaining if you don't take it too seriously. Good fun all round.

Well two rancher brothers with completlely different personalities co-exist on a Montana ranch circa 1909. Cumberbach plays an aggressive character, a real man's man; bullying, feared by his ranch hands and an all round obnoxious bore. His brother's son is a poetic, efeminate, flower cuddler and obvious gay. The movie drags on for an hour without progress. This inhibits enjoyment and entertainment value somewhat. Is Cumberbach over compensating for a hidden homosexuality as he joins in humiliating the lad? This is where the movie opens up so that the second half intrigues.

Once rescued, the story comes into its own and engages the viewer (if you are still watching). A more engaging script with perhaps red herring events may have helped and disguised the direction of travel to keep you guessing. So not a skillful bit of story telling really. Performances are strong howver.