peter-ramshaw-1 Reviews

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Superb acting

[9/10 · 3 February 2018]

Despite what some PC idiots have penned here, this is a terrific film. Like 'In Bruges' it takes a simple idea and shows how reactions to reactions can get out of hand. Those critics who say it tips the lid to racism and even age-disparity in marriage etc are missing the point in their ideological blindness. The fact remains that this is a seriously good film. If Harrelson's character is a little racist, so what? That's life in the South. Wonderful screenplay and terrific acting make this a joy to be part of - and you are PART of it, it's immersive and powerful.

Le Week-End (2013)

Interesting but slow

[7/10 · 8 July 2014]

Well acted and poignant at times, this movie just missed out on being great because it is too slow. Sure, I realise it's a slow burn, a noir, all that but, at the risk of repeating myself, it was just too damn slow! And, worse, no resolution. Goldblum is again great, I just wish his part had done something of substance rather than just seem lofty. Likewise the female lead whose terrific performance was marred by the writer's determination to paint her as a bitch (or at least almost). The lead actor is terrific as he always is, and that's the problem with him. He's the same as he always is. There's little originality here and he comes across as a (very) poor man's 'Lost in Translation'. Terrific cast, great idea,disappointing.

Avatar (2009)

Great flick but no heart

[7/10 · 30 December 2009]

As a spectacle, you can't fault Avatar. However, if it hadn't been made by Cameron, I'd reckon Kevin Costner's lawyers would be sharpening their pencils!

The similarity in plot between Dancing with Wolves and this is so startling I just am in awe of James Cameron's audacity. The 'Indians' even use bow and arrows and have witch doctors for God's sake! Anyway, the special effects are very good.

The story-line, however, is weaker than you'd expect for a movie this big. None of the characters really live .. though that's not to say the actors don't do a pretty good job. It's just that none of the characters has any heart and so it's difficult if not impossible for viewers to identify with anyone. The 'western society invade peaceful pastoral society' motif is so overdone that's it's almost a parody of itself these days. I can believe Cameron started this ten years ago because that's about where the level of maturity is rooted.

Disappointing but okay.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Poor follow up

[5/10 · 30 December 2009]

Guy Ritchie can do better.

Anyone who watched Rock'n Rolla would be disappointed with his latest effort. Sure, his Holmes if new and gritty and affable enough but where is the darkness of Guy's other movies? This movie can't make up its mind if it's a comedy or a dark fable. Certainly it's not a mystery story which is what one might have expected from a Holmes story.

It's not a love story either. Not quite a fight movie. Not quite a film noir. In fact it's not quite anything really. Frankensteinish in its multi-faceted cleverness, it missed the mark I'm sure Ritchie had in mind when he started.

In short, a big disappointment.

The Hangover (2009)

Surprise, surprise

[8/10 · 30 December 2009]

This film is far better than is deserves to me I think.

I was thinking 'Porkies' rolled up with 'The Real Cancun' or something when I saw the trailers. In reality, this smart comedy is a delight. It's fast-paced, very irreverent and spot on for gross-out-ness.

One minor unsettling thing about it (for me anyway) was the veiled sub-plot involving the bearded brother and his paedophilia. I'm afraid I didn't quite get it and the subject was approached in such a way as to be very disturbing. I don't quite know why but I'd question why anyone would need to include that in this fine romp. I can only assume it is introduced to induce a low-level feeling of anxiety in the viewer that this brother is going to so something so heinous during the film that it will shock ... if that's the aim then I suppose it does take one's mind off some of the visual gags etc that would give the excellent twist in the tail away. Having said that, I did view the 'uncut' R-rated version and maybe this material was cut from the final cinema release? I'm not saying it was wrong to try and unsettle the audience even more or anything, just that it didn't seem to belong there.

I thoroughly enjoyed this despite thinking I wouldn't

Australia (2008)

Outback camp doesn't work

[5/10 · 13 December 2009]

Baz Luhrmann (bless his cotton sox) is the master of taking a genre and camping it up so outrageously (the dance movie in Strictly Ballroom, the musical comedy in Moulin Rouge, the stage play in Romeo and Juliet, the road movie in Priscilla - did he do that one?) that it becomes art. Trouble is that all those subjects were virtually stage plays where overacting and camping it up is de regur. Trying to make a serious narrative movie in the same vein was never going to work. And it didn't. Australia was Baz's attempt at trying to take the cowboy 'ranch war' genre and 'Baz' it. Baz's bad. A dismal flop. There's every cliché in the book in Australia, syrupy, schmaltzy and as dumb as a doorknob. The sad part is that none of its is believable and few parts link the scenes together. And why do the Abotriginals speak like American Indians? ('him'um want'um us to do'um' etc etc). For a film that probably tries to uplift Aboriginal culture I think it's set public acceptance of it back about 200 years. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. As a love story it's about as squirmy and amateurish as eating a witchetty grub. If Baz ever had one original thought in his head (other than mixing outrageous colour schemes), I have yet to see it. Obviously he should have been (or stuck to being) a dress designer. Now all that's not to day the film has no redeeming features. The cinematography is superb. Hugh Jackman does the best he can will poor material. However Nicole Kidman (who is terrifically talented and very attractive) has probably destroyed her career in one fell swoop here. I know it's supposed to be 'camp' and 'over the top' but really! This is also quite possibly the worst thing Jack Thompson has ever done. But the other Aussie in this (Otto, Gullpillil, Mendleshon etc all) must cringe when they view it. Yes, it's that awful. In short a shocking effort. In short: Shane but with an 'm'.

The Box (I) (2009)

Ho hum

[5/10 · 15 November 2009]

For a movie with a very good premise, this film disappoints. It's slow, unrewarding and, in parts, really silly. The idea that you get a button and if you push it someone dies and you get a million dollars is great - just don't then try to tie all this up in a NASA conspiracy. It doesn't work. I yawned most of the way through it and my 11-year-old daughter fell asleep if that tells you anything. The CGI effects for the antagonists face is as farcical as it is unnecessary. The 'devil' doesn't have to look disfigured to be scary (De Niro showed us that). The ending if this film is probably the most disappointing part - I mean you could almost forgive all the rubbish leading up to it if the ending showed humans CAN act morally. If the last woman shown with the box had shown moral judgment and not pushed it, this would have fixed the protagonists' kid AND underlined an important plot point (that aliens were 'testing' the human race) which was otherwise as unexplained as it was stupid. All in all, this is one to miss, even on DVD.

2012 (I) (2009)

worth a look but I question the originality

[6/10 · 15 November 2009]

All the usual elements are here ... the estranged couple, the ungrateful son, the goofy new boyfriend, the power made bureaucrat. Also, the devastation sequence and idea is pretty darn preposterous. However, this film has enough action and special effects to make it worth watching. I enjoyed it anyway. It's not Cohen Bros, it's not Tarantino ... but it's entertaining. Buit, am I the only person who thinks the storyline is VERY (and I mean VERY, VERY) similar to Ben Elton's classic first novel Stark? (The 'ships' you have to pay billion s to get one are even called 'arks'). Ben would be too nice a bloke to complain of course

Harrison's Flowers (2000)

Left me ambivalent

[6/10 · 17 June 2008]

I liked this movie a lot but it still seemed somehow 'wrong' to me. The storyline was very stilted and unbelievable (yeah, a woman who knows nothing about photography and war will travel to the Balkans and rescue her husband from those complete animals? No. Even Bruce Willis might struggle :-)).

I was a press photographer for many years and got into a lot of tight situations (not wars fortunately) and some of the scenes seemed 'real' to me and some really 'unreal'.

I thought Andie McDowell did a reasonable job. So Did Aiden Brody but SOMEONE tell me why he stopped being an arsehole and became a good guy? The plot seemed to slip there about the middle. Also the father-son relationship here is so thin you'd fall through it. The kid felt neglected and then and tended his dad's plants for three months? Really? Hey, it's not bad to watch (some good war scenes in there) but this is a way big waste of money. You can try to be 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Sleepless in Seatle' and expect to either succeed or have film-goers rave about you (well, theoretically you could I guess, but this effort falls way short).

Arlington Road (1999)

Okay but ...

[6/10 · 24 May 2008]

I couldn't get into this one. The plot seemed totally unbelievable (okay, I know it's supposed to say that this could be happening right next door to YOU, but), it was fragmented and silly in parts (for example, why did Jeff Bridge's love interest have to be a college graduate? Doesn't that go to bad character rather than good in some respects?). I guess what I'm getting at is that I didn't find the situation OR the characters believable. The action etc was okay but really, is it actually even feasible that Tim Robbins could have known that Bridges would 'gun his car' and shoot over security measures to enter the FBI underground parking lot? He might has suspected he was the type of person who COULD do this/might THINK about it but that's a long stretch from planning that this is exactly what would happen. Stretched credibility too far I think. Robbin and Bridges turn in nice performances but for what? A 'been there, done that' twist. Seven it ain't.

Don't Come Knocking (2005)

Ponderous but worth a look

[7/10 · 23 May 2008]

I think you gotta like Win Wnders films to enjoy this. I do and so thought it was okay ... hey, so it's no Paris Texas, that's a given but the style of the film is still pretty unique. Unfortunately I thought the characters were very thinly developed (apert from Jessica Lang's which was impressive) and hence the tension that could have been a major part of the film wasn't there. The rest are an unlikeable bunch (or unknowable). After I got over asking myself how the kid threw that lounge suite out the tiny window and then seeing that somehow the window had magically gotten bigger to try to hide that goof, I didn't mind the odd continuity flaw here and there. Unfortunately for Sam Shppard and Win Wenders, all their stuff is going to be compared to Paris and that's a tough ask. This was a pale imitation but easy enough to sit through if a bit slow in patches.

Brick (2005)

How trite can you get?

[1/10 · 23 May 2008]

This was a truly awful film. If a director wanted to get me to believe that teenagers actually act like 50-year-old mafioso then they fell badly short. The acting is, overall, absolutely terrible. The screenplay and plot is totally unbelievable and the kicker is so patently telegraphed and beyond belief that this film almost undoes film noir all by itself. I pity anyone who paid to see this tripe. I got it at the DVD shop as part of a 6 DVD's for $7 and STILL feel ripped off! Goodness, some of the production values were okay (not great) so what were those involved thinking. This is definitely one to pass on.

Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

No, he didn't and I guess that's the joke (if there is one)

[1/10 · 7 April 2007]

Freddie is the main character's brother and, no, he didn't get fingered. No-one did as far as I can make out other than the movie-watching public.

I'm okay with rough sex gags most of the time but writer Green's attempts to shock people miss the mark so badly, it is quite sad really. Compare Green's deer (elk?) scene (where he guts and wears a road-kill animal with antlers) with Jim Carey's dead cow scene in (I think) Me, Myself and Irene and you might get an idea of how different the two approaches are.

There isn't a genuinely funny moment in FGF but there are more than enough cringe-worthy, awful ones. This might have made a great 15-minute short but, as a feature it doesn't even get to first base. Some will say it's 'off the wall' and that's why people don't get it. I recognise off the wall when I see it - unfortunately I also recognise moronic gibberish.

Sorry to the makers of this film who think they are far to clever for mortals - they just got fingered.

Feed (2005)

Terrible

[2/10 · 7 April 2007]

You know, some times one wonders why the Australian film industry has such a bad name.

And then you see something like this.

Even the Japanese after WWII weren't accused of this much copying! The acting is absolutely atrocious (with the possible exception of the main female lead in the fat suit who I think actually did a reasonable job) and the storyline just unbelievable. So obviously copied from the one 'gluttony' mortal sin scene from Seven, this movie just reeks of sad mediocrity.

I can't think of a moment in the film where I was genuinely shocked or surprised. That's a bit dire for a 'thriller'. I'm struggling to think of a film that is worse than this. Son of Mask is all I can come up with (oh, and Rocky and Bullwinkle).

Don't be fooled into thinking this is anything like Seven or other thrillers like that. It's not. It's sad, exploitative crap.

The Frost Report (1966–1967)

The birthplace of UK comedy

[10/10 · 1 April 2007]

Not only did the Frost Report deliver the funniest TV in the UK (until Fawlty Towers) but it also nurtured all the major stars of UK comedy for the next two decades.

At its best, the show was the best UK comedy had to offer even until today. It was iconic and different.

Frost was an urbane interviewer who had a distinct ear for comedy. In this show, he paired Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker and gave John Cleese a huge stepping stone to the future. He himself was a funny guy too though he never showed it as much. Not only that, he helped them start writing good stuff. This was before Python, before The Goodies. In many ways the skits are fresher and funnier.

The Frost Report was actually fresher and funnier than the Goodies, Porridge, Open All Hours, and almost all of the shows it spawned.

Frost was a genius whose interviewing style went downhill when he forgot what comedy was. I thin his dad was a preacher so maybe that tells us something.

World Trade Center (2006)

Ho hum

[4/10 · 7 March 2007]

This isn't so much a (or is it an) 9/11 movie as a miner trapped underground movie.

The terrorism aspect is so downplayed except for a few comments at the end that it's hard to work out why Stone decided to do it this way. Two men trapped underground for a few days, their families worry, and they get rescued. It's hardly groundbreaking stuff (excuse the pun). The fact that the twin towers of the world trade centre are what's fallen on them is very downplayed. Maybe that's deliberate given it's only 6 years since it happened but - sheesh - what a disappointment.

Great visual effects, expect for the last few shots of the smoke etc where you can clearly see that the city skyline is superimposed over the TV stock footage foreground (boy is that amateur stuff) - what a real disappointment that is.

Stone seems to think you can chuck in an epic moment in history and toss in a couple of personal life vignettes (Apollo 13, not his, I know, but your get the idea, come to mind?) This could have been such a powerful movie but fell so short it was really disappointing. I realises the producers had the 'feelings' of the greater US population to consider but I would have preferred a drama wrapped around the elevator guy who's mum appears in the final few scenes. That would at least have been a real story.

To me that would have magnified the tragedy. Policemen, firemen, marines do a great job, but part of that job is the risk of being killed. When it happens (like here) we shouldn't be so surprised, so easily swayed into thinking they are any more heroic than the bankers, school teachers, tourists and other people who died that day.

I think this movie diss's all of the above. It's enjoyable on a simple level but disturbing on another. It makes you wonder if the USA has actually learned anything from what happened on September 11.

From Stone's effort, it would appear not. That's sad.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Great, simply great

[9/10 · 27 February 2007]

I thought (yes, actually thought) that my family was the only one in the world that was this dysfunctional. This moves affirms for all of us that, really, we're not that bad and just need a bit of help and a bit of love. What a tremendously powerful film for one so simple. Before you ask, yes, I'm the control freak father, OK? But all the members of my family are here and I hope they see this film because when the characters in this film say they love each other you can tell it's true - doesn't matter how stuffed up they are or how much they've fought or argued. The little girl in this is simply divine. I still can't work out how someone who's seven in the movie (so, what? a young-looking nine-year-old?) can act so well. It's a road movie - has all the road movie cliché stops at road houses, vehicle breakdowns etc etc - but is so much more too. Best movie of 2006. The Departed was number two.

Resident Evil (2002)

Beautful facade

[6/10 · 22 February 2007]

Ahhhh, Milla, Milla, Milla, Milla... Milla.

She's certainly easy on the eye... and so is this little zombie movie which has precisely one exceptional thing going for it. Milla (if I haven;'t mentioned it yet). It doesn't get a lot deeper than that however and I haven't played the game so I guess there's a lot of back-story missing etc for me. Hence, the plot was very shallow, forced and I'd seen it all before.

Even so, the set values seemed pretty good and the special effects weren't the worst I've seen (except maybe for the 'beast' at the end which sort of suggests they either had no budget to start with or ran it into the ground pretty quickly. Still, it was a bit better than the werewolf in Ginger Snaps so that's something. This isn't the best sci-fi movie you'll see (in fact it's not a sci-fi movie at all really) but it's not the worst zombie movie either. Somewhere in between. A good one for some easily digestible eye-candy that doesn't ask too much of you... if you don't expect too much of it.

2001 Maniacs (2005)

Shocking

[1/10 · 16 February 2007]

Oh, my God.

What a stinker. Sure, it's supposed to be 'over the top' but this woeful effort misses the mark everywhere.

Terrible acting, a lame plot and ridiculous 'suspense'. I reckon my teenage boys could do better with out video-recorder (except they'd probably have at least some interesting sexual intrigue).

Predictable, unfunny, irredeemable (well, except for a vicarious glimpse of a few decent tits). Anyone who thinks this is art-house, needs therapy. Even the special effects are about as special as Harry Hausen's first short.

2001 Maniacs? Yep, that's probably the number of people WORLDWIDE who thought this was OK.

Under Suspicion (2000)

Under-rated thriller

[8/10 · 7 February 2007]

Under Suspicion is a delightfully clever thriller mystery that for some reason no-one seems to have heard of. Perhaps it got released at just the wrong time or something but it is very good indeed.

Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman play off each other like the old stagers they are and the suspense is kept up well for the whole program and the twist at the end is suitably poignant.

Set in Peurto Rico, this is really a stage-play with most of at action taking place in one office. But don't let that put you off, there are plenty of 'fashbacks' with a neat little device thrown in that I won't spoil for potential viewers. There's not much that I can say negatively about this film. It's a little gen really and one well worth watching.

The Grey Zone (2001)

Gritty and though provoking

[8/10 · 7 February 2007]

The Grey Zone is so full of horror and anguish that it's a hard movie to watch in some ways.

The basic premise is 'how far would we go to save ourselves' in situations such as those faced by the Jews in Nazi concentrations camps. The answer is, of course, almost as far as necessary. This film concerns the crews of Jews who were forced to lead their countrymen into the gas chambers at Auzcwitz and then dispose of the bodies in cematoria afterward.

With the only option death, what would you do? It's a tough question to answer but this film gets it about right. By the halfway mark you are so immune to seeing piles of dead men, women and children around that I think you actually can start to feel just a tiny bit of how desensitized these men must have become as they tried to buy themselves just a few more months of live.

Most of the performances are very good though I disagree with some that Harvey Keitel's was up to his usual brilliance. The German accent didn't seem quite right to me but there you go.

Great film, great message.

Way of the Vampire (2005)

Why isn't there a zero on the voting chart?

[1/10 · 7 February 2007]

I admire the reviewers of this abominable film who actually watched it all the way through.

Thirty minutes was too much for me. It is, without any shadow of a doubt, the most puerile and baseless horror movie of all time. It makes 'Killer Tomatoes' look like Oscar material. The acting is unbelievably bad, the editing pathetic and the storyline must have been written by a seven-year-old. One can only wonder at how movies like this get made. A total waste of money, effort and intellectual rigour by everyone involved.

In short, this film has no redeeming features whatsoever.

The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Zombie by name...

[7/10 · 7 February 2007]

OK, so it's obviously not the directors real name - a least I hope not anyway. If it was it'd explain a lot, wouldn't it? Teased, taunted, anyone might turn to making this type of gore-fest when they grew up.

Having said that, this is a surprising good film. Sure, it's got blood and guts and the ubiquitous head in the fridge (doesn't every horror film these days?) but it's a lot more than that. It's fast-paced, funny and surprisingly realistic even though it doesn't take itself too seriously. These are sick bastards (and I'm not just talking about the filmmakers here) and I do not doubt that there are depraved people like this around in real life. Therefore, it's actually quite scary to get an 'inside' peek into their world.

I though this would be a movie like 'The Hills Have Eyes' which I didn't like and the likes of which has been done a lot better elsewhere but it wasn't. TDR actually has a story-line for a start. If you can stand some gore, then this is well worth a watch.

The Warriors (1979)

A wild ride home

[8/10 · 5 February 2007]

'The Warriors' was a very pleasant surprise. I'd put off seeing it for so long thinking it'd be a sort of unintelligible Spike Jonze sort of black gang movie. Why, I don't know.

I couldn't have been more wrong though. While the plot is very contrived (yeah, like all the gangs in NY are going to even try to get together to run the city) this is a good chase yarn. That's all it is, mind you but it's done very well. The acting is terrific and, while the fight scenes seemed a little over choreographed to me I'm willing to this that was a stylistic thing rather than a mistake (this was about the time, 1979, when kung fu type movies were all the rage after all).

There's a lot to like about this movie. Why it's still rated R is beyond me given we see M rated movies with more violence and language these days. That only re-enforced the need for the Australian censorship board to routinely re-classify all films every ten years to update the ratings to relevant community standards. While we are at it, censorship board, if your reading this, it's about time you classified all books and CDs as well.

American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002 Video)

How low can Shatner sink? Now you know.

[1/10 · 5 February 2007]

Oh boy, oh, boy, oh boy. Occasionally you come across a real stinker in the video library - and then there's 'American Psycho II'.

I wonder if authors can sue film-makers for abusing a title, because this one would rank right up there if that were possible. I only rented this because it has the quote "Outstanding 10/10" on the front and that quote is attributed to, you guessed it, IMDb! Now that's a pretty sneaky thing to do, don't you think (take a quote from an amateur reviewer like us and splash it across the cover... maybe IMDb can sue the video producers as well!). They should. This is one movie that could be sued for fraud without any trouble at all.

It sells itself as a horror/thriller and is actually quite funny. If that were intentional, then maybe it's get one star. Unfortunately it's not. I'm not going to ramble on about this, enough said.

However, in the spirit of understanding (it must have been hard to work out how to market this rubbish at all) I too will post a quote that the makers of this movie might like to use on any future jacketing material. Here goes (ASII people, feel free to use this quote in part of whole, OK? But you'll probably want to leave out a couple of words in the middle then it;ll sound OK:) "American Psycho II is ANYTHING BUT gripping, suspenseful and provocative."