wildfire160 Reviews

The Four 2 (2013)

Suffer from being the middle part ..but worth it

[7/10 · 3 February 2014]

like a lot of planned trilogy's it suffers because it doesn't conclude the story so you might want to wait until part 3 is released before watching The Four .. however both part 1 and part 2 were very well made a lot of cgi flying and wire-fu but some interesting characters and a few good fight scenes(more in part1 than part2 though) and some very good cinematography at times,what i loved most was how they were prepared to really let loose with the magic/fantasy aspects of the story western cinema just doesn't seem to get how to do that even in the big budget fantasy films that Hollywood produces... another excellent part of the production was the score and the musical direction it was very impressive...i really need to see part 3 now

The Presence (1992 TV Movie)

Trivia .. a series never made??

[7/10 · 28 December 2006]

Its a fairly decent film,the script isn't that bad,and for being a TV film had some very atmospheric moments,given the way it ends obviously they were aiming for a TV series but i really had to laugh when i read the trivia page "a pilot for a series never made" because whoever made this should be suing the makers of "Lost" big time.. There are so many comparisons between them that to list them all should take pages JJ Abrams Damon Lindelof and co should be shamed of themselves for so blatantly ripping off "Danger Island" without giving either the director Tommy Lee Wallace or the writer William Bleich any credit ...not even a little nod in their direction in any interviews.. Lost is the better show its written better and the cast is better but i just wish they had been a bit more honest about how they came up with the idea for Lost

Ultraman: The Next (2004)

Surprisingly good

[7/10 · 4 July 2006]

I was very impressed by Ultraman,i was expecting it to be a cheesy piece of badly made fluff but to my surprise i found it to be quite well made and very well acted...

OK maybe the sfxs weren't up to ILM or WETA standards but they tried really hard and even though it still had that typical Japanese "man in a suit" look the model work production design and visual effects did look good...

In lots of films of like this the child actors normally come across as quite bad and almost unbearably cute(which i hate in a film) but these were good something not usually found in this type of Japanese film...

Its sometimes very hard getting the balance right between campy fun or serious genre films,its much easier to make a successful comic/campy film than a film like Ultraman which takes itself very seriously get it wrong and the film will turn into a nightmare... something that doesn't happen in this film..

overall it was a good film well made and enjoyable to watch...well worth catching on TV/DVD

The Fallen Ones (2005 TV Movie)

Strangely i found myself enjoying it

[6/10 · 25 August 2005]

I cant quite put my finger on why i enjoyed The Fallen Ones but i did like Van Diens,Navid Negahban and Tom Bosleys performance..i think they rose above the scripts limitations very well.. Unlike a lot of the low budget B movies out there,there were very few really bad lines and most of the plot made some kind of sense but the major letdown for the film came from the SFXs especially the cgi work which was mediocre at best,i could'nt recommend anyone actually go out and buy the film but i didn't think id wasted my time watching it and would suggest its worth seeing if they repeat again it on the SciFI channel.. One last thing i would like to add is about the music by Kevin Kaska and William Richter which i thought was excellent and of a much higher quality than you would normally find in this type of movie..

War of the Worlds (2005 Video)

Surprising

[6/10 · 3 July 2005]

I've given this film a vote of 6/10 but i would have been quite happy to give it a much higher rating if the SFXs had been anywhere near as good as the acting and script,from almost the start of the film you can see they had problems with their budget not enough money for extras set design etc..and the cgi for alien "quadpods" was'nt that great though the actual design of them was very good... In the broadest sense the story is very similar to the Spielberg film but where his film was full of clunky plot holes and flaws in the script i found myself very surprised that this version made much more sense than Spielbergs and as for the acting well there were a few god awful actors in it but the lead C Thomas Howell out shone Tom Cruise by a mile i really was'Nat expecting much but enjoyed it more than i thought i would

Hometown Legend (2002)

just average

[5/10 · 28 February 2005]

Having read all the comments about Hometown Legend one thing that struck me was how diametrically opposed they were,its really bad or how impossibly good it was....... I'm afraid its not either of those though there's a lot to like in it,the acting and football scenes are excellent the music is good but as another reviewer has said there are just too many hokey cliques in the plot and some really stupid plot devices especially those involving the coach,football teams losing streak, school closing, we've seen it all before and done much better if it had been a true story i could have forgiven it all of this but in a drama there should at least be some attempt at an original thought.......a just above average film no worse no better

Sweet Deception (1998 TV Movie)

Just awful

[1/10 · 29 September 2004]

This film had no chance.... why because the script writers had no idea about police procedure at all I did'nt expect any kind of great film i mean you don't with a formula TV film but when the current wife is charged with murder you would at least think the police would perform the most simple of tests to see if she had done it..... there is a residue of particles left on clothing after a gun is fired that even with washing is very hard to get rid of it the wife had fired the gun found at the crime scene she would have been covered in these particles,however the scriptwriters for this piece of dogs droppings obviously had'nt watched any of the great TV detective shows out there that do know about this... I've no problem hokey lines, bad acting or obvious plot devices but when simple logic and a small knowledge of how the police work in a murder/shooting incident is lacking it just bloody annoys me

The Mother (2003)

Disappointing

[9 April 2004]

Very disappointing I was invited to a special screening of The mother and it ranks as one of the worse movie going experiences i`ve never had to suffer. The film fails on so many levels,there is no drama to speak of just an endless series of scenes that try to show an older woman`s last hurrah after the death of her husband but forgets to give any reason why we should care for of the character`s portrayed. The only time our main character springs to life is in the final minute of the film when she`s about to embark on a new life ...shame that could`nt have been the start ..and not the end. This is one of the very few films i`ve ever thought of walking out of,if it had`nt been a preview screening i might well have done so

He ni zai yi qi (2002)

touching

[8/10 · 5 January 2004]

A beautifully filmed piece,touching and human, with strong acting and direction.....above all the wonderful music transcends the film.

the end of the film is just so uplifting and emotive with out being contrived . I cant think of any really negative remarks to say about "Together" ,i just cant imagine how anyone could walk out of this film not liking it unless they were soul dead

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Realisicaly gruesome and riveting

[9/10 · 20 December 2002]

A film like this make`s me wonder just whats going on in the shadows,the film is a tour de force guide to the underside of of London and frankly one of the best films(without Hobbits or Jedi`s) i`ve seen all year

Mr Drake's Duck (1951)

Fairbanks must have been desperate for the money

[5/10 · 8 July 2002]

There is quite a good cast for this film but most of them are woefully wasted,for the life of me how Douglas Fairbanks got himself involved in this piece of fluff escapes me on all whole a very average film