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Scrubs: My Night to Remember (2007)
How to not do a clip show
There are no spoilers in this review. There's nothing to spoil.
No plot, nothing; most clip shows at least try to tie the clips into the plot by some tenuous stretch, but this didn't even do that. Clips, three lines to lead into the next interminable sequence of dull clips... OK, so perhaps they were short on production time, but they'd have been better off skipping this episode entirely. What a waste of time.
I'm not sure how this got made, in fact. Scrubs is usually much better at subverting tropes, but somehow this got through....
Thank heavens they were back on form by the next episode.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Great stuff
I was pleasantly surprised by this film. There are few things I enjoy more than a really bad B-movie, but this one was actually pretty good...
The military atmosphere is spot on, with the banter and dark humour. A lot of the military details could have done with some more research (constantly referring to "Special Forces" and "Spec Ops" really grates, for instance), but nothing really ruined it.
The plot rattles along at a decent pace, and there's plenty of comedy as well. I'd have preferred it had the gore been toned down a bit, but that's just a matter of taste.
The werewolves were well done given the budget, and there was plenty of shooting to keep me amused.
Oh, and a couple of nice, big explosions.
School of Rock (2003)
A surprising success
I've always disliked Jack Black; an uncouth, uncivilised slob.
But I was pleasantly surprised by this film; I saw it on the ferry coming over from Belgium back to the UK because I had nothing better to do, and it seems I will have no choice but to buy the DVD. A marvellous film; much like Charlie's Angels 1 & 2, it is not over-endowed in the plot department, but for sheer enjoyment it is great.
Particular highlights are the big concert, the classroom early warning system, Joan Cusack's amusingly neurotic principal, and - easily stealing the show - Miranda Cosgrove's sterling performance as Summer, easily the most delightfully evil manager I've seen in a film for a long time. I can only hope she'll become a Bond villain or something...
Scary Movie 3 (2003)
Better than expected
Having seen the first two, I only watched this one because I was on a ferry and had nothing better to do. Much to my surprise, it was actually good, mainly thanks to Zucker's directing and the presence of Charlie Sheen and Leslie "God" Nielsen.
At last we have a Scary Movie that doesn't rely entirely on puerile humour and gore - after all, sex, drugs and toilets are only funny for a very short time.
This film was unfortunately let down by several tasteless scenes, presumably added to appeal to the Scary Movie 1 and 2 fans, such as the exploding corpse scene and the constant abuse of that irritating little sprog. Oh, and the vomit scene - I don't like vomit at the best of times, and in most films it really doesn't need to be shown.
On the whole the humour was more subtle and more advanced than in the previous installations, and the celebrity cameos were well handled. Particularly amusing was Simon Wossname's cameo - anyone who has accidentally watched a minute of Pop Idol while waiting for Ready Steady Cook (or whatever, I don't memorise TV schedules) will be delighted to see him get brutally slaughtered.
Since I'm feeling generous today, let's say 60%, in the hopes that Zucker does the next one as well - then it might even be worth buying.
Deep Impact (1998)
Sob, boom, huzzah.
THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SLIGHT SPOILERS.
I had been wanting to see this film for a while, so I was quite pleased when it appeared on TV. Surprising even myself, I actually liked it.
Considering my known antipathy towards long, emotional scenes, ascathing criticism of Deep Impact could probably be expected, but - unfortunately, you might say - will not be forthcoming. Just to simplify matters, here we go; item by item.
ACTING: On the whole, I was impressed by the acting. Freeman, while good, overacted a bit - pausing too often and in the wrong places, for instance - and did seem rather sanctimonious; nevertheless, an extremely good effort, and that only made those slight niggles show more. The other actors were also, on the whole, very good; Wood and Sobieski were relatively convincing, and even Denise Crosby's acting was surprisingly good.
SPECIAL EFFECTS: The effects, while spectacular, served to advance the plot and not the other way round. The long shots of the comet seemed slightly wrong, but almost all the other effects were extremely well done.
SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY: I was impressed with the accuracy; unfortunately, the main errors were large and obvious, though clearly required for the plot - I would say that the science was fairly solid, allowing for artistic licence. The details were impressively accurate, though - the very realistic depiction of the impact, and the way the water was pulled away from the shores; the jets on the MMU; even the burns on the astronaut's face as the terminator crossed their position.
PLOT: Ah yes. There is a Hollywood law that states "Any impending disaster will be primarily centred (geographically or in effect) on the USA." However, this notwithstanding, the plot was good. Well written, and not entirely unbelievable, its only real problems were a rather laboured infatuation with relatively pointless emotional scenes. To quote from Monty Python's Quest For The Holy Grail, in the words of everyone from Tim the Enchanter to God himself, "Get On With It!"
So, on the whole, an enjoyable film. Some decent science, some sensible and believable scenes (such as the bus guard not being talked round), and impressive special effects, but unfortunately afflicted by overacting and excessive sentimentality, this is just a few notches away from being a magnificent film.
8/10