dutchwife Reviews

The Prodigy (2005)

Not since "Se7en"....

[10/10 · 12 November 2006]

Okay, so it's a different premise completely but it's been that long since a movie gave me goose-bumps like this one did.

Being a mad fan of gangland flicks, this DVD won out over about half a dozen well-received big name rentals tonight and rightly so. The fight scenes are incredibly realistic, disturbingly so in some cases, the acting generally pretty good (hey, if you didn't feel for Pat or King you must be Claude Rains material)and while the plot wasn't madly intricate it certainly went in different directions than one may have expected.

While there are certain folks who may find fault- my wife's more of a horror fan & her response was 'great movie...but I don't know if I get it..'- if you're into gangland movies, dark suspense or just flat-out psycho fare, you'll surely love this. Superb.

15 Storeys High (2002–2004)

No laugh-track makes this one even better...

[20 February 2006]

Okay, I just bought the DVD of the first series because the reviews suggested that this was the type of humour that I like best (Black Books!!Yeah!!). After watching the first episode, I was left with mixed feelings. My mistake....

A couple of days later I decided to give the second show a shot. No mixed feelings now-this one's a gem! Lock & the rest of the cast's deadpan delivery is enhanced by the lack of canned laughter, & the bizarre situations are played out almost a la reality TV. Also, as an ex-pat Londoner, while these situations may seem genuinely odd to a few people, I was reminded of a whole slew of people from way back when. Which is probably why I moved as far away as possible.

To summarize, a top-notch show which may need to be given a couple of viewings. I can't wait for the second series to get a DVD release..

Twisted (I) (2004)

Twisted??

[1/10 · 14 May 2005]

One assumes that there's going to be a real hairpin turn in this movie. Notice the lack of of 'may contain spoilers' caveat. No danger of that here as there was no way that this viewer could see this one through to the end, even just to see if the ending could be as predictable as one fears.

Ashley Judd at first seems bizarrely miscast in this role, but there again who could cut it? The premise of a movie based around a female Dirty Harry type loner is always tenuous and I'd be interested to hear other folks' ideas regarding a more suitable actress. Jackson joins her in the realm of thoroughly atrocious acting, although once again one suspects that no one could have done any better; the script is as worthless and cliché ridden as the characters and plot.

This is where the movie outdoes itself. The sheer banality of the script and characters is far below mediocre; that a screenplay like this can be deemed acceptable is simply amazing. Personally, I found myself cringing within the first half-dozen scenes; the combination of wretched acting and script has reached a new depth herein.

This movie appears to have done something REALLY unusual- that is, taking 'Big Name' actors and having them appear in a film that, in terms of overall quality, is on a par with the worst ever TV movie ever to have crawled out of the 1980s. Do yourself a favor; save your money, switch on cable and watch 'Cagney & Lacey' or some such dross. At least those shows never had pretensions of 'Film Noir'. Hateful.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

100% Superb.

[10/10 · 13 January 2005]

The other 97% of reviews here are on the money. Rented this DVD on New Year's Day without knowing anything about it (hey, we're ex-pats!). Just recognized Bill Nighy on the cover & thought "Yeah, English movie!". Went home toasted with my Japanese wife & Australian bud and all three of us were in tears of laughter. I'm not sure if it's PC or not, but my 2 kids (too young) watched it straight after, then we put it on again. Returning it to the rental store sucked, so we bought a copy the next day.

No spoilers, no "great script" review, everybody else wrote those. IMDb rules say that we can't write extra short reviews. If we could, mine would be "don't read this, just WATCH THIS MOVIE!!".

The out-takes are pretty much priceless too...Sequel please!

24 (2001–2010)

SuperSize Me- Junk TV

[2 September 2004]

(Slight spoiler contained, but if you get far enough into the second series for it to affect you, I doubt you'll be reading this).

Don't watch this. It's MacDonald's TV, no nutritional value whatsoever. My wife rented this & it's been constantly playing as I type. Xander Berkeley seemed to be the only character with whom one might empathize & he just died. This series has had me finding excuses to step out every night- simply being in the room when it's playing is migraine inducing.

Hateful, cynical, despicable; not the players- the producers etc who foist this junk on an ever-eager public. Avoid it at all costs.