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Nine-Seven
Reviews
Jekyll (2007)
All TV shows... are commingled out of good and evil...
....Luckily this one is firmly planted in the 'good' category.
When I first heard the BBC was making a modern day adaptation I initially jumped for joy but deep worry set in later. The story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has been redone so many times, I started asking many questions.
Will they do anything new with the story? Will James Nesbitt be able to carry off such an important role? Will there be a big enough gap between the good doctor and his other half? And finally, Will I be able to watch it the same night as Doctor Who to fill the gap 'Any Dream Will Do' left? The answer to all of these questions is 'YES'! I don't want to ruin it for anyone so I won't go into details but I felt this was a very good adaptation of the book. James Nesbitt showed the contrast between his characters perfectly. I was afraid that 6 episodes would be stretching the plot but the first episode certainly gave me more fodder for that small amount! There is a good mix of horror and humour, (Especially shown by two female private detectives.) and none of the characters really got on my nerves.
There were quite a few nods to the book, some were quite subtle and not too in-your-face but this adaptation has also taken a life of its own branching out into other areas. I would like it immensely if at one point Hyde sings 'You should see me dance the Polka' but I'll just have to wait and see. Hyde is the real star of the show of course and can be summed up in one word: Insane.
A lovely mix of Jack Nicholson, Beetleguese, The Mask and even Robin Williams in places, Nesbitt's Hyde is incredibly entertaining but gives you an underlying sense of terror. His lack of morals and love of life is refreshing as I personally feel there haven't been any 'good' baddies in a long while. My mind was made up as soon as Hyde made an appearance. I have a feeling he will make this show- I will definitely be tuning in next week and I sincerely hope you do too.
I hope both of you do.
High School Musical (2006)
Not a masterpiece..
I was 'lucky' enough to watch the British premiere of this movie on the Disney channel. Although I was expecting this movie to be horrible I gave it a go anyway. The adverts made it look like any other predictable American teenage movie. (Not that I have anything against Americans- i just mean the films set in American high schools) But after i saw how many awards it had won i thought it couldn't be that bad. In actual fact i kind of wish i'd never seen it- it was mediocre at best. But instead of just bad-mouthing this movie i'll tell you the bad points about the movie and then the good ones. (Yes it did have a few good points.)
BAD POINTS
The actors looked at the camera too much. And at the start of the movie the characters hardly looked at the karaoke screen. The voices were definitely not their own. Especially Gabriella's- it was way too high and didn't compliment Troy's voice at all. She didn't (well whoever's voice she was using) have enough vocal talent and power to hold up a song on her own. Every song had to have a drum backing track- and a very loud one at that. This resulted in every song sounding similar and the rest of the instruments being drowned out. Also i felt the 'Breaking Free' song would have worked a lot better with just a piano backing them up. There were too many songs for the short running time; most of them felt forced. The songs didn't really add to the story at all. It could have easily worked without them. With the films Grease and Moulin rouge for example the songs made the films memorable and took the attention away from the predictable story lines. A very predictable storyline- Boy meets girl, girl and boy fight, girl and boy get back together- everyone is happy. Everyone was perfect- no one was ugly and there were only two overweight people in the entire film. Everyone else was very thin. Everyone was in a very clichéd social group- Jocks, cheerleaders, geeks etc. I didn't even get the whole 'the game is the most important thing' thing. Also because i am English the film does not translate well- i can't really connect or relate to the characters because in my school sport isn't the most important thing, and the school musical is not really that big. Problems were sorted out in two minutes- an argument was solved in that time and when there was the problems with the times that was solved too easily as well. Suddenly nobody cared about Toby's singing thing. Everyone won. Sharpay was nice in the end and it was too 'Disney' i guess. The wildcats won the game, Gabriella won her decathlon and they were both in the school musical. And everyone was paired up. Couldn't one thing have gone wrong?
GOOD POINTS
The choreography was great. Everyone was in time and it was pretty good. It had the potential to be a film about how social groups are stupid and about we should do whatever we want. But the message was lost in the end. Although i don't like rap or hip-hop the song 'Get your head in the game' (I may have worded it wrong) was pretty good. The acting wasn't half bad. I've seen worse in Made for TV movies.
The bad points outweigh the good for me but if you like pop music and cheesy predictable movies give it ago. It's instantly forgettable but the songs are no worse that most of the chart music- especially the club ones. (I'm more of a rock person myself so that may be why i don't particularly like this movie) But if you want something original then look somewhere else.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Must see movie of the year.
If you haven't seen this movie yet- i would advise you to do so. People have such differing opinions about this movie the only way to decide whether you like it or not is to actually see it. Of course being a fan of the original film i knew i had to see this movie as soon as it came out. And i did see it- and i saw it again- and again- and again. That totals four times- i don't like to re-watch bad movies so i think it's pretty easy to guess i loved this movie. I am not the only person to see it more than once, i know many people who have seen this movie repeatedly. I won't lie this movie does have many sub-plots so it may be quite confusing at first. So re-watching it helps you understand everything and possibly pick up jokes you missed before. If you loved Captain Jack in the first film you'll be glad to know he hasn't changed and Johnny Depp does an excellent performance in this movie as always. Almost every character from the first makes an appearance but there are many new characters as well which just adds to the fun. It's a little darker than the first film but still has lots of laughs- including many quotable lines. My verdict is see this move NOW!
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
I just can't...
DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE! I'm begging you. It made absolutely no sense..... at all. I do not know how it won awards- it's terrible. made no sense, i hated the characters and everyone acted unnaturally. I mean HELLO- people have their memories wiped for a reason and telling them what they've forgotten would never cause a mental breakdown. I hope you realise i'm being sarcastic. And Kate was supposed to be funny and quirky she wasn't. It was a brilliant idea for a film but was made horribly. I don't know why this film has such a high rating. Avoid no matter what. I saw this with some friends and they all agreed. It tries so hard to be 'artsy' and 'original' but fails. Just don't see this film please. In short: DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Blew me away....
Wow, just wow. I saw the movie a few days ago and it was amazing. You have to see it- it's not a movie for everyone but i would definitely recommend it. As you probably know the basic story line is that a 'cure' for the mutant X gene has been found. Some of the mutants feel offended by it but others like Rogue want it more than anything. I was especially happy that this film included Beast and Angel (Whose wings looked very realistic). I could find one fault though- the director should have included more back story for some of the characters, especially angel who was hardly mentioned in the film. The special effects are very good and quite realistic. Jean also makes an appearance with her evil alter-ego Phoenix. This is a must see film especially if you've seen the other x-men films. It's not too deep but a very good film. P.S stay behind after the credits to see an extra scene.