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Lemmy (2010)
10/10
Surprisingly warm hearted movie
16 January 2011
I managed to see this at the local cinema last night, the Riverview special late night showing, and it was a joy. It was a wonderful film and to watch it with a like minded audience enriched the experience.

The film is well shot, well edited and has great access to a wide range of people from Lemmy's past, and people who have been inspired by him. All the interviews seemed to give the same image of the man, which is one of the main points about him; he lives the life he wants, accepting the consequences and living an authentic life. The film is surprisingly funny and moving, and although he lives a life very different to most people I think it is quite life affirming. The film has a fantastic cast, well interviewed, some good shots of his music (but not so much that it would alienate people who are not into heavy rock'n'roll) some careful editing to give coherence, judicious use of slow-mo and worthwhile clips after the titles. I was smiling for most of this movie, which I did not expect.

This movie deserves the accolades heaped on it. It is an excellently made movie about a very interesting subject. I would love to see the team do another movie, or biographical movie, as their style here made what could have been a humdrum run through of one unusual lifestyle a wonderfully entertaining, informative and interesting film.
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The Spirit (2008)
1/10
Second worst film I have ever seen
26 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Pointless and tiresome.

I was so excited when I saw the trailer for the Spirit, Frank Miller directing a comic hero. Looks good. For part of my Christmas present my Partner arranged babysitting so we could go and see it. We were utterly disappointed. The reasons are many, but I will just list them, as others have made the case clearly and comprehensively, and I am just here to vent my spleen.

Did it have to be so campy?

Awkward product placement

Terrible pacing of scenes.

What was it with the risible Octopus as Nazi scene?

What was it with the terrible (fnny laugh out loud foolishness) samurai scene?

Terrible dialogue. Exposition or unfunny jokes.

Over the top violence.

No characters that made any sense.

Failed humo(u)r.

The film seemed stuck together from 3 or 4 different styles of film, with little care for overall flow or feel.

The only interesting things were the look of the city, and some of the use of colour, but that was done far more effectively in Sin City.
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Fracture (2007)
7/10
fab, bit too long
1 February 2008
This was a brilliantly acted film, excellently scripted, good idea, quite well shot, but just a bit too slow. And don't get me wrong, I can cope with slow films, but felt the slowness added nothing other than length to the film. Each scene could have been shorter, I mean they were all worth keeping in, but if there had been fewer long pauses I would have been happier.

Anthony Hopkins was good, with an excellent script, but he suddenly developed an Irish accent half way through, which irked me. The rest of the cast, although unknown to me, were all good, with excellent characterisation.

The set dressing was good, with some lovely machines that the lead was supposed to have designed, giving a clear steer as to the way his mind works. It isn't a film full of big ideas, but it is a very well executed psychological procedural.
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Bandits (2001)
I liked it, and I don't think I'm shallow
23 June 2003
A good collection of leads, some quirky characters, a nice structure for telling the story and a bit of feelgood malarky made me enjoy this movie. I generally prefer non-linear telling and half suggested storylines, and although this was mainstream and quite obvious by my standards, the above features made me rate it highly. It must have bombed in the UK, because I hadn't heard of it before it came onto Sky movies, despite the strong cast. I was prepared to be bored by it, but despite Bruce W doing his usual acting ability (see The Story of Us) I felt his character worked in the ensemble. I like the fact he has rubbish hair and isn't afraid to show it.

Better than expected, as good as it should have been.
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8/10
Better than I expected from the trailer
17 June 2003
I never wanted to see this in the cinema, after seeing the trailers for it. However, watching it on TV last night was a rare pleasure. There were a couple of scenes that seemed strange in the rest of the film, the vomit gag (sic) on the roller coaster seemed ill at ease surrounded by the observational stuff of middle England, and the ensemble caper stuff, but overall it made me smile. Some nice touches with references to other films (magnificent 7, the Italian job) and a good cast means I would recommend it to my chums. I felt it was trying a bit hard for the feel-good factor of the full monty in places, but with some wonderful lines and interaction with Omar Sharif ("I thought you were dead", "No, only resting") I think it is a fine addition to Steve Coogan's CV.
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Aurora (1998)
1/10
They walk, they talk, they bore
23 May 2003
Fundamentally a boring film. The idea could have made a good film, but this isn't it. It seems cheaply made, with little characterisation or acting abilities. To simulate an aline landscap they use a filter to give everything a strange colour. Very unimpressive. They walk for practically the entire film, and tat is as exciting as it gets
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1/10
I hated this laughable drivel
9 December 1999
Warning: Spoilers
This is an adaptation of a King novella, which should tell you all you need to know about the quality control that went into it.

However it is, without a doubt, the worst TV movie I have ever seen. There was nothing even bearable about it. The most fantastic thing was that everyone said exactly what you'd expect them to, if they had only ever seen movies, and learned how to speak from that source alone. The people were badly drawn stereotypes, and who would couple with who was glaringly obvious from the first scenes. The special effects, when they finally arrived, looked as if they'd been produced on a sinclair spectrum. The way the story resolved itself was stupid in the extreme, but the most fantastically stupid thing about the film was one of the leads. He was a smooth cockney who had to say the worst dialogue since Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins. The highlight occurs about 10 mins from the end (and I tell you that in case you don't have the strength to watch it all) when he is telling his bird to seek out his father; 'Ask for the gaffer, you might have to ask a few people, but they all know him as the gaffer. Tell him about the daisies.'

Priceless.

And if they trimmed it to a sensible pacing it would magically disappear from 3 hours to a bearable 100 mins.

Fantastic stuff, so poor it reduced me to swearing blindly at the screen as they uttered another line of inane drivel, had some stupid plot device, or mentioned the gaffer.
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