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Reviews
Following (1998)
A neat story with some great twists, marred by some mixed acting and other issues
An interesting showcase for a lot of the ideas and themes that would permeate a lot of Nolan's later films, but this low budget affair reeks of "first film," right down to the casting of people who don't actually appear to be actors at all and are likely just friends of the director/investors. This does all work to make Theobald's performance stand out, though.
The plot is a mite unrealistic and convoluted but keeps you hooked throughout with some great twists and turns.
An interesting but imperfect effort. A lot of the ideas on screen would see much better realisation in the later Memento.
The Wonderful World of Disney: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2002)
A decent take on Cinderella, but it could be a lot better
In many ways a neat adaptation, but the whole thing is marred by a blunt , utilitarian script (characters may as well introduce themselves by listing their name, occupation and role that they're about to play in the story) that could perhaps have been saved by some truly spectacular acting and directing, but sadly that's not on display here.
This also features a rather weird eleventh-hour introduction of magic into what had up until then been a realist piece. The finale is also very abrupt (an unfortunate carry-over from the novel, though) and seems to miss the apparent moral: that it's Clara's act of charity that finally makes her truly beautiful.
Decent and certainly watchable, but still, I hope that Wicked receives a better treatment when it is ultimately adapted.
Rainbow (1978)
A showcase for McArdle's talents, but little else
Really very thin on plot, dealing as it does with a relatively short period in Judy Garland's life (and how much plot can one extract from "stage performer becomes film performer"?), and really just a showcase for a series of singing performances from Ms McArdle. Still, McArdle is definitely noteworthy, and this is ultimately not bad TV biopic fare.
When some actual plot does occasionally rear its head, it all seems to be handled in a fairly shallow way, without any real delving into the stories big emotional mines, such as Garland's relationship with her parents, reaction to her father's death and her treatment - and medication - by the studios.
Judy Garland/Wizard of Oz trivia: Piper Laurie, who plays Judy Garland's mother in this film, would go on to play Auntie Em, Dorothy Gale's mother-figure in Return to Oz.
Firefly (2002)
Better than it is not, but still not the best of its kind.
Firefly was most definitely an enjoyable science-fiction/western romp. However, I think it's a definite stretch to call it ten-out-of-ten material.
For one thing, in its meagre run of only a handful of episodes, the series had its ups and downs. It has the hit-and-miss quality that some shows get in their early seasons, as writers test out the limits of the central concepts, throwing everything against the walls and seeing what sticks and what doesn't (the same was evidently true of season one of another Joss Whedon project: Angel). I mean, whilst certain episodes shine, others are a relative let-down. Perhaps if the series had run for a bit longer, it might have come to define itself a little better, but I'm not going to judge this show on what might have been.
My other pet peeve regarding this show is that its simply not as original as it would seem to want you to believe. Firefly wasn't even the best character-driven, western-influenced sci-fi about a bunch of fugitives and misfits fleeing from an oppressive, militaristic organisation clearly based on the Federation from Star Trek that was running AT THAT TIME! That honour would have to go to Farscape (not western-themed, you say? Watch a random episode and count the number of Mexican stand-offs). Other shows along similar lines that were also better include the idiosyncratic Lexx and the sublime Cowboy Bebop.
Still, bitching aside, Firefly is definitely more enjoyable than it is not, and fans of decent sci-fi should definitely give this one at least a cursory look. My particular recommendations would have to be: Our Mrs. Reynolds, Out of Gas, Ariel, Heart of Gold (although MY WORD is this one heavy with Western clichés) and the wonderfully creepy and hypnotic Objects in Space, which also ranks as one of my favourite episodes of any Joss Whedon TV show.