Reviews

I'm bewildered by the rave reviews for this. At best it is occasionally funny and well-intentioned. At worst shallow and inhuman, packaged to appear sweet and down to earth - but none of it rings true. How could the man who made The Office produce something so pat and hollow? Like Woody Allen, Gervais seems to write stories attempting to justify his suspect personal philosophies, but at least Allen's work is consistently entertaining and self-aware. Gervais sets himself up as a kind of atheist-guru, but he's a blind guide - transparently false. A disappointing series. The jokes have run out and Gervais is floundering to find something worth saying - he needs to keep looking!

I have only seen Amadeus: The Director's Cut, so I cannot comment on the original version unfortunately. This film has reached the no.3 spot in my personal list of all time favourites. It is so gloriously enthralling to watch, it is a cinematic experience like no other. It is equally terrifying as it is hilarious. "Do you believe in that? Fire, burning you forever after you die?" "Oh yes." That short exchange between Mozart and Salieri, (no matter how inaccurate my quoting of it is, apologies if it is,) is mind-blowingly frightening. I think that this film is for lovers of great music, classical in particular, intellectuals, lovers of great cinema, and even I think, theologians. It is hard to tell, or it is for me at least, weather this film is a direct attack on God, or a fearful thought on his existence. The characters in the film certainly believe in him. Being a Christian myself, these themes were more poignant in my mind, although there are many others, including love, hate, morality, and the value of life. Overall this is an incredibly beautiful, endlessly enjoyable story, which really made me appreciate classical music more than ever before. I recommend this very highly and hope you enjoy and and enjoy thinking about its themes. It certainly left me thinking very hard, with Mozarts music playing in the background of my mind. (Sorry, Salieri, I'm afraid not much of your music stuck in my head in quite the same way.)

This film is an amazing cinematic experience. Sergio Leones final film is in my opinion, also his best. The story is so deep, and so rich. The themes, love, friendship, betrayal, morality, memory, life, etc... are so poignant and universal that it is hard not to relate to the characters and situations in this film at least in some way. All the performances are exceptional, James Woods being the highlight in my opinion. I have watched this film three times now, and I plan on re-visiting it even more in the future, as I now own the DVD. To describe this film it is hard to know where to start, as the story is told almost completely out of chronological order; it is a film which literally requires you to watch it more than once. Basically, it is a film about the life of a man, played by Robert De Niro, from his boyhood, right through to his old age, and about the friends and enemies he makes, and all the major issues he encounters. But more specifically, it is about his relationship with one main friend, the adult part of whom is played by James Woods. I can't think what else to say but to recommend this powerful tale to you as strongly as possible, and to wish you several equally enthralling viewings of it!

The Matrix is one of very few films made after 1980 which I consider to be worthy of the title 'classic.' This is one of the most original, stunningly inventive, films that has ever been made, I think it should have won Best Picture. If you haven't already, watch The Matrix absolutely as soon as you can, it's simply fantastic. The ground breaking special effects still blow you away almost as much as they originally did in 1999. The music is also something to really listen to, brilliantly fusing with the action and revelations on screen. Don't miss this gem for a million, before the sequels appeared, the Wachowski's appeared to be building quite a claim to greatness, almost overnight, I think anyway. Alas, 'Reloaded' and 'Revolutions', though interesting, and fun, (especially 'Reloaded') they don't come close to the awe inspiring philosophical richness of the original. So if you can only watch one, make sure it's this one.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is by far the best game I have ever played. It is endlessly enjoyable, I have completed it hundreds of times, and never does repeating a well worn level get the slightest bit boring, however much you play it! All the characters and their designs are breathtakingly immaculate, the voices are incredible and hilarious, the story simple but works wonderfully, the artistic design is superb, the game play challenging, the level design beyond compare, the music awesomely memorable, simply everything about this game is perfection, I challenge anyone to play this game and not love it instantly! It makes you laugh, thrilled, and just incredibly is the best! Wahay! I can't praise this game enough. Infinity out of 10! (Super congratulations to all involved in making this game, and thank you so much for doing so!)

Bandits is a fun film high on average laughs and low on most other things, although I thought Cate Blanchett's performance was pretty good, and actually Billy Bob Thornton was hilarious. Bruce Willis does his usual cool act. The story isn't too deep, so don't watch this if you want something thats going to make you think, but it is definitely an amusing premise, and the odd clever moments serve well enough to raise extra smiles. The direction from Barry Levinson is interesting, but really it's just average stuff, no bounderies are pushed, nothing too daring is attempted. Overall there isn't really much to this, but who cares? It's just for fun. Kick back after a hard days work and just enjoy this entertaining flick.

The Legend of 1900, is my No. 1 film of all time, and I've seen a lot of great movies. I really can't pinpoint exactly why I love this movie so much, but I think its partly because the characters are all so well formed, and easy to relate to and sympathise with. The director, Guiseppe Tornatore, was also my favourite director for a few years after. I saw this for the first time when I was 9 on a plane from the UK to South Africa, and I was just peering at it awkwardly between the seats in front of me. Being a typical 9 year old then, once I had seen the trailers for the films showing on the flight, I was very disappointed. This really didn't look my taste (or any average 9 year olds taste,) but for some reason, it absolutely blew me away, and from that night on, it has been my top film of all time, and thats for over 7 years now. I'm not going to say anything more except Pruitt Taylor Vince is superb and Tim Roth spectacular as 1900, and that the music is just incredible (won the Golden Globe for Ennio Morricone.) So please see this film, I personally guarantee that if your heart is anywhere above absolute zero, you will not be disappointed.

OK, I saw the first screening of ROS last night at my local cinema, and it is fantastic! After seeing this one its hard to believe that the first 2 prequels were made by the same man almost, it is so much better, definitely the best of the prequels, and I might even go as far as saying that its is better than Return of the Jedi. In fact, yes, it is. All of the acting, Yoda included even, is massively improved from TPM and AOTC. Christensen, apart from at one slightly edgy moment, gives a well controlled, convincing portrayal of Anakins descent into evil, and McGregor is also even better as Kenobi, and Portman also delivers her best performance as Padme by far. The computer generated worlds and scenery and just everything, are mind blowing, as the film opens, you are just bombarded with awesome imagery, which really takes your breath away. Not to mention laugh a minute dialogue and action, including from the hilarious R2D2, during the opening sequence. The only down points are a couple of moments of poor dialogue and acting, but fortunately this time around, these moments are few enough to count. (There is also one other thing at the end I couldn't help but cringe at, but I won't say what because it would be a spoiler.) So, hats off to Lucas and team for giving us the best 'Wars' since ESB. Enjoy it as soon as you can!