Reviews

Yet another Philip k Dick adaption hits the screens with veteran Hong kong action director John woo helming the project.I feel this movie has been unfairly torn apart by critics and sci fi fans alike.Maybe its the whole 'Bennifer' thing still playing on the publics paparazzi hungry brains or,the fact that Philip k dick fans will never be happy with any adaption of their beloved authors work,but i enjoyed it.Affleck is cast as an engineer who works on big money product development's,the jobs are so hush,hush that he has his memory erased after each contract.Against his pals better judgment he accepts a huge wage to do a 2 year contract.Upon finishing the big job he finds himself in a bit of strife he's also signed away his paycheck in exchange for an envelope full of obscure bits and pieces.Long forgotten love Uma thurman turns up and they go on the run,trying to avoid the evil corporations clutches and make sense of the whole bizarre scenario.So a lot of things are implausable but lighten up people this is a big budget,no grey matter required popcorn flick masquerading as sci fi, attempting to appeal to people who wouldn't normally watch a sci fi film.If you suspend your disbelief for an hour and a half you'll enjoy it.Even though John woo is directing don't expect blood thirsty shootouts as the body count is low,but his trade mark stand offs,and a motorcycle chase are included although he takes a rather workman like ethic to this film.Not as memorable as Dicks other adapted works such as 'Bladerunner','Total recall' or the overrated 'Minority report' but enjoyable escapism regardless.

My partner and i enjoy our regular DVD night's as the video shop we use has the biggest archive of hard to find movie's in Tauranga,but as my missus is usually in a hurry,she just grab's random movie's cause the cover look's good without reading the blurb on the back of the cover,hence we end up viewing the odd abomination such as this film.Some of my mate's came round that fateful night and viewed this jaw's invading the waterway's of a small hick town/criminal's searching for submerged loot sub plot, we could not help but giggle,make snide remark's and pick hole's in the sub porn wooden acting and the 'menacing' bull shark.Lot's of the ridicule was directed at coolio, washed up rapper/actor who seem's to think he's in a L.A gangsta flick and not in a small backwater community being terrorized by a vengeful, rubbery shark.Lou diamond phillip's career has taken a turn for the worst over the year's,yet he was in some fairly good movie's like La bamba,Young guns and The first power(i liked it anyway).Well worth a look to poke fun at but seriously do not see this thinking your gonna get a top notch thriller.

Commando is my favourite arnie movie ever.It has so many quoteable lines ("you know how i said i'd kill you last..i lied)the action is so over the top and arnie get's to showcase his humour with those trademark one liner's.Basically,matrix(arnold) must rescue his daughter from the dictator like Dan hedaya and one of his former commrade's bennett(the awesome but underrated Vernon well's),much bloodshed and carnage ensuse's and there's never a dull moment.Sure there's a lot of goof's but you can forgive them as the pacing of the film more than make's up for it.Also great is the cowardly and sleazy Sully(David patrick kelly) who is so transparently wimpy you feel like your 12 year old niece could give him a hiding.One of the best action film's of the 80's,this movie would not go down well if it was released in this day in age of p.c wowser's,if governor Schwarzenegger would make one more movie,it would be a godsend if somebody made a sequel to this wonderful piece of celluloid(forget about the rewrite that became Die hard).So if you have not had the pleasure of seeing it hurry up and do so,you wont regret it.

This is one of our best films ever,the portrayal of the heke family is sadly too close for comfort.Jake becomes unemployed and things seem to spiral out of control from there.Although things probably were not hunky dory,his boozing and need to prove how staunch he is takes everybody on a downward spiral.Tem morrison(nephew of the great Sir Howard morrison)shines in his best role ever, also in good form is Cliff curtis who,in my opinion is the best actor in N.Z and can act in many different ethnic roles like Blow,Bringing out the dead,Three kings and runaway jury.The cinematography is excellent and editing(during the punch ups) is spot on.My grandmother was maori so i have lots of maori whanau(family)on my dads side so a lot of scenes and mannerisms are spot on,unfortunately lots of maori grow up thinking this part of the culture is normal and that is quite sad.Anyway a stand up movie that even Americans and other nations can understand.

I will keep my review on this masterpiece short.Unless your a recluse who doesn't know about this film please go and buy a copy and watch it or you'll kick yourself when some young punk upstart trys to remake it starring Freddy prinze jr or josh hartnett(urrghh).Three decades of a mob associates life are played out for our viewing pleasure,Ray liotta has not had a decent role since apart from lending his voice to'Grand theft auto,vice city'a video game.Joe pesci won a well deserved best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of unstable nutbag 'tommy devito'.The soprano's owes a lot to this film especially the way the violence and dialogue are portrayed in a rather unflinching fashion,i almost forgot Robert de niro's in this movie so that should make fans of real actors rush out and grab a copy,i have seen this movie about 20 or 30 times and never get sick of it,Scorsese please make more classics like this and save a dying artform.

Most poncy film fans whinge about this movie.The same types who rave about how "enlightening" films like My big fat Greek wedding and my big fat unemployed neighbor are.People with an ounce of humour in them will find at least one of the scenes amusing.Who thought milking a horse and accusing your dad of sexually abusing your brother could be this much fun.Tom green is a legend cause he has the nerve to go totally overboard,sometimes he's annoying but mostly he's hilarious.Please watch some of his other DVD's like "tonsil hockey","something smells funny"and "subway monkey hour".The former are compilations of his canadian TV show and the later is mtvs slightly toned down version,which is funny nonetheless.In short a crazed stupid comedy elevated to legend status cause of tom greens lunacy.