Reviews

It's a movie written by and for game players, and as good as the games are within the film, the famous writers show rare bravado and chutzpah by playing their own devious game with the real world. What players in Hollywood were being portrayed? And what did those players think of their on screen appearances? Did anyone play themselves?

The amazingly quotable Christine seems to be (barely disguised) Hollywood super-agent Sue Mengers - and I have to believe that she laughed about it for weeks. What took some figuring out was the possibility that two of the characters here might indeed be the authors of the work. We now know a bit more about Anthony Perkins than we did when he was alive and that knowledge seems to fit the puzzle very nicely), as for Sondheim... well, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Layers and layers of fun here - structure, detail, dialogue and a great cast having the time of their lives. Now THAT'S entertainment!

This film was intended to be the pilot for a BBC series. The included plot synopses are intriguing and suggest a show that would have slowly built in suspense, character and tension. Had it followed the lead of the excellent Ultraviolet, it would've been one for the ages.

Paul Darrow (Blake's 7) seems an inspired choice to lead the fight against an apocalypse that cannot be averted, only postponed. The opening and closing scenes hit all the right notes and left me hungry for the real meat of the series - a covert government power confronting a deadlier and more implacable power.

The day-for-night shooting of the Falkland scenes made me wish they'd been less ambitious and stuck to the corrupt manor houses that British TV has been using since the days of Department S and The Avengers. And the title's twee spelling of "Magik" seems a terrible mistake for a series so clearly based based upon the works of HP Lovecraft and MI5...

Beautiful, lyrical and - unlike so many of its commercial brethren - this one actually has a story to tell. And it makes me want to rent every one of the director's films.

While I felt that Clive Owen was auditioning for Bond in this series of ads, I liked him a lot more here - a hint of character, backbone and story go a long ways... And I've enjoyed Forest Whitaker ever since he stole The Color Of Money from Tom Cruise and Paul Newman. But where that film never seemed to get going again after he left it, this one moves ahead nicely.

Recommended.

I remember the press and strong reviews that greeted Paul Verhoeven's film The Fourth Man way back in 1983, and it makes me wonder what's wrong with today's studios... Why is Verhoeven making trash like Showgirls and Hollow Man with Hollywood's blessing when this film remains stubbornly unavailable on DVD?

The lead actors are excellent (and the women are stunning!). In an age when we're lucky if films tell any kind of story, this film has subtext and intrigue for days - a delightfully twisty thrill ride with suspense and surprise in equal measure.

It would be sad if we see the inevitable American adaptation (ala The Ring, Dark Water, etc.) before this film is allowed to find its audience.

When's the last time you sat in the theater with a crowd of all ages and everyone had a good time? It happened to me today.

I've read William Goldman talk about how the director gets too much credit for film, but there are certain directors whose work make his argument ring hollow. To see this movie directly after ROTS (Revenge of the Sith) is a particular treat - Miyazaki and his brilliant low-tech artisans bring more character, surprise, care and intensity to their work than George Lucas and his amazing high-tech staff ever could.

A beautiful film that deserves all its good press. What a nice change...