The Return of Superfly. 1990. USA.

Long delayed sequel to the funky seventies blacksploitation movie Superfly.

Superfly returns from Europe to take down bad guys in this messy film.

The soundtrack is great, but the plot is silly and all over the place. Samuel L Jackson appears in a small role and does well, as for the rest of the cast, not much positive can be said. The lead actor Nathan Purdee was particularly ordinary, not surprisingly it has been his last movie role to date, and he has spent the last fifteen years acting in a US daytime soap.

Overall a very ordinary film, and sadly nothing like the original, with the exception of the soundtrack, but a good soundtrack alone does not a good movie make.

Samuel L Jackson = 70/90.

My rating = 4/10.

The Search For One-Eye Jimmy. 1994. USA.

Very amusing independent production of a man returning to his former neighbourhood and making film about it, and then getting involved in the search for the title character.

Film has all sorts of wacky characters, including lots of Turturro's and Steve Buscemi and Samuel L Jackson both playing crazy guys. SLJ was fantastic in his role as crazy ex- soldier from the Vietnam war.

A quite absurd and funny film.

Steve Buscemi = 36/88.

Samuel L Jackson = 69/90.

My rating = 7/10.

Update!

No movie review here - an update only.

After getting Mad City out from the DVD shop I realised I had seen it -

So to update Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta the two leads.

Dustin Hoffman = 34/46.

John Travolta = 28/46.

Nobel Son. 2007. USA.

Alan Rickman stars in this mix of comedy, crime and drama, as an arrogant professor who wins Nobel Prize for chemistry.

His son is kidnapped and the prize money is demanded as ransom.

That is just the beginning in story with twists and turns and a final act which has a caper feel to it.

The movie also features Bill Pullman, Mary Steenburgen, Danny DeVito, Ted Danson, and Eliza Dushku in its big name cast.

The biggest problem is not having much empathy for the characters.

Overall an average movie which is pretty forgettable, but with a somewhat memorable ending.

Alan Rickman = 23/35.

My rating = 6/10.

Pete's Meteor. 1998. Ireland.

Coming of age drama set in the Republic of Ireland. Mickey is a tough loudmouth twelve year old living with his younger brother and sister at his grandmother's house.

A meteorite lands in the back yard and they believe it was sent by their dead parents. They meet and have a relationship with the scientist who takes the rock away and then there is Pete.

Pete is a drag addled man who promised he would look after Mickey and the other kids after the parents died. And there also happens to be some Irish thugs after him about some sort of money owed.

Don't expect to see all that clearly in the movie because it is a bit of a mess. The accents are so thick that trying to understand the dialogue is quite difficult, especially the kids.

Brenda Fricker as the grandmother does her normal hard woman role, and Alfred Molina is very good as the addled scientist, whilst the turkey award for bad acting goes to Mike Myers, more known for comedy and which he would be well advised to stick to, in fact in his role as Pete every time he goes on screen the film drops four notches in quality.

Well overall a below average movie.

Alfred Molina = 23/57.

Mike Myers = 15/19.

My rating = 5/10.

The Accidnetal Husband. 2008. USA.

Almost everything that I said in my review of the movie It's Complicated is the antithesis of this movie.

This was a lame, lazy Rom-Com which was unbelievable and not particularly amusing.

Uma Thurman. Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are the talent here, and none come off particularly well. Firth looks like he is slumming it, and Thurman is earnest in her role, but the whole thing smacks of being boringly predictable and lacks the spark, the energy and the truthful heart of what makes this genre work.

Ajay Naidu as the 'scene stealer' does OK, but he is not even really up to it as well.

All in all a real let down from some very talented people, the main culprit was a very bad plot. Overall a pretty bad film.

Uma Thurman = 23/35.

My rating = 4/10.

It's Complicated. 2009. USA.

I am a fan of Rom-Com's, they are usually a lot of fun and whilst not taxing and mainly formulaic (boy meets girl - boy loves girl - boy loses girl - boy gets girl back) there is a lot of entertainment value to be had.

There are however I have found, three things which set some Rom-Com's apart from others.

01. The plot - so when there is an inventive spin on the normal formula, even when the course of the story remains the same, it adds life to the genre.

02. The Actors - when you have people who can really act the part, when you believe them, when they light up the screen and actually make you care. having a scene stealer helps as well.

03. The Truth of unreality - we know the story itself is unbelievable, we know it is not reality but even in that, in that universe, there has to be truth and we have to believe what will happen.

This film has all of the above, a great spin on the genre to start with. It was very funny as well.

The acting was great, Baldwin and Martin were good, and Streep has that ability to, in the space of twelve seconds show happiness, sadness, bravery and vulnerability, without saying a word.

There was also a scene stealer as well, John Krasinki, who I heard recently in Monsters Vs Aliens and saw in Away We Go. he stole every scene he was in, and could have a great future.

The ending was truthful to the rest of the film and overall it was a very good film.

Meryl Streep = 26/45.

My rating = 8/10.

Straw Dogs. 1971. UK.

Directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman this is a movie which is revered in some quarters, but to this viewer it is a very ugly movie, with very little redeeming qualities.

Basically mild mannered mathematician (Hoffman) moves to his wife's home town and is terrorised by locals. His wife does not even seem to0 like it there so why they moved is not really explained.

There is some comment on what is real masculinity, but that is a stretch, it just seems to be scenes of violence (and a terrible rape sequence thrown in, without any real resolution)

Film starts slowly and then ends in long siege of mega-violent action upon action and by the end you just want it to finish.

A very ugly movie which apart from the acting ability of Dustin Hoffman, who really is a master at his craft, and the ability of Peckinpah to raise the tension levels before it went way over the top, had nothing much going for it.

Dustin Hoffman = 33/46.

My rating = 4/10.

Texas Terror. 1935. USA.

Another early John Wayne western, and this one was a very by the numbers tale of Wayne being framed for a murder and then of course finding the bad guys and bringing them to justice.

A very average Wayne movie with familiar co-stars Lucile brown and George 'Gabby' Hayes.

Still has some interest to see Wayne in his early career, he looks young, but his voice is still the same!

John Wayne = 30/164.

George 'Gabby' Hayes = 17/190.

My rating = 5/10.

Paperback Hero. 1999. Australia.

The story of the movie is Australian outback truck driver has written a romance novel, using his female friend as a pen name and the novel becomes famous with humorous hi jinks ensuing.

It is the movie debut of one Hugh Jackman and features a list of Australian actors, with varying amounts of known factor.

It is a light weight film, with little substance, feel good and has some good moments.

The biggest disappointment was it did not explore fully the whole tension between being a truck driver, living in the outback and writing romance, everyone just seemed to accept it as if it were normal.

Anyway entertaining enough, but nothing memorable.

Hugh Jackman = 18/18 - currently 100%!

My rating = 6/10.

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round. 1966. USA.

James Coburn stars in this caper movie of ex-convict man setting up robbery at a bank near La airport.

The caper section is the best, and it builds to a nice finale after a slow start.

The movie is also famous for being the movie debut of Harrison Ford, playing a bell hop in a one minute scene. There were bigger things for him ahead!

Overall the movie is quite good, with a small twist ending.

Camilla Sparv is quite good in a supporting role. I don't know much about her except she later on appeared in Downhill Racer with Hackman and Redford. A film I liked and my brother hated!

Good solid entertainment, it could be classed as a perfect lazy rainy day movie.

Harrison Ford = 33/42.

My rating = 7/10.

Last Chance Harvey. 2008. USA.

Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson headline this romantic comedy/drama about a divorced father living in the USA going to his daughter's wedding in London.

he finds himself shut out and even the job of giving his daughter away has been given to the step-father.

Harvey meets Kate played by Emma Thompson, a lonely woman who is continually called by her mother.

The romance stems from there. Thomson and Hoffman are very good, and there is a solid supporting cast (James Brolin and Kathy Baker included) but there is a lack of chemistry between the two leads to really convince us the viewer that it is a really happy pairing.

A solid film, but I can't imagine it being one that stays with you.

There is a line in the film, where Thompson's character is talking of writing a novel not one like Middlemarch she says, but a beach novel, one you read on a plane. This is the type of movie this is almost a throwaway movie, with enough acting skills and entertainment to make it a worthwhile piece.

Dustin Hoffman = 32/46.

Emma Thompson = 20/30.

My rating = 7/10

Away We Go. 2009. USA.

This is a movie I had not heard anything about. it was on new release at Video Ezy, and I have been trying to see all the new releases for the month of April, so I hired it on that weak strength

It was certainly an independent production and had some familiar faces, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney, and Jeff Daniels were the most familiar to me.

As for the leads, Maya Rudolph was the female lead, and has been a regular on SNL for the last decade or so. Not having seen any SNL in this period, aside from the Tina Fey/Sarah Palin material, I was not aware of her.

The male lead was John Krasinski who I did not know, but apparently recently heard his voice in the movie Monsters vs Aliens.

The director was Sam Mendes who has previously directed American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, and Revolutionary Road. A pretty impressive CV, I have seen all of them with the exception of Revolutionary Road, which is on my queue of films to watch.

The plot of the film was basically a couple expecting a baby decide to travel across the states to find the best place to bring the baby up, along the way they interact with friends and relatives, who are all zany and they have humorous events happen to them.

Some of this is quite funny and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the new age mother was very good.

The ending was quite predictable but it was a well made and quite entertaining movie.

As for the April quest I am now - 26/38.

My rating = 7/10.

Rainbow Valley. 1935. USA.

Early John Wayne Western sees him as a Marshall going undercover in Rainbow Valley to help the locals fight a gang who are trying to prevent a road being built through the valley.

it turns out the gang wants to have the land in the valley go down in price buy it all and then build the road - those varmints!!

John Wayne with the assistance of George 'Gabby' Hayes as one of the locals, the mail man in fact, with one of those new fancy horseless carriages! saves the day and wins the girl, the self described 'post-mistress' played by Lucile Browne, an actress from the thirties and forties who was in many 'B' films.

The bad guy was played by a bloke by the name of Jay Wilsey who for some reason was credited as Buffalo Bill Jr!

Anyway the film transfer was very ordinary on a cheap DVD, and it was a very average story.

Nothing too special but quite interesting to see from the point of view of history.

John Wayne = 29/164.

George 'Gabby' Hayes = 16/190.

My rating = 5/10.

Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? 1966. USA.

One of those movies that is considered a classic, that you have never really seen.

Well I watched it, and it has stunning acting performances from Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, with good support from George Segal and Sandy Dennis.

The plot of the movie is all over one night, and is very stage play like, with a bitter aging couple fuelled by alcohol using a younger couple to express their grief, anger and anguish towards each other.

the movie is raw with emotion and seething with the undercurrents of grief, rage, loss and desperation.

Taylor and Burton's chemistry lights up the screen.

It is real and not real and you do genuinely care for the characters even when they are annoying and you do not understand them.

The devastating final scene is haunting and really grabs you by the throat as you suddenly understand the source of all the bitterness and the angst and you realise that living in an unreal fantasy world is a terrible way to live.

A brilliant movie!

Richard Burton = 11/55.

Elizabeth Taylor = 14/54.

Movies nominated for 1966 Best Picture Oscar - 3/5.

Oscars Best Picture Nominated films = 276/475

My rating = 9 out of 10.

Without Honor. 1932. USA.

Harry Carey stars as gambler Peter Marlin who solves his brother's murder, captures a smuggling ring, and solves other associated crimes as well.

The movie feels really creaky and all of its seventy eight years of age, with some of those people walking and riding horses at really fast speeds due to the film.

Some of the acting is way over the top and really ordinary, again revealing its age, as some of the actors from the silent era are still coming to grips with the difference in acting in a sound movie.

Harry Carey is quietly effective in his almost anti-hero hero role, even though he has a strange outfit on.

Overall an entertaining yarn and a good old fashioned western.

My rating = 6 out of 10.

Shrink. 2009. USA.

It is a little hard what to make of this one. Kevin Spacey features as a pot smoking psychiatrist to the stars, a man going through his own grief whilst trying to spruik his book on being happy.

It features a range of characters from a movie guy to a guy trying to write a script a washed up actress and a school student who is sent to Spacey's character.

Robin Williams turns up in a small role as one of Spacey's patients and Robert loggia turns up as his doctor father.

There were some decent ideas here, but for me ultimately it was a melancholic piece which did not go anywhere.

Not a failure, but not great, average.

Kevin Spacey = 23/38.

Robin Williams = 37/57.

My rating = 6 out of 10.

John Wayne Update!

So not a movie review this time.

Discovered a John Wayne movie I had seen (Fort Apache) and had not marked down.

John Wayne = 28/164.

The Shootist. 1976. USA.

The Duke - John Wayne exits stage left with his last ever film role.
Role number 164.

The movie also features Ron Howard, Jimmy Stewart, and Lauren Bacall.

It is the story of an aging gunfighter dying of cancer who wants to go out with as little as pain as possible,

Three years later John Wayne would be dead also of cancer.

There were some poignant moments here, none more than the opening scenes showing John Wayne's character going from boy to old man, but for us, the viewers it is showing John Wayne, the young cowboy to his now aged self.

This was a good solid movie, nothing spectacular, and possibly made better by the memories of Wayne in his farewell performance.

John Wayne = 27/164.

my rating = 7 out of 10.

Halloween H20: 20 Years later. 1998. USA.

So this is the seventh Halloween movie but the third of four different "continuities".

It goes like this :-

Continuity #1 - Halloween, Halloween 2, Halloween 4, Halloween 5, Halloween 6. (I have not seen part 6)

Continuity #2 - Halloween 3 (a stand alone story when the idea was to have a different Halloween themed story every year, a better idea which was abandoned after this film)

Continuity #3 - Halloween, Halloween 2, Halloween H2O, Halloween Resurrection.

Continuity #4 - This is the reboot series - Halloween, Halloween 2, Halloween 3 (not filmed at this stage)

So the plot of this film - it is twenty years after the original Halloween night and Jamie lee Curtis has now got an assumed name and is hiding out with her son (Josh Hartnett in his movie debut) at an exclusive boarding school as headmistress.

Michael Myers was burnt to death in Halloween 2 but of course he is alive and finds her and the killing begins.

Film also features LL Cool J, and Joseph Gordon Levitt.

Jamie Lee's mother Janet Leigh also has a cameo in this movie, which was one of the few genuine highlights.


Spoiler alert here! -

It is not a very good film, and with the villain being beheaded in the final scene, which was very reminiscent of the beheading n the original Friday the 13Th movie, it seems to be all over, but somehow Myers was dragged out for another movie can't wait to see how they resurrect him for that one!

Very ordinary stuff!!

Joseph Gordon Levitt = 11/28.

Josh Hartnett = 11/19.

My rating = 4 out of 10.

The Man From Utah. 1934. USA.

Very early John Wayne western here, has Wayne as the hero of the day, as titular man from utah wandering through the countryside and saving the day by foiling a hold up.

He is then appointed by a US Marshall played by George 'Gabby' Hayes to investigate a gang that seem to win all rodeo events and end up with all the prize money.

No mistaking good guys and bad guys in this unashamed B western tale.

Film seems to use a lot of file footage from Rodeos and crowds from the era which give it a good historical feel and also reveal its low budget, but knowing what it is that is ok.

Average western.

John Wayne = 26/164.

My rating = 6/10.

Monsters Vs Aliens. 2009. USA..

Animated tale of monsters fighting aliens. Features amongst others the voice of Reese Witherspoon as ordinary girl who grows to gigantic proportions.

Some analogous content towards either locking the different away or how we react to people who are different.

Humour interspersed in the story, some funny, some forced.

The plot was nothing too taxing, proving again if its classified as a kids movie Hollywood will take the opportunity to dumb it down another level. It would be good to see a movie where kids are treated with more respect one day.

Overall slightly below average.

Reese Witherspoon = 19/25.

My rating = 5 out of 10.

Heldorado. 1946. USA.

Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes and of course Trigger all feature in this standard singing cowboy 'b' movie from the mid 40's.

Good guys, bad guys, chases, fist fights, rodeo riding and a number of songs packed into the tight running time of fifty six minutes make for an entertaining, if predictable time.

Roy Rogers = 23/99.

My rating = 6 out of 10.

Sands of Iwo Jima. 1949. USA.

John Wayne stars as a hard nosed Sergeant in the US Marines during World War II.

He trains a group of marines to fight, leading up to the Iwo Jima mission and the famous flag planting ceremony, which was later told in Eastwood's version.

This one is more a flag waving one, but had some very good performances and was a solid film.

Forrest Tucker, famous for his later role in the series F-Troop is in this as well.

John Wayne = 25/164.

My rating = 7 out of 10.

Streets of Blood. 2009. USA.

Val Kilmer and Sharon Stone are sluuming it here in this direct to video mess of a movie.

Plot involves corruption in the police force in the time following Hurricane katrina in New Orleans.

Sharon Stone gives an understated performance and Kilmer is his nomral self. Rapper 50 Cent appears as a cop.

The script is very poor and the direction is muddled at best. How Kilmer and Stone got involved in this movie is anyone's guess, but it must have been for the money because there was not much artistic integrity in it.

A poor movie with very little redeeming attributes.

My rating = 3 out of 10.

The Big Show. 1936. USA.

Gene Autry plays two roles in this singing cowboy movie. He plays a grumpy actor named Tom Ford and his stunt double named with no originality Gene Autry.

Autry has to impersonate Ford and as they say in the classics hi jinks ensue.

Some nice songs amidst the predictable story, in what is a "B" western from an era where they were all the rage, that is both B movies and singing cowboy movies!

The singers Sons of the Pioneers appears and one of them is no other than Roy Rogers.

Gene Autry = 5/94.

Roy Rogers = 22/99.

My rating = 6 out of 10.

Blood Creek. 2009. USA.

Known as Town Creek in the USA this is modern stylised horror from director Joel Schumacher, who has previously directed Flatliners, Dying Young, The Client, and a couple of Batman films, including the horrible Batman & Robin.

Film starred no-one I really knew although one of them Dominic Purcell is known for a leading role in the series Prison Break, which i have not seen.

The story is around the occult and Hitler sending people out to find Rune stones back in the 30's to seek immortality and goes from there to a modern setting.

It is a simple story and the look of the opening sequence is very effective, after that though it descends into quite a dull movie with lots of movie blood being spilled and quite a lot of non-sensical rules of how it all works.

It actually felt like one of those games you played as as child where you kept adding rules as you went along.

Anyway, it also ends with an obvious set up for a sequel and a franchise.

My rating is 4 out of 10.

Rio Grande. 1950. USA.

John Wayne and Maureen O'hara star in this standard cowboys and indians feature.
Looks great in beautifully done black and white, but the story itself is a bit slow and does not have enough meat on its bones to engage you fully.

Ben Johnson as Trooper Tyree is very good but the standout for me was Victor McLaglen as the Sergeant Major.

Certainly not the best movie ever, but far from the worst, an average western movie from a different era.

John Wayne = 24/164.
My rating = 6 out of 10.

On the Waterfront. 1954. USA.

Winner of eight Oscars including best picture, director, actor, supporting actress and screenplay. Marlon Brando leads an amazing cast which includes Eva Martie Saint, Rod Steiger, lee J Cobb, Karl Malden and even, in his film debut Fred Gwynne who later on was to become immortalised as Herman Munster.

the film itself, is controversial in that it is said to be analogous to the House of Un-American Activities hearings of the fifties and a response by Elia Kazan to The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

there is no doubt that this is a very good movie, and it is not just Brando's "I could have been someone soliloquy. The acting is stunning from Brando to Malden and Saint.

The story is a rich layered morally complex treatise on truth, justice and what is the right thing to do. It is a positive movie and one that has resonance even today fifty six years after it was made.

A truly compelling movie, and worthy of its status.

My rating = 8 out of 10.

The Tournament.. 2009. UK

Story of thirty assassins coming together for a tournament where they kill each other, which apparently happens every seven years in a unsuspecting location. Really silly story, thinking about killing twenty nine of the worlds leading assassins every seven years beggers belief.

Anyway it is at its heart a silly action flick, which on some levels works thnaks mainly to solid efforts from Kelly Hu and Robert Carlyle as an unsuspecting prriest dragged in to the whole matter.

An entertaining time waster but not much more, but not much more was expected.

My rating = 5 out of 10.

The Boys are Back. 2009. Australia.

Australian movie which is a co-production with the UK of cynical ex-pat English sports journalist living in North Queensland and liking live there with his wife and child. Clive Owen features in the main role.

His wife dies and it leaves him as a single dad. Story also involves his son from another marriage and his mother-in-law both who are really hard to find any empathy for especially his son who really is iiritating.

Story has been told before in better ways, but it still holds up to a reasonable level.

My rating = 6 out of 10.

Ben Ten: Alien Swarm. 2009. USA.

A Live action made for television movie based on the cartoon series. this was a very ordinary movie with over the top shoddy acting, two dimensional characters which you just did not care about and were mostly smart aleck loud mouths, especially the Kevin character who you continually wanted to smack in the mouth, and these are the good guys. Really if this is the hope our world has then maybe we would be better off with the bad guys winning.

Predictable story, overall a very weak movie.

My rating 3 out of 10.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans. 2009. USA.

Werner Herzog has reinterpreted the 1992 movie Bad Lieutenant, with the title role here played by Nicholas Cage, as opposed to Harvey Keitel in the original.

I believed the original was an ugly movie, and lacked any redeeming characters, this one comes off a lot better, thanks to a stronger script, better direction, and a much better performance in the lead role. Yes Cage outshines Keitel!

The supporting roles are better in this film and the ending was far less predictable.

This is not a brilliant movie, no mistaking that, but it is a good solid movie.

I rate it 7 out of 10.

Werner Herzog = 11.