yendesk Reviews

Harper's Island (2009)

Ignore the plot holes and enjoy the ride

[8/10 · 19 October 2009]

I have just finished watching this series on BBC, where back-to-back episodes were aired each weak. The reason I was prepared to commit to this programme was because it was a self-contained 13 episode series (I gave up on Lost and Heroes due to their open-ended nature).

The programme was nice to look at, exciting, and quite nail-biting at points (the sequence in the tunnel stands out), as long as you can suspend your disbelief.

You can always pick plot holes in drama series(and believe me, there are plenty of plot holes here), but that detracts from your viewing pleasure.

So why didn't anyone shoot the killer when he appeared in the bar armed with a knife (and six of them had shotguns)? Because we wouldn't have had a show....

Why did that creepy girl only divulge important information once another 2-3 people had met their grisly deaths? Because we wouldn't have had a show... And so on.

I enjoyed the inventive and gruesome killings, I enjoyed wondering who's next? who's going to make it to the final episode?

Yes, maybe it was like a live action Scooby Doo, and it would have been nice if one or two of the more sympathetic characters had made it to the end, but I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who is prepared to put cynicism aside, and enjoy a well-made, if slightly cheesy, modern murder mystery.

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Even Better Than Toy Story

[10/10 · 21 March 2003]

How is it that a computer generated animated movie can have more believable characters (yes, I know they're toys), better dialogue, a more involving plot, and more "humanity" (for want of a better word) than any live action film I have seen in the past five years?

This film is simply brilliant - tightly plotted and fast-moving, funny, exciting, and yet with a warmth at the heart of it that is lacking in most of Hollywood's output.

This film should have beaten American Beauty to the "Best Picture" Oscar, yet it wasn't even nominated.

After Toy Story, I had high expectations of this film and feared a major let-down. I needn't have worried.

Spider-Man (2002)

An entertaining movie.

[7/10 · 13 August 2002]

I am no fan of big FX summer blockbusters, and only saw the recent Star Wars movie due to my continuing affection for the original trilogy. I was quite surprised, therefore, that I enjoyed this film. It had everything that Attack of the Clones lacked - likeable, believable characters, a decent script and some fast-paced plotting. I don't know whether the sequel will be as good, as my favourite part of this film was when Peter Parker was coming to terms with his powers. A fully formed superhero is far less interesting. However, for once, I was not left thinking "How can people watch/make/take part in this drivel?"

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Instantly forgettable

[3/10 · 13 August 2002]

I went to see this with very low expectations, i.e. that it would be an improvement on The Phantom Menace. However, Jar Jar Binks aside, it even failed there. Amidala and Anakin were very wooden (not helped by another appalling George Lucas script). I can't believe that this pouty, stroppy pretty boy turns into Darth Vader, a character who oozed charisma and menace.

The other major failing was that it was just so tedious. George Lucas should be strapped into a chair and forced to watch Spider-Man to see how a blockbuster FX movie can have likeable, believable characters, a decent script and a fast-paced memorable plot. The only scenes I can really remember from this film are the one lifted from Blade Runner, and the one lifted from Gladiator.

Just one other point. Amidala drops from a pillar over 20 feet high and lands astride some dinosaur-like creature. Without a pause for breath (let alone a shriek of agony) she rides off , totally unharmed. What are her thighs made of?

Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying (1999)

I don't believe it!

[1/10 · 3 September 2001]

The plot of this film is just so preposterous it makes "Airplane!" look like a slice of gritty realism. Nervous flyers on a plane in a terrible storm with evil European terrorists (no clue as to what their cause was, other than "being evil"), deadly nerve gases, dead cabin crew, drugged ice cubes, gun fights, a missile attack, and an ordinary Joe who has to land the plane (he has a dead wife, and an impossibly cute little son, of course).

As the action lurched from this implausible random plot twist to that piece of clunky, cliche-ridden dialogue, I found myself being charmed by the sheer awfulness of it all.

My favourite part is when a terrorist starts babbling in Czech, and Jennifer Beals offers to try and interpret since she learned a few words of Polish from her Grandmother as a child. Seconds later she is in full swing: "He says that there is a deadly nerve gas in the hold, and he will press the detonator killing everyone within a 5 mile radius"....Whatever did her grandmother talk about all the time that she picked up that vocabulary?

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

A dreary disappointment

[2/10 · 22 September 1999]

Has George Lucas lost the plot? Someone certainly seems to have mislaid the plot for this film - an hour in to this film I was so bored I almost fell asleep. Luckily, the pod race (highlight of the whole film) came along to perk things up.

I can't believe Star Wars fans are excusing this by saying it's a curtain raiser for parts 2 and 3, or that it has to be seen in the context of the whole saga. Films are meant to ENTERTAIN, for goodness sake. I don't pay money to go to the cinema to watch extended trailers.

Without Han Solo and Princess Leia, all we had was a procession of wooden characters speaking leaden dialogue in that irritating "mock classical English" accent that George Lucas seems so keen on.

George Lucas has taken Star Wars fans for granted, assuming that state-of-the-art special effects (which I felt gave the battle scene a cartoon-like quality) would be enough. Worryingly, it seems he was right

Terror in the Mall (1998 TV Movie)

Gritty, true to life drama (NOT)

[1/10 · 20 September 1999]

From what I could gather, the mall had flooded and an escaped killer had kidnapped everybody. Then, as if things weren't ridiculous enough, there was leaking methane about to blow the place sky-high. Am I being cynical, or was the plot just a tiny bit implausible?

False Arrest (1991 TV Movie)

Classy TV thriller

[10/10 · 20 September 1999]

Donna Mills gives a powerful performance as a woman wrongfully jailed for murder in this pacey TV movie. The amazing thing is that it was based on a real life story. Robert Wagner is totally believable as her creep of a husband and I think this is one of the best TV Movies I've ever seen.