aussielion_au Reviews

Stealing Candy (2003)

Better than it had a right to be.

[5/10 · 6 January 2023]

A movie I found on Tubi with Daniel Baldwin (The "Wish" Baldwin brother), Coolio (yes, that guy from "Gangsters Paradise" and a blonde actress with great tits that I've never seen before and I'll probably never see again.

The story is quite sleazy. Three blokes kidnap an actress who refuses to do sex scenes. They organise an online web cam service to take money from people wanting to see this actress have sex on cam....lol.

It is actually a better movie than it ever has a right to be. While the acting is what you'd expect from a movie, the actual star of the movie is.....believe it or not, the story. I actually enjoyed it. The production values stop it from being a higher than a 5 but a 5 is definitely fine for this.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Tarantino Excellence!!!

[8/10 · 5 January 2023]

Reservoir Dogs (4 out of 5)

Another movie that I've watched in bits and parts, yet never gave it my complete attention. Absolutely brilliant heist movie!!!

Actors salaries aside, the budget could have been 50c. It seemed like a stage play as the movie was mainly set in one place. Don't let that detract you from seeing the movie though as the performances from the actors were brilliant. Keitel in one of the best performances of his career was outstanding, Tim Roth entertaining as ever, Buscemi doing Buscemi things, Madsen being cooler than Bruce Willis in "The Last Boy Scout" and a very underrated Chris Penn bring the great dialogue of Tarantino to life. No wonder why Tarantino has cast most of these actors repeatedly in his other movies.

The music in this movie also adds some extra flavour. That scene with Madsen dancing to "Steelers Wheel".... brilliant!!!!

I don't seek to watch heist movies particularly but man I tend to like a lot of them. This is quite a different style of heist movie and is terrific!!!

4 out of 5 for me.

Knock Off (1998)

Rubbish....even for JCVD fans

[3/10 · 4 January 2023]

Knock Off (1 out of 5)

I'll preface my review by saying this is the one of two movies where I've walked out of the cinema before the movie finished. These days, Im pretty quick with the remote to turn off rubbish but I will generally sit out a movie on the big screen...with this one of two exceptions. It is definitely a movie made for Eastern audiences so I will cut it some slack. But, it is still a rubbish movie to me.

JCVD definitely has some charisma but I just did not like him here. I've never been a huge fan of Schnieder and this movie has not changed my mind. The action sequences are pretty good in a Hong Kong cinema kind of way. The acting and storyline seems to cater for 12 year olds.

The movie will not get a third viewing from me. One star for some very good action sequences....the ONLY thing this movie has going for it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Fantastic sequel

[7/10 · 4 January 2023]

I had been rewatching the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series recently as my memory of them was very vague and watched them a very long time ago. I'd give the first movie a 3.5 out of 5 while the second gets a straight 2.

I watched the third one last night. I have to say that it is as good as the original was.....but in different ways. It was great to see Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) back and a young Patricia Arquette gave us a preview of how good she was going to be. A young Laurence Fishbourne is also around.

It was a great sequel in a number of ways. It moved the story along instead of being like a photocopy of the first movie. Moving the film to a sleep hospital was a masterstroke.

Some of the effects used are quite dates but still very interesting to watch. They noticeably portrayed Freddy differently from the first two movies. The kills in this movie have an element of dark humor in them while still keeping a serious tone to the movie. I thought the balance between touches of humour and being serious was perfect. Robert England is simply perfect for the role and impossible to replace for any future remakes.

It surprised me how good this movie this was.