Sun, 17 Sep 2006
DOA - Short Review
I was completely unprepared for DOA, I'd heard nothing
about it, seen no trailers and didn't know it was based on a game (which
I've never played) - if I'd have known anything about it I'd have stayed
well clear. Which would have been a shame.
I missed the first five minutes or so of this film so I'm not sure if they actually explained the, um, plot? In essence there is a fighting competition where "the best representatives of each style" come together and kick the shite out of each other. With lots of wire work and some very attractive actresses in skimpy outfits. And one scene, featuring Holly Valance and Sarah Carter, which is essentially a wet t-shirt competition pretending to be a fight.
It's well paced, there are actually a couple of plot threads woven in and most of the cast perform above and beyond the call of duty; these all combine to make the film more enjoyable than it sounds, doubly so if you leave your brain at the door and you're male.
One of the best scenes in the film is a staircase fight featuring Kane Kosugi, it was actually spoiled by some of the wire work, the actor seemed to be able to hold his own without it. Score: 7/10 - because any film featuring Holly Valance in a bikini, wrestling, deserves some extra points.
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Posted: 2006/09/17 14:34 | /movies | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
Dungeons and Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God - Short Review
When I was at school I was an avid Dungeons and Dragons player, over the
years I've lost contact with most of it (the occasional novel, issue of
Dragon or, very rarely, a source book is as close as I get these days)
but one of the few things I did see was the first Dungeons and
Dragons film. Which was BAD. But I'd waited so long that I watched
it. And I own a copy on DVD that I one day plan to watch again. Honest.
Tangent: how the hell did they get Jeremy Irons in the film? That's
magic!
I didn't even know they'd done a sequel until a friend of mine came back from the US recently, and I'll be honest, the idea of another one didn't fill me with joy. Fortunately, this time none of the behind the scenes crew survived from the first one and only one of the cast (Bruce Payne as Damodar) carried over. And to be honest his character is completely different so they might as well have recast and renamed it.
So is it better than the first film? Yes! Do you need to have seen the first film to follow this one? Nope, it's completely stand alone. Is it worth watching? Yes. It's a pretty enjoyable adventure that will feel familiar to anyone who's played the game (the characters are all class stereotypes) and will tick enough of the fantasy film boxes for most moviegoers to tolerate it. The cast are pretty solid (although nothing special) and the story has enough depth to carry it through some not very special effects.
Score: 7/10 - best of the films I've seen this weekend (it's been a long weekend!) and the best D&D film I've seen. Although I'm an un-ashamed fan boy. I'm still waiting for a really cool on-screen dragon though.
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Posted: 2006/09/17 14:33 | /movies | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
Crank - Short Review
Jason Statham has found himself a Hollywood niche, action films that don't
set the box office on fire but provide a decent level of "leave your brain
at home" entertainment. The Transporter movies and now Crank are shining examples.
Despite the trailers (and my expectations) Crank isn't as action packed as I'd expected, in between a number of fight scenes there is a surprising amount of plot and amusing dialogue. While the plot itself isn't exactly original the films constant changing from one scene to another and some decent dialogue makes it a lot less painful than it could have been. It's worth pointing out the visuals; a lot of the film looks like it was shot by someone with ADD, a background in short music videos and on a decent amount of drugs. From CISesque internal body shots, head banging in the back of cabs and some "medical assistance" from Amy Smart. This'll drive some people nuts. I liked it here but hope it's not copied in too many other places.
Chev Chelios: "I'm looking for something.. begins with E..."
Pharmacist: "England?"
Score: 6/10 - unchallenging with some decent action, a couple of smart one-liners and some nice set pieces.
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Posted: 2006/09/17 14:33 | /movies | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
Severance - Short Review
Severance had a lot of
potential, it could have been Dog Solders meets The Office, but this
time with The Office actually being funny. Instead, it's an OK paced
generic slasher film with a lot of attempted humour - only a handful of
which hits the mark.
Laura Harris puts in a decent performance, Tim McInnerny is completely wasted (if you've seen him in Spooks or Blackadder you know he can act when given decent material) and Danny Dyer does an acceptable job as the very two dimensional everyman. I'd give it 4/10 for a couple of nail-biting moments and a few cheap (but funny) gags.
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Posted: 2006/09/17 11:05 | /movies | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
The Ten Career Commandments - Short Review
The Ten
Career Commandments isn't my usual kind of book, I got stuck in a
friends office waiting for him to finish up for the day and ended up
reading it because it was the only thing on the desk, and they only had
a 2Mb office 'net connection - the barbarians ;)
The Ten Career Commandments is an easy read that will best serve people just starting out in the world of work. I found that it did prompt me to think about bits of my career wants but it's so generic that it can't really provide any useful push or insights. And if I knew what I wanted I wouldn't be reading this kind of book. If you're new to working it might help you know what the questions are though.
If you do want to read it I'd suggest reading it in an in-store coffee house, the book itself took me no more than 30 minutes to read and if I'd have paid full price then it'd get a much lower score. Score: 4/10
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Posted: 2006/09/17 10:52 | /books | Permanent link to this entry | This entry + same date
Copyright © 2000-2005 Dean Wilson
