Reviews

I don't really know why this series was cancelled at such an early stage. Was it really *that* bad? I was actually quite wary of what to expect from a show that starred Mike Damus (who, of course, starred in the rather unforgiveable and unsuccessful Teen Angel), but I was pleasantly surprised...with both the scripts AND his acting (I don't mean to be nasty, but I think he just made a bad mistake of taking the lead role in Teen Angel...)! While Brutally Normal does attempt to somewhat delve into teen issues, it also deals with those involving family crises/problems in a comedic way. Admittedly, this is quite an average show aimed at young people. Perhaps more depth and better storylines could have developed had it not been given the boot so early.

Having sat there in the cinema, and never once looked at my watch and wondered how long to go until the end of this film, was a sure giveaway that Bend it like Beckham was definitely enjoyable. I liked this film. I found it to be genuinely funny (as did the rest of the audience). Only problem was...I was really hoping for more football action. Nevertheless, everything else made up for it.

Series 7: The Contenders is pretty much action, drama, comedy, romance and mystery rolled into one. For the mostpart, it's fairly disturbing, yet at the same time intriguing, so much so that it is easy to see why some people would absolutely love or hate this film. While the beginning didn't take my fancy straight away, I was glad that it started to pick up somewhere further in. The 'Love will tear us apart' filmclip is, by far, my favourite part, even if only it was a very small segment of the film.

In all, Series 7 has it's funny moments, and is a film that perhaps most people would appreciate for different reasons.

I was warned about this film (and the fact that Christian Slater starred in it) and I'm afraid I have to say that I didn't really enjoy Bed of Roses...and it's not because I'm generally a non-romantic-film fan. Somehow, the concept of the film is just a bit unbelievable. Sure, it may be nice to receive flowers from an admirer, but in this case, it would just be plain freaky. I think the thing that most irritated me was the time-frame in which everything happened in the film (eg. Did Lisa and Lewis move in together in a matter of days or was it weeks? The writer could have at least put in captions or something to let us know). At this point, I have no recollection of how this film ended so, to say the least, try not to watch this unless you are a dead-set romantic.

Having studied the play 'Macbeth' for English at school 2 years ago, I ended up having to watch this film. Sadly though, I ended up falling asleep... Anyhow, 2 years on, knowing my luck, I winded up having to study it again for my final year at school, and this time, I *had* to pay attention. Despite all this, I learnt to look at it from a different perspective. Things definitely made much more sense the second time round, and although this film is visually dark and gory, I must say that Polanski's interpretation, and particularly his ending, is really interesting. As well, the haunting bagpipes music that Polanski manages to throw in every now and again, was very effective in setting the mood of certain scenes.

The acting was convincing enough, especially Macbeth (Jon Finch) at his "evil" phase, but most agreed that Lady Macbeth (Francesca Annis) was a bit too attractive and sweet-looking to be playing the part of the scheming and ambitious Lady Macbeth.

All in all, Polanski's version of 'Macbeth' is probably the best version I have seen to date, even though it was rather disturbing at times. I can't exactly say that I liked it a whole lot, but it's ideal for students studying the play.

Once again, just like in Deuce Bigalow, Rob Schneider plays the once-goofy guy who gets the girl. Sadly though, this film was just too predictable. Sure, the concept may have been a good idea, but the humour was just plain bad. Example: How can people still find toilet humour amusing? It is so outdated! It makes me feel pathetic to say that Adam Sandler's one-minute cameo appearance was a highlight for me (no disrespecting him, mind you). But there was maybe one good thing that came out of this. Colleen Haskell did surprisingly pretty well for her first major role. Good for her...

Overall, this movie is probably more for the hardcore Rob Schneider/dirty humour/don't-want-to-think-but-just-want-to-visually-osmosise fans.

This show IS lame and addictive. And I can't believe so many people feel the same way...it makes me feel sane!

I suppose a majority of people started out watching this with enormous criticism. At first, one would think that: 1. The acting is rather over-done, 2. The dialogue is pretty pathetic, and 3. The storylines perhaps a little predictable and extremely slow (so slow in fact, that you could NOT watch Passions for about a month and still know what's going on).

Personally, I have never been into soaps before, but somehow Passions intrigued me the most. My initial reaction was one of confusion as the show is not your average soap opera. Oh no. Not only does it contain the ordinary conflicts, scheming, scandal and obsessions of certain characters, but it also includes elements of comedy and the supernatural.

Admittedly, Timmy was the main reason why I got interested, as I couldn't figure out whether he was a dwarf/midget or a little boy. As it turned out he was actually a doll, but either way, there was more to Passions than this strange aspect of fascination. Of course you could never leave out the Charity-Miguel-Kay or the Gwen-Ethan-Theresa love triangles. Here, we can witness the stupidity and naivety of Miguel and Ethan as they live their lives totally oblivious to the fact that they are being chased by crazed and obsessed girls who would do anything to win their loves.

Whatever the reason, it is understandable why Passions is not accepted by everyone, but if you give it a chance, at least enjoy it for the laugh factor. It might even keep you begging for more.

It must've been ages since I first saw American History X, but it has taken me this long to write a review as I couldn't find the right words to describe how much I liked this film. It is truly captivating, moving and thought-provoking to say the least. But above all, the acting (especially that of Edward Norton) and the types of characters played were outstanding. The ending was absolutely brilliant. Very few films have ever had such an impact on me so this one has definitely hit the top of my list.

I used to really like the Degrassi series - I probably still would if they continued airing it (even if they were reruns).

I was actually too young at the time to relate to the characters, but they managed to tackle serious social and personal issues that could happen to any teenager in any day of their life. Because of the brilliance of this series, I am able to embrace the knowledge it has brought upon me. However, the movie was a different story...

The first time I heard 'School's out' was going to be on TV (early-mid 90s, perhaps?) I was extremely excited, but once I saw it, it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. I felt that the characters had matured way too much, which seemed like a huge jump from when they were just in High School. It was rather dismal and depressing to see practically all the characters have their lives ruined, though, I suppose films like this would provide a really good way of educating a lot of future teenagers.

The good aspects of the film is that it looks into modern teen issues, and more importantly, it was a good laugh to be seeing all the tragic 80s/early 90s fashion blunders and side-to-side dancing emerge after a while of slumber.

While not particularly the best film I've ever seen, 'The Matrix', surprisingly enough, was actually as good as it was hyped up to be (unlike a lot of other movies).

For the most part, it reached my expectations with its interesting plot and terrific effects, but unfortunately, it had a couple of disappointing factors.

First of all, I have to give it credit for the sufficient amount of fighting action throughout the film. Though, I'm not sure if it was just me, but their martial arts looked rather slow and a tad bit unconvincing (i.e. The scene where Neo and Morpheus are fighting each other in the Matrix).

Secondly, and probably the most disappointing of all is the fact that romance had to ruin the ending. Personally, I think this movie could have done without the Neo-Trinity love spark at the end as I was definitely not expecting it to happen. But since they're creating a sequel to 'The Matrix', I hope they make up for it big time!

I'm sorry that Teen Angel ever aired on TV. It had nothing but stupid gags and lame jokes, and to make things worse, it's been haunting me ever since.

The whole concept of the show COULD have been amusing, however, the biggest let-down was probably the choice of actors used for the script as they didn't seem to pull the jokes off too well...or maybe the jokes themselves were the problem.