Reviews

I watch ARMAGEDDON about once every two years; every time it retains its emotional impact, its tense excitement and its awesome spectacle. The pacing is typical of late 90s action buddy flicks, but this film has the twist that the whole world is potentially in danger from a global killer threat. Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, and in particular Will Patton, make this film wonderfully entertaining and wholly involving. A more entertaining way to pass 2 and a half hours has yet to be found! 9 out of 10

Minority Report has one of the worst titles of any film ever made!

I was put off from seeing the film for that reason alone, and I very nearly missed a technological masterpiece laced with exciting visuals, an absorbing and thoroughly involving storyline, and the most thought provoking rollercoaster ride in ages! In short, this film is brilliant!

Tom Cruise is excellent in his role as the cop who's set up and has to go on the run to prove his innocence. Its great to see Max Von Sydow on the big screen again.

Those of you who loved Blade Runner will enjoy this new work based on a short story by Philip K Dick. Not as stark as Scott's SF thriller, Minority Report moves like lightning right up until its suspenseful conclusion.

9 out of 10...but oh, that title...

Watching The Scorpion King, I didn't really think an awful lot about the two Mummy films; I was thinking Conan the Barbarian (Howard's version, not the Schwarzenegger movies) - and this film struck me as the second closest film to the true Conan feel I have seen to date. The other film, the classiest Conan film ever, is of course Ridley Scott's Gladiator... The Rock is a great action hero and the fight scenes are expertly staged. Chuck Russell directs with the same energy he used for The Blob and Elm Street 3. And Kelly Hu is the most gorgeous film star on the face of the earth! Critics have panned this movie almost non-stop saying the acting is poor, the story is weak, and their is little connection with The Mummy films. Forget all that (except the tenuous connections to The Mummy Returns) - the film is inspired, entertaining, fast-paced and overall great fun. I missed it at the cinema but the DVD is packed full of great extras which took me an extra 2 hours just to browse through. Give it a go! Especially if you like Conan (and especially the Conan from Marvel's Savage Sword comic of the 70s).

Star Wars episodes 4 through 6 had one major advantage over The Phantom Menace; no one knew what was going to happen, and all 3 films are full of surprises. Now with this "new" trilogy of episodes 1 to 3, all Star Wars fans know already that Anakin Skywalker is going to turn to the Dark Side and become Darth Vader, that at some point he will have children with Padme his bride, and that these children will grow up to be Luke and Leia. The fun this time is in seeing how it happened, although of course many fans are not going to be pleased with the results. I remember the attacks on Empire Strikes Back, and more importantly Return of the Jedi, when they were first released. Yet now no Star Wars fan would deny that these are classics. Yoda, the Ewoks....these creations were scorned by just about everyone! So whilst Jar Jar Binks is an annoying creature, well he isn't that bad as everyone is suggesting.

And neither is the film. It stands up to repeated viewings, is highly entertaining, and sets its stall out well for The Clone Wars of episodes 2 and 3. Personally I cannot wait to see what Lucas does in the next two films. The music in TPM deserves special mention, as do the performances of Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, and Liam Neesson. I was impressed with them all - oh and Chancellor Palpatine, what a malevolent character! Great stuff, and as I say, May 16th 2002 is a date firmly notched onto my calendar.

My advice: don't always believe bad reviews, get this one and decide for yourself. I would rate it somewhere between an 8 and a 9 out of 10.

After the tremendous Lemon Popsicle, I could not wait to see Going Steady, the sequel. And I was not disappointed. Essentially more of the same, teenage romance, sex, parties, and a fantastic soundtrack, Going Steady still possesses enough originality to really work!! They do not make them like this any more, and that is a terrible shame. At least we got several more sequels from the series, including the excellent Hot Bubblegum (LP3) and the outstanding entry to the series, Baby Love (LP5). Track this one down and enjoy!! You will feel like a teenager again.

Originally available in the UK on Hokushin Home Video (remember them??), this, the first of the Lemon Popsicle series, kind of showed what growing up in the 60s was really like (after the sanitised schmaltz of GREASE). Three horny teenage friends spend most of the film searching for love, sex, and parties, and they find all three in abundance. This film has a magnificent soundtrack of late 50s early 60s classics (which was released on blue vinyl in the UK) and some way over the top comic sequences which belie its non-mainstream production values; this film was made as a German-Israeli co productionby director Boaz Davidson. One of the stars, Zachi Noy, Huey (the overweight kid) has gone on to become a major star in his home country (even starring in a 9th instalment of the series released this year - see the imdb for further details). So, besides the music, I love the romance, I love the comedy, and I love the sex scenes which come across as very dirty in certain scenes. The first two sequels, Going Steady and Hot Bubblegum are also sheer brilliance; the fourth film Private Popsicle is okay, but the fifth in the series BABY LOVE is possibly the most awesome teenage film EVER made!! See it if you can find a copy - come on lets have DVD releases please!! Number 6 is total rubblish, and 7,8, and 9 don't seem to have been translated into English yet (or released in English anyway).

Footnote: Lemon Popsicle was remade in the US in the mid-80s as THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN which also features a phenomenal 80s soundtrack and is recommended to all!! Any other fans of the series please contact me.