Reviews

If you are younger than the main characters, or new to horror, you might find this scary, but for anyone else I very much doubt it. The premise and execution are unoriginal, the kills are unimaginative, it's full of cheap jump scares and the characters are all idiots. The killer is visually boring, and lacks any motivation (and left loads of DNA and fingerprints all over the place like an absolute chump). On the plus side, most of the acting is fine, the sound design is pretty good, but the set design is actually great. Worth watching if you want inspiration for setting up your house for Halloween, otherwise leave it well alone.

I figured it would be unfair to review this show after only one episode despite very strong urges to pan it straight away, so I held out and watched the lot. Unfortunately the first episode is an excellent indicator of what is to come.

The program is not totally rubbish as many claim and there are redeeming features to be found. Some of the characters are quite amusing, such as the doctor, Sally and Dotty the cyborg. Rachel Grant is Hot, the Reptid makeup is quite good and doesn't look cheap, the special effects are excellent (as they should be by 2009), and there were a couple of places that genuinely made me laugh but they were surrounded by so much nonsense that I cannot for the life of me remember what they were.

Almost everything else about the show is bad. Most of the jokes are painful, and there are too many characters to properly develop. Many scenes go absolutely nowhere and are abruptly ended and forgotten about. Bearing in mind the episodes are only 23 minutes, that is particularly disappointing.

Forget comparing this show to Red Dwarf. Forget comparing this show to Hyperdrive. Starhyke doesn't compare to anything that has actually been shown on telly, which is probably why it has never been shown on telly. It may however be possible to edit the series into a passable hour-long special or pilot.

All that said, I applaud the creators for at least giving it a go and they have done well to complete a whole series on what is clearly a tiny budget, especially going up against the BBC's finest. It does show some promise, but it needs some decent writers or the actors need to have a little think about their characters because I get the impression they are not necessarily being portrayed as the writers intended. Maybe that is the director's fault.

I would probably watch a second season... well, the first episode at least.

OK, so the film is pretty poor but I found myself getting quite into it. The original Starship Troopers was fantastic but at the end I wanted more. What happened once they had the brain bug? Well you won't find out in this film as it is in no way a sequel in the traditional sense of the word, more a gaiden, a side-story. Tells you a little more about the bugs and their motivation, and I agree with them.

You get to see a new bug, which is actually a very good (but unoriginal) idea that I felt fitted well with the Starship Troopers universe, but you never forget you are watching a B-movie. Or maybe a C-movie (as in it should have been included as a bonus on the DVD of Starship Troopers 3 when it comes out, rather than). Take away the bad bits (which is basically ALL the technical stuff like script and directing) and what you have left is a decent enough story that will (had better) carry over into the next one. And at the end of the day, that is all this film is and all it should be taken as.

Still, I found it quite coherent and the story was not so far removed from the original that it couldn't have been devised at the same time (which it blatantly wasn't though or it'd have been released five years earlier. It all rests in the third one now. If the events of 2 carry over, I give it a five for advancing the story in an interesting way. If it doesn't, then it gets a three, and two of those points are for the beautiful Sandrine Holt and Colleen Porch who were a pleasure to watch. The other one goes to the characters of Beck, Rake and Dax who, whilst being ripped from the Alien films, are different enough from the other characters that they can share a whole point between them.

I saw this film when I was very young. Obviously, I didn't have a clue what was going on and I hated it. A couple of weeks ago I read Arthur C. Clarke's superb book (and the sequels) and felt I had to give the film another chance.

My opinion of the film has not changed since my first viewing, I still hate it. I can appreciate it on other levels now, but to me, as a film, this does not work. The reason there are no other films even remotely like this is because this is not how films are supposed to be. This is more art than film (in a bad way).

I cannot understand how ANYBODY could watch this film (without reading the book) and know what is going on, but in my opinion, you should never have to read the book to understand a film.

Some people might say it transcends film, cinema and traditional storytelling, but whilst I can't say whether or not it actually transcends all that stuff, it certainly isn't any of that stuff. It is like one of those weird pieces of experimental video-art you get in trendy art galleries, only two hours long.

The magic of the book lies in it's narrative, and on the descriptions of cosmic events. I'm sure Mr Kubrick did the best he could in '68, but SFX technology was NOWHERE NEAR advanced enough to get across some of the things that were meant to be happening, so they used stuff like false colour on sped up clouds, which may have dazzled audiences then, but cannot remotely compare to how your imagination pictures it whilst reading the book.

(As a side note, the bits where they were supposed to moving around in zero-G actually had me in tears they were so bad! But I'm sure they couldn't have done it any better at the time) To anyone who didn't like this film, please read the book, because it is amazing, and if anything it will explain the story so you can watch the "film" for sheer cinematographical appreciation.

I was going to write a huge long comment on this, but a lot of people really seem to hate this show so I just can't be bothered preaching to the unconvertable. I will say, however, I am a big fan of anime and this is one of my favourites. It's certainly my favourite anime TV series. People don't seem to realise that this is for kids, so screw the voice acting (which is better than many other kids shows) and animation (which is also better than many other kids shows). Comparing this to serious anime like Akira is like comparing He-Man to Gladiator. DBZ is light on the brain and heavy on the adrenal gland. Once you get into it it becomes very addictive, and your imagination covers over any bad acting or animation. Unless you have no imagination... Watch it from the beginning and just let yourself get sucked in to the amazing fights and ever increasing displays of power.

Oh dear. Lets get one thing straight, this is by far the worst excuse for a game I have played for a long time. Obviously a lot of thought has gone into the story, and the cut scenes are fantastic, but actually playing through the game is painful. Maybe if it had had another few months in development it would have been better, but as it is it's full of glitches, 5 second long sections, dodgy collision detection, bad signposting, repetitive gameplay, incredibly poor driving sections, and a final hovercraft level that involves holding down a button until it finally ends. Very obviously rushed to get it out in time for the film.

But whilst the game itself is as poor as newborn tramp, the package itself is actually rather good. The hacking section is imaginative and well executed, all the exclusive video stock is excellent, and the two characters are different enough to warrant playing through as both of them. That said, the only reason anyone should ever play this game is to obtain a clearer understanding of what is going on in the film, and for that alone. There is enough story in the game to make a whole other film or even TV series (which they should have done).

Is it worth playing through a p***-poor game to get some quality story about a quality film? Hell yes! Better still, watch someone else...

This show has one of the greatest theme tunes ever! It's a pretty good show otherwise, and is available in the UK on DVD (budget).It follows the adventures of cocky young pup Dogtanian in his quest to become one of the Royal Musketeers. Created as a joint collaboration between France and Japan, it retains many of the qualities that make anime so popular.

I think it should be made into a live action film starring Jack Nicholson as Dogtanian. That'd be worth seeing...

I saw this film on telly very late at night when I was feeling a bit funny, and enjoyed it a lot. I suppose this is kind of like a Chinese version of "Kids". I wasn't sure until the credits that the people in it were actually acting, because I thought it was very realistic... rather like a documentary. The film follows a group of young people in modern-day Shanghai getting to grips with sexuality, drugs, and all the other things that young people traditionally get to grips with. Not to say that it is unoriginal, because it isn't, but there is not really a story to speak of. Even though I don't go in for these sort of character based films, I found myself enjoying it. But I was feeling a little funny that night. I give it 8 out of 10, and I'm not feeling funny anymore so that is a sane opinion..

Imagine having no short term memory. You'd know what you were about to do, but you'd have no memory of what you'd just done a few minutes ago. That is what the main character is going through in this film, and that is how this film is viewed by you due to the inspired way the movie is filmed. The way you start at the end and end at the beginning reminds me of the Red Dwarf book: Backwards, and the way this style of story-telling works in film is absolutely brilliant. It kept me guessing until the end. As soon as I'd finished it I wanted to watch it again, and not many films can say that! One of the most original films I have ever seen, and along with Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) and Sliding Doors, one of the few films that take a sci-fi theme (in this case; time running backwards (at least for the viewer)) and use it to create a completely non-sci-fi movie. QUALity!

Porky's was one of the only films to make me cry with laughter. The shower scene goes down in history (well, my history anyway) as one of the funniest scenes ever, followed by Miss Balbricker's attempts to justify a penis-lineup. Not many films have made me cry with laughter (only Porky's, There's Something About Mary, Braindead (Dead Alive in US), South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) and a little known live action Manga called Lady Ninja ("Koga ninja magic: third leg!") but this is one of the worst films I have ever seen, period. I bought this and Porky's 2 in a double pack, and as good as the first film was, the lump of dung that is Porky's 2 completely spoiled the whole package. Basically, there is not one funny scene in this whole film. Most of the charm of the original Porky's lay in it's politically incorrectness. The second film, however is completely tame in comparison. Whilst I did smile during the scene where the preacher and the headmaster have a battle of words using Shakespeare and The Bible respectively, the rest of the film had absolutely no charm whatsoever. If you liked Porky's, I can almost guarantee (90% certain) that you will not like this film. Just the fact that the presence of this film makes me want to return the original is testament to how bad it is. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM!

Only three films have ever made me cry with laughter. The "Unclefucka" song from South Park, the zip in Something about Mary, and the whole of Braindead. Between Lord of the Rings and this, Peter Jackson is one of the best directors ever.

ps. If you manage to watch the whole film, you needn't ever worry about being unable to stomach any scene in any film ever again. Total acclimatisation!

This film is to Taxi as American Pie 2 is to American Pie. I think every character from the first film returns, plus more. The stunts are bigger and the car is faster, however it has lost some of the originality. The fighting is very decent and there are some very funny moments, but it is more of the same. Which is no bad thing, really. The film seems like a computer game all the way through. High on action, low on story (at only 84 minutes). The cars new wings seem to have been lifted straight out of the game San Francisco Rush 2049, but I wouldn't have thought Luc Besson would actually have played it. Coincidence? If you like the first film, have neither, and live in the UK you can get a nice little double pack from HMV which means you effectively get one of the films for a fiver, so it is probably worth getting. That Peugeot is definitely one of my favourite cars in a film.

First of all this film is great. I'm not going to say why, there are plenty of other user comments that sum up my feelings exactly. What I will say though is that this film has the general air of a prequel about it. It is a prequel to a film that hasn't been made yet. The slow pace and great characterisation lead to the making of a true superhero, and I really hope there is more of the story to be told. It would be a great shame to leave such potential in a one-off film. But then, I'm a sucker for sequels...

I wanted to see this for ages but was put off by the fact that it went straight to video. Then I noticed that all Disney sequels (bar Rescuers Down Under) went straight to video, so I bought it. From the opening song this film captures the spirit of the original. The first time I saw it I thought only two of the songs were good (Upendi and One of Us) but after seeing it a few times I realised that the songs are extremely well written and catchy. I feel there are a few points not accounted for in the film notably the origin of the Outland lions (I can only conclude that only a few followed Scar and others joined them in the time period between Kiara as a cub and as an adult) but I prefer these things left to the imagination. Overall I am very impressed by this film. It has very high quality animation for a straight to video sequel and introduces some interesting new characters. I would really like the Lion King to be a trilogy (I am a great fan of trilogies) so come on, Disney, Make a third film, preferably detailing the young Scar and Mufasa. A definite 5-stars.

This film is very cool. There is action, humour and surprisingly (and thankfully) precious little gratuitous romance as these sort of films tend to have. Ideal for the family, but may be slightly worrying for smaller kids. The troll-beast is actually a very memorable monster and seeing Val Kilmer dressed as a woman is very amusing. It is also good to see short people in a role that doesn't necessarily demand it and Warwick Davis is perfect for the role. Rent this film, you probably wont be disappointed.