Movie Reviews...

In Short: Nutcase Francie Brady tells the story of his childhood and the events that led up to him being institutionalised.


The Butcher Boy tells the story of Francie Brady, who is in trouble for ?what he done on Mrs. Nugent?, which means, in plain-talk, ?what he did to Mrs. Nugent? - for people who have a hard time understanding Irish lingo [I know I did, for the longest time. Then I started watching WAY too many Irish movies and reading WAY too many Irish books.] ? or those with dirty minds.

Shame on youse.

It starts with Francie and his friend, Joe, who play together like boys do. Then it introduces the uppity Mrs. Nugent and her son Philip. Francie and Joe trick Philip into giving them his comics, and Mrs. Nugent has a course word with Francie?s parents, his alcoholic father, Benny [Rhea] and his schizophrenic, suicidal mother, Annie, calling them pigs.

Well, for Francie, that insult is what set off the chain of events. One day after school, Francie finds his mother about to hang herself, and soon after, Annie is sent off to a mental institution, or, as he calls it, ?the garage?. After her return, Francie?s uncle Alo [Hart] pays them a visit, but Benny is so rude to him that he leaves and never returns. That same night, Francie runs away to Dublin, where he has a few adventures, then buys a present for his mother, but, returning home, finds that his mother is dead. She had drowned herself after he ran away from home.

Francie is convinced that the whole mess is the fault of the Nugents, so he lures Philip into an old chicken loft and tries to kill him, but is stopped by Joe. Not long after that, still stewing about the Nugents, Francie breaks into the Nugent house after they have left and trashes it, smashing plates, destroying cakes that Mrs. Nugent baked, writing ?PIGS? all over the house in lipstick, and finally - the coup de gras, as it were - having a schizophrenic school lesson and relieving himself on Mrs. Nugent?s floor.

What a charming lad.

For this bit of unexplainable bad behaviour, Francie is sent off to a reforming school run by priests, most notably Father Bubble [Gleeson, looking rather alarmingly thin, if anyone has seen 28 Days Later, Harry Potter, A.I., or any other notable Gleeson film]. Francie is told that all he has to do is prove that he?s not a bad lad anymore and he can go home, which sets him on the goal of earning the Francie-Brady-Not-A-Bad-Bastard-Anymore-Diploma. After asking to be made an altar-boy, Francie overhears a sermon about the Virgin Mary appearing to children and concocts a plan. The next day, Francie claims to have seen the Virgin Mary so he will not have to labour in the fields. Impressed and overjoyed, Bubble takes Francie and introduces him to another, higher-up father, who takes a certain shine to him. Well, he took more than just this ?shine? to Francie in the book, but you can?t win them all, I s?pose. That, and it would have made the film NC-17. And probably banned in America.

After the priest goes a little too far with his questionings and strange fancies [dressing Francie up in a bonnet? WEIRDO!] Francie tries to attack him with a letter-opener, and Bubble has to intervene. For having been molested [gasp!] by the priest, Francie is allowed to leave the reform school and go back home. When he gets back home, his best friend Joe has turned on him and made Philip Nugent his new best friend, leaving Francie alone in the world, but for his alcoholic father. Francie gets a job at the butcher?s, making him Francie Brady the Butcher Boy, and takes it on himself to do everything possible to make life the best he can for himself and his father.

The Butcher Boy was? bizarre. There really is no other word for it. The way it was presented made you scratch your head and wonder if the person writing it was schizophrenic, too. It was similar to the book, but for some reason, it just did not transition well from novel to screen? like many other books. Sadly. Though this one was a disaster waiting to happen. The book is written in a very unique way, so that it would be nearly impossible to make into a movie. Kudos for trying, though. For example, here is a passage from The Butcher Boy:

/There you are says the amazing Father Dom sorry father can?t stop to talk it was a different story now I reckoned with all these jobs I was important now and I had no time to waste gossiping. But especially to the likes of Roche who stopped me one day with the black bag and stands there looking at me, out of nowhere again of course. Look Roche, I wanted to say to him, if you want to spoil things go off and spoil them on somebody else. I?m a busy man and I have things to do. I?m in charge and I have no time for fooling about and talking shite to the likes of you so go on now about your business and leave people to do their work in peace. That was what I wanted to say to black eyebrows Roche./

Like I said. Impossible to put onscreen. But kudos for trying.

Overall, it?s good for anyone who read and liked the book, or even just read the book, or who is used to quirky Irish stuff, of with Neil Jordan?s style, or who liked Breakfast on Pluto? any of those, it might be worth taking a look at. If you?ve got all of those going for you, then it?s definitely worth renting.

But, uh? try not to take it to heart.

In Short: One summer in 1963, two young men, a rodeo cowboy and a ranch hand, form a romantic bond, and though both men try to lead normal, married lives afterwards, their relationship stays with them throughout their entire lives.



I cried.

And anyone who knows me personally or reads my reviews knows that I NEVER cry.

But first, I have to say this: Jake Gyllenhaal has this mole above his mouth on the left side, and had it not been for that mole, the kissing and romancing scenes would have been a lot less seductive. How weird does that sound? But if you watch the movie, you?ll see what I?m talking about.

Wait, kissing scenes? There were kissing scenes?

Read on.

Brokeback Mountain starts slowly. Two young cowboys, Jack Twist [Gyllenhaal] and Ennis Del Mar [Ledger] come to a sheep-herder looking for work during the summer months. Both are about nineteen years old [though Ennis could be closer to twenty]. The man in charge is Aguirre [Duvall], a gruff, mean old jerk who hates cowboys, but he decides to take the two on as workers because they are the only ones who have applied. Soon, Jack is herding the sheep while Ennis makes the meals and keeps the man who comes by posted on what supplies they need and how the sheep are doing.

Soon, the two young men start talking about themselves, and become friends. It turns out Ennis is an orphan, raised by his brother and sister and finally abandoned when he turned nineteen. Twist was raised by his parents, though his father, a rodeo cowboy, never liked him much. Twist had become a rodeo cowboy soon after, but he had never managed to win the approval of his father.

Day after day, they swap stories over meals and then return to their respective jobs. But one night, after a long session of stories and whiskey, Ennis is too drunk to return to his own camp, so Jack invites him to stay the night with him. Ennis volunteers to sleep outside, but the cold weather forces him to retreat into the tiny tent with Jack. Jack tries to inconspicuously slip Ennis' arm around him, but Ennis wakes, sees what Jack is doing, and panics. Jack pleads with him and reassures him, and finally, Ennis gives in and he and Jack have sex.

The next morning, Ennis awakes, wondering it what happened last night really happened, but finds that it did when he realizes that his pants are around undone around his thighs. He and Jack talk and confirm that neither considers himself to be "queer" and that their Brokeback Mountain love story is a "one-time thing", but as they continue to spend the summer together, their relationship blooms, until they are sleeping together every night, tussling affectionately half-naked in the field, and skinny-dipping together. One day, the sheep-herder comes to evaluate what kind of a job the boys are doing, and sees them all over each other. He sends word that their summer job has been cut short, and that they are to bring the sheep back, and then sends them off.

A short time later, Ennis marries a young woman named Alma, and they have two little girls, Jenny and Alma, Jr. Soon after, Jack marries a spunky cowgirl named Lureen [Hathaway], and the two have a son. But neither is completely satisfied with their new life, so when Ennis receives a postcard from Jack Twist in the mail, he is ecstatic and happily invites Jack up for a weekend of "fishing" at Brokeback Mountain. Jack comes up to Ennis' house and they embrace, and then, unable to stand it any longer, they kiss passionately. Alma peers out the door to see this "Jack" that her husband was going to go fishing with, and sees her husband and Jack kissing. Ennis and Jack then head up to Brokeback for some away-time together, just the two of them.

After an afternoon of extravagant delight [Candy reference ftw], Jack approaches Ennis with the idea that they build a little ranch of their own, just the two of them, and live out the rest of their days together, like any heterosexual couple. Other people don?t have to know we?re gay, Jack tells him. Just us. Only we will know. To which Ennis replies with a story about two older men who owned a ranch together; one of the men was beaten to a pulp with a tire iron and then "dragged around by his dick 'til it tore off", and how his father had taken him and his brother to see the body to warn them that they should never, ever become 'one of those people.' For all he knew, Ennis tells Jack, his father might have been the one who killed the man.

But, despite this, he and Ennis continue to see each other every so often. At first, it is every four years, and then every two, and finally they see each other every month. The relationship Ennis has with his wife begins to deteriorate, and soon Jack's life begins to fall apart as well. And things only go downhill from there.

First of all, I have to say that the music was amazing. It's no wonder the score won an Academy Award. It was comprised of strings and an acoustic guitar, giving it a soothing, fresh, open-air, clean-sky feel that not many other scores can. Even the music that was played on the radio, in the bars, and anywhere else that music with lyrics was played was good music that related to the story, if not adding to it [with titles like He Was A Friend Of Mine and No One Can Love You Like Me, among others]. Even without the movie behind it, the music was gorgeous. It is the kind of soundtrack that you can listen to for years and always find something new in it, and never tire of it. Even if this is not my new favourite movie, that is definitely my new favourite soundtrack.

As for making me cry, I have a soft spot for Heath Ledger, so it might not really count as 'crying', per se. Heath Ledger is an amazing actor. Utterly amazing. I never really appreciated his absolute power as an onscreen presence until I watched Candy, and was simply blown away by his performance. He is a force of nature that is entirely incomparable to any other; whenever he tears up onscreen, so do we, his audience. When he smiles, so do we. When he laughs, we glow. And when he falls head-over-heels for Julia Stiles, Shannon Sossamon, or Abbie Cornish, we can suddenly see past their obnoxious outer shell to the beauty inside.

Gyllenhaal, though not quite as effective as Ledger, was still remarkable is his role, in his own way. The character of Jack Twist could not have been played more believably by any other actor, I think; Gyllenhaal's face was just so angelic, so pleading and honest, that he was entirely believable as someone who, more than anything, needed someone to love who would love him back just as much. And again with the mole. It just made all of his ?please, Ennis, please? scenes that much more believable. And when he grew this ridiculous moustache later in the film that covered up the mole, it just took that much more youthful romance away from the story. Which was good, considering that was what it was supposed to do. Who knew you could kill a romance just by growing a moustache?

Overall, the casting was superb, the story was very good, and although the ending was less than satisfactory, it suited the story well. The fear vs. openness and the come-uppance that went with both was a very powerful message, and the entire film threw the Hollywood genres, everything from Romance films to Westerns to the Gay genre [didn't know there was one, did you? Well, just look up Latter Days, The Hole, or Tan Lines] for a complete loop. It was groundbreaking and beautiful, but it left you feeling empty after walking away from it for a little breathing time.

I would only recommend this to the movie buffs among you. Or anyone who has read the short story by Annie Proulx it was based on [taken word-for-word from is more like it]. Or anyone who just can't resist a peek at Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal going at it. It was pretty steamy stuff, but it's not for everyone.

Viewer discretion is strongly advised. Don't come running to me if it scars you for life. I did warn you.

And don't watch it more than once in a month, or you will undoubtedly kill it.

In Short: One year after their first adventure in Narnia, the Pevensie children once again find themselves summoned to the magical land, though 13oo years have passed in Narnia and nothing is the same as they remember, and they must now help an exiled prince to regain his rightful throne from a group of human rogues who are bent on making all magical peoples of Narnia extinct.


If I were to sum up The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in just a few words, I would say it was a poorly-scripted conglomeration of nonsense followed quickly by a long sequence of sword-clanging and a series of heavy-handed Biblical references. But that?s just me. Maybe some people like that kind of thing enough to sit through two and a half hours of it.

And Prince Caspian and High King Peter Pevensie were so ridiculously homosexual for one another that I was shocked that the cliché kiss at the end of the film [it?s a bunch of horny teenagers running around saving the world, there has to be a kiss somewhere in there] was not between the two of them. Really. The sexual tension when they looked at each other was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

But that was not the point of the film, now was it? At least, the intentional point of the film. Highly religious people would probably burn me at the stake for saying it, but? just watch the movie. You?ll see.

It?s just like? Eragon and Murtagh. ?You NEED me, Dragon-Rider.?

Wait, didn?t they end up being brothers? Eww?

Uh, if you haven?t read Eldest yet, disregard that last statement.

Prince Caspian begins with the birth of a son to the title character?s uncle [a horrendously diabolical Castellito], who then orders Prince Caspian [Barnes] to be executed to make way for his own son to become the prince, and he the king. Caspian is tipped off and makes an escape, but is soon captured by some of the interesting magical creatures who make up the citizens of Narnia, and, thinking himself in danger, blows on his magical horn and summons the former kings and queens of Narnia to help him.

The Pevensie siblings, meanwhile, are trying to adjust to life back in England, when all of a sudden, through a poorly-scripted [and even more poorly-acted] turn of events, they find themselves back in Narnia, when they realize that something is different. Go figure. ?I don?t remember any ruins in Narnia,? Edmund observes. And thus they go through a long string of horrendously-scripted, rushed, and poorly-acted events that lead them to discover that Narnia has undergone 13oo years of change since their last visit and that Aslan the lion [to whom Liam Neeson once again lends his soothing Irish voice] has not been seen for many hundreds of years.

Oh, dear. And where is Mister Tumnus, pray tell?

The siblings meet up with Caspian and the Narnians and they decide that they will help Caspian to regain his throne from his wicked uncle and once again return the world to its original owners, the magical creatures of Narnia.

The children do not do any growing in this film, no development of individual characters whatsoever, except perhaps for Lucy, who seems to see Aslan in every nook and cranny of the forest, despite her siblings and their wise-cracking dwarfish guide [Dinkleage] telling her he is not there. Besides, there is no time for character development. Not when you?ve got so much fighting to do. So much fighting! Let us gather our armies!

Our armies include a Puss-in-Boots-esque, sword-wielding mouse [voice of Eddie Izzard], a random squirrel, a bunch of fawns [all vying for screen time ? especially one standing to Susan?s immediate left (audience?s right) in the single combat scene], some centaurs [including an adorable ten-or-so-year-old centaur who appeared in only one scene], a minotaur, and a badger. Oh, and a flashlight-wielding moron. Some army.

Did flashlights even exist in the early forties?

When Aslan finally did appear [and yes, I mean FINALLY] he made a dramatic entrance that ended with a heavily Biblical message [the first people to volunteer to give up all they have to go to a different world are granted ?a good life there? by Aslan, who then breathes on them to grant it. The leader of the mice and his eleven men ? twelve mice in total ? say they will do the same, but Aslan wants them to stay in Narnia and represent him when he has gone. Hmm, who could Aslan possibly represent?]

The humour was very broad, mostly to appeal to the small children in the audience [though what idiot would bring a small child to this kind of film is beyond me ? people leave others behind and watch as they are slaughtered, and small, furry creatures slit the throats of their enemies onscreen. That does not sound like a film for small children.] Lots of fighting and special effects, but the acting was bad, as was the scripting, and the story could be worse, but thankfully isn?t. If it were any worse, I might have skipped out. I almost did. But William Moseley kept me glued to my seat.

I must say, even if they haven?t got a spark of talent between them, William Moseley x Ben Barnes is a pretty sexy combination. I?m surprised Aslan didn?t smite them for their wicked, wicked ways.

Ooh, just thinking about it makes me want to do some terrible Peter x Caspian smut art.

Though I think probably William Moseley x Edward John Speleers would be even better. Hoochie-mama. Turn up the air, ?cause it?s gettin? hot in here.

Peter Pevensie x Eragon? Both movies were terrible, but that combination makes me drool. Why hasn?t someone thought of that before?

-leaves to start drawing smut-

In Short: A wealthy, ingenious arms dealer with a prosthetic heart creates the ultimate fighting machine to undo the wrongs that have been done when he discovers that the company his father created has been dealing weapons of mass destruction to enemy forces.


An entirely unorthodox and random entry in the usually skin-based spandex-clad action hero genre [Batman, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Catwoman ? ha, she?s not a superhero, she?s a joke], Iron Man is like Stan Lee?s version of Transformers. Only better, because Iron Man came first in the timeline of action cartoons and the movie doesn?t have ridiculous Shia Lebouf in it. Who looks like he was hit in the face with a shovel. Twice. After being kicked out of a disco. Which was funny.

But enough about my spiteful ranting against Shia Lebouf. What did he ever do to me?

Except ruin the new Indiana Jones film. Michael Angarano would have been SO much better.

ANYWAYS.

Iron Man follows the story of Tony Stark [Downey Jr.], a wealthy, womanizing arms dealer who travels to the Middle East to showcase his newest invention, a super-effective weapon of mass destruction called the Jericho. While he is showcasing this item, his group is ambushed by terrorists and he is seriously injured and kidnapped. After a rough surgery where an intelligent middleman-type-agent gives him a crudely-forged generator in place of his heart, which had been nearly destroyed by shrapnel, Stark is locked in a small underground room and forced to build a replica of the Jericho from the parts used in his previous weapons, which the terrorists have somehow managed to get their hands on. While there, Stark not only creates a more sophisticated design for the generator, but he begins to create a large metal suit that will help him to escape.

After his escape, he is rescued by his friend, an Air Force official named James Wright [Howard], who takes him back to America, where he is warmly greeted by his assistant, Pepper Potts [Paltrow], the only sensible woman in sight, who, inevitably, later on in the film becomes the love interest for Stark. He is then taken to his partner in the company, who was also his father?s partner, the deliciously-named Obadiah Stane [Bridges] who is so incredibly diabolical that it rolls off his bald pate in waves. What is it with bald villains? Obadiah Stane, Lex Luther, The Blob, Humpty Dumpty, Great White, Kingpin, Bullseye? At least Magneto had a nice head of hair.

Upon his return, Stark decides that he is going to create a better, more streamline, and more effective super-suit than the one he created in the desert, and also realizes just how horrible the effects of his weaponry are, and so decides that he is going to shut down the industry and instead focus on creating prosthetic hearts like the one he has installed in his own body. But there are others who are determined to keep the arms industry up and running, and will let no one, especially not Stark, stand in their way.

Overall, it was entertaining, but very gritty. For the first twenty-five minutes, at least, if not for most of the entire film, it felt more like Proof of Life or Rescue Dawn than a superhero movie. At least Batman Begins had the decency to put ninjas in the first fifteen minutes of the film. Give it a little bit of, I don?t know? ridiculous. Which is just what every superhero film needs. Which was Iron Man?s biggest shortcoming.

Iron Man tried to take itself too seriously. Its ?outlandish, villainous contraption o? the movie? [every superhero movie has one, like Magneto?s giant spinning machine in the Statue of Liberty?s torch, Raz al Ghul?s microwave generator, Doc Ock?s mechanical tentacle arms, and Lex Luther?s Kryptonite crystal cannon] was not outlandish at all, but rather looked like something that might not only exist in a science fiction flick like the X-Files, but also in a regular thriller, or even in real life. And although the film was a WHOLE lot better than Michael Bay?s big-boom action flick Transformers, it had the same dark, metal, grinding feel to it.

In other opinions, the casting was alright, really, but it could have been done differently. Though Paltrow was good as Pepper Potts ? very feisty, very well-acted ? Obadiah Stane could have been played just as well by Kurt Russell [who would probably have been a lot more convincing as a baddun, especially for those of us who saw him as ridiculously overblown psychopath Stuntman Mike in Death Proof ]. Jeff Bridges is just? too? -twitch- -enters K-PAX mode- /I want to help you. Let me talk to him. Tell him I want to help./

-snaps out of it-

?That was weird.

Though, I must say, whoever decided on Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark was a casting mastermind [a castermind? Nevermind.] Downey, Jr. is the most believable asshole I have ever encountered in my life. Which is no surprise, seeing as he hardly has to stray from his off-set persona to capture the essence of Tony Stark.

In fact, in Downey, Jr.?s own words, he considers himself ?a god, if only for a second?.

And for a guy who looks like what would happen if somebody put Matthew Fox and George Clooney into a blender and it turned out all wrong, he has little reason to idolize himself so much.

Hrm.

P.S. If you want a kick? stay after the credits. <3

In Short: Great-grandpa Sonnenschein established a family fortune when he created the Elixir of Sunshine, hoping that his son, grandson and further generations would carry on the family legacy ? but they have different ideas about how they want to spend their lives.


Recommend: Yes

In Short: A young peasant boy with an extraordinary sense of smell aspires to become a master perfume-maker, and eventually becomes obsessed with creating the perfect perfume, one that captures the scent and essence of a woman ? for which he needs real women.


Recommend: Yes

In Short: A brilliant plastic surgeon develops a morbid taste for the flesh of beautiful women in this twisted, confused adaptation of one of Japan?s most revered horror novelists? stories.


Recommend: No

In Short: A brother-and-sister team attempt to swindle a life insurance company by faking the brother?s death, but a skeptical insurance agent digs deeper into the case and ends up getting personally involved in the web of deceit.


Recommend: Yes

In Short: The heartbreaking story of two young junkies trying to survive on the verge of bankruptcy and insanity in Australia in the late nineties.


Recommend: Yes

In Short: The ridiculous tale of a newly-graduated Latin major who takes a job at the local prison, where his brother is on Death Row, so he can stay close to and support his useless mother, who is disappointed her sons did not both become killers like her late husband. The film not only makes fun of itself, but it makes fun of the fact that it makes fun of itself.


Recommend: No

In Short: The confusing story of a man who was driven crazy at a young age by the witness of his mother?s murder, though he has erased the memory over time, and copes with his condition by building intricate webs out of twine. As he builds his webs, he pieces together his fragmented memories to determine exactly what happened to him.


Recommend: No

In Short: Three down-on-their-luck cleaning ladies working at a local bank find a way to cheat the system and rob the bank ? without leaving any trace of illegal activity or breaking any laws.


Movies just aren?t as much fun to quote when you get older, you know? Unless it?s, like, ?Merry Christmas, you old lamppost!? or something ridiculously famous like that.

It?s probably because all of today?s movies suck and simply aren?t quotable.

The best way I can describe this film is as a nonsensical, upbeat jumble of feel-good mumbo-jumbo. In more convoluted terms, it?s like eating a bowl of pasta with confetti in it. Or, to put it in more movie-oriented terms, it?s like some kind of strange mix of Ocean?s 11 and that made-for-TV Disney movie where the kid gets a blank check from some mobster for running over his bike, and the kid fills it out for a million dollars. As you can see, I?m very well-versed in my made-for-TV Disney films. Ha.

Now that that?s over with, we can get down to actually reviewing the thing.

Mad Money follows the story of Bridget [Keaton], an over-the-hill, higher-middle-class married woman who finds herself unemployed and, all things considered, rather unemployable. It?s not until she has a talk with her own cleaning lady that she finds that a job in cleaning could be just the thing she needs ? and that there are plenty of available slots at the local bank, where the slogan is ?We keep watch at all times, all places, and all things? and the boss is like an Americanized version of the curator from Night at the Museum, except with no sense of humour and the stick shoved a little farther up his ass. The security guards are the stereotypical good-guy and horny-moron, and the employees are all wooden and stolidly robotic in their jobs.

It is here that Bridget meets two others, a single mom barely struggling by in her bill-shredding job as she tries to give her kids the very best she possibly can [Latifah]; and spunky, quirky young cart-pusher [Holmes] who shares a run-down double-wide with a half-witted [but cute and sweet] husband, Bob, who works at a meat-packing company. With her enthused talk of a fool-proof plan, Bridget convinces the two women to join her in her crazy, risky escapade, telling them that it will work, no doubt about it, because ?they don?t take out the trash ? we do.?

And of course, every possible cliché that could plausibly be thrown into one of these silly popcorn movies makes the mark in Mad Money ? a romance between the single mom and the good-guy security guard, everybody doing what?s right in the end, everyone living happily ever after. It?s all there.

And Bob is so cute. Geez. Find me a good-looking guy in the movies whose name isn?t Bob. PLEAZE. Robert Capa from Sunshine? Bob from Return to Me? Bobby from X-Men? Bob from Mad Money? IT?S ADDICTIVE.

Worth seeing once, if you don?t have to pay more than two dollars to see it.

In Short: A group of people with the special ability to teleport instantly from one place to another, called ?Jumpers?, are hunted down by a group of religious zealots who feel that no one should have the power to be in all places at once.


The way this movie came off, to me, was a poorly-scripted rendition of Star Wars: With a Vengeance. Except with no Bruce Willis, and no lightsabres. Boo.

Jumper starts out with David [Christensen], a boy from a stereotypical broken family, who finds out at a young age, after his mother left him and his somewhat-useless father, that he is a Jumper, and so decides to run away at the age of fifteen to live on his own, but not before leaving a little forget-me-not present to his best friend, Millie [Bilson]. He rents a run-down apartment New York, where his first secure source of income is from Jumping into the vault of a local bank and robbing it.

Eight years pass by, and David is living the high life in New York, with a room full of money of all denominations and the world at his fingertips, eating breakfast in New York, Jumping to Egypt for lunch, to London for dinner [and dessert], and back to New York in time to find out the day?s closing rate of the stock exchange. But all is not well. A group of religious zealots, called Paladins [Final Fantasy Tactics, wot?], led by extremist anti-Jumper activist Roland [Jackson], have dedicated themselves to tracking down and killing any and all Jumpers they find, pinning them down with high-voltage electrical cords so they can?t escape and then stabbing them with a special ?Jumper-knife?.

Not a very creative way to die, but what the heck.

As fate would have it [my business is all about you? No.] Roland has caught up with David, and is determined to kill him, thinking he is ?just like the others?, but, in a bizarre [and strangely convenient for the plot of the movie as a whole] twist, David is able to concentrate enough, despite the electrical current, to Jump home. Roland then decides to make it his personal mission to get rid of David once and for all [which makes one wonder, if there are so many Jumpers, why does Roland stay on the scent of just the one?]. It?s a race against the clock as David gangs up with bitter, exceedingly British Jumper Griffin [Bell], to take out Roland and protect the girl he loves.

For some reason, David keeps making references to Marvel team-up comics [ha, Christensen. You WISH you were a Marvel hero. Then perhaps you could act a little better.] Oh, yes, and there was something thrown in about wormholes and religion and a flamethrower?

That?s it, I?m out. I hear Be Kind, Rewind is playing just down the hall.

In Short: In war-torn Scotland, a young boy finds a mysterious egg by the loch near his home and is surprised when it hatches into an amphibious monster.


Well, it was good, clean fun.

The Water Horse seemed like a well-meshed combination of Eragon [Robert Carlyle is that movie?s only saving grace, I swear], Free Willy, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks; it had magic, wonderful costuming, interesting and likeable characters, a good plot, and beautiful cinematography. It was a little bit, you know, sickly-sweet, in parts, and a few elements of it were very Disney [although it was not a Disney movie], but it was a film that kids could watch. So I guess they did a pretty good job, altogether.

The story of the Water Horse begins with an older Scottish gentleman in a tavern telling two young Americans the story of a boy named Angus whose father went off to fight in the second World War. His father had died, but his mother had decided not to tell her young son or his older sister, and so Angus kept counting down the days until his father?s return on an old calendar that he kept in his father?s workshop, where all his father?s old things, from valuables to shells he had collected along the shore of the loch, were stored. He would sometimes go down to the loch to try to amuse himself, but he was altogether a very sad little boy, and he hardly ever smiled.

One day, as he was perusing the rocks at the loch, Angus came across a peculiar rock, which he put into his pail and took home, then set to cleaning, only to find that under the grime, there was a hard shell of Mother of Pearl. He left the rock out on the counter-top in his father?s workshop, but when he went back for it later that night, it had cracked open and a small, feisty creature had come out. Angus named it Crusoe after the fictitious hero, and set to raising it.

Before long, Angus? mum calls in a handyman, a quiet, mysterious, dark-eyed man with a handsome face and an intense attitude, to clear out her dead husband?s workshop to use as his own. At first Angus dislikes the handyman highly, but after a time they get to know each other. And when the handyman finally sees Crusoe, who continues to grow at an alarming rate, he can?t believe his eyes. ?Why,? he says, ?that looks like? a water horse.?

The protagonist of The Water Horse is the same sweet, befreckled boy from Millions. And Emily Watson, woman, you?re in the middle of a bizarre Danny Boyle triangle ? go seek out the man and sign yourself up for one of his films! You played Robert Carlyle?s wife in Angela?s Ashes, and he was in a Danny Boyle film [Trainspotting, 1996], and you played this boy?s mother, and he was in a Danny Boyle film [Millions, 2oo6]? did you miss the memo?

Anyways? the only thing that irked me was Brian Cox. He?s an excellent actor with a great face, very convincing, most especially as a villain, but he just couldn?t cut it as a kindly Scotsman. One, the kindly. Two, the Scotsman. Let?s stick to playing action-hero villains and crazy psychiatrists from now on, shall we, Mr. Cox? Love ye.

Overall, definitely worth seeing, and most especially if you have younger siblings. And if you liked it, then you?ll probably want to buy it.

In Short: A band of Republican Irishmen battle out their separate views of independence from England in war-torn 1920?s-era Ireland.


Ebert and Roeper gave THIS two thumbs up? Jeez, SOMEBODY needs to get out more often.

This has to be one of the worst movies I?ve seen in my LIFE. It?s definitely up there with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Covenant, Bee Movie, and The Hulk.

This film has no beginning, middle, or end, no character depth, no internal conflict, and no plot. The characters are not developed or likeable, and the movie is so repetitive in and of itself that you feel like you?re watching the same scene again and again and again. A group of young Irish Blarneys get their dander up, grab some guns, and massacre a group of opposing soldiers. Soldiers turn right around and attack a group of innocent Irishmen and women. Somebody turns their back on their country and is shot. And it begins again, and repeats, over and over. Incessantly.

Oh, yes, and there is pointless torture and a short implied sex scene. What more could you want in a movie?

Aye.

When I read an interview with Cillian Murphy in which he admitted that The Wind That Shakes The Barley ?was not one of the most intellectually stimulating movies? he had ever done [or words to that effect], I thought it was going to have some good, un-intellectual fun in it. Turns out, what ?not one of the most intellectually stimulating movies? means to those of us who are not, in fact, Cillian Murphy [which is most of us, I should hope], is, ?this movie is A BORING, LOUSY PIECE OF ? film.?

A-hem.

Anyways. On to the story.

Ireland, 1920?s. Damien and his brother Theodore are intelligent, attractive young men with bright futures ahead of them, Damien as a doctor of medicine with a lovely, spunky soon-to-be-fiancée, and Theodore as a businessman. But when English troops invade Ireland and begin mistreating the Irish people, Theodore is enraged, and swears an oath to protect Ireland, and even petite, level-headed Damien, after seeing an English troop beat three Irish train operators to a bloody pulp for not allowing them passage, is stirred into action, swearing the same oath his brother took to protect his beloved native Ireland at all costs.

And so it starts. The incessant shooting, torturing, burning, cutting, beating, slicing, and any other explicitly violent verbs one can think of. And don?t think of it as Rambo. Think of this as ten minutes of Rambo, stretched out over two hours. There you go. That?s The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

If you MUST have boring characters, at least make them have a little bit of a personality. Or at least make them laughable. Like Hannah from 28 Days Later? she has to be in the top ten for Most Boring Film Character, but you could laugh at her emotionless inquiry of, ?Dad?? after her father is Infected and then shot multiple times. Or her stoned drawl of, ?But I can?t SLEEEP.? I mean, please, at least give me something to grasp at. These Irish talk too quickly to ridicule.

There is no humour, there were no especially memorable quotes, there are no likeable characters, and there are no perks. Apparently, to the Irish, ?strip down? means take off your jacket and vest, but keep on your shoes, pants, and undershirt.

By the way, don?t think I have anything against the Irish. I love them. But I can?t believe I payed $14.99 plus tax for this. Don?t make the same mistake I did.

In Short: A young reporter listens to the life story of a supposed murderer and rapist, a well-reputed Professor of psychology, who may, or may not, be guilty of the crime for which he is going to be executed.


I watched The Shipping News before this and my first thought was, ?Gods, Kevin Spacey sucks at acting drunk!? But after seeing this film, where his character was not so much a one-time, stupid-afterwards drinker like his Quoyle in Shipping News, but a down-and-out, can?t-stay-sober sympathetic character, I have a lot more respect for his range of characters.

Of course, this is the third Kevin Spacey movie I?ve seen where his character had some kind of tragedy or consequence befall him because of his or his family members? drinking habits [the others being Pay It Forward and The Shipping News], but not all is lost, is it? He can always relapse back into playing intelligent quasi-extraterrestrials or super-villains, now can?t he? [Or Democratic lawyers? teehee.]

But he never gets laid as intelligent quasi-extraterrestrials or super-villains. However, whenever he plays someone whose life is affected by alcohol, he always gets some. Sometimes more than once. Sometimes with more than one woman.

Bow-chika-wow-wow.

And another thing I?ve noticed? you never see anything below the waistline on him uncovered. Not even in sex scenes. Aside from American Beauty? but that film was one in a million. In fact, in many Spacey sex scenes, he seems to still have his clothes on. Who has sex with their clothes on? Apparently Kevin Spacey must have this kinky psychic ability to ?

ANYWAYS.

The Life of David Gale may seem a lot like Silence of the Lambs or even, if thought about correctly, Party Monster. But it?s different, because in both Silence of the Lambs and Party Monster, the character on death row has been proven guilty without a doubt, whereas in The Life of David Gale, the character of David Gale has been proven guilty by iffy evidence, supported by a shitty lawyer, and is altogether much more likeable than either Hannibal Lector or Michael Alig. Especially Michael Alig.

The Life of David Gale begins with Bitsy Bloom, a young reporter who is notorious for doing time behind bars for withholding evidence, therefore hindering due process. She has been requested to write an article about the life story of David Gale, who has three days to tell her everything he wants her to know about himself before he is executed for the rape and murder of his best friend, co-worker, and, towards the end, lover, Constance ? about how he was framed for rape when he was working at a Texas university; about how he and Constance worked for a non-profit organization called ?DeathWatch? that supported the outlawing of the Death Penalty; about how his wife left him for a man in Spain, spirited away his child, and sold his house; about how, even after his name was cleared in the rape case, his drinking habit and his reputation hindered his finding of any worthwhile jobs; about how his life spiralled out of control due to his alcoholism, which he tried to stop by going to AA meetings but found that he was powerless to; and about how Constance had been dying of leukaemia the whole time and had never thought to tell him about it.

But most of all, about how he is being framed for a sick murder he did not commit.

But then strange things begin happening. The tape from the murder scene, the one that details the crime as a whole, is missing ? but suddenly, a short clip of it appears in Bitsy?s hotel room. Soon, all the pieces start fitting together, in a whole new light, but time is running out, and there is still much more evidence to collect. Can Bitsy get the evidence needed to prove her new theory on the crime, or will David Gale go to his death with the name he worked so hard to preserve smeared with the blood of someone Bitsy is convinced he did not kill?

The Life of David Gale impressed me, it made me laugh, it made me think, it made me? sad. I don?t cry in films. It?s just not my thing. I don?t get scared in films, either, which is why I hate horror films. They bore me. Except for the 28 Days Later franchise. Which is still my favourite film. After six years, that?s pretty good, I should think. But that?s not the point. Romance films bore me, super-chilling horror films bore me, big sci-fi films where there?s more technology and creature-robot-type characters than human interaction bore me. I like thrillers. I like adventure films. Revenge of the Sith can kiss my ass.

Where was I going with this? Oh, yes. The Life of David Gale is officially in my top twenty favourite films of all time. I love movies that are more intelligent than I am. I hate games that are more intelligent than I am, but when a movie leaves me in shock, then I feel good about it. I love intelligent films. And The Life of David Gale is certainly one of those.

In fact, this is the first film I?ve seen in a long time where I saw the characters as being characters, rather than as the actors that play them. I see them as David Gale and Bitsy Bloom, rather than as Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. Especially David Gale. But that?s to be expected, isn?t it?

Caution, however, is advised. The film has lots of high emotion, as well as an explicit murder, explicit sex, and full-frontal female nudity. However, none of it is gratuitous ? all of it has its place in the story.

If you don?t mind lots of emotion, high tension, getting shocked, and being sad [incredibly sad at times], then I think you will like this movie, especially if you liked films like The Fugitive, Fracture, and, of course, Silence of the Lambs. I got it cheap, but if you like it, then I would definitely recommend you buy it.

In Short: After an automobile accident leaves him mentally handicapped, Chris Pratt?s only job option is as a janitor at a bank, but, seduced by the promise of romance and riches, he is soon lured into a plot to rob the bank at which he works.


Isn?t it nice when things DON?T end up happily ever after? Isn?t it nice when a character?s major flaw ISN?T the lack of ability to find love? Well, here it is, folks.

The Lookout begins with a young high-school hockey star, Chris Pratt, on the night of the prom. He, his girlfriend, Kelly, and two friends are driving along an old abandoned road at night. Chris wants to show Kelly something special, so he turns off the car?s headlights and drives in the dark. They look, and all around them are little white lights floating in the air ? fireflies. It?s beautiful, it?s romantic, it?s serene ? and then Chris turns the lights back on and sees a roadblock parked right in front of their speeding car.

CRASH.

Four years later?

?I wake up. I take a shower with soap. I shave. Sometimes I cry for no reason. I look out the window to see what to wear. I eat breakfast. I don?t read the paper, because it confuses me, and being confused makes me angry.?

Chris Pratt has acquired severe short-term memory loss and an induced form of Tourette?s from the car wreck, and now must write down in a little notebook everything he does and must remember to do and say that day. He works the night shift as a janitor at a small bank in town, where he is visited nightly by a young, cheerful policeman who brings by a doughnut for him every night and converses with him on the state of things, including the fact that his wife is about to have their first child. She?s even given him a pager so she can beep him immediately if she goes into labour while he?s on his shift.

Chris has been paired up, by the ?special assistance facility? at which he receives treatment for his mental handicap, with a smart-mouthed blind guitarist, Lewis, who dreams of opening a restaurant. Chris and Lewis make something of a very poorly matched Odd Couple, and, though they do seem to be friends, Lewis? acceptance of his handicap and smooth-operator way of speaking drives Chris, who is socially awkward and in denial about his own shortcoming, up the wall.

One night, while moping in a bar, Chris is approached by a smooth-talking shifty-type who claims to know him from school and to have once dated his sister. Chris believes him, and is intrigued by the easy way this asthmatic Romeo seems to have a special talent for picking up beautiful girls. The man introduces Chris to one of his ?associates? flirty, flighty Luvlee Lemons. After laying Luvlee and being invited to one of the sleazy group?s parties, Chris suddenly finds that these people are not who they seemed at first ? they are high-stakes criminals, and their intent is to rob the bank he works at ? and get him to be their lookout.

The Lookout is not for everyone. It does have moments where the characters meet unfair and un-called-for ends, where Chris breaks down and cries tragically, and a few rather graphic moments, both sexual and violent. The entire format of the film is similar to that of the indie film, Brick, though it does have its Shooter moments. And if you?re hoping for something smart, with car-chases, cyber thieves, and a happy ending, I would not recommend this. If you want that, go for National Treasure or Firewall. Both good ? both under the ?R? rating.

Oh, and in case I didn?t mention it before, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is ?like, teh secks.?

I would recommend renting this film from the library. Or, if you have one, one of those dollar-a-night machines. It?s worth a dollar to see. I?m just not sure if it was worth my ten dollars to purchase.

Oh, yeah. What happened to the other people in the car? Well, two of them died, and one lost a leg. Isn?t that romantic?

In Short: A kind-hearted father and his small daughter move to the Newfoundland countryside of their ancestors after a tragic accident, where he must learn to fit in, and hopefully heal.


To anyone who watched Lord of the Rings and thinks Cate Blanchett is just this well of elf-like beauty, poise, love and grace ? HA.

The story of The Shipping News starts with Quoyle, a young-ish man who has seen himself as a failure all his life because, as a young boy, his father pushed him into the river to teach him how to swim, but he never learned. After that, his outlook on life had been totally destroyed, and he aspired to minimalism, getting sleep-inducing jobs as a ticket-checker, a dish-washer, and an ink setter. But one day, while on his way home after a particularly unsatisfactory day at his workplace, scruffy, worldly-naïve Quoyle sees a man and a beautiful young woman arguing, and, before he knows it, the woman has let herself into his car and is telling him to drive, which he does. Over a cheap meal, the woman introduces herself as ?Petal?, and seduces Quoyle, telling him that she wants to fuck him ? then and there. After a rousing round, Quoyle confesses his love to her. She is the best thing to ever happen to him in his disappointing life.

Soon after, Petal begrudgingly bears him the child she conceived during their round of sex ? a beautiful baby girl, whom they name Bunny. Quoyle soon finds himself the lone caretaker for Bunny, as Petal is constantly at bars, or hooking up with other men and bringing them home for one-night stands. Soon, Quoyle gets a call from his father telling him that he and Quoyle?s mother had decided to commit suicide, because they decided ?it was about time?. When Quoyle tells Petal that he has been left with nothing, she decides to run away with her current boyfriend, taking Bunny with them and leaving Quoyle alone.

Quoyle reports this to the police, and soon his wife and daughter are found. His daughter is returned to him ? but his wife is dead. After selling Bunny to a black-market adoption agency for six thousand dollars, Petal and her boyfriend took a slippery bridge road, lost control of the car, and cascaded off the side, their car getting caught on the railing, both dying on contact. Quoyle is then visited by the sister of his late father, who takes him and his little daughter back to Newfoundland with her to get to know the land their ancestors originated from ? and hopefully to help him and his daughter heal from their scarred past.

For the first twenty minutes of the film, it was very good. VERY good. Quoyle was one of the most sympathetic characters I have ever seen in any film I?ve ever watched. And, as he begins to grow as a person and become something more than just a failure, you would think he would grow to be an even more likeable character ? independent, a better father, successful. Instead, Quoyle, as he gains independence and gets to know the people and the land around him, becomes a whiny, bratty little bitch. If something goes wrong, he has to complain to someone about it. If something horrible happens, he can?t just learn to let it go, he has to yell at someone about it ? usually someone who had nothing to do with it in the first place.

And Bunny? Bunny is cute, but MAN is she bizarre. Petal told her once that ?Daddy is boring?, and from them on, she has judged everything as being ?boring?, from her doll, which she destroys in a fit of anger, to the children of the village, including the special-needs child of the woman in which Quoyle develops an interest ? but pretty much destroys any chance of being with by drinking himself stupid and trying to rape her, then passing out on her kitchen floor.

I would not recommend purchasing this film. I did, and I wasted a whole eight dollars. However, the soundtrack is phenomenal, full of the sounds of native Newfoundland. If the plot of the film, however, intrigues you, then you should perhaps rent it ? if you can find it.

In Short: A convict from the future is given the treacherous assignment of travelling to the past in order to stop an army that calls itself ?The Twelve Monkeys? from creating a pandemic that would eliminate five billion people.


So it?s true. Angelina has finally driven Brad insane.

And I?m not talking ?I come from the planet K-PAX and I travel on a beam of light, look for the bluebird of happiness? kind of insane. Oh, no. This is cackling, flicking people off for no apparent reason, hiding inside his shirt, ripping apart down pillows with his teeth, mooning guards, jumping on beds, screaming at old people insane.

Oh, and Bruce Willis drools. A lot. Which is more interesting than anything Brad Pitt could possibly do.

For a guy who has made a name for himself playing characters who make a point of not being knocked around, and who is usually the only person who has half a brain and knows how to keep calm in a state of crisis, Bruce Willis has certainly cracked just as much. He splashes around in a little pool of water, like Carey Grant in Singin? in the Rain, shouting to the night, ?I LOVE THIS PLANET! I LOVE THIS AIR!?

Yeah, he?s finally cracked, too.

But that?s not the point.

The story begins with a futuristic convict, named James Cole [Willis], who has a recurring dream of a tragedy that takes place at an airport that he experienced as a child. He wakes up, and is ?volunteered? by a Big Brother-type board of scientists to go out into the upper world, which has been completely deserted and overrun with animals. He must don a huge, ridiculous suit, and then go out to collect samples ? living samples ? in this post-apocalyptic winter wonderland. When he returns, he is sent to sit before a jury of scientists who tell him that he has been volunteered for a very treacherous mission.

We soon discover that this mission is a trip to the past, where Cole is apprehended by the police and taken in for questioning by a sexy psychiatrist. Cole realizes that the scientists sent him to a time period six years before the one he was supposed to be sent to, and when he tries to tell this to the psychiatrist, she determines that his claim that the time in which they now exist is the past means that he must be insane, and sends him to a mental institution. There Cole meets a cock-eyed inmate [Pitt] who tries to help him escape, thinking his drug-induced babble about the end of times is prophecy. Cole escapes but is apprehended again, this time put into a escape-proof room? but he is soon spirited away by the scientists.

The scientists lock him in a room that he cannot get out of while they discuss his fate and eligibility to time-travel for them again. While he is locked up, he hears a voice that tells him that he is being watched through a tiny insert the scientists had made in his molars. He does not think much of it now, because soon the scientists come to get him. This time, the scientists send him back in time to World War One, where he encounters another of his jail mates, who has also been sent back in time, and is injured. He is then sent to the correct time, 1996, but now he realizes that he does not want to live like this anymore.

Meanwhile, the sexy psychiatrist that he had met six years earlier had taken an interest in apocalyptic studies since her encounter with him, and is holding a lecture on the science of the apocalypse. While there, she is approached by an imposing red-headed doctor [Morse], who reveals to her his own deep, distressing thoughts on the apocalypse with an eerie grin on his face. She thinks nothing of it, until she meets up again with Cole, who has decided that the only way he can fulfil his mission is if she helps him.

If I were to tell you any more, I would give the film away!

There?s not much film TO give away, but? c?est la vie, I suppose. -le sigh-

But I can say that the film was NOT nearly as good as I would have hoped. Though I must admit that Brad Pitt, towards whom I have a fiery, intense repulsion, did rather impress me with his performance. Of course he had a contact lens in that helped a WHOLE lot, but even without the lens Pitt would have done a superb job being? well, a lunatic. He was, to say the least, crazy. And very convincingly so.

The plot was all right. The way it played out, however, was confusing, full of holes and unexplained, random toss-ins, and the HAIR ? don?t get me started on the hair. This was a nineties film, and it would NOT let you forget that. Brightly bottle-coloured, long, poorly fashioned hair everywhere. In a Bruce Willis film. Oh yeah, Bruce Willis is supposed to be bald, isn?t he? Ha.

Overall, I would not recommend buying it ? at all ? but perhaps renting it, if you feel you MUST.

In Short: After he is framed for killing his partner, ace hostage negotiator Danny Roman is forced to take hostages, matching wits with another ace negotiator who is in almost the same calibre he is and trying to convince him of the truth.


Damn. Just when I thought X-2 was the best cast I?d ever seen.

Gotta give them credit, those middle-aged guys can really tear it up. Give them a little leg room ? and a few stunt doubles ? and they will really get the party started.

Except David Morse. Who can?t dance worth shit. But that?s not the point ? not many people who are 6?4 can. Well. Extra love for trying, though.

The story of The Negotiator starts out with Danny Roman [Jackson], a top hostage negotiator, talking down a man who has a gun to his own daughter?s head, saying he?ll kill himself and her if the police don?t get him his wife. Roman talks the man into letting him inside, where he leads him to the window and the police take the man down. From there, Roman goes to a congratulatory party, where his partner tells him that there was a group of police who were doing some dirty business, stealing more than two million dollars out of the handicap fund.

His partner makes plans to meet up with him later up that night, but before Roman reaches the designated meeting-place, his partner is shot, and the gun used for the killing is found in the river nearby with no fingerprints on it. Funny thing, though ? it was a gun stolen from Danny?s division. Well! Now things are starting to heat up. When Roman goes to work the next day, people are shocked that he will even show his face, and when he goes to talk to someone who he is convinced played a large role in the scamming and in his framing and they tell him there is nothing they can do, because he, Roman, is guilty, Roman loses it and shuts down the building, taking the man and three other associates hostage ? among them, ?Smart-Mouthed Computer Geek Hostage? [Giamatti]. When ?Unusually Tall Policeman? [Morse] and the other people who originally worked with Roman ask him what he wants, he tells them that he will not accept any negotiator working with him except one: Chris Sabian.

Cut to Chris Sabian [Spacey], standing outside a door, negotiating a disagreement between his teeny-bopper daughter and his offended wife. That?s when he gets the call ? and the thing is, if he does not arrive within twenty minutes, Roman will kill one of the hostages. Sabian lives thirty minutes away. When Sabian finally arrives, he speaks to Roman and discovers that Roman wants just one thing ? to uncover the truth behind the scandal, his partner?s murder, and his own innocence. And he thinks Sabian, not being a part of Roman?s own, crooked shield force, is the only one who can help him.

Now, this movie was good. And I mean, good. Good. So good I wanted to have it in my personal collection. [You know, right next to Twelve Monkeys. Gawd, what a waste of six bucks.] Anyways, the performances were? good, and the story was very good [notice the use of the quasi-positive adjective, rather than sparkling words]. I was, however, immensely shocked to see David Morse tower over Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey? and the rest of the cast.

MORSE: I?m sorry, am I standing in your light?

SPACEY: Betch, I give off my own light.

Anyways. I would recommend renting this ? strongly recommend it ? and, if you like it well enough, then I would recommend buying it. It?s a good film, well shot, well scripted, well planned out, with excellent cast [there! A sparkling word.] and good characters.