PREVIOUS PAGE
andrew's movie page
NEXT PAGE

 
Fat Pizza RANK=822

Category : Comedy
Description :
It's big and it's cheesy!
Definitely one of the most politically incorrect movies I have seen, and it gets at least 8 out of 10 just for how feral it is. I mean that in a good way. You've gotta see this.

The best thing about this movie is that it has been made exactly like the Fat Pizza TV series, but with more plot twists and capers. Paul Fenech thankfully didn't make the mistake of letting the movie format go to his head. Features cameo appearances by many well-known Australian faces, including actors, sports heroes, TV celebs, and musicians.

The Pizza TV series was about two pizza delivery drivers, Pauly and Sleek, who work for their psychotic boss Bobo, at a shop called Fat Pizza. All sorts of crazy stuff happens to the two drivers, both on and off the job.

All the best parts of the Fat Pizza television series are successfully reproduced for the big screen: violence, sex, drug abuse, loud music, and zany antics. It's fully sick mate!
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in 4/2003
 
 
The Fellowship of The Ring RANK=943
Lord of The Rings
Category : Adventure
Description :
What a piece of work is this film!
It clocks in at a tad under 3 hours and it needs every single minute to fit in the tremendous number of events, characters, and scenery shots that gush forth at a giddying gallop. The ornate old-world dialogue has even affected my writing style, old friend. :-)

Were I to choose but a few words to paint an impression of the plot, the following would spring to mind; A small gold ring that commands the powers of evil was forged by the "Dark Lord" who then lost it during a battle. The ring was picked up by a Hobbit named Bilbo, who passed it on to his son Frodo. The spirit of the Dark Lord resides partly within the ring, which corrupts all those who wear it - except for Frodo. With the return of the Dark Lord's spirit to his homeleand of Mordor and his subsequent increase in power, it becomes Frodo's responsibility to destroy the ring before the Dark Lord can sieze it and use it to enslave the world.
And that's just the first hour!

I said in an earlier review that CGI had reached its zenith and that I would never mention it again. That was a line drawn prematurely.
The computer graphics in this film are truly second to none. The reality and grandeur of some scenes completely eclipses anything in Final Fantasy, probably because they didn't have to animate the entire movie. Highlights include: The mining and construction crevasse where the Dark Lord's minions are busy doing all sorts of stuff, Balkor the Fire Daemon of the Ancient World who is totally awesome, Rivendale the elvish city is sweet, the dramatic rocky pits of the dwarf mine, and finally the two massive statues of the kings guarding the river leading to Mordor which is a setting so beautiful as to rival anything you've ever seen.

Thankfully, young Frodo is worried about the future but doesn't whine about it - and is therefore spared Skywalker Syndrome.
Gandalf the Wizard is played absolutely perfectly by Tom Baker of Doctor Who fame. Good to see old Tom back in front of a camera after all these years. No TARDIS in Middle Earth though.
Liv Tyler puts in an appearance as an elvish babe who plays an important but short-lived role in saving Frodo from the agents of evil.

I never read The Lord of The Rings, but I can tell that some of the passing references and brief involvement of certain characters in the movie were both probably given many pages of description and background in the book. For the uninitiated it sets a cracking pace.

Now I can't wait to see the next two films in this trilogy. I think the second one will benefit greatly from the foundation established by the first. We could even see the arrival of a saga grand enough to knock Star Wars from its hallowed turf!
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in 1/2002
 
 
Ferris Bueller's Day Off RANK=648

Category : Comedy
Description :
Yes, believe it or not, I never saw the whole of this movie until this year, 2001. My only excuse is that movies were not able to reach me where I lived during most of the eighties.

This is an excellent movie. It's about Ferris Bueller - the kid that everyone likes (except his sister and his school principal) and everything always goes right for him. He decides to pretend that he is sick and have a day off high school, and uses his friend Cameron to drive him about. He brings his girlfriend along too.
Cameron is the definitive anxious teenage boy. Most of his scenes are just classic.
Ferris's gf is mostly innocous and doesn't say much. I think she must be there just for looks and the occasional crucial comment/question.
Ferris is a legend. There's so many good lines and memorable scenes. There's some nostalgia to found too.

This whole movie is a classic.
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is False
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is True
#viewings=1
First seen
in 1/2001
 
 
The Fifth Element RANK=917

Category : SciFi
Description :
A Star Wars for the 90s. A very funny, brilliantly scripted and acted movie, especially with Gary Oldman as Zorg.
Milla Jovovich is very cute as LeeLoo.
Fantastic.
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is True
SeenOnTV is True
#viewings=3
First seen
in /1997
 
 
Fight Club RANK=396

Category : Comedy
Description :
More of a dark comedy/drama than your usual comedy.
An office weenie shacks up with a stranger he met on a aeroplane after his own flat exploded. The stranger introduces him to the "pleasures" of physical violence and soon the two have started a Fight Club - an organsied weekly series of violent and bloody fights between members. There's a lot of chitchat between the weenie (John Cusack) and the stranger (Brad Pitt) between fights. Soon the stranger - "Tyler Durdan" - begins to recruit fight club members for his own nefarious purposes...
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is False
SeenOnVideo is True
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in 2/2001
 
 
Final Fantasy RANK=235
The Spirits Within
Category : SciFi
Description :
Nice

Well what can I really say about this movie? It was OK.

Alright, I know I should say more. The obvious feature of this movie is the visual quality of the computer generated imagery. This is it. The time for applauding each new stage of incremental development in CGI ended on 6 August 2001 with the release of this movie. There will no doubt be some further tweaking of tools and technique, but there's now nothing more that you can squeeze out of a computer. The motion needs more attention to detail to make it natural and the lack of good lip-synch is rather annoying, but these are both issues of content and animation skill - they have nothing to do with CGI because CGI reaches its peak with this movie.
CGI no longer counts. I'll never refer to it again in any of my reviews because further development will be necessarily unremarkable.

The storyline moves quite quickly and some events deserve a bit more explanation than the throwaway comments that they get. Indeed a notable hurdle to overcome in liking this movie is that the director expects us to believe quite a lot. This is a sci-fi fantasy for sure, but even so the whole spirits thing is far too fantasy and not enough sci-fi. At one point the evil nasty military general says "You expect us to believe in these spirits and this Gaia?" and I was close to agreeing with him. I mean WTF!? I'd need a heavy-lift crane to suspend disbelief that big.

There are always environmental factors that can affect your cinematic experience, beyond the movie itself. In this case some yobbos came in late and decided they would sit in the sights right next to me, instead of finding their own spot. I don't go into a cinema early to get the perfect seat just so I can give it up for a bunch of popcorn munching louts, so I stayed right where I was. I fear that I may have ruined this movie because of that. Its a tough choice... when you can either stand up for your principles of life or else enjoy the 2hr movie that you came to see. Fuck I hate people.

Drama 20%
Action 60%
Comedy 4%
CGI 110%
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in 8/2001
 
 
First Contact RANK=913
Star Trek
Category : SciFi
Description :
The BEST star trek movie I've ever seen.
The Borg try to prevent the formation of the Federation by travelling back in time to stop the human race from making its First Contact with an alien race. The movie component regarding the inventor of the Warp Drive is fantastic.
You'll be on a high after seeing this one.
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is True
#viewings=2
First seen
in /1996
 
 
First Strike RANK=596

Category : Action
Description :
Jackie Chan shines again (although not as brilliantly) in this funny fighting flick. I can't remember what the storyline was about . . .but who cares!
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in /1997
 
 
The Game RANK=970

Category : Thriller
Description :
Michael Douglas stars in this SUPERB mind-bending thriller mystery weirdo movie. He is given an invitation to participate in The Game - a game of some sort evidently. His application form is rejected, but then the really funky stuff starts to happen . . .
You are always changing your mind about which way everything is heading. Just when you think it's all over, something else crazy happens. This film is brilliant.
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is False
SeenOnVideo is True
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in /1998
 
 
Get Shorty RANK=413

Category : Comedy
Description :
Chilli Palmer gets an idea for a movie from the pseudo-real life story of a woman whose husband pretends to die in a plane crash and a briefcase full of money at the airport and a retired stunt man named Bear, and it's very complicated!
Yet another "it all ties in together at the end" movie.
Quite funny though.
 
Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in /1996
 

PREVIOUS PAGE
andrew's web page
NEXT PAGE