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Volcano RANK=278

Category : Action
Description :
Tommy Lee Jones has to organise the fighting of a volcano that appears in the middle of Los Angeles.
Very nice lava/fire FX. About the same as Dante's Peak really. Good fire/water contrast near the end.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in /1997
 
 
The Wedding Singer RANK=543

Category : Comedy
Description :
I'm not a big fan of the 80s, so the timeframe of this movie was a bit of a turn off. However, I persisted and found it to be a fairly pleasing movie.
A wedding singer (Adam Sandler) gets the shove by his fiance on the day of their wedding, and slowly befriends one of the waitresses (Drew Barrymore) at his last gig.
There's some great situation jokes. Also hear some optimistic references to famous people who took a downturn in the 90s.
Adam Sandler is a good actor, and obviously deserves more depth than roles like Big Daddy and Water Boy can offer.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is False
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is True
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First seen
in 2/2001
 
 
Welcome to the Jungle RANK=191

Category : Action
Description :
Stupid action/comedy about a bounty hunter sent to bring the wayward son of gangster back from the jungles of Columbia (or somewhere).
Dabbles in Indiana Jones ripoffs and has plenty of failed attempts at humour by both the Hero and the Bad Guy.

There's one scene where a large herd of cows stampede through a town knocking over everything they can. There's nearly thirty seconds of mayhem. Near the end of this:
Cut to face of Christopher Walken.
Christopher Walken : "That's a lot of cows."
Cut back to herd of cows.
What a typically stupid comment from a stereotypically stupid American action movie.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
#viewings=1
First seen
in 1/2004
 
 
What Lies Beneath RANK=583

Category : Thriller
Description :
Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer play a middle-aged couple who are initially happy (ostensibly) living in their new house on the edge of a lake.
Their cutesy daughter has just gone off to college (she says 3 lines in the movie, but thankfully appears in skimpy clothing in her bed so we fogive her) to drink beer, and the couple are then alone in the house.
Actually it's "Claire" (Pfeiffer) who is alone the most since hubby is always buried in his work (on that new fad occupation, genetics).
Pretty soon, the creepy stuff starts happening.

This film is charecterised by a slow and methodical release of details, with plenty of false trails thrown in. The red herrings are as much a part of the success of a thriller as the core of the plot is, so I can't give away anything without ruining the movie for you just a tad. Yes I do recommend seeing this one.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is False
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First seen
in 12/2000
 
 
The World is Not Enough RANK=626

Category : Action
Description :
Bond is back.
Nuke is stolen, yadda yadda yadda.
The chick from Wild Things is in here.
The pun at the end is sooo corny.

It's OK as far as Bond movies go, and somewhat better than Tomorrow Never Dies, but not as good as Goldeneye.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is False
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is True
#viewings=1
First seen
in 12/1999
 
 
Wrong Turn RANK=326

Category : Thriller
Description :
Travellers take a short cut through the woods to avoid a traffic jam. When their tyres get shredded, they begin walking up the road to find help. A bunch of hideously deformed inbred cannibals begin hunting them one-by-one.

Scream basically lifted the lid on the rules of horror flicks like this one. There are times when you know exactly which character is going to die next.
The perfect body shape of Linda Booth in the role of Francine suggests she's gonna be taken out quite quickly. To compound Francine's bleak outlook, she has sex with her onscreen boyfriend, so violating not one but two of Wes Craven's rules of horror. Her demise is therefore highly regrettable but very necessary.

I stayed tense the whole way through this primal and macabre movie. Only 84 minutes long, so its short and sweet if you know what I mean. Not one of the best thrillers ever, but a solid piece of work.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
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First seen
in 8/2003
 
 
The X-Files RANK=639

Category : SciFi
Description :
Nice one Chris. :-)

Mulder and Scully are on boring routine work when investigating a bombing leads them back into the alien stuff that we love them for. The intro is superb. The ending is awesome in its simplicity. The inbetween provides both entertainment and intrigue.

I had been a long-time fan of The X-Files before the movie came out. (In fact I was watching the X-Files from the first pilot episode - way before it became cool to watch.)
There were expectations that this movie would reveal more of the X conspiracy about the aliens in the TV series, and it certainly did.
It was helpful to see the Tunguska episode of the series before seeing the movie, in case you weren't a fan.

Yeah, nice one Chris. :-)
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
SeenOnVideo is False
SeenOnTV is True
#viewings=2
First seen
in 8/1998
 
 
X-Men RANK=922

Category : SciFi
Description :
Fantastic movie! It's so ... substantial.
I never watched or read The Uncanny X-Men when I was a kid, so some of the in-jokes were lost on me. But people that I know who did watch it reckoned that this movie could have been a lot worse. So the director, Brian Singer, has obviously done an excellent job in turning some complex issues into a well told story.
The X-Men are a group of people with a mutation that gives each of them their own special ability.
Wolverine and Magneto are pretty cool. Nice special effects in some of the X-kids special powers.
The film deals with runaway predjudice and xenophobia in a manner similar to what has actually happened for rascists, paedophiles and communists.
This is just an excellent flick.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
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First seen
in 7/2000
 
 
X-Men 2 RANK=796

Category : SciFi
Description :
The spectacular teleportation effect in the opening scene serves as an excellent introduction to this movie, which also features several other scenes with noteworthy special effects.
However one must be careful to distinguish between the concepts and the rendering. Near the middle of the movie there is a scene involving Magneto and a security guard which employs fairly standard particle effects, but the concept at work is highly creative and therefore impressive.
If Xenophobia and imperialism are still at the core of the X-Men story, but creative mutant powers are wrapped around them, with some special effects and relationships heaped on top.

The plot begins with an attack on the President of the USA by a mutant, which provokes the US military into capturing professer Xavier's mansion school. The special forces are under the direction of a certain General Strike who may also have information about Wolverine's past - a past which is clouded by Wolverine's amnesia. The X-Men fight back in whatever way they can.

During one scene, Mystique gets totally characterfucked when the script compels her to make lustful advances on Wolverine. In a shot that could only be described as male-fantasy eye-candy, she demonstrates her ability to shapeshift into whatever womanly shape Wolverine desires. As though Rebecca Romjin herself wasn't tasty enough already! But, like I said, there is absolutely no artistic nuance or character trait that can justify this scene, since Mystique never showed any affection for Wolverine either before or after this shot. So there's absolutely no reason for her to have offered herself to Wolverine. Even less understandable is why on Earth he turned her away, I mean ANY SHAPE HE WANTED FOR CRYING OUT LOUD WOLVERINE ARE YOU INSANE?? Me and my buddy were throwing our hands in the air in the cinema in disbelief. Well by the looks of the ending, there's gonna be another X-Men movie so perhaps Mystique will have her wicked way with Wolverine next time round (we hope).

Leaving my review's customary sexcapade, we return to the topic of this movie's substance and worth. X-Men doesn't appeal to everybody, but if you like the general action and sci-fi genre then I think you're certain to like X-Men 2. Astonishingly, this sequel proves nearly as good as the first movie, which is quite rare for sequels.
Brian Singer has done it again.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
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First seen
in 5/2003
 
 
xXx RANK=687

Category : Action
Description :
Cool and exciting spy movie.
It's worth it just for the snowboarding scene.

Vin Diesel is definitely plausible as the ex-con new breed of secret agent. However he is not suited to the dry wisecracking understated jokes that we are used to from James Bond, and I think his witty one liners often fall flat.

Great explosions and gadgets. Storyline is tangible.

Stick around for the ending credits, since the graphics on it are excellent.
  		Viewing Status
SeenInCinema is True
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SeenOnTV is False
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First seen
in 10/2002
 

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