ORBzine Movie Reviews November 2000
| TITLE & REVIEW | VIDEOS
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Cherry Falls
There is a plot, of sorts. The killer's motivation rips off the far superior film Cop (James Woods). The main protagonist is Brittany Murphy . Her boyfriend is played by one of the boys from Roswell . The one recognisable actor is Michael Biehn ( Terminator ) although the geeky kid from Road Trip gets 5 seconds screen time. Advantages: Michael Biehn's kinda cool. And the female lead is WAY sexier than Neve Campbell! Disadvantages: uninspired, unoriginal |
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Pitch Black
The planet is infested with CGI Alien-type beasties. The good news is that the creatures cannot come out in the light - and the world has THREE suns. The bad news is that by some strange coincidence the ship crashes there, after 22 years of constant daylight, just as there is about to be a total eclipse! While the film is not great SF, it works reasonably well as a character study. Radha Mitchell is the central character, the ship's pilot Caroline Fry. Vin Diesel (not his real surname) plays Reddick, the convict who becomes the film's anti-hero. As the story progresses these two characters in particular are developed, and that in itself makes this film watchable. Claudia Black ( Farscape ) has a supporting role as an engineer, but like most of the other characters she is just there as alien-fodder. The Science of the film is pretty pitiful, and there is very little logic to it. Typical of this film's plot, Reddick has been surgically modified so he can see in the dark! However, the film is more of a character drama with a futuristic setting than a true SF film. Aliens with CGI instead of the excellent constructions of Giger and Winston. The problem is that CGI designs are not as believable as solid creatures are: they just do not move properly. |
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The Cell
The film starts with Child Psychologist Jennifer Lopez using a special VR machine to get inside the mind of her patient, a comtose child. This idea rips off far superior films such as Dreamscape and The Matrix, and later they even use the die in your dream and you die in VR cliche. The child's mother is a cameo by Musetta Vander. We are also introduced to Vincent D'Onofrio ( Men In Black ), a serial killer who kidnaps young women and leaves them in a cell to drown. Hot on his heels are a couple of Feds, Vince Vaughn (Psycho remake) and Dr Nick from American Gothic . Now, conveniently for the plot they capture him ... just after he has gone into a coma! Even more conveniently, when Child Shrink Lopez enters the serial killer's mind she discovers his good side is him as a child! Yes, the plotline is incredibly contrived so that the Director can show us lots of great SPFX - just like Pitch Black! However, this film actually brushes against issues like infanticide and euthenasia ... Okay, it brushes, there is no discussion, but it shows how this film had promise. As it is, there is just lots of great camera-work (the slo-mo helicopter shots are cool) and flashy SPFX (the horse is something else!). |
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Bedazzled
Elliot (Brendan Fraser - The Mummy ) is a pretty hopeless individual who has a terrible life and wants to get off with a co-worker named Alison ( Frances O'Connor ). Luckily The Devil ( Elizabeth Hurley ) offers Elliot 7 wishes in exchange for his soul. Hurley is pretty wooden, but she portrays a pretty one-dimensional character anyway so what does it matter? Fraser does a good job of portraying not just the mundane Elliot but also the different versions of him that Hurley/Satan creates as a result of his wishes. Of course, Satan manages to mess things up for him every time. The other star of the film is Frances O'Connor , who plays at least half a dozen different takes on the Alison character and does so magnificently. O'Connor is an Australian actress who has done little work in Hollywood - but you can expect to see more of her! |
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Charlie's Angels
Charlie's detective agency is employed by Kelly Lynch to rescue kidnapped computer expert Sam Rockwell ( Galaxy Quest ) from the clutches of the Penguin-looking creepy thin man (Crispin Glover - Back To The Future ). Glover is an employee of Tim Curry ( Rocky Horror Picture Show ), creepy as ever. The producers and writers made a conscious decision that the good guys would not use guns in the film. Instead they use lots of wire-fu, which works far better here than it did in Romeo Must Die - if only because this film is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Another move away from the TV show is the fact that the movie explores the Angels' private lives. Barrymore is seeing The Chadd (her RL BF Tom Greene in his Road Trip persona) while Liu is with Matt LeBlanc's Joey Tribiani after he hit the big time. |
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Disney's The Kid
Lily Tomlin plays Willis' Personal Assistant (what used to be called a secretary), and manages to scrape a few witicisms out of the script. Emily Mortimer is Willis' sidekick, an immature young woman who is apparently 29 but looks and acts about 12. Jeri Lynn Ryan has a non-speaking cameo as a guest on a TV show Willis watches. |
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A full moon rises over the sleepy town of Cherry Falls, Virginia -
and a serial killer starts wiping out teenage courting couples.
Yes, despite the release of the excellent films
Director
First-time director
This is a very light-hearted film, and should not be taken too seriously.
The most important thing about it is the title characters,
who carry the film. Not only does
After