RoF Curry Break Film To See List ================================ Ring of Fear Critic Profiles Sukh (Action Junkie, Technical Excellence & Rain Coater Angle) PhilJ (Horror Supremo & Arty Slant) PJ (Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror & Bullshit Detector) PhilM (Homo-Erotic Qualities) Blob (Honesty & Left of Field Analysis) Gray (Real Bullshit Detector) Kell (Arty Slant with Bullshit Detection) DaveG (Military Realism & Believibilty) Dabe (Extreme & Excessively Disturbing Angle) Rich (Action Junkie, Disturbing Angle & Tits&Ass Slant) Ring of Fear Top Hits (as of films watched by 11-Sept-2003) 1. Sleepy Hollow (8.33 - PJ DVD) 2. Dark City (7.75 - PJ DVD) 3. The Specials (7.69 - PJ DVD) 4. Assault on Precint 13 (7.50 - PHILJ VHS) 5. Jet Li's The Hitman (7.30 - SUKH DVD) 6. Shaolin Soccer (7.25 - SUKH DVD) 7. Battle Royale (6.88 - RICH DVD) 8. Withnail & I (6.75 - PHILJ VHS) 9. The General's Daughter (6.42 - ROD DVD) 10. Daredevil (6.35 - PJ DVD) 11. Bound (5.90 - PHILM DVD) 12. The Eye (5.83 - GRAY DVD) 13. Fudoh: The New Generation (5.70 - PJ DVD) 14. Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo (5.69 - PJ DVD) 15. Supernova (5.44 - PHILM DVD) 16. Miss Congeniality (5.25 - ROD DVD) 17. Mission Impossible 2 (4.75 - SUKH DVD) Picker List => 1: PHILM [Num of Reviews: 16] [Highest Rating: 8.5] [Lowest Rating: 5.0] 2: KELL [Num of Reviews: 11] [Highest Rating: 8.0] [Lowest Rating: 4.0] 3: RICH [Num of Reviews: 8] [Highest Rating: 9.5] [Lowest Rating: 3.0] 4: DAVEG [Num of Reviews: 8] [Highest Rating: 8.0] [Lowest Rating: 4.5] 5: GRAY [Num of Reviews: 15] [Highest Rating: 8.5] [Lowest Rating: 0.5] 6: DABE [Num of Reviews: 5] [Highest Rating: 7.5] [Lowest Rating: 3.8] 7: BLOB [Num of Reviews: 5] [Highest Rating: 8.54][Lowest Rating: 4.0] 8: SUKH [Num of Reviews: 16] [Highest Rating: 9.0] [Lowest Rating: 5.0] 9: PHILJ [Num of Reviews: 10] [Highest Rating: 9.0] [Lowest Rating: 4.0] 10: PJ [Num of Reviews: 14] [Highest Rating: 8.5] [Lowest Rating: 4.0] RoF Film Review Database (ROFFRD ???) ===================================== The Essential Database for Cheesy Sci-Fi/Fantasy RPG-Related Films +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | SUPERNOVA | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 6.5 | 4.5 | X | 6 | X | |(DVD PhilM) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 5.44 | IMDB Average Mean: 4.0 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh - 5 for Angela Bassett's Ass & 1 for the SFX which was quite funky. Felt like a | | TV Sci-Fi episode. | | | | PhilJ - FX ok, nothing special; plot ok, nothing special; acting ok, nothing special... | | you catch my drift...a better film than Event Horizon, but sadly a lot duller...| | | | PhilM - Lots of gratuitous female nudity. Good warp drive. Nice mechanical ship and some| | fighting as well. Character who was expected to die first lasted for quite a | | while and put up a good fight. Sarcastic computer. Oh and Earth destroyed in 50 | | years which was the happy ending! | | | | Rich - 6 for Angela bassett's arse, could have gained another point for a fur shot. | | 0.5 for the rest. Short and sweet, like the woman herself and should have gone | | straight to telly bypassing all other forms of media. | | | | Gray - Visually not bad, a few interesting technical bits like the ship. Re-hash of a | | very worn out theme. No suspense, plot or characters noted. Mostly harmless | | and only marginally more entertaining than being shot through the lungs with a | | Desert Eagle. If it had been on TV I'd have changed channels. | | | | Rod - Not a top line sci-fi movie but contains all the essential ingredients. Did | | notice alot more details second time I watched the movie. Never going to be a | | classic like Dark Star but worth the price of admission. | | | | PJ - An OK SF movie, nothing particularly good and nothing particularly bad. Gets the | | just below average mark due to the sudden and rather weak ending... I mean what | | happened to the big fight between the good guy and the bad guy? And why...*why*...| | not just stick with the idea that the world would be destroyed in 50 years? Why go | | for the cop out that it *might* be destroyed OR the effect will be for the human | | race to move to the next evolutionary stage???? and while I'm at it... Why the | | smeg did they have to say the woman became pregnant at the end???? What was that | | all about??? except to try and win the sympathy vote at the end..... | | | | DaveG - Supernova was an okay film, the sfx were reasonable and helped to cover a very | | weak story. The film just seemed to be getting going when, oh dear, thats the | | end!? Pretty poor show, but still an okay film for an RP sess. Lets just hope | | they get better. | | | | Blob: Good visual experience which should have ended with the DVD deleted alternative. | | Easy watching with next to no plot but I strangely enjoyed it for the look of the | | Film. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | DARK CITY | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8 | X | 8 | 8 | 8 | x | 7 | X | 7.5 | X | X | | (DVD PJ) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 7.75 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.5 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh - Nicely made film with great Nosferatu Vibe. | | | | Kell - Good set, well made, the ending let it down. | | | | PJ - A classic Sci-Fi movie, dark, moody and keeps you guessing. Well worth a watch. | | | | PhilM - Good story line, special effects nothing special-mind ray particular weak. | | | | Rod - Logans Run in Gotham City - Well worth the price of admission. | | | | Rich - Weelll pretty good, quite Gotham/Batmanesque setting, effects ok no idea about | | the ending as I was snoozing but it was good enough for me to want to rent it | | to see the end :-) | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | ASSAULT ON | | | | | | | | | | | | | PRECINT 13 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | X | X | 7 | X | 8 | 7.5 | X | X | | (VHS PHILJ)| | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 7.5 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.3 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Gray: Actually I quite liked it. Quaintly dated and cheaply made, which means that the | | script and original idea had to be good, unlike a trend these days for trying | | covering up appalling writing and lack of originality with effects and/or gore. | | An original genre setter and better than most that followed. Good characters, | | well paced, well written, well shot. Well worth watching. | | | | PhilM: Classic minimalistic film. | | | | Sukh: The herald of the modern day 'gun play' action films. | | | | PhilJ: Proof of what a great filmmaker Carpenter was..Howard Hawks would be proud of | | him. | | | | Kell: Classic Carpenter but not standing the test of time quite as well as others e.g. | | The Thing; that said better than his recent Vampires offering. | | | | DaveG: A cult film, worth watching although the copy we watched seemed to be of poor | | quality. Low budget, simple plot (a bit like our RP sessions). In fact I could | | see us in that situation, the enemy throwing themselves at us 1 or 2 at a time, | | easy pickings. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | WITHNAIL | | | | | | | | | | | | | & I | 7.5 | 9 | 5 | 5.5 | 4 | 7 | X | X | 8 | 8 | X | | (VHS PHILJ)| | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 6.75 | IMDB Average Mean: 7 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: Del Preston, Empty Motorways, nuff said. | | | | PhilJ: Funny and poignant, endlessly quotable, even the soundtrack's great. Do you need | | anything else in a movie? | | | | PJ: Good movie... the first few times.... | | | | PhilM: Very good film if you like that sort of film. Its just one I would not want to | | see a a second time as I would just find it too cringeing. Supernova has a lot | | less depth but I could and have watched it multiple times if only for Angela | | Bassets bottom & the Starship. | | | | Rod: An art film with a couple of redeeming scenes (and those took from 3 to 4). | | | | Gray: Good film. Good acting, good story line. Seen it too many times now to be that | | enamoured of it but well worth watching. | | | | Blob: Classic, funny Film with a sad and happy ending. I've seen it a few of times | | before. It gets better with every viewing. It made me cringe a couple of times, | | but that is the whole point of the film. | | | | Kell: Quirky, well written, well acted, difficult to categorise. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | DUECE | | | | | | | | | | | | | BIGALOW | 6.5 | 5 | 6.5 | 6 | 7 | 3.5 | X | X | 7 | 4 | X | | (DVD PJ) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 5.69 | IMDB Average Mean: 5.50 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: A few good gags & useful additions to RoF slang..Man-Whore.. | | | | PhilJ: Some genuinely funny moments banjaxed by that horrible, po-faced moralising | | ending. | | | | PJ: A bit too slapstick & sentimental in places, but some great lines that make it | | worth watching. | | | | PhilM: Very funny in places. The romance was a bit soft and sicky. | | | | Rod: Fun film. An good "Teen"-giggles movie, thus an excellent ROF choice. | | | | Gray: Hmmm. A few, and I mean few, good bits but generally way too tired and | | predictable and inevitably spoilt by the baffling American obsession for | | moralising, self indulgent schmaltz and sentimentality. | | | | Blob: It's all been done before Film. It made me laugh at some points but I would not | | want to watch it again unless had my memory of the film and all the other films | | that are the same erased. | | | | Kell: Silly movie but a good silly movie if you're in the mood for a silly movie ... | | would have rated it 6 except for the boobies of the girl in the fish shop scenes | | :-) | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | JET LI's | | | | | | | | | | | | | THE HITMAN | 7.5 | X | 7.5 | 8 | 6 | 7.5 | X | X | X | X | X | | (DVD SUKH) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 7.30 | IMDB Average Mean: 6.7 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: Hong Kong Film Name 'SAT SAU JI WONG' | | | | Sukh: Jet Li, Frank Gray, Assassins with Crucifixes & Grenades. | | | | PJ: Good action film. Loved the end fight. | | | | PhilM: Very good. Good fights and did not take itself too seriously. | | | | Rod: Hmmm.... Avenging Angel cop & an assassin with a heart of gold, still good classic | | HK movie. | | | | Gray: Great moves, a bit of humour, a lot of fun. In addition mucho kudos to Sukh | | for trying to incorporate this stuff into his playing the next day. I for one | | will try to be more imaginative in this regard from now on. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | SLEEPY | | | | | | | | | | | | | HOLLOW | 9 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | X | X | X | X | X | | (DVD PJ) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 8.33 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.5 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: PJ scores again...=8-O...awesome atmosphere. | | | | PhilJ: Looks like a Hammer movie on a big budget. Johnny Depp twitches splendidly. Only | | complaint is the ending is a bit drawn out. | | | | PJ: I love this movie. It's dark and moody, the fight scenes are excellent and Jonny | | Depp is great as a man of science confronted with the supernatural. | | | | PhilM: Good spooky move. | | | | Rod: Awesome film, gets even better with multiple viewings. | | | | Gray: Great film. Atmosphere, characters, cast, acting, nice quirks. Tim Burton does | | it gain. Christopher Walken has never looked better. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | MISS | | | | | | | | | | | | |CONGENIALITY| 5 | X | 5 | X | 9 | 2 | X | X | X | X | X | | (DVD ROD) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 5.25 | IMDB Average Mean: 6.7 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: One for Sandra Bullock fans...and if your not a Sandra Bullock fan? | | | | PhilM: Quite light and amusing. | | | | Rod: Well I laughed like a drain (again). See Teen-giggles reason above. | | | | Gray: Yuk. No redeeming features. Not so bad that you could actually enjoy disliking | | it. Just plain dull, dull, dull. Sorry. Yep it is worse than Space Truckers!! I | | laughed a couple of times, but I was crying on the inside. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | MISSION | | | | | | | | | | | | |IMPOSSIBLE 2| 8 | 4 | 6 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 0.5 | X | X | X | X | X | | (DVD SUKH) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 4.75 | IMDB Average Mean: 6.0 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | PhilJ: Looks like a commercial - how many shots of Mr Cruise's hair flying | | magnificently in slow-mo? Should have been called 'MI2 : The Vidal Sassoon | | Project'. Deeply stupid without being stupidly entertaining. | | | | Sukh: A fair action flick elevated to notoriety for a stunning & inventive 20 minute | | finale. I personally saw it as a decent Cyberpunky action adventure with a Solo, | | Nomad, Netrunner and Thief saving the world from a biological threat. My only real| | complaint was the relegation of the female lead from a strong capable character to| | soft focus eye candy as the film progressed. Woo Style over Mediocre Substance | | anyday...fantastic! | | | | Gray: Positive points : I was eating a nice pizza at the time. | | | | Negetive points : I have yet to see a more thoroughly and fundamentally crap | | film. I really cannot think of one redeeming feature for the entire film. It was | | more pants than M&S, less well delivered than a Dublya speech, less satisfying | | than a pot noodle and about as sexy as Anne Widdecombe in a thong. Can I give a | | film a 0? No probably not as it leaves me too little room in case something | | else tops (bottoms?) this. So I will give it 0.5. | | | | Rod: With a large number of features, such as wire stunts & replacable face makeup | | packs, virtually identical to the previous Mission Impossible movie, the film is | | left to supply most of its entertainment value from its plot....OK so that's | | pretty much a non-starter since the plot has more holes than a golf course infested| | with overzealous praire-dogs (goffers). For example, the virus can't be spread | | until at least 20 hours after infection (otherwise the scientist on the plane | | would have infected the entire crew) and the person dies (gruesomely) after 37 | | hours (i.e. a whole 17 hours later!!!). | | | | The film will never achieve the cult status of "a classic" (excepting that Mr | | Cruise is in it), never-the-less, MI2 is an adequate movie for mooching on the | | sofa through a wet Sunday afternoon. | | | | PhilM: Fills a hole in the afternoon. If you do not think when watching it, it will | | seem Ok just. | | | | PJ: Way too much flicking of hair, good guys surviving huge explosions, good looking | | female who need to be saved, and crap bike stunts for me. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Rod | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ |THE GENERALS| | | | | | | | | | | | | DAUGHTER | 6 | X | 6 | X | 8.5 | X | 3 | 7 | 8 | X | X | | (DVD ROD) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 6.42 | IMDB Average Mean: 6.2 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: Hmmm..a difficult one to rate for me..as it isn't a wall to wall big gun frenzy | | type flick..Goodpoints include Mr Travolta's performance, a few good lines and | | the punchy soundtrack during the opening credits...bad points..well I felt the | | rape scene was a bit too graphic for a "proper" type film. Was it really | | necessary? So I guess a 6 is fair. | | | | Rich: The usual hackneyed trudge through the arsine mire of direly thought out plots | | made even more grating by John Travolta's ear torturing accent, the boredom only | | relieved momentarily by a gratuitously graphic rape scene and a couple of | | glimpses of the fur that should not see the light of day. All in all pretty | | standard stuff that's been done before I can hardly raise the will to give it a | | '3' and those marks are just for the fur shots :-) | | | | Rod: A classic whodunnit with some fine dialogue esp between John Travolta & James Wood | | and between John Travolta & his ex-flame Madeleine Stowe. Set in the heart of the | | military machine in the 'deep south' with all that that entails...careers above | | other peoples personal interests, classic 'southern gothic' architecture, bigotry, | | redneck cops without mirrored shades though), the oppression of women in the | | military and a 100% humidity environment. Any film with "My father was a drunk, a | | liar and a womaniser....I worshipped him" gets my vote (but hey I suggested the | | the movie in the first place). I love a good thriller and this is one such. | | | | Kell: Travolta's initial accent was annoying but then his under cover character was | | supposed to be. Good thriller - a few elementary mistakes made by Travolta and | | Stowe's characters weakened the plot a little but all in all a good film. James | | Woods brilliant as usual and James Cromwell perfect for the part. The only two | | big downers were (i) the tight 1970's pants Madeleine Stowe was made to wear - | | awful and did nothing for her, and (ii) no gratuitous shower scene with Ms Stowe. | | | | PhilM: Proper film with limited rewatch abilities. | | | | DaveG: A reasonable film with a barely convincing storyline. A one to be watched again | | and again. Travolta was okay but his undercover accent was terrible. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | THE | | | | | | | | | | | | | SPECIALS | X | 7.5 | 6 | 8 | 8.5 | X | 8 | 7.5 | 8.54 | 7.5 | X | | (DVD PJ) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 7.69 | IMDB Average Mean: 6.7 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | PJ - Great dialogue, great characters, a great film. This is without a doubt the RoF | | as Superheroes. (Sheet it even has Rich in the movie :-)). A must see film for | | anyone wondering how a bunch of Superheroes would really act. | | | | PhilJ - The Specials : ultra low-budget movie, sometimes reminiscent of Clerks or | | Spinal Tap. Dialogue is fantastic and truly inspired at times. Goes off the | | boil in the last 20 minutes perhaps, but still a very worthy 7.5/10. Far too | | good to be exiled to the Sci-Fi channel. | | | | PhilM - Good lines but I would have preferred to have seen them in action to see if | | they were really like the RoF. | | | | Gray - I really liked it. Definately a Clerks like film. No budget so they had to | | write a decent script, and they did. | | | | Pros : Great dialogue, funny characters, great lines, no attempt at 'action', | | Rich is in it. | | | | Cons : Drifts off a little at the end perhaps. | | | | Well worth watching and would happily do so again so I can hear the bits I | | couldn't hear first time for all the laughter. | | | | DaveG - Initially, the film seemed to be a bit tacky. But then you get into it and | | realise it is supposed to be like this. No budget, therefore no special | | effects and little action. This is made up for by excellent scripting and | | dialogue. Definitely a film to be given cult status (maybe). Portrays how | | our RP superheroes might be like in real life. | | | | Dabe - For the Special's film I rated it as a 7.5 Excellent dialogue, unfortunately | | the film slows down in the last 20 minutes. A film of this nature would only | | ever appeal to a small cross section of the public, the marketing guys didn't | | really know what to do with it and created an astonishingly poor trailer. | | | | Kell - The last time Rob Lowe appeared in a film with this small a budget I think he | | was at the beginning of his career, there was a lot of "action", little dialogue | | and he was probably well oiled. This time there was a lot of dialogue, little | | action and no oil (hair gel doesn't count). That said, I'm glad I saw this film | | and not the other one but I dare say Rich will disagree 8-). | | | | Blob - It was kinda special! It looked as if didn't cost a lot and probably didn't, | | but this didn't diminish the films appeal. It was full of cracking dialogue that | | would make any RoF member (oweer) wet themselves with laughter, drunk or not. | | It reflected the RoF mind-set and general outlook for RPGing. It had little | | little action, which it didn't need, if fact it made it a better flick. I | | thought the strange jerking motion of the picture was adding to the | | costs-not-alot atmosphere. I found out half way though the film, it was Kell's | | DVD Player's way of handling a non-UK region DVD. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | BOUND | 8.5 | X | 8.5 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 4 | X | 6.5 | X | 3.8 | X | | (DVD PHILM)| | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 5.90 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.5 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | PJ: An OK film but not enough of anything (lesbian action, descent script, action, | | violence, stunts, etc.) to make this anything other than an average film. | | | | Gray: Sexy but dull. There could have been a lot more tension in the plot, which was | | potentially quite good. The relationship between the women was completely | | irrelevant to the film but fun to watch. | | | | Rich: OK. Wouldn't raise my shares in Kleenex kudos for the totally gratuitous female | | relationship but a pretty poor plot, not much tension and of course NOT ENOUGH | | FUR SHOTS. 8-) | | | | Sukh: An exceptionally well crafted and taut thriller featuring an heady mix of | | lesbianism and mob violence. Great apprenticeship film from the Wachowski | | Brothers. Entertaining stuff. | | | | Kell: Tries to combine a thriller with "an attempt to more accurately depict lesbian | | love in a main stream film as opposed to the typical woman on woman action found | | in porn movies catering for the American heterosexual male" and in the end | | achieves neither. The lesbian love affair isn't necessary to the plot, the film's | | concentration on the actresses' hands over does the symbolism to the point where | | it becomes irritating, and it was all a little too cliched in the end. | | | | PhilM: I think it is a very tense thriller to watch, if you are paying it a proper | | attention rather than half watching it. | | | | Dabe: My comments on Bound will not stop the world... 3.8 out of 10 if you must know, | | unimaginative mafia thriller with lesbian twist, if I'd been unfortunate enough | | to receive a Bound DVD I'd have to hurl it out with all the other worthless CD | | roms you get with PCW. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | BATTLE | | | | | | | | | | | | | ROYALE | 7.5 | 8.0 | 6 | 6.5 | 6.0 | 9.5 | 5 | X | X | 6.5 | X | | (DVD RICH) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 6.88 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.7 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Rich: Japanese schoolgirls, glimpses of white panties, random weapon selection and | | sudden and painful death accompanied by schoolgirl squealing what more could a man| | want for an evening apart from a box of Kleenex and a cold beer. | | | | Sukh: Darkly humorous look at the ills facing modern Japan through the eyes of an aging | | film-maker or a 'violence for publicity's sake' sick slasher flick...hell I don't | | know?...but it was one of the most original films I've seen in ages. | | | | PJ: A bizare, bloody and violent movie, tinged with a hint of sadness and madness. I | | thought it had a great start but lost it's way towards the end. (How often can you | | see a screaming Japanese school girl killed in a fountain of blood, before you say | | "Yeah you've seen one screaming Japanese school girl killed in a fountain of | | blood.. you've seen them all..."?) All in all a small insight into Rich's world, | | that part of me wishes I hadn't got :-) | | | | PhilJ: Fukasaku establishes the mood from the off - waves crashing on rocks, Verdi's | | 'Dies Irae' - 'Day of Wrath' - thundering out, and the crazy, scary eyes of last | | years winner of 'Battle Royale'. This is destined to be a cult - a potent mix of | | savage violence and black humour, yet not without the occasional moments of | | compassion and humanity, even if it's ultimately downbeat. It may or may not have| | a message, but it's fantastically entertaining. | | | | Gray: I quite liked it. Blood, guns, sharp pointy objects, screaming Japanese school | | girls. Quite well put together and paced. No irritating characters in it. | | Slightly surreal in places, which I like. However in the end, faintly | | disappointing. Perhaps this reviewer was expecting more, given the drooling and | | mad laughter of Rich when he initially described it to us. Even given the caveat | | that he must have seen it a few times, Rich still fell asleep through parts of it.| | | | PhilM: Good idea, somehow leading the reviewer unstired at the end | | | | Dabe: Different, interesting concept and you can never have enough Japanese school | | girls, cough. Mmmh. | | | | DaveG: Not one for Japanese films, so this was average at best. School kids going round| | killing each other to win!? I suppose its one way to graduate. Having said that,| | some of the killing (fighting) scenes were reasonable. Could have quite happily | | gone to sleep..... Oh, I nearly did. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | SHAOLIN | | | | | | | | | | | | | SOCCER | 9 | X | 6.5 | 8 | 8.5 | X | X | 4 | X | 7.5 | X | | (DVD SUKH) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 7.25 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.6 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: Shaolin Priests, Football, Bad Subtitles, B-Level Special Effects, Foreign Comedy,| | America Bashing, Laughable love story, Fat Dudes, Bald Dudes and weird Music | | numbers...how in gods name can this film work? Could it be any more surreal? | | (cue: Kell staring wide-eyed at screen with brain oozing out of his ears). But | | somehow it does and is definitely the funniest film I've seen in ages. | | | | All of this would give the film a solid 8 but Stephen Chow's Bruce Lee hero | | worship is worth an extra point. We are not worthy. | | | | PJ: I loved it, a mix of martial arts and football, so bizzare it keeps you watching to | | the end. I haven't laugh this much at a film in ages. | | | | Kell: I think you said it all with "Laughable love story, Fat Dudes, Bald Dudes and | | weird Music numbers...how in gods name can this film work? Could it be any more | | surreal? (cue: Kell staring wide-eyed at screen with brain oozing out of his ears)| | | | I like off-the-wall, out-of-left-field stuff (Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes, Man | | Bites Dog) but this was just a good idea poorly executed. | | | | Gray: Daft, silly, great action, great characters, humour, inexplicable bits, great | | soccer teams, cult references. What can you say. Many, many, more wicked! | | | | PhilM: Very funny in places but lacked coherence. Seemed to have a problem in deciding | | what it wanted to be. | | | | Dabe: An absolutely amazingly silly film and excellent for it. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | THE EYE | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | 6 | X | 5.5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | X | | (DVD GRAY) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 5.83 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.4 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh: Good bits...the lift sequence, the groovy credit sequence & the cinematography.. | | nice to see a horror film relying on gentle camera moves and music to build | | tension. | | | | Bad Bits...too similar to the Sixth Sense to really get you going and the end | | sequence looked like it was tacked on to a) finish off the budget and b) give the | | effects dudes something to do. Couldn't see the reason for it. | | | | PJ: Started well with some genuinely scary moments, (the lift for one) but lost it | | towards the end and had very a predictable ending. | | | | PhilJ: Not a bad little chiller, with some excellent sequences (the lift!) in the | | early part of the film. Goes downhill badly in the last half-hour though. Should | | have ended after the shock 'reflection in the mirror' revelation, which I wasn't | | expecting. Worth seeing. | | | | Gray: I have to say that Phil summarized it perfectly. Put me down for the same words, | | but I would give it a 5. | | | | Kell: Low budget (when compared with USA flicks) HK film but holds its own. A little too| | soap opera-ish in parts but this may be a cultural thing or just a young industry | | thing. Enjoyed it even though the leading lady kept her clothes on - darn it! | | | | Dabe: Good eye-dea, first half excellent, lost direction and became distinctly unscary | | towards the end, disappointing. | | | | Rich: The eye, some good bits i.e. the lift but a bit disappointing towards the end | | didn't do enough to raise my flag. | | | | Blob: It should have been called The Eyes, unless it missed the eye patch. Graham's | | skyscraper projector boosted the film, in that I could read the sub-titles in my | | drunken state. The music score kept me informed of goings on, when I was looking | | for the chicken thinly spend across the wings and legs on my plate. The floater | | in the lift scene will feature in my next nightmare. No cheese on toast for supper| | for a while. The ending was entertaining but I felt it did not belong to the film,| | she should of stabbed her eye(s) out instead! | | | | DaveG: Another Japanese (or was it Chinese/Korean?) film. However, this did have some | | good bits - the lift sequence and the suspense thread that was similar to Sixth | | Sense. Because it seemed like Sixth Sense made it all the more predictable. The | | ending, well, nuff said. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | DAREDEVIL | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6.5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | ? | 6 | 7 | X | X | X | | (DVD PJ) | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 6.35 | IMDB Average Mean: 5.9 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | PhilJ: Quite enjoyed this. Has a fair old try at capturing the noir atmosphere of Frank | | Miller-era DD, but let down by trying to fit too many characters and too much | | plot into it's running time. A few silly scenes (the fight in the park!) and a | | truly lamentable soundtrack don't help. | | | | Sukh: Hmmm...a by the numbers comic-book-to-hollywood-film adaptation. Story ok, effects| | ok, camera work ok, fights ok, heroes performance ok, villians ok (although | | Bullseye was quite funny in the film..unlike in the comic books where he's about | | as funny as getting lung cancer)...nothing really stands out in this flick. So to | | conclude, is justice served on the man without fear?..No not quite...not enough | | grit for my liking. 8-) | | | | PJ: Finally a Superhero movie where the Hero kills in cold blood and a villain | | (Bullseye) that does the same. The film is spoilt by a week ending, but all in all | | one of the better Superhero films out there. | | | | Gray: You know my opinions on DD. A second viewing and things haven't improved. | | Disappointing. | | | | Kell: Second time I'd seen it and actually enjoyed it more this time round. Warmed to | | the Bullseye character although the English pub etc p*ss*s me off and still think | | the computer generated graphics suck. | | | | DaveG: Reasonable film about a superhero. Seemed to lose its way a bit towards the end.| | Silly bits include the park fight, there were others but can't remember them. | | Won't watch the sequel. | | | | PhilM: Very good with some great characters. Lost it a bit when the girl lost her fight | | so easly. She was been built up as a hard character (had just beat DD) and then | | lost to Bullseye without much of a fight. Just did not add up. DD then beats | | Bullseye, go figure. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | FILM | Sukh | PhilJ| PhilM| PJ | Gray | Rich | DaveG| Kell | Blob | Dabe | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ |FUDOH:THE | | | | | | | | | | | | |NEW GENERAT-| 6 | X | 5 | 6 | 6.5 | ? | 5 | X | X | X | X | |ION (DVD PJ)| | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ | RoF Average Mean: 5.7 | IMDB Average Mean: 7.5 | +-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Comments: | | | | Sukh:Basic premise..brutal gangster war between 2 rival yakuza gangs..plot sound a | | little too familiar?..no problem as the people behind this film thought along | | similar lines..so they sat down and wondered 'hmmm..how can we make this brutal | | yakuza flick totally different from all those other brutal yakuza flicks?'. | | | | Cue..gross out, shocking, over-the-top..everything!..the A-Z of film devices used | | to keep the (male) audience watching..infant killers, gratutious female nudity, | | vaginal blowpipes, pissing, menstrating, chicks with dicks, beating the crap out of| | teenage girls...phew...20 years ago this would have been classified as a video | | nasty...today, it'd still be classified as a video nasty..Tokyo Shock..apt label. | | | | PJ: OK, as a stand-alone film, I'd give it a 4 as it's way too weird a film for me..... | | But as a film to watch with the RoF it gets a 6. What more can the RoF ask in a | | movie? Japanese Schoolgirl strippers / assassins, vaginal blowpipes, a chick with a | | dick, having sex with another woman... It's got it all.. Not one to watch with the | | parents though. | | | | Gray: A real fun film. The directors/writers obviously sat around a table and decided | | how they could liven up the aging Yakusa in-fighting theme? Answer, depravity, | | silliness and other things that go to make a good film. Well worth a watch, but | | judge any potential audience well. | | | | DaveG: Another Japanese (or at least Far East) film. Reasonable plot. Good bits - | | Chicks with dicks, vaginal blowpipe. Bad bits - too many kids. | | | | PhilM: Interesting. Well worth seeing once, not got repeat viewing appeal for me. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+