Reviews
The Honeymooners (2003)
Dreadful
I saw this movie on DVD after it was given away free with the Sunday Times. And it's safe to say it's like all of those freebie CDs the newspapers are giving away these days
one OK song amongst a dozen that aren't worth the cardboard sleeve the disc came in.
The premise is a romantic comedy staple
He gets jilted at the alter. She gets fed up of playing second fiddle to her married boyfriend. The mismatched pair are thrown together for a trip to Donegal, presumably with romance and comedy thrown into the mix. The problem with this film is that it's neither romantic or funny. Yes, it's obviously a low budget film but that's no excuse for the dreadful script. There's no character development whatsoever, some very dodgy acting, zero chemistry between the leads and worse still, very little to like about them.
At least I got a free newspaper with the DVD.
Ned and Stacey (1995)
Incredibly unfunny
I tried to like this show, I really did. Unfortunately, a lethal combination of an unfunny script and incredibly wooden performances put paid to that. It's a pity because it was an interesting and fun-sounding premise.
The Love Bug (1997)
Why bother?
Back in the 1960's, Disney made the original Love Bug film. It had a VW Beetle with attitude, a likeable leading man in Dean Jones and most of all, charm. They made a couple of sequels, none of which quite recaptured the magic of the first. Disney should have taken heed of this and not gone back to the well for more.
Eat the Peach (1986)
This should never have been made
As an Irish person, I like to catch as many home-made films as possible when they are in the cinema. In the case of this one, I wish I'd stayed home in front of the TV. There's a hackneyed storyline which falls back on every Oirish cliche in the book, cardboard characters and nothing to keep you watching. Stay away my friends.
My Hero (2000)
Leave your brain behind and you will laugh.
On the surface George Sunday (Ardal O'Hanlon) appears to be a mild-mannered Irishman who runs a health shop but in reality, he is Thermoman, an leotard-wearing superhero who hails from the planet Ultron. When he rescues nurse Janet Dawkins (Emily Joyce), he is so taken by her he moves to England to be nearer to her and the pair fall in love. The comedy of the series is mainly based on George's attempts to come to grips with everyday life and combining a dual career as a superhero and a slightly odd earthling.
Make no bones about it, the premise of the series is very very silly but the excellent cast carry it off. Ardal O'Hanlon (better known as the dim-witted Fr Dougal Maguire in Fr Ted) is lovable as George and Emily Joyce is suitably droll as his girlfriend. The cast is rounded out by some other good characters - especially Mrs Raven the sharp-tongued doctor's receptionist who abuses all comers to the surgery and Dr Piers Crispin, the clinic's doctor who's more concerned about his career on breakfast television.
Leave your brain behind and just enjoy the ride.
Frasier (1993)
Great ensemble cast
The best thing about Frasier is its first rate cast. Although Dr Frasier Crane is the main character in the show, the other characters are given their place in the sun too, especially his hilarious brother Dr Niles Crane.
Since the show began, it has rarely if ever fallen below its own high standards and even when it did, the characters made it watchable. Although it does descent into farce at times, it is rarely silly and always intelligent. Take note all you sitcom writers and actors who think that pulling silly faces and speaking in funny voices is funny.
Home and Away (1988)
If this is the best Australia has to offer be afraid be very afraid
As a fan of Home & Away when it started, it has been disappointing to see how the soap has gone downhill in the past decade. Where once storylines were fresh, now they seem hackneyed and one gets a very strong sense of deja vu when watching the show. Dodgy acting, dislikeable characters, corny scripts. What more can you say other than "Avoid like the Bubonic Plague".
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)
A shame this came so close after The General
Back in 1998, John Boorman directed "The General" with Brendan Gleeson in the lead role. It told the true story of the late Dublin criminal Martin "The General" Cahill who pulled off a number of daring heists, never went out in public without covering his face with either clothing or his hand, had a bizarre menage a trois relationship with his wife and her sister, and was so clever and cunning that the police never managed to press any charges against him.
In Ordinary Decent Criminal, Kevin Spacey plays Michael Lynch, a clever criminal who pulls off daring heists, never goes out in public without covering his face, has a bizarre menage a trois with his wife and her sister... you get the idea. Having seen "The General", it's hard not to compare it to Ordinary Decent Criminal. Even though the film-makers claim that it is based "loosely" around the life of Cahill (who must be chuckling in his grave at his renewed celebrity after death), very large tracts of the film are based on real-life events. It's hard not to get the feeling that half way though filming, the film-makers desperately tried to change the script in order to stop it being a direct remake of Boorman's film.
That's not to say that Ordinary Decent Criminal isn't worth watching. It is. It's a fast paced, stylishly shot, blackly humorous romp. Kevin Spacey does his usual sterling work in the lead role. He makes quite a reasonable attempt at an Irish accent - at times it's spot on, other times it wavers a bit. The less said about the accents of other cast members, the better. Overall, Ordinary Decent Criminal is a well made crime thriller which will suffer inevitable comparisons with "The General".
The Devil's Own (1997)
One Sorry Mess
There seems to be a certain template for making "Oirish" movies in Hollywood. Add some or all of the following ingredients to your movie script - Aran Sweaters, a sub-Deliverance rural setting, comely maidens with red hair, a village idiot (teeth optional), impromptu céilís and dancing at the crossroads, priests, drunken violence and the obligatory "Ooh arr, begorrah" accents and you have an Irish film. And if you want some controversy, why not try to tackle the situation in Northern Ireland by adding in some IRA men for good measure. Unfortunately, the Devil's Own has quite a few of the aforementioned clichés in abundance.
It is a great shame that with a cast and director of this calibre, they couldn't have come up with something better. There have been very few, if any, decent films ever made about Northern Ireland and perhaps it's time Hollywood stopped trying to put forward its own take on it, especially when it is as cack-handed as The Devil's Own. Not only is the whole movie grossly offensive to Irish people, and anyone else with a brain, but it is a dangerous message to be sending out to gullible Irish Americans. It's time film-makers stopped buying into the idea that the IRA are noble warriors when in fact they and others of their ilk are terrorists, pure and simple.
Avoid this like the plague. Brad Pitt's accent is the least of the problems in this film. He just isn't convincing as the cold-blooded killer he is supposed to be - he's far too nice. Harrison Ford is his usual reliable self but too much of the movie is taken up with a largely irrelevant sub-plot featuring himself and Ruben Blades as his police partner. At times, The Devil's Own seems like an IRA film mixed up with NYPD Blue.