Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (3000)

Content

SummerLGrant (185 KP) rated Top of the Lake - Season 1 in TV

Aug 1, 2017

Build up of the story (3 more)

Setting

Elizabeth Moss

Brilliant support cast

While the slow build up is good sometimes it feels like nothing is happening (0 more)

A slow burner

A fantastic but disturbing story about a small town in New Zealand, following Robin Griffin as she returns home to visit her ill mother but is pulled onto a case when a 12-year-old girl is found (alive) in a lake. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout and there's an intensity that's slowly bubbling away.

At times it does get a bit slow and at the beginning it can be hard to get into, but the brilliant cast of actors - led by the absolutely fantastic Elizabeth Moss - keep it going and turn it into something brilliant. Some of the characters are disturbing but believable and it winds up to an eventful finale.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated X-Men (2000) in Movies

Feb 28, 2018

X-Men (2000)

2000 | Action, Sci-Fi

7.6

(48 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Landmark Marvel adaptation isn't quite the movie you might expect, but still competently assembled. Main plus is that it's extremely well-cast, with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen giving it some heft and Hugh Jackman and Anna Paquin a bit of glamour. Main minus is that the film was saddled with only a modest budget (Fox had recently taken a bath on Fight Club, amongst others).

Following the Batman and Robin debacle the received wisdom at the time was that comic book movies shouldn't be all that comic booky and this certainly follows that principle. Ultra-purists may also object to the way Cyclops is sidelined as hero in favour of Wolverine (but that's what the fans wanted). But, on the whole, very solidly written and performed, decent effects, takes the characters and the story seriously. From such acorns do mighty franchises sprout...

Kudos

Andrew Kennedy (199 KP) rated Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) in Movies

Jul 17, 2019

I love the Python team it's a throw up which is best this or Life of Brian.
King Arthur (Graham Chapman) is given a quest from God to retrieve the Holy Grail. Hilarity and irrelevance abound follow.
Wether it's Palin's Sir Galahad and his trip to castle Anthrax, Idles Sir Robin bravely running away or Cleese as Sir Lancelot slaughtering half a wedding in a rescue attempt.

Scenes like The Black Knight, The knights who say NI, Tim the Enchanter and the amazing Scene 24 have all become ingrained into fans minds.
Even the opening credits are source of humour plus typical little Python-esque animations.
The ending is crazy but it only befits the film that has come before it. You never would have thought there was so much to learn about Swallows, African or European.

Kudos

Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) in Movies

Mar 3, 2020 (Updated Mar 5, 2020)

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

1993 | Comedy, Drama, Family

8.1

(49 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Let’s be straight: Mrs Doubtfire has faults. It is sentimental, uneven and at times a bit dull, actually. That said, there is one thing that lifts it, and that is, of course, Robin Williams. He exudes personality, and it could be argued this was the peak of his comedy improv powers, as far as his film career was concerned. It is no Tootsie, which it naturally owes a huge deal to, but it does have immense charm all of it’s own, thanks to the key scenes of William’s empathy and caring, that you just can’t fake. So satisfying as both a comedy and a family film that forces us to think about the lighter side of a break-up, where the children are the most important thing. Lots of feels, tons of interesting comment on roles within gender.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Court Jester (1956) in Movies

Apr 20, 2020

The Court Jester (1956)

1956 | Classics, Comedy

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Lavish musical-comedy spoof. Humble carnival entertainer Hubert Hawkins (Kaye) infiltrates the court of evil king Roderick as his new jester, in an attempt to get the rightful heir back on the throne, little suspecting that the man he's impersonating is the deadliest assassin in Europe.

Feels very dated now, and it's spoofing a genre of films which is even more old-fashioned (e.g. the 1938 Errol Flynn Robin Hood). How you feel about Danny Kaye's clowning, cross-talk routines and patter songs will also affect your response to this movie. Still, you have to admire Kaye's sheer dexterity as a performer, and there is still a touch of genius about routines like the chalice from the palace and the flagon with the dragon. He's well-supported too. Technicolour vaudeville in the end, but still very funny in places.