collectibles Reviews

Imagine Me & You (2005)

Totally unbelievable

[1/10 · 26 February 2006]

Matthew Goode (from "Match Point") plays Heck, a handsome stockbroker about to marry beautiful Rachel (Coyote Ugly's Piper Perabo).

At this perfect couples' perfect wedding, Rachel just happens to lock eyes with Luce (The Brothers Grimm's Lena Headey), a gay florist who works nearby.

They fall madly in love at first sight and all bets are off.

Totally unbelievable and very boring despite some good acting from a good cast.

Needed a better director.

I rank it amongst the worst 10 films I have ever seen.

Francesca e Nunziata (2001 TV Movie)

It's nice to see Loren again!

[8/10 · 4 February 2006]

This is a lavish (by TV standards) production from Italy starring Sophia (Sofia) Loren who is still as elegant and beautiful as she ever was (in most scenes, anyway).

It's a story of overpowering love and is brilliantly conceived and produced.

The story opens at the turn of the last century when Princess Sophia and her prince visit an orphanage to adopt a little girl to honour a pledge made to the Virgin Mary when their baby was sick.

The Prince is a waster but Loren makes pasta for export to the Americas and keeps the family of 10 in spending money.

The adopted girl turns out to be very smart and clever except that she falls in love with one of her adoptive brothers.

When Sophia mortgages her business so the Prince can become a banker they lose everything and the Prince attempts suicide.

In the end it is the orphan who replaces her adoptive mother but she has married one of the workers in the factory and given up her true love.

Alexander (2004)

Long, boring, too many flash-backs

[3/10 · 29 August 2005]

This is a movie I really looked forward to seeing but it turned out to be a great disappointment and I switched it off with half an hour to go.

Although the action scenes were brilliantly executed and presented, I found the many flash-backs to Alexander's childhood were extremely boring and that they made the story hard to follow.

I looked forward to action on a grand scale and that part didn't disappoint me. However, the flash-backs made the movie disjointed and ruined the illusion for me.

A great story ruined by the director.

Walk Into Hell (1956)

Walk Into Paradise (Hell) was one of Oz's first International co-production.

[8/10 · 18 July 2003]

Long before Australia had a real film industry, Chips Rafferty and Lee Robinson made movies in an old picture theatre at Bondi Junction (Sydney). They began modestly making small budget films for the Australian markert but soon realized the importance of International distribution.

With no help from the government, they arranged their own co-production deal with a French company. WALK INTO PARADISE (HELL) and THE STOWAWAY with Martine Carol were two of the joint ventures.

Rafferty and Robinson made no money from these films because the French took all the cream but both films are to tribute to Rafferty, Robinson and the fledgling Australian Film Industry of the time.

WALK INTO PARADISE is an epic adventure on a grand scale and was filmed almost entirely in the wilds of Papua/New Guinea. It still has a lot of entertainment to offer.

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Dull & boring. Director obsessed with never-ending close-ups.

[1/10 · 5 February 2002]

A poor excuse for a musical. I found it difficult to sit through. Hard to follow and far too many close-ups. Music is fine except for the tunes that have been stolen from other movies. Maybe I've missed the point somewhere along the line but this is positively not the entertainment it is cracked up to be.