Jusenkyo_no_Pikachu Reviews

The Exorcist (1973)

Watch it at night (possible spoilers)

[7/10 · 22 December 2002]

I first saw a cut-for-TV version. Half the scary stuff was edited out and I saw it during the day, so it had no effect on me. I could see why it was scary, but it just was not scary itself.

Then a few nights ago, I had the opportunity to watch the uncut version. It was scary, but I had to stop it halfway through (Dad made me--he wanted to watch another video) so I watched the rest of it the next morning, so I came to this conclusion: Watch it at night, because during the day, it's not as scary.

The Magical World of Disney: Sunday Drive (1986) Season 31, Episode 9

Not bad

[16 November 2002]

OK...not the best movie ever, but if you are willing to endure 1986 TV production and Hillary Wolf's extremely romantic ideals about love (not to mention poetry worse than that written in the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"), you might get something out of it.

Wolf is Christine, one of two kids who are accidentally kidnapped when Paul Sheridan (Ted Wass) mistakes a car for his own identical one. Same keyholes and everything.

Sheridan is on his way to an interview when he pulls over at a roadside eatery. At the same place is the aforementioned identical car, driven by William and Joan Franklin (Tony Randall and Audra Lindley) on a Sunday Drive (gaah...too many history questions to last me this one movie). Christine is their niece, and she has a brother, John Elliot. Christine and John Elliot hide under a blanket in the back seat, while Sheridan's dog Bud (a German Shepherd) is under an identical blanket--also in the back seat. So naturally the cars get mixed up. Added to the mix is Franny (Carrie Fisher), a woman Paul picks up in order to get her to Australia (she has to catch a boat, and her broken-down car was robbed--talk about an emergency!). You can guess what happens next.

Might be clichéd, but I didn't mind it at all.

A.Li.Ce (2000)

hmmm...

[9 September 2002]

Is it just me or have all the previous comments been penned by Aussies?

Anyhow, I watched this film expecting to see cell animation. I was rather surprised when instead I got a computer-animated movie. And, although a little choppy (I never noticed that in any previous CGI films, so I'm bringing it up here) there are some nice visuals. Oh, and yes, there is a story.

The story is that Alice, the youngest person ever to go into space, is propelled forwards through time. She crashes in Lapland, and is rescued by Ewan and a stewardess robot we know as "Maria".

Anyhow, the thing spins off into a convoluted plot involving Alice's son Nero and a freedom fighter. But who is the enemy? Is it Nero or is it the fighter known as Nikolai? I'm not going to tell here.

All I'm going to say is: look for the video. I just don't know whether or not it's available

The Worst Witch (1986 TV Movie)

Remarkably faithful show

[29 August 2002]

I read part of the book in Grade 2. Then I saw the series only recently. Naturally, I couldn't resist seeing the movie. After a somewhat slow start, I found the movie to be somewhat enjoyable.

Now i have finally read the books and I must say this movie is the most faithful adaptation yet.

What happens (for those who haven't bothered to click the "plot summary" link for the entry) is this: Mildred Hubble has always been an underachiever at Cackles Academy. And when she gets a tabby cat instead of the standard black cat, she finds herself on the receiving end of teasing from Ethel Hallow (the highest-ranking first year). So she turns Ethel into a pig. After being reverted to human form, Ethel vows revenge. And Mildred gets selected for her class's Hallowe'en presentation...in front of none other than the Grand Wizard (aka non other than the great Tim Curry). SO Mildred is disgraced, Cackles is disgraced and it's about to be taken over anyhow.

And I have just given away the entire plot of the movie, without actually giving away any spoilers.

The plot also appears in episodes 3, 4 and 5 of the Worst Witch TV series (however it is altered--now Ethel's adventures as a pig include a trip to the farm and that part plays out as a separate story).

It's an excellent kids show, based on a still-enjoyable book series. However, one wonders why they didn't make movies of "Worst Witch Strikes Again" and "A Bad Spell For The Worst Witch"

Kurogane Communication (1998– )

Neat

[11 August 2002]

Well, I didn't enjoy this anime too much originally but it did pick up towards the end of the first DVD. And since then, it has been growing on me.

Basically, Haruka has survived a war that bombed the rest of the world to bits. She is cared for by by Spike (the young boy type of robot), Trigger (a bad trigger-happy robot), Cleric (a mentor, the Japanese version calls him "Cleric-sensei"), Angela (a mysterious human-hating warrior) and Reeves (the meanest-looking robot ever to wear a frilly pink apron).

The mysterious warrior Angela is probably the most interesting of the lot, on this show's small scale.

And although the DVD I have says "13 up", there's little I would stop a kid from seeing. Sure, there's some nudity, but in all three cases it's very brief and nothing is shown. Then again, I have only seen the first volume and I have no idea what's in the second or third.

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (1994)

How DID they do the mice?

[4 August 2002]

CONTAINS SPOILERS

As basically all posts have said, this is a pure fun 3D movie. Basically you are entreated to a ceremony at the Imagination Institute, honouring Wayne Szalinski for his inventions. And he is asked to demonstrate his famous shrinking ray by shrinking some luggage. Unfortunately, the ray goes out of control and it shrinks you. Before you get shrunk, however, there are some gags which involve duplicates of mice that will have the youngsters freaked (and the rest of us wondering exactly how it was done).

Rick Moranis is, of course, in top form as the inventor he originated.

If you get the chance to see this, don't miss out.

Vidiot (1992–1994)

Interesting...

[3 August 2002]

I last saw this show when I was 10, and it was an interesting game show. What happened was Eden Gaha (never really watched Scott McRae) would show his contestants something on the Vidiot Screen (I don't think it was called that, but it was a screen with the word VIDIOT) and then ask questions about whatever was shown.

Compared with today's Aussie kids' game shows like Download, this is a classic (it had questions I couldn't answer, so therefore...)

Darkside Blues (1994)

This is a movie that starts AND ends in the middle, at the expense of those who came in in the middle

[1/10 · 1 August 2002]

This is going on my list of movies that I want people to avoid. No way am I ever going to recommend it.

Basically, this character called Darkside comes in to a 1984-style Tokyo through a hole in the ground, causing...umm...errm.....ahh...ummm....some things to happen. None of it is fully explained. However, unlike 2001 and Blair Witch 2, where some of the appeal comes from the unexplained, this movie is a confusing waste of time.

We are given potentially interesting stuff that just sits there inert for the whole movie. Never once do we hear a basic explanation of the impact that bad dreams have on our life. And we'd like to. And what on earth does it have to do with the movie? Nobody knows, and by the end of the movie, nobody cares.

Watch Evangelion instead. At least that can be explained.

Josh Kirby: Time Warrior! Chap. 1: Planet of the Dino-Knights (1995 Video)

Fun

[14 June 2002]

I have seen all 6 episodes of the series, and while it is childish and rather cheesy (look at the special effects for Zoetrope 366's suit in the hypertime scenes) it still managed to offer a bit of fun.

The story for this episode is that 25th-century scientist Irwin 1138 has invented the Nullifier, a machine capable of...well, something large scale. If it wasn't large-scale, he wouldn't bother scattering it all over time and space. Anyhow, this rival scientist called Zoetrope 366 (apparently a reference to George Lucas, just like Irwin 1138/THX 1138) steals the coordinates and Irwin is forced to pursue him through to 1994, where the first piece is kept.

Here, young Josh Kirby enters the story. Until now, his only excitement has been racing his bicycle to school. But when he finds a glass bone in his dog's kennel, he suddenly ends up joining Irwin and magical creature Prism on a journey to ancient England, where he has to get the second Nullifier piece. Unfortunately, some weird disturbance has dinosaurs in England...

Not TOO bad. This is probably the best one of the lot.

The Smurfs (1981–1989)

Still very smurfy.

[11 June 2002]

I used to watch the Smurfs back when I was at least 5. And the appeal of the show hasn't dimmed. BTW: I'm 18 now.

Recently I read (or should I say "smurfed"?) one of the original Belgian comics, "L'Oeuf et les Schtroumpfs" ("The Smurfs and the Egg", where a giant egg begins to grant wishes), which also featured "Le Centième Schtroumpf" ("The 100th Smurf", where Vanity's mirror creates a new Smurf) and "Le Faux Sctroumpf" ("The False Smurf", where Gargamel disguises himself as a Smurf). And I enjoyed them all, despite the fact that they were in French (a language I studied in school)

And the cartoon is still a "smurfy" cartoon. Worthy of a smurf next time it comes on.

Waxwork (1988)

Could have been better, but no, it just HAD to be made like this!

[1/10 · 6 June 2002]

Warning: this review MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. But there's a good chance you're not going to want to see it anyhow.

This is a boring movie. Exactly why one of the characters had to find a doorway out of a waxwork is beyond me because it would at least have ended the movie quicker.

What happens is a magician invites six teens to his wax museum, which houses waxworks of scenes from famed horror films like "Dracula", "Frankenstein", "The Wolfman", "Return of the Living Dead" and...........*drum roll*..........."Little Shop of Horrors". The scenes have one character missing and the teens are able to enter the waxworks. For each waxwork, there is a sequence based on the lead-up to whatever the waxwork represented. At the end of each sequence, the waxwork is completed (using a nice edit that is the only thing I can applaud in this movie). With that premise, the film could have been A LOT better

Unfortunately, one of the waxworks is, as I mentioned, based on "Return of the living Dead" or some other zombie movie, and there is only one thing you can do when faced with a horde of zombies. Pity. This movie could have been over a lot quicker.

As you've gathered from the above review, this movie was a disappointment and not worth wasting the $4 on in the rental store

Bakuen Campus Guardress (1994)

Hilarious series

[30 May 2002]

If any OAV series could constantly be counted on to make me laugh, this would have to be it (or at least one of them).

The story is weird. It centres on Hasumi Jinno, your typical schoolgirl who doesn't study, fights evil with big wooden sword and constantly fantasizes about her brother Takumi (who isn't related by blood). On top of her finals, she has to do battle with Mr Big Evil himself, Kijima Touta (the anglicized version is Tôta Kijima). Kijima is the leader of a group from the evil Dark World. 30000 years ago, his world overran our world until a man named Kairei closed the gate. Now, Kairei has been reincarnated as Takumi and the Remnants must kill him so they can overrun Earth once again. And the Dark World happens to be rather near...

Although this series gets darker in tone towards the end, it still has a few hilarious bits to keep you going until the last line of the credits.

Mission Genesis (1997)

Hmmm...

[29 May 2002]

I'm actually not too partial towards the book. I found the book to be far too fast-paced.

The story of the book is that teenager Robbie Mikkelsen discovers he is actually Reb, a martian who is one of six children on the ship Deepwater, where he discovers that the ship's purpose is to restore life to Earth. He also battles this evil computer called NUN.

The series has none of this, with only one computer and no references to Earth in the dreamlike "prexing". Basically this could screw up the book, and even though the stories are weaker, I found them to be much better told than the book.

The only real problem I found was the spelling of the characters' names. Although Bren, Gret, Zak and Reb were the same, Yoona and Lis' names were changed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

The series is far better

[19 May 2002]

I can understand why a lot of people hate this movie. Joss Whedon himself doesn't really like it. The reasons? He thought the movie could be explored not just in comedy. They could have used both Drama and Horror. When Whedon got the chance to do the series, he jumped at the chance to explore the stories in the ways he had originally intended.

Any other bad points to note? Hmm...

Kristy Swanson's Buffy has no fashion sense.

Plus I tend to find Anthony Stewart Head's character beats Donald Sutherland's.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Stunning

[16 May 2002]

OK...many people hate this film because:

a) it's subtitled. But a dubbed version would screw it all up. b) it features flight. I mean, people can accept that Superman can fly, or that Neo can dodge bullets, that vampires talk or that people can die from a bullet in the head without all the involuntary muscle contractions. Those things are just as unrealistic as flight so why don't they suspend disbelief for this movie?

I love the movie myself, It has stunning fights, a really stunning sword-fight scene and some wonderful characters. And an original plot to go with it.

Watch it.

Sanctuary (1995 Video)

Excellent film

[9 May 2002]

This film, [sanctuary], is an excellent film based on a manga I have not read (by writer Buronson and artist Ryoichi Ikegami).

Akira Hojo and Chiaki Asami are friends from high school, who decide to change Japan.

We then go forward several years, and Asami has now become a secretary to Dietman Shuichi Sakura while Hojo has become a member of the Yakuza. Both have their leaders in their grasp. Their skilful manipulation makes for very compelling viewing, even if there is a lot of sex and violence.

Unfortunately, the film tells only part of the story. That's the weakness. And the fact that there are no more movies available.

A Little Christmas Story (1999)

Wonderful

[7/10 · 5 May 2002]

I saw this on Christmas Eve last year and it was fantastic.

I thought the idea of showing the story through a teddy bear's POV was just the thing I needed.

Unfortunately I missed part of it because the silly networks were playing Cat Ballou for no apparent reason...other than they had losers at the helm...

But back to this movie:

It's a wonderful movie and I would like to see it all

Timecode (2000)

Not categorisable, just be prepared

[25 April 2002]

I saw this film at the Dendy, an arthouse cinema. Arthouse it is: film for film's sake, not made for dollars, pounds, deutschmarks or anything like that. It was a rather original movie (even if the technique has been used since the 60s).

The plot has an interesting web of characters. There is film producer Alex (Stellan Skarsgard), his wife Emma (Saffron Burrows), his lover Rose (Salma Hayek) and her lesbian lover Lauren (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and many others. It is impossible to display them all on a single-screen movie and still be a nice regular length of time. Nor could the viewer get involved.

So therefore, director Mike Figgis shot all four screens on a single take. And there is no way anybody could have possibly supplied a script for it as the screens are then synchronised (this is where the movie's title comes from--the Timecode is the time displayed on the tapes). And no, the film isn't all that complex to watch--the dialogue moves from screen to screen

And so it is rather incomparable to other films. In it's own right, it is a good movie (although it could have been done better).

However, I was rather prepared for what this movie was--through the articles and a film poster I had taken from a local theatre. If you are unprepared, then you may not like it as much as I did.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)

WONDERFUL SHOW!

[21 April 2002]

For those that don't watch the series, you should.

And ignore those reviews about Season Six, because I generally like the show so far.

The first season dealt with Buffy going up against supervamp The Master (Mark Metcalf), who was imprisoned in his lair. It was exciting, and even creepy at times. Plus, there was the benefit of Buffy's love interest, a vampire named Angel.

The second series introduced Spike (James Marsters), who was trying to cure his girlfriend Drusilla.

The third series had the Mayor, Richard Wilkins III, who happened to be an immortal demon. Unfortunately, in the final episode, we see students with weapons and the principal (Armin Shimerman) gets eaten (good riddance to him).

The fourth series inroduced Spike as a regular as well as newcomer Riley (Marc Blucas). Spike has an implant that prevents him from hurting humans, given to him by the Initiative--a military organization that deals with vampires and other "Hostile Sub-Terrestrials". Meanwhile, the leader of the Initiative, maggie Walsh, was creating a monster.

Series Five introduced Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) as Buffy's sister. So far, she hasn't turned out like Chibiusa from "Sailor Moon". But her big prob is that she might have to die.

Season six is just as good. So far, that is. With the excellent "Once More, With Feeling", and something fans have been anticipating....Oh, and Buffy finally figures out what life is.

So all in all, a brilliant watch.

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)

It was bad as

[2/10 · 20 April 2002]

I am probably one of the minority of intelligent teens who liked the first movie (even though I have just turned 18).

So I watched the second one and I have to say it was as terrible as a sequel can get. They used CARS. That might have been great for any other movie but seriously, making the Turbo Zords CARS? That's something I cannot believe.

The movie concerns the Power rangers saving a wizard called Loriglot from evil being Divatox. And there were no fights. basically, it was a very disappointing movie. The only good point was the return of Kimberley. And the climax was exciting (albeit really really stupid)

Other than that, stay away from this film at all costs.

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

my first Troma=funny!

[14 April 2002]

I found this was on on the Aussie cable TV station thecomedychannel. Previously, Troma's movies had grabbed my interest but I had never seen a frame of any one of them.

So I plonked down to watch Toxic Avenger. And I was somewhat surprised. I didn't expect a lot, knowing that this was going to be low-budget. What I got was a very funny movie with about as much visual appeal as your typical 1980s documentary. Contradicting the visual appeal was a really stupid plot. Obviously, Lloyd Kaufmann didn't want his script to make sense.

I think the unmasking mirrors that in the 1920s Lon Chaney silent "The Phantom of the Opera"(the scene where Christine pulls off the phantom's mask, one of the scariest sequences on celluloid).

Oh, and the monster has a love interest. And she HAS to be blind.

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

I've seen better and I've seen worse...a whole lot better and not much worse

[12 April 2002]

How in heck did Tim Curry let himself get attached to this movie?

It was BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

First off, when I see a movie, I expect to see a PLOT. There was none here that I could see, just a series of unfunny jokes that made the whole movie seem to be not worth it. Didn't the directors realise that Plot and Jokes can go hand-in-hand?

Second off? I expect to laugh at a comedy. This is a comedy, so why was I not laughing?

Thirdly, not even Tim Curry can raise the film out of being something better than what I've described above.

Finally, avoid this movie. Surely there is a better use for 20 dollars.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981)

The. Hoopiest. TV. Show. Ever.

[12 April 2002]

I loved this TV series. It was bizarre, low-budget and just hilarious.

I have read the first three books and have all 12 episodes of the radio show on tape.

The series centers on Arthur Dent, totally ordinary Earthman whose house is about to be demolished by a large yellow bulldozer. But then his friend Ford Prefect (for the American's: it's a car) shows up and reveals himself to be an alien from planet Betelgeuse 7. And the Yellow Bulldozer is nothing compared to a huge yellow spaceship that destroys the Earth. and that is just the beginning of an adventure at a probability of 2^123452185629472945729472643927442732:1

Oh, and there's a paranoid android, a two-headed galactic president with three arms and an Earth astrophysicist

Satan's School for Girls (2000 TV Movie)

It could have been better

[25 March 2002]

I woke up this morning to find a note from my younger sister asking me to tape the movie because it was on while she was at school. So I did.

I didn't think it was too bad, but it would have been better if thy had done it with a different ending.

Shannen Doherty plays your seemingly average girl, Beth Hammersmith. However, after her sister apparently suicides, she receives a message saying "Our Deepest Sympathies--The Five". And out of curiosity, she enrols at her sister's college. On her first day, she gets a note saying "Join Us--The Five".

She meets the Dean (Kate Jackson). And her roomate allison (Julie Benz). And her roomate's friend Paige. And "Sabrina the teenage b tch"--a girl named Lisa (along with her four goth "droogs", if I may use that term).

I'm not going to reveal anything more about this movie in the case that you the reader have not seen it yet.

However, I will tell you that the ending is a little too saccharine for this kind of movie. Had they changed it, the movie would be a lit better (and yes, I do understand that this movie was based on a 1970s TVM that also featured Kate Jackson)

So Little Time (2001–2002)

Ick

[20 March 2002]

Basically, this series has twins Riley and Chloe fighting over boys and such uin a beach town in Hawaii.

I can get where the jokes are, but none of them are funny.

As we all know, the Olsen Twins are terrible actors. You could pick much better actors off the street.

Yup, Bug Juice displays teens MUCH more realistically. Unfortunately, that isn't on where I live, so I have to go with other DIsney Shows.

The great thing is that there is much better stuff on at the time the show airs here