Clockmaker

I just rented this from Redbox. I love it when they find obscure moves from 10 or more years ago to add to the bunch.

Noooo, this is not a great movie. But considering the budget, it's acceptable. One of those Afterschool Specials.

It teaches good lessons for KIDS and kids may not be the ones reviewing it. I am over 50, but can see the wisdom over substance.

Don't be so nosy, don't touch stuff that is not yours, keep your wits about you and use your noggin to get out of the mess you caused.

Just make sure you watch it with your Dr. Who glasses on. LMAO.

Have fun!

Found this on Amazon Prime and sat down to watch it with the kids. They gave up before it was half way through. A combination of cheap special effects, low production values, attrocious acting (mostly from the adult cast) and a convoluted yet boring plot make this one of the worst family films ever. Amazon seem to have a large collection of this sort of thing in their vaults. Where do they find them and why do they bother looking??? Do your kids a favour and give this a big miss.

A whiz kid's friend mysteriously goes missing in eccentric Mr. Markham's apartment, which is filled with clock-like mechanisms. He and an older female friend are compelled to go back to the Victorian era to find him and fix a disruption in the time continuum. Will any of them make it back alive?

"Clockmaker" (1998) was later released to DVD as "Timekeeper." Shot at a studio in Bucharest, Romania, with American leads, it's a combination of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Goonies" mixed with the time-travel elements and low production values of Star Trek episodes "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "Time's Arrow" (the latter a 2-part TNG story). It's similar in spirit to "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

In the mayhem of the second half, the kids' dialogue is a little hard to hear, so I suggest using the subtitles (I have no idea why it wasn't turned up in the final mix). In any case, this is an entertaining enough flick if you don't demand the blockbuster standards of "Willy Wonka," "The Goonies" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." A lot of imagination was used in the colorful sets and concepts despite the low budget.

One of the highlights is winsome Katie Johnston as petite blonde Mary Beth Grace. She's obviously a couple years older than the two boys, which is reminiscent of the protagonists in "The Goonies," "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and "In Search of the Castaways." This caused someone to question their friendship, but the answer is simple: They're kids from the same apartment building, but she's not exactly best friends with the boys, which is clear at the outset.

Despite the lack of blockbuster funds, I'd watch this any day over the lousy "In Search of the Castaways."

It runs 1 hour, 22 minutes.

GRADE: B-/C+

Wow, what a bizarre film from Full Moon Studios' label for family entertainment 'Pulse Pounders'. Writer Carr (actually Hollywood guy Neal Marshall Stevens of Thirteen Ghosts 'fame') has been involved in a number of Full Moon flicks including the enjoyable 'Stitches' and 'Sideshow' but generally his fare has been substandard. Here three annoying children, Mary Beth, Henry and Devon are sucked in to a weird world populated by strict men in suits and others wearing strange chemical jackets and face masks. They run around, getting separated and meeting up again many times and eventually get rescued by the Clockmaker whose shop they had broken in to when the trouble started and who it turns out is actually the obese child grown up. Confusing? Indeed. Dull, lifeless and utterly ridiculous this film never rises above poor.

This movie. I have no words. Its very amateur. The camera angles are bad. The obvious use of green screen EVERYWHERE is obvious. And where it was used, it was poorly done. The story line made zero sense. Nothing was explained. Many times the music and effects over powered the voices of the actors. The acting was less than spectacular. It was very over done and the script was poorly written. Half the things the dude said didn't make any sense to me or my mother whatsoever. All in all, it was a very unappealing movie. I mean, If you like watching bad movies and pointing all the bad things out, by all means, have at it. But to me, it was excruciatingly painful. And i love pointing things out. SO yeah. Avoid this movie at all costs. You have been warned.