akpiggott

The main problem with "Firestarter" is it tries to adapt the story of the book faithfully, at the expense of character development. It is impossible to cram a five hundred page book into one two hour movie and make it work favourably. For much of the picture, the pacing feels awkward and rushed, more interested in moving the plot along than developing the characters.

Brian De Palma's "Carrie" followed the story of the book just as closely. But seeing as "Carrie" is less than half the length of "Firestarter", it made for a much more comfortable adaptation.

Stanley Kubrick had the right idea with "the Shining". The book was about the same length as "Firestarter", and as a result the plot was butchered heavily to make it work for the screen. Stephen King (and much of his loyal fanbase) have misgivings about Kubrick's adaptation, a lot of people who love film (and recognise it as the different medium that it is) regard it as a masterpiece.

Mark Lester's "Firestarter" isn't all bad however. George C. Scott's John Rainbird is inspired casting, and probably the best thing this film has going for it. The scene at the Manders' farm, and the conclusion at the Shop's headquarters make for enjoyable viewing and are handled capably.

It's a shame, that as a whole, the film doesn't work too well. I'd definitely like to see this re-adapted into another film or a mini-series. The book isn't exactly King's best, but it has a lot of potential for another screen outing. 5/10

With the recent uprise of awful sitcoms here in the UK, it's nice to see that good British comedy isn't truly dead (arf!). Even better to see a good British comedy film that responds so well to our friends across the Atlantic (and one that credits neither Richard Curtis or Hugh Grant).

Having never watched the (apparently excellent) series "Spaced", and not being a massive fan of zombie movies, I wasn't really sure how I was going to respond to this.

Thankfully, I loved it. It may be a zombie film, but it's the hilarious dialogue and brilliant chemistry between the characters that warms the core of this movie. Crucially, the film maintains a suitable balance between drama and comedy at the right moments, and fortunately (unlike a lot of films in this genre) never plunges to ridiculousness.

The Wayans brothers could've learned a thing or two from this, had it come before the awful "Scary Movie" series. I'll be checking out "Spaced" very soon. 8/10

I saw this for three quid on a web site once and couldn't resist. I'm not a fan of "bad movies", but I'd seen clips of this on television and it looked like an interesting debut for Arnie.

The clips I'd seen were dubbed by some American actor, which looks ridiculous now that Arnie has become so established. However the DVD only had the original Schwarzenegger soundtrack, which proved to be just as ridiculous. People complain about Arnold's accent now? It was so thick in this film, backed up with terrible acting (made his performance in "Commando" look Oscar-worthy), it's no wonder he was dubbed. You can barely understand a thing he says. As terrible as this is though, it's one of the main reasons to see this.

The concept of the film is ridiculous, it perhaps could've worked if it didn't take itself so seriously (ironically, it wouldn't have been as funny though). The thing that really disturbs me is that human beings conjured up this film, adult human beings. They wrote it, it was approved, people agreed to have a part in it, it was directed, it was shot, it was acted, it was edited, it was released, and people actually watched it.

I only watched it once in its entirety, and that took a few sittings (despite its short length). It is mostly a very tedious experience. Thankfully there are some stand-out scenes that are absolutely (and unintentionally) hilarious. The bear wrestling scene for instance, it was like something from a Monty Python sketch. I found scenes like this were actually worth re-visiting, and the only reason anyone would want to keep this in their collection. I later sold it though, it just had no place on my shelf.

Of course this film would be so much easier to dismiss (probably less ridiculous, and even more tedious), if it weren't for Arnie. It is the fact that he has since been cemented as one of the biggest movie stars of all time, and this is where he started. Although he'd already established himself as a body builder at this point, he continued to win more contests, became a huge international movie star, is now the governor of California, and might even be President one day, all with a thick Austrian accent. Looking at "Hercules in New York" is a reminder, there's hope for us yet. 2/10