ricky_says_hi
Joined Jul 2006
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ricky_says_hi's rating
I saw a screening of this film in the Irish Film Institute and the only actor I knew in it was Fionnuala Flanagan who played Mrs Mills in The Others. However it was supposed to be good so I went anyway.
The film's story is that Flanagan plays the elderly mother to a group of grown-up children that are utterly horrible human beings one way or another. They actually decide to do something nice for their mother and remodel her house while she's out. Unfortunately she reveals that her old mattress that they threw out contained all her life savings - nearly a million. Thus the hunt for the lost mattress begins. Things escalate even further when the youngest son (Pat Shortt) makes an announcement on the radio and it turns into a nationwide sensation.
The film's main bad points are that it runs far too long. It's clear that there are several scenes in the film that are there just to pad out the running time. They have nothing really to do with the main plot and if you removed them, they wouldn't affect the film at all. Among these are an extended sequence where the youngest son believes he has won the lottery only to discover the grandmother and granddaughter have fooled him with Sky plus TV. Also a scene where they throw the mother an 80th birthday party complete with a stripper. The scenes are funny but do nothing for the film and they're obvious filler so watching them becomes tiring. You want them to be over so you can go back to the actual plot.
The film does have good points, notably in its cast. Flanagan and Shortt work well together as the two main draws. Flanagan is a breath of fresh air from the traditional cranky yet sassy stereotypical Irish old lady. However the best performance from the film is the actress who plays the teenage granddaughter. The girl had very good comic timing and seemed very natural on camera. She's definitely one to watch out for, though hopefully Fair City is out of the question. The rest of the cast were all nice and witty too.
The film was well written and well made. I was surprised to find out that some scenes were filmed in Sweden. You'd never be able to tell though. The film's music was also very nice. It really complimented the whole thing and made it an enjoyable experience.
So in short it was a nice little well-made film. However it was let down by the obvious padding which came across as lazy writing.
The film's story is that Flanagan plays the elderly mother to a group of grown-up children that are utterly horrible human beings one way or another. They actually decide to do something nice for their mother and remodel her house while she's out. Unfortunately she reveals that her old mattress that they threw out contained all her life savings - nearly a million. Thus the hunt for the lost mattress begins. Things escalate even further when the youngest son (Pat Shortt) makes an announcement on the radio and it turns into a nationwide sensation.
The film's main bad points are that it runs far too long. It's clear that there are several scenes in the film that are there just to pad out the running time. They have nothing really to do with the main plot and if you removed them, they wouldn't affect the film at all. Among these are an extended sequence where the youngest son believes he has won the lottery only to discover the grandmother and granddaughter have fooled him with Sky plus TV. Also a scene where they throw the mother an 80th birthday party complete with a stripper. The scenes are funny but do nothing for the film and they're obvious filler so watching them becomes tiring. You want them to be over so you can go back to the actual plot.
The film does have good points, notably in its cast. Flanagan and Shortt work well together as the two main draws. Flanagan is a breath of fresh air from the traditional cranky yet sassy stereotypical Irish old lady. However the best performance from the film is the actress who plays the teenage granddaughter. The girl had very good comic timing and seemed very natural on camera. She's definitely one to watch out for, though hopefully Fair City is out of the question. The rest of the cast were all nice and witty too.
The film was well written and well made. I was surprised to find out that some scenes were filmed in Sweden. You'd never be able to tell though. The film's music was also very nice. It really complimented the whole thing and made it an enjoyable experience.
So in short it was a nice little well-made film. However it was let down by the obvious padding which came across as lazy writing.
It's usually the case that movies adapted from video games tend to suck (think Doom, Street Fighter, Resident Evil: Apocalypse) but thankfully this one is one of the good movies.
I'm a big fan of the Tekken games and the first thing most fans will have to accept is that changes have to be made and not all characters will be in. Check the board where the majority of people are whining about their favourite character not making it in, thus declaring it a bad movie.
This is pretty much a typical action movie and it starts off like that, pretty rushed and straight to the point, but it becomes a lot better paced and well fleshed out once we get to the tournament. The fight scenes are pretty well done, if a little short and it's a nice feeling for Tekken fans to see their characters in live action fights. Of course they annoyingly have the "designated girl fight" between Christie and Nina and there's no other women fighting in the tournament.
The cast is pretty good for this film with Jon Foo doing an excellent job as Jin Kazama as well as good performances from Kelly Overton and Luke Goss as Christie and Steve. I liked Ian Anthony Dale's performance as Kazuya though the game crazies will complain that he doesn't act the way Kazuya should be. Other "one scene wonders" would be the actors playing Raven, Brian and Eddie (who all look spot-on) as well as Jun Kazama (looks nothing like her game counterpart but it works because she's twenty years older). The guy playing Heihachi was fine too.
The best part of the film was the way it was made. Special care and attention went into designing the arenas and sets, and that really made the film stand out with its own unique look. It has excellent cinematography too.
So in short, if you're an unbiased fan who won't bitch about changes etc then you probably will like this film for what it is
I'm a big fan of the Tekken games and the first thing most fans will have to accept is that changes have to be made and not all characters will be in. Check the board where the majority of people are whining about their favourite character not making it in, thus declaring it a bad movie.
This is pretty much a typical action movie and it starts off like that, pretty rushed and straight to the point, but it becomes a lot better paced and well fleshed out once we get to the tournament. The fight scenes are pretty well done, if a little short and it's a nice feeling for Tekken fans to see their characters in live action fights. Of course they annoyingly have the "designated girl fight" between Christie and Nina and there's no other women fighting in the tournament.
The cast is pretty good for this film with Jon Foo doing an excellent job as Jin Kazama as well as good performances from Kelly Overton and Luke Goss as Christie and Steve. I liked Ian Anthony Dale's performance as Kazuya though the game crazies will complain that he doesn't act the way Kazuya should be. Other "one scene wonders" would be the actors playing Raven, Brian and Eddie (who all look spot-on) as well as Jun Kazama (looks nothing like her game counterpart but it works because she's twenty years older). The guy playing Heihachi was fine too.
The best part of the film was the way it was made. Special care and attention went into designing the arenas and sets, and that really made the film stand out with its own unique look. It has excellent cinematography too.
So in short, if you're an unbiased fan who won't bitch about changes etc then you probably will like this film for what it is
