Reviews by Gator MacReady

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Echelon The Secret Power (2003)

  Review preview for Echelon The Secret Power

  There is barely five minutes worth of things to say in this seemingly never-ending twaddle.

  Mockumentary on the workings of a global information-gathering organisation.
• 
  So Close (2002)

  Review preview for So Close

  It's a bold move, but it doesn't gel properly.

  Kill-for-hire sisters get martial arts kicks.
• Family Guy: Season 2 (2000)
• Hulk (2003)

  Review preview for Hulk

  One of the biggest disappointments in a summer of big disappointments.

  Ang Lee directs summer blockbuster of the Marvel Comics scientist who turns green with anger.
• Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)

  Review preview for Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

  Their acting and comic timing is met with clockwork precision.

  This Dumb And Dumber prequel has Harry and Lloyd exposing corruption at high school.
• 
  The Transporter (2002)

  Review preview for The Transporter

  The Transporter may be simple, but nothing feels mechanical.

  Jason Statham in South of France becomes embroiled with illegal immigrant smuggling ring
• 
  Kangaroo Jack (2003)

  Review preview for Kangaroo Jack

  Jerry Bruckheimer... has no experience with children's films and it really shows here.

  Two hapless friends chase a thieving kangaroo across make-believe Australia.
• The Simpsons: Risky Business (2003)

  Collection of The Simpsons TV cartoons, themed around the subject of the title.
• 
  The Last Great Wilderness (2002)

  Review preview for The Last Great Wilderness

  Just what this film is supposed to be is beyond me.

  Two men take refuge in a retreat for lost souls in the countryside.
• 
  A Man Apart (2003)

  Review preview for A Man Apart

  F Gary Gray does what he can with a poor script, but cannot hide the fact that the material is soggy and weak.

  An undercover DEA agent turns vigilante after a jailed gang boss has his wife killed.
• The Stunt Man (1980)

  Review preview for The Stunt Man

  Multi-layered, original, funny and packed full of story and circumstance that makes you think.

  An on the run criminal takes a job as a stuntman... and finds himself falling for the leading lady.
• 
  Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

  Review preview for Eight Legged Freaks

  Handles the far-fetched hokum very well and with a constant sense of humour.

  Small town in Arizona under attack from giant spiders.
• 
  Futurama - Season 1 (1999)

  Review preview for Futurama - Season 1

  The Simpsons took about eight years to become crap, whereas Futurama began to really suck after only a few episodes.

  futuristic sci-fi TV animated series from the makers of The Simpsons
• Family Guy: Season 1 (1999)

  TV animated series about a strange family that make The Simpsons look positively normal
• 
  Anaconda (1997)

  Review preview for Anaconda

  How can you refuse a movie that offers a POV shot of inside a snake's belly?

  Jennifer Lopez and assorted B-list actors are attacked by a giant snake in the Amazon rain forest.
• 
  A View To A Kill (1985)

  Review preview for A View To A Kill

  Glen keeps a balance between the plot and the action that is believable.

  The super-spy tackles a psychotic capitalist, bent on destroying Sillicon Valley.
• 
  I Spy (2002)

  Review preview for I Spy

  The script is weak and tackles the story with such superficial lightness that nothing makes an impact.

  Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy team up is spoof action thriller, involving an invisible plane.
• 
  Home Alone (1990)

  Review preview for Home Alone

  There are some movies that work best at Christmas and this is one of them

  Macaulay Culkin is left in a big house in Chicago at Christmas time to fend off comic burglars.
• 
  Ed Wood (1994)

  Review preview for Ed Wood

  Alternately hilarious and touching.

  Biopic of 'the worst director of all time'.
• 
  Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)

  Harry enters the second year at Hogwarts... and it's even more perilous than the first.
• 
  Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

  Review preview for Halloween: Resurrection

  Watching a killing machine kill got boring well over a decade ago.

  Michael Myers returns from the "dead" to murder a fresh batch of hapless teenagers.
• 
  They Live (1988)

  Review preview for They Live

  Interesting, but not up to the standard of Carpenter's earlier work.

  Alien conspiracy to brainwash California is exposed by looking at life through "magic" sunglasses.
• 
  Friday The 13th: Part 3 (1982)

  Review preview for Friday The 13th: Part 3

  Has a lighter tone and different feel from the others.

  A teenage adventure yarn, masquerading as a horror flick, with hillbilly Jason doing the honours.
• 
  The Good Son (1993)

  Macaulay Culkin turns psychotic killer in family melodrama.
• 
  Rambo - First Blood - Part II (1985)

  Review preview for Rambo - First Blood - Part II

  Whatever reality First Blood had is well and truly gone now.

  Sly dons his bandana a second time - this time with greatly enhanced body count.
• 
  Out Of Control (2002)

  Review preview for Out Of Control

  It's awful, yet is so well directed and acted that you can't take your eyes off it, no matter how much you want to.

  Gritty drama about boys in borstal.
• 
  Heartlands (2002)

  Review preview for Heartlands

  For an uplifting tale about an ordinary man, who is not a recovering alcoholic, or a typical British waster, then check this out.

  Big-time loser turns his life around when he travels to Blackpool in an effort to win back his estranged wife.
• 
  Hoover Street Revival (2002)

  Review preview for Hoover Street Revival

  There is simply no audience for this film.

  The goings-on within the 'hood of South Central LA and their all-black gospel church.
• 
  Revengers Tragedy (2002)

  Review preview for Revengers Tragedy

  The narrative is so out-of-focus and the characters so unrealistic one cannot figure out exactly what universe the film inhabits.

  A modern day adaptation of Thomas Middleton's 17th century stage play.
• 
  Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001)

  Review preview for Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

  It's a great experience for the actors to get into such meaningful and intelligent roles and for us to be thrilled by their hard work and great performances.

  Several intertwining stories of New Yorkers with no sense of direction in life.
• 
  Frailty (2001)

  Review preview for Frailty

  Instead of being driven by effects and action, Frailty holds your attention with utter disbelief. You can accept what is happening, but do you want to?

  Bill Paxton’s kids think he’s gone nutzo in religious thriller about a serial axe murderer.
• 
  Tribute (2001)

  Review preview for Tribute

  Well worth the time and effort.

  Rockumentary following the lives of tribute bands and their fans.
• 
  Baader (2002)

  Review preview for Baader

  Don't expect anything new, or original.

  German jailbird lashes out at society with a series of uninteresting attacks and confusing exploits.
• 
  Sex With Strangers (2001)

  Review preview for Sex With Strangers

  It's all a bit superficial.

  Documentary following the lives of couples who sleep with any willing partner.
• 
  Pleasant Days (2002)

  Review preview for Pleasant Days

  If you are turned off by European arthouse movies then this is more likely to confirm your dispassion rather than change your beliefs.

  Newly paroled timewaster Peter wanders aimlessly from scene to scene as he continues to squander his life.
• 
  Conan The Barbarian (1981)

  Review preview for Conan The Barbarian

  There really is only one person in the world who could play Conan, as sympathetic and brutal as he is, and Arnie definitely pulls it off.

  Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a muscle-bound brute in the days of sword and sorcery.
• 
  Jason X (2001)

  Review preview for Jason X

  It's a shame that nothing of real genius, or imagination, occurs within this unique environment.

  Friday 13th serial killer does it on a spaceship after being frozen solid for 400 years.
• 
  The Rock (1996)

  Review preview for The Rock

  There are so many distractions and superfluous plot points that the only way Bay can compensate is to turn every scene into an MTV blur.

  FBI boffin Nicolas Cage and grizzled lifer Sean Connery save Alcatraz from wacko army general.
• 
  Predator (1987)

  Review preview for Predator

  Definitely one of Arnie's best and a landmark action movie.

  Arnold Schwarzenegger is stalked in South American jungle by alien killer.
• 
  Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

  Review preview for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

  Robert Wise's w-i-d-e-s-c-r-e-e-n compositions are beautiful and he really manages to lift Trek from the small screen to the cinema screen.

  Capt Kirk, now an Admiral, brings the old team back to save the world from a fresh alien attack.
• 
  The Evil Dead (1981)

  Review preview for The Evil Dead

  It's not a classic. Not yet.

  Five students unwittingly unleash flesh-possessing demons in a cabin, in the woods.
• House (1986)

  Review preview for House

  Ethan Wiley's script is the tiniest bit loose, but is smarter than you would think.

  A horror novelist with writers blocks seeks inspiration at a log cabin... and finds monsters instead.
• 
  Die Hard (1988)

  Review preview for Die Hard

  A cool, classic and creative action picture.

  Bruce Willis is a lone cop in an office skyscraper, taken over by terrorists.
• 
  Aliens (1986)

  Review preview for Aliens

  To think that Ridley Scott provoked so much tension and dread from just one is strange. When they are all over you, it makes for a superior sequel.

  Ripley is back in another alien-killing spree.
• 
  Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

  Owen Wilson is shot down in Bosnian Serb territory and Gene Hackman tries to rescue him.
• 
  Delta Force 2 - The Columbian Connection (1990)

  Review preview for Delta Force 2 - The Columbian Connection

  Plot holes, illogical moments and a general feel of immaturity bog it down.

  Chuck Norris goes into Columbia to save the world from a drug lord from hell.
• 
  Evil Dead 2 - Dead By Dawn (1987)

  Review preview for Evil Dead 2 - Dead By Dawn

  Very little of this makes sense and none of it is scary.

  Sam Raimi returns to the shed in the forest where evil spirits cause unspeakable mayhem.
• 
  Halloween (1978)

  Review preview for Halloween

  It's too brainless and uncomplicated to make us think twice about the plot.

  Slasher shocker about a crazy guy who kills teenagers in a sleepy suburban town. On Halloween re-issue.
• 
  Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

  Review preview for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

  Snow White, the first full-length animated feature, shows a class that Disney has since run out of.

  Disney classic about a wicked queen's attempts to slay "the fairest of them all".
• The Simpsons - Season 1 (1989)

  Premiere season of the dysfunctional family's antics.