Reviews

I too, usually take one look at a film's cover and decide there and then whether it's worth my time or not. Thankfully, I gave the cover of 'The Playaz Court' a second look, and discovered it's far from the 'rap star does movie' clone I presumed it would be.

Upon bassing the bar in Oregon, lawyer hopeful returns home to Inglewood - constantly keeping an eye on his younger brother, Reggie, who has gotten involved with some pretty seedy crowds and some powerful players. It all comes to a head, when a seemingly normal game of basketball (with a one man playing too!) turns to tragedy - when one of the locals, T-Bone, is found shot in the toilets.

Naturally, Reggie and his cohorts point to the white man, who has suspiciously left the grounds just after the murder would have occured. Getting hold of him, he's dragged back inside, where the players decide they'll stage their own court to see whether the white man should fry - or whether someone else entirely is responsible for the murder.

Gritty, Compelling, Fantastically performed..."The Playaz Court" is a refreshing surprise. And despite the fact some of the screenplay comes across a little hammy, it's nothing short of damn entertaining.

Stars Kerr Smith, Lochlyn Munro, Angela Featherstone, Michelle Harrison, Adrien Dorval, Donnelly Rhodes, David Neale, John B.Destry Even if the brewskie is yelling your name from inside, don't enter desolate small-town bars – just one of the many messages Director Richard Gale is trying to convey through Indy thriller `Pressure'. A crossbreed permutation of polished road thriller and Richard Kimble intrigues, `Pressure' tells the tale of two med students, Steve (Kerr Smith) and Patrick (Lochlyn Munro), who discard the aforementioned advice, and on the way back to the land of the living, decide to stop off at an uninhabited bar. Realising that a cheerleading convention is in full swing, it looks like the boy's night at the bar will be a memorable one – until Amber (Angela Featherstone) decides to chat up the ostensibly ‘unavailable' Steve. Tempted into a possible one-night fling with the mystery woman, Steve follows her outside. But just as soon as he falls back on his offer to play around with her, the woman's unforseen associate hits him from behind. Seems she and Bo Cooper (Adrien Dorval) have set-up their latest prey. When Bo inadvertently shots himself in his ‘manhood', Steve panics, especially when he hears the man identified on his radio as a ‘Cop'. Knowing exactly what will happen to him if he is found in the obdurate situation, Steve darts back to the bar – grabs Patrick and they hit the road in a never-ending chase. Within hours, the state's police squad – lead by the corrupt, relentless Sheriff Cooper, also the shot man's father- and the FBI have imprinted the hunt one of the biggest of the times. With routes blocked right, left and centre, Steve must harden up and outmanoeuvre his indomitable antagonist, ultimately getting himself out of the mess. Though conventional, `Pressure' is a solid thriller, with some great performances, slick camera-work, tense music score and exceptional use of locale. Gale delivers a movie that doesn't let up for a minute, barely missing a beat over its 90 minutes. Kerr Smith proves he is more than one of Dawson's Creek's teeny cronies, turning in a forceful, notable performance as the innocent on the run. Lochlyn Munro (Scary Movie) adds weighty support as his friend and fellow target, Patrick. Where `Pressure' scores its points chiefly is in the production. This slick, impressive-looking thriller was shot in just 19 days. And for a film shot in that time, with little to no budget or fanfare, this is an enthralling crackerjack thriller proving good things come in small packages.

Michael Tuchner's follow-up to The Secret Garden is a far less inspired outing than it's 1993 predecessor, but never the less still passes muster thanks to some cutesy performances and even cuter scenarios, courtesy cast and filmmaker. As with most low-key sequels, Back to the Secret Garden follows the path of a new bunch of characters, all, of course, experiencing the joy of the titular garden. Lizzie, orphaned American lass, finds herself laying her bed in the same manor where the events of the first film occurred. Miss Sowerby (Joan Plowright), is the be all and end all of the said garden, but under her watchful eye, Lizzie discovers the said place, a place of faith, courage and determination. Back to The Secret Garden, like the first film, has some lovely messages in there for the littlies. While at the same time, giving Mum's a break from that well worn VHS of the original to put something else in the machine for a while. Follow this path for further inspiration.

The return of Judge Reinhold might have been a better title. We seldom see the one time 80's comedy king – and co-star of Beverly Hills Cop, so it's nice to see him carrying a reasonably entertaining movie.

Reinhold plays an unpaid bomb squad expert who stumbles upon a plot to blow up anything attached to a pacemaker. With the aid of a suspiciously coy and over-confident Doctor (Miller) the duo hunt down a mad bomber who has an obvious vendetta against someone in the medical profession.

Whilst Dead In A Heartbeat, is a lot lame, and a little oddball, the plot's so fresh and new that one can't helped but be engrossed in it. The idea of someone putting a bomb in pacemakers, is so preposterously absurd, that I guarantee most people will revel in the 90 odd minutes of thrills here. And it's nice to see Reinhold in a showy role for a change.

The before and after faces of N.Y.P.D Blue – Sharon Lawrence and Mark Paul-Gosselaar – team for this eccentric, and somewhat small-time rip-off of Jan De Bont's Twister, salvaged thanks to it's energetic performances and brief originality. With an intro that reads like Twister – boy watches as his mum is sucked up into the guts of a tornado – Atomic Twister ends up in revelling in it's own innovation by mixing a nuclear power plant into the path of the heavenly punishment.

Without warning, the Plant finds itself rocked by a twister; and it's hand, Corinne Maguire (Lawrence) must sweat it out and put her employees and the town's population before all else for the greater good. Jake (Gosselaar), the young boy who watched his mother's demise at the start of the movie, is co-incidentally now an expert on all things whizzing, and so plays town savoir to the chaotic streets.

Its touches of Hollywood are there, but unlike many B-grade action thrillers, Atomic Twister crosses a hurdle with its authentic performances and exhilarating situations

Richard Martini's "Camera" is an ambitious - yet, addictive independent film encompassing intrigue, comedy and adventure. An inside look into the lives of several people - via the one digital camera they all buy - it's a compulsively magnetic piece that shows flair and creativity on behalf of the helmer. It's got no budget and it's got no buzz - but "Camera" is a rare delight, and especially interesting to see Martini can draw in some fine cameos by people like Jack Nicholson, Oliver Stone, and Angie Everhart.

Bravo Martini - we look forward to your next project.

Deliciously fun, but incontrovertibly grotesque, Michael-Hamilton Wright's sequel to the little-seen `The Mangler' is as cheesy as a tasty Jaffle, but at times as jagged and novel as the most chiselled of horror films. Riddled with the kind of idiosyncratic characters we begin to expect from slasher movies and couple that with dialogue as hackneyed as a Voohees how-to manual, The Mangler 2 manages to draw you in with it's completely preposterous but undeniably entertaining plot about a killer computer that takes over a school and slices and dices the students one by one. As you do. Obviously aware of the recent crop of atrocities trying to pass themselves off as teen slasher movies, this direct to video number revels in it's joie de vivre and camp stencil - and audiences will be drawn into it's new-age tale of terror. Headmaster Badian (Lance Hendriksen) has just installed the ultimate computer system to control, lock-down and monitor the exterior and interior of the grounds. Unfortunately, troubled-teen Jo Newton (Chelse Swain) itches for a little revenge on her imperious principal and inaccessible father and so downloads a computer virus to the high school's mainframe. The Mangler's the kind of virus Norton couldn't even squat. With meat freezers automatically shutting, washing machine's thirsty for flesh and electrical appliances of all sorts turning into murdering machines, it's up to Jo and her 4 accomplices to put a stop to the computer before it wipes out everyone that's stuck in it's path.

Whilst former new-tech tales like Electric Dreams (1984), and Ghost in the Machine (1993) tackled the proverbial 'computer turns nasty' storyline, it hasn't been done in quite a while, and probably for that reason alone `The Mangler' results in being a freakishly fun ride. And despite his lack of directing experience, newcomer Wright proves himself a dab hand in the editing and special effects room creating one of the more inspired slasher flufferies of late.