Reviews

John Hughes is a personal hero of mine, so I was desperate to see this film, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed, mainly because the contributions from his movie stars, from Ally Sheedy to Alan Ruck, were respectful, sincere and full of adoration. All of them wondering what happened to a man who they considered a dear friend.

I had to think though, if these actors and producers were such good friends of Hughes, wouldn't he have wanted to stay in touch? Wouldn't he have missed their company as much as they claim to miss his?

One aspect of this film that I found utterly pointless was the group of wannabe film-makers, documenting their attempts to talk to the man himself. It was kind of like a secondary unneeded documentary mcguffin. It did give a glimpse in to their passion for this project though, but I found their street walking interviews with kids who obviously have no idea what they're talking about to be tacky and last-minute.

This movie being made while Hughes was still alive, provided a sense of longing optimism for the return of Hughes, as the actors that have given interviews beg him to come back, which leaves you with a depressing taste in your mouth at the end of the film as you realise he's gone and his genius has gone with him.

Notably absent was a contribution from Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald and Macaulay Culkin, which disappointed me considering I cried like a baby at their Oscars tribute.

I give this film a 6/20 for effort, because despite its shortcomings, it's clearly a labour of love and who can blame them for that?

Oh, and I still think Judd Nelson is a self righteous, conceited showpony.

"A sci-fi comedy? nah...that'll never work." That's what many people originally thought about the comedy classic Red Dwarf when the idea was first brought up in the mid 80's. But little did they know it would be so unexpectedly successful that it would actually have a cult following from all over the world.

The brain child of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, Red Dwarf is unlike any other comedy. It has a unique British humour, and its sprinkled with dry wit and hilarious one-liners, but any fans of this show will know that there's something more to Red Dwarf than any other comedy ever made.

The characters are the most mis-matched bunch of low lifes in the cosmos, but put them together and they work perfectly! Rimmer: the most misunderstood man in the universe? perhaps, but its more likely he's just a great big jerk. He has no redeeming qualities what so ever, and yet it's impossible not to love him.

Lister: 50% Space scum. 50% Barely human slob. 100% Absolutely hilarious. The last man alive and he can't even microwave his own socks? Cat: whose 3 main traits are vanity, stupidity and, well, vanity, cat cares only for himself and finds his crew mates disgusting.

Kryten: where would the crew be without the humanoid Kryten? I absolutely love this show and have seen all 8 seasons several times, and I plan to watch them many times more. Watching Red Dwarf not only makes the viewer laugh, but the characters are so likable that watching it gives a deeper form of entertainment because the characters almost become like friends. The characters and actors do make this show, who could imagine anyone as Rimmer other than Chris Barrie? Or a better Lister than Craig Charles? The writing is truly very clever and incredibly unique, with subtle jokes as well as obvious rip offs and hundreds of hilarious one-liners.

This is one amazing, fantastically unique show that will never be equalled.

I really can't stand to hear people bag this show out. It's fantastic, the writing is imaginative, the directing is great, and as far as the acting goes, it has some of the best performances I have ever seen from an Australian cast. If anybody knew anything about quality TV shows, they would not be able to find fault with this show.

I loved this show right from the beginning, the first episode is a 2 part telemovie that draws you in and leaves you begging for more. The 3 main characters that the show centres around are Kelly, Evan and Alex and the on screen chemistry between these three actors just jumps out of the screen, and leaves you feeling like you are actually friends with them.

Without a doubt, the first two seasons were pure gold. They were by far the best. The third season had promise, and some of the story lines were amazing, but as we lost several members of the main cast, the show lost its spark and by the fourth season it was nothing like the beginning.

The show was pretty much doomed after it lost Alex. She was the star of the show. Claudia Karvan is an amazing actress and I applaud her for staying with the show for as long as she did.

The relationships in the show are what made it so special. Alex and Evan, Miranda and Richie, Miranda and Will, Gabrielle and Alex, Gabrielle and Jason, Kelly and Nathan...they all brought out the best in each other, and supported each other in so many ways.

The downfall of the show came with the introduction of characters such as Nikki Martel and Lucy and Adam beckwith. Nikki was an appalling and badly written character. Anna Torv is a great actress, but she was wasted on a disaster like Nikki. Nikki's character was so pathetic, it made me turn off my set several times. Then you have Lucy Beckwith, the most boringcharacter ever written into a TV show. Any storyline with Lucy was justdismal and didn't give the spark that the previous characters had. Lucy's character was partly due to bad writing, and partly due to the average acting abilities of Alexandra Schepisi. Lucy could have been more interesting if Alexandra had got it right, but she didn't. At times, I would watch a scene with Lucy in it, and would feel embarrassed for Alexandra because her acting was just so transparent and unconvincing, that you just see her as pathetic. Adam Beckwith was not so bad, he had some redeeming qualities and was played well by Nicholas Coghlan, but once again, fell victim to appalling writing.

Then we have George. Gigi Edgely is without a doubt the worst Australian actress I have ever seen. George was a huge character, she could have been amazing, but she was played by an average actor. I would have liked to have seen Anna Torv play George, she could have pulled it off...but Gigi, there's no excuse for such dull performances, when you have such a vibrant and interesting character to work with. George was a huge disappointment for me.

Sticking with the original characters, this show is my favourite Australian show to this date, and I enjoyed watching it immensely.

five stars.