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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus (Film)

by Andrew Moraitis | December 23, 2010 10:51 | Edited December 23, 2010 10:53

Is this glorious trash? Or just trash?

Sure, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus may incorporate many of the (dubious) hallmarks of the post-Ed Wood, bad-cult film: much of the acting is appalling, some characters completely disappear from the plot, the special effects are shoddy (the film was originally intended for 3D, but the idea was scrapped when the investors could not find money for the process) and the writing is either laughably clichéd or unwieldily clumsy.

 

Yet this feature - about a ‘sexy' scientist (singer-turned-actress Debbie Gibson) and her desire to protect mankind from the double onslaught of Mega Shark and Giant Octopus - is not quite as successful in its ‘so-bad-it's-good' outcomes as, say, Tommy Wiseau's The Room (which is also running as part of Cinema Nova's Cult Cravings sessions).

 

Firstly, the film does not have an actor as unintentionally brilliant as the mighty Wiseau or any of his hypnotic bit-players, although Sean Lawlor (an Irish actor formerly of In the Name of the Father and Braveheart) takes most of the acting honours for his gusto conspiracist-turned-military advisor (don't ask).

 

Similarly, many of the ‘dialogue' scenes are simply dull rather than laughable, punctuated by confusing motivations and character turns, with ‘topical' references to Hurricane Katrina and Guantanamo Bay appearing particularly half-hearted.

 

Still, it is difficult to completely hate-on a film that incorporates a sequence where a giant shark attacks a completely airborne passenger plane. Whilst it disappoints that the titular fight only arrives well into the third act, many of the action sequences are gloriously bad, with documentary footage unsuccessfully inter-spliced with extremely ropey special effects that look more like early pre-vis than polished CGI. Similarly, the action is so incompetently staged that the spatial relationship between the shark, octopus and submarines becomes confused. 

 

With less-than-superb performances, a stilted screenplay and poor effects, it is in some of the action sequences that Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus at least lives up to its promise as entertaining schlock.