Archive of Movie and TV reviews by Year > 2002

Pottering About (Again)
01/12/2002. Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts School for his sophomore year and finds a new mystery involving a missing secret room at the school and a struggle between purebred wizards and those who are interbred. This is not a perfect film, and it does drag in spots, but it is consistently inventive and rewarding.

Oh-Oh Heaven?
01/12/2002. Bond is back with Die Another Day. Is our Pierce the best thing since Sean put on a bow-tie and gave Goldfinger a slapping? Or is this more so-so heaven, rather than double 'O' heaven? Frank reviews.

The Tomorrow People 2:2 - A Rift In Time
01/12/2002. Video: Revelation PAR 50130. 100 minutes - 4 episodes. Price: £ 8.99-£10.99 (shop around for the best price). Starring Elizabeth Adair, Nicholas Young, Peter Vaughn-Clarke, Chris Chittel, Philip Gilbert, Peter Speight and Stanley Lebor.

Triple XXX
01/11/2002. Frank's latest movie review isn't porn - it's Bond-age. A fuelled-up Vin Diesel inherits his very own explosive playground where he gets to play secret agent in the banal and boisterous spy actioner "XXX".

The Adventures of Pluto Nash
01/10/2002. Frank puts his feet up for the space-aged spoof 'The Adventures of Pluto Nash', only to discover this film is about as funny as an asteroid stuck up one's rectum.

Lilo and Stitch
01/10/2002. More SF movie action for Frank. 'Alien'-ation from another planet takes a Hawaiian vacation in the cute but thinly breezy sci-fi animation flick "Lilo & Stitch".

Dragonfly won't Fly
01/10/2002. There's a sound reason for swatting away the preposterous "Dragonfly", Kevin Costner's latest sappy supernatural romantic thriller. Frank's just the man to tell you what it is.

Monsters, Inc.
01/10/2002. Pub: Disney/Pixar D610688 PALVHS. 88 minutes featuring the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal.

The Tomorrow People 2:1 - The Blue And The Green
01/10/2002. Pub: Revelation PAR 50129. 125 minutes - 5 episodes. Price: £ 8.99-£10.99 (shop around for the best price). Starring Elizabeth Adair, Nicholas Young, Peter Vaughn-Clarke, Chris Chittel and Philip Gilbert.

Andromeda DVD Box Set A.2
01/10/2002. Pub: Kult-TV: KLT13102. 230 minute twin DVDs. Price: £19.99 - prices vary look around for the best deal. Stars: Kevin Sorbo, Lisa Ryder, Keith Hamilton Cobb, Brent Stait, Laura Bertram, Gordon Michael Woolvett and Lexa Doig.

Airwolf: The Classic Collection Boxset 1
01/10/2002. Pub: Universal Playback 9062983. 6hr 54 minute 3 VHS videos. Price: £19.99 (UK). Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Jean Bruce Scott, Alex Cord and Ernest Borgnine.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
01/10/2002. Pub: Warner Brothers S021330. 140 minutes. Price: £10.99 (UK) - may vary so shop around. Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Brendan Gleeson and William Hurt.

Reign of Fire
01/09/2002. Flipping fire flaming dragons! Mark finds a movie idea that could have been, well, so intriguing, but instead was mishandled, avoiding showing the most interesting scenes of the story.

Eight Legged Freak
01/09/2002. Our Mark discovers a film that goes for every pun and silly joke it can muster to fill in the spaces between those giant arachnid attacks. Pass the spider catcher, my dear.

Signs
01/09/2002. In this UFO horror flick, Mel Gibson must protect his family from something real or imaginary that has not shown its face, but has seemingly left signs of its presence around the world, causing international anxiety. Hey, who burned those blinking weird circles in my lawn!

All that glitters is not Gold Member
01/09/2002. Yeah ... baby! Are you ready to endure the same ol' exploits with the randy rogue Austin Powers? How about going on a permanent mission in an attempt to put the four-eyed goofball spy out of his misery ... please.

Farscape 3.5 and 3.6
01/09/2002. Farscape Double DVD Box Set 3.3 - DVDs 3.5 and 3.6 Kult-TV: KLT81913. 183 minutes. Price: £19.99 (UK) Stars: Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simco, Wayne Pygram, Gigi Edgley, Paul Goddard & Lani Tupi.

A Rolling Ball Gathers no Plaudits
01/08/2002. Who's in the mood to play games with 'Rollerball', when this movie is a mindless, insipid and excitable sports fantasy that rolls over the cinematic senses, leaving you feeling incomplete? Not us, that's for sure. Not Frank Ochieng either ... read his review here!

Long Live the Minority
01/08/2002. Steven Spielberg adapts a story by Philip K. Dick to create a marvelously faceted and incredibly dark vision of the future. Minority Report is the movie, and this is the best damn review of the film you're likely to read.

Black is not the new Black
01/08/2002. The "Men in Black II" are back to save us from the out-of-this-world vermin. But who the heck is out to save us from the utter piffle of this sequel's 'alien'-ating existence? Frank tells you exactly why you shouldn't be seeing this rubbish, here.

The Real Imposter
01/07/2002. Gary Fleder's new film 'Imposter' poses as a thriving sci-fi adventure. Its real identity? A glossy-looking, predictable and lukewarm futuristic yarn. Frank Ochieng reports.

The Tomorrow People 1:3: The Vanishing Earth
01/07/2002. Video: Revelation/Fremantle PAR 50128. 100 minutes. Price: £10.99- £ 9.99(UK) - prices vary so shop around. Stars: Sammie Winmill, Nicholas Young, Peter Vaughn-Clarke, Stephen Salmon, Michael Standing and Philip Gilbert with guest-stars Kevin Stoney, John Woodnutt and Nova Llewellyn.

The Time Machine: Rod's Take
01/07/2002. Film: Dreamworks. 92 minutes. Rating: PG. Released May 2002. Director: Simon Wells. Stars: Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba and Jeremy Irons.

UFO DVD Collector’s Edition Volume 2
01/07/2002. Carlton DVD: 37115 02523. 615 minutes. £44.95 (UK) - prices vary so shop around.

2001: A Space Odyssey
01/07/2002. DVD widescreen: Warner Brothers D065000. 143 mins. Price: £18.99 (UK). director: Stanley Kubrick. stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, Douglas Rain, Daniel Richter and William Sylvester.

My Spider Sense is Tingling!
01/06/2002. Mark R. Leeper finds that Sam Raimi does a comic superhero story that is more character-driven than fight driven. Toby McGuire plays Peter Parker, the boy bitten by a spider and finds himself with special spider powers. The film is fairly faithful to the comic book and at the same time is fast-moving and fun.

When Clones Attack II
01/06/2002. What must be the most complexly plotted of any film series gets a new chapter. SW-II seems to be the most complex STAR WARS film so far. It busily knits up loose ends preparing the way for the last piece to neatly fit in place. Many things are happening at once as Obi-wan goes in one direction uncovering conspiracies to control the future and Anakin completes unfinished business from his past. Certainly the film is a mixed bag, but there is ample that is rewarding to make this film worth seeing.

Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
01/06/2002. Video: Warner Bros: S022658. Time: 146 minutes plus about 10 minutes of alternative scenes. Price: £10.99 - it varies so shop around. Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grant and Emma Watson, not to mention a troop of some of great British thespians.

The Warrior: Rod's Take
01/06/2002. Miramax Films, distribution by Film Four. Certificate 12, subtitles. Director: Asif Kapadia. Cast: Irfan Khan, Puru Chibber, Mandakini Goswami, Sunita Sharma, Noor Mani, Damayanti Marfatia.

Bitten by a Scorpion: The Scorpion King
01/05/2002. Mark R. Leeper says Conan the Barbarian (in virtually all but name) clobbers again in another sword and sorcery adventure, but this time he is played by The Rock and called Mathayus, the Scorpion King.

Vampire Blood and Egyptian Assassins
01/05/2002. Rod weighs in with some neck-biting action from the cult movie Blade II, and tops it off with a trip to see the Scorpion King too. Truly, he is the king of the bhucket-sized pop-corn.

UFO Volume 1 DVD Collector’s Edition boxset
01/05/2002. DVD: Carlton: 37115 02413. Time: 620 minutes spread across 4 DVD disks. Price: £44.99.

The Tomorrow People Volume 2: The Medusa Strain
01/05/2002. Video: Revelation/Fremantle: PAR 50127. 100 minutes. Price: varies from £10.99 to £ 9.99. Stars: Sammie Winmill, Nicholas Young, Peter Vaughn-Clarke, Stephen Salmon, Michael Standing and Philip Gilbert.

Like a Flame to a Moth(man)
01/04/2002. Dennis Schwartz brings you his thoughts on Richard Gere's latest movie, The Mothman Prophecies.

Time Gentlemen, Please for: The Time Machine
01/04/2002. Mark R. Leeper slaps a couple of bucks down at his local multiplex to bring you this film review of the 2002 remake of HG Well's classic, The Time Machine.

Ice Age
01/04/2002. Mark brings you the inside poop on Ice Age, and discovers that while it's writing was slightly warmer than polar climate change, the next Shrek, this wasn't!

Neutron Bomb
01/02/2002. Did the movie Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius strike our Shannon as a work of an Einstein or the product of the local village idiot?

Lordy Lordy: The Fellowship of the Ring
01/01/2002. Three hours of what may be just about the best fantasy film ever made tells the story of J. R. R. Tolkien's THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Intelligent and visually beautiful, Peter Jackson's first film of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy is an instant classic and quite possibly this generation's GONE WITH THE WIND.