Change Your Image
allmoviesfan
Will watch basically anything!
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try again
My Favourite Hallmark & Lifetime Christmas Movies
Reviews
Paris Has Fallen: Episode #1.1 (2024)
"Episode #1.1"
"Paris Has Fallen" races out of the gate with a typically bloody - in keeping with the movies - violent and well-constructed siege sequence at the British embassy in Paris, where gunmen open fire, killing a lot of people.
The terrorist, scarred Jacob Pearce, played well by Sean Harris) in charge has a bone to pick with the French Minister of Defence, which is how we're introduced to Tewfik Jallab's Vincent, a protection officer for the MoD. Around the same time we meet Ritu Arya's Zara, a British intelligence agent.
Breakneck speed, bloody action, a few twists I didn't see coming and plenty of unanswered questions...all with the stunning backdrop of Paris.
A strong start.
Roswell (1999)
Fantastic! Just not enough episodes.
This show was huge when I was in high school. Creator Jason Katims has given us Dawson's Creek meets X-Files! (I had a huge crush on Shiri Appleby at the time, and I'm willing to bet I wasn't alone!
Liz Parker is just a girl, working at the Crashdown Cafe in Roswell, New Mexico when a disagreement between two patrons goes awry, a gun is fired and Liz, wrong place at the wrong time, is shot.
Or is she?
Thanks to the timely intervention by quiet, brooding Max Evans, there's no sign of blood or a bullet hole when the proverbial dust settles.
"Roswell" sets off at breakneck pace from there. Liz and her best friend Maria are brought into the dangerous world of Max, his sister Isabel and their friend Michael who are from Up Yhere.
Not Canada, but outer space. They're aliens who crashed decades earlier and - thanks to being frozen in some alien fashion - are now students at West Roswell High. Max is head over heels in love with Liz. The chemistry between Shiri Appleby and Jason Behr was bang-on. Could not have been more perfect.
This show deserved better. Three seasons (and the final one truncated) wasn't enough. The storylines were mostly fantastic, giving everyone what they wanted: sci-fi on one hand and teen romance on the other. Memorable characters - good and bad - and enough drama to poke a stick at.
Barely a bad episode.
Roswell: Graduation (2002)
"Graduation"
A fitting end to three seasons of "Roswell", bookended by men with guns.
Not sure Jason Katims and his team could have come up with a better and more poignant final episode. Pretty much everything that I wanted to see happen did.
Jason Behr and Shiri Appleby were the stars of the show again. Their chemistry as Max and Liz was undeniable. It powered this show through three seasons. Those two could not have been cast better.
"Graduation" felt like a love letter and a thank you letter to the Roswell fanbase all rolled into one.
Sad to see the show end, but it ended on a note of hope and positivity.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING ROSWELL.
Roswell: Four Aliens and a Baby (2002)
"Four Aliens and a Baby"
It didn't surprise me one iota that the downed spacecraft that was the subject of the previous episode's USAF cover-up was Tess bringing her son back to earth. I mean, they couldn't end "Roswell" without giving that story closure.
You weren't supposed to like Tess. Right from the beginning, she got between Max and Liz, then she killed Alex, then REALLY got between Max and Liz...but at least she went out in a blaze of glory, doing some good for the people who had cared for her. Emilie De Ravin portrayed her well.
In and around all that drama, Mr and Mrs Evans find out the truth about Max and Isabel. Some emotional scenes, well-constructed and well-acted by all.
And so, on to the final episode ever.
Roswell: Crash (2002)
"Crash"
A good episode. After a fight with Max, Michael is out letting off steam in the desert when what appears to be a UFO collides with a USAF jet near him. He finds the pilot's (Larry Poindexter) helmet amongst the wreckage and gets out of there, later learning via a USAF press conference that the pilot didn't eject and didn't survive. He tracks down the pilot's daughter (Samantha Shelton), a USAF cadet, and shows her the helmet, which leads to a race to save the pilot's life, complicated by the efforts of a USAF officer and a shadowy man (played by Paul Schulze, of "24" fame) who are planning to kill. At the same time, Jesse and Isabel are being questioned by Isabel's parents about the state of their marriage.
The question is (and one that is left unanswered to this point): who was on the other ship?
Then there's the Mr and Mrs Evans situation that takes a turn for the absolute worst at the end of the episode.
Roswell: Who Died and Made You King? (2002)
"Who Died and Made You King?"
Brilliant episode - high stakes Roswellian drama at it's very best.
It seems that following Max's death the Antar Royal Seal and the powers that come with it, were transferred to the hot-headed Michael, which makes him king - and sets off a Battle Royale between he and Max, when they can least afford it. Because, after threatening Jesse's therapist - who thinks Jesse has married into an organised crime family - the FBI get involved and abduct Jesse from the garage where Kyle works, and we learn that there are a few leftovers from Agent Pierce's Special Unit - remember them from Season One? You don't know for sure until the very end of the episode whether he is working with them or not.
Roswell: Chant Down Babylon (2002)
"Chant Down Babylon"
It turns out that Max wasn't quite as dead as we thought at the end of the last episode. His mind was somehow transferred across into old Clayton during the attempted healing process, and thus Clayton is getting Liz-related memory flashes. Unfortunately for Liz, Clayton and his wife (Morgan Fairchild) decide the best thing to do is to go to Liz's boarding school and kill her.
Back in Roswell, Isabel is shot breaking out of the lab and with Max DOA - or, at least, MIA - at the time, no one can heal her, and events spiral out of control to the point where Michael has to tell Jesse the truth.
Plenty of drama. Not very much in the way of downtime. "Chant Down Babylon" covered a lot of territory, and quickly.
Roswell: Panacea (2002)
"Panacea"
WOW! Quite an ending to "Panacea". Worthy of a season finale - but instead it's the thirteenth episode of Roswell's third season.
Veteran actress Morgan Fairchild guest stars in this episode which features two of our favourites - Maria and Liz - away from Roswell. The former is in New York City getting her music career started and the latter at a very strict boarding school called Winnaman Academy, which appears to be somewhere in the northeast. An emergency in Roswell involving Max, Michael, Isabel and the Valenti's unfolds towards the unexpected conclusion.
The next episode - especially - is going to be very interesting.
Roswell: Ch-Ch-Changes (2002)
"Ch-Ch-Changes"
Change is definitely the order of the day in "Ch-Ch-Changes", and there are some big ones.
After duetting with Jim Valenti on a Meat Loaf song, Maria is spotted by a record label talent scout and offered a future in music...but her serious love song is transformed into a pop-dance song, and to further her career, she needs to move to New York City, at a time when her relationship with Michael isn't exactly on steady ground.
Things are worse for Liz. It seems that when Max healed her way back when (in the pilot episode), he might have inadvertently done some damage to her. She's sick and exhibiting very serious alien problems, and not even Max can save her. Liz says some things during his attempt to draw the sickness out of her, which change everything.
At the end of the episode, Liz makes a drastic move.
Roswell: I Married an Alien (2002)
"I Married an Alien"
After Michael randomly becomes a devotee of "Bewitched", Isabel begins to wonder what her life would look like in a similar sitcom where Jesse knows the truth. Fully half of the episode - including a second set of credits - is in the form of "I Married an Alien", a Bewitched-style sitcom that mirrors real-world events. Jesse's college friend (played by "Wonder Woman 1984" and Hallmark favourite Kristoffer Polaha) turns up and decides to write a story about Max, Michael and Isabel being the three Roswell aliens. Really cleverly done episode.
If you like "Bewitched" and "Roswell", I can only imagine how much you must have loved this episode.
Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties (2002)
"A Tale of Two Parties"
First come Christmas and then comes New Year's Eve so it makes perfect sense that the episode following the Christmas-themed one deals with New Year's Eve.
I liked the way the episode started with a flash forward to the morning of January 1, raising some pertinent questions about what exactly happened to our favourites on New Year's Eve, then went back to let the story unfold.
It is indeed "A Tale of Two Parties", with Liz forced to work at the Crashdown where the Parker's have always hosted a party for a local retirement home. At the same time, Michael, Max and Maria decide to go hunting for clues to the famous Enigma party, which has been a Roswell tradition for years. Meanwhile, Jesse is stranded in Houston so Isabel passes time with Kyle.
Roswell: Samuel Rising (2001)
"Samuel Rising"
Another brilliant Roswell Christmas episode. Like last season's, this one hit me right in the feels as Max works with a young autistic boy who he believes might be a conduit for messages from his son. Jason Behr is fantastic and so is Gavin Fink, who played the young boy, Samuel.
This episode packed in all the feels, and really tugged at the heartstrings. A well-conceived episode, with a wonderful Christmas soundtrack. I dare you to watch this and not get a little emotional.
P. S. I assume the episode title "Samuel Rising" is a tip of the cap to the Mercury Rising movie starring Bruce Willis that was released around the same time, and featured an autistic child.
Roswell: Behind the Music (2001)
"Behind the Music"
Garrett M. Brown's Philip Evans is like a dog with a bone and his corkboard is growing as he ties more people into his assertion that something is wrong with Max. It's very Carrie Bradshaw-Homeland stuff, actually. Even though Isabel tries to throw her parents off the scent by telling them Max got Tess pregnant and she left (actually, the truth) it doesn't work...and she is added to the conspirator list. You can see where this is all going.
Maria's first kiss (from their band camp days. This one time, at Band Camp...) is back in town and it causes all sorts of issues between her and Michael. The latter is bitten by the jealousy bug, which makes his powers go a little haywire.
Roswell: Interruptus (2001)
"Interruptus"
Poor old Isabel and Jesse, just married and on their honeymoon in La Jolla, are interrupted by Kivar, Isabel's murderous and treacherous boyfriend from Antar who wants her back, and wants to take her back to their planet. He's inhabited the body of a Roswell local so Isabel, with assistance from Max and Michael, need to figure out how to get rid of Kivar without killing his human host - and, importantly, make sure Jesse doesn't find out.
A strong episode featuring the Big Bad of Roswell, whose name we have heard uttered almost since day dot on Roswell.
Also, Liz happens across her father having a phone conversation with Max's dad about a meeting, and makes a shocking discovery when she follows her dad to that meeting.
A real game-changer.
Road House (1989)
"You're Too Stupid to Have a Good Time"
One of my favourite guilty pleasure movies to this day and one of Patrick Swayze's best roles - if not his very best.
There's a reason people remember "Road House", and that reason is Swayze's Dalton, a wooden, two-dimensional character who spends a lot of time beating the living tripe out of people, and when he's not doing that, he's romancing local doctors.
The plot of "Road House" could be lifted from 1989 and placed into a western movie set in a dusty Arizona town in the 1870's. Dalton sets about cleaning up more than just a sketchy bar in smalltown, Missouri. He takes on the corrupt businessman who rules by fear and is basically untouchable, extorting locals and law enforcement alike. Untouchable until he crosses Dalton, that is.
Ben Gazzara is a good bad guy - he makes Brad Wesley an easy character to hate. Even if he's another cliched character. You look forward to his eventual comeuppance.
Sam Elliott's cameo as Dalton's mentor, Wade Garrett, was great. Kelly Lynch as Dr. Elizabeth Clay didn't have a lot to do as Dalton's love interest (these characters are nearly always either doctors or teachers) but was fine, and certainly easy on the eye.
Violent, crude, cliched, corny: "Road House" is great in spite of all those things, or perhaps because of them.
It's brain-free entertainment, and I mean that in the best way possible.
They should never have tried to remake this one.
Roswell: To Have and to Hold (2001)
"To Have and to Hold"
Finally, Roswell gets a wedding episode. We've had Christmas, prom, Vegas and dead friend episodes and now the final frontier has been crossed: the wedding. Isabel and Jesse get hitched. It's a fun episode with the expected dramas that seem to befall anyone who plans to get married in a soap opera. Does anything ever go smoothly? Nope. I could pretty much tick off the list of expected events, but it was still a good episode - and with the sudden arrival, first in dream form and then apparently in real life of Kivar (talk about a wedding crasher!), it asks many pertinent questions for the episodes ahead.
Roswell: Control (2001)
"Control"
A return to form. "Control" is the best episode of Roswell's third season since the first one.
Why? Because it perfectly balanced both parts of what makes Roswell great: the soap opera drama and the sci-fiction alien crises drama. For mine, there's been too much of the former and not enough of the latter for the most part this season. Nice to see a return to that balance. Here's hoping that continues.
Max's quest out in Los Angeles continues - Joe Pantoliano's turn as Kal Langley was very good - and Isabel's wedding planning hits high gear, though not without plenty of speedbumps along the way.
The Neverending Story (1984)
A children's classic
Core childhood memory unlocked!
If you were born anywhere from like 1985 to 1995, were you even properly brought up if your parents didn't let you watch "The Neverending Story"? I'm going to say no.
This is a children's classic. Can't tell you how many times I sat down during school holidays and watched this.
Atreyu, Bastian, Falkor and all the rest in the realm of Fantasia. The Nothing scared me. So did the Swamps of Sadness. It's amazing how much I remember.
This makes me sound old - and approaching my fortieth birthday in early 2025, I guess that I am - but they don't make them like this, anymore.
Roswell: Secrets and Lies (2001)
"Secrets and Lies"
Finally, back to the science fiction elements that made Roswell season two so good. Max heads off to Los Angeles after an alien shapeshifter murder there, and ends up - ironically, considering Roswell's executive producer is Jonathan Frakes aka Star Trek's Will Riker - at a Star Trek: Enterprise audition.
Meanwhile, back in Roswell, Nick Wechsler's Kyle Valenti finally has a meaningful role to play, rather than a bit part or pop up for a cameo. Those have been few and far between for Kyle across two seasons and a handful of episodes into the third. There's a Valenti family history angle to this one, which works well.
A much better episode after two indifferent ones.
Roswell: Significant Others (2001)
"Significant Others"
Roswell had switched to UPN for the third season, and "Significant Others" was more reminiscent of something from the first season. Light on alien crises of varying kinds and heavy on interpersonal relationships. We have rebellious Liz because Mr Parker has forbidden her to see Max, lovestruck Isabel who wants to be with Jesse Ramirez (and wants to tell him the truth about hert) and is still talking to Alex's ghost and Michael, who realises he has to balance his friends from the security company and his relationship with Maria. Even the events of the first episode feel distant at the moment. Here's hoping we get back to that story pretty soon.
Mission: Impossible II (2000)
Fantastic entertainment!
I might be a little biased because M:I-2 is largely filmed in my hometown, but the second in the long-running Tom Cruise action series is far better than the first. Certainly, there's a tonne more explosions and bullets.
The John Woo element cannot be discounted. His trademark slow-motion shots - especially during the gunfights and hand-to-hand-fighting - are nothing short of spectacular. Woo definitely leaves his mark, helming some brilliant action set pieces that will leave you in absolute awe. The Bare Island scenes are the best of the lot.
Tom Cruise is just fine as Ethan Hunt. Australian Jon Polson's Billy Baird adds some stereotypical ocker Australian. Dougray Scott and Australia's Richard Roxburgh (ironically playing a South African) are menacing bad guys. And who doesn't love Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell?
If M:I-2 can be accused of a slow-ish start, it certainly comes home with a wet sail. The last thirty minutes are non-stop.
Roswell: Michael, the Guys, and the Great Snapple Caper (2001)
"Michael, the Guys, and the Great Snapple Caper"
Probably the longest title of any Roswell episode and, if I'm being honest, it was kind of a nothing episode. Not any big reveals. Not much on the alien warfare front. Tess isn't mentioned. Max and Liz sneak around. Jesse and Isabel sneak around. Both couples with limited success. Michael gets a job as a security guard (his boss is Terence O'Quinn aka Terry O'Quinn of "JAG" and "Hawaii Five-O" fame) and a lot of the episode focuses on that part of things. Probably an episode we could have done without.
Fair to say that "Michael, the Guys, and the Great Snapple Caper" is more filler than killer.
Roswell: Busted (2001)
"Busted"
Well...I certainly did not have Max and Liz going full-on Bonnie & Clyde to hold up a convenience store in Nowhere, Utah as the way Roswell's third and final season would open.
A cleverly put together episode that is a mixture of flashbacks and present-day story threads that all come together in the end to make sense and to set up the rest of the season. There were a few surprises thrown in, and the introduction of potentially a new major character, played by a pre-CSI: Miami stardom Adam Rodriguez.
I also think it's the most we've seen Liz's parents and Max and Isabel's parents on screen. Maybe more this episode than all their previous appearances in total?
Roswell: The Departure (2001)
"The Departure"
A gripping and brilliant episode from the first second to the last.
The granolith is online. It takes twenty-four hours to power up, then it will take Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess back to their home planet.
So they Czechoslovakians have one night left on earth to tie up loose ends, including handling the alien who killed Alex.
The season two finale has everything you'd want from a season finale: action, drama, romance, a boatload of emotion, a shocking reveal and an even more shocking betrayal. It also has quite a cliffhanger that sets up season three.
"The Departure" is one of those great TV episodes that you don't ever want to end.
Roswell: Off the Menu (2001)
"Off the Menu"
A flashback to events prior to the prom episode. You have to pay close attention to Majandra Delfino's open or else you miss that important Roswellian nugget.
Brodie, eccentric at the best of times, gets some sort of electric shock whilst using a 3D simulation to figure out where he goes when abducted, ends up shocking himself and opens up the part of his brain that Larek uses to commandeer his body. That of course leads to all kinds of issues when Max uses his powers to stave off Brodie, who has acquired a gun and uses it. Then Maria, her mother and Sean, and, later, Liz happen upon the UFO Centre and they become hostages as well. Max has to figure out how to defuse the situation and reclaim the CD-ROM with the CCTV footage of him using his powers.
Quite an episode. Desmond Askew does a brilliant job.