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Reviews
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors (1983)
A tall order
The Five Doctors has a lot to live up to in its 90-odd minutes of air-time, and it succeeds in part. After all, no-one should really expect such a short program to truly represent a series that was - at the time of filming - 20 years old. There were probably many ways the show could have been made, but in the end, its writer chose a very straightforward tale which tries to cram as many Doctors, companions, concepts, monsters and enemies into the same story and, like I said earlier, it succeeds in part. It's great to see all the old Doctors, for example (even if the first Doctor was dead and is played here by a lookalike and the fourth Doctor rather childishly didn't want to be in the show, so is featured via old, unused TV footage), but it's still a bit cheesy to have simply SO MUCH Doctor Who crammed into one show. Sure, it's better than the 10th anniversary story "The Three Doctors," but it's definitely not as good as the latter story, "The Two Doctors," made a few years after this, and which I recommend wholeheartedly.
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Solid, but not groundbreaking
This movie received a bad rap at the movies, and I can see why. It's a solid, workmanlike movie, with good performances from all its actors... but it never rises above itself to be a truly 'great' movie. This is in spite of its premise - an Arab running around with a bunch of Vikings having adventures - which sounds like it could have interesting potential, doesn't it? It's a shame it wasn't taken further. I've rated the movie a '6' - and it's a very good '6' - because it kept my attention from start to finish... it just didn't give me the thrill that a really *good* movie does.
Amadeus (1984)
How is this movie so good?
For a movie that is based on a storyline that is - to put it mildly - an outrageous lie, Amadeus is still an enjoyable tale from start to finish. Even the presence of American accents (most notably, Mozarts wife) roaming the corridors of 18th century European nobility doesn't detract greatly from the experience. Yes, it's that good. Immerse yourself in the music and try not to take the storyline too seriously.