Krazeee - Sylvie Marks & Hal 9000

Hal Play The Hits!

Advantages: Great songs, some of the best you will have heard in a long time.
Disadvantages: Could be a little bit too different and too soft for some people.

Hal released this debut album in Spring 2005, rather quietly, there was none of the major promotion of other rock/pop bands out at the moment. But the critics loved it and now are proclaiming it to be one of the best albums of 2005.... Hal started off when Dave Allen and Stephen O'Brien both from Dublin met through a friend. Both had been bands since they were teenagers but those bands were going no where. So they decided to start writing songs together, so for the next two years they worked constantly compiling a stack of songs. All the work was done at night with both having to hold down their day jobs. David's younger brother Paul would hang about during these song writing sessions offering his input and so it was a natural progression for him to join the band. They settled on the name Hal because of their admiration of Hal David ...

x_helix_x 03.06.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of HAL - HAL

Hal of a Laugh

Advantages: some laughs
Disadvantages: lots

I heard on the TV that Shallow Hal was being denoted as an insult against fat people! Apparently a lot of people (fat and otherwise) in the USA had claimed it was insulting! Having an extra stone or two myself, I felt the need to investigate (ok-so I wanted to watch the film too). Gweneth Paltrow plays the leading lady 'Rosemary'. Rosemary’s father (Joe Viterilli) is the owner of a big co-operation in the USA and is Irish. Rosemary’s mother (Jill Fitzgerald) is a typical American mum – albeit an overweight one. Hal the lead character (Jack Black) has the perfect woman in his mind, and will settle for nothing less. But far from being an oil painting himself, he’s dream woman is something of exactly that – a dream! A chance meeting with a man in a lift (Anthony Robbins playing himself) changes Hal ...

dabmim 04.02.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Shallow Hal (DVD)

Shallow Hal - surprisingly deep

Advantages: Nice film, not too demanding, seeing Gwynnie in a fat suit ;o)
Disadvantages: Slightly too long, unmemorable soundtrack

I watched this rom-com film recently on Channel 4, having seen it once before too. While watching it for the second time it struck me how, well, NICE the whole thing is. And funny - the tag lines of "The Biggest Love Story Ever Told" and "True Love Is Worth The Weight" might make you smirk, but the film will make you smile with a fuzzy warm glow. Almost as much as the thought of seeing Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit will ;o) ~~~ Plot ~~~ Hal basically only dates beautiful women, he's very shallow (as you might expect from the film's title), and judges entirely by appearances. But, in a slight twist, this is entirely because he is following his dying father's last wish, that he should only date beautiful women. I'm not sure what the knowledge of this twist is meant to bring to the film, unless it's to raise the question in ...

xalala 11.02.2005 (22.03.2005) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Shallow Hal (DVD)