Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has dominated the news this week. Maybe that’s why I haven’t got anything majorly interesting to write on. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the franchise. It’s perfectly unobjectionable entertainment. It’s just nothing too exciting or interesting to me. Anyway, one piece of Potter news that has grabbed my attention is an endorsement from a most unlikely source. Yes, the Catholic Church is trying to be cool again and they like Harry Potter.
Buddy Christ
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: catholic, catholic church, church, ghost rider, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, milk, nicolas cage, pope, vatican | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
The Irish Film Classification Officer, the ever-fantastic John Kelleher, made an appearance on The Right Hook (which is an institution on evening drives in our car) discussing IFCO’s decision to give the controversial arthouse flick Antichrist an 18’s certificate. Over the course of the interview with George Hook (who – though I love him dearly – showed himself to be more than a little out of touch, stating that swear words from Mark Wahlberg as his most extreme cinematic experience), the man who formerly held the title Irish Film Censor outlined his office’s understanding of their role in Irish life. And I whole heartedly agree.
Probably the best censorship board in the world....
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: antichrist, censorship, cinema, films, george hook, ifco, irish film categorisation office, irish film censor, john kelleher, manhunter 2, Movies, the graduate, the right hook | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Darren
Don’t get us wrong, we did enjoy the two Burton films (I have a soft spot for
Batman Returns, despite fandom’s opinion of it). It’s just that the Nolan films –
Batman Begins and
The Dark Knight – managed to perfectly capture what it was about the Caped Crusader that we really loved. There was just something about them that really worked, and we thought we’d take a look at five of the reasons why we liked them so much.
Reason #243: excellent cinematography...
Filed under: Movies, Opinion | Tagged: batman begins, Christopher Nolan, Comics, film, Movies, The Dark Knight | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Darren
I finally got around to checking out the District 9 trailers that everyone’s been talking about. The movie’s attracted a lot of cult attention – mainly because Peter ‘Lord of the Rings’ Jackson has plastered his name all over the trailers – but I haven’t seen any sort of advanced publicity in Ireland, despite a fairly deftly-managed viral campaign in the United States. In fairness, we aren’t getting it until two weeks later than the Americans, but it would be nice to see some of these advertisements reaching us – just pretend we’re a semi-important market. For the uninitiated, it’s a movie about illegal aliens settling in South Africa and becoming second class citizens. The catch? They’re from outer space. In fairness, this year looks to be an epic year for science-fiction – Watchmen is already out, Moon is currently on release, Avatar is due out in the next few months and there seems to be legitimate buzz around The Road as an Oscar contender. Still, District 9 looks like it might just be a bit preachy for my tastes, but isn’t most science fiction?
Guess the moral...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: district 9, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, ethics, films, gattaca, message, morals, Movies, preachy, science fiction, space racism, star trek, star wars, the matrix | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 14, 2009 by Darren
I’m a sucker for great cinema. I’m an even greater sucker for ways of paying tribute to great cinema. Turner Classic Movies have launched their Summer Under the Stars season (where stars like Cary Grant and Sidney Poitier get a whole day dedicated to their classics over the month of August) with a variety of teaser posters which treat these movies as if they were brand spanking new. I have my own favourites of the collection after the jump, but it got me thinking about other great ways of advertising films. Not particular films, but cinema in general or classics. As an amazing experience.
I’ve come up with some great examples that I’ve been taken with lately.
If they showed these ads in cinemas, I'd be happy...
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: advertising, adverts, cinema, film advertisements, films, great films, high definition, montages, Movies, posters, sky, sky digital, sky hd, tcm, turner classic movies | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 14, 2009 by Darren
I am a nerd. I openly acknowledge that. In fact, I revel in it. I like to think I enjoy a broad sampling of all artforms, enjoying a nice play, a well-illustrated comic book, a compelling television miniseries, a smartly put together Oscar-baiting drama and a nice book, among other things. I’m not a snob – I love ‘big dumb fun’. I also like niche and wacky nerdy stuff. And I can appreciate the occasional bad writing that creeps into these genres – because isn’t bad writing everywhere? (Anyone reading this blog would likely agree.) And I really enjoy the vast majority of fans – the people who have a genuine interest in the subject matter. I never got why if you were an expert in Lewis Carroll Stevenson you were a literary connoisseur, but if you embraced the world of JRR Tolkien you were a fan. I love that people embrace these works and discuss them and think about them. That’s something encouraging to see in any media – engagement. But there is one element about these niche artforms that does throw me for a whirl, and it’s a perception that makes my somewhat shy to acknowledge that I embrace these forms of art. Yes: it’s the dreaded fanboy.
Things David Tennant would rather listen to than fanboy complaints...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: backlash, children of earth, cult, fanboys, fandom, fandumb, fans, james moran, Movies, popular culture, Television, torchwood, torchwood: children of earth | 3 Comments »
Posted on July 14, 2009 by Darren
… I’m a Joker, I’m a Smoker, I’m a Midnight Toker
What is it about the Joker that makes him such a great villain. He’s appeared in just about every media form where Batman has appeared since Batman #1 way back in 1940. He is one of only two villains to appear in both of the more recent Batman film franchises and he seems to be the only character in the history of the Batman family who has survived every era of the character unblemished. Be it the light comic relief of the Dick Sprang era reflected in the Adam West show (where Ceasar Romero is clearly wearing a mustache under his makeup), the darker sense of humour of the animated Joker voiced by Mark Hamill in The Animated Series through to the anarchist/nihilist terrorist portrayed by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight – none of these incarnations are any less in character than any of the others. What is it about the Joker that makes him one of the great villains of our time?
The world's leading cause of coulrophobia...
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Filed under: Movies, Opinion, Television | Tagged: batman, Christopher Nolan, Comics, grant morrison, heath ledger, jack nicholson, joker, The Dark Knight | 5 Comments »
Posted on July 13, 2009 by Darren
I’ve finally gotten to see all the five Best Picture nominees for the 81st Academy Awards. I’m honestly disappointed it took me so long, but that’s what happens when a flood of prestige movies hit the cinemas over three weeks in January and the Academy doesn’t even pick the good ones. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the contenders, in retrospect. The previous year’s awards featured a fantastic line-up – Juno, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood – that hit just about every demographic and represented the awards at their best. This year, we got a closed shop.
The statuettes are actually quite creepy when you get to looking at them...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2009 oscars, 81st academy awards, academy awards, AMPAS, best picture, films, frost/nixon, milk, Movies, Oscars, slumdog millionaire, the curious case of benjamin button, The Dark Knight, the reader | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 13, 2009 by Darren
Even four years after is original release, The Dark Knight casts a pretty big shadow. Not only is it the best Batman movie ever produced, and easily one of the best stories to feature the character in any medium, it’s also a wonderful piece of cinema on its own terms. Christopher Nolan is an astounding craftsman, and one who constructed his superhero sequel without ever feeling the need to dumb down. The Dark Knight is a wonderfully effective and stunningly constructed piece of popcorn cinema, but it’s also the most profound and engaging (and, importantly, even-handed) meditations on the War of Terror that Hollywood has produced. It’s bold and accessible, but it’s also intelligent and engaging. More than an astoundingly impressive blockbuster, it’s just a superb piece of cinema.
It all goes up in flames…
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: aaron eckhart, batman, batman begins, christian bale, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, film, gary oldman, gotham, harvey dent, heath ledger, joker, Movies, non-review review, review, two face | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 13, 2009 by Darren
It’s a year since The Dark Knight arrived on cinema screens, smashing various records and earning a massively positive critical and commercial reaction. The Bat himself turned seventy earlier this year and his influence over popular culture shows no sign of fading – even if Bruce Wayne is ‘dead’. Over the next week, to celebrate these two facts, we’ll be running a series of articles looking both at the film and the character – from a review of the film to a look at the iconic status of the Joker and why we love the Nolan franchise so much, as well as thoughts on where it might go next and an obituary for a character who has enjoyed an incredibly varied seventy-year existence in countless mediums.
All this stuff is pre-prepared, so it won’t interrupt our coverage of other pop culture happenings. In the meantime, what better way to kick off proceedings than with a review of The Dark Knight?
Not bad for an OAP...
Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: batman, bruce wayne, comic books, dark knight, dc comics, features, The Dark Knight | Leave a comment »
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