Posted on September 20, 2009 by Darren
That was depressing. Really depressing. Soul crushingly depressing. What we have here is a good movie that flirts with greatness but never really comes to life. Perhaps Mendes is trying to evoke the dull lifelessness of suburban life, but the movie just doesn’t sparkle enough to engage the audience. Still, it holds two of the best performances of last year, and is never less than intriguing in its exploration of 1950s America.
Yep... Anyone want to bet things are going to work out better this time around?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 1950s, 1950s america, american beauty, drama, film, kate winslet, Leonardo diCaprio, Movie, non-review review, review, revolutionary road, richard yates, sam mendes, suburban, suburbia | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 19, 2009 by Darren
Romantic comedies generally suck. They’re predictable and formulaic. They don’t reflect the reality of relationships. They involved hackney cliché and coincidence. They never actually deal with any of the hurdles that real couples do. Sure, every once in a while there’s an exception like Chasing Amy or As Good As It Gets, but for the most part, I can’t stand the trite conventionalism of the romantic comedy genre. So, last night – as payback for dragging my girlfriend to District 9 – we saw (500) Days of Summer. Now I’m going to use four words I never saw myself using together in this combination: an innovative romantic comedy.
After the boys of Summer are gone...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: (500) Days of Summer, film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, marc webb, Movie, non-review review, review, romance, romantic comedy, the summer effect, zooey dreschanel | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 19, 2009 by Darren
Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. It’s a match made in nerdy comic book heaven. Of course, the duo made their name by working together on The Long Halloween and its direct follow-up Dark Victory and have both had a huge influence on the two Nolan Batman films, but before they completed that grand sweeping arc that tied together the early years of the Caped Crusader’s career, they first teamed up on three Halloween Specials through the mid-1990s. Why is it that Halloween Specials are so much better than Christmas Specials? Think about it, you have The Simpsons’ Halloween Special in one corner and the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special in the other. Still, that’s a discussion for another day.
Because you wouldn't read a Batman Christmas Special...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: anthology, batman, batman begins, batman: dark victory, batman: haunted knight, batman: the long halloween, Christopher Nolan, comic, comic books, dark victory, graphic novel, halloween, halloween special, haunted knight, jeph loeb, mad hatter, review, scarecrow, stories, The Dark Knight, The Long Halloween, the mad hatter, the scarecrow, tim sale | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 18, 2009 by Darren
I caught Burn After Reading last night and sat down with my aunt and uncle to watch it. Sure enough, it was as divisive among us as it was among everyone else – my aunt hated it, my uncle enjoyed it and I loved it. My aunt claimed nothing happened and the cast was full of over-actors, my uncle was relatively satisfied with his viewing experience and I was delighted to see the funnest Coen Brothers film since The Big Lebowski.
Artist's interpretation of Darren enjoying this film. Note: Hunkiness may be exaggerated.
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: brad pitt, burn after reading, cia, coen brothers, comedy, ethan coen, film, frances mcdormand, george clooney, intelligence, joel coen, john malkovich, Movies, no country for old men, non-review review, review, the coen brothers | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 18, 2009 by Darren
Hollywood. It’s the place where dreams come true. Where normal things like traffic don’t bother heroes like Jack Bauer, credit ratings and mortgage payments don’t halt Carrie’s spending spree and Bruce Willis never has to fill out an insurance claim form. No wonder they used to call it Hollywoodland, like some sort of fairytale kingdom (in actuality it was to advertise a housing development). This magical quality (or, if you’re cynical, ‘disengagement’) means that Hollywood can take its time in reflecting the tastes of the common people and the issues that really affect them.
High-flying corporate executive...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: confessions of a shopaholic, context, credit crunch, economic climate, films, george clooney, hollywood, issues, jason reitman, Movies, optimism, recession, sex and the city, sex and the city 2, studios, up in the air | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 17, 2009 by Darren
I read an interesting article over at The LA Times which suggested that we may be able to spot how radically the new voting rules have changed the way that the Academy awards people and films.
Going for gold...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: academy awards, alfred hitchcock, AMPAS, best director, best picture, driving miss daisy, hitchcock, LA Times, Oscars, plurality, stv, voting | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 17, 2009 by Darren
21 is a solid middle-of-the-road coming-of-age tale. It isn’t something as deep or insightful as Good Will Hunting or The Dead Poets Society, but it doesn’t aspire to be. It sets its ambitions relatively averagely: it wants to entertain and amuse rather than stimulate or provoke. Does it succeed at these somewhat modest ambitions? Somewhat.
"You know what I'm capable of... You seen se7en, right? 21 is three times se7en. You do the math."
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 21, blackjack, casino, counting cards, film, hollywood history, kate bosworth, kevin spacey, las vega, laurence fishburne, MIT, Movie, non-review review, review, true story, vegas | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 16, 2009 by Darren
This could go either way… or nowhere at all.
Recent quotes from JJ Abrams and Roberto Orci seem to suggest that the sequel to this year’s Star Trek could “reflect the things that we are all dealing with today”. It’s certainly interesting, suggesting that the movie series could reflect the goings on in the real world – but it would require a damn fine writing staff to pull it off.
Kirk will have issues...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: allegory, films, jj abrams, Movies, robert orci, science fiction, sequel rumours, social commentary, social issues, star trek, star trek 12, star trek sequel | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 16, 2009 by Darren
We don’t really do chat shows in this part of the world. Well, that’s a lie. We don’t do them well. And when we do do them, they are Prime Time shows like The Late, Late Show and are more often than not cheap imitations of chatshows from the States – we’re looking at you, Tubridy Tonight. In recent years we’ve tried the morning and afternoon chatshows and they haven’t really caught on – there’s a crisis at the RTE Afternoon Show even at the moment. In the States it’s different. Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful person on television. She saved Whitney Heuston. She makes or breaks best selling novels. Oprah is powerful. So the rumours that Oprah’s time as queen of the afternoon come as a bit of a surprise to me. As do many of the suggested reasons…
O, my god!
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: afternoon television, chatshows, oprah, oprah winfrey, politics, ratings, Television, the oprah winfrey show | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 16, 2009 by Darren
Last week I outlined why I didn’t think that Harvey Dent should be brought back for the sequel to The Dark Knight. If Nolan comes back, I trust him to do whatever he feels like doing with the franchise – he’s demonstrated that he knows what he’s doing when it comes to directing Batman. If he wants to recast the role of the Joker – or if he doesn’t – that’s fine with me. So, it’s ultimately futile to speculate about films that haven’t even entered production, but that’s never really stopped me before, has it? It keeps coming down to the Riddler – Johnny Depp or Eddie Murphy or whoever. It seems that everyone is expecting The Riddler to be the villain (or at least play a supporting role) in the next film. But I’m skeptical.
When the Riddler heard he was the new host of Bullseye, he didn't know that people would take the title so literally...
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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: bad guys, batman, Batman 3, batman 3 villain, batman 3 villains, batman begins, batman villains, Christopher Nolan, comic books, David Goyer, david s. goyer, frank gorshin, heath ledger, johnny depp, joker, Movies, riddler, rogues gallery, The Dark Knight, the dark knight sequel, the joker, the riddler | 4 Comments »
the m0vie blog 
Star Trek (X)II: The Search for Issues?
This could go either way… or nowhere at all.
Recent quotes from JJ Abrams and Roberto Orci seem to suggest that the sequel to this year’s Star Trek could “reflect the things that we are all dealing with today”. It’s certainly interesting, suggesting that the movie series could reflect the goings on in the real world – but it would require a damn fine writing staff to pull it off.
Kirk will have issues...
Continue reading →
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: allegory, films, jj abrams, Movies, robert orci, science fiction, sequel rumours, social commentary, social issues, star trek, star trek 12, star trek sequel | 2 Comments »