Posted on October 29, 2009 by Darren
This is probably on a shortlist for the best Batman story of all time, alongside Frank Miller’s other definitive work on the character, The Dark Knight Returns. Whereas Millar focused on the eventual end of the character’s crusade against crime, here he focuses on the origin of the character. Expanding from the one-page origin which accompanied Batman #1, Miller brings his keen eye to Batman’s psychology, but also the world in which Batman functions. This isn’t the gothic construction of Tim Burton, but a grimy urban cesspool like Christopher Nolan’s. In the world that Miller carves out for the hero, he greatest opponents aren’t the disfigured freaks who would become his adversaries, but the architecture of greed and corruption that defines Gotham.
Imagine if it had been a seagull that crashed through his window that fateful night...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman begins, batman: year one, comic books, dc comics, frank miller, review, year one | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 29, 2009 by Darren
Horror films are scary. And scary isn’t an emotion we’re intended to experience regularly. It’s evolutionary purpose is to tell us that something really bad is going down right now and we really need to cop ourselves on in order to deal with it. It’s meant to make our adrenaline flow, and our hair stand up – it’s meant to keep us on the edge and stop us feeling comfortable. So, why do we take such great joy in experiencing that abstract terror, the suspense and the horror of scary movies? Surely it’s contrary to our evolutionary logic, right?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: emotions, fear, horror, horror films, movie genres, psychology, scared, screen scare week | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 28, 2009 by Darren
Well, at least it’s an action movie that acknowledges its pointlessness. It isn’t a spoiler to point out that – since Wolverine doesn’t remember his origin in X-Men and has to reminded in X-Men II – none of the events here have any real importance to the character development of the Canadian superhero. The audience knows buying a ticket that anything he learns will be erased and lost and that the film itself is just an explosion-filled flashback which, even if had something worth saying, would be pointless anyway. That said, it does deliver somewhat convincing action sequences and two very good leading performances.
The other man of steel...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: danny hueston, Deadpool, gavin hood, liev schreiber, Movies, non-review review, review, ryan reynolds, wolverine, x-men, X-Men Origins, X-Men Origins: Wolverine | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 28, 2009 by Darren
Seriously. John Carpenter pretty much invented the genre back in the 1970s, and it has been with us ever since. But why do we get so many really terrible variations on people doing bad and gruesome things to other people year-in and year-out. You’d magine that every possible object that exists for a killer to hide behind has been hidden behind and every possible note that could be reached by a high-pitched scream has been reached by a high-pitched scream. And yet here they are, again and again and again. What’s the dealio?
I'm not even sure he's the scariest Myers around...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, halloween, horror, horror genre, jason, michael myers, Movies, slasher, slasher films | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 27, 2009 by Darren
The three biggest children’s films under discussion at the moment are Pixar’s Up, Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are. These three films have generated a debate about who exactly family entertainment should be aimed at, and whether are not there are themes (rather than content) which should be taboo for films that would appear to be aimed at children. More importantly, these three films have sparked a flurry of complaints or criticisms from adults who claim they are far too mature for younger audiences. So, are we really only making these films for big kids?
Watch out, here comes the Politically-Correct-allo!
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: children, children's films, cinema, films, maturity, Movies, parents, pixar, scary, the fantastic mister fox, the fantastic mr. fox, themes, up, where the wild things are | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 27, 2009 by Darren
Just when you think there isn’t an original concept left in comic book storytelling, Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka come up this ingenious concept: what is it like to police a comic book city – and the one populated with the same sorts of loons which give Batman a headache? Brubaker and Rucka construct a truly surprisingly awesome noir police procedure that takes a gutter’s-eye view of one of the darkest cities ever to appear in comic books. It manages to combine the two aspects brilliantly, simultaneously bringing a fresh perspective to both the Batman mythos and the police procedural.
The joke's on Gotham...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, comic books, dc comics, ed brubaker, gotham, gotham central, gotham city, greg rucka, half a life, in the line of duty, motive, review, soft targets, unresolved | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 27, 2009 by Darren
They say that horror movies and (before that) ghost stories reflect the unconscious fears of the time. So, for example, vampires allayed the fear of burying members of the community alive – if there were scratch marks on the inside of their coffins, it was because they were monsters, not because your doctor made a mistake. Or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was a cautionary tale for a society just on the cusp of the age of reason – a warning not to dive too far into that pool labelled ‘scientific progress’. Monster stories and ghost stories allow us to put aside our fears even for a moment by expressing them in their most ridiculous forms – I don’t think that facet of human nature has disappeared over the past century or so. If we accept this line of reasoning, are zombies the current expression of our deeply buried fears? And, if so, of what?
At least they are taking good care of their teeth...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cinema, fears, film, horror, horror movies, individuality, metaphor, monster movies, monsters, Movies, screen scare week, subconscious, zombie, zombieland, zombies | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 26, 2009 by Darren
Kill Bill is an epic, but personal, work for Quentin Tarantino. It’s his Gangs of New York – a movie he’s clearly wanted to make in his own way for a very long time. It’s a tour through the cinematic locales which inform his filmmaking – though he uses Tokyo and Texas, and other names of real life locations, the film isn’t set in anywhere that really exists, or ever could exist, outside his own imagination. Kill Bill is a darkly violent and ultimately juvenile film, but one that was clearly well-loved and properly nurtured. It never ceases to impress, even while it makes you flinch.
Not quite mellow yellow...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: david carradine, films, kill bill, kill bill: vol. 1, kill bill: volume 1, Movies, non-review review, post-modern, quentin tarantino, revenge, review, the bride, uma thurman | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 26, 2009 by Darren
In the lead up to Halloween, we’ll be taking a look at some the horror genre. Check back nightly at 3am (the witching hour!) for a new article each night on the weird and the wonderful of cinema, looking at:
Plus, check out some articles from earlier in the month, like:
Hopefully that’ll get you in the macabre mood for the freaky festivities next weekend…
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cinema, film, halloween, horror, horror movies, screen scare week, the witching hour | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 25, 2009 by Darren
Pixar, how I love you. If Up isn’t the film of the year so far, it’s pretty damn close. Don’t let the fact it’s a far more conventional film than Wall-E fool you – it is just as emotionally honest (it is odd how true to human feelings Pixar can be while running with more outlandish ideas). Pixar have always dealt with real experiences through metaphor – from the fear of middle-age in The Incredibles to the concerned single-parenthood of Finding Nemo – but this movie is particularly upfront about what it’s dealing with. That honesty is almost as endearing as the magical imagination which elevates the film like so many helium-filled balloons.
Almost a clear sky...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 3d review, christopher plummer, disney, ed asner, film, Movie, pixar, up | 2 Comments »
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