April | 2010 | the m0vie blog

Desert Island Discs: Who is Taking What…

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Darren

Congrats again to Andy on running such a fantastically successful Desert Island Discs.

I took the liberty of compiling the selections from the sites that went live this morning to give you an idea of who would be taking what to their desert islands (in case you needed to borrow… or were just curious). The picture is below. Click for a larger version.

Note: Not all the blogs went live this morning – and it’s possible I missed one or two (though I did it methodically). If I did, or if you’ve since added a list, please let me know. If there’s enough interest, I’ll update the list next weekend to give a more comprehensive view.

EDIT: And here it is.

Some notes (because I like trivia):

Between us all, we’ll have the completed Indiana Jones trilogy. Because Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull totally doesn’t count. We’ll have incomplete copies of the Lord of the Rings (missing The Return of the King) and the original Star Wars (missing A New Hope) trilogies.
There was a bit of hubbub about what we could and couldn’t take – is the list just movies or are other media forms allowed? Various castaways tried to smuggle The Wire and Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on to their island. I acted under the assumption it was just movies, but am not sure if I’d change anything if I could take TV shows or miniseries.
The Godfather Part II does not appear on anyone’s list, which surprises me.
The Dark Knight is the most essential movie in blogdom (appearing on five islands), though we’ll likely all be borrowing the single copy of Batman Begins out with us.
Only one blogger admitted to bringing porn. And possibly imaginary porn at that.

If you’re bored, you can also try ‘island hopping’ or ‘six degrees of desert island discs’ the idea is basically like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you pick two movies on the list and try to connect them by jumping from list to list where titles overlap. It’s a little nerdy, but still fun.

My own list is here.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: analysis, blogging, desert island discs, events, movie blogs, The Dark Knight | 17 Comments »

Desert Island Discs

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Darren

The ever wonderful Andy over at Fandango Groovers has put together a rather excellent little project among film bloggers where we’re all essentially playing ‘desert island discs’. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, it sees the person in question stranded on a desert island somewhere with only a handful of items – in this case films. Each person will then choose their own eight films that will presumably see them through the rest of their lives in something resembling tranquility. Of course, the kicker is if we arrive on the island and there’s no DVD player.

The Losties were less than pleased when Darren phoned ahead with his movie choices...

Note: I’ve also compiled a list of movies and bloggers, so you can see if anyone else shared your picks.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: best movies, brazil, castaway, desert island, desert island discs, fandango groovers, films, gattaca, heat, lists, Movies, the big lebowski, The Dark Knight, the godfather, the good the bad & the ugly, the truman show, top tne | 31 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Demolition Man

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Darren

I love Demolition Man. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.

Eye see you...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: action, be well, comedy, demolition man, dennis leary, fascism, films, future, huxley, jack black, john spartan, los angeles, Movie, murder death kill, mvoies, non-review review, review, san angeles, science fiction, simon phoenix, simon says, sly stallone, sylvester stallone, the demolition man, the three seashells, three seashells | 3 Comments »

The Pacific: Parts One & Two

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Darren

There are things men can do to one another that are sobering to the soul; and it’s one thing to square it with god, and another to square it with yourself.

– Leckie, Part One

I know that The Pacific is airing in the States a good few weeks ahead of us, but the first episode of the show (well, a double bill) just landed here in the UK and Ireland on the ever wonderful Sky Movies. I’m probably going to do a little summary of my thoughts on the whole show when it finishes airing, but I do have some initial thoughts that might bear putting into words. It’s a great time to be watching television, isn’t it?

It shouldn't be that hard to convince you to watch The Pacific...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: band of brothers, hbo, james badge dale, miniseries, second world war, Television, the pacific, world war ii | 6 Comments »

The Film Critic is Dead… Again…

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Darren

We’re coming into summer blockbuster season. Hell, one might suggest that Kick-Ass has heralded the start of it. If it hasn’t, Clash of the Titans has. That’s if you don’t believe Alice in Wonderland kicked it all into high gear. Anyway, you know what that means – spectacle, lots of it. Some of it incredible, some of it… not so much. The masses flock to the cinema to while away the long summer evenings and movie theatres are filled with the laughter of children (which can be quite irritating to the patrons). It also means that, like the spring lambs, the beautiful cycle of the life and death of film criticism must begin anew. Critics will begin to lament their increasing irrelevance as poor movies make huge sums of money, journalists will light a funeral pyre and some filmmakers like Kevin Smith will gladly join the mob chanting ‘critics are dead’. This fine annual tradition will ebb and flow like the box office fortunes of many an undeserving behemoth. And at the end of it, the critics will still be here.

Why so grim?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: ao scott, at the movies, bloggers, blogging, critics, film criticism, film reviews, kevin smith, Movies, new media, reviews, roger ebert, the future of film criticism | 8 Comments »

Should Joss Whedon Direct the Avengers?

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Darren

It appears that releasing news that Joss Whedon was in contention for the gig as director of The Avengers on April 1st was just horrible timing – it looks like this particular story might not be a festive-themed joke and might just be something thiat may be actually happening. However, since Marvel’s somewhat shrewd business strategy seems to consist of mentioning a name and dodging the internet backdraft long enough to determine how fans will react, we thought that a Joss Whedon helmed Avengers film might merit some discussion.

Will Joss Whedon assemble the Avengers?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, joss whedon, louis leterrier, marvel, Movies, superheroes, the avengers | 8 Comments »

Are the Muppets the Meme of the Moment?

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Darren

I don’t know what it is, there’s just something incredibly sweet about knowing that aspects of your own childhood are still hip and cool. Yes, I’m 23 years old, but I sound like I’m 80. Anyway, with not one but two big budget Tintin adventures on the way (which involved – though he’s departed – Stephen Moffat alongside Peter Jackson and Stephen Spielberg) and the surprising on-line popularity of the string of Muppet Studio Music Videos, I actually feel quite good. There are their three releases so far peppered through their post. If you haven’t had a chance to hear them, they’re well worth a look. You know you want to.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cheapest muppet movie ever, jason segel, muppets, the cheapest muppet movie ever, the greatest muppet movie ever made, the greatest muppet movie of all time, the muppet studio, the muppets | 2 Comments »

Doctor Who? A Tennant Era Retrospective…

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Darren

Well, with The Eleventh Hour airing over the weekend, it seems like the perfect time for a reflection on the end of the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who. I’ll probably go back and do a retrospective on the Eccleston era at some point in the future, but Tennant’s four years in the brown trenchcoat provide a fertile enough starting ground.

Has the Tenth Doctor got a screw loose?

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, christopher eccleston, david tennant, doctor who, era, regeneration, rose, rose tyler, russell t. davies, Television, ten, the doctor, the end of time, the tenth doctor | Leave a comment »

(Big) Daddy’s (Hit) Girl: Kick-Ass Controversy & The Art of Completely Missing the Point…

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Darren

Last week I remarked on how ridiculous it was that people were getting freaked out by the use of a certain c-word (and, no, it’s not a misspelling of the words “kick ass”) by a certain pint-sized assassin in a certain superhero spoof movie. In said article, I had the audacity to state that – although I wouldn’t agree with it – I could understand if they were upset by the gratuitous violence the little kid commits, rather than her choice of language. It appears my appeals to sanity within the moral guardian community has been somewhat answered and various commentators have begun decrying Kick-Ass for the way it treats and portrays Hit Girl, the eleven-year-old sidekick to wannabe Batman by the name of Big Daddy.

Opening Soon: The Nicolas Cage School of Parenting - Enroll Now!

Note: This article contains slight spoilers for the movie and probably bigger spoilers for the graphic novel. You have been warned. But don’t worry, if you want to wait to see the film, this article will be here when you get back.

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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: all-star batman and robin, batman, batman & robin, big daddy, comic books, hit girl, kick-ass, lecturing, mark millar, moral outrage, morality, Movies, robin, sidekicks | 8 Comments »

No Refunds for Ben Stiller…

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Darren

This is one of those interesting stories from the weekend. And, by interesting, I mean “interesting to me”. Anyway, apparently cinemas in Los Angeles have stuck up notices for Ben Stiller’s new movie Greenberg, stating that they’ve had a huge number of patrons demanding refunds for the film and that they won’t be issuing refunds for those who stay more than an hour. I’m going to presume it isn’t a technical fault occurring at every single screening and it’s just the movie itself which is upsetting patrons. So, do you think it’s fair to demand a refund from the cinema because the movie is a bit crap?