August | 2010 | the m0vie blog

The Simpsons Myth: Was It Really That Much Better in the Past?

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Darren

It’s one of those things that, repeated often enough, becomes the truth. The Simpsons were funnier in the old days. In fact, limping into its twenty-first season, there are probably die-hard fans out there looking for what they might deem a “mercy killing” from Fox, and the vast majority of us have just really stopped watching. However, as I went back this week and re-evaluated all the Futurama movies, it got me thinking: is it really fair to make the argument that The Simpsons aren’t as good as they once were?

It's a tough balancing act...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: comedy, funny, humour, Television, the simpsons | 9 Comments »

Absolute Kingdom Come

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Darren

The nineties were a tough decade for the comic book medium. Violence sold. “Grim and gritty” represented the direction for most major comic books. Superman died. Batman was crippled. Green Lantern became a genocidal maniac. The Flash had long since abandoned the comic book universe. This was the era back-to-back Venom miniseries, the rise of Rob Liefeld and the lethal vigilante. A lot of people trace back this trend to the success of groundbreaking series like Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns, which demonstrated that darker imaginings of conventional superhero comics could sell. Of course, that wasn’t the point of the comics at all, but such complexity is not the speciality of managers and executives. However, if the birth of that so-called “Dark Age” of comic books could be traced back to those roots, then perhaps Kingdom Come can be identified as the birth of a counter-movement against such trends.

Superman brings a lot to the table...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: absolute, absolute edition, absolute kingdom come, alex ross, Comics, dc, dc absolute edition, dc comics, elseworlds, graphic novel, justice league, kingdom come, mark waid, superman | 6 Comments »

Toying With Ideas: Is Woody a Gift from Andy’s Father?

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Darren

This came up in conversation with the better half about a week ago while we were discussing Toy Story 3. I happened to mention a theory I’d heard some time back that the reason that Woody was so important to Andy (as opposed to say, Rex or Mr. Potato Head) was because Woody had been handed down to the child from his father – giving him extra emotional weight since the father figure is notably absent from all three films (implying he and Andy’s mom could be divorced, he could be dead, or they simply never lived together – although he could just as easily have happened to be absent for every moment we were watching). I quite liked the idea that Woody had been around more than a generation, although my better half was somewhat less fond of the idea. Still, I think it’s a really interesting way to look at the film.

Could I be any father from the truth?

Note: This post contains spoilers for the end of Toy Story 3. But you should have seen it already. If you haven’t, go see it, then come back and share your thoughts.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: andy, andy's dad, gift, pixar, toy story, toy story 2, toy story 3, woody, woody's roundup | 42 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Futurama – The Beast With A Billion Backs

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Darren

I wasn’t overly impressed with the first of the Futurama movies, Bender’s Big Score. It was grand, and a wonderful emotional kick made it worth watching, but it felt very insular and a little too random in its execution – built around in-jokes and clever ideas discarded after five minutes or so. Somewhat paradoxically, it felt more like a “final” episode than the “first” of anything, let alone a welcome to this new format for the show. So I was more than a bit relieved to discover that The Beast With A Billion Backs was a far more consistent viewing experience, but also one which felt a lot more like a regular episode of the show, just stretched to two hours. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

... And Zoidberg, too!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, futurama, matt groening, science fiction, the beast with a billion backs, the beast with two backs | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: Futurama – Bender’s Big Score

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Darren

If only all cancelled shows had the same good fortune as Futurama. After being taken off the air, the show was shopped around a bit, before coming back as a series of four two-hour movies (which could, conveniently for the network, could be split into sixteen episodes – four episodes per movie). The first of the movie’s – Bender’s Big Score – seems an interesting choice to open the specials. Rather than being framed as a re-introduction to the series, designed to attract new fans and effectively act as a second pilot for the show, instead it’s clearly intended as something of a valentine to existing fans.