October | 2010 | the m0vie blog

Halloween Costume Fan: Tim Burton’s Superman

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Darren

With all the buzz around the up-coming Snyder/Nolan Superman reboot, it’s easy to forget that there was a planned relaunch of the franchise in the nineties, at the hands of Tim Burton – who cut his superhero teeth with Batman. Nicolas Cage was planned to play the Man of Steel and Kevin Smith has shared many anecdotes about the ridiculous studio demands (polar bear sentries! giant spiders!). However, special effects creator Steve Johnson has revealed the costume designs he had planned for the character for the nineties reboot (titled Superman Lives! – with mandatory exclamation mark!) Check them out below, or visit his facebook page for a closer look.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman, kevin smith, nicolas cage, Steve Johnson, superman, superman lives, tim burton, zack snyder | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Land of the Dead

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Darren

Welcome to the m0vie blog’s zombie week! It’s a week of zombie-related movie discussions and reviews as we come up to Halloween, to celebrate the launch of Frank Darbont’s The Walking Dead on AMC on Halloween night. So be sure to check back all week, as we’ll be running posts on the living dead.

Zombies, man. They creep me out.

– Kaufman

Land of the Dead is something of a delayed epilogue to Romero’s “dead” trilogy. The first three films were produced roughly once every decade, with The Night of the Living Dead appearing in the sixties, Dawn of the Dead in the seventies and Day of the Dead in the eighties. There was no zombie movie from Romero during the nineties (save a remake of his original film – and even then Romero didn’t direct it – his frequent collaborator Tom Savini was behind the camera. Land of the Dead is a somewhat more controversial film than the first three films Romero produced, perhaps because it’s the first time that it feels like Romero gives his zombies more development than the human survivors. It also plays with the audience’s expectations a bit more than the first three films – and, whiel I’m not convinced that this sort of toying around with the formula works, you have to give the director credit. It isn’t as strong as the earlier films, but it still feels like a director who has something to say about the state of modern society. And that is about good enough for me.

Hopper-ed up...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 28 weeks later, asia argento, dennis hopper, films, george a. romero, george romero, horror, john leguizamo, Land of the Dead, Living Dead, Movie, Movies, night of the living dead, simon baker, Tom Savini, zombie, zombie week!, zombies | 2 Comments »

The Walking Dead, Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Darren

I want to like Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. I really do. I love zombies. I love it when writers use horror to explore socially relevent issues. I totally dig the black-and-white style which is clearly intended to evoke the vibe of George Romero horror films. I love that it’s a mainstream comic book property that has broken into popular culture despite not featuring muscle-bound guys and gals with impossible physiques in ridiculous spandex – proof to the masses that comic books can be about more than superheroes. However, as much as I may want to embrace and love The Walking Dead, I just can’t bring myself to.

Grimes and punishment...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: AMC, arts, charlie adlard, comic book, comic books, Comics, end of the world, feminism, frank darabont, gender, george romero, image comics, michonne, robert kirkman, sexism, sexist, stereotypes, Walking Dead, zombie apocalypse, zombies | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: 28 Weeks Later

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Darren

It’s strange. 28 Days Later felt strangely British, with its almost quaint surroundings and “island fortress” mentality. Filmed in High Definition with an intimate approach, the movie felt somehow more tangible and organic than most of these films, managing a genuine emotional impact that it’s easy to lose sight of in these fantastical narratives – its small scale and quirky design (along with hyper saturation) lent the movie a very distinct feel, the sensation that this was a “guerilla” zombie film – shot in the early morning on abandoned streets rather than closing off sections of town. In contrast, 28 Weeks Later feels a much more managed affair, and a much more conventional one. It’s shot like any other zombie movie, and clearly intended to reach an even wider audience than the original cult hit. It’s a great movie, but one can’t help but get the sensation that the fine polish applied to it undercuts some of the impact.

The army had to find something to keep themselves occupied...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 28 days later, 28 weeks later, Christopher Nolan, film, Harold Perrineau, Imogen Poots, iraq, jeremy renner, Living Dead, Mary McCormack, metaphor, Movie, non-review review, occupation, review, world war z, zombie, zombie week!, zombies | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Day of the Dead (1985)

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Darren

Day of the Dead is the third in Romero’s classic “dead” trilogy and perhaps the last film he produced that has been universally accepted. While he has, to date, produced three more zombie films (and there are those – including myself – who appreciate some of those to a greater or lesser degree), Day of the Dead is considered something of a closing note on Romero’s epic zombie apocalypse saga – perhaps the other three acting as appendices (with Land of the Dead an epilogue and Diary of the Dead a “reimagining”). Either way, it’s a strong little film which holds together relative well. It will never be iconic as the two earlier films produced – The Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead – but it still feels like a fitting companion piece.

He's got him undead to rights...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, films, george a. romero, george romero, Jan Hammer, Living Dead, miami vice, Movie, night of the living dead, Tofurkey, zombie week!, zombies | Leave a comment »

Could Zombies Really Occur?

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Darren

I know it’s a bit lazy to just post a link rather than coming up with any original content, and I apologise sincerely, but it just fits this week’s theme so well that it would be a crime not to post it (even though it’s a good three years old). Anyway, the guys at cracked have put together a list of ways that a zombie apocalypse could actually occur. My brother, a science student, actually concedes that these are all reasonably close to possible. It’s a great read for anyone with an interest in the topic, or just looking for some food for nightmares (it being Halloween and all). Enjoy!

It could happen to you?

For those looking for a more feasible (and less science-fiction-y) account of real life Voodoo zombies, Time ran an excellent article on the culture.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: halloween, zombie, zombie week! | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Shaun of the Dead

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Darren

Ah, facing down a herd of zombies with nothing but a Cricket Bat. Is there a more British response possible to the fall of civilisation?

And that's my cue...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Dylan Moran, edgar wright, films, Jessica Hynes, Movies, nick frost, night of the living dead, non-review review, penelope wilton, review, shaun of the dead, Simon Pegg, zombie week!, zombies | 3 Comments »

X-Men: Messiah Complex (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Darren

This is the seventh in a series of comic book reviews that will look at the direction of Marvel’s core continuity (and in particular their “Avengers” franchise) over the past five or so years, as they’ve been attempting to position the property at the heart of their fictional universe. With The Avengers planned for a cinematic release in 2012, I thought I’d bring myself up to speed by taking a look at Marvel’s tangled web of continuity.

It has been commonly accepted that the “golden days” of X-Men crossovers are behind us. Of course, “golden days” is a subjective term – for every Age of Apocalypse, there was an Onslaught Saga – but there’s no way to argue that the mutants didn’t dominate Marvel’s output in the nineties. One would have thought that with Bryan Singer’s X-Men helping give birth to the superhero genre, this past decade might have been an even better one for the franchise, but it was not to be. In fact, The Avengers seem to have replaced the X-Men as the engine driving Marvel’s storytelling universe. Some might suggest that it is so blatant that it looks intentional (prompting a movie-related “conspiracy theory”), although Marvel have casually denied it – with vice president Tom Brevoort stating “these things tend to go in waves”. However, Messiah Complex is the first of a series of crossovers with the X-Men titles following House of Mwhich would chart the franchise’s gradual return to the status quo.

Cyclops has warmed to Ms. Frost…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, comic books, crossover, deus ex machina, ed brubaker, games, hope, house of m, joe quesada, marvel, marvel comics, Marvel Super Heroes, matt fraction, messiah complex, Mutants, New York Comic Con, no more mutants, peter david, Tom Brevoort, x-men, X-Men: Messiah Complex | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Kids Are All Right

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Darren

The Kids Are All Right is a charming and engaging little dramedy with a wonderful cast. It manages the wonderful feat of making an on-screen family seem “real” – there are any number of sequences in this which viewers will spot from years of family interactions. It’s an interesting study of how a strange “interloper” can have a surprisingly destablising effect on a family unit – how it all it takes is this one catalyst to bring all this unsung tension to the surface. But it’s never heavy or self-important. Sure, the ending is more than a little awkward, but the movie’s smart and funny enough to keep you engaged with it to the final reel.

And that’s saying nothing of the cracking David Bowie soundtrack? It has Won on it!

Paul gets a crisp reception...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alice in wonderland, family, film, Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko, mark ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Movies, non-review review, review, Sperm donation, the kids are all right | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Darren

It’s strange. For all the huge cultural impact that George A. Romero’s The Night of the Living Dead had (and it had quite a bit), people tend to focus quite a bit on the sequel, Dawn of the Dead. Perhaps it’s because the film is in colour, or because it features a far broader tapestry than Romero’s original zombie effort, or maybe it’s simply a better film, but the sequel is arguably every bit as well known (even to those who haven’t seen it) as the original – the idea of surviving a zombie apocalypse in an American shopping mall is one now etched on public consciousness (so much so that anywhere any survivor in any film ever seeks shelter is compared in some way to that mall) and even the damn elevator music has become famous in its own way. While I will concede the film is far more ambitious than its direct predecessor (and probably contributes more to the zombie mythos), I think it can also be argued that the film has far greater weaknesses as well.