March | 2011 | the m0vie blog

March (2011) In Review

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Darren

That was a fun month.

I’m still, to be honest, entirely speechless. I picked up the Best Pop Culture Award at the Irish Blog Awards earlier this month, and I’m still delighted and humbled and honoured and all those things. I know I don’t blog to win awards, but I really feel motivated to try even harder to justify the huge vote of confidence that it represents.

Other than that, there was tonnes of stuff. I’m currently blogging along with Things That Don’t Suck‘s “Raimi-fest”, which is a blast. Always a joy to be asked to take part. March also had some fairly decent films – with two brilliant films in Source Code and The Adjustment Bureau, along with a slew of quite good films to go along with it. So that was pretty fantastic. Although maybe I’m just a big softie.

I got to ramble (at length) about the upcoming Superman film, and revisit Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (and just why he was so damn suited to it). I had my first honest-to-goodness interview, with the wonderful Grace Dyas.

I defended big budget blockbusters, wondered who killed The Mountains of Madness and got to discuss why this year’s Academy Awards felt like a great big group hug.

It was a fun month. Hopefully the trend will continue!

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, Adjustment Bureau, arts, Belfast, irish blog awards, Movie, popular culture, sam raimi, source code, spider man, spider-man 3 | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Limitless

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Darren

Limitless has an epiphany about half-way through its runtime. We follow our lead, Eddie, as he discovers a miracle drug which manages to somehow make you a genius (he boasts he has “a four-digit IQ”). However, he is stunned to discover that coming off the drug isn’t exactly pretty. Those who haven’t given up have all died. He meets a survivor in a small café, where she recounts how wonderful the experience of using the drug was, but how hallow life seemed afterwards. Having tasted that sort of greatness, she relates how the world seemed boring afterwards, she couldn’t focus and nothing could hold her attention for more than ten minutes. She seems to have been speaking on behalf of the film.

It's all falling into place...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arrogance, bradley cooper, films, hubris, Illegal drug trade, lazy, Limitless, limitless (film), miracle drug, Movies, Neil Burger, Nico Muhly, non-review review, Paul Leonard-Morgan, potential, pride, review, robert deniro, Time in New Zealand | Leave a comment »

Holding Out For an Anti-Hero: The Rise of the Morally Ambiguous Protagonist…

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Darren

Sure, comedies have a long history of featuring genuinely unlikable characters as leads, but I think the last number of years have seen an explosion in the number of morally ambiguous (and sometimes downright villainous) protagonists, both on the big and small screens. Of course, the entire film noir movement was based upon the idea of a compromised hero, in recent times we’ve found ourselves increasingly cheering for the bad guy.

A serial charmer...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, Boardwalk Empire, Charles Bronson, Deadwood, hbo, jack bauer, Magnum P.I, miami vice, Movies, Shield, Showtime, the sopranos, villain | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Evil Dead II – Dead by Dawn

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Darren

This is a post as part of “Raimi-fest”, the event being organised by the always wonderful Bryce over at Things That Don’t Suck.

I don’t think there’s ever been a movie quite like Evil Dead II. Although you could argue that Raimi’s unique stylings are evident in the original Evil Dead, they don’t really come into their own in quite the same way that they would for the sequel. Although the movie is obviously indebted to any number of sources, the film has a crazy energy all of its own. It rockets along at such speed that the audience is caught a little off guard. It’s refreshing and more than a little zesty, which are certainly among the film’s charms.

Has Ash crossed the wrong monsters?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Ash Williams, bruce campbell, comedy, evil dead, Evil Dead II, films, horror, Horror film, looney tunes, Movies, Necronomicon, non-review review, review, sam raimi, slapstick comedy, spider man | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: All-Star Superman

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Darren

March is Superman month here at the m0vie blog, what with the release of the animated adaptation of Grant Morrison’s superb All-Star Superman. We’ll be reviewing a Superman-related book/story arc every Wednesday this month, so check on back – and we might have a surprise or two along the way.

From the outset, it’s immediately clear that All-Star Superman is immensely faithful to the twelve-issue miniseries that inspired it. There are a few key deviations from Morrison’s core text – some of which were made simply to save time or money, but others which are interesting of themselves. Still, this is pretty much as direct an adaptation as we are ever likely to receive – right down to the eight-word introduction (intercut here with the opening action sequence), the power of the origin distilled down to its core attributes. So the movie, based on perhaps the finest Superman story ever told, obviously has a lot of power drawn from its roots – but one has to wonder what the real point of making an animated feature of it ever was.

Shine on...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alan moore, All Star Superman, Anthony LaPaglia, bizarro, bruce timm, Christina Hendricks, clark kent, dc, dc animated universe, dcau, grant morrison, joker, lex luthor, lois lane, non-review review, review, richard donner, solaris, superman, the tyrant sun, zack snyder | 2 Comments »

Paul Levitz’s Run on The Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Darren

The Great Darkness Saga is regarded as perhaps the classic Legion of Superheroes story. If you could preserve one of their adventures for the ages, this would likely be it. So it’s great to see DC pulling out all the stops and collecting it in a lavish Deluxe Edition, which includes not only the story arc and extras, but the complete build-up to the saga as well. This collection begins with the first issue of Paul Levitz’s second run on the title (and the recent solicitation of a Curse deluxe hardcover suggests that DC will be collecting all of that very popular run) and goes all the way through to the end of this epic storyline.

The book has its legions of fans...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, art, clark kent, comic books, darkseid, final crisis: legion of 3 worlds, Grantmorrison, jack kirby, legion of sueprheroes, Legion of Super-Heroes, Paul Levitz, superman, the great darkness, The Great Darkness Saga, the legion of super-heroes, the legion of superheroes | 1 Comment »

Does Whatever a Spider Can: How Sam Raimi “Got” Spider-Man…

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Darren

This is a post as part of “Raimi-fest”, the event being organised by the always wonderful Bryce over at Things That Don’t Suck.

Watching all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy back-to-back, it becomes increasingly obvious that the director harbours an honest and genuine affection for the source material. In fairness, it’s hard to believe that the cult director seemed like a safe option for a multi-million dollar movie franchise, but it worked out remarkably well – just look at the box office figures and the critical acclaim (of at least the first two films). So what is it about Raimi that really “clicks” with Spider-Man? How does the director get the character so well?

Goblin it all up…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: atomic age, Comics, green goblin, harry osborn, J. Jonah Jameson, monster movies, monsters, peter parker, pop culture, pulp fiction, sam raimi, spider man, spider-man comics, spider-man trilogy, stan lee, Steve Ditko | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Source Code

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Darren

A special thanks to the guys over at movies.ie for sneaking us into an advanced preview screening.

Duncan Jones really grabbed our attention with Moon, one of the most boldly original films of the last decade. However, it’s often the second film of a promising young director that is the most fascinating to watch, as the weight of expectation is measured against a (typically) larger budget and profile. Too many young talents fizzle out or stumble at the second hurdle. I’m glad to report that Jones manages to make it safely across. While Source Code might lack the power of his debut, it’s still a fascinating little science-fiction thriller, one I’m still thinking of hours after I left the screening. And that is certainly a mark of quality.

Has Colter gone off the rails?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Beleaguered Castle, duncan jones, films, Groundhog Day, Jake Gyllenhaal, moon, Movies, non-review review, philosophy, reality, review, sci-fi, science fiction, source code, source code (film), the source code, time travel, war on terror | 6 Comments »

Critics Just Wanna Have Fun: Why I Dislike the “They Don’t Get It” Argument…

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Darren

I like to think I am open minded. Just a few weeks ago, I published an article defending big budget blockbusters from their detractors. However, I find myself growing frequently frustrated when it comes to fans using the old “critics don’t like fun” argument to defend a given movie from any sort of meaningful debate and criticism. It happens a few times a year, most spectacularly with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen back in 2009, but also this year with Sucker Punch. The film has received a critical lambasting, but fans are always quick to rush to the internet to critique the critics, claiming things like “they don’t get it” and “they don’t understand” or nonsense like that.

And, you know what? That’s just plain wrong.

Movie for suckers?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Abbie Cornish, armond white, criticism, critics, dark knight, discussion, films, get it, it, Jena Malone, King's Speech, Last Airbender, Movies, reviewers, Shutter Island, Sucker Punch, they just don't get it, watchmen, zack snyder | 14 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Evil Dead

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Darren

This is a post as part of “Raimi-fest”, the event being organised by the always wonderful Bryce over at Things That Don’t Suck.

Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead is actually a pretty decent addition to the zero-budget teens-go-up-to-the-woods-today-and-are-sure-of-a-big-surprise subgenre. It’s a trashy horror which demonstrates a deeper affinity for the genre than a lot of other “video nasty” slasher films are prone to. However, while the film displays clear hints of the director’s developing skill, it still feels just a little bit too much like another random exploitation “schlock and shock” film.