September | 2011 | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Extract

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Darren

I’m honestly not quite sure what to make of Extract. Ironically for a movie about a factor producing flavour additives, the movie seems lack a flavour of its own. Is Mike Judge’s effort a quirky and eccentric anything-goes laugh-out-loud fest, or is it a more conventional cookie-cutter comedy? The film seems to fluctuate between the two extremes, at times playing incredible safe and yet occasionally swinging for the fences, adding to a vaguely disjointed feeling to the whole thing.

Meeting of the bored...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: ben affleck, Clifton Collins Jr, DavidKoechner, Extract, film, j.k. simmons, jason bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mike Judge, mila kunis, Movie, non-review review, review | 2 Comments »

Absolute Planetary, Vol. 1 (Review)

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Darren

With Wildstorm being officially folded into the relaunched DCU (the “DCnU”), I thought I might take a look at some of the more successful and popular Wildstorm titles that the company produced. In particular, Planetary, the which will apparently inspire Paul Cornell’s Stormwatch – easily one of my more anticipated titles of the relaunch.

Planetary, as imagined by Warren Ellis and John Cassidy charts “the secret history” of the fictional Wildstorm Universe, as we follow a team of pulp archeologists attempting to uncover “what’s really been going on this century.”As such, it provides Ellis and Cassidy a chance to dig around and play in the pop culture of the twentieth century, celebrating concepts and ideas as diverse as Japanese monster movies, Hong Kong revenge actioners and American pulp heroes, all with more than a hint of nostalgia and affection.

Strange ways...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: absolute edition, absolute editions, Absolute Planetary, Action Comics, clark kent, comic books, Comics, dc comics, Elijah Snow, Ellis, fantastic four, grant morrison, Hong Kong, Planetary, review, superman, United States, warren ellis, wildstorm, Wildstorm Universe, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Star Trek – Nemesis

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Darren

I’m a Star Trek fan, I’ll concede that. And I grew up with the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the ensemble headed by Patrick Stewart as the decidedly British-sounding French Captain Jean-Luc Picard. While I’d argue that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the best of the shows, I hold a special place in my heart for the one that I came of age with. So it pains me to admit their swansong is a disappointing one. Of course, with the show’s preference for philosophical discourse and carefully-considered discussion, you could make the argument that they were never as perfectly suited to the big screen as Kirk’s crew. Still, Star Trek: Nemesiscan’t help but feel like a wasted opportunity, a film incredibly lacking in soul, that doesn’t bid a fond farewell as much as suggest mandatory requirement.

Looks like they'd hire any Tom, Dick or Hardy to play a young Picard...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Leave a comment »

The “Meta” Mystery Approach…

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Darren

I’ve always been fascinated by mysteries in fiction. That said, I will concede I’ve never really been particularly good at picking up on the hints within the work itself designed to point towards a particular perpetrator. I haven’t necessarily got the skills to pick up on what tiny little detail mentioned in dialogue or the tiniest little action that supports a particular conclusion – it’s just not how my mind works. Instead, perhaps as a direct result of watching far too many movies, I find it more relevent to look at factors outside the fictional world where the mystery is set in order to reach a conclusion – I’m more likely to identify the culprit by reference to the film itself than the clues on hand.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, Character (arts), Crime fiction, csi, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, fiction, film, mysteries, mystery | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Buried

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Darren

Buried is a great high-concept thriller, with one hell of a hook and a fascinating premise. Basically the story of kidnap victim Paul Conroy, who is kidnapped by “insurgents” (or “criminals” or “terrorists”, depending on who you ask) and buried alive in Iraq. With only a limited source of light, and even less time, the truck driver is given mere hours to come up with a ridiculously large ransom or he’ll be left in the ground to rot forever.

It's a dirty job...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: buried, colin farrell, film, iraq, monty python, Movie, non-review review, Paul Conroy, review, ryan reynolds, Truck driver | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Finding Nemo

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Darren

You know, even after all this time, I think that Finding Nemo views with The Incredibles as my favourite Pixar production. I respect and appreciate the sheer artistry and technical skill that went into Wall-E and I think Uprepresents the company’s most mature work to date, but I think Nemo perfectly captures everything that I love about the company – the maturity, the humour, the adventure, the technical skill of it all. Plus it has perhaps the best voice cast of the films.

The life aquatic...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Albert Brooks, finding nemo, Great Barrier Reef, non-review review, pixar, review, the incredibles, toy story, up, Up (2009 film), wall-e, Walt Disney Company | 5 Comments »

Guests of the Nation at the National Concert Hall (Review)

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Darren

I was very kindly invited along by the wonderful folks at the National Concert Hall.

I have to admit, I’m always in awe of the effort that the National Concert Hall make in presenting classic film. It really is something to see a classic movie projected on to a big screen, as it was intended, but with a full orchestral accompaniment. They recently hosted a celebration of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse complete with RTÉ Concert Orchestra performing a live soundtrack. This time, it was arguably something even more special, a premier of the remastered version of Guests of the Nation with a brand new score by Niall Byrne. It’s clear that a lot of love went into the project, and there was something genuinely touching about the introduction from Irish actor Stephen Rea. It’s really a wonderful celebration of Irish cultural heritage, and proof that our cinema legacy stretches back a lot earlier than most would give it credit for.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Andrew Legge, Crying Game, Denis Johnston, Guests of the Nation, Irish Film Institute, National Concert Hall, New York City, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Stephen Rea, The Lactating Automaton, The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Girl Who Waited (Review)

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Darren

You always said that for Christmas dinner, you wish there were two of you.

– Rory tries to look on the bright side

The Girl Who Waited might just be the most Moffat-esque Doctor Who script that wasn’t written by the man himself. “Timey wimey” hijinks, killer robots, glitchy technology and cultural misunderstandings all tie together one of the best episodes of the show’s sixth season. Writer Tom MacRae even throws in a juicy character dilemma to add flavour. Offering a fairly explicit example of why travelling with the Doctor might not necessarily be a good thing, despite how much fun it might seem, The Girl Who Waited serves as a prelude to The God Complex, while continuing the season’s exploration of just how tough it is to be the companion.

The waiting room…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: amy, Amy's Choice (Doctor Who), Dalek Invasion of Earth, doctor, Doctor (Doctor Who), DoctorWho, Eleventh Hour, Girl Who Waited, Moffat, Philip Hinchcliffe, rory, rory williams, tardis, The Girl Who Waited, time travel, waters of mars, William Hartnell | 11 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Jane Eyre

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Darren

This latest in the long line of Jane Eyre adaptations stands quite well among them. My better half, whom I readily defer to in matters of culture (if not, sadly, also taste), assures my that it represents a relatively faithful and incredibly thorough exploration of the classic gothic romance, condensed down into a relatively short two-hour-and-ten-minute film. It really is a well-made film, produced with genuine skill and class from everybody on board, and I’d go so far as to suggest that the few problems I had with it stemmed directly from its source material.

Love is in the Eyre...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bbc, Brontë family, Charlotte Brontë, colin firth, films, frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Movies, non-review review, reviews, Wuthering Heights | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Sum of All Fears

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Darren

The Sum of All Fears is a strange little beast. By changing the nature of the movie’s threat from Middle Eastern terrorists to a secret cult of Nazis, the film seems to want to avoid seeming “heavy” or “relevent.”However, any form of entertainment that depicts a nuclear attack on a US city on the same scale as that depicted here, seems to carry a lot of weight with it anyway. I think that’s really the core problem with an otherwise reasonable solid film, the fact that it has difficulty balancing what should be an uncomfortable viewing experience with an attempt not to upset anyone.