February | 2012 | the m0vie blog

The Magic Flute at the Samuel Beckett Theatre (Review)

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Darren

The Opera Theatre Company is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary by touring the country with a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Perhaps one of the most well-known and accessible operas, I do have to praise the cast and crew for bringing it to life. The production design is lavish and the vocal talent is impressive, even if there were one or two logistical problems to do with the staging in the Sam Beckett Theatre in Trinity College Dublin.

Sing no evil...

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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: Freemasonry, Magic Flute, Mozart, Opera, Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company, Sam Beckett, Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 2 Comments »

Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012 Highlights

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Darren

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival have released their programme for 2012. Taking over the city centre from the 16th through to the 26th of February 2012, the team have been working tirelessly to put together a schedule offering something for everybody. I have to admit, I’m quite looking forward to a number of these films, and have included some of my own choices and preferences below.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: al pacino, arts, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Cinema of Ireland, cineworld, Dark Knight Rises, dublin, film, Film festival, jameson, jameson dublin international film festival, judi dench, Movies, Sherlock Jr, tim burton | 2 Comments »

Negotiating Potential Hazards: The Art of Movie Negotiation…

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Darren

I’m kinda looking forward to Man on a Ledge, if only because it looks like the sort of high-concept thriller that could be fascinating viewing – I’m hoping for something similar to Phone Booth or Buried or other movies that take a fairly simple situation and centre a thriller around it. I’m a sucker for a good negotiation thriller. There’s something about that sort of film that just intrigues me. Whether it’s a hostage situation, a botched bank robbery or something else entirely, I think that those kinds of movies that manages to combine large-scale epic drama with a more intimate personal conflict. I think that’s a dynamic that’s somewhat hard to mess up, there’s just something inherently compelling about such a small-scale interaction with such large-scale consequences that it’s very hard not to get sucked up in the drama of it all.

High stakes game...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: al pacino, Chris Sarandon, Clarice Starling, Dog Day Afternoon, elizabeth banks, Man on a Ledge, Negotiator, new york, New York City, phone booth, Sam Worthington, samuel l. jackson, Sidney Lumet, Taking of Pelham 123 | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Chronicle

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Darren

Chronicle is a fascinating deconstruction of the American superhero myth – the notion that “with great powers comes great responsibility”, as Stan Lee once wrote (albeit in a more convoluted fashion). Much like Fox’s other major release this week (Martha Marcy May Marlene), it represents an impressive theatrical debut from a young director who hopefully has a long and distinguished future ahead of him. While there are elements of Chronicle that do lack a bit of polish, it’s a compelling and engaging film, one that succeeds at picking apart some of the core assumptions of the superhero genre.

He's got the power!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrew, Andrew Garfield, Chronicle, chronicle (film), chronicle (movie), Dane DeHaan, film, Josh Trank, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Max Landis, Movie, non-review review, Trank | 10 Comments »

Geoff Johns’ Run on Green Lantern – Brightest Day (Review)

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Darren

It must be difficult to follow an absolutely huge event like Blackest Night, which cemented Green Lantern as one of DC’s largest franchises (perhaps second only to the Batman books under Grant Morrison). After all, the gigantic crossover was the culmination of over five years of work by architect Geoff Johns, and it might have been easy for the writer to pack it all in and call it a day. However, he didn’t. This collection, covering the entire New Guardians story arc, is very clearly a bridge between two big Green Lantern events – Blackest Night and War of the Green Lanterns. It also works a launching pad for a whole host of other titles, from Brightest Day to Emerald Warriors to Green Lantern Corps. However, the collection works at its very best when it is smaller in scope, and more intimate – when it pauses to wonder what happens to a world-saving superhero when the heat of the great big galactic threat has passed.