Non-Review Reviews | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Patriot Games

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Darren

Truth be told, I think Patriot Games stands as one of the best American spy movies produced in the last thirty or so years. It helps that it has, for my money, one of the great leading actors in Harrison Ford, but I also think it works because it tries to explore something of how the American espionage services work, while functioning as a thriller in its own right. It’s easy to reduce the American intelligence agencies to mere window-dressing in a conventional action movie, or to heavily politicise the organisations as part of a political drama, but I think Patriot Games works best because it’s a spy movie that actually feels like it’s a thriller about the intelligence gathering community.

Family man or Company man?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: films, harrison ford, ira, Ireland, Jack Ryan, james bond, Movies, non-review review, Patriot Games, Phillip Noyce, review, Ryan, sinn féin, tom clancy, United States | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Contagion

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Darren

It’s somewhat ironic that the biggest fault with Contagion is that it’s not nearly clinical enough. Soderbergh’s exploration of the impact of a mass pandemic actually works best when the director pulls back to give us a high-level overview of a society collapsing, the individual lives reduced – appropriately enough – to microscopic cells in a larger organism in what might be its death throes. It’s these sequences and shots that are brilliantly effective, demonstrating the systemic and group dynamics that enable and facilitate the spread of a deadly bird flu variant, while the more intimate moments feel awkward and shoehorned in, never afforded enough space to develop character or plot lines. Still, if you pull back and look at the big picture, Soderbergh’s latest effort is an engaging ambitious disaster movie.

One sick picture...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bird flu, Bryan Cranston, Contagion, disease, film, films, Gwyneth Paltrow, hollywood, Horror film, Jennifer Ehle, jude law, kate winslet, laurence fishburne, matt damon, Movies, review, roland emmerich, Soderbergh, Steven Soderbergh | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Darren

Spying is a damn dirty business. Don’t let James Bond and his fancy Union Jack parachutes or underwater cars fool you. According to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, it’s an empty and depressing little existence where the players are all confined to the role of pawns on a chessboard. I can’t help but feel that there’s something symbolic about the scene where Alec Leamas, played by Richard Burton, assaults an elderly shopkeeper, played by Bernard Lee – the actor who was playing Bond’s paymaster, M. Given the character’s growing sense of disillusionment, it can’t help but feel strangely potent to see him lash out a symbol of the other – far more romanticised – series of adventures built around British Intelligence.

"I, I can remember... standing by the wall... and the guns, the guns shot above our heads..."

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Berlin Wall, Bernard Lee, Cold War, gary oldman, George Smiley, ian fleming, james bond, John le Carré, non-review review, review, Richard Burton, Spy Who Came In From The Cold | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Real Steel

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Darren

Well, at the very least, Real Steel confirms that Hugh Jackman is a bona fides movie star (as if X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t already do that). It proves that the actor can pretty successfully anchor and ground any high concept blockbuster in a charming performance, one that’s engaging and witty enough to allow the audience to overlook some of the movie’s more obvious flaws. Still, despite the rather wonderful special effects and the strong cast, I left Real Steel feeling just a little bit strange, as if I’d been watching a movie that I appreciated, but never really engaged with.

And in the neon orange corner...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Boxing, Charlie, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, films, hilary swank, hugh jackman, James Rebhorn, Kevin Durand, mark wahlberg, Million Dollar Baby, Movies, non-review review, Real Steel, review, Shawn Levy, Steel | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Footloose (2011)

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Darren

Footloose is a strange beast. On one hand, it copies huge swathes of text from the original film, with lines spoken almost verbatim. On the other hand, the movie has the courage of its convictions, daring to update the story for modern times, adding quite a bit of modern subtext to the film. I think this approach is part of the reason the film works so well, but also its chief weakness. For all its clever insights and wonderful thoughts on the cost of security, it does wind up feeling just a tad heavy-handed. Still, it’s perhaps the best “dance” movie I’ve seen since the original 1984 version, so it must be doing something right.

Everybody cut loose!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: boston, Brewer, Craig Brewer, Dennis Quaid, Footloose, john lithgow, Kenny Wormald, kevin bacon, non-review review, Ren, review | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Remains of the Day

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Darren

It’s a sad truth that Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins are rarely handed roles that allow them to demonstrate their true abilities. The Remains of the Day is an absolutely stunning period drama from Merchant Ivory (which sounds far more impressive than any functional “combination of last names” really should). It’s a rather beautiful look at the classically romantic British character, but also an absolutely scathing attack upon it. It’s a brilliant examination of the inherent tragedy of the stereotypical British detachment, the capacity to maintain emotional distance in order to endure whatever life has to offer. Mister Stevens is the quintessential English butler, but he’s also one of the most tragic central characters I think I’ve seen in quite some time.

All that Remains...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: anthony hopkins, Benn, christopher reeve, emma thompson, film, mister stevens, non-review review, Remains of the Day, review, richard donner, Steven, The Remains of the Day, Versailles Treaty, world war ii | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Three Musketeers (2011)

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Darren

“Guilty pleasure.” That’s a phrase that feels strangely appropriate when referring to Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers. It’s silly and daft, and has two fairly fundamental flaws, on top of the cheesiness that’s going to divide audiences straight down the middle. However, despite these fairly central and hard-to-avoid problems, it also features a knowing self-awareness, an appealingly straight-forward approach to the fact that is so very silly, a (mostly) great cast and some rather wonderful steam-punk production design. It’s not going to appeal to everybody, but I actually warmed quite a bit to it.

Four of a kind?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: action, adventure, Alexandre Dumas, camp, cheesy, christoph waltz, films, Logan Lerman, milla jovovich, Movies, non-review review, Orlando Bloom, Paul W.S. Anderson, Ray Stevenson, review, The Three Musketeers, Three Musketeers | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Snake Eyes

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Darren

Snake Eyes could have been a much better movie than it ultimately turned out be. Brian De Palma can be a frustratingly uneven filmmaker, but the basic premise of the movie isn’t sort of promise. A murder mystery and conspiracy thriller in a crowded auditorium, with the investigating officer a corrupt cop? That’s a fairly interesting hook right there, even before you add Nicolas Cage and Gary Sinise to the mix. Unfortunately, the movie never seems entirely sure what it wants to be, ultimately serving as a random mish-mash of different elements that never add up to a conclusive whole.

In the Nic of time...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brian De Palma, Cage, Conspiracy fiction, De Palma, film, Gary Sinise, Movie, nicolas cage, non-review review, review, Snake Eyes | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Inbetweeners

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Darren

In fairness to The Inbetweeners, it’s relatively smartly written, well-acted by the cast involved, and entertaining – if incredibly predictable. However, I can’t help but wonder if it feels already outdated – the concept of a bunch of young British males heading to an exotic Mediterranean island as a hedonistic paradise is the kind of thing that already felt old-fashioned when shows like Ibiza Uncovered were all the rage in the late nineties, and we’ve already seen any number of movies on the topic, with Kevin and Perry Go Largeeven adapted from another British television show. The Inbetweeners has enough charm to make it almost to the end, but it just feels much more generic than it really ought to.

Not so fab four...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Channel 4, film, films, Ibiza, Inbetweeners, Kevin & Perry Go Large, Mediterranean Sea, Movies, non-review review, review, The Inbetweeners | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Midnight in Paris

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Darren

A special thanks to the IFI for sneaking us into an advance screening. If you’re interested, they’re hosting a season of actors-turned-directors through October, with Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo among those screening.

“You inhabit two worlds. So far, I see nothing strange.”

“Of course, you’re a Surrealist.”

– Man Ray takes Gil’s time-traveling confession quite well

Woody Allen has, to a greater or lesser extent, been heavily influenced by Europe in the past few years. Ignoring Whatever Works, he’s clearly been inspired by the great European cities. Vicky Christina Barcelona is perhaps the most obvious, if only because it was perhaps the most critically and commercially successful, but London has also produced works as diverse as Match Point and You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. Still, if you’re going to work with the major European cities, it seems pointless to avoid Paris, the city of lights and lovers, home to generations of artists for decades upon decades, it has earned a reputation as one of the most powerful and inspiring locations on the face of the planet. Allen does his subject proud, producing what is certainly his best film since his trip to Barcelona, and one I’d rank considerably higher in my own estimation. It seems that even the cynical Woody Allen can become something of a romantic in Paris.