Posted on September 1, 2011 by Darren
9 looks absolutely lovely, with a heavily stylised computer-generated style that seems intended to evoke the macabre stop-motion style of films like The Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride, along with more traditional and conventional animation. However, as magical as the production on the animated feature might be, the movie – somewhat ironically given the way things work out – lacks soul.
A rag-tag bunch...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 9 (film), arts, christopher plummer, Corpse Bride, Crispin Glover, dolls, elijah wood, john c. reilly, Nightmare Before Christmas, non-review review, review, Shane Acker | 5 Comments »
Posted on August 31, 2011 by Darren
A special thanks to the guys over at movies.ie for sneaking us into an advanced preview screening.
Being charitable, Kill List is a complete mess of a film. It has a decent concept, and a solid middle section. However, these are surrounded by an incredibly boring opening half-hour and a monumentally stupid and non-sensical ending. It’s a shame, because one gets the sense that there’s a very clever, very entertaining movie to be found if one can dig deep enough, but it’s very hard to like a film that is so decidedly uneven and feels like an especially random video nasty.
Not exactly light subject matter...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Ben Wheatley, Contract killing, film, Hit List (film), Hit List (John Keller Mysteries), Hitman, Kill list, Michael Smiley, Movie, non-review review, review, United States | 3 Comments »
Posted on August 31, 2011 by Darren
I’m sure there must have been a good movie in there somewhere. The story of Wild Bill Hickok hunting down the wild white buffalo from his nightmares through the Old West could have been a compelling one, even if it’s hard to imagine it ever being a classic. Instead, the movie is hackneyed cheese-fest that seems uncertain what to do with itself. It doesn’t help that Charles Bronson, sleepwalking his way through the production, gives the best performance of the film. If that’s not a bad omen, I don’t know what is.
What a load of bull...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Charles Bronson, doctor who, film, jaws, Manifest Destiny, Moby Dick, Movie, Native American, Native Americans in the United States, non-review review, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, review, United States, White Buffalo | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 30, 2011 by Darren
It feels like something of a backhanded compliment to describe Shaft as John Singleton’s best movie since Boyz n the Hood. Singleton has been one of those directors who has found himself living in the shadow a tremendously influential and successful debut, struggling to find a way to match or surpass it. I think that his take on the most famous blaxploitation hero of all time, while deeply flawed, works so well because it seems intentionally light. It’s not attempting to be big or epic, or even especially socially conscious, it’s just trying to be a decently entertaining – if slightly cheesy – little thriller.
Who's the cat who won't cop out when there's danger all about?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Boyz n the Hood, Busta Rhymes, christian bale, Dave Arnold, David Arnold, film, Jeffrey Wright, John Singleton, Movies, non-review review, review, Richard Roundtree, samuel l. jackson, Shafts | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 26, 2011 by Darren
Please Give is an interesting little dramedy, with some very well-observed points and a strong cast. It’s smart, it’s biting and it’s quite funny in places, with its wry commentary on some of the more cynical aspects of the human condition. However, I do find myself wondering why the lead characters, wonderfully superficial and weighted down by various forms of guilt, are really worth caring about at.
No mean Peet...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Amanda Peet, arts, Business and Economy, Catherine Keener, film, GenBank, Guilt, Homeless, Movie, non-review review, Organisations, Please Give, ProfNet, Randall Munroe, rebecca hall, review, Shopping, They (2002 film), United States, USA Today | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 25, 2011 by Darren
Phone Booth is proof that the high-concept thriller isn’t quite dead yet. A concept that had been floating around Hollywood for decades (with the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, lined up to direct at one point), it seemed that – with the decline of the phone booth and the rise of mobile phones – perhaps the window in which to tell the tale might be closing. Of all the directors to bring the tale to the screen, I don’t think I ever would have expected Joel Schumacher to make one of the most intense and superbly intimate little thrillers ever written to the screen.
There's a lot on the line...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, colin farrell, film, joel schumacher, Katie Holmes, kiefer sutherland, Movies, non-review review, phone booth, phone booth (film), phone booth (movie), Radha Mitchell, review, Woody Allen | 3 Comments »
Posted on August 24, 2011 by Darren
Uncle Buck doesn’t represent a career high for any of the major players involved, with John Hughes have any number of more iconic films behind him, and more enjoyable family comedies ahead of him, and John Candy enjoying the space the movie affords him, but somewhat restricted by the material. That said, the film represents an enjoyable little comedy with a strong cast, a good central performance and marks an interesting transition point for Hughes, who had cut his teeth on teenage comedy dramas before transitioning to write more mainstream comedic fare.
This is not a drill...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Breakfast Club, ferris buellers day off, films, Jean Louisa Kelly, John Candy, John Hughes, Macaulay Culkin, Movies, non-review review, review, Uncle Buck | 3 Comments »
Posted on August 23, 2011 by Darren
I think part of the reason that The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters works so well is because it takes any number of well-loved and popular story-telling tropes concerning the conflict between a hard-working underdog and an exclusive and elitist authority, and then plays them out against one of the most brilliantly ridiculous backdrops possible. Professor Wallace Sayre, a political scientist at Columbia University once made the observation that “in any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” So perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised that a competition over a videogame world record should capture these ridiculous grand themes with such skill, and a wonderful sense of humour.
Steve's game for a challenge...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Arcade game, Billy Mitchell, Columbia University, Donkey Kong, Filmmaking, filsm, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Movies, non-review review, review, Seth Gordon, Steve Wiebe, the king of kong | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 22, 2011 by Darren
The Ring is actually a surprisingly effective horror when measured on its own terms, as well as being perhaps the most successful American adaptation of a Japanese horror. I would make the case that the film isn’t a patch on the original Ringu, but it’s to director Gore Verbinski’s credit that he attempts to subtly distinguish his film from the one that inspired it, while remaining true to the spirit of that classic cult horror.
Watts going on here?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Armie Hammer, DVD, Edgar Allan Poe, films, Gore Verbinski, horror, horror films, japanese horror, Jerry Bruckheimer, johnny depp, Lone Ranger, Movies, non-review review, review, Ring (film), ringu, the ring | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 22, 2011 by Darren
There are a handful of movies I will forever associate with a particular viewing experience – and some with the first time I had seen a given movie. I remember, for instance, seeing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the first time with my father in the local cinema during its nineties re-release. When I think of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I recall the time I had to sit in the hall while the grown-ups watched it. Anytime I see The Shining, I think back to watching it in the wee hours of the morning with gran and granddad. The Japanese cult horror Ringu is something of a similar experience.
All's well that ends well...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, film, Gore Verbinski, Horror film, John Carpenter, Movie, non-review review, review, ringu, Television, the ring, vhs, wes craven, Woody Allen | 10 Comments »
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