Non-Review Reviews | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: The Lincoln Lawyer

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Darren

I’m a sucker for a good old-fashioned criminal law ethical dilemma. I honestly think it was Primal Fear that sent me rushing off to law school, with its wonderful twisty plot about the relationship between innocence and guilt, lawyer and client in the criminal justice system. The Lincoln Lawyer isn’t quite as strong, but it’s certainly a worthy addition to one of the oft-ignored crime drama subgenres, anchored in superb central performances and a powerful little hook.

He rests his case...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: A Time to Kill, bob gunton, Bryan Cranston, crime drama, lawyers, legal thriller, Lincoln Lawyer, Marisa Tomei, Matthew McConaughey, non-review review, review, Ryan Phillippe, william h. macy | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: No Strings Attached

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Darren

If ever there was a movie that demonstrated that you need more than a single great idea to make a good movie, I think No Strings Attached is really it. It basically takes the conventional romantic comedy and reverses the traditional gender roles that have ben reinforced for centuries. Instead of an emotionally-needy woman being paired with a commitment-phobe man, this time we see a free-and-easy lady hooking up with a guy who simply wants more. In fairness to it, it’s a nice way to distinguish the comedy conceptually from the standard rom-com template, but the problem is that it’s executed in the most mundane and half-interested fashion ever, substituting vulgar and crass jokes for actual humour and development.

Is she stringing him along?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Adam, Ashton Kutcher, black swan, film, Friend With Benefits, Friends With Benefits, ivan reitman, Love And Other Drugs, mila kunis, Movie, Natalie Portman, No strings attached, non-review review, review, romance, Romantic comedy film | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Darren

So, here we are, back at the beginning. The first movie in the eight-movie cycle about the boy wizard with the distinctive glasses. Harry Potter – “the boy who lived”, as he is described – and his eventful six-year stay at Hogwarts, with one final story to wrap it all up. To be honest, the first movie does benefit a lot from the movies that followed, giving the film a lot of retroactive weight as you can see the plot threads thrown out and suggested to be developed later – the countless little set-ups deployed by Rowling to pay off down the line. Which is handy, I suppose, because otherwise the instalment feels just a little bit too slow and convoluted for its own good.

The series has a bit of difficulty getting off the ground...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Albus Dumbledore, Christopher Columbus, Dumbledore, games, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Hogwarts, literature, Magical objects in Harry Potter, Places in Harry Potter, Richard Griffiths, star wars, United States | 10 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Darren

Truth be told, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has a lot of problems. It’s structurally the weakest of the films, existing as a bridge between what came before and what follows – but ultimately feels like treading water. One gets the sense that the ruthless editing that made Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire work so well was sorely missing here. It literally feels more like a collection of subplots rather than a movie in its own right. And then there’s the ending, which is ridiculously weak, but also somewhat undermines the threat the last film spent so long building up.

It's not a knock-out success...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: daniel radcliffe, Death Eater, Dumbledore's Army, films, games, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, HarryPotter, Hogwarts, Hogwarts staff, literature, Lord Voldemort, Magical creatures in Harry Potter, Ministry of Magic, Movies, non-review review, Online, review, Roleplaying, Rupert Grint | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Darren

“Everything’s going to change now, isn’t it?”

– Hermoine, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Truth be told, before I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was easily my favourite instalment of the series. It’s the perfect balance between the lighter start of the series and the much darker end of it, straddling the two distinct tones with ease, and managing to walk the line between it’s under-plotted predecessors and over-plotted successors. It’s still not quite perfect, but it genuinely feels like things are changing and world is lot more vast than the earlier films had led us to believe.

The series is finally firing on all cylinders...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alan rickman, Alfonso Cuarón, films, Half-Blood Prince, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, HarryPotter, Hogwarts, JK Rowling, Mike Newell, Movies, non-review review, Order of the Phoenix (organisation), review | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Horrible Bosses

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Darren

“You can’t win a marathon without putting some bandaids on your nipples!” Dave Harkin, the “psycho” boss of Nick Hendricks, insists throughout the movie. It’s curious, because Horrible Bosses feels like a movie pacing itself for a marathon – and that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s consistently funny, with the humour spread evenly over most of the runtime. It’s hard to point to particularly brilliant sequences that had the audience in stitches, but instead the room was constantly giggling throughout. It’s a solidly entertaining comedy, which makes the most of a clever premise and superb cast, even if it does falter just a little bit as it reaches the finish line.

Spacey is boss...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Charlie Day, CharlieDay, colin farrell, film, Good Girl, Horrible Bosses, jason bateman, Jason Sudeikis, JasonSudeikis, jennifer aniston, kevin spacey, KevinSpacey, Movie, non-review review, review, Seth Gordon | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Darren

Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban represents probably the best transition from printed page to big screen in the franchise, boasting the most confident and comfortable direction of the big screen series. Director Alfonso Coarón, perhaps best known for his work on Children of Men crafts perhaps the most magical of the Harry Potter adventures, effortlessly crafting a world that seems strangely familiar and yet curiously foreign, simultaneously bright and coloured, but populated with dark brooding shadows. Even after the series has ended, the third instalment remains perhaps the most stylish.

Enchanting...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, David Thewlis, Emma Watson, film, film review, gary oldman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, HarryPotter, Hogwarts, literature, Magic in Harry Potter, Magical objects in Harry Potter, Movie, non-review review, Order of the Phoenix (organisation), Places in Harry Potter, terry gilliam | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Darren

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets works much better as an episodic collection of scenes than a single story. It’s prone to fluctuate between rather brilliant moments and a few misfires here and there. It definitely feels extremely childish, as if the studio was attempting to construct a G-rated Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the John Williams soundtrack adding to the effect, the set design of the eponymous chamber looking like some forgotten archeological tomb, and even Julian Glover being afforded a small cameo (okay, he was in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but the point stands). It’s strange to look back at the second instalment, after all that has unfolded since, and look at how much more juvenile and simplistic it all seems in retrospect.

Malfoy drives stick...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alan rickman, Albus Dumbledore, arts, clear blue skies, Dumbledore's Army, fim, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray], Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hogwarts, John Williams, julian glover, kenneth branagh, Magical objects in Harry Potter, Movie, non-review review, Order of the Phoenix (organisation), raiders of the lost ark, review, Ron Weasley, Rupert Grint, Severus Snape | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Cars 2

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Darren

Cars 2 is a Pixar film that runs on an engine, rather than on heart. Technically, it’s magnificent. It’s well put together, features a winning cast, a lot of quite wonderful jokes and absolutely stunning action movies. However, the movie fails to make even the most basic of emotional connections. We’re always watching a bunch of cool cars doing cool car stuff, but we never feel good or bad about it. Even when a handful of cars meet tragic ends over the course of the movie, we never feel bad about it – we don’t really care about them, so we’re never concerned at the dangers they face. It’s a shame, because it’s a stunningly beautiful piece of animation, it’s just missing that wonderful soul that Pixar seems to install with its movies as standard.

Lightning, cameras, action!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: cars, Cars 2, films, finding nemo, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Michael Caine, Movies, non-review review, Paul Newman, pixar, review, Tow Mater | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Platoon

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Darren

I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy; we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days. As I’m sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called “possession of my soul.” There are times since, I’ve felt like a child, born of those two fathers.

– ~~Oliver Stone~~ Charlie Taylor meditates on Vietnam

I honestly think that Platoon might be my favourite war film ever made. It’s almost certainly my favourite Vietnam film ever made, despite my considerable respect for Apocalypse Now. However, though Stone’s classic is steeped in allegory and metaphor (see the above quote), I think that it works better as a personal account of the conflict, rather than Coppola’s attempt to capture the surreal nature of the war on celluloid. Stone actually served a tour over there, and I think that there’s a lot of his own personal perspective poured into the film, which makes it feel like quite a raw and powerful piece of cinema.