Non-Review Reviews | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Pulp Fiction

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Darren

It’s strange. I always feel a flutter of uncertainty when I prepare to tackle a film I hold in particularly high esteem on this blog. Perhaps it’s the fact that I worry I might not be entirely objective, or perhaps it’s the fear that I’ll embarrass myself with a particular film, or perhaps it’s just the worry that I really don’t have anything worth committing to the internet. Pulp Fiction is a film that has been loved and hated, picked apart and put back together, critiqued and venerated, and I’m really not sure that I have any particularly insightful observations to make about Quentin Tarantino’s palme d’or winning film.

I'll be brief...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: david mamet, dialogue, Film noir, films, joss whedon, los angeles, McDonalds, Movies, non-review review, pulp fiction, quentin tarantino, Reservoir Dogs, review, tom stoppard, vince vega | 11 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Scream III

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Darren

Today, we’re reviewing the entire Scream trilogy. Sadly, I’ll have to wait to get a look at the latest instalment, but reviews of the first three will be going on-line throughout the day.

There are a lot of problems with Scream 3. It’s overlong, it’s more soap opera than horror, more camp parody than post modern deconstruction. It’s clear from the outset that very few of the people involved in the film had any interest in making it. However, its single most damning problem is that it has become exactly the type of bland and indistinct slasher movie that the first two films picked apart so skilfully.

Taking a stab at the trilogy...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: a nightmare on elm street, columbine, joss whedon, Kevin Williamson, List of Scream characters, Neve Campbell, non-review review, review, Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Slasher film, wes craven | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Scream II

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Darren

Today, we’re reviewing the entire Scream trilogy. Sadly, I’ll have to wait to get a look at the latest instalment, but reviews of the first three will be going on-line throughout the day.

I actually like Scream 2 a great deal – perhaps as much as I enjoyed the original Scream. Which, to be honest, takes me by surprise because it’s a much weaker movie in a lot of ways, the most obvious being the fact that it sort of fizzles out in the third act. Still, there’s just something about the cheeky and energy of the sequel that grabs my attention and keeps it, as if moving the series from a stereotypical high school and into a college film class. Of course, as Randy the resident film buff points out, the only thing more stereotypical than high school slasher movies are college slasher movies, but there’s just something cool about the fact that most of the cast (rather than just Randy) are relatively genre savvy this time around.

Film Buff-y?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Drew Barrymore, Horror film, Jamie Kennedy, Joshua Jackson, liev schreiber, List of Scream characters, Omar Epps, Red Right Hand, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Scream, Scream 2, Slasher film, Timothy Olyphant, tom cruise, top gun, wes craven | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Scream

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Darren

Today, we’re reviewing the entire Scream trilogy. Sadly, I’ll have to wait to get a look at the latest instalment, but reviews of the first three will be going on-line throughout the day.

It’s hard to really look back at Scream in context these days. It was released in the mid-nineties, a period where the slasher movie had all but died off, after series after series produced weaker and weaker instalments. Audiences had been sort of numbed to the impact of the slasher film as a genre, expecting the bland stock scares, the stereotypical mumbo-jumbo, the teen angst, the sexual politics and even the unstoppable killer. It’s not too much of a stretch to believe that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson intended the movie as something of an epilogue for the genre, a not-too-fond farewell to the type of films that had been churned out since the seventies, with never a hint of growth and development.

A dead line?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: do you like scary movies?, Drew Barrymore, Ghostface, Horror film, horror movies, Kevin Williamson, michael myers, non-review review, review, Scream, Slasher film, slasher movies, wes craven | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Offence

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Darren

The Offence was reportedly one of the pictures that MGM agreed to fund for Sean Connery in order to get the veteran actor to sign on to reprise the role of James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever. While the film is too slow, methodical and restrained to really qualify as an undisputed classic, I do sleep just a little bit better for knowing that something good came from Connery signing on to play Bond once more. (Although, to be fair, he also donated his salary to charity, so that speaks to his character as well.)

Gripping drama...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: al pacino, arts, drama, film, films, james bond, Movies, non-review review, play, review, sean connery, Sidney Lumet, The Offence, Trevor Howard | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Queen

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Darren

The middle part of Peter Morgan’s “Blair” trilogy, sitting between The Deal and The Special Relationship, the movie is perhaps better known for its portrayal of the eponymous monarchy than of the controversial British Prime Minister. It’s also a rather wonderful exploration of the British monarchy, and how it struggles to remain in touch with the people that it (nominally, at least) rules, and yet remains heavily insulated from. Taking the death of Princess Diana, perhaps the most trying period in the reign of the current queen, as a jumping-off point, the film wonders what the public expects from their royal family, and how the public and private lives of those born into the family must be balanced.

A skilful portrait...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: britain, British Empire, British people, Deal, Death of Diana Princess of Wales, Diana Princess of Wales, helen mirren, House of Windsor, michael sheen, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, non-review review, peter morgan, princess di, princess diana, review, Special Relationship, stephen frears, the queen, the queen (film), tony blair | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Water for Elephants

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Darren

Water for Elephants is undoubtedly a well made film from a technical point of view. It stylishly evokes a collective memory of Depression-era America with a skilled romanticism, all beautifully staged and designed, scored with music clearly intended to tug at the heart-strings. However, despite the technical proficiency with which the film is crafted, it ends up feeling ultimately quite lifeless, and a little stale – like a mediocre circus, the movie is stylish and momentarily distracting, but it never manages to grasp its audience, or to engage.

He packed his trunk and said goodbye to the circus...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animal cruelty, christoph waltz, Circus, Cornell University, Cruelty to animals, Edward Cullen, Great Depression, non-review review, Reese Witherspoon, review, Robert Pattinson, Sara Gruen, United States, Water for Elephants | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Darren

I give a lot of credit to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides for managing to cast aside a lot of dead weight from around the franchise’s neck. After the original film, it was apparent to anybody with half a brain that audiences weren’t flocking to the cinema to see the adventures of Will and Elizabeth, but the following two sequels insisted on keeping the large and expansive cast – long after it became clear that the writers had little idea what to do with them. The result was a trilogy that often felt over-loaded and over-burdened. This time around, adopting a ruthless approach to the supporting cast, the screenplay only really brings back Captain Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa as lead characters. Which is grand, because they’re who we’re here to see after all? The rest of the movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it strolls along pleasantly enough.

Life's a beach...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: films, Fountain of Youth, Hector Barbossa, Jack Sparrow, johnny depp, Keith Richards, Movies, non-review review, penelope cruz, Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, review, rob marshall, Will Turner | 8 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Snuffed (aka Killer View)

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Darren

I had the pleasure of seeing a screener of Snuffed (aka Killer View), the indie horror from writer and director Brian James O’Connell. It’s a nifty little horror thriller, that is effective and deeply unpleasant in all the right ways, with an especially fascinating little hook. The basic premise is that an amateur reporter has hooked up with a practicing serial killer, documenting and interviewing the man as he goes about his business – discussing matters of philosophy, personal preferences and even practical matters. Filmed on a low budget with a small cast, it’s a well-made film which easily distinguishes itself from the rake of serial killer films out there.

Brian O'Connell (Director) instructing the actors during a scene.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, brian o'connell, crime, film, horror, Killer View, Movies, murder, noah key, non-review review, review, serial killer, Serial Murder, snuffed, snuffed (aka killer view) | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Darren

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a wonderful science-fiction premise, so it’s really no wonder that the story has been taken to the big and small screens so often. It’s a great example of how a story can strike different notes in different eras, and how something can easily be about one thing in one era, and take on an entirely different meaning in a later one. The 1978 adaptation is a wonderful piece of high-concept science-fiction, which skilfully takes the ideas from the original classic film, and shakes them around just a little bit.