Posted on May 11, 2011 by Darren
It takes a lot to kill Batman. Just ask Bane. That character broke Batman across his knee, discarded him and claimed Gotham for his own… only to have Bruce claw his way back and reclaim the mantle. The evil New God Darkseid once decided not only to kill Batman, but to send him back to the dawn of time to live through a cycle of death and rebirth in the hopes of destroying the Caped Crusader… Batman just sorta shrugged that one off. He’s a tough nut to keep down, is that Dark Knight.
However, Joel Schumacher managed to nearly knock Batman out for the count (at least on film) with Batman & Robin, the movie which – if it didn’t kill the Batman franchise – at least put it into a coma for several years.
It's some kinda storm (it's not "snow", but it begins with "s")...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alicia Silverstone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, batman, batman & robin, batman forever, bruce wayne, camp, dark knight, filom, joel schumacher, michael gough, Movie, non-review review, review, sylvester stallone, terrible | 10 Comments »
Posted on May 10, 2011 by Darren
The Duellists is the first film from director Ridley Scott. While it certainly isn’t his best remembered or the most highly rated, it is a cracking piece of historical cinema that manages to do a lot with very little. It’s a simple little concept, set against an epic backdrop, elevated by two leads, a wonderful sense of historical fidelity, and a young director with a long career ahead of him.
Ridley Scott's first stab at directing...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Duel, dueling, europe, films, france, harvey keitel, historical drama, history, Keith Carradine, Louis Theroux, Movie, napoleon, non-review review, Pete Postlethwaite, review, ridley scott, The Duellists | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 9, 2011 by Darren
At this stage it seems almost pointless to reflect on how impressive Monsters is from a purely film-making perspective. Filmed on a ridiculously tiny budget, the film features a wonderful epic scale, beautiful locations and not-half-bad special effects (they’re more The Mist than Avatar, but let’s not complain). It’s the latest “look what modern film directors can do on a shoe string!” picture, one that you drop into conversation when you wonder how a film like Transformers can cost as much as it does. Unfortunately, as bedazzling as these aspects are, and they are very bedazzling, the film has several shortcomings which have nothing to do with budget.
Here be monsters...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Filmmaking, H. P. Lovecraft, horror, jurassic park, low budget, Mexico, monster, monster movie, monsters, Movie, New Orleans, non-review review, review, thriller, United States | 4 Comments »
Posted on May 6, 2011 by Darren
I have to admit, I’m a bit disappointed with Neil Marshall. I’ll concede that I genuinely enjoyed Dog Soldiers and The Descent, while acknowledging their flaws. His movies have a tendency to start in the absurd and just keep amping things up until they get unbelievably ridiculous. Even the over-the-top and quite-crap-actually Doomsday still had a lot of energy to carry it through as it gleefully veered through camp straight out into uncharted realms of gratuitous nonsense. On the other hand, Marshall’s latest, Centurion, seems relatively tame. It’s fairly mediocre throughout, which perhaps seems less entertaining because it never has the energy to go too far. And that’s a bit of shame.
The last Fassbender?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: action, Dog Soldiers, Dominic West, films, historical, Imogen Poots, Legio IX Hispana, Marshalls, Michael Fassbender, Movies, Neil Marshall, ninth legion, non-review review, Pict, picts, review, Roman Empire, Scotland, scottish | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 5, 2011 by Darren
I’ve always had a soft spot for David Lynch, if only because – much like David Cronenberg – you always got the sense that his artistic vision was pretty unfettered by concerns about broad appeal or studio policy or anything like that. There’s a wonderful sense of freedom, in how he works. There’s a great quote from the guys at Pixar that they don’t make movies for kids, they make movies for themselves – if other people happen to enjoy it, well… that’s great too. That sums up a lot of what I respect about Lynch. Wild at Heart isn’t perhaps one of those moments where Lynch’s interests manage to overlap with truly great cinema (as they do, I would argue, for Mullholland Drive, Blue Velvet and The Straight Story), but it isn’t so completely scattershot as to be impenetrable, either.
Dancing in the... highways?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Angelo Badalamenti, arts, david cronenberg, david lynch, elvis, elvis presley, film, Harry Dean Stanton, Movie, murder, music, nicolas cage, non-review review, review, Sound Files, Straight Story, wild at heart, willem dafoe | 7 Comments »
Posted on May 5, 2011 by Darren
It always struck me as strange that there should be such a fuss about adapting Fahrenheit 451. After all, a book about how great books are, and how they are inherently superior to anything that any other media can offer (film and television included) seems a strange choice of subject matter for a big-budget science fiction film. Still, Francois Truffaut’s 1966 adaptation isn’t all bad… just a little strange.
Book 'em, boys...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andy Warhol, arts, book, Book burning, Citizen Kane, Cyril Cusack, Fahrenheit 451, film, Guy Montag, Montag, Movies, non-review review, Oskar Werner, review | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 4, 2011 by Darren
A special thanks to the guys over at movies.ie for sneaking us into an advanced preview screening.
If ever there was an odd choice for an early summer release, I think Hanna is it. Directed by Joe Wright (the guy who brought you Atonement) and starring an Oscar bait cast including Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett (with solid support from Jason Flemyng and Olivia Williams), Hanna is the story of a teenage assassin set loose upon the world after a life spent in the wilderness. If that cocktail doesn’t sound crazy enough, Wright sets the movie as a fairy tale.
What’s genuinely astounding is how frequently these elements compliment each other, even if there are a few moments where they seem at odds.
Joe Wright takes a shot at directing an action film...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: assassin, cate blanchett, Chemical Brothers, eric bana, film, Hanna, Jason Flemyng, Joe Wright, Movie, non-review review, Olivia Williams, review, saoirse ronan | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 3, 2011 by Darren
I genuinely really enjoyed Meet the Parents. It’s a nice little movie that the family will occasionally get caught up in again if it just so happens to be on telly, a nice way to spend an hour or two that nobody can really object to. The sequel, Meet the Fockers, lost a lot of the appeal – but we still found it relatively unobjectionable. So, the third and final (hopefully) instalment of the franchise, Little Fockers, arrives and isn’t really that bad. It’s just not really any good, either.
Greg still don't know Jack...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: dustin hoffman, films, harvey keitel, Jay Roach, Jessica Alba, laura dern, Little Fockers, Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents, Movies, non-review review, review | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 29, 2011 by Darren
In theory, The Tourist should be great fun. After all, the last time we had a high-octane romantic adventure thriller, we ended up with the genuinely entertaining Knight and Day. And, if anything, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie should represent a large step-up from Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t quite deliver. Mistaking twists for plot and assuming that strong leads can make up for underwritten roles, the film flails around rather randomly, alternating between a genuinely exciting little European thriller and fairly paint-by-numbers twist-a-minute adventure, it never manages to set a particular tone, and leaves its two actors struggling to stay afloat amid the rather wonderful Venetian scenery.
Tour of duty?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: angelina jolie, Banged Up Abroad, cameron diaz, films, johnny depp, Movie, Movies, non-review review, paul bettany, review, steven berkoff, tom cruise, Tourist, True Lies, United States | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 28, 2011 by Darren
The Firm would be an entertaining little thriller, if it ran maybe half-an-hour shorter. John Grisham’s legal thrillers were pretty much the gold standard for lawyer-related movies during the nineties, with any number of movies adapted freely from his books (notably in the format of “The [insert noun here]” like “The Firm”, “The Client“, “The Rainmaker“and so on). It’s a shame, because I believe that The Firm might have, with a little judicious editing, had the capacity to be the best Gresham adaptation out there. Instead, it’s too bloated to really make an impact.
It's no coincidence that "lawyer" and "liar" sound so similar...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: David Strathairn, film, Firm, Gary Busey, gene hackman, Hal Holbrook, holly hunter, John Gresham, john grisham, Keanu Reeves, Lincoln Memorial, Movie, non-review review, review, the firm, tom cruise | Leave a comment »
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