Non-Review Reviews | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: 21 And Over

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Darren

Jon Lucas and Scott Moore repeat The Hangover in this movie, while rehashing the same jokes and same ideas in a college party themed 21 and Over. On Jeff Chang’s (Justin Chon) 21^st birthday, his lifelong friends, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin), show up at his doorstep, unannounced, to celebrate all night long. However, Jeff has an important med-school interview in the morning and so convinces the two to take the night easy, a plan which quickly goes south. Miller and Casey eventually end up dragging an unconscious Jeff across the campus of his university in search for his apartment, leading to a number of alcohol filled shenanigans.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 21 and over, Casey, Hangover, Jeff Chang, Jon Lucas, Justin Chon, Miles Teller, Movie, non-review review, review, Scott Moore, Skylar Astin | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Dead Man Down

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Darren

This is intriguing. Dead Man Down feels like a blend of a European revenge thriller with a more straight-forward American crime film. Director Niels Arden Oplev has established his credibility with his work on the original version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, even it I am less fond of the film than most. His first America film is an interesting experiment, even if Oplev can’t quite pull it off as seamlessly as the material requires.

Dead Man Down buckles a bit under the weight of two sets of genre requirements. It is by turns quiet, withdrawn and introspective, but also loud, overwhelming and exposition-filled. These two facets of the film – feeling like the demands of a European film against an American mainstream release – seem to be at war with one another. The result is something that is more interesting than entirely satisfying.

They do make a bloody mess…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alphonse, colin farrell, crime, Crime film, Dead Man, Dead Man Down, dominic cooper, F. Murray Abraham, film, Movie, Niels Arden Oplev, non-review review, Noomi Rapace, Oplev, review, terrence howard, United States, Victor | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Iron Man 3

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Darren

Where do you go after The Avengers? Marvel brought together four separate superhero franchises to produce one mega-blockbuster last summer, producing the most successful film of 2012 and one of the most lucrative films in the history of the medium. It’s a tough act to follow. If Iron Man 3 is any indication, it seems like Disney and Marvel understand how they want to progress from here. Shrewdly deciding not to compete with The Avengers on scale, Iron Man 3 is instead a character-driven action thriller specifically tailored for the character of Tony Stark, with writer and director Shane Black very clearly having his own idea for the hero who first launched Marvel’s shared universe.

While Iron Man 3 isn’t quite perfect, it’s a solid superhero blockbuster, and perhaps second only to Kenneth Brannagh’s Thor as the best superhero film produced by Marvel Studios.

Who da Iron Man?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: avengers, iron man, iron man 2, iron man 3, IronMan, IRONMAN 3, jon favreau, marvel, marvel comics, Marvel Studios, robert downey, Shane Black, Tony, tony stark | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Bernie

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Darren

Bernie is a gem. Reteaming director Richard Linklater and Jack Black, two talents re-energised by their last collaboration in School of Rock, Bernie is a black comedy based on a true story about a Texas mortician named Bernie Tiede. It’s a beautiful and darkly funny little film, one Linklater shoots in a mockumentary style just to add a touch of the surreal. It’s a fake documentary (complete with staged reconstructions) of a real event, one of those bizarre slices of Americana. It’s never to harsh on its subject, but it also never pulls any of its punches, feeling very much like one of those stories that is so ridiculous that it must be true.

Mortifying…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bernie, Bernie Tiede, Carthage, East Texas, jack black, Linklater, Matthew McConaughey, Richard Linklater, School of Rock, Shirley MacLaine, texas, United States | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Iron Man 3

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Darren

While Iron Man 3 isn’t quite perfect, it’s a solid superhero blockbuster, and perhaps second only to Kenneth Brannagh’s Thor as the best superhero film produced by Marvel Studios.

Who da Iron Man?

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Non-Review Review: Evil Dead (2013)

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Darren

Evil Dead does has a bit of a quirky charm to it, serving as perhaps the best-made horror throwback I’ve seen in quite some time, much more effective than most of the recent splurge of exorcism movies. As far as competent execution of classic horror movie tropes go, complete with the sense of “something gruesome’s gonna happen” dread and a healthy amount of gore, Evil Dead succeeds admirably. There are some issues in the final act, but Evil Dead checks all the necessary boxes, and does so with a minimum amount of fuss or pretension, which makes it a surprising enjoyable watch for those looking to enjoy a good old-fashioned video nasty.

That said, it can’t help but feel a little awkward, through no fault of its own. Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead was a genre classic which worked in a large part because it eschewed all but the most basic tropes of horror storytelling, refusing to dress a video nasty in anything too fancy. The movie came to embody a particular subgenre of horror, and it wore its grotesqueness on its sleeve. Last year, Cabin in the Woods offered a fitting follow-up, a capstone to that approach to horror. As such, through no fault of its own, this version of Evil Dead feels like it arrived a little late.

Down the rabbit hole…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alvarez, arts, Ataque de Pánico!, bruce campbell, Cabin in the Woods, Computer-generated imagery, evil dead, Fede Alvarez, film, horror, Horror film, Jane Levy, Movie, non-review review, Raimi, review, sam raimi, video nasty | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Olympus Has Fallen

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Darren

It’s easy to see why Die Hard is such a popular action movie template. It’s a formula that is very hard to do wrong. Sure, you might end up with a clumsy and disjointed mess of movie, but the format of man trying to save hostages in a base under siege is so straight-forward that it’s almost always an effective vehicle for an action film. Olympus Has Fallen takes that familiar movie outline and rigidly adheres to it. After all, once you’ve figured out the formula, all you have to do is plug in a few variables and a movie practically makes itself. As compared to a boat or a train or in a stadium, Olympus Has Fallen at least has ambition. It’s Die Hard in a White House.

It’s a clumsily constructed film, one that doesn’t excel at anything and fumbles at quite a few things. However, there’s only so far you can screw up a formula and Olympus Has Fallen winds up being a watchable, if very far from exceptional, mid-tier action film.

“Look, this is what happens when terrorists attack while Bruce Willis is on holiday…”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: die hard, film, gerard butler, Movie, non-review review, North Korea, Olympus Has Fallen, review, Rick Yune, South Korea, United States, white house | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Oblivion

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Darren

Director Joseph Kosinski wears his science-fiction interests on his sleeve. Tron: Legacy was obviously an update of an eighties science-fiction cult classic, and Oblivion feels like another form of pulpy homage. At its best, Oblivion feels like a spiritual successor to those wonderful cult science-fiction movies of the seventies and eighties, by way of classic version of The Outer Limits. Oblivion isn’t the strongest piece of science-fiction I’ve seen this year, nor the most ambitious, nor the most intelligent.

The movie is full of twists and turns, but few that any genre aficionado will fail to see coming. Instead, the movie largely works because it feels like an affectionate homage to those old-school post-apocalyptic pulpy sci-fi adventures. It’s cinematic nostalgia, but it’s lovingly crafted and skilfully rendered. Kosinski might not be the best storyteller working in the business, but he has a wonderful eye and keen sense of how to construct a beautiful scene.

On top (what remains of) the world…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrea Riseborough, Cruise, film, imax, Joseph Kosinski, Kosinski, Movie, non-review review, Oblivion, Olga Kurylenko, outer limits, review, science fiction, tom cruise, tron, tron: legacy | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Omega Man

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Darren

The Omega Man remains, perhaps, the most high-profile adaptation of Richard Matheson’s genre-busting vampire sci-fi survivalist novel, I Am Legend. Of course, the film has little resemblance to Matheson’s truly iconic piece of literature, save for the basic premise. Charleton Heston is Robert Neville, the last man alive in a world of monsters. While I Am Legend is a bold and thought-provoking exploration of the implications of that idea, The Omega Man seems to have no loftier goal than simply telling an entertaining apocalyptic yarn. There’s nothing wrong with that, but – much like Robert Neville himself – The Omega Man is haunted by the ghost of what could have been.

Goodbye to all of that…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Anthony Zerbe, art, arts, Audio, austin powers, bbc, Boris Sagal, Charlton Heston, Consumer Electronics, doctor, film, Heston, I Am Legend (film), Jon Pertwee, los angeles, Movie, music, Neville, non-review review, Omega Man, Omega Seamaster, review, richard matheson, Robert Neville, Rosalind Cash, Shopping, Third Doctor, Woodstock | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: Throw Momma From the Train

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Darren

Throw Momma From the Train feels like something of a dry run for Danny DeVito. The actor had previously directed a cable television movie, The Ratings Game, but Throw Momma From the Train represented his theatrical directorial début. While not nearly as effective as his follow-up, the classic War of the Roses, Throw Momma From the Train sustains itself with an interesting premise and two charming lead performances that help cover for a script that isn’t anywhere near as darkly comic as it would like to think that it is.