Movies | the m0vie blog

Watch! Alfred Hitchcock Presents a PSA About Texting At the Movies

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Darren

I’m quite looking forward to Hitchcock, the trailer of which premiered last week. The marketing team have sent around this lovely PSA, in which Anthony-Hopkins-as-Hitchcock lets us know his stance on texting in the cinema. It’s written in the dry punning style of Hitchcock, and I like Hopkin’s deliver – it’s not really an accent, just an attempt to emulate Hitchcock’s rhythm of speech.

As for the video itself, it looks – ironically enough – like it was shot on a mobile phone. But, considering the fact that it’s being pushed so widely, I assume that’s the intent. (Indeed, it would have been interesting for the trailer to end with a smash cut of somebody turning off the mobile.

Still, it’s a light and fun piece of marketing, and one I can easily get behind. Although I wish I could say that texting in a theatre was the worst thing I’ve had to put up with.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, Alma Reville, Anthony Hopkin, helen mirren, hitchcock, Mobile phone, PSA, Psycho | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Darren

Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild is a fascinating film, and I’m not quite sure I’ve figured it out yet. It looks stunning, especially considering the relatively tiny budget, and it features two stunning lead performances from newcomers Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. However, there’s a sense that movie lacks substance, that Zeitlin’s ethereal coming of age fantasy lacks a firm grounding necessary to convince us to embark with the young Hushpuppy on her coming of age adventure.

Lighting up the screen…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, Bathtub, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, coming of age, Dwight Henry, film, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Hushpuppy, Ice cap, Louisiana, Movie, New Orleans, non-review review, Quvenzhané Wallis, review, Screen Actors Guild Award, Wallis, Zeitlin | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Never Say Never Again

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Darren

Never Say Never Again has quite a lot weighing against it. Most obviously, there’s the fact that we already say this story at the height of the film franchise’s popularity, but there’s also a whole host of other issues that arise due to the attempts to distinguish this iteration of the character and story from the EON productions. There are times when the film can’t seem to decide if it is or isn’t Thunderball, just as there are times when it can’t decide if it wants to acknowledge the “other” Bond films, or ignore them completely. Despite that, there’s some good stuff on display here. The film famously opened against Octopussy, losing the box office battle. While neither is “vintage” Bond, I think that Never Say Never Again is the stronger of the two films. At least it serves as a better swan song for Sean Connery than Diamonds Are Forever.

The Bond who came in from the cold…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bond, film, GoldenEye, james bond, James Bond in film, Movie, Never Say Never Again, non-review review, Octopussy, review, Roger Moore, sean connery, Spy Who Loved Me, thunderball | 2 Comments »

Mondo Poster Monster Mania!

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Darren

I do love Mundo. Yet I have still to buy one of their distinctive poster redesigns. That might change, if I can get my hands on one of these, a collection of Universal Monster Movie poster redesigns from some wonderful artists. I especially love Francesco Francavilla’s take on The Invisible Man. Anyway, I had the pleasure of picking up the Universal Monster Movie Blu Ray Collection, and I’ll be jumping into it over Halloween. That said, it looks pretty fantastic, and these posters are a great way to celebrate some of the truly iconic creature features Hollywood has produced.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Blu-ray Disc, Film poster, halloween, hollywood, Mondo, Movie, poster, universal monsters | Leave a comment »

The Six Faces of 007: Roger Moore

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate James Bond’s 50th birthday on screen (and the release of Skyfall), we’re going to take a look at the character and his films. We’ve already reviewed all the classic movies, so we’ll be looking at his iconic baddies, and even at the character himself.

I always feel a little bit guilty when I concede that I am not too fond of Roger Moore’s time as James Bond. After all, Roger Moore seems like a truly wonderful person, and a great ambassador for the franchise. Of all the actors to play the role, he’s the one most likely to appear on television or in print to share stories or anecdotes about he time in the role, to defend the latest lead actor to come under fire, or even just to make some wonderfully wittily self-deprecating remarks. My Word is My Bond is a great deal of fun for any fan of the character and the films. So, to be clear, I love Roger Moore. I just don’t really like him as James Bond.

What’s not to love?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: A View to a Kill, daniel craig, james bond, James Bond in film, Maud Adams, Miss Moneypenny, Moneypenny, Movies, pierce brosnan, Roger, Roger Moore, sean connery, timothy dalton | 8 Comments »

Commiserations! And Something to Perk Us Up!

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Darren

We had the pleasure of attending the Blog Awards Ireland in the Osprey hotel over the weekend. We made the final five in the Best Pop Culture category. We didn’t win, losing out to a deserving A Year of Festivals in Ireland. There’s always next year. A massive thanks to the organisers as staff for all the hard work.

In other news, to help cheer us up, here’s Conan the Barbarian! The Musical.

I have no idea what the link is, but it made me smile. Also, “and hear the lamentations of their women” needs to be used in more chorus lines.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Conan the Barbarian, Ireland, Osprey, Ryan Braun, Shawshank Redemption, Sports, Travel and Tourism, United States | Leave a comment »

A View to a Bond Baddie: Franz Sanchez

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Darren

As far as James Bond’s on-screen adversaries go, Franz Sanchez stands out for a number of reasons. Like Julian Glover as Aristotle Kristatos, Robert Davi seems like he might have wandered on to the set from a nearby sound stage. While the murky and subtle double-agent from For Your Eyes Only could have arrived from a John le Carré story, Franz Sanchez looks to have wandered out of Miami Vice. Licence to Kill represented an attempt by the producers to make Bond topical again, with mixed results. It’s still one of the most divisive films in the series.

Part of that attempt to modernise Bond was the decision to cast the character as a morally ambiguous anti-hero out for revenge, in contrast to the clean-cut morality of earlier adventures. However, Sanchez himself was also by-product of the attempt to modernise Bond. Bond was no longer hunting a spy, an assassin or a madman with plans of world domination. Instead, Bond found himself confronting a thug running an international drug cartel.

It’s all keeled over on him…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bond, Business and Economy, Chile, Fleming, Francisco Scaramanga, Franz Sanchez, Government, history, ian fleming, james bond, James Bond in film, Jets, Krest, Man With The Golden Gun, Sanchez, Shopping, South America, Tim Tebow, United States | 5 Comments »

The Six Faces of 007: Pierce Brosnan

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Darren

I have a great deal of affection for Pierce Brosnan’s term as James Bond. I think the actor easily portrayed the most rounded James Bond since Connery, capable of being an angel or a killer as the script demanded it. His run got off to a solid start with (for my money) the most consistent two-fer in the franchise’s history. (Taken together, I’d argue that GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies are the perfect revision and update of the Bond mythos.) While the last two films of his tenure were awkward and uneven efforts, Brosnan never gave the role less than his all. He has gone on record as being disappointed that his term as James Bond didn’t last longer than four films and, despite the mess of Die Another Day, I can’t help but agree with him.

I was quite shaken by his departure…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, Bond girl, Brosnan, Cold War, Die Another Day, George Lazenby, GoldenEye, james bond, James Bond in film, Movies, pierce brosnan, Roger Moore, sean connery, World Is Not Enough, xenia onatopp | 13 Comments »

Irish and UK Posters for Les Misérables

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Darren

Universal just sent over these one-sheets for the upcoming Les Misérables, featuring Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman. It’s opening on January 11th, and I’m actually quite excited. Click the images below to enlarge.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: les mis, Les Misérables, posters | 2 Comments »

A View to a Bond Baddie: Francisco Scaramanga

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate James Bond’s 50th birthday on screen, we’re going to take a look at the character and his films. We’ve already reviewed all the classic movies, so we’ll be looking at his iconic baddies, and even at the character himself.

You see, Mr Bond, like every great artist, I want to create an indisputable masterpiece once in my lifetime. The death of 007 mano a mano, face to face, will be mine.

You mean stuffed and displayed over your rocky mantelpiece?

That’s an amusing idea, but I was thinking in terms of history. A duel between titans. My golden gun against your Walther PPK. Each of us with a 50-50 chance.

Six bullets to your one?

I only need one.

Scaramanga and Bond

Was there ever a better Bond villain wasted in a more terrible film? Okay, maybe Christopher Walken as Max Zorin comes close, but Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga feels like the only potentially redemptive aspect of the tonally mismatched The Man With The Golden Gun, a movie about a duel to a death that involves a karate school, secret lairs, giant frickin’ lasers and a slide whistle. Scaramanga is easily the most compelling thing about the whole film, and that might explain the contempt that many people hold for it. After all, the eponymous assassin is missing for most of the middle section of the film.