Movies | the m0vie blog

Follow Me: The Lost Art of the Sequel Hook…

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Darren

I had the pleasure of seeing David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on Friday, and it was a very good film. It smoothed out some of the issues I had with the original adaptation, was beautifully acted and directed, and was just a very nice piece of film. However, I was a bit disappointed with the ending of the film, which served as a twenty-minute trailer for the sequel. This is a sequel that hasn’t been greenlit yet, and hasn’t even been written. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I do think there is a point where setting up a later instalment undermines the original film.

Leaving the series with snow where to go?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman begins, bourne ultimatum, dark knight, david fincher, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, green lantern, hollywood, Italian Job, movie-making, sequel hook, sequels | 3 Comments »

The Adventures of Tintin: The Red Sea Sharks (Review)

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in the United States later this month, I’ll be taking a look at some of nineties animated television show. Check back daily!

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

In many ways, The Red Sea Sharks feels like a conclusion to The Adventures of Tintin. Drawing together countless plot threads and supporting characters into one massive confrontation between Tintin and Rastapopoulos, providing some nice set pieces and a tour of the globe, the adventure feels like it’s really wrapping up all the left over bits and pieces the series has accumulated since Cigars of the Pharaoh. The four adventures that followed would have a markedly different tone, to the point where they almost felt like an epilogue, examining what happened after Tintin’s globe-trotting adventures had concluded. The animated adaptation of the episode seems to treat it as an adventure relatively epic in scope, and again makes a surprising case for an unconventional candidate for a potential movie adaptation.

Just plane trouble...

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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: Adventure of Tintin, Calculus Affair, Captain Haddock, Castafiore Emerald, Dawson, Haddock, Hergé, red sea sharks, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the red sea sharks, the red sea sharks, tintin, tintin: the red sea sharks, United States | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Darren

I will confess that I’m not a huge fan of the original Swedish adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It was just too bleak, with every male character existing as some form of sexual predator, shot against a drab grey backdrop and with nothing but unrelenting cynicism to propel it. I don’t want to describe David Fincher’s version as “softer” – there are still any number of scenes that will have viewers squirming in their seats – so perhaps “smoother” or “rounded” represents a better choice of adjective. While there are still some pacing issues in the last third, Fincher succeeds in adapting the best-selling book in a fashion that makes it just as fascinating as it is grim.

Opening a cold case...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: david fincher, Fincher, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Immigrant Song, Larsson, michael mann, Mikael Blomkvist, non-review review, review, Rooney Mara, Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (film) | 6 Comments »

The Caped Social Crusader: The Dark Knight Rises and Batman’s History of Class Warfare…

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Darren

With the leaked second trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, showing in theatres in front of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, it seems like we have a theme for the movie, something to connect Nolan’s final Batman film to the terrorism and liberty metaphor that underscored The Dark Knight. Giving our first real look at Selina Kyle, who I sense might be far more important to the film than Bane himself, despite her relative lack of exposure, it seems that the film will play into the sort of resentment and class divide forming in global society – the type of movement spawning the “Occupy Wall Street” and the “We are the 99%” campaigns. “You think this’ll last,” Selina taunts Bruce, in a scene that conjures Tim Burton’s underrated Batman Returns. “There’s a storm coming Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Cause when it hits the city you are all gonna wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

It seems like a fascinating avenue for Nolan to explore, especially given that Batman is one of the “1%”himself. Still, it’s an angle rich for exploitation and with considerable history behind it.

The Bane of the upper classes?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bane, batman, Batman in film, Bob Kane, bruce wayne, catwoman, clark kent, class warfare, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, stan lee, superman, The Dark Knight Rises, the dark knight rises trailer, tim burton, Tim Drake | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Darren

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol reminds me – and, I feel the need to specify this, in a good way – of one of the Bond films from before Casino Royale made them all grittier and edgier. No disrespect to that fantastic film, but the relatively serious remodelling of Britain’s most famous secret agent left a bit of a gap in the market for an espionage thriller that doesn’t take itself too seriously. And while Ghost Protocol takes a great deal of pride in doing what it sets out to do with a great deal of skill, it certainly never takes itself too seriously. And that proves to be a very good thing, indeed.

Keeping me on edge...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brad Bird, casino royale, film, Ghost Protocol, imax, Michael Nyqvist, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Movie, non-review review, pierce brosnan, review, Simon Pegg | 8 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Artist

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Darren

It’s funny that The Artist should end up being so accessible. It’s a black-and-white silent film, shot in an abandoned aspect ratio, set in old Hollywood from a French director. It sounds like an exercise in arthouse excess, and yet it’s easily one of the most charming and engaging stories in recent memory. It’s hard to put a finger on which part of the film works so well, so I’m going to opt for a massive copout: they all do. It’s a love letter to cinema, but not necessarily to “classic cinema” – the movie feels pretty timely for a story set in the twenties. In short, if you are any sort of cinephile, do yourself a favour and check it out. You won’t regret it.

Released just in time for New Year’s, it seems like 2011 might have saved the best for last.

Now THAT's Entertainment!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bérénice Bejo, black and white, Dujardin, Filmmaking, george clooney, George Valentin, hollywood, james cromwell, Jean Dujardin, john goodman, Malcolm McDowell, marion cotillard, Michel Hazanavicius, New Year, silent film, The Artist | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Help

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Darren

The Help is a well made film with a solid script, decent direction, and some very good performances from a superb ensemble. It’s hard not to get swept up in the drama as it unfolds, as the movie takes a harsh look at some of the prejudice festering in Mississippi during the sixties, where the phrase “hippie!”was an accusation that could destroy anyone’s social standing, it was not appropriate to fraternise with the help, and even raising the suggestion of racial equality was to open one’s self to prosecution for breaking the law. It’s powerful stuff. I was moved by it, particularly by the wonderful work put in by the cast. And, yet, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something very cynical unfolding before my eyes. The Help is a movie that seems built to fill a particular void, carefully measured and constructed to keep its audience well within their comfort zones, and a movie that feels like it might be sacrificing some of its depth for fear of actually challenging its audience.

Fraternising with the help...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Africa, African American, Allison Janney, Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone, Help, Hilly, Jessica Chastain, Minny, Mississippi, non-review review, Octavia Spencer, review, Sissy Spacek, The Help, The Help (book), the Help (film), United States, viola davis | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Alien

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Darren

I had the pleasure of attending of the Jameson Cult Film Club’s screening of Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien. It was a great evening for all concerned, and it was great to see a classic film like that projected on a huge screen, blasted out of a superb sound system. The screening seemed to coincide with the build-up to the release of next year’s Prometheus, a sci-fi thriller from Ridley Scott with “strands of Alien DNA”, but Scott’s film is one of those rare pieces of cinema that continues to give, even thirty years after the original release. It’s rare to point to a film that seems to offer new nuance and depth on each viewing, especially within the horror genre. Alien is a movie that’s absolutely fascinating in its complexity.

A bad egg…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 1979, alien, alien (1979), Alien (film), Dan O'Bannon, Duellists, feminism, film, Fox, HR Giger, james cameron, Movie, non-review review, Prometheus, review, ridley scott, Scott, sexual violence, sexuality, Stan Winston, The Duellists, xenomorph | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Shrek

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Darren

I caught Shrek again at the weekend, and I’m surprised how well it still holds up. Of course, part of my concern was that the sequels might have somehow retroactively impacted on my opinion of the original film, but I’m always a little hesitant to return to films I greatly enjoyed when I was younger – afraid that they might have been superseded by movies I’ve seen in the years since, or perhaps victim to slightly changing tastes. To be honest, it help up very well, and I was genuinely reminded of why I enjoyed it so much over a decade ago.

A fairy tale romance?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animation, disney, dreamworks, Fairy tale, film, Movie, non-review review, review, shrek, shrek (2000) | 4 Comments »

Trick or Tweet: Phoning or Tweeting During a Movie…

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Darren

I don’t know, I guess I kind of assumed that “don’t use your phone during a movie” was such a basic part of movie decorum that it really wasn’t worth mentioning. However, it seems that I might have been just a little bit naive in my supposition, at least concerning the iPhone app that came with Despicable Me. Now the Tateuchi Center in Bellevue in Washington is building a theatre designed to accommodate those who want to text and twitter during a film, stating:

“This is the wave of the future for the people we worry about attracting,” said John Haynes, the theater’s executive director. “Simply forbidding it and embarrassing people is not the way to go. So we are wiring the building in anticipation of finding ways to make it work over time.”

I don’t know, I thought embarrassing users was actually a pretty good idea. I just don’t like the idea of encouraging people to use their mobiles during any sort of performance – and, you can bet, this theatrical example will have implications for usage in cinemas.