Movies | the m0vie blog

Are the Oscars Still a Pipe Dream for Christopher Nolan?

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Darren

As I write this, the clock is counting down. The Oscar race is in full swing. And I look back, and I really haven’t written too much about it. There are two reasons for this. The most obvious is that I haven’t seen too many of the contenders. Of the headliners, I have seen both The King’s Speech and The Social Network. I have yet to see The Black Swan, 127 Hours or True Grit. Of the lower-tier Oscar films, I have really only seen Inception and The Kids Are All Right. It isn’t that I don’t want to see them, it’s just that it has been a busy January and things have gotten in the way. The other reason I haven’t been blogging about it is because – barring what the competition between The King’s Speech and The Social Network says about the Academy – it has been a pretty bland year. There are so many “locks” that the race has become almost boring. In fact, the only real question I’m at all concerned about is whether Christopher Nolan will finally get that Best Director nomination he so sorely deserves.

Could this turn the Oscars upside down?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, Academy Award for Best Picture, academy award for outstanding direction, best director, best director oscar, Christopher Nolan, coen brothers, Darren Aronofsky, David O. Russell, films, Inception, King's Speech, Movies, snobbery, The Dark Knight | 9 Comments »

Non-Review Review: GoldenEye

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

GoldenEye saved James Bond. Bond had wallowed in obscurity for six years by the time that Pierce Brosnan’s first appearance in the role was released. As a kid, James Bond was something that was dead to me. Sure, it came on television from time to time (mostly on holidays) and they filled up a shelf at the videostore, but I always felt like they were something that had happened in the past – like the original Star Wars movies, or any Star Trek films featuring Captain Kirk. Even though I lacked the sophistication to articulate it at the time, I think I felt that the entire James Bond franchise would be reruns for me. There was nothing new happening.

And then GoldenEye was released.

Brosnan is Bond...

And it meant business.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 006, alan cumming, alec travelyn, bond, Cold War, famke janssen, films, GoldenEye, jack wade, james bond, james bond january, joe don baker, martin campbell, Movies, non-review review, pierce brosnan, revenge, review, sean bean, sean connery, Soviet Union, Tina Turner, Wii, xenia onatopp | 12 Comments »

The Very British Mr. Bond: The Habits of Empire & The American Fixation on Bond

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Darren

James Bond is a peculiarly British phenomenon. He’s a charmingly debonaire socialite with great taste in women and suits, but also a coldly professional killer. I’ve had debates on him where I’ve classified him as a gentleman, a sociopath, a sexist, a piece of nostalgia in a tuxedo, one of the last true cinematic heroes and the very distillation of cinematic class – sometimes within the context of the same argument. Why is Bond so fascinating? What makes him so gripping? Is it perhaps the fact that Bond is, in all his personas, so incredibly British?

Is he mostly armless?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: angelina jolie, Atlantic Ocean, brad pitt, British Empire, daniel craig, england, Falklands War, films, james bond, james bond january, Movies, nostalgia, sam mendes, the queen | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Knight & Day

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Darren

Much like Mission: Impossible, while I was watching Knight & Day I couldn’t help but get the impression that Tom Cruise really wanted to be James Bond. And, at the risk of being controversial, if an American actor were ever chosen, I think Cruise would fit the bill nicely. Indeed, Knight & Day feels more like a sort of traditional Bond film than Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace have, and its that sense of endearing nostalgia which really makes the film worthwhile. In a film season packed with disappointing films, Knight & Day is an entertaining and engaging romp which might make you smile as you spend two hours with it.

It's a romantic action comedy, and it has the big guns attached...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, james bond, James Mangold, Knight and Day, Marc Blucas, mission: impossible, non-review review, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, review, Roger Moore, tom cruise, tomorrow never dies | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Mission Impossible

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

I can understand you’re very upset.

Kitrich, you’ve never seen me very upset.

Tom Cruise really wants to be James Bond. I mean, I think that’s the driving force behind the Mission: Impossible films, an attempt to construct an American James Bond franchise around the character of Ethan Hunt – they certainly aren’t the biggest of the blockbuster movies, and yet Cruise has used his influence to produce a trilogy of films (with a fourth one in the works). Between that and Knight & Day, I think the role of a globe-trotting secret agent action hero just appeals to the actor. I think he pretty much wants to be an American James Bond and – truth be told – I think he’s a great candidate for it.

Just hangin' out...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brian dePalma, ethan hunt, films, imf, impossible mission force, mission: impossible, Movies, non-review review, review, tom cruise, your mission | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Licence to Kill

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Darren

Licence to Kill is the Bond movie that almost killed the franchise. The gap between the release of this movie in 1989 and GoldenEye in 1995 is the longest period that the film series has been left dormant. Although the legal issues surrounding the series hardly helped ensure the British secret agent’s return to the big screen, there’s also the fact that this movie was something of a box office dud in the States. (Although it was quite successful elsewhere.) Licence to Kill is perhaps the most divisive of the Bond movies – even more so than On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Detractors see it as a poor attempt to emulate Miami Vice, indulging in ridiculously over-the-top violence and darkness for the sake of darkness. Fans argue that the movie is a lot closer to Ian Fleming’s original novels, and feels more like the recent relaunch of the franchise – it’s a perfect bedfellow with Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace. My opinion is somewhere in the middle.

Bond always uses protection in bed…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: casino royale, film, GoldenEye, ian fleming, james bond, james bond january, Licence to Kill, Movie, non-review review, pierce brosnan, review, robert davi, Roger Moore, timothy dalton, United States | 9 Comments »

Is 300 Racist? A Counter-Argument…

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Darren

I know that we’re officially about five years past this discussion, but I was thinking about it lately. 300, as imagined by Zack Snyder and Frank Miller, gets a lot of slack for its perceived Islamophobia and racism towards Persians (modern-day Iranians). There’s a rather excellent article here outlining one perspective, which makes the argument that it’s a fundamentally racist film. I sat down and I watched it, and I kept the ideas in mind, and I jotted down some thoughts. it should be noted that I’m just a layman, I’m an expert or a professor in film or literature, but it seemed to me that a lot of the critics were taking the film far too seriously at face value.

I'd want to make this argument on sure footing...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 300, 300 (film), avatar: the last airbender, dark knight strikes again, film, frank miller, graphic novels, iran, is 300 racist, islamophobia, media, media studies, Movies, persia, propaganda, race relations, racism, social media, Sparta, Spartan army, Spartans, zack snyder | 65 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Living Daylights

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Darren

The Living Daylights is a forgotten Bond film, sitting as it does between the twin “duds” of A View to a Kill and Licence to Kill (although I am not quite as critical of those films as most). It’s the first of the Bond films to feature Timothy Dalton, taking over from Roger Moore – who by this stage seemed as likely to be getting a free bus pass as he was to foil enemy spies. Although the word didn’t quite exist in media circles when the movie originally came out, there’s a strong smell of “reboot” about the film, as if the powers behind the scenes are attempting to consciously remodel the franchise in the wake of a disappointing previous film. Though not quite as obvious (or as far-reaching) as subsequent reboots in GoldenEye and Casino Royale, The Living Daylights isn’t a bad Bond film – it’s just a really poorly dated one.

Tim, you scared the Living Daylights out of me…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: A View to a Kill, afghanistan, bond, Caroline Bliss, defectors, films, GoldenEye, james bond, james bond january, kara, Living Daylights, Movies, non-review review, pierce brosnan, review, Roger Moore, Soviet Union, taliban, the living daylights, timothy dalton, ussr | 15 Comments »

The Cat’s Out of the Bag: Catwoman and Bane Confirmed as Villains of The Dark Knight Rises (Batman 3)

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Darren

Read our in-depth review of the film here.

Yesterday was a big day for fans of superhero cinema. Along with photos from X-Men: First Class (and an interview with Kevin Bacon which suggests he’s having a lot of fun, so I likely will too), Warner Brothers released some more photos of Green Lantern and a little bit of news concerning The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy will be playing the steroid-fueled villain Bane, while Anne Hathaway will be playing Catwoman. I’ll just let that sink in.

“Tell me who the villains are!”

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: anne hathaway, bane, batman, batman forever, catwoman, Christopher Nolan, films, Harley Quinn, Movies, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, tom hardy, Warner Brothers | 18 Comments »

Non-Review Review: A View to a Kill

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Darren

A View to A Kill is not fondly remembered. In fact, it frequently finds itself listed amongst the dregs of the Bond films when the time comes to rank the worst of the British secret agent’s on-screen adventures. Truth be told, I find that rather harsh – I’d argue that it’s a significantly stronger effort than The Man With The Golden Gun, at least – as well as possibly Octopussy and Moonraker. After all, both Roger Moore and Christopher Walken look like they are having such a ridiculously good time.