Movies | the m0vie blog

The Why of Sci-Fi…

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Darren

“Science-fiction” is one of those genres which finds itself consistently boxed in by film fans. Mentioning that hyphenated word calls to mind images of “warp speed”, space ships, transporters, aliens, time travel and all manner of weird genre devices. It’s part of the reason why so many film viewers attempt to stay away from the genre – I have encountered more than a few people will dismiss a science-fiction film or television show off-hand because it must be camp or ridiculous. I remain convinced that this is the reason that Battlestar Galactica never got the attention it deserved (with advertisements on my local channels playing down the fact that it happens “in space”). However, what is science-fiction when you boil it all down?

Are viewers spaced out by sci-fi?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2001: A Space Odyssey, arts, cormac mccarthy, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, science fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Science fiction film, Seven Samurai | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Sunshine

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Darren

Sunshine is a science-fiction movie. Well, duh, you proclaim, looking at the screenshots or having read the plot synopsis, it’s about a bunch of people in space flying to the sun. Of course it’s science-fiction! It’s hardly a comedy or musical! However, I’m talking about something more essential than its setting or its superficial elements. Although the story of a bunch of astronauts planning to reignite the dying star at the centre of our solar system may distract you, Sunshine works so well because it grabs the sorts of philosophical ideas at the heart of the best science-fiction: it’s an exploration of the conflict between the rational and the irrational, the logical and the emotional and the place of man and his understanding of the world around him. It’s movie that is far smarter than it pretends to be.

Going for gold...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 28 days later, chris evens, Cillian Murphy, cliff curtis, danny boyle, faith, Hiroyuki Sanada, icarus, ideas, John Murphy, mankind, mark strong, michelle yeoh, non-review review, religion, review, sci-fi, science, science fiction, slumdog millionaire, Sun, sunshine, the sun, the surface of the sun | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Darren

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a decently-made little thriller. It’s interesting that David Fincher has been selected to helm the inevitable English-language remake of the film, as it feels like a spiritual companion to se7en. While that Fincher thriller concerned itself with a broken world populated with seven flavours of deadly sin, this Swedish film is only really interested in one. It’s a brutal commentary on what it suggests is a harsh and repressively misogynistic society, one that victimises and commoditises women. However, it veers a little bit too far into sensationalist territory – fixated on the idea that men in positions of authority are inevitably sexual sadists – and its contents make for excedingly grim viewing.

Never quite gripping...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Cinema of Sweden, david fincher, film, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, Män som hatar kvinnor, Mikael Blomkvist, Movies, Nazism, non-review review, review, Rooney Mara, Stieg Larsson | 7 Comments »

Too Much of a Good Thing: Why Inception Might Be Best Left as One of a Kind…

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Darren

Apparently Warner Brothers want a sequel to Inception. That’s a long way from the earlier rumour that Inception was a “gift” to Nolan, almost a sort of bribe in order to keep him on board for Batman 3 (or, as it shall henceforth be known, The Dark Knight Rises), and one that the studio was never really 100% certain about. While I’m delighted the movie turned out to be successful enough to warrant a sequel, I can’t help but hope that it is never produced or released.

This announcement knocked me for a loop...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman begins, blade runner, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, Inception, inception sequel, Matrix, sequels, terry gilliam, Warner Bros | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: G.I. Joe – The Rise of Cobra

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Darren

I never grew up with G.I. Joe. For me it was Batman: The Animated Series or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. To me, this franchise was just a bunch of generic toy soldiers – in fact, I didn’t even know that they had separate names or defining characteristics. So I come to this movie without a sense of nostalgia or a familiarity with the core product. So, Stephen Sommers’ adaptation of the popular multi-media franchise to the big screen is my first major exposure to the product, and it left me feeling like I’d spent two hours watching a guy playing with toys, rather than making a movie. One of the characters even has a “kung-fu grip”.

It's a black-and-white world...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, christopher eccleston, Destro, Empire State Building, film, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kevin J. O'Connor, Movie, non-review review, Norton Internet Security, review, Sienna Miller, stephen sommers, team america: world police, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, United States | 3 Comments »

Where Have All the Good Movies Come From?

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Darren

I know I wasn’t alone when I claimed that this summer had been (with a few big exceptions) a massive disappointment for movie fans. In fairness, with a few bright spots, 2009 wasn’t exactly an above-average year either. However, myself and the better half have been going to the cinema fairly consistently over the past number of weeks and I have to admit that I’ve been more consistently impressed by films like The Social Network, The Kids Are Alright, Easy A and The Town than I have by any run of films in at least the last year. Is it just me, or are things finally looking up?

A veritable feast of good cinema...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2008, 2008 in film, 2010, 2010 in film, danny boyle, Darren Aronofsky, Easy A, film, forgetting sarah marshall, good movies, Hurt Locker, inglourious basterds, jeff bridges, kenneth branagh, Movies, november, october, oscar season 127 hours, quentin tarantino, the black swan, The Kids Are Alright, the social network, the town, tron: legacy, true grit | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Easy A

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Darren

“Just once I want my life to be like an 80’s movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason,” Olive – our plucky teenage protagonist – moans at one point, before sadly reflecting, “But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.” However, her life really isn’t that far off. Easy A recalls, in the best way possible, all those great teenage comedies from the eighties, like The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It isn’t that it’s a generic imitation – it works very well on its own merits, and selling it as a nostalgic trip doesn’t do the movie justice – rather that is displays a genuine understanding about the facts of being a teenager growing up and the way that social interactions work at that age.

Funny, my hairdresser gave me the same advice...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Easy A, Emma Stone, John Hughes, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, non-review review, paticia clarkson, review, Scarlet Letter, stanley tucci, teen comedy, the scarlet letter, Thomas Haden Church | 4 Comments »

Halloween Costume Fan: Tim Burton’s Superman

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Darren

With all the buzz around the up-coming Snyder/Nolan Superman reboot, it’s easy to forget that there was a planned relaunch of the franchise in the nineties, at the hands of Tim Burton – who cut his superhero teeth with Batman. Nicolas Cage was planned to play the Man of Steel and Kevin Smith has shared many anecdotes about the ridiculous studio demands (polar bear sentries! giant spiders!). However, special effects creator Steve Johnson has revealed the costume designs he had planned for the character for the nineties reboot (titled Superman Lives! – with mandatory exclamation mark!) Check them out below, or visit his facebook page for a closer look.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman, kevin smith, nicolas cage, Steve Johnson, superman, superman lives, tim burton, zack snyder | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Land of the Dead

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Darren

Welcome to the m0vie blog’s zombie week! It’s a week of zombie-related movie discussions and reviews as we come up to Halloween, to celebrate the launch of Frank Darbont’s The Walking Dead on AMC on Halloween night. So be sure to check back all week, as we’ll be running posts on the living dead.

Zombies, man. They creep me out.

– Kaufman

Land of the Dead is something of a delayed epilogue to Romero’s “dead” trilogy. The first three films were produced roughly once every decade, with The Night of the Living Dead appearing in the sixties, Dawn of the Dead in the seventies and Day of the Dead in the eighties. There was no zombie movie from Romero during the nineties (save a remake of his original film – and even then Romero didn’t direct it – his frequent collaborator Tom Savini was behind the camera. Land of the Dead is a somewhat more controversial film than the first three films Romero produced, perhaps because it’s the first time that it feels like Romero gives his zombies more development than the human survivors. It also plays with the audience’s expectations a bit more than the first three films – and, whiel I’m not convinced that this sort of toying around with the formula works, you have to give the director credit. It isn’t as strong as the earlier films, but it still feels like a director who has something to say about the state of modern society. And that is about good enough for me.

Hopper-ed up...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 28 weeks later, asia argento, dennis hopper, films, george a. romero, george romero, horror, john leguizamo, Land of the Dead, Living Dead, Movie, Movies, night of the living dead, simon baker, Tom Savini, zombie, zombie week!, zombies | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: 28 Weeks Later

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Darren

It’s strange. 28 Days Later felt strangely British, with its almost quaint surroundings and “island fortress” mentality. Filmed in High Definition with an intimate approach, the movie felt somehow more tangible and organic than most of these films, managing a genuine emotional impact that it’s easy to lose sight of in these fantastical narratives – its small scale and quirky design (along with hyper saturation) lent the movie a very distinct feel, the sensation that this was a “guerilla” zombie film – shot in the early morning on abandoned streets rather than closing off sections of town. In contrast, 28 Weeks Later feels a much more managed affair, and a much more conventional one. It’s shot like any other zombie movie, and clearly intended to reach an even wider audience than the original cult hit. It’s a great movie, but one can’t help but get the sensation that the fine polish applied to it undercuts some of the impact.