the m0vie blog

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…

Continue reading →

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 »

Doctor Who: Planet of the Daleks (Review)

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.

Planet of the Daleks originally aired in 1973.

You know, for a man who abhors violence, I must say I took great satisfaction in doing that.

– The Doctor on demolishing a Dalek

The combined Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks serials were intended to mark the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who with a twelve-part epic that could be measured against the lost Daleks’ Master Plan. I’m quite fond of The Frontier in Space, and I’d argue that it stands as the best space-opera of the Pertwee era, but I’ll concede that the story is severely weakened by the links it shares with this little adventure, which is conclusive proof that Daleks were quite stale long before Davros was invented.

Not all Dalek stories are gold…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, Carnival of Monsters, Dalek, Dalek Invasion of Earth, Davros, doctor, DoctorWho, Frontier in Space, Jo Grant, Planet of the Daleks, Skaro, tardis, Terry Nation, Time Lord, timelords | 1 Comment »

Stan Lee & Gene Colan’s Iron Man – The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 2 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Darren

To get ready for Iron Man 3, we’ll be taking a look at some Iron Man and Avengers stories, both modern and classic. We hope to do two or three a week throughout the month, so check back regularly for the latest update.

The second omnibus contains both the tail end of Stan Lee run on Tales of Suspense and the Archie Goodwin run on The Invincible Iron Man. To make matters easier, I’ve split the review in half. This half covers the end of Stan Lee’s Iron Man.

And so we come to the end of Stan Lee’s work on the character of Iron Man as part of the Tales of Suspense magazine. This part of the run is consistently illustrated by the wonderful Gene Colan, who is among my favourite artists of the era, and Colan’s pencils do a lot to give the tail-end of Lee’s work with Tony Stark a bit of weight and gravitas. Because, as we reach the end of the character’s time as one-half of Tales of Suspense, it’s hard to argue that Lee still hasn’t quite figured out what he wants to do with Iron Man as a character. While Tony Stark’s teething problems are nowhere near as severe as those of The Incredible Hulk, it still feels like the character isn’t gelling nearly as well as he should.

If you can’t stand the heat…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Archie Goodwin, avengers, Gwyneth Paltrow, iron man, iron man 2, iron man 3, mandarin, Mole Man, robert downey, stan lee, Tales of Suspense, tony stark | Leave a comment »

Watch! New Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer!

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Darren

This is a bit of a surprise. Given how secretive JJ Abrams can be about his projects, I really hadn’t expected to see too much more of Star Trek: Into Darkness before the release date, so the new trailer is a bit of a pleasant shock.

That said, it isn’t as if the new trailer gives anything new away. John Harrison is a very bad man with a very sexy evil voice. Kirk is pursuing him. There are explosions, chase sequences and soul-searching. I honestly love that we know relatively little about Into Darkness before it has been released. It seems like we know absolutely everything about other blockbusters, while we can’t even confirm the identity of John Harrison. Which is great. I love speculating. It’s so much more fun than actually knowing.

Anyway, the latest trailer is below. Also, we’ll be doing a bit of a Star Trek geek-athon starting 1st May. I suspect it might be the most intense month of Star Trek fun anywhere on the interwebs. Which is quite a boast, but I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t think I could back it up. Anyway, enjoy!

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Benedict Cumberbatch, chris pine, J. J. Abrams, jj abrams, John Harrison, kirk, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness | Leave a comment »

Watch! New Man of Steel Trailer!

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Darren

It’s safe to say that I’m somewhat skeptical of a new live action Superman movie, particularly after the mess that was Superman Returns. That said, I’m growing cautiously optimistic about Man of Steel. The latest trailer helps, and it seems that David Goyer and Christopher Nolan (and Zack Snyder) have hit upon some of the character’s core themes – particularly the idea that Superman is more of an aspirational figure than a guy who can hit things really hard. The new trailer offers glimpses of the supporting cast. Amy Adams sounds pretty great as Lois Lane, not that there was any doubt. It’s also nice to see the wonderful Michael Shannon in full-blown villain mode. Although it looks like Zod will swear vengeance against the House of El again, Shannon’s performance looks to be a completely different tack from Terrence Stamp’s iconic performance. And that’s a good thing, as much as I love Stamp’s Zod.

Anyway, check out the trailer below, and let me know what you think.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: amy adams, Christopher Nolan, David Goyer, lois lane, Michael Shannon, superman, Superman in film, zack snyder | 8 Comments »

Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin (Review)

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Darren

The Deadly Assassin originally aired in 1976.

I deny this reality.

– the Doctor

The Deadly Assassin is a rather boldly experimental episode of Doctor Who. It’s the first story told without a companion character, and it also ventures quite forcefully into the realm of surrealism. It offers a rather bold deconstruction of the Time Lords, a rather cynical depiction of the aliens who had seemed all-powerful in stories like The War Games or The Three Doctors. More than that, though, The Deadly Assassin feels – appropriately enough – like a treatise on the inevitable death of Doctor Who.

Located in the middle of the fourteenth of twenty-six seasons, and broadcast thirteen years from both the start and the end of the show’s initial run, The Deadly Assassin seems to be positioned at the very heart of Doctor Who.

A rough outline of what’s going on…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Assassination of John F. Kennedy, bbc, Celestial Intervention Agency, Charles Curran, Deadly Assassin, doctor, DoctorWho, Dudley Simpson, Flash Gordon, Gallifrey, kennedy, Mary Whitehouse, Master, russell t. davies, science fiction, tardis, Time Lord, Unearthly Child | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: Frontier in Space (Review)

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Darren

Frontier in Space originally aired in 1973.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the show, the four-part serial The Three Doctors was produced. However, it was also decided that Jon Pertwee’s fourth season in the role should also contain something quite a bit grander than the average Doctor Who serial. Clearly intended to rival the epic (and lost) Daleks’ Master Plan in terms of scale and scope, an epic twelve-part adventure was conceived that would run across two back-to-back serials. It would open with Frontier in Space, before easing gently into Terry Nation’s Planet of the Daleks.

Unfortunately the adventure was never quite able to measure up to the series’ earlier Dalek epic, primarily due to problems with the second serial. Still, though somewhat weakened by the necessity to dovetail into the story directly following, Frontier in Space remains a rather wonderful example of the series on its largest scale, offering epic space opera with large-scale consequences.

Lost in space…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, bbc, Dalek, doctor, Doctor (Doctor Who), doctor who, DoctorWho, fiction, Frontier in Space, Jo Grant, Jon Pertwee, Malcolm Hulke, Master, Ogron, Planet of the Daleks, science fiction, Terry Nation, The Daleks' Master Plan, victory of the daleks | 2 Comments »

Ultimate Comics: Divided We Fall, United We Stand – Spider-Man (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Darren

I have to admit, I am very surprised that Marvel have yet to start issuing oversized hardcovers of writer Brian Michael Bendis’ latest Ultimate Spider-Man run. The author has been writing the writing the series since the first issue appeared on stands in October 2000. The series has been re-launched twice, for three volumes as part of the same story. The first two runs are collected in their entirety, but only bits and pieces of the third run have been collected so far. The prelude Fallout was collected with Bendis’ The Death of Spider-Man omnibus, and the crossover with the main universe has been collected in Spider-Men, and then there’s these issues here, collected as part of Divided We Fall.

However, despite the high profile decision to create a new Spider-Man, generating considerable press coverage, Marvel has yet to begin collecting nice oversized hardcovers of Bendis’ latest run. As a result, the issues collected here give a rather scattershot coverage of Bendis’ run on the iconic web-crawler, which is a bit of a shame. As with the Ultimates and Ultimate X-Men comics tying into this big event, context is a vital part of this gigantic crossover, with Bendis’ story only really resonating as part of an on-going story featuring the development of a new version of Spider-Man, Bendis’ own creation.

Who says there’s no such thing as bad publicity?

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: avengers, ben kingsley, bendis, brian michael bendis, captain america, iron man, iron man 2, iron man 3, mark millar, marvel, marvel comics, Movie, robert downey, spider man, Spider-Men, ultimate comics spider-man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, United States | 1 Comment »

Doctor Who: The Sound of Drums (Review)

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Darren

The Sound of Drums originally aired in 2007.

Doctor.

Master.

I like it when you use my name.

You chose it. Psychiatrist’s field day.

As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?

– the Doctor and the Master

The Sound of Drums is really more interesting than it is successful. Building off Utopia as the second part of a three-part finalé, building the longest single story in the revived Doctor Who, The Sound of Drums does an excellent job moving the characters along and getting everything where it needs to be for the requisite cliffhanger. Unfortunately, Davies’ weaknesses when it comes to plotting are at play here. While Utopia took advantage of a leisurely pace and conventional plot in order to do some nice set-up, The Sound of Drums doesn’t have that luxury. Utopia came out of left-field, with the last ten minutes taking the audience by surprise. Now the audience knows the game is afoot, so the rules have changed.

The Sound of Drums kicks off with everything in full swing, and Davies has to ratchet up the tension from there. The result is that Davies does solid character work, but that the plot points and set-ups occasionally feel a bit forced. That’s especially true when it comes to the ideas that will be important to the resolution of The Last of the Time Lords.

The End of the World… oh, wait, we already did that one…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, bbc, Dalek, Davies, doctor, doctor who, DoctorWho, Earth, Gallifrey, Harriet Jones, heath ledger, joker, Jon Pertwee, Last of the Time Lords, Master, russell t. davies, science fiction, Sound of Drums, tardis, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Time Lord, Unearthly Child | 3 Comments »

Doctor Who: Cold War (Review)

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Darren

Hair. Shoulderpads. Nukes. It’s the eighties. Everything’s bigger!

– the Doctor

The theory that this fiftieth anniversary half-season is intended as an homage to Doctor Who‘s rich and varied past holds up with Cold War. If The Bells of St. John was a Pertwee-era invasion tale, and The Rings of Akhaten was a shout-out to classic Hartnell world-building, then Cold War wears its influences even more brazenly. It’s the archetypal “base under siege” story popularised in the Troughton era, to the point where it even brings back one of the era’s most iconic monsters.

Indeed, the “Troughton base under siege by classic monsters” story is the only classic Doctor Who formulation that this half-season visits twice. While Cold War is easily weaker (and less ambitious) than Nightmare in Silver, it still fills that niche remarkably well. After all, if any Doctor Who writer can channel nostalgia, it’s Mark Gatiss.