the m0vie blog

Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (Review)

Posted on February 27, 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.

The Tomb of the Cybermen originally aired in 1967.

In fact you might say they’ve had a complete metal breakdown.

Oooooh….

I’m sorry, Jamie.

– traveling with the Doctor can be quite pun-ishing

The Tomb of the Cybermen is a bit of miracle. Originally thought lost to history in the great BBC archives purge (along with most of the Troughton era), The Tomb of the Cybermen was recovered completely intact from Hong Kong in 1992, a quarter of a century after the adventure aired and several years after the original series had been cancelled by the BBC. It remains perhaps the most significant recovery in recent memory, and fosters hope that there might be a few other serials that have been preserved in their entirety. Still, even outside of its significant historical context, I’d make the argument that The Tomb of the Cybermen stands as the best adventure to feature the metallic men.

Sealing your tomb…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, Cyberman, cybermen, doctor, Doctor (Doctor Who), doctor who, DoctorWho, Jon Pertwee, patrick troughton, second doctor, Sylvester McCoy, The Tomb of the Cybermen, Tomb Of The Cybermen, William Hartnell | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Hansel & Gretel – Witch Hunters

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Darren

There is a gem of an idea buried in Hansel & Gretel. Indeed, there isn’t too much excavation required to recover it. It lurks near the surface, visible to the naked eye. What would happen if you took a fairy tale and reworked it as a bombastic action adventure, complete with the clichés, archetypes and gimmicks you associate with such films? Hansel & Gretel veers on wry self-parody at points, as if an acerbic take on Hollywood’s fondness for “gritty” reimaginings of familiar concepts. With producers including Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, it’s not too hard to believe that this subversive exploration of genre tropes was explicitly intended as a sly joke at the expense of these sorts of nonsensical and gratuitously violent and aggressive takes on old classics. There are moments where Hansel & Gretel flirts with genuinely post-modern greatness.

Unfortunately, there’s also a sense that the film lacks the will to follow through on that somewhat sarcastic premise, and the result is that the shrewder gags are undermined by a surreal earnestness that seems to ask the audience to accept Hansel & Gretel for nothing more than what it is. The result is a discordant and scattered piece of film, one that seems almost at war with itself.

The hottest adaptation of Hansel & Gretel you have ever seen…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Action film, adam mckay, Fairy tale, famke janssen, film, Gemma Arterton, Gretel, Hansel, Hansel & Gretel, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, jeremy renner, Movie, non-review review, review, sylvester stallone, Tommy Wirkola | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Cherchez Hortense

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013.

Inoffensive. That might be the best way to describe Cherchez Hortense, a French comedy of manners about people trying to figure out how to get what they want from life – and each other. The cast do a great job, especially Jean-Pierre Bacri in the lead role of Damien Hauer, who just about manages to give the film enough weight to stop it floating effortlessly away. There’s nothing wrong with some light character-driven comedy, but Cherchez Hortense suffers from the fact that it seems like even one direct conversation would sort absolutely everything out. Okay, that’s a slight oversimplification (it depends which direct conversation), but it’s not too far from the truth. While the script is sharp and witty enough that the actors never feel like they’re just going in circles, there’s a weird sense of contrivance around Cherchez Hortense which gives means it’s hard to get too invested in anything that’s going on.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, arts, César Award, Cherchez Hortense, China, Cinema of France, Damien Hauer, film, French language, Hauer, jameson dublin international film festival, Japanese cuisine, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Kristin Scott Thomas, marion cotillard, Movie, non-review review, paris, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, review | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: Rise of the Cybermen (Review)

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Darren

Rise of the Cybermen originally aired in 2006.

Delete. Delete.

– the moment the Cybermen realise they are second-rate Daleks

I’ll freely concede that I am sceptical of the Cybermen. Okay, that’s not fair. I actually really like the early Cybermen stories. However, it seems like Doctor Who really forgot how the Cybermen worked when it turned them into a recurring “once per Doctor” sort of threat. However, they are part of the show’s iconography. The image of the Cybermen marching down the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral from The Invasion is important enough to earn them a sacred place in the show’s history.

So the return of the Cybermen was inevitable, even before we caught a glimpse of one of their silly helmets in Dalek. Russell T. Davies has generally done a great job revitalising old concepts for the revived series, so Rise of the Cybermen has that in its corner. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that Rise of the Cybermen approaches anything resembling the quality of Dalek, and I think that Rise of the Cybermen manages the rare feat of turning most of Davies’ strengths into weaknesses.

March of the Cybermen…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, bbc, Cyberman, cybermen, Dalek, Davies, doctor, DoctorWho, Pete Tyler, Rise of the Cybermen, Roger Lloyd Pack, rose, russell t. davies, science fiction, tardis, Tenth Planet, Time Lord, Vitex | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Broken City

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Darren

Broken City seems like an ironic title for a movie that seems to take so much pride in being functional. Broken City is a political investigative thriller, a subgenre that has produced any number of genuinely classic films. However, while Broken City doesn’t really excel in any true sense, it does take a great deal of care in making sure that everything works, that everything is assembled with enough care, and that there’s no real discordant note to be heard. Broken City isn’t a very good film on its own merits, but it manages to avoid being an overly bad one.

Broken marriage…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alona Tal, arts, Broken City, Catherine Zeta-Jones, film, IKEA, Kyle Chandler, mark wahlberg, Mayor of New York City, Movie, non-review review, Political thriller, review, russell crowe, Thriller (genre) | Leave a comment »

Look! Jack Kirby’s Designs for Argo!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Darren

I’m actually reasonably happy with Argo winning Best Picture. I’ve given up on the idea of the Academy Awards ever mirroring my own tastes, and Argo is a pretty great film from a director who is developing into a wonderful talent. And the awards last night spread the love around. It’s hard to hate a ceremony that can give Quentin Tarantino a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Django Unchained.

Anyway, in celebrating the success of Argo, how about a look at Jack Kirby’s original designs for the fictitious movie Lord of Light (which became Argo)? Kirby was a comic book legend, who created The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Captain America, Thor and countless other iconic comic characters. In the seventies, Kirby had an ever heavier science-fiction bint, creating his wonderful Fourth World and The Eternals and O.M.A.C. As part of the operation to rescue the escaped diplomats, Kirby designed these storyboards for the movie, which actually hit upon several of the author and artist’s favourite themes – including advanced god-like beings and the merging of the rational with the mystical.

Check out his sketches below. Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, Academy Award for Best Picture, Argo, arts, awards, ben affleck, captain america, django unchained, fantastic four, JackKirby, Michelle Obama, Movies, quentin tarantino, x-men | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Blood Rising

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013. It was the closing gala.

It is sometimes quite tough to review documentaries. It’s tempting to confuse a worthy cause with a worthy film. Blood Rising is certainly about a worthy cause. It explores the “femicides” that have been occuring in Juárez, Mexico since the nineties (if not earlier). Women are kidnapped, raped and murdered – and the local authorities have done next-to-nothing to help stem the tide of abuse. Those who dare speak up have been hounded out of the area, with some advocates even continuing the cause “in exile.” It is a very compelling and a very worthy cause, and one that deserves as much attention as it can garner.

However, even factoring in the very worthy cause and the fact that its heart is in the right place, Blood Rising feels like a rather ill-judged piece of cinema.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Documentary film, El Paso Texas, Felipe Calderón, jameson dublin international film festival, Juarez, Maguire, Mark McLoughlin, Mexico, Movie, murder, Spanish, States, United States | 3 Comments »

Doctor Who: Revenge of the Cybermen (Review)

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Darren

Revenge of the Cybermen originally aired in 1975.

Then what is it? You’ve no home planet, no influence, nothing. You’re just a pathetic bunch of tin soldiers skulking about the galaxy in an ancient spaceship.

– the Doctor pretty much sums it up

To be fair, the title should the first clue that something is not quite right here.

Tom Baker’s first season of Doctor Who contains two genuine classics in the form of Genesis of the Daleks and The Ark in Space, along with the quite good Sontaran Experiment, but it was bookended by two absolute clunkers. Indeed, Revenge of the Cybermen and Robot both feel like holdovers from the Barry Letts era of the show, and they’d both probably seem a whole lot more entertaining as vehicles for Jon Pertwee rather than Tom Baker.

Sadly, we’ve got what we’ve got, so let’s just try to work through this.

Sadly it’s A bomb, not THE bomb…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Ark in Space, bbc, BBC Archives, Cyberman, Cybermat, cybermen, Dalek, doctor, doctor who, DVD, Jon Pertwee, List of Doctor Who planets, Revenge Of The Cybermen, Tenth Planet, Time Lord, Tomb Of The Cybermen | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Welcome to the Punch

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013.

Welcome to the Punch is a weird best, a sort of a hybrid that runs on a engine built of mismatched parts. It’s very clearly a distinctly British film. the presence of Mark Strong and James McAvoy attests to that, let alone the supporting cast composed of people like Daniel Mays, Jason Flemyng, Davide Morrissey, Peter Mullen and Andrea Riseborough. However, it’s constructed in the style of an American action movie, with lots of guns, explosions and chases. It’s a very strange cocktail, and Welcome to the Punch suffers because it doesn’t blend the strength of both schools of thrillers. It feels rather clumsily, and rather hastily, thrown together without any real thought as to what the final composition might turn out like.

Top gun…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrea Riseborough, Daniel Mays, Eran Creevy, film, james mcavoy, Jason Flemyng, mark strong, Movie, non-review review, Peter Mullen, Punch, review, Steven Soderbergh, United States, Welcome to the Punch | Leave a comment »

Joss Whedon at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Darren

This event was part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013. It was hosted after a screening of Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing.

It has been a pretty great year for great guests at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. Robert Towne gave an interview and a workshop of screenwriting. Danny DeVito popped along to the Jameson Cult Film Club screening of L.A. Confidential. And Joss Whedon came to Dublin, with tickets to Much Ado About Nothing selling out so fast that they almost crashed the JDIFF servers. Whedon hung around afterwards for a rapid-fire questions-and-answers session, talking a bit about the film and his future plans, as well as his frequent artistic collaborators.