the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Red Riding – The Year of Our Lord 1980

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Darren

Talk to someone else!

There is no one else, they’re all %$#!ing dead!

– BJ and Hunter

Red Riding: 1980 isn’t quite as strong as its direct predecessor. In fact, it’s probably the weakest of the films in the trilogy. There are quite a few reasons for this, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth watching. For all its flaws as part of a continuing narrative, Red Riding: 1980 is still a fascinating tale of police corruption, and arguably the movie of the trilogy that works best as a standalone feature. Or, at least, better than it does as one connected narrative. Red Riding: 1974 depends on Red Riding: 1983 for an ending, and Red Riding: 1983 depends on Red Riding: 1974 for a beginning. Red Riding: 1980 sits in the middle, and serves as something of an example of the type of endemic corruption that has taken root in this version of Yorkshire.

Hunter on the prowl…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animation, arts, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series), Child abuse, Craven, crime, david morrissey, David Peace, Game, Geordie, George, George Nozuka, Helen Marshall, Home Office, Home Secretary, horror, Hunger strike, Hunter, Jimmy Savile, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Karachi, Little Red Riding Hood, Molloy, Morrissey, North Wales, Office of the Prime Minister, Paddy Considine, Peter Hunter, Peter Sutcliffe, Red Riding, Ripper, University of the West Indies, Voice Actors | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Jaws

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Darren

Jaws is a pretty impressive film. Not only did the film serve to launch Steven Spielberg’s career and subgenre of monster creature features, it also effectively kick-started the summer blockbuster. However, watching it again all these years later, it’s amazing how well Jaws holds up – far better than the vast majority of films that it ultimately inspired. There’s a lot of reasons that Jaws works, and a lot of them come down to Spielberg working as director, but also in the scripting and the acting. It’s rare for a movie to produce one character that we truly care about. Jaws manages to produce four compelling leading characters – the three men who ultimately end up on the boat, and the shark itself.

Finally copping on…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: AT&T, Brody, christmas, education, england, faq, film, Hooper, jaws, Keira Knightley, Majordomo, Movie, non-review review, Peter Benchley, PlayStation Vita, Rand Paul, review, Shark, spielberg, steven spielberg | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Red Riding – The Year of Our Lord 1974

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Darren

This is the North. We do what we want.

– Craven explains how things work to Eddie

Red Riding is certainly an ambitious effort. David Peace wrote four books exploring violence and corruption in Yorkshire, centring around the morbid history of brutality in the North. Occupying a strange ethereal realm between fact and fiction, sometimes those crimes are fictionalised, but sometimes real murders and murderers intersect. The child murders of this first instalment, Red Riding: 1974, evoke the infamous Moors murders in Manchester during the sixties, while the arrest of an innocent party calls to mind the case of Stefan Kiszko. Adapting the series of four books into a trilogy of films, Red Ridingmakes for a fascinating – if gloomy – exploration of the darker pages in the region’s cultural history.

He’s gone far (Gar)field…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bob Fraser, conspiracy theory, crime, David Peace, Death squad, Eddie, Garfield, Garfield James Abram, George Orwell, history, Jack Ryder, Jesse Ventura, Jorge Rafael Videla, Julian Jarrold, Labour, Little Red Riding Hood, Morrissey, Northern Ireland, Peter Sutcliffe, Polack, Police, Presidents, rebecca hall, Red Riding, Ronald Reagan, Sean Harris, the amazing spider-man, Tory, United States, vietnam, Yorkshire Post | 2 Comments »

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain: Ignorance, Bliss and Entertainment…

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Darren

Occasionally, I like to do a bit of research. That might shock some of my more regular readers. If I’m covering a particularly topic, I like to have a bit of background knowledge that will allow me to offer some nuanced or informed commentary. Hopefully, I might be able to tell you something you didn’t know – after all, hopefully the time spent reading my review isn’t wasted if I can tell you something you didn’t already know, regardless of whether our opinions agree or disagree. Also, it’s just nice to know these things because they can help my understanding of a particular film.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, arts, Arts and Entertainment, Asia, Bertrand Russell, Birds, Cannibal Holocaust, Earth, education, film, Film Industry, Gaia, hitchcock, James A. Garfield, jeri ryan, Mo Rocca, Movies, People, PM Dawn, Robert Beltran, ronald d. moore, star trek, Tippi Hedren | 2 Comments »

Infinite Crisis: Justice League – Crisis of Conscience (Review)

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Darren

This month I’m taking a look at DC’s massive “Infinite Crisis” Event. Although it was all published in one massive omnibus, I’ll be breaking down the lead-in to the series to tackle each thread individually, culminating in a review of the event itself. Check back for more.

Crisis of Conscience exists of something of a bridge between Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. Of course, other tie-ins (like Villains United) have already explored that fertile ground, but Crisis of Conscience is very much about exploring the implications of that earlier crisis crossover. After all, how can the heroes trust one another, or themselves, when they’ve been tampering and playing with memory and personality. Ultimately, Crisis of Conscience doesn’t necessarily resolve anything. It really just lines up all the final pieces before we jump into Infinite Crisis proper. However, it’s an interesting exploration of just how far these characters have come since the innocence of the Silver Age.

Holding out for a hero…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, catwoman, Crisis of Conscience, dc comics, Despero, final crisis, flash, green lantern, hal jordan, infinite crisis, justice league, mars, Martian Manhunter, Silver Age of Comic Books, Villains United | Leave a comment »

Quietly at the Peacock Theatre (Review)

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Darren

So, a Catholic and a Protestant walk into a bar. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Quietly is a fascinating exploration of the Troubles from writer Owen McCafferty and director Jimmy Fay. While it’s often very difficult to translate the real life conflict into art – in many respects, it’s too real and too recent and too raw for us to process fully at this point – Quietly does an excellent job capturing the necessary steps forward for those affected by (and involved in) violence in the North. The result is a truly fascinating piece of theatre, and something well worth seeing during it’s run at the Peacock stage.

Picture by Anthony Woods…

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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: abbey, catholic, Guthrie Theater, Northern Ireland, Owen McCafferty, peacock, peacock theatre, Peafowl, Protestantism, Religion and Spirituality, Troubles, Ulster Plantation | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: Rann-Thanagar War (Review)

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Darren

I’ve always been a fan of the “hokey science-fiction” corner of the DC Universe. Adam Strange is perhaps my second-favourite Silver Age DC hero (behind the Flash). I loved Alan Moore’s trip to the stars during his Swamp Thing run. While many thought that Stars my Destination, the penultimate mega-arc of James Robinson’s Starman, went on far too long, I loved every page. Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern is one of my favourite modern comic book runs. I confess all this so that my bias is upfront, when I admit that Rann-Thanagar War is one of my favourite Infinite Crisis tie-ins, even though it’s one of those least directly connected to the event itself.

All the Strange, Strange heroes…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adam Strange, avengers, batman, Blue Beetle, Dark Knight Rises, dc comics, dc universe, gotham central, green lantern, greg rucka, Hawkgirl, history, infinite crisis, Kyle Rayner, Rann, Rann-Thanagar War, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Reckless Guardians: The Rise and Fall of Cinematic Responsibility…

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Darren

I actually quite enjoyed The Rise of the Guardians. It is probably the most visually assured animation from Dreamworks to date, the cast are all having a great time and the plot is simple but effective. However, I just didn’t wind up feeling an emotional connection to the central character, Jack Frost. Jack is an embodiment of an abstract concept – a “guardian” appointed by “the Man in the Moon” (or “Manny” to his friends). The bulk of Rise of the Guardians is about Jack learning to embrace his new position and everything that comes with it – to swallow his insecurity and to accept that he has been chosen to do a kick-ass job.

Still, it remains quite difficult to connect with Jack Frost, and I wonder if it’s the same problem that made Pixar’s much-maligned Cars 2 so difficult to swallow. Rather than learning to temper his unreliable inconsistency, the movie asks an irresponsible character to effectively embrace the flaw completely.

Note: This article contains a few spoilers for Rise of the Guardians.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alec baldwin, Axel Foley, chris pine, Dreamwork, DreamWorks Animation, Easter Bunny, Ferris Bueller, Guardians, jack, Jack Frost, james t. kirk, Mater, Matthew Broderick, McCoy, pixar, Rise of the Guardians, Santa Claus | 2 Comments »

Watch! Behind the Scenes on the Man With the Iron Fists!

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Darren

Universal Pictures Ireland just sent over this featurette looking behind the scenes at RZA’s upcoming action film, The Man With The Iron Fists. It certainly looks like an interesting genre mash-up, with Russell Crowe, RZA and Lucy Liu in front of the camera and Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth working with RZA behind the scenes. I’m not quite sure what to make of it at this point, but I am just hoping for a pulpy action film. Anyway, give the featurette a look and let me know what you make of it.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Eli Roth, Lucy Liu, Man With The Iron Fist, quentin tarantino, russell crowe, RZA, universal studios, Wu-Tang Clan | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Day of the Jackal

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Darren

The Day of the Jackal is a fascinating entry in the assassination subgenre, most impressive for the careful and meticulous way that it examines the unfolding events – it’s more of a procedural than a cat-and-mouse thriller. Indeed, it’s almost an hour into the film before the two detectives chasing the eponymous hit man appear on screen. Fred Zinnemann’s movie has a two-and-a-half hour runtime, but doesn’t rely on a shifting or twisting narrative to fill it. Instead, it simply allots the characters and the world that they inhabit a bit more room to breathe, to the point where The Day of the Jackal seems a great deal more human and personal than most assassination thrillers, as we get a sense of the people tied up in a plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle.