the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Twilight – Breaking Dawn, Part II

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Darren

Here’s the thing. Despite all the derision that the Twilight films generate, they actually have any number of ingredients for a perfectly workable young adult horror romance. Despite the sizeable and significant flaws, and those fundamental issues that are very hard to overlook, the film does have a number of very clear thematic roots that can be traced back through horror cinema. The problem with Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part II isn’t that it’s inherently cheesy or trashy or absurd. The problem is that it’s never enough of these things. It feels far too comfortable and too casual to ever really grab the viewer, and everything feels far too safe and generic to get any mortal’s blood pumping.

Baby trouble…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Akan language, arts, bella, Bella Swan, breaking dawn, edward, jacob, kristen stewart, megan fox, michael bay, michael sheen, Movie, Movies, Robert Pattinson, stephen king, taylor lautner, the twilight saga: breaking dawn, transformers, twilight, Twilight Saga, Universal Monster | 12 Comments »

Infinite Crisis: Villains United (Review)

Posted on November 14, 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.

I have to admit that, as a rule, I have a great deal of respect for DC’s massive event-related tie-ins. Rather than typically offering expanded or deleted scenes from the main crossover, the tie-ins to their gigantic crossovers will frequently serve as prologues or epilogues to new concepts and relaunches. With Final Crisis, for example, Legion of Three Worlds served as prelude to a rebooted Legion of Superheroes and Rogues’ Revenge offered something of a hint of Geoff Johns’ return to The Flash. Infinite Crisis: Villains United is no different. While nominally the story of evil Alexander Luthor Jr.’s evil Secret Society, it’s actually something of a stealth pilot for Gail Simone’s Secret Six, introducing the characters and the concepts that would define the series.

Just an average day at the House of Secrets…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, bane, batman, Batman in film, books, catman, Christopher Nolan, comics comic books, Deadshot, Gail Simone, infinite crisis, Infinite Crisis: Villains United, lex luthor, ragdoll, Scandal Savage, Secret Six, secret society, Talia Al Ghul, The Secret Six, villains, Villains United | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: End of Watch

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Darren

For its first two thirds, End of Watch is a rather novel examination of the routine of the boys in blue who patrol X-13, the most notorious district within Los Angeles’ notorious South Central. Centring on two police officers, Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, it offers a portrayal of the Los Angeles Police Department that feels almost novel. Rather than centring on the city’s infamous racial tensions, or the allegations of corruption within the force, End of Watch offers a candid and insightful examination of what an average day on the beat might look like, helped along by natural interplay between leads Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña.

The movie runs into problems with its third act, when it opts to abandon its naturalistic, almost documentary, approach to these officers and their world, forcing a climactic confrontation that never really feels like it entirely belongs.

Arresting drama…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brian Taylor, David Ayer, end of watch, film, Filmmaking, Jake Gyllenhaal, los angeles, Los Angeles Police Department, michael pena, Mike Zavala, Movie, non-review review, Police officer, review, Taylor, training day, United States | 2 Comments »

Watch! Les Miserables International Trailer!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Darren

Universal Pictures Ireland sent over the latest trailer for Les Miserables, which is opening here in January 2013. I’m quite looking forward to it. Let me know what you think.

Filed under: Movies | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Warriors (1979)

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Darren

The Warriors remains something of a curiosity. Its cult stature has only grown in the three decades since its original release, and the sense of young urban disenfranchisement that director Walter Hill tapped into remains as potent as it ever it was. That said, the film remains a bit of puzzle, and it is never quite sure what to make of its protagonists. Does the movie want us to root for the wayward Warriors as they navigate the urban jungle in a quest to get back to Coney Island, or does it instead remain passively amoral amid all the violence and nihilism? It’s hard to really say, but it remains a potent piece of cinema.

“Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals…”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Agriculture and Forestry, American Civil Liberties Union, Artificial turf, astroturf, Bronx, business, Clothing, Coney Island, film, Gang, Grass, Horticulture, luther, Movie, new york, New York City, New York City Police Department, non-review review, review, School, Shopping, Sol Yurick, Sonny Fai, Sports, Uniforms, Union Square, Walter Hill, Warrior, Warriors | 9 Comments »

Win! Tickets to the Jameson Cult Film Club Screening of Jaws (27th November)

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Darren

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water… JAWS swims into town.

Jameson Cult Film Club is coming to Dublin’s ‘Amity Island’ for a spectacular screening of Spielberg’s iconic shark thriller, JAWS on Tuesday 27th November 2013.

Attendees lucky enough to hook tickets to this event will be treated to much more than a typical screening, as actors, live theatre and special effects timed perfectly with on-screen action help to create an electric atmosphere throughout the screening.

Re-live the suspense, fear and drama of this cult classic from the moment you arrive on ‘Amity Island.’

If you would like to join Chief Brody at this exclusive Jameson Cult Film Club screening of JAWS and win some tickets for you and three of your mates, then simply complete the below quote from the movie:

This competition is now closed. The winner will be notified shortly.

Check out www.jamesoncultfilmclub.ie for details and register for the chance to win free tickets to the screening on 27th November. If you are not lucky enough to bag tickets to the screenings, you can buy the newly released JAWS on Blu-ray now.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Amity Island, Blu-ray Disc, Brody, Cult following, dublin, jaws, Record label, Screening (medicine), Special effect, steven spielberg, Universal Studio | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Darren

The Deep Blue Sea has two reasonably solid leading performances and some nice enough direction, but it suffers because it can’t convince us to are about any of its central characters. We don’t have to like any of the three characters involved in the central love-affair, but there does have to be some hook that grabs us and convinces us to emotionally engage and invest in this post-War exploration of several broken characters. That connection simply isn’t there, and the rest of the movie collapses as a direct result of that absence.

Yeah, she wants to dance with somebody…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Battle of Britain, britain, Britishness, Deep Blue Sea, Esther, film, Flight lieutenant, Freddie, Hester, London, Movie, non-review review, rachel weisz, review, romeo + juliet, Royal Air Force, Samuel Barber, Supermarine Spitfire, tom hiddleston, world war ii | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Narc

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Darren

Joe Carnahan’s Narc is a visceral and powerful film. It’s less concerned with plot and character than it is with mood, crafting a suffocating visceral aesthetic that seems to almost smother the viewer. Set in snow-bound Detroit, it creates a world that feels closed in upon itself, the white sheets of snow clearing into dirty mounds to allow passage within the city, but suggesting that there’s nothing but white space beyond the world we explore. While Narc tells a story we’ve seen many times before, practically revelling in the familiar plot points of a police movie about the drug trade, Carnahan’s direction gives the movie a bit of an edge – and a powerhouse performance from Ray Liotta makes it much more engaging than it might otherwise be.

That’s a whole Liotta gun…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brian Williams, Carnahan, Detroit, filml, Gargling, Health, Joe Carnahan, Jon Stewart, Kinect, miami, miami vice, michael mann, Movie, Narc, non-review review, ray liotta, review, Steve Doocy, University of Georgia, Xbox | Leave a comment »

Kubrick, The Shining & Eating My Cinematic Greens…

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Darren

I always feel a slight pang of guilt whenever I find myself discussing the work of Stanley Kubrick. Don’t get me wrong – I have a massive amount of respect for the director. I think he’s one of the very finest cinematic minds of his generation, a very shrewd and sophisticated cinematic intelligence who carefully constructed a series of masterpieces that exemplify some of the finest aspects of the medium. However, I always feel a slight hint of shame when asked to name my favourite Stanley Kubrick film. I’ll try to deflect, but if the matter is pressed I’ll answer honestly: The Shining is the Stanley Kubrick film that I love the most.

It feels like a bit of a cheat, a bit of an evasion. As much as people like The Shining – and people do adore the film – I feel a pang of guilt that I immediately go to the most populist film on Kubrick’s filmography. The Shining is saturated with meaning and depth, as is all of Kubrick’s work, but it seems like the most shallow or the least profound work in the Kubrick canon. And yet I love it more than Kubrick’s more philosophical, bolder, more challenging pieces of work.

I feel vaguely like I’m skimping on my cinematic greens.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2001: A Space Odyssey (film), Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Barry Lyndon, barrylyndon, Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, Golden Raspberry Award, kubrick, los angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Shelley Duvall, shining, stanley kubrick | 11 Comments »

Infinite Crisis: Superman – Sacrifice (Review)

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Darren

I can see how Infinite Crisis earned its reputation as an overly-convoluted event. Even its tie-ins had tie-ins. In this case, the Superman: Sacrifice story, an arc spread across Superman, Action Comics and Wonder Woman, serves as a tie-in to Greg Rucka’s The O.M.A.C. Project, which was itself part of the lead-in to the big event. As you can imagine, it’s a rather strange trail of continuity to follow, as events here play out as a subset of a story that is itself a subset of something larger. While that is a problem of itself, the biggest problem with Superman: Sacrifice is that it takes an interesting enough central concept and reduces it to an over-extended four-issue arc about characters hitting each other really hard.