the m0vie blog

Watch! Top 250 Films, in 2.5 Minutes…

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Darren

As far as compiling a list of the best films of all times, the IMDb Top 250 films of all time is a fairly populist measure. Some enterprising soul out there decided it would be fun to compile all that into on two-and-a-half minute clip. It’s pretty intense, and kinda brilliant in a surreal sort of way. If nothing else, I never realised that so many movies featured trunk shots. Enjoy.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, Beatles, Cypress Hill, film, House of Pain, Internet Movie Database, Movie, review | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Darren

In many respects, The Creature From the Black Lagoon feels like a brass band funeral for the golden age of the Universal monster movies. The subgenre would continue ticking over for quite some time. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy would be released the following year, The Creature From the Black Lagoon would spawn two sequels for the two years following, and Universal would try a spate of monster movies up until The Leech Woman in 1960. However, it’s clear that – by 1954 – the golden age of the Universal monster movie was well over.

And I think that part of the reason that The Creature From the Black Lagoon works so well is because it’s almost a mournful eulogy for the genre.

Out of the depths…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Amazon, Biology, Black Lagoon, bride of frankenstein, creature from the black lagoon, David, Departments, film, frankenstein, Gill-man, Human, invasion, James Whale, Loreto, Love triangle, Mark, Meyer, Movie, non-review review, Peru, Pet Sematary, review, Richard Denning, Ricou Browning, South America, universal, Universal Monster | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: AntiViral

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Darren

AntiViral is a dirty film. It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward. It’s unnerving. It’s not for the squeamish. And I mean that in a good way. It’s a fairly disturbing exploration of the public’s (and the media’s) relationship to celebrity, and the lengths to which people will go in order to insert themselves into the life of their idol or role model. It’s a vicious and sometimes unsettling look at what our attitude towards those people says about us as a society, imagining a world that sadly isn’t too far from the world as we know it. I think that might be the most disturbing facet of AntiViral. It’s not too far from where we are now.

What a vial trade…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Antiseptic, AntiViral, Antiviral drug, Brandon Cronenberg, Brood, Caleb Landry Jones, Cosmopolis, Dangerous Method, david cronenberg, film, HIV, Movie, Naked Lunch, non-review review, People, Rabid, review, RNA, Syd, University of Leeds, Videodrome | 2 Comments »

Enjoy! Polish Horror Posters!

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Darren

I know it’s a day late, but we don’t want to be thinking about that other upcoming holiday yet, do we? Vulture recently published a collection of strange horror posters from Poland, and I thought they were interesting enough to share. There’s the weird, the abstract, the surreal and occasionally the wonderful on display here. Take a look below. Click to enlarge some of them.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Donald Tusk, halloween, Jarosław Kaczyński, Lech Kaczyński, Nail polish, Poland, Smolensk, world war ii | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Darren

The Phantom of the Opera is something of an outlier in the Universal monster movie blu ray collection. It’s the only film in the collection available in colour but, more than that, it’s really the only film in the collection that doesn’t have a serious claim to being the definitive big screen adaptation of its source material. I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t include the 1925 adaptation starring Lon Chaney in the title role, as it’s certainly one of the forerunners to the subgenre that would be launched by Dracula in 1931. The 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera is easily the weakest film in the set. Although not without its charms, it feels just a little bit too mangled and messy to try be a classic horror film.

In the gutter, looking at the stars…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Christine, Christine Daaé, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier, film, Hollywood Reporter, Incest, magic, Movie, Music of the Night, non-review review, Opera, Performing Arts, Phantom, Phantom of the Opera, Raoul, review, universal monsters | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Rust and Bone

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Darren

Rust and Bone feels a bit… lazy, for lack of a better word. It feels like the product of a writer and director with a huge amount of talent, but no real ambition or enthusiasm. The film features two superb leading performances from Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, but they’re trapped in a film that never seems too bothered. Writer and director Jacques Audiard mistakes trite melodrama for brutal honest, and seems to give up on the film in the third act. It’s a shame, because there’s some solid stuff here, but the whole is much less impressive than the sum of its parts.

The killer (whale) inside (the aquarium)…

Note: This review contains spoilers for the third act of the film. I’ve tried not to give away specific plot points, and to talk in the most general of terms, but I do discuss the ending. Consider yourself warned.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alain, Bone, Dark Knight Rises, film, Jacques Audiard, marion cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Movie, non-review review, review, Rust, rust and bone, steve mcqueen | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Wolf Man (1941)

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Darren

Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night,

May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

Although hampered by perhaps the weakest leading performance of the “great” Universal horror films, I maintain that The Wolf Man has the strongest script of any of the classic Universal monster movies. Although, like so many other horror films produced by the studio, it went through any number of re-writes and executive meddling before reaching the screen, I think Curt Siodmak’s script deserves a great deal of credit for doing several very import things. On one level, it presented one grand unifying story archetype for werewolf tales, to the point where it is almost that subgenre’s Dracula. However, it also plays as a fascinating and compelling psychological drama, with an element of humanity and complexity that shines through Jack Pierce’s phenomenal make-up work.

Lon Chaney as the wolf man. Or me, early on a Sunday morning…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Back to Blood, Béla Lugosi, Book of Werewolves, Bride of the Gorilla, Curt Siodmak, film, John, Larry, Larry Talbot, miami, Movie, New York Times, non-review review, review, Sabine Baring-Gould, Siodmak, Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast, Talbot, Tom Wolfe, Universal Monster, Warren William, Wolf Man | 1 Comment »

A View to a Bond Baddie: Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate James Bond’s 50th birthday on screen, we’re going to take a look at the character and his films. We’ve already reviewed all the classic movies, so we’ll be looking at his iconic baddies, and even at the character himself.

Blofeld is unique among the Bond villains for his capacity to keep turning up. He’s appeared in more on-screen adventures than any other Bond baddie, and he survives in the popular imagination, with a lot of gossip about the next Bond film likely to debate whether or not they’re bringing Blofeld back. The character has endured in the public imagination as the Bond baddie, and he’s perhaps best immortalised as Micheal Myers’ Doctor Evil from the Austin Powers movies. However, watching his appearances again, I’m actually struck by how little consistency there is in the portrayal of his character, and I can’t help but wonder if the reason he endures is because of his versatility as an adversary.

Bond movies have a remarkable adaptability. They can be serious, campy, ridiculous, sombre, mature and juvenile, often all at the same time. As far as Bond villains go, Blofeld’s really the only villain who can compete with that.

He looks like the cat who got the canary…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, casino royale, Charles Gray, ernst stavro blofeld, james bond, James Bond in film, lex luthor, Movies, on her majesty's secret service, Piz Gloria, Roger Moore, Russia, spectre, telly savalas | 1 Comment »

The Six Faces of 007: Daniel Craig

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate James Bond’s 50th birthday on screen (and the release of Skyfall), we’re going to take a look at the character and his films. We’ve already reviewed all the classic movies, so we’ll be looking at his iconic baddies, and even at the character himself.

The Daniel Craig iteration of James Bond is the first time that a change of actor has been explicitly confirmed as a new character, rather than a continuation of the same character. (Unless you count Lazenby’s ad-libbed “this never happened to the other fella” bit.) Going back to the first of Fleming’s novels for his first film, Casino Royale, there was a conscious effort to bring the character back to basics, but also an effort to humanise him considerably. The result has been somewhat contentious, but I think Craig has managed to put his own stamp on the role and to define it in his own terms that are respectful to his five predecessors, but also define the character as his own.

All-time high?

Note: As a look at Daniel Craig’s take on the iconic character, this article contains spoilers for Skyfall. Consider yourself warned.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bond, casino royale, Craig, daniel craig, George Lazenby, ian fleming, Jame Bond, james bond, m, pierce brosnan, quantum of solace, Roger Moore, sean connery | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Darren

The monster demands a mate!

I always feel a little strange that I don’t completely love Bride of Frankenstein. James Whale’s Universal Monster movies are all among the very finest in the subgenre, and each of the three collected in this blu ray boxset are well worth the price of admission. And I really like Bride of Frankenstein. It’s great fun. It has a tremendous energy and surreal “buzz” around it that makes the movie fly by, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.

Whale has, as with Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, managed to draw together a fantastic cast, some amazing production design, a willingness to acknowledge the hokey nature of the material and the highest technical skill in pretty much every aspect of the finished project. And yet, despite that, Bride of Frankenstein never really feels like a single unified film. Rather, it’s a bit like the eponymous monster, strange bits and pieces from all manner of sources brought together and stitched up in a way that is far more aesthetically pleasing than its direct predecessor. I just find, personally, that with Bride of Frankenstein, the sum of the parts is actually much greater than the whole.