the m0vie blog

Ultimate Comics: Captain America (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Darren

In celebration of the 4th of July and the release of Captain America: The First Avenger later this month, we’re jumping into Marvel’s comic book alternate history and taking a look at the star-spangled avenger every Wednesday this month.

I have a certain fondness for Jason Aaron. He’s a writer who has fantastic success in taking the more hardcore elements of the Marvel Universe and making them work. His Ghost Rider is acclaimed as one of the best runs ever on the character, while his Wolverine is considered some of the greatest work on the title in quite some time. Even his Punisher MAX run has enjoyed considerable success, despite following in the footsteps of the defining Garth Ennis run. So I was initially extremely excited when Aaron was given the job of writing the Ultimate Comics: Captain America miniseries. Unfortunately, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with his work here. It’s still competent and engaging, but it lacks to sort of energy and focus that one associates with the writer.

Apocalypse... Now?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: captain america, captain america first avenger, frank simpson, Garth Ennis, Jason Aaron, mark millar, marvel comics, marvel universe, nuke, ron garney, steve rogers, ultimate comics, ultimate comics: captain america, Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, Vietnam War | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Darren

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II is probably the strongest entry in the film series, and offers a fitting code to the saga of the famous boy wizard. Sleaker, leaner and meaner than most of its predecessors, I can actually understand – artistically – why Warners opted to split the final book into two distinct chapters. In many ways, the previous instalment (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I) felt like another year with the Hogwarts crowd, while the finale here represents an epilogue to the entire series. Threads hinted at and developed since the first film are all tied up here, and – isolated from a lot of the soap opera of early episodes – the last in the series provides some stunning closure.

The wiz kid returns...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adaptation, alan rickman, daniel radcliffe, deathly hallows, Emma Watson, film, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, harry potter and the deathly hallows: part 2, harry potter and the deathly hallows: part ii, Hogwarts, Maggie Smith, Movies, non-review review, ralph fiennes, review, Rupert Grint, sequel, the deathly hallows, Voldemort, wizards | 8 Comments »

Harry Pottering On: Research & Reviews…

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Darren

This evening, I will be lucky enough to attend a screening of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part II, and have a chance to get my review on-line. However, I must concede that I am not a Harry Potter fanatic. I haven’t read the books. I’ve seen the films, enjoyed the majority for what they are, only found one to be an exercise in tedium, and have a genuine respect for what they’ve managed to accomplish in bringing to life a fairly iconic series of books in a manner that can please both the hardcore fans and the casual movie-goer. However, as I brace myself to attend the screening tonight, I wonder what a film critic owes their subject matter in terms of research. Do I owe the people who made the film, and – possibly – the fans that are going to see it, enough to dig into as much of the back ground as possible before the cinema lights go down?

Witch approach should I adopt?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, critics, Emma Watson, film, film criticism, film critics, film research, film reviews, films, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling, Movie, Movies, research, review, reviews | 2 Comments »

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Poster Has Arrived…

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Darren

… and it is awesome. It’s done in that rather minimalistic approach as the early Dark Knight posters.

And we get a teaser this week. I am really excited, and I hope it’s half as effective as the teasers for Batman Begins or The Dark Knight, both of which were perfect examples of trailers that spurred interest and intrigue without giving anything away.

Click to enlarge...

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bane, batman, batman begins, Batman in film, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, films, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film), Movies, Teaser trailer, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, the dark knight rises poster, the dark knight rises teaser, the dark knight rises teaser poster, Warner Bros | 6 Comments »

Ah Sure, It’s Grand: Random Thoughts on Critical Reception to Irish Films…

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Darren

It’s always a bit interesting when a major and well-received Irish film is released, if only because it typically involves a fairly large divorce between the critical and audience reception to these films. It has been suggested that film critics are too quick to shower Irish films with praise they don’t deserve, out of some misplaced sense of patriotism. As the Trinity Film Review succinctly sums up:

An overrated Irish film is not hard to find. Our tendency towards the inflated evaluation of domestic filmmaking is a self-perpetuating one, leaving audiences indifferent towards the hyperbole-gavaged, entry-level film geese trotted out by our native industry, and filmmakers and critics alike complacent in the immutable, self-congratulatory expository routine the utter nakedness of which nobody seems inclined to comment on.

I have to admit, I’ve seen this in effect quite a few times, and it really bugs me – if only because it makes it harder to spot when a realgem of a film comes along. I honestly don’t think that this sort of attitude helps anyone.

I'm not down with that...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, Cinema of Ireland, Cultures and Groups, father ted, film, Film festival, films, in bruges, irish films, irish movies, irish times, Movie, Movies, overrated, Raidió Teilifís Éireann | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Darren

Even in this era of franchises and spin-offs and sequels and remakes to see a movie treated as a form of serialised fiction. I’m not even talking about a sequel hook inserted just before (or even during) the trailers, but I’m talking about literally taking one whole movie and dividing it and then releasing separately. It’s an approach that worked for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and for The Lord of the Rings, but each Harry Potter film until now has felt like its own story, containing threads building towards a larger finale. Each instalment has been structured with a beginning, middle and end. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, we simply get a first act and what feels like the majority of the second. As such, it feels almost strange to review it without the companion film.

Harry's a wiz by this stage of the game...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: David Yates, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film), Hogwarts, lord of the rings, Lord Voldemort, Ministry of Magic, Voldemort | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Mars Attacks!

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Darren

I have a genuine affection for Mars Attacks! It’s certainly not Tim Burton’s best work, but it’s also miles above some of his more disappointing output. It feels like an affectionate homage to Ed Wood, putting together the kind of movie that the old B-movie director would have approved of, except with the judgement to play it as a comedy rather than entirely straight (although Wood’s filmography is typically “so bad it’s good“, one could scarcely accuse the director of being in on the joke), and made with a more significant budget. Seen in that light, it’s hard to resist the movie’s (admittedly uneven) charms.

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, they say...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, cheesy, danny elfman, Ed Wood, film, films, hokey, hokey sci-fi, jack nicholson, Mars Attacks!, Martian, martians, Movie, Movies, non-review review, paul winfield, pulp, pulp fiction, pulp sci-fi, review, sci-fi, tim burton, Topps | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Larry Crowne

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Darren

Larry Crowne isn’t a terrible movie, but rather a frustrating one. Written by, directed by, and starring, Tom Hanks, the movie seems to want to be a romantic comedy skewered towards older and more mature viewers, which is a great idea – not only because so few movies cater to that demographic, but because the few comedies that do have been proven successes. The audience is there, and it’s a great idea to unite Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, the king and queen of the classy nineties rom-com in a film that might have a more considered and reflective edge over most other romantic comedies. Unfortunately, the movie is so ridiculously pedestrian that it’s hard to work up any excitement. If the movie, rather than the character, were doing the college courses in the film, it would get graded “must do better.”

A scoot couple...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bryan Cranston, film, films, George Takei, julia roberts, Larry Crowne, Movies, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos, non-review review, Pam Grier, review, romantic comedy, tom hanks | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Monsters vs. Aliens

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Darren

I do quite like Monsters vs. Aliens, even if it feels like it’s trying to do too many vastly different things are once. It’s too goofy and silly to be a genuinely emotional morality tale about appreciating those different than us, while also being too sentimental to work as a sort of a goofy hokey monster mash nostalgia trip. One gets the sense that it could have been a much better film had it opted for one approach rather than the other, instead of trying to straddle the middle ground between them. It’s a shame, because it has some genuinely impressive sequences and warm sense of respect and good humour for all those classic creature features, but it just ends up feeling too much like a standard cookie-cutter modern animated film.

It's a Monster Mash!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Amazing Colossal Man, animation, arts, dr. strangelove, dreamworks, films, hugh laurie, Monsters Vs Aliens, Movies, non-review review, paul rudd, Reese Witherspoon, review, Seth Rogen | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Guard

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Darren

“Good to go,” an Irish drug smuggler remarks as the plan comes together for a big delivery. His English colleague derisively remarks, “I f**king hate that. Americanisms. ‘Good to go’!” It’s hard not to read small moments like this as a bit of self-reference on the part of John Michael McDonagh, as the film takes every opportunity to reflect on the Irish fascination and digestion of American pop culture, as contrasted against the somewhat unique national character. Sparkling with witty dialogue and packed with sharply-observed commentaries on Ireland and its relationship with our bigger Atlantic cousin, The Guard is a clever little film that is well worth your time.