the m0vie blog

Thor: Ages of Thunder (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Darren

With the release of Marvel’s big-budget superhero action movie Thor this summer, we’re taking a month to celebrate the God of Thunder. Check back each Wednesday for a Thor-related review.

Matt Fraction is currently writing the main Thor title, taking over from Keiron Gillen, who stepped in at the last minute to tie up most of the loose ends from J. Michael Straczynski’s much-loved run. Fraction’s time on the main book has been somewhat divisive, however there’s a broader consensus around the early Ages of Thunder one-shots that the writer worked on, a series of three single issues taking a look at the immortal Odinson before he became the Marvel superhero we know and love.

Hammer to fall...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Ages of Thunder, Asgard, fantasy, Frost Giant, Giants (Marvel Comics), J. Michael Straczynski, jack kirby, Jötunn, kenneth branagh, loki, Marvel Comic, marvel comics, matt fraction, norse gods, odin, stan lee, thor, Thor: Ages of Thunder, Thor: Man of War, Thor: Reign of Blood | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Hangover, Part II

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Darren

“It happened again,” Phil whines over the phone to his buddy’s wife during the opening sequence of The Hangover, Part II. Of course it did, that’s the entire point of the sequel. The movie unashamed offers fans pretty much what they might expect from the sequel to a relatively high concept comedy: “more of the same.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing – moments of the film had me rolling around from side to side to side, attempting to figure out if it was hilarious or just plain wrong – but it does mean the film lacks a lot of the originality and sense of freshness that made the first one such a beloved comedy classic.

Bangkok Dangerous?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adam west, alan, Bangkok, bradley cooper, Ed Helms, films, Hangover, Justin Bartha, Movies, non-review review, review, Thailand, the hangover 2, the hangover part 2, Zach Galifianakis | 10 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Gentlemen Broncos

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Darren

I’m going to be a bit of killer jo here and admit that I didn’t really “get” Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, so it’s no surprise that the latest movie from the creative team leaves me cold. That sort of overly understated sense of humour feels a bit old at this stage, as if we’ve seen it once too often. There’s a sense that the movie somehow recognises this, and decided to augment those awkward silences with incredibly gross and juvenile humour.

Grabbing the stag by the horns...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, fantasy, fantasy novels, fiction, films, Gentlemen Broncos, humour, jemaine clement, macgruber, Movies, Nacho Libre, non-review review, review, sam rockwell, science fiction | Leave a comment »

The Movies Made Me Do It: Media Sensationalism and the Influence of Violence on Behavior…

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Darren

I had the good fortune to watch the first three films in the Scream series last week, and it was quite an entertaining little experience. Well, mostly – the third one kinda sucks, but let’s not get into that here. I picked up on quite few things I’d missed the last time I’d seen them, about seven or eight years ago, and one of the most interesting themes played with over the course of the series was the idea that violence in films serves as some sort of influence on kids, desensitising and even encouraging the practice of violence upon others. It’s a fascinating topic, one that I personally feel quite strongly about – but, at the same time, it’s a subject so big and so controversial that it’s probably quite difficult to make a new or witty observation upon. Still, the films inspired me to revisit the premise, and to ponder to myself.

A taste for violence?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Blackboard Jungle, Charles Starkweather, Charlie Starkweather, Ed Sullivan Show, elvis presley, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, James Dean, Moral panic, Television, United States, Violence and Abuse, wes craven | Leave a comment »

All This Flying is Making Me Tired: Superhero Fatigue…

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Darren

Well, blockbuster season is really kicking into swing at the moment. Next week will see the release of X-Men: First Class, which will be the second major superhero movie of the summer, following Branagh’s superb Thor. There are two more due to touch down before the end of the blockbuster season, Green Lantern and Captain America: The First Avenger. It’s fascinating how large the superhero genre has grown in recent years, to the point where one might legitimately argue that it has subgenres. Part of me wonders if this particular blockbuster fad is approaching its climax – if the superhero movie might out-stay its welcome, and go the way of the Western.

Is the superhero genre's blackest night ahead?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Batman in film, captain america: the first avenger, Christopher Nolan, Dolph Lundgren, films, genre, green lantern, Movies, richard donner, sam raimi, superhero, superheroes, western, X-Men (film) | 12 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Pulp Fiction

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Darren

It’s strange. I always feel a flutter of uncertainty when I prepare to tackle a film I hold in particularly high esteem on this blog. Perhaps it’s the fact that I worry I might not be entirely objective, or perhaps it’s the fear that I’ll embarrass myself with a particular film, or perhaps it’s just the worry that I really don’t have anything worth committing to the internet. Pulp Fiction is a film that has been loved and hated, picked apart and put back together, critiqued and venerated, and I’m really not sure that I have any particularly insightful observations to make about Quentin Tarantino’s palme d’or winning film.

I'll be brief...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: david mamet, dialogue, Film noir, films, joss whedon, los angeles, McDonalds, Movies, non-review review, pulp fiction, quentin tarantino, Reservoir Dogs, review, tom stoppard, vince vega | 11 Comments »

Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh (Review)

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Darren

I love Matthew Graham. After all, the writer who gave us Life on Mars is surely something of a British national treasure. however, his track record on Doctor Who seems just a little bit spottier, with his previous contribution being the somewhat… poorly received Fear Her way back at the end of the second season. So, perhaps giving Graham a two-parter, especially the two-parter directly before the cliffhanger before the break in the season might have seemed like a bit of a gambit. Fortunately, The Rebel Flesh is a much stronger entry than Fear Her, even if it’s not quite as spectacular as last week’s episode.

Flesh and bone?

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, cloning, doctor, doctor who, horror, Hungry Earth, life on mars, List of Doctor Who serials, matthew graham, neil gaiman, review, rory williams, sci-fi, tardis, Television, the rebel flesh | 14 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Scream III

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Darren

Today, we’re reviewing the entire Scream trilogy. Sadly, I’ll have to wait to get a look at the latest instalment, but reviews of the first three will be going on-line throughout the day.

There are a lot of problems with Scream 3. It’s overlong, it’s more soap opera than horror, more camp parody than post modern deconstruction. It’s clear from the outset that very few of the people involved in the film had any interest in making it. However, its single most damning problem is that it has become exactly the type of bland and indistinct slasher movie that the first two films picked apart so skilfully.

Taking a stab at the trilogy...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: a nightmare on elm street, columbine, joss whedon, Kevin Williamson, List of Scream characters, Neve Campbell, non-review review, review, Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Slasher film, wes craven | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Scream II

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Darren

Today, we’re reviewing the entire Scream trilogy. Sadly, I’ll have to wait to get a look at the latest instalment, but reviews of the first three will be going on-line throughout the day.

I actually like Scream 2 a great deal – perhaps as much as I enjoyed the original Scream. Which, to be honest, takes me by surprise because it’s a much weaker movie in a lot of ways, the most obvious being the fact that it sort of fizzles out in the third act. Still, there’s just something about the cheeky and energy of the sequel that grabs my attention and keeps it, as if moving the series from a stereotypical high school and into a college film class. Of course, as Randy the resident film buff points out, the only thing more stereotypical than high school slasher movies are college slasher movies, but there’s just something cool about the fact that most of the cast (rather than just Randy) are relatively genre savvy this time around.

Film Buff-y?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Drew Barrymore, Horror film, Jamie Kennedy, Joshua Jackson, liev schreiber, List of Scream characters, Omar Epps, Red Right Hand, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Scream, Scream 2, Slasher film, Timothy Olyphant, tom cruise, top gun, wes craven | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Scream

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Darren

Today, we’re reviewing the entire Scream trilogy. Sadly, I’ll have to wait to get a look at the latest instalment, but reviews of the first three will be going on-line throughout the day.

It’s hard to really look back at Scream in context these days. It was released in the mid-nineties, a period where the slasher movie had all but died off, after series after series produced weaker and weaker instalments. Audiences had been sort of numbed to the impact of the slasher film as a genre, expecting the bland stock scares, the stereotypical mumbo-jumbo, the teen angst, the sexual politics and even the unstoppable killer. It’s not too much of a stretch to believe that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson intended the movie as something of an epilogue for the genre, a not-too-fond farewell to the type of films that had been churned out since the seventies, with never a hint of growth and development.