Posted on July 6, 2010 by Darren
Sky is showing Star Trek all this week, and I’ve had the chance to catch it again – great movie. However, it’s got me thinking about the big furry beast which is continuity. Obviously continuity is a big thing within films – making sure the actors and sets look the same from shot to shot – but it becomes a whole other beast when you kick that up a level and are dealing with continuity between distinct individual works. Take the whole Star Trek saga, for a moment. Assuming you discount the hundreds of books, the entire animated series, the unproduced spin-off, various tie-ins and specials, you’re still left with over 600 episodes of television filmed over forty years and eleven feature-length movies which all have to line up nearly perfectly. And if they don’t, you get rampaging fans complaining it’s the end of the world. As much as my inner nerd loves that sort of continuity, I have to confess that I really don’t mind too much if one or two things are sacrificed in order to tell a good story.
Can we put that entire movie where Kirk kills God out of continuity?
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: background, canon, continuity, films, star trek, star trek universe, star trek: enterprise, star trek: the original series, stories, storytelling, Television | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 6, 2010 by Darren
Today (6th July 2010) is a very special day. It’s the date that Marty McFly arrives in the future.
We have to go back, Marty!
Now, where’s my hoverboard?
Edit: Apparently it’s a big hoax. Got me going anyway, I should learn to be more skeptical of such things. The closest similar date is actually 21st October 2015, the date Back to the Future II is set. Or we could just celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of the first film. My bad, sorry!
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2010, 6th July 2010, back to the future, dates, film, hoax, Movies | 10 Comments »
Posted on July 6, 2010 by Darren
Terminator 2 is a pop culture classic, a film that single-handedly made Arnold loveable despite films like Junior and Jingle All the Way, typecast Robert Patrick as a distinctly unpleasant individual and reminded us that not all teenage protagonists had to be eye-roll inducingly bad. Spielberg’s Jaws is frequently regarded as “the first blockbuster”, but I think the case can be made that Terminator 2 redefined the kind of summer movie we saw – for better or worse, it laid down a blueprint which has been followed countless times since.
Prepare to be blown away...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: actions, Arnold Schwarzenegger, blockbuster, blockbusters, classic, edward furlong, film, james comeron, linda hamilton, Movies, non-review review, review, sci-fi, science fiction, terminator 2, terminator 2: judgement day, terminator 2: judgment day | 7 Comments »
Posted on July 5, 2010 by Darren
Am I the only person hugely disappointed with the summer so far this year? I mean, the summer isn’t traditionally where you find the best movies of the year, at least no more or less than any other time of year, but I’m not looking for great movies, just good ones. just solidly entertaining ones. At the most basic level, I’d settle for just an excuse to go to the cinema on a Friday night (although I’m sure my better half is glad of the weak string of movies – it really frees up our schedule). What the hell is wrong here?
Leo's looking for good movies too...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, cinemas, films, get him to the greek, hollywood, Inception, Movies, predators, robin hood, summer, summer movies, toy story 3, world cup | 20 Comments »
Posted on July 5, 2010 by Darren
Alien³ is generally regarded as an inferior Alien film, and the start of a slippery slope that would lead us through Alien: Resurrection into Aliens vs. Predator and even Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. It’s also regarded as something of a hiccup in the career of David Fincher, and an example of how meddling from greedy corporate executives can potential derail the rise of a young talent. That’s a lot of pressure for a single film to carry – particularly one which has enough trouble standing on its own two feet. However, I am quite fond of this particular incarnation of the franchise. Not enough to call it a “classic” or even “great”, but enough to argue that it was a relatively brave and ultimately valid experiment for the franchise – much more so, arguably, than the fourth film.
It’s an emotional reunion, to say the least…
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alien, alien 3, alien franchise, alien trilogy, aliens, charles dance, charles durning, david fincher, films, Movies, non-review review, review, sequels, sigourney weaver, xenomorph | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 2, 2010 by Darren
I have to confess that I have a soft spot for Dogma. It’s very much the black sheep of Kevin Smith’s “View Askew” trilogy (of six films), veering away from incorporating his trademark witty banter and dialogue with a relatively new philosophical and religious undercurrents. Dogma is, in fact, an odd film by any standard – one part “group on a quest” film akin to The Lord of the Rings, one part slapstick comedy and part indie introspective dramedy. Smith admittedly has great difficulty balancing the different demands on his script, pulling it one way or the other. It doesn’t always work, but the cocktail is certainly interesting and – truth be told – I am actually quite fond of the film.
Alan Rickman found himself winging it...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alan rickman, angels, ben affleck, christianity, comedy, god, irreverant, jason lee, jay, jay and silent bob, kevin smith, linda fiorentino, matt damon, religion, salma hayek, silent bob, theology, view askew | 16 Comments »
Posted on July 1, 2010 by Darren
Trailers are a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, they tease you with footage from that upcoming realise you’ve been anticipating (or can even get you excited about one you couldn’t care less for) – but that comes at a price. More often than not, trailers frequently spoil the film that they advertise. There are quick shots of action, but you can see something that doesn’t occur until more than half-way through the film, or a comedy which frequently includes its best laughs in the trailer. Of course, this makes sense – if you want to convince an audience to see a comedy, the trailer needs to make ’em laugh, so you include the really hilarious scenes; for an action movie, you want to tease what you have, so show them clips from the climax (usually larger than the other action scenes). So what are we supposed to do?
We actually need something like this...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, get him to the greek, Movies, predators, spoilers, trailers | 15 Comments »
Posted on July 1, 2010 by Darren
We all know the story. Artists are apparently particularly self-destructive, especially those who write country and western songs. Crazy Heart isn’t exactly a boldly original film by any stretch of the imagination – in fact, it’s typically predictable up until the end – but it does have a thing or two working in its favour, which elevates it just a bit above these almost conventional films. The first is a rather endearing soundtrack which is – in many ways – better written than the film itself. The second is Jeff Bridges.
Jeff Bridges plays your heartstrings...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bad blake, biopic, colin farrell, country, country and western, crazy heart, film, jeff bridges, maggie gyllenhaal, Movies, music, non-review review, otis blake, review, soundtrack, western | 5 Comments »
Posted on June 30, 2010 by Darren
It’s been a hectic June. A fun June, but a hectic one. For those new to the site, this is just a brief index of (what I thought) were the cream of the crop of my thoughts for the month, so I can come back in a few years and laugh my ass at off at my stupid ideas.
The decision of Christopher Nolan not to recast the Joker in Batman 3 led us to ask what “trust” in a director really means – and whether the loss of del Toro would really affect The Hobbit in a good way or a bad way (which was part of a cross-blog event with the rather awesome Andrew – his counter-proposal is here).
Aside from the (arguably objectively) awesome Toy Story 3, we found conclusive proof that Pixar are legendary.
Hollywood’s continued fascination with sequels got to me – but I worried they might simply be replaced with a wave of side-character-centric spin-offs. Of course, there’s no promise that, in the future, these movies will be screened for critics. And Anomalous Materials’ quest to find the greatest comedy of all time led me to wonder if comedies age worse than other films.
Oh, and my brother wrote his first ever review (and first ever guest-article on this site) for Get Him to the Greek.
Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: june, june in review, month in review | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 30, 2010 by Darren
They’ve lost their power. And I’m not talking about magic genie-rings or batarangs. I’m speaking about their real power. You don’t need them anymore.
– Lex Luthor discusses superheroes
Are superheroes redundant? In many ways, they’ve formed the basis of an American mythology in the twentieth century – many fo the classical superheroes represent a pantheon of gods not unlike the Greek or the Roman conception of the same. This is particularly true of DC’s panel of major superheroes, who may as well sit atop Olympus looking down on humanity. However, the past few decades haven’t necessarily been kind to the notion of the superhero – increasingly deconstructed and darkened and shaded and compromised beyond any similarity to their original status – and you’d be forgiven for wondering whether the genre has passed its sell-by date. This is the question at the core of Justice, the twelve-part maxi-series by Alex Ross and Jim Kreuger.
A league of their own?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: absolute justice, alex ross, comic book history, comic books, dark age, dc absolute edition, dc comics, graphic novel, jim kreuger, justice, justice league, kingdom come, nostalgia, silver age | 2 Comments »
the m0vie blog 