Posted on June 17, 2010 by Darren
Hey there, the always cool guys over at Universal are looking for suggestions for questions for a Q & A session with Get Him to the Greek stars Russell Brand and Jonah Hill that will follow the Irish premiere next Tuesday night. They’ve also got a competition for a few tickets to the event itself. If you want to check it out, just pop on over to their facebook, right here.
The competition isn't THAT serious...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: comedy, facebook, film, get him to the greek, irish premiere, jonah hill, Movies, premiere, russell brand, tickets | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 17, 2010 by Darren
Earlier in the week, I reviewed The Box. However, I have some more fundamental gripes with the movie that it wasn’t entirely appropriate to discuss in the review – probably because they involve discussing several key elements of the plot which may have been regarded as spoilers for the review. So here we go…
James Marsden didn't get the film on the first read through either...
Note: This is going to be a spoiler-filled examination of the movie. So, consider yourself warned. And we’re talking big spoilers here, not itty-bitty ones.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: button button, jean-paul sartre, no exit, sartre, the box | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 17, 2010 by Darren
Arcadia is great. It’s a wonderfully dense, witty work from writer Tom Stoppard. The Gate production is, as one would expect, top notch, and the play seems to suit the surroundings of the theatre, with its lavish set design and production values. Whether you’re looking to wrap your head around something stimulating, or simply looking for an entertaining night at the theatre, you could do a lot worse than Arcadia.
Don't worry, he doesn't lay the maths on too hard...
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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: arcadia, dublin, gate the gate theatre, gate theatre, play, review, stoppard, the gate, Theatre, tom stoppard | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 16, 2010 by Darren
Posted on June 16, 2010 by Darren
Next week sees the season finale of Stephen Moffat’s first season as showrunner on the rather excellent Doctor Who. I have to admit that – with one or two minor misgivings – I’ve had a (space)whale of a time, just we’ll save that for the inevitable review. However, being the sort of meta-textual guy that I am, I love that Moffat has managed to balance both integrating this new iteration of the franchise (created and, despite what some naysayers would have you believe, served very well by Russell T. Davies) and connecting with the established history (note, for example, how many times we have seen flashbacks of the original eight versions of the character in these eleven episodes alone). What, however, has really grabbed me about this run of episodes is that fact that Moffat has seemingly decided to take one of the most common elements of Davies’ season finales – a reset button – and stretch it out over an entire season. In effect, he seems to be attempting to reclaim one the storytelling crutches that his predecessor arguably relied upon too heavily, but use it in an interesting and creative manner.
If the walls had eyes...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, crack, doctor who, eleven, matt smith, reset button, stephen moffat, storytelling. meta, Television, the crack, the pandorica opens | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 16, 2010 by Darren
I’m a sucker for meta-fiction – the idea of storytelling outside the story. One of the more fascinating notions suggested by Marvel’s recent spate of movies is the notion that all the individual stories in Iron Man, Thor and Captain America will be tied together to be revealed to be part of a larger canvas (in this case, The Avengers in 2012). I love it when television and films are shown to occupy the same fictional reality (for example, the Star Trek franchise, spread across five television shows (possibly six) and eleven feature films). So it goes without saying that I adore The Tommy Westphall Hypothesis.
And I thought I had an active imagination! (Click to enlarge)
For those unfamiliar with the hypothesis, it basically states that most television takes place within the head of an eleven-year-old autistic boy.
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: continuity, crossover, discontinuity, fiction, meta-fiction, meta-text, shard, shared universe, storytelling, The Tommy Westphall Hypothesis, tommy westphall, what happened happened, worlds | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 15, 2010 by Darren
After being the subject of the most heart-warming film news story of last year, Pixar have found yet another way to my heart strings just before the release of Toy Story 3.
Imagine being a kid writing a letter to a hero, someone they were a huge fan of. This kid wrote a letter to Pete Doctor, the director of Monsters Inc. Now, imagine actually getting a letter back in return. Imagine getting this letter back return. Awesome, no?
The full story can be read here, but that’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: awesome, letters of note, pete doctor, pixar, sweet, toy story, toy story 3 | 18 Comments »
Posted on June 15, 2010 by Darren
Joker was released over the summer of 2008, and had the great fortune to closely mirror the Oscar-winning performance of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Author Brian Azzarello claims that the similarities in the character here and on the big screen are a coincidence, but there’s something uncanny in watching this version of the character, with his Glasgow smile and foul teeth, attempt to take control of Gotham’s criminal underworld in a manner that his big screen counterpart would probably approve of. Azzarello paints a grim and gritty version of the Gotham City underworld, avoiding the more obvious superhero clichés and instead offering an exploration of the madness of one of the medium’s enduring antagonists.
This Joker has his own toxins...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, brian azzarello, comic book, Comics, dc, dc comics, gotham, graphic novel, joker, jonny frost, lee bermejo | 12 Comments »
Posted on June 15, 2010 by Darren
I have an offer to make. If you push the button, two things will happen. First, someone, somewhere in the world, whom you don’t know, will die. Second, you will receive a payment of one million dollars. You have 24 hours.
– “Arlington Stewart”
Such is the premise of The Box, a movie based on a short story by science fiction icon Richard Matheson, but one of the movie’s many problems is that director Richard Kelly apparently doesn’t find that premise interesting enough to sustain his film. That seems inherently pithy, considering that Matheson’s story Button, Button has been adapted for The Twilight Zone and as a radio play for CBS Mystery Theatre – there must have been something there. Instead, Kelly uses the eponymous box as a jumping off point into what can only really be described as “abstractsville”, taking a left at “crazy town”. There are moments in this film which work, but they are few and far between – there are large stretches of time when it is just infuriating.
James Marsden counts up the box office receipts... they aren't good...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: box, button button, cameron diaz, films, frank langella, james marsden, Movies, non-review review, review, richard kelly, the box, the button, twilight zone | 12 Comments »
Posted on June 14, 2010 by Darren
I own DVDs. I own a lot of DVDs. However, I don’t have all the movies that I would like to have. Which seems odd, because I also own a lot of forgettable nonsense that was on special offer in some bargain basement somewhere – Kurt Russell’s Soldier, for example. So, how come I don’t own all those classic films I would love to get my grubby little hands all over? One reason: I know that there’s going to be a super-extra classy hyper deluxe edition coming at some point down the line. Am I the only person who does this?
Two years and counting on my Amazon wishlist...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blade runner, blu ray, deluxe edition, deluxe editions, dvd releases, dvds, home media, special edition, special editions, the final cut, the lord of the rings | 6 Comments »
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