Posted on April 14, 2010 by Darren
I had to represent. Cause they had one good role for a black man, and they gave it to Crocodile Dundee!
-Alpa Chino, Tropic Thunder
Earlier in the week, Cinematical ran an article on M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, Avatar: The Last Airbender. For those unaware, the movie is an adaptation of a hit anime, long due a trip to the screen – I hope it ends up either significantly better than, or significantly trippier than, Speed Racer, the most recent such attempt (seriously, it’s what I imagine really hard drugs are like). Of course, this being Hollywood, Shyamalan has secured a predominantly white cast for his film. Well, except for one of the major roles, which will go to Dev Patel. The fact that that role is the role of the villain probably doesn’t help none, nor does the fact Patel was only the second choice. So why does Hollywood insist on the race lift?
Is the cast ethnicity a sticking point?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: avatar, avatar: the last airbender, ethnicity, hollywood, M. Night Shyamalan, minorities, movie-making, prejudice, race lift, racism, racist, recasting, zoe saldana | 10 Comments »
Posted on April 14, 2010 by Darren
My copy of Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin hardcover should be shipping from Amazon today. In recognition of that fact, and in acknowledgement of Grant Morrison’s description of his book as the Adam West television show filtered through the lens of David Lynch, I give you perhaps my favourite moment of 1960s Batman, from Batman: The Movie. Batman and the Boy Wonder have just been attacked by a shark, leading to the infamous “Bat Shark Repellent” scene, and the Caped Crusader (because it’s just… wrong to call Adam West’s version of the character the Dark Knight) must figure out who was behind the plot:
Batman: Pretty fishy what happened to me on that ladder.
Gordon: You mean, where there’s a fish, there could be a Penguin.
Robin: But wait! It happened at sea! See? “C” for Catwoman!
Batman: Yet — that exploding shark was pulling my leg!
Gordon: The Joker!
O’Hara: It all adds up to a sinister riddle… Riddle-er. Riddler?
And the scariest part? He’s 100% right. They don’t call him the world’s greatest detective for nothing.
On the phone? That's justice...
Filed under: Comics, Movies, Television | Tagged: adam west, bat shark repellent, batman, batman & robin, batman: the movie, detection, detective, grant morrison, logic | 10 Comments »
Posted on April 13, 2010 by Darren
Remember last week how I was said I was going to wait until the end of the year to post up one big post-season analysis of Matt Smith’s first season as the Doctor? Yeah, well I’m still gonna do that. But while the episodes still give us food for thought, I might want to post my thought on a given hour (or, in this case, the first episode of the show under an hour long in about two years). Maybe next week I’ll have nothing more to post than simply the fact that spitfires in space represent the coolest concept ever.
The belly of the beast...
Note: This post contains spoilers for The Beast Below, the second episode of the fifth season of Doctor Who (and if you’re going to argue about the given season number, you know exactly which season I’m talking about). I’ll flag them in the article below before I reach them, but consider yourself warned.
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, beast below, democracy, doctor who, eleven, matt smith, metaphors, starship uk, stephen moffat, Television, the beast below, the doctor, the happiness patrol, timelord, uk elections | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 13, 2010 by Darren
Sky caused a bit of a kerfuffle (it’s a word!) when they announced that The Pacific, the really rather excellent Second World War miniseries, would be airing on Sky Movies instead of Sky One – their television station. Queue the sounds of protest from various sources decrying the event as a television show which belongs on Sky’s primary television station – Sky One. However, Sky responded with the argument that Sky One simply isn’t equipped to broadcast a show like The Pacific, designed to air unedited and uninterrupted without overlays or advertisements. I’m going to take the unpopular path and argue that Sky were right: having watched the first two episodes, The Pacific should air on Sky Movies.
War over The Pacific?
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: advertising, bbc, broadcasting, hbo, sky, sky movies, sky one, subscription, the pacific | 5 Comments »
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Darren
Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
We live in a spaceship, dear.
So?
– Wash and Zoe, Objects in Space
Joss Whedon writing a science fiction show – a science fiction western, to be precise. Doesn’t that excite you? Just a bit? Well, it should, because they’re just so… very… pretty. Huh? Look at that chiselled jaw!
And yes, I am already quoting it. It’s going to be a fun review.
Male bonding... Or bondage, I'm not sure...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: firefly, joss whedon, nathan fillon, review, science fiction, serenity, Television, western | 13 Comments »
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Darren
It’s certainly an interesting concept: it’s the story of a love out of sync – of two individuals who live their lives at different speeds. Claire falls in love with a strange man she met in a meadow when she was growing up – only he hasn’t aged a day. That’s because he’s a time traveler. So, as you can imagine, that throws up more than the usual boundries to romance. In fairness, the movie seems aware of the myriad of possibilities suggested by its premise, but the truth is that it does little more than exploit them for melodrama. Cheap, heavy-handed melodrama.
Stuck in a movie I can't get out of...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: eric bana, films, Movies, non-review review, rachel mcadams, review, The Time Traveler's Wife, time traveler's wife | 4 Comments »
Posted on April 11, 2010 by Darren
Congrats again to Andy on running such a fantastically successful Desert Island Discs.
I took the liberty of compiling the selections from the sites that went live this morning to give you an idea of who would be taking what to their desert islands (in case you needed to borrow… or were just curious). The picture is below. Click for a larger version.
Note: Not all the blogs went live this morning – and it’s possible I missed one or two (though I did it methodically). If I did, or if you’ve since added a list, please let me know. If there’s enough interest, I’ll update the list next weekend to give a more comprehensive view.
EDIT: And here it is.
Some notes (because I like trivia):
- Between us all, we’ll have the completed Indiana Jones trilogy. Because Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull totally doesn’t count. We’ll have incomplete copies of the Lord of the Rings (missing The Return of the King) and the original Star Wars (missing A New Hope) trilogies.
- There was a bit of hubbub about what we could and couldn’t take – is the list just movies or are other media forms allowed? Various castaways tried to smuggle The Wire and Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on to their island. I acted under the assumption it was just movies, but am not sure if I’d change anything if I could take TV shows or miniseries.
- The Godfather Part II does not appear on anyone’s list, which surprises me.
- The Dark Knight is the most essential movie in blogdom (appearing on five islands), though we’ll likely all be borrowing the single copy of Batman Begins out with us.
- Only one blogger admitted to bringing porn. And possibly imaginary porn at that.
If you’re bored, you can also try ‘island hopping’ or ‘six degrees of desert island discs’ the idea is basically like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you pick two movies on the list and try to connect them by jumping from list to list where titles overlap. It’s a little nerdy, but still fun.
My own list is here.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: analysis, blogging, desert island discs, events, movie blogs, The Dark Knight | 17 Comments »
Posted on April 11, 2010 by Darren
The ever wonderful Andy over at Fandango Groovers has put together a rather excellent little project among film bloggers where we’re all essentially playing ‘desert island discs’. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, it sees the person in question stranded on a desert island somewhere with only a handful of items – in this case films. Each person will then choose their own eight films that will presumably see them through the rest of their lives in something resembling tranquility. Of course, the kicker is if we arrive on the island and there’s no DVD player.
The Losties were less than pleased when Darren phoned ahead with his movie choices...
Note: I’ve also compiled a list of movies and bloggers, so you can see if anyone else shared your picks.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: best movies, brazil, castaway, desert island, desert island discs, fandango groovers, films, gattaca, heat, lists, Movies, the big lebowski, The Dark Knight, the godfather, the good the bad & the ugly, the truman show, top tne | 31 Comments »
Posted on April 9, 2010 by Darren
I love Demolition Man. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.
Eye see you...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: action, be well, comedy, demolition man, dennis leary, fascism, films, future, huxley, jack black, john spartan, los angeles, Movie, murder death kill, mvoies, non-review review, review, san angeles, science fiction, simon phoenix, simon says, sly stallone, sylvester stallone, the demolition man, the three seashells, three seashells | 3 Comments »
Posted on April 9, 2010 by Darren
There are things men can do to one another that are sobering to the soul; and it’s one thing to square it with god, and another to square it with yourself.
– Leckie, Part One
I know that The Pacific is airing in the States a good few weeks ahead of us, but the first episode of the show (well, a double bill) just landed here in the UK and Ireland on the ever wonderful Sky Movies. I’m probably going to do a little summary of my thoughts on the whole show when it finishes airing, but I do have some initial thoughts that might bear putting into words. It’s a great time to be watching television, isn’t it?
It shouldn't be that hard to convince you to watch The Pacific...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: band of brothers, hbo, james badge dale, miniseries, second world war, Television, the pacific, world war ii | 6 Comments »
the m0vie blog 