the m0vie blog

Saw Franchise Dies a Painful Death…

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Darren

What makes this particular painful about this story is that they’ve caused all the fuss over director Kevin Greutert over what is essentially a lame duck film. You could make the case that the writing’s been on the wall for the Saw franchise since the second movie which began a steep decline into ridiculous torture porn (so I enjoyed the first one, so sue me) or even since the last one which underperformed financially. Which is tough to do on a film that has a budget of your average 1970s Doctor Who serial, to be frank. Anyway, despite the seemingly large investment that making Saw VII in 3D would seem to represent (even crappy 3D ain’t cheap), it looks like Lionsgate are calling it a day. Saw VII will be the last of the franchise.

Brace (geddit?) yourself...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: antichrist, endgame, film, gorn, kevin greutert, Movies, paranormal activity, paranormal activity 2, saw, saw vii, torture porn | 7 Comments »

Is The World Ready for a Black Captain America?

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Darren

Apparently the casting of Captain America: The First Avenger is around the corner. We’ve had confirmation of several story details (I’ll probably come back to those later in the week) and confirmation of the fact that The Red Skull will be the baddie. Which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, since he is the arch-foe in a rogues gallery which isn’t exactly brimming with iconic villains. I’ve been following discussions about the casting on-line for sometime now, and something has really surprised me when Will Smith’s name came up in connection with the role: apparently the internet nerds are not ready for a black Captain America.

Of course it has been done...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: captain america, captain america: the first avenger, casting, comic books, ethnicity, fandom, marvel, Movies, race, racism, steve rogers, will smith | 2 Comments »

Reaction to the Best Picture Oscar Nominations…

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Darren

Well, it’s been a week since the nominations were announced. I think I’m as adjusted as I’ll ever be to this year’s crop of Oscar contenders. Am I happy? Relatively. Am I delighted? No. Am I as filled with disappointment and rage as I was last year? Not nearly. Does this mean we can judge the ten horse race a success? I’m not so sure. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the worse of this year’s nominations, snubs and just inexplicable nods. I’ll be taking a look at the acting nominations later in the week, because this post just ballooned. Rather fitting given the expansion of the category, no?

Let the speculating and analysis and moaning begin...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: (500) Days of Summer, 82nd academy awards, academy, AMPAS, avatar, best director, best picture, best picture oscar, district 9, favourites, films, inglourious basterds, james cameron, kathryn bigalow, Movies, odds, Oscars, precious, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, slumdog millionaire, the blind side, the blindside, the hurt locker, the reader, up, up in the air, voting | 2 Comments »

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Darren

There’s nothing necessarily bad about Planet of the Dead. Okay, there’s nothing necessarily unforgiveably terrible about the episode. It certainly isn’t anywhere near the worst episode of the show since the revival. On the other hand, there isn’t anything essential or even spectacular about it. In any given season, it would probably be mid-year filler and pass without note or scrutiny. Unfortunately we only got five of these specials, so each on seems just a little bit more important than a regular episode – even more with the countdown ticking towards David Tennant’s departure. Despite some lovely scenery and a few hints of charm and whimsy, the episode seems too much like treading water.

Somebody missed their stop...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: david tennant, doctor who, lee evans, michelle ryan, planet of the dead, review, russell t. davies, Television, the specials | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Next Doctor

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Darren

This is nonsense.

That’s one word for it.

Complete and utter wonderful nonsense. Very very silly.

– The “Doctors”

The Doctor Who Christmas special is an annual institution on this side of the Atlantic. Every Christmas Day for the last five years, Christmas dinner has been followed by a sit down to catch up with David Tennant’s time-travelling hero in the yuletide season. These episodes are generally well-constructed popcorn fodder with huge setpieces, great performances, some clever ideas and fairly straightforward plotting – they generally can’t compare to some of the more adventurous episodes of the series. The Next Doctor continues this trend – while it lacks the blockbuster feel of The Voyage of the Damned or the intimacy of The Christmas Invasion, it benefits from added pathos. It isn’t the best episode the show has given us (it isn’t even the best of the season of ‘specials’ produced), but it is a solidly entertaining hour-long programme.

Do too many Doctors spoil a special?

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: christmas, christmas special, david morrissey, david tenannt, doctor who, review, science fiction, Television, the next doctor | Leave a comment »

Caprica (Pilot)

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Darren

Part of me wonders how a prequel television show is supposed to work. It’s worrying that the only other example which springs to mind is Star Trek: Enterprise, which suffered from failing to explore its premise for three years before finally engaging with the mythos in time to be resoundingly cancelled. I wonder whether I can sit down and watch a prequel day-in and day-out. In a way, no matter how good the show is, it has been spoiled for you. No matter how sharp a left turn the writers may stick into a particular episode, you just know they’ll have to straighten it out down the line. The very premise for Battlestar Galactica is a spoiler for Caprica: mankind is wiped out by the robotic Cylons, former soldiers and slaves who rose up and rebelled. As a result, there’s no suspense when Daniel Grayson finds himself up for a government contract or attempts to crack A.I. – unless the series is a gigantic red herring (and, though I wouldn’t put it past the creators, it is far too early to show their hand if it is), we know that his actions will create robotic killing machines made just a little too perfect.

Oh, the lawyer and the computer genius should be friends... oh, the lawyer and the computer genius should be friends...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: adama, Alessandra Torresani, battlestar galactica, BSG, caprica, caprica pilot, caprica series, Eric Stoltz, joseph adama, prequel, review, sci-fi, science fiction, Television | 3 Comments »

Green Lantern Concept Art: Purple John Travolta Bikers From Oa!

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Darren

You have to feel more than a bit sad for DC Comics – at least when it comes to their film adaptations. Their one on-going franchise at this particular moment is in limbo as we await news on the sequel to The Dark Knight. Superman has been sent back into temporary retirement after Superman Returns. Aside from the long-planned Green Lantern, the only other original DC movie we’ve heard about are rumblings concerning sequels and prequels to Watchmen – ironically perhaps the one project we don’t want. On the other hand, Marvel just rebooted their most successful franchise, have a sequel to a breakout hit coming out soon, have announced principle photography with Kenneth Branagh on another and will soon be announcing the cast of yet another – all building to a climax in 2012. And, against this, DC have… Green Lantern. Okay, admittedly I’m really excited about it, because the character has been on the rise of late and I’m glad to have a DC film that doesn’t feature Batman or Superman, but something struck me about the recently released concept art: doesn’t Sinestro look more than a little bit like John Travolta in Battlefield: Earth?

Somebody shares an intergalactic stylist...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: battlefield: earth, concept art, films, geoff johns, green lantern, green lantern movie, martin campbell, Movies, sinestro | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Man With Two Brains

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Darren

Remember when Steve Martin was funny? I know, it was a long time ago, but think really hard. Remember when he was churning out consistently entertaining and amusing comedies which skirted the line of brilliance? Before he became the straight man to Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated? The Man With Two Brains is a such a comedy. I’m not sure it’s consistent enough to justify the description ‘classic’, but ‘vintage’ fits it best. A vintage Steve Martin comedy.

And brains to spare...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, film, hammer horror, kathleen turner, Movie, non-review review, review, steve martin, The Man With Two Brains | 3 Comments »

Daredevil: Yellow (Review)

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Darren

The rest of the story you know too well. It’s been told a lot of ways, with many other people in my life, but this is the way I choose to remember it when I think of you.

– Matt Murdock

The first part of Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb’s informal ‘colours’ trilogy (Spiderman: Blue and Hulk: Grey being the rest of it), Daredevil: Yellow has a lot going for it beyond the two talents behind a trilogy of iconic Batman stories (Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory). Cynics would describe it as the last classic that Loeb wrote. The truth is that it offers a wonderful eulogy for the carefree comic book stories of old, simple and ridiculous fare with simple storylines and clear-cut good guys and bad guys. It’s a nostalgia trip – which means it isn’t quite as compelling as the duo’s work on Batman – but it does lend the collection a nice feel to it. If you are in anyway interested in the olden days of comic books without the retro-post-modernism that typically accompanies such fare, this is the story for you.

Daredevil's come on leaps and bounds from his early days...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman: the long halloween, comic books, Comics, daredevil, daredevil: yellow, ed brubaker, frank miller, guardian devil, jeph loeb, karen page, marvel, matt fraction, matt murdock, review, stan lee, the man without fear, tim sale, yellow | 4 Comments »

Calvin v. Hobbes – An Alternative Interpretation of Fight Club…

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Darren

I am a sucker for a crazy movie conspiracy theory. Be it the possible identities of Keyser Soze or the fact that The Shining is about Native Americans or even whether Anton Chigurh (the unstoppable killing machine from No Country for Old Men) is actually an angel. I stumbled across a somewhat similar one a little while ago which has been out there a while (and I imagine most of you are familiar with). But, for those who aren’t, I thought I’d pass on my own favourite crazy movie theory of the moment: Fight Club is a sequel to the iconic comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. Edward Norton’s narrator is Calvin and Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden is Hobbes. It actually makes sense.

"I am Jack's abandoned childhood friend..."

Note: In case that opening paragraph hasn’t given the game away, there are spoilers in here for the rather excellent Fight Club. I’m assuming anyone reading a detailed article on the movie has seen it (you’ve had ten years!), but – if not – consider yourselves warned that here there be spoilers.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: brad pitt, calvin, calvin and hobbes, crazy film theory, edward norton, fight club, film, hobbes, metaphor, Movies, theory, tyler durden | 8 Comments »