Posted on November 9, 2009 by Darren
Oliver Stone famously rushed just about every aspect of this production in order to get it into cinemas before last year’s November election. Does that affect the movie? It does and it doesn’t. It doesn’t in that Stone seems to have a clear image of the President in his head and it’s perfectly captured on screen. It does affect the movie in that Stone has to choose an arbitrary cutoff point for his movie, since he can’t end it with the end of Bush’s presidency. So he chooses the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004 to serve as the film’s ending. That point arguably suits the central thesis of Stone’s psychological profile of the man, butit also serves to make that thesis seem heavy-handed or forced. The other side of that coin is that I doubt the Stone would have been able to market and sell the film for a few years after the end of the Bush administration, and the fact that so vintage a diretcor as Stone can still make such a raw and energetic film is a testament to his abilities (that some of us may have doubted after World Trade Centre and Alexander).
Misunderestimate at your peril...
Continue reading →
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: biography, biopic, dubya, elizabeth banks, film, george w. bush, james cromwell, josh brolin, Movie, non-review review, oliver stone, presidency, president, review, scott glenn, texas, toby jones, w., white house | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 8, 2009 by Darren
Possibly one of the best depictions of Irish humour that I’ve seen captured in celluloid, In Bruges is a fascinating little story of honour, loyalty, stupidity and a small little town in Belgium. The movie was a highlight in the very solid pantheon of 2008. Featuring a sharp script, a fantastic cast and some really lovely scenery, the movie stabnds as one of the best comedies I’ve seen in yonks. And a yonk is a long time.
Irish charm...
Continue reading →
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: belgium, brendan gleeson, bruges, colin farrell, comedy, film, in bruges, martin mcdonagh, non-review review, ralph fiennes, review | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 6, 2009 by Darren
We caught V last night on TV3. I’m still disappointed no high definition channel is offering it – though, judging by the special effects quality, we weren’t missing much. We’re all fairly undecided on the show, which is a fairly solid reissue of a cult classic, rather than an attempt at a redesign. Don’t expect anything as smart or insightful as Battlestar Galactica and you should be relatively pleased. I think we’ll give this at least a season pass, and then review after that. Anyway, it was hard to watch the remake without the obvious themes playing in my head. Is V a criticism of what the media have dubbed Obama-mania?
The New Republicans?
Continue reading →
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: aliens, america, barrack obama, change, discussion, hope, metaphor, obama, parallel, politics, Television, universal healthcare, us, v | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 5, 2009 by Darren
They say that Christmas gets earlier every year. I’m probably too young to remember this correctly (maybe it’s an aspirational dream I’m confusing with memory), but back in the day they used to wait until after Halloween to start selling Christmas stuff. Now I hear Argos Christmas catalog advertisements and visit the Christmas section in Marks & Sparks in early October. But, seriously, the releasing of A Christmas Carol in early November takes the biscuit.
Isn't it magical?
Continue reading →
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: a christmas carol, christmas, christmas advertising, christmas movies, disney's a christmas carol, films, halloween, holiday, Movies, seasons | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 5, 2009 by Darren
Now we’re getting into it. It seems that Robinson has got all the setup necessary to move the story forward out of the way (or at least the bulk of it) and that Tony Harris has finally found his feet on the series. This collection moves a lot more fluidly than the last one – partially due to the fact that it closes as many threads as it opens, but also because Robinson is no free of having to establish the series’ premise and can now focus on the stories that he wants to tell (almost, we’ll come to the exceptions). Those stories are – by and large – reflective studies of what is known as “The Golden Age” of comic books: the 1930s and 1940s. What happened to the world between then and now? What happened to the heroes? Was it ever really the kinder gentler place we recall?
And it's our first Chrismas-themed image... Earlier every year...
Continue reading →
Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, comic books, Comics, Comics Code Authority, crossovers, dc comics, Eisner Award, jack knight, james robinson, review, sandman, Silver Age of Comic Books, starman, starman omnibus, ted knight, the shade, tony harris, underworld unleashed, wesley dodds, zero hour | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 3, 2009 by Darren
My dad happened to rent out Public Enemies on bluray over the weekend. I was somewhat disappointed when I went to see it in the cinema – and a large portion of my disappointment arose from Michael Mann’s filming style; he filmed in digital rather than on film and used handheld cameras. The effect was somewhat disconcerting in a 1930s period piece, looking almost like my dad had shot it on his handheld camcorder. It appears that a smaller screen (a High Definition TV) works wonders in remedying these technical faults.
Would it look even better on my iPod?
Continue reading →
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: high definition, home media, public enemies | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 3, 2009 by Darren
All of this has happened before… and will happen again.
With that line articulated by the Cylon Leoben Conroy in the episode Flesh and Bone, the producers and writers lay their cards on the table. Time is cyclical. Maybe for the grand design of human history, but most definitely for storytelling. Battlestar Galactica is possibly the most wonderfully dense and layoured piece of popular culture which I have had the joy of savouring since first cracking open Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. It’s magical, it’s mystical, and it’s wonderful. How Ronald D. Moore turned a kitsch footnote in television science fiction history into this, I will never know. I am just thankful.
Time's Arrow is cyclical...
Continue reading →
Filed under: Television | Tagged: 33, adama, all this has happened before, baltar, battlestar galactic season 1, battlestar galactica, bluray, cyclic, cylons, faith, god, kobol's last gleaming, litmus, religion, review, six, the hand of god, war on terror, you can't go home again | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 3, 2009 by Darren
I took my aunt to the cinema this weekend and she waited until we had left the screening to tell me that she wanted to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, so we had gone to see a very false compromise – the “highest grossing concert film of all time”, the Michael Jackson flick This Is It. It was significantly better than our last attempt to go to the cinema – the truly dire Love Happens – but that’s a mixed sentiment at best, isn’t it?
Is This It?
Continue reading →
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: concert, michael jackosn, non-review review, review, this is it | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 1, 2009 by Darren
I’m not quite sure what to make of the collection. I know it’s the first of six volumes which will include the entire 80-issue run of James Robinson’s reimagining the concept (plus extras) and I know that it’s the opening chapter of a much more expansive story. And I know that – as a story – it is structured in a much more dynamic and interesting way than most other superhero adventures. But I’m not feeling it. At least not yet.
No hero here(o)...
Continue reading →
Filed under: Comics | Tagged: comic books, david mckean, dc comics, dc universe, golden age, grant morrison, graphic novel, jack knight, james robinson, omnibus, Opal City, review, sins of the child, starman, starman omnibus, ted knight, tony harris | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 31, 2009 by Darren
It’s been a busy October – perhaps too busy. I’ll be taking a step abck from blogging a bit in november (a few posts a week, certainly not anywhere near two-a-day), just with reather hectic stuff going on in the world around me.
Anyway, it was a quite a fun month – who doesn’t like Halloween? We had our own runup to Halloween with Screen Scare Week, which was a selection of random scary movie related articles, which were fun and are well worth a look.
Outside of that we looked at a variety of movie related phenomena, from the protest by the director of The Godfather III that cinema was being ruined by continuing failed attempts to replicate past successes and I wondered what it takes to force someone to turn off a movie.
I wondered if Anton Chigurh (yes, the guy from No Country for Old Men) was in fact an angel (it’s not as crazy as it sounds). And Up got me thinking about how Hollywood treats its elderly.
I wondered about the “twitter effect”, whether I should read the novels upon which films are based before reviewing them and I vented a bit on my dislike of reality television. I also wrote a bit about the new blogger guidelines stateside.
It was a fairly solid month around here.
Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: Months in Review, october | Leave a comment »
the m0vie blog 