Posted on September 11, 2009 by Darren
We happened to catch Panic Room on TV3 last night. It’s interesting to watch in retrospect, considering that David Fincher was between the two high watermarks of his career to date (se7en and Zodiac – we can discuss The Curious Case of Benjamin Button later). It’s interesting to see Fincher play with the thriller genre in a much less radical way than he did with either of the films that sandwich it. What we’re left with might not necessarily be groundbreaking, but it is solidly entertaining.
Hell of a time for Jodie Foster to adapt to texting...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: david fincher, dwight yoakam, film, forest whitaker, jared leto, jodie foster, kristen stewart, Movie, non-review review, panic room, review, thriller | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 11, 2009 by Darren
I moaned last week about the loss of the two-dimensional evil Nazi. Brushed aside in a tide of political correctness or extreme sensitivity. I think it’s time to talk about what Hollywood has presented us with in its stead. I think it’s interesting to discuss the general trend in the presentation of the Third Reich that we’ve seen emerge in the past year or so.
Tom Cruise played a vision-impaired conflicted German during the Third Reich... Where's his Oscar?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: good, good film, history, hollywood history, moral ambiguity, Oscars, schindler's list, shades of gray, sophie's choice, the boy in the striped pyjamas, the reader, the third reich, tom cruise, valkyrie, viggo mortensen | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 10, 2009 by Darren
Looks like the District 9 race row is far from over. On Tuesday, The Guardian ran an article defending the portrayal of the Nigerian gangsters in the film, amidst the rising pressure to get an apology from the film makers. While I have my own reasons for believing the film isn’t racist – check out our review – I’m not entirely convinced by the article in question.
Prawns Rights groups were unavailable for comment...
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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: allegories, district 9, ethnic stereotypes, media, neill blomkamp, nigerians, nigerians in district 9, peter jackson, political corretcness, race row, racial sensitivity, racial stereotypes, racism, racist, the guardian, Tola Onanuga | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 10, 2009 by Darren
I thought that monster remake mania wasn’t kicking off until The Wolfman finally gets released? This Oscar Wilde adaptation is an odd beast: one part slow, stately and almost cumbersome exploration of a boy who can never grow up and another part Universal horror movie for the MTV generation. It’s a very strange mix which works in parts and fails in others. I’m fairly sure I’m satisfied with my viewing experience, if not completely won over.
The portrait of the writer as a young man?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adaptation, ben barnes, colin firth, dorian gray, ealing studios, films, jack the ripper, literature, Movies, no-review review, oliver parker, oscar wilde, rebecca hall, review, the portrait of dorian gray, wilde | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 9, 2009 by Darren
I’ll confess. I loved the malevolent pepperpots. The only plumbers hell-bent on galactic domination, the Daleks are arguably even more famous than Doctor Who, the show that spawned them. Stick an image of a Dalek in front of anyone and they’ll recognise it, even if they can’t name it. Whatever of their invasion plans, their infiltration plans seem to have come to fruition. But are these most famous of arch-foes over-exposed? Should they be forcibly taken away from the powers that be at the new series for at least a few years?
Wonder what their depth-perception is like?
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: aliens, british science fiction, daleks, doctor who, iconic, iconic aliens, matt smith, oversaturation, russell t. davies, science fiction, stephen moffat, Television, the daleks | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 9, 2009 by Darren
What is the deal with remaking foreign films for American audiences, really? That Akira remake apparently still alive.
Despite the high volume of foreign films being remade, there are comparatively few English films that warrant an Americanised reworking, so I’m going to suggest that it’s not merely the cultural barrier that needs transcending. I think it’s the foreign language barrier. So, what’s the point in remaking and reimagining foreign properties for huge amounts of money – why not simply pay more heed to the original product?
For the record, NOT how you do a 180-degree turn...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: akira, americanisation, americanise, americanize, anime, asian cinema, audiences, coruching tiger hidden dragon, dubbing, foreign films, infernal affairs, internation cinema, reimaginiting, remake, ringu, subtitles, the departed, the ring | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 8, 2009 by Darren
Yes, I can’t resist the urge to post every bit of awesome Pixar-related news that comes to my attention. This week it’s the potential payoff on the humongous (yes, I’ve been waiting to use that word a while now) Marvel-Disney deal that broke last week and sent ripples through the geeksphere. I was less-than-interested because I knew it would be years before we say any payoff (given the long Hollywood development cycle) and even more years before Disney got its hands on the movie rights to any ‘big hitters’ (as all the big franchises are tied up with other studios at the moment). There was the thought at the back of my mind that I dared not articulate, but it has happened: Pixar are apparently doing a comic book movie. An Ant-Man movie!
Wait, who?
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, Antman!
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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: animated movies, animation, ant-man, antman, cgi, comic books, Comics, disney, disney-marvel deal, edgar wright, hank pym, marvel, marvel-disney deal, pixar, superhero, the avengers, the ultimates | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 8, 2009 by Darren
I’m genuinely excited about The Road, the adaptation of the novel from Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. despite a shakey production history, it looks like the Weinstein might be able to mount a successful Oscar campaign for this science-fiction tale. Oops. I shouldn’t have mentioned that hyphenated word. Pretend you didn’t hear it – maybe the Academy hasn’t heard it either. In fact, given the way that people talk about the book and the film, you’d be lucky to hear that ‘tag’ even within the same paragraph. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.
A nice father-son day out...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, charlize theron, classification, cormac mccarthy, critics, films, genre, labels, Movies, novel, oscar campaigns, Oscars, prejudice, sci-fi, science fiction, snobbishness, tags, the road, viggo mortensen | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 7, 2009 by Darren
So, how was it for you?
Long after the movies of summer are gone...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: big movies, blockbusters, cinema, district 9, films, harry potter, public enemies, summer 08, summer 09, summer 2008, summer 2009, the hangover, transformers 2, wolverine | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 7, 2009 by Darren
I sat the Leaving Certificate over five years ago, so the memory of the examine is still fresh in my mind. For those international readers, that’s the exam we do at the end of secondary school before we go to college (it determines whether we get a place as we don’t really have college fees… yet). Anyway, no subject perplexed me as much as English did. here was a subject that could be interesting and compelling, but mostly ended up boring the pants off anyone sitting it. The subject is taught over two years with students choosing one core text (taken for a set list by the Department) and then three ‘comparative texts’ (also from a list, albeit a larger one). There were also poets and composition and all the stuff we would expect. I remember being excited when I heard that films were on this comparative list. But that soon changed when I learned which films. With all the kids going back to school, I wonder if film studies should be made a larger part of English studies, or if we simply need to revise which films we use and how we use them in the class room.
Looking for the reel deal...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: education, english, exams, film studies, films, irish education, leaving cert, leaving certificate, leaving certificate english, leaving certificate film studies, Movies, teaching | Leave a comment »
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