Posted on July 17, 2009 by Darren
Batman – or at least Bruce Wayne – has been ‘dead’ for about a year now. He was famously killed off by Grant Morrison through some weird timey-wimey thing I don’t even want to get into. Anyway, it has been a year, and a year since the release of The Dark Knight and seventy years since the Caped Crusader first appeared. He’s come a long way since then and I thought it might be interesting to think about what his obituary might look like, if it were run in a news paper like The Guardian. Sure he’s coming back, but from what we saw last summer, The Gotham Times are all about publishing the premature obituaries. Anyway, here’s what I think it might look like…
Who says he never embraced the camp side of his life? And I bet he has all the accessories too...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman obituary, batman rip, caped crusader, comic books, dc comics, history, robin, The Dark Knight | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
The Diamond Cinema in Navan have a… shall we say unique way of advertising their cinema listings. On ringing up today I heard the voicemail message informing me what time they were airing Bruno at and offering some advice for perspective audience members…
Now, Bruno is particularly vile. It leads to a hell of a lot of complaints from people who say, ‘We didn’t think it was that bad’. It is that bad, it will offend every prejudice in the book, believe me so don’t come on after the film and tell us how horrible it was.
One or two people have enjoyed it though.
The news is apparently doing the rounds. My brother has seen it and says it isn’t that great and it seems to have gone out of fashion fairly quick in the United States (dropping 40% between Friday and Saturday). People are telling me that it’s just not that funny. Ah well. This made my day and reminded me why it’s great to live in Ireland.
Vile?
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bruno, cinema, cinema listings, funny, Ireland, navan, sacha baron cohen, snark | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
I’ve been thinking about the tendency of science fiction to use allegories and metaphors for morals and lessons. I’ve also been thinking about the rather epic and excellent Children of Earth miniseries that the Beeb ran last week and the Americans are receiving next week. With the report from An Bord Snip Nua being released today, it got me thinking about where the recession would force us to make cuts. And who would be the victims. It got me thinking: Is Children of Earth about the recession?
What a load of bankers...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: an bord snip, bailout, banks, bord snip, children, children of earth, deficit, doctor who, economic climate, metaphor, public sector, recession, russell t. davies, sacrifice, torchwood | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
We don’t know if Nolan’s coming back. We don’t know (though we doubt) if they’ll recast the Joker. We don’t know that Johnny Depp is the Riddler (though we know he’d like to be). We know nothing about the third film in the Batman trilogy.
Except know that there will be a third film.
You'll believe a man can glide...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman, Batman 3, batman rogues, batman villains, bruce wayne, caped crusader, catwoman, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, dark knight returns, dark knight sequel, gotham, gotham city, heath ledger, joker | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has dominated the news this week. Maybe that’s why I haven’t got anything majorly interesting to write on. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the franchise. It’s perfectly unobjectionable entertainment. It’s just nothing too exciting or interesting to me. Anyway, one piece of Potter news that has grabbed my attention is an endorsement from a most unlikely source. Yes, the Catholic Church is trying to be cool again and they like Harry Potter.
Buddy Christ
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: catholic, catholic church, church, ghost rider, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, milk, nicolas cage, pope, vatican | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 16, 2009 by Darren
The Irish Film Classification Officer, the ever-fantastic John Kelleher, made an appearance on The Right Hook (which is an institution on evening drives in our car) discussing IFCO’s decision to give the controversial arthouse flick Antichrist an 18’s certificate. Over the course of the interview with George Hook (who – though I love him dearly – showed himself to be more than a little out of touch, stating that swear words from Mark Wahlberg as his most extreme cinematic experience), the man who formerly held the title Irish Film Censor outlined his office’s understanding of their role in Irish life. And I whole heartedly agree.
Probably the best censorship board in the world....
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: antichrist, censorship, cinema, films, george hook, ifco, irish film categorisation office, irish film censor, john kelleher, manhunter 2, Movies, the graduate, the right hook | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Darren
Don’t get us wrong, we did enjoy the two Burton films (I have a soft spot for
Batman Returns, despite fandom’s opinion of it). It’s just that the Nolan films –
Batman Begins and
The Dark Knight – managed to perfectly capture what it was about the Caped Crusader that we really loved. There was just something about them that really worked, and we thought we’d take a look at five of the reasons why we liked them so much.
Reason #243: excellent cinematography...
Filed under: Movies, Opinion | Tagged: batman begins, Christopher Nolan, Comics, film, Movies, The Dark Knight | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Darren
I finally got around to checking out the District 9 trailers that everyone’s been talking about. The movie’s attracted a lot of cult attention – mainly because Peter ‘Lord of the Rings’ Jackson has plastered his name all over the trailers – but I haven’t seen any sort of advanced publicity in Ireland, despite a fairly deftly-managed viral campaign in the United States. In fairness, we aren’t getting it until two weeks later than the Americans, but it would be nice to see some of these advertisements reaching us – just pretend we’re a semi-important market. For the uninitiated, it’s a movie about illegal aliens settling in South Africa and becoming second class citizens. The catch? They’re from outer space. In fairness, this year looks to be an epic year for science-fiction – Watchmen is already out, Moon is currently on release, Avatar is due out in the next few months and there seems to be legitimate buzz around The Road as an Oscar contender. Still, District 9 looks like it might just be a bit preachy for my tastes, but isn’t most science fiction?
Guess the moral...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: district 9, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, ethics, films, gattaca, message, morals, Movies, preachy, science fiction, space racism, star trek, star wars, the matrix | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 14, 2009 by Darren
I’m a sucker for great cinema. I’m an even greater sucker for ways of paying tribute to great cinema. Turner Classic Movies have launched their Summer Under the Stars season (where stars like Cary Grant and Sidney Poitier get a whole day dedicated to their classics over the month of August) with a variety of teaser posters which treat these movies as if they were brand spanking new. I have my own favourites of the collection after the jump, but it got me thinking about other great ways of advertising films. Not particular films, but cinema in general or classics. As an amazing experience.
I’ve come up with some great examples that I’ve been taken with lately.
If they showed these ads in cinemas, I'd be happy...
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: advertising, adverts, cinema, film advertisements, films, great films, high definition, montages, Movies, posters, sky, sky digital, sky hd, tcm, turner classic movies | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 14, 2009 by Darren
I am a nerd. I openly acknowledge that. In fact, I revel in it. I like to think I enjoy a broad sampling of all artforms, enjoying a nice play, a well-illustrated comic book, a compelling television miniseries, a smartly put together Oscar-baiting drama and a nice book, among other things. I’m not a snob – I love ‘big dumb fun’. I also like niche and wacky nerdy stuff. And I can appreciate the occasional bad writing that creeps into these genres – because isn’t bad writing everywhere? (Anyone reading this blog would likely agree.) And I really enjoy the vast majority of fans – the people who have a genuine interest in the subject matter. I never got why if you were an expert in Lewis Carroll Stevenson you were a literary connoisseur, but if you embraced the world of JRR Tolkien you were a fan. I love that people embrace these works and discuss them and think about them. That’s something encouraging to see in any media – engagement. But there is one element about these niche artforms that does throw me for a whirl, and it’s a perception that makes my somewhat shy to acknowledge that I embrace these forms of art. Yes: it’s the dreaded fanboy.
Things David Tennant would rather listen to than fanboy complaints...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: backlash, children of earth, cult, fanboys, fandom, fandumb, fans, james moran, Movies, popular culture, Television, torchwood, torchwood: children of earth | 3 Comments »
