the m0vie blog

‘Roid Rage: Univeral Presents Asteroids – The Movie

Posted on July 3, 2009 by Darren

An Asteroids movie is coming. Yes, it’s like all your 1980’s Christmases are coming at once. The Atari classic about a two-dimensional triangle which blasts two-dimensional representations of asteroids is getting the deluxe movie treatment. And we’re as excited as anyone else! Which is not very excited at all. I would love to have been at that pitch meeting.

“So, what’s the plot about?”
“A two-dimensional triangle which blasts two-dimensional representations of asteroids.”
“Oh…”
“And in some modern versions, the triangle is different colours.”
“Sold!”

I wish I were making this up...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: asteroids, asteroids game, asteroids movie, films, matthew lopez, minesweeper, Movies, super mario brothers, universal studios, videogame adaptations, videogame movies | 1 Comment »

Natural Born Predators…

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Darren

I have to admit, I’m a little excited about Predators. It seems that I’m really more excited about next year’s cinematic treats – Green Lantern, Predators, Inception, even Iron Man 2 – than I am about what lies ahead for this year, well outside this month’s releases. Avatar is going to be groundbreakingly jaw dropping, but it’s not really interesting to think about it. It’s boringly amazing, if that is possible. Predators, on the other hand, is great fun to speculate about. Sure, it’s a rake of horror monsters from the past few decades being revitalised – like Freddie Kruger who has a three-picture deal and the Weinstein Company returning to its roots with a remake of An American Werewolf in London – but Predators is the only one of the remakes of more modern schlock that seems to have a chance of not sucking. I love Jackie Earle Haley, but even I can tell that a Nightmare on Elm Street reboot is a bad idea. I’m sure he could prove me wrong on that count, but I’m not expecting to him to. And I think that quirky genre-bending flicks are hard to emulate the second-time around, so I’m nervouse about remaking Landis’ low budget classic. So, Predators is the most hopeful of the bunch.

The thing's got dreadlocks... geddit? Dread... locks... no?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2010 releases, action movies, aliens, blockbusters, films, Fox, Movies, Neil Marshall, Nimrod Antal, predator, predators, robert rodriguez | 2 Comments »

The Future of Home Entertainment?

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Darren

Blu Ray isn’t working quite the magic for home entertainment media that it should. The DVD market share is still falling and Blu Ray can’t seem to rise fast enough to catch it. There’s a lot of talk about whether hard copy media – actually owning a piece of hardware containing the movie – is outdated and the future of media consumption lies in direct downloads, but I don’t ever think that people will stop buying disks or videos or whatever the hard-copy medium of the day is.

The Watchmen Blu Ray allows director Zack Snyder to offer a blow-by-blow account of the movie.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blu ray, disks, downloads, DVD, films, home entertainment, home media, media, Movies, netflix, optical media, special features, watchmen | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Darren

We were browsing through the channels last night, looking for something to put on to amuse ourselves and quite disheartened to find that there was nothing really good on. We decided that the evening called for some light relief, so we stuck on Forgetting Sarah Marshall – and we were amazed at how well it holds up to repeat viewings.

Sex is a lot like a game of chess...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, forgetting sarah marshall, hawaii, jason segel, jonah hill, kristen bell, mila kunis, Movies, non-review review, paul rudd, review, russell brand | 1 Comment »

Welcome to the Academy!

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Darren

Wow.

The Academy might actually be serious about changing things. I was indifferent about the expansion of the Best Picture category, and a bit miffed about the demotion of the Honorary Awards to an event outside the regular show, but today’s list of new members of the Academy gives me a little cause for hope. These are the people who will vote on the nominees in coming years and I’m actually surprised: I recognise most of the names. Don’t get me wrong, these are only 134 new members in an organisation of 5000. This announcement by itself won’t move the Oscars back to the centre of popular culture where they belong, but – if the Academy can stick to its guns on this one – it may prove a better way of incorporating mainstream tastes than simply doubling the size of the Academy’s net.

Marlon Brando with his trophy... and his Oscar...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: academy awards, AMPAS, anne hathaway, brendan gleeson, henry selick, hugh jackman, James Franco, members of the academy, michael cera, Oscars, seth rogan, sid ganis, the reader, tyler perry | Leave a comment »

June in Review

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren

Hey, I thought in might be handy if I did a little post at the very end of every month that sort of picked out (from my own point of view) the highlights, so someone trawling through the archives has a handy little guide right at the top (but if you want to jump in wholesale, go right ahead).

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Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: commentary, film, june, month in review, Movies, Opinion, summary | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Valkyrie

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren

We caught Valkyrie at the weekend. It’s a movie that Dad had been quite looking forward to and I’d heard good things from friends and family. I’m a big fan of Bryan Singer and was more than a bit excited to see him reteam with Christopher McQuarrie. The pair had given us one of the best neo-noir films ever in The Usual Suspects, but how do they deliver on historical epics?

Couldn't be more badass if he tried...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bryan singer, christopher mcquarrie, film, hitler, kenneth branagh, Movies, non-review review, operation: valkyrie, review, terrence stamp, tom cruise, valkyrie, von stauffenberg | 3 Comments »

Who Critiques the Critics?

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren

The ability of Transformers 2 to succeed so massively even with the godawful reviews that it is receiving has prompted yet another introspective look at the role that critics do, should and must play in the movie business. It’s a bout the right time of year – last year David Edelstein’s bitchy tirade against a certain blockbuster received such a vigorous lambasting that the author himself had to post an article in defense of his review, prompting other commentators to ask if the critics are out of touch with the public. I didn’t do film studies or go to journalism school. I didn’t do a term-long module on the role of the critic in the arts. Sure, it might sound like a simple enough role – you critique, it’s all there in the verb – but should you try to tell people if they’ll like the movie, or simply whether you did? If you know you hold a minority opinion, should you make some sort of concession to that? I don’t know, but the question interests me greatly.

The film critic in his default position...

The film critic in its default position...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: box office, critics, film criticism, film critics, film discussion, films, Movies, reviews, transformers 2 | 10 Comments »

Why Didn’t People Watch the Watchmen?

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Darren

So, the details on the Watchmen DVD and Blu Ray are officially out. Warner Brothers is going to make us double-dip for an Ultimate Edition near Christmas, but Snyder is assuring us that it will likely be just a vanilla release – so we best get buying now! (As if Warner Brothers won’t be releasing a hideously overpriced box set.) Anyway, the real news for me was that Watchmen: The Director’s Cut is getting a limited theatrical run in the United States and the United Kingdom. I’ve emailed Cineworld to see if there will be a screening in Dublin, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, as Watchmen returns to the cinema, I thought I’d take the time to ponder what went ‘wrong’ during the film’s initial release?

The many many copies of Watchmen coming to you on Blu Ray and DVD...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alan moore, box office, directors cut, film, home media release, Movies, watchmen, watchmen dvd, zack snyder | 2 Comments »

Academy to Cut Honorary Awards from Telecast…

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Darren

I’m going to give the expansion of the Best Picture category the benefit of the doubt and I don’t really care about the Original Song rules, to be completely honest, but I am a little ticked off at the announcement that the Honorary Oscars are being shunted back stage. Talk about completely missing the point – the Academy doesn’t seem to get that most viewers aren’t clamoring for that extra High School Musical song so badly that they’re shunt off someone who has made such a massive contribution to popular culture as to warrant the Honorary Award. I just don’t get this decision.