bruce willis | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Looper

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Darren

This movie was seen as part of Movie Fest, which was as much of a joy this year as it was last year. If not moreso.

Looper is a wonderful high-concept science-fiction film that makes a shrewd decision to avoid dwelling on temporal mechanics. A “time travel” movie, Looper is far more preoccupied with fascinating metaphysical questions about cycles of violence and cause-and-effect than it is with temporal paradoxes or the butterfly effect. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that it’s actually a lot easier to follow than director Rian Johnson’s earlier collaboration with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick. It’s fast, it’s smart, and it’s very well put together. It’s a meticulously constructed and breathlessly engaging thriller, and one that never under-estimates its audience.

Little room for Levitt-y…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, bruce willis, Emily Blunt, film, Joe, Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper, Movie, non-review review, review, Rian Johnson, Science fiction film, time travel, Time travel in fiction | Leave a comment »

Michael Clarke Duncan, R.I.P.

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Darren

It’s very strange to hear that an actor who really emerged during your life time has passed away. I was actually already an aspiring movie buff when Michael Clarke Duncan gave his breakout performance in The Green Mile. Duncan, of course, had been around for a while before that. He’d been working in the entertainment industry even before he decided to seriously pursue acting as a career – the early nineties saw the guy working as a bodyguard for Will Smith among others. He turned earnestly to acting in the mid- to late-nineties, and had a small but memorable role in Armageddon that led Bruce Willis to recommend him for The Green Mile. In many ways, I watched Duncan become a recognisable screen presence, and I was very shocked and saddened to hear of his passing.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, armageddon, bruce willis, Duncan, green mile, Jack Coffey, Leonardo diCaprio, los angeles, michael clarke duncan, Myocardial infarction, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, rest in peace, Shawshank Redemption, Television, tom hanks, Universal Channel, will smith | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Expendables 2

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Darren

There’s a very thin line between being a tribute to something and becoming an example of it. The Expendables sold itself as an affectionate homage to the cheesy eighties action movies that you’d find populating the godforsaken post-midnight hours on a local television station. They’re the kind of movies we remember with a sense of casual fondness – we don’t lie to ourselves that they were great, but focus on the cheesy one-liners and the ridiculous stunts and the scenery-chewing bad guys. Unfortunately, those movies generally weren’t as good as we remember them. We omit certain details – the terrible pseudo-political subtext shoehorned in, the cringe-worthy character work, the pacing issues, the performances that aren’t so bad they become good, but are instead so bad that they remain bad. The Expendables felt like a revived eighties late-night action movie, rather than a tribute to our cultural memory of one.

So I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed The Expendables 2, the sequel to the all-star actioner. It seems to have learned a lot from its predecessor and feels like exactly the sort of light and brainless entertainment we remember, rather than the mind-numbingly bad films we actually watched.

Eighties action movie reunion!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bruce willis, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, expendables, expendables 2, film, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, mercenaries, Movie, non-review review, review, Stallone, sylvester stallone, the expendables 2 | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Moonrise Kingdom

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Darren

I’ve always felt that Wes Anderson sees the world through the eyes of child. Events take on a surreal larger-than-life significance, characters are exaggerated, emotional interactions are somewhat simplistic, yet peppered with nuance and hidden depth. To be entirely honest, I’ve found this has a tendency to make Anderson’s adult characters difficult to relate to and his movies difficult to engage with. That’s why I think The Fantastic Mr. Fox worked so well, because it was a childish view of an adult work through the prism of a children’s story.

That’s also why, I think, Moonrise Kingdom works just as well as Anderson’s quirky foray into the world of stop motion animation. While many of Anderson’s films are tragedies about overgrown children living in the bodies of adults, Moonrise Kingdom is more keenly focused on how adults and children interact with one another – giving the movie a depth to complement Anderson’s unique stylistic vision, and heart to go with its cynical wit.

“Well, we know where we’re going…”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Anderson, arts, bruce willis, fantastic mr. fox, Fantastic Mr. Fox (film), film, Fox, Khaki Scout, Moonrise Kingdom, Movie, New England, non-review review, review, Sam, Snoopy, stop-motion, Suzy, wes anderson | 9 Comments »

Win! Moonrise Kingdom T-Shirts!

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Darren

The lovely folks over at Universal Pictures Ireland have give us ten T-shirts to give away from the latest Wes Anderson release, Moonrise Kingdom. It premiered at Cannes last week, and it opens here on Friday. To be in with a chance to win, answer the question below.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Bob Balaban, bruce willis, frances mcdormand, Jason Schwartzman, Moonrise Kingdom, New England, Tilda Swinton, wes anderson | 2 Comments »

Generation Next: The Changing of the Cinematic Guard…

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Darren

There are times when I feel quite young. I was born on the same day that The Joshua Tree was released. My dad took me to the cinematic re-release of Star Wars. I was mainly introduced to the great directors through video and DVD. Hollywood as it exists today is not markedly different from the Hollywood that I grew up with. However, as I sat in the cinema last week, it occurred to me: perhaps I have sat through my first real changing of the cinematic guard, so to speak. It’s an occurance so subtle and gradual that I never really noticed it, and yet it must, by necessity, be part of Hollywood’s seasonal cycle.

Putting the older generation out to feed?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adam sandler, al pacino, Benedict Cumberbatch, brad pitt, bruce willis, dennis hopper, george clooney, Gerard McSorley, hollywood, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Costner, michelle forbes, Niels Arestrup, robert deniro | 9 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Armageddon

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Darren

At least Michael Bay’s Armageddon is honest with you from the opening moments. A deep and thoughtful voice provides an explanation of how a single hunk of space rock managed to wipe out the dinosaurs, complete with an illustration of that important moment. Now, as a viewer, you are confronted with two options. Your choice will define whether you enjoy the movie, or whether it ends up causing you serious physical pain. Your options are: (a.) sit back and enjoy the fact that Bay opened his movie with a pseudo-science lecture which had the decency to include an explosion with the force of “ten thousand nuclear bombs”; (b.) wonder why, if this scene is set millions of years ago, the continents are all in exactly the same places they are today.

We'll always have Paris... Oh, wait...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: armageddon, armageddon (film), billy bob thornton, bruce willis, films, Harry Stamper, Iwo Jima, Jason Isaacs, michael bay, Movies, NASA, space, Udo Kier, United States | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: RED

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Darren

The way that society treats its elderly makes for great fodder for films. After all, what happens to us when we climb over that hill – when we make it all the way to retirement and cease to contribute in the most conventional manner? Will anybody care? Will anybody notice? It’s something that will (hopefully) happen to a lot of us, but it’s not necessarily something we give a lot of thought to – perhaps because we wouldn’t be too comfortable with the answers we’d find. “I never thought this would happen to me,” Joe Matheson confesses at one point as he strolls around “Green Spring Rest Home” with his old colleague, Frank. When Frank asks what he means, Joe elaborates, “Getting old.”

Up to their old tricks...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: brian cox, bruce willis, Ernest Borgnine, films, GoldenEye, helen mirren, john malkovich, Julian McMahon, Mary Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, Movies, non-review review, RED, retired extremely dangerous, review, Richard Dreyfuss, spies, warren ellis | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Cop Out

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Darren

Cop Out has a bit of a troubled history. Director Kevin Smith originally wanted to call it A Couple of Dicks (or even A Couple of D.I.C.’s – detectives in charge), but the studio wouldn’t let him. He had to fight tooth-and-nail to get the film out in its “R” rated format. When critics savaged the film, it prompted an aggressive response from the director. It’s his first film based on a screenplay he didn’t write. And, to be honest, it isn’t terrible. It’s just a shame that the film comes from a director capable of so much more.

Beached...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, bruce willis, Clerks II, cop out, film, kevin smith, Movie, non-review review, review, Tango & Cash, Tracy Morgan | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Siege

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Darren

The Siege has the benefit of becoming a lot more relevent in the past couple of years. Exploring the aftermath of a series of terrorist atrocities on New York City by Islamic extremists, the film isn’t exact a subtle exploration of the relationship between liberty and security – instead preferring to offer two-dimensional strawmen instead of characters or legitimate viewpoints. Still, despite its heavy-handedness, it does have some interesting insights into the world after it has been shaken to its core.