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Man vs. Superman: Chronicle’s Climax & The Scale of Superhuman Violence…

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Darren

I had the chance to watch Chronicle again over the weekend, and I still found it a boldly fascinating (albeit flawed) film. The construction of the movie as a collection of “found footage” still strains more suspension of disbelief than any of the antics involving the lead three characters, but it remains a thoughtful deconstruction and exploration of the superhero tropes and genre that audiences have begun to take for granted. In particular, the movie’s climax – though filmed on a shoestring – still does a better job evoking a sense of scale than Joss Whedon’s admitted stylish last half-hour of The Avengers.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: art, AudioVisual, avengers, business, Business Services, captain america, Chronicle, Content, dark knight, DarkKnight Rises, film, Found footage, iphone, iron man, iron man 2, joss whedon, man of steel, marvel universe, Movie, nolan, robert downey, spider man, Superhero film, superman, wonder woman | 11 Comments »

Non-Review Review: (Seeking) Justice

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Darren

The premise of Justice (or Seeking Justice, as it is named in the States) is not fundamentally unworkable. The basic plot seems almost like an affectionate homage to Hitchcock, with people essentially trading motivations for murder, with a mysterious organisation (known as “the Organisation”) offering people a chance for revenge against the person who hurt them – but with a caveat. If they do you a favour, you will have to do them a favour later on. It’s not a bad premise for a revenge thriller, but the problem with Justiceis that it takes itself far too serious, and expects us to do the same. What could have been a cheesy-yet-enjoyable thriller becomes an overly long and self-important waste of time.

Cage rage!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, business, Business and Economy, Coca-Cola, film, Food and Drink, Guy Pearce, Harold Perrineau, Hurricane Katrina, January Jones, Jennifer Carpenter, Manufacturing, Movie, New Orleans, nicolas cage, non-review review, Opportunities, Pearce, review, Seeking Justice, Simon, Supplies and Equipment, Vending, Vending machine, Will, Will Gerard | 4 Comments »

Looking at it Sideways: 2012, The Year of Unconventional Franchise Narratives…

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Darren

By now I think we’ve all become quite familiar with the cycle of Hollywood movie franchises. I’m not inherently opposed to the concept – I think that Sturgeon’s Law applies at least as much to original and independent films as it does to big-budget franchise films. The prospect of movie sequels, reboots, prequels and remakes isn’t a new thing, after all. Hollywood has always had a tendency to emulate financially successful movies, finding a way to exploit the movie property to maximise the profit off the back of it. It’s an inherently commercial prospect, but virtually any form of mass media must be in order to be viable. However, I’ve been fascinated with how the Hollywood franchise train seems to be working this year – it seems like we’ve been getting stuff that’s a little different than the conventional reboots, sequels and remakes.

It’s a whole other universe out there…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alien, arts, business, Cinema of the United States, film, Franchising, hollywood, james bond, magneto, Movie, Opportunities, Prometheus, ridley scott, sequel, X-Men: First Class | Leave a comment »

Non-Review: Alien Resurrection (Theatrical Cut)

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Prometheus this week, we’ll be taking a look at the other movies in the Alien franchise.

I always feel a little hint of trepidation when I return to a movie that I know I didn’t like the first time. Part of me is reluctant to watch it again, even for the purposes of examining what exactly went awry during production, while some small part of me holds out hope that the film might be redeemed – that I might somehow magically get it the second time around. So, completing a marathon rewatch of Ridley Scott’s Alien and the sequels it spawned, I left Alien: Resurrection until last.

Unfortunately, it was just as flawed and messy as I remember it.

Reflecting on his behaviour…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alien, Alien Resurrection, Brad Dourif, business, Ellen Ripley, film, Franchising, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, james cameron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, joss whedon, Movie, non-review review, Opportunities, Prometheus, review, ridley scott, Ripley, sigourney weaver, Weyland-Yutani | 2 Comments »

Improbable Frequency at the Gaiety Theatre

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Darren

Produced by Rough Magic, Arthur Riordan returns his celebrated musical to the Irish stage. An artistic collaboration between the writer and musicians Bell Helicopter, Improbable Frequency is a delightful little farce set during “the Emergency.” The wonderfully madcap little espionage music metaphysical meditation premiered over half-a-decade ago, and has toured the world. I think it certainly deserves to be measured as one of our most distinctly and cleverly Irish of theatrical exports. It’s insane, it’s over-the-top, it’s hard-to-pin-down and it’s also more than a little bit brilliant.

Schrodinger's a cool cat...

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Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: Arthur Riordan, Aviation, Bell Helicopter, Brian O'Nolan, business, General Electric, Helicopter, Improbable Frequency, Ireland, irish, Irish Free State, Irish language, John Betjeman, Riordan, Textron, Transportation and Logistics, Very Important Person | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Raging Bull

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Darren

I might disagree with the critical consensus that Raging Bull stands as Martin Scorsese’s crowning accomplishment, or even that it’s probably the best film of the eighties, but there’s no denying that it’s a shockingly powerful piece of cinema. The fact that Scorsese was originally reluctant to direct what had become a passion project for Robert DeNiro just makes the movie’s status as a masterpiece of modern cinema all the more ironic, as the film seems to play like a pitch perfect symphony, each of its many separate elements feeding perfectly into one another to create a whole that is far greater than its incredibly brilliant constituent elements.

The portrait of the boxer as a young man...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Boston Celtics, Bull, business, Carlos Boozer, Chicago Bulls, Domestic violence, godfather, Jake LaMotta, Joakim Noah, Joe Lewis, Joey, LaMotta, Luol Deng, martin scorsese, Raging Bull, Rajon Rondo, robert deniro, scorsese, Taj Gibson, Tennessee Williams, Wizard of Oz | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Project X

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Darren

Project X is a mess, but it’s a high-octane and energetic mess, with an incredible youthful exuberance and a desire to throw anything it can at the wall to see if it sticks. Though it starts out a bit slow, it accelerates pretty quickly, with the film managing to hold itself together as the party on-screen starts to fall apart. The best way to describe Project X might be to define it as Superbad‘s hyper-active, less focused, more crass, more direct and less sweet younger brother. It lacks the heart that defined that other recent coming-of-age teenage comedy, but it more than makes up for its relative shallowness with an enthusiasm that’s infectious and hard to resist.

Razing the roof...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: art, Arts and Entertainment, Australia, business, comedy, Disc jockey, Document review, film, House Party, Movie, Nima Nourizadeh, non-review review, Project X, Protagonist, review, Shopping, Superbad, Thomas Mann, Todd Phillips | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Casa De Mi Padre

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012. It was the first “surprise” film.

Will Ferrell’s Casa De Mi Padre is perhaps the most esoterical comedy ever produced. The comedian has his legion of loyal fans, but it’s difficult to imagine that there’s a large crossover between those who enjoy Ferrell’s work and those with an affection for Mexican telenovelas. Filmed in “Mexico Vision”, with pretty much all of the dialogue in Spanish (rather than, as one DEA agent puts it, “American”), the movie displays an astonishing commitment to its basic premise, which is effectively one joke sustained over its runtime. I can sense already that Ferrell’s latest project will be his most divisive to date, dividing film fans into “love it” or “hate it” camps. I fall strongly into the former.

A que no me alcanzas!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: business, Casa de Mi Padre, Ferrell, film, Gloucestershire, Illegal drug trade, jameson dublin international film festival, lars von trier, Meta-joke, Mexican people, Mexico, Movie, non-review review, prison, review, Spanish, Spanish language, Sunglasses, Terrence Malick, United States, will ferrell | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Blob (1958)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Darren

I’m surprised that The Blob doesn’t get more love as a late-fifties creature feature. It has all the right ingredients, from a compelling monster, a clever central metaphor and a dashing lead in Steve McQueen. Sure, the special effects haven’t aged well, and the movie occasionally veers into the realm of cheese, but it is a wonderful example of type of monster movies American studios used to churn out during the fifties – seemingly disposable little horrors that ended up a lot smarter and more sophisticated than most viewers took them for.

It came from outer space...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 1950s, Binary large object, Blob, business, Database, Drinkbox Studios, Earth, Google App Engine, Jeff Sharlet, non-review review, PlayStation Vita, review, Special effect, Star jelly, steve mcqueen, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, The Blob, United States | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Three Colours Blue

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Darren

This week we’re taking a look at Krzysztof Kieślowski’s celebrated “Three Colours” Trilogy. We’ll be publishing reviews on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so check back and sound off.

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours Trilogy is generally regarded as one of the landmarks of European cinema, one of the great cinematic accomplishments of the past few decades. I find it hard to disagree. A cynical and bittersweet (and, occasionally, just bitter) look at the ideals of the French Revolution (liberty, equality and fraternity) filtered through the three colours of the French flag, Kieślowski’s three films are powerful studies of human nature, exploring the way that we react and interact in this strange and surreal world that we share with everybody else.