christmas | the m0vie blog

Watch! Marvin the Martian in “Yule Be Sorry”

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Darren

This was apparently posted two months ago, but I’m only seeing it now. Plus, you know, it’s Christmas themed.

Director Alex Zamm uploaded test footage for a Marvin the Martian film, and you can see the clip below. Blending CGI versions of classic cartoon characters and live action is always a risky venture (given that it produces things like Alvin & The Chipmunks and The Smurfs), and I’ll concede that I am a little wary of the child actor (and character) in the below short. I’m not sure I’d rush out to see a movie featuring “Marvin the Martian and a kid.” However, I also have a fondness for Marvin the Martian as a character and it’s great to see the little guy up and about in some form or another. He doesn’t need a sidekick kid. Or to be reduced to the sidekick of a kid.

Still, the test footage isn’t about the script, although his characterisation is quite decent. It’s about the ability to render the character in the real world, and I think Marvin looks fantastic. Then again, I’ve always loved his design. All the movie would need would be the right script, as unlikely as that would seem to be. The fact that Zamm felt comfortable sharing this means the project is probably dead. While I’m not sure I’d love to see this short extended to a feature-length film, it would be great to see Marvin on the big screen and the short demonstrates that we have the technology.

Warner Brothers seem to have stopped producing those new Looney Tunes shorts that we saw last year, and it’s a bit of a shame – while the CGI might take some getting used to, it was great to have those characters back in some shape or form. Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think. I can’t seem to embed it, so click the picture below of the link here.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Alex Zamm, alvin & the chipmunks, christmas, Computer-generated imagery, looney tunes, Marvin, Marvin the Martian, smurfs, Warner Bros | Leave a comment »

Immatürity for Charity, Tonight, 9.30pm, RTÉ 2

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Darren

Christmas is often the time to indulge your inner child, so Immatürity for Charity seems perfectly suited for a post-holiday comedic treat. I had the pleasure of checking out a preview of it last week, and it is deliciously juvenile. It is, as the title suggests, a decidedly low-brow comedy sketch show, the kind of thing that could easily grate if it weren’t handled with the right amount of skill and enthusiasm. Luckily, writer (and star) Domhnall Glesson and director John Butler have done an outstanding job. Not all the sketches included are absolutely pitch-perfect, but the beauty of sketch comedy is that if you don’t like what you’re watching, well… another will be along shortly.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Amy Huberman, Anna Karenina, arts, brendan gleeson, christmas, Clubs and Venues, comedy, David Wilmot, Dredd, Holidays, Hugh O'Conor, John Butler, Performing Arts, Sketch comedy | 2 Comments »

Doctor Who: The Snowmen (Review)

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Darren

Snowmen are rubbish in July. You’ll have to be better than that.

– the Doctor points out that the Great Intelligent doesn’t seem especially… intelligent

The Snowmen is a return to the sort of plot-driven Christmas Special that we occasionally saw during the Davies era. Much like The Christmas Invasion was concerned with introducing David Tennant and The End of Time, Part I was focused on wrapping up the Davies era, The Snowmen feels like it’s more concerned with setting up the fiftieth anniversary half-season ahead than it is with being a Christmas Special in its own right.

Sure, The Snowmen has all the festive trappings you might expect. There are killer snowmen, as the title implies. There’s a rich lonely old miser, as we’ve come to expect in these sorts of tales. There’s a nice Victorian setting for all the action as well. However, The Snowmen devotes a considerable amount of time to developing the mystery surrounding the Doctor’s new companion, and setting up a recurring foe for this fiftieth anniversary half-season.

The result is somewhat unsatisfying, as if The Snowmen is working harder to check the requisite boxes than it is to provide seasonal Doctor Who viewing.

What white teeth they have…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, BBC America, christmas, Clara, doctor, doctor who, Jenna-Louise Coleman, matt smith, Moffat, Richard E. Grant, Sherlock, sherlock holmes, Simeon, Snowmen, steven moffat, tardis, Yeti (Doctor Who) | 2 Comments »

12 Movie Moments of 2012: Running (Shame)

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Darren

As well as counting down the top twelve films, I’m also going to count down my top twelve movie related “moments” of 2012. The term “moment” is elastic, so expect some crazy nonsense here. And, as usual, I accept that my taste is completely absurd, so I fully expect you to disagree. With that in mind, this is #8…

It is quite common to see New York presented in an unpleasant light. After all, Martin Scorsese’s films capture the metropolis at its very best and its very worst, and there are countless gangster films devoted to exploring the dark underbelly of a city that is easily one of the most recognisable in the world. I have never been to New York, and yet I feel like – through years of film-watching – I have come to know the city almost as if I have lived there.

As such, I was surprised when Shame managed to offer me a somewhat novel take on New York itself. The city is as much a character in the film as any of Steve McQueen’s supporting cast. (Indeed, Carey Mulligan even gets to perform an extended version of “New York, New York” in tribute to her co-star.) McQueen manages to craft a distinctly unpleasant and uncomfortable exploration of the city without resorting to any of the trite clichés that one associates with the horrors of urban living.

Indeed, one long single-take shot of Brandon running within the confines of the city offered a more powerful sense of urban anomie and isolation than I have ever seen before, presenting a cold blue city completely indifferent and unaware of the millions of people living within the city limits.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, avengers, Brandon, Carey Mulligan, christmas, Dark Knight Rises, film, gangs of new york, Hobbit, Jack Reacher, martin scorsese, McQueen, Michael Fassbender, Movie, Movies, new york, New York City, NewYork, Sean Bobbitt, Shame, steve mcqueen, United States | Leave a comment »

My 12 for ’12: Jeff Who Lives at Home & Living in Hope

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Darren

I’m counting down my top twelve films of the year between now and January, starting at #12 and heading to #1. I expect the list to be a little bit predictable, a little bit surprising, a little bit of everything. All films released in the UK and Ireland in 2012 qualify. Sound off below, and let me know if I’m on the money, or if I’m completely off the radar. And let me know your own picks or recommendations.

This is #9…

The eponymous Jeff, from Jeff Who Lives at Home, feels like something of a cousin to the Judd Atapow “manchild” that we’ve seen popularised in films like Knocked Up of The 40 Year Old Virgin. He’s unreliable, lazy and smokes a not inconsiderable amount of pot. His mother can’t even count on him to fix a shutter door on her birthday, although he is quick to offer seemingly vacuous philosophical insights garnered from Star Wars and Signs. His brother Pat is hardly a run-away success, trapped in a failing marriage and prone to sit around Hooters all day, but at least he has thrived when compared to Jeff. Jeff is, by all accounts, a fool whose own naivety leads him to get beaten and mugged within the first half-hour of the film.

However, at the heart of Jeff Who Lives at Home, is a surprisingly romantic idea. There’s the notion that the universe is somehow a far more compassionate and understanding place than we might suspect. Jeff’s logic and reasoning might be far from convincing, and it’s easy to be cynical. However, Jay and Mark Duplass craft a story that suggests sometimes things work out just right.

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: 40 Year Old Virgin, arts, British Isles, christmas, Christmas music, Father, film, Filmmaking, Hooters, Ireland, Jeff, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Knocked Up, Lykke Li, Mark Duplass, Movies, Oh God!, Pat, Sharon, Short film, star wars, twitter | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Oranges

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Darren

There’s an interesting film in here, somewhere. The Oranges teases the possibility of brutally exposing the seedy underside of suburban life, as we follow an affair between a married man and his best friend’s daughter, but The Oranges is far too shallow to land anything resembling a killing stroke. The adult cast is composed of talented veterans, but the script doesn’t give them much to do – instead The Oranges treats their children as the focal point, misjudging the talent of young actresses Leighton Meester and Alia Shawkat. It all feels too light, too cosy, and too willing to pick the low-hanging fruit to really create an interesting study of life in the ‘burbs.

Keeping it in the family…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alia Shawkat, Catherine Keener, christmas, Conditions and Diseases, David, film, Food, Fruit, Health, hugh laurie, Leighton Meester, Movie, Neurological Disorders, non-review review, oliver platt, oranges, review, stroke, United States | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Jaws

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Darren

Jaws is a pretty impressive film. Not only did the film serve to launch Steven Spielberg’s career and subgenre of monster creature features, it also effectively kick-started the summer blockbuster. However, watching it again all these years later, it’s amazing how well Jaws holds up – far better than the vast majority of films that it ultimately inspired. There’s a lot of reasons that Jaws works, and a lot of them come down to Spielberg working as director, but also in the scripting and the acting. It’s rare for a movie to produce one character that we truly care about. Jaws manages to produce four compelling leading characters – the three men who ultimately end up on the boat, and the shark itself.

Finally copping on…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: AT&T, Brody, christmas, education, england, faq, film, Hooper, jaws, Keira Knightley, Majordomo, Movie, non-review review, Peter Benchley, PlayStation Vita, Rand Paul, review, Shark, spielberg, steven spielberg | 4 Comments »

Doctor Who: Asylum of the Daleks (Review)

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Darren

You’re going to fire me at a planet? That’s your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?

In fairness, that is slightly your M.O.

Don’t be fair to the Daleks when they’re firing me at a planet.

And more wacky structural hijinks ensue.

The sixth and seventh seasons of the revived Doctor Who are strange beasts, for a number of reasons. The decision to split the seasons stands out, but there is also a sense that they are structured in a counter-intuitive manner. The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon served as a two-part season finalé, despite opening the sixth season. In contrast, Let’s Kill Hitler played like a frothy season premiere. (The Wedding of River Song is perhaps the most difficult to place; while certainly not a light run-around season opener, it was nevertheless a bit light for a finalé.)

Things are looking up…

The seventh season arguably streamlines the structure a bit. The Name of the Doctor plays almost like a season premiere, revealing the origin story for “the Impossible Girl” and teasing ideas like the War Doctor and Trenzalore relentlessly. In contrast, Asylum of the Daleks feels like a season finalé, teasing a new companion as the existing companions struggle to get on with their real lives, featuring fleets of Dalek ships destroying planets and massive amounts of continuity.

Indeed, the biggest problem with Asylum of the Daleks is that it has not enough time to establish all its core elements. Plot points come out of nowhere. Character beats are established in the same scenes that resolve them. Asylum of the Daleks is a big episode in keeping with the “blockbuster” aesthetic of the anniversary season, but it also establishes the limitations of that approach.

Moffat’s crack at writing a Dalek episode…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, Big Bang, christmas, Dalek, doctor, doctor who, doomsday, Moffat, Pandorica Opens, russell t. davies, steven moffat, victory of the daleks | 1 Comment »

The Longest Wait: The Difference Between European and American Release Dates…

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Darren

I have to confess, part of me is a little disappointed that we are slowly phasing out of blockbuster season and into the traditional Oscar season. Not because I prefer the films in one to the other, of course, but because it means that apparently my entire continent is going to drop off the radar for a few months. As the major studios in the United States scramble to get their best Oscar shots released in Los Angeles (and, often, the rest of the country) by the end of the year, it seems that they forget about the rest of the world. While the release of the summer blockbusters have gotten just a bit more synchronised, there’s still a sense that the release of the prestige pieces over here remains an afterthought.

Let’s deal with this fur once and fur all…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, arts, Bourne Legacy, California, christmas, Counties, DarkKnight Rises, django unchained, Filmmaking, Joaquin Phoenix, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, los angeles, Major film studio, Movies, New Year, Oscar season, philip seymour hoffman, quentin tarantino, Travel and Tourism, United States | 11 Comments »

The Thick of It: Rise of the Nutters (Review)

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Darren

The wonderful folks at the BBC have given me access to their BBC Global iPlayer for a month to give the service a go and trawl through the archives. I’ll have some thoughts on the service at the end of the month, but I thought I’d also take the opportunity to enjoy some of the fantastic content.

Are you f***ing kidding me? I mean, you’ve just watched me break my not-inconsiderable balls trying to get you the second spot on Newsnight. And succeeding! I can’t back down! No, no, you’re on, pal, right? And it better not be too boring, and it better not be too interesting either, ok? And it better not cost too much. It can’t be an old thing, obviously, and don’t make it too new. And whatever you do, please try not to embarrass yourself, right?

– Malcolm tells Swain his media strategy

I love the BBC’s Christmas specials. I mean, I know that other networks do Christmas-themed episodes of their shows, but the BBC does tend to go the extra mile. We get the opportunity to spend some time with a series that is on hiatus or even to provide an epilogue to a series that has ended. It generally affords considerably more leeway to a series to tell a different kind of story than they normally would. Here, in the hour-long Christmas special, Armando Iannucci’s political comedy gets a chance to drift its attention away from the fictional surroundings of the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship to explore the resignation of the sitting Prime Minister. Mirroring Tony Blair’s decision to step down at the same time, it lends the series a somewhat especially timely feeling, as well as allowing more focus to fall on the show’s main attraction, the brilliantly cynical and manipulative political advisor Malcolm Tucker, brought to life by Peter Capaldi.