Posted on December 2, 2009 by Darren
Stumbled across this the other day and thought it was worth a post. Basically it’s Irish Times film critic Donald Clarke’s top twenty films of the last ten years. I have to say – as someone who rarely agrees with him at all – his list is populated with good choices. Still, I’m not sure that the majority of those would make it into my top fifty, let alone my top twenty. Which reminds me, I probably should put some sort of list together to commemorate the end of the decade – but it’s not over yet. I’m not even sure I could put together a list for this year, seen as I haven’t seen nearly anything, let alone nearly everything. Anyway, Donald Clarke’s list (and some comments) are below.
There Will Be Blood! Let The Arguing Commence!
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 00s, cinema, decade, donald clark, donald clarke, films, irish times, Movies, naughties, screenwriter, top twenty | 6 Comments »
Posted on October 27, 2009 by Darren
The three biggest children’s films under discussion at the moment are Pixar’s Up, Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are. These three films have generated a debate about who exactly family entertainment should be aimed at, and whether are not there are themes (rather than content) which should be taboo for films that would appear to be aimed at children. More importantly, these three films have sparked a flurry of complaints or criticisms from adults who claim they are far too mature for younger audiences. So, are we really only making these films for big kids?
Watch out, here comes the Politically-Correct-allo!
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: children, children's films, cinema, films, maturity, Movies, parents, pixar, scary, the fantastic mister fox, the fantastic mr. fox, themes, up, where the wild things are | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 27, 2009 by Darren
They say that horror movies and (before that) ghost stories reflect the unconscious fears of the time. So, for example, vampires allayed the fear of burying members of the community alive – if there were scratch marks on the inside of their coffins, it was because they were monsters, not because your doctor made a mistake. Or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was a cautionary tale for a society just on the cusp of the age of reason – a warning not to dive too far into that pool labelled ‘scientific progress’. Monster stories and ghost stories allow us to put aside our fears even for a moment by expressing them in their most ridiculous forms – I don’t think that facet of human nature has disappeared over the past century or so. If we accept this line of reasoning, are zombies the current expression of our deeply buried fears? And, if so, of what?
At least they are taking good care of their teeth...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cinema, fears, film, horror, horror movies, individuality, metaphor, monster movies, monsters, Movies, screen scare week, subconscious, zombie, zombieland, zombies | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 26, 2009 by Darren
In the lead up to Halloween, we’ll be taking a look at some the horror genre. Check back nightly at 3am (the witching hour!) for a new article each night on the weird and the wonderful of cinema, looking at:
Plus, check out some articles from earlier in the month, like:
Hopefully that’ll get you in the macabre mood for the freaky festivities next weekend…
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cinema, film, halloween, horror, horror movies, screen scare week, the witching hour | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Darren
The second trailer for The Wolfman hit the interweb yesterday. I’m still on the fence about this one. On one hand, there’s a classic monster movie, Anthony Hopkins and Benecio del Toro. On the other hand there’s Joe Johnson (the dude who directed Jurassic Park III) and what looks like fairly dodgy CGI. The twice pushed-back release date isn’t filling me with confidence for this kick-start to the monster movie genre either. Still, one aspect of the film intrigues me, amid all the forest scenery, interesting make-up and scenery-chewing going on. It’s the ever-fantastic Hugo Weaving appearing as Detective Francis Abberline. Don’t worry if the name doesn’t ring any bells, I’m fairly sure you’ve seen him somewhere – he’s been played by Sir Michael Caine and Johnny Depp amongst others. The problem is he’s constantly upstaged by his most frequent co-star:
Jack the Ripper.
On the scent...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: abberline, benecio del toro, cinema, detective abberline, fictionalisation, film, francis abberline, frederick abberline, history, hugo weaving, monster movie, monster movies, Movie, real character, the wolfman | 3 Comments »
Posted on October 20, 2009 by Darren
Tell us something we don’t know. Okay, I’m being mean, but Francis Ford Coppola, once so optimistic about the future of the medium of cinema, has become jaded and cynical about the studio system:
The cinema as we know it is falling apart. It’s a period of incredible change. We used to think of six, seven big film companies. Every one of them is under great stress now. Probably two or three will go out of business and the others will just make certain kind of films like Harry Potter — basically trying to make Star Wars over and over again, because it’s a business.
And, yes, this is from the man who made The Godfather III.
But does he have a point?
He gave us The Godfather III and Bram Stoker's Dracula and NOW he's worried about the death of cinema?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adaptations, cinema, creativity, derivative, francis ford coppola, monomyth, Movies, originality, stories | Leave a comment »
Posted on October 6, 2009 by Darren
Every year hundreds of books are adapted into movies. The adaptation process is (if Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are to be believed) hell for the writer – but it’s also somewhat of a complex question for the film reviewer. Unlike the few films these days that have started their life as a script and have never before been offered to the public, the ideas, themes, characters and contents of the work now being produced as a blockbuster have all been let loose years ago. If reviewers should aspire to be educated in what they review, should they read the books before they see the films in order to properly judge them, or should the film itself stand on its own two feet to be judged as a success or failure on its own merits? On a more superficial level, is a reviewer better able to access what the audience expects from the film if they’ve read the book or should they act on the presumption that few moviegoers read the original work? Should they even care – is an attitude towards literary adaptations necessary for consistency in a film reviewer?
Book him, Leo...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adaptations, books, books to screen, cinema, films, revolutionary road, Shutter Island, watchmen | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 30, 2009 by Darren
I happened upon an interesting article which suggested that today’s blockbusters are far too long. It’s a notion which got me thinking – it’s easy to jump to those sort of conclusions based on the kind of summer we’ve had, but are movies really getting longer and is that a bad thing?
Even bigger and meaner than you could imagine...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: average runtime, cinema, film length, films, movie length, Movies, runtime, two hours | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 22, 2009 by Darren
I had the great pleasure to pop along to a discussion with Neil Jordan hosted by the University Philosophical Society in Trinity College last night. I didn’t have a pen and paper handy, but I did make a few notes on the conversation which at least offer an interesting perspective or two from the Irish autuer. The Phil website normally has recordings of event up fairly promptly, so I’ll add a link to them soon. In the meantime, there are a few interesting thoughts in what the man said.
Irish film legend...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3d, an interview with a vampire, autuer, breakfast on pluto, cinema, director, film, interiew with a vampire, interview, irish cinema, michael collins, Movies, neil gaiman, neil jordan, the crying game, the grave yard book, the graveyard book, tifff, toronto | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 7, 2009 by Darren
So, how was it for you?
Long after the movies of summer are gone...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: big movies, blockbusters, cinema, district 9, films, harry potter, public enemies, summer 08, summer 09, summer 2008, summer 2009, the hangover, transformers 2, wolverine | 2 Comments »
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