Posted on June 25, 2012 by Darren
I have a soft spot for the original Fight Night. It feels like an affectionate slice of pulp nostalgia, harking back to a simpler time in cinematic horror. It rejects the growth and expansion of the slasher subgenre to focus on the original celluloid monster. As a result, Fright Night offers a conventional vampire story, told in a decidedly unconventional manner. While it is occasionally just a little bit too cheesy and too dated for its own good, it’s hard not to enjoy the conscious callbacks to an older time.
Don’t cross him…
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brad Fiedel, Bram Stoker, Charlie, Chris Sarandon, colin farrell, Evil Ed, Fright Night, Horror film, Imogen Poots, Internet Movie Database, Jerry, Jerry Seinfeld (character), Peter Vincent, Stage Fright, stephen king, Tom Holland | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 3, 2011 by Darren
There’s a good movie to be found somewhere within Shrink. I’m just not sure exactly what it is. Ensemble dramas are a lot tougher to get right than they may initially seem: lining up a variety of interesting plot lines is only half the battle, as the movie has to balance these threads and ensure that all remain intriguing, while none dominate. Shrink doesn’t really do that. Using Kevin Spacey’s “self-medicating” Los Angeles psychologist as a jumping-off point, the film never really finds a compelling hook for us – and the performances aren’t strong enough to get us to invest in the characters colliding and intersecting like balls on a pool table.
Small problems...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: A Bug's Life, colin farrell, film, films, hollywood, kevin spacey, los angeles, Movies, non-review review, review, robin williams, Shrink | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 13, 2011 by Darren
Buried is a great high-concept thriller, with one hell of a hook and a fascinating premise. Basically the story of kidnap victim Paul Conroy, who is kidnapped by “insurgents” (or “criminals” or “terrorists”, depending on who you ask) and buried alive in Iraq. With only a limited source of light, and even less time, the truck driver is given mere hours to come up with a ridiculously large ransom or he’ll be left in the ground to rot forever.
It's a dirty job...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: buried, colin farrell, film, iraq, monty python, Movie, non-review review, Paul Conroy, review, ryan reynolds, Truck driver | 6 Comments »
Posted on August 25, 2011 by Darren
Phone Booth is proof that the high-concept thriller isn’t quite dead yet. A concept that had been floating around Hollywood for decades (with the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, lined up to direct at one point), it seemed that – with the decline of the phone booth and the rise of mobile phones – perhaps the window in which to tell the tale might be closing. Of all the directors to bring the tale to the screen, I don’t think I ever would have expected Joel Schumacher to make one of the most intense and superbly intimate little thrillers ever written to the screen.
There's a lot on the line...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, colin farrell, film, joel schumacher, Katie Holmes, kiefer sutherland, Movies, non-review review, phone booth, phone booth (film), phone booth (movie), Radha Mitchell, review, Woody Allen | 3 Comments »
Posted on August 15, 2011 by Darren
This movie was seen as part of Movie Fest, the rather wonderful film festival organised by Vincent and everybody else over at movies.ie. It was well worth attending, and I’m already looking forward to next year. Good job all.
Fright Night is great fun. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s one that’s produced with enough skill and charm that it feels well worth your time. A superb cast and confident direction make the film feel like a breeze, even with a slightly muddled middle section and some strange plotting and pacing. It’s also one of the best uses of 3D I’ve seen since Tron: Legacy, and I genuinely don’t say that lightly. All of adds up to a movie well worth sinking your teeth into.
Put the Fright one on...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: anton yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, colin farrell, Craig Gillespie, david tennant, film, Film festival, Fright Night, Horror film, Imogen Poots, Movie, non-review review, review, toni collette, twilight | 5 Comments »
Posted on July 27, 2011 by Darren
I’m a big fan of the guys over at movies.ie, who have always been generally all-round awesome. This summer, the weekend of 13th and 14th August, they are organising their own movie festival in Ireland promising to be a real treat for fans of pop cinema. On top of all the clips and trailers from this year’s Comic Con (shown on a big screen, the way they are meant to be seen), they also have some nice preview screenings for upcoming movies, including the Irish premiere of Fright Night (which my better half may be looking forward to based solely off the promise of half-naked David Tennant) and Cowboys & Aliens. I’m planning on picking up my tickets at the weekend. You can see more details, including the confirmed line-up so far, here. It’s always nice to see something like this happening here, and I have to admit that I am genuinely looking forward to it.
Daniel Craig is some cowboy...
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: colin farrell, comic con, Cowboys & Aliens, david tennant, film, Fright Night, Ireland, movies.ie | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 19, 2011 by Darren
“You can’t win a marathon without putting some bandaids on your nipples!” Dave Harkin, the “psycho” boss of Nick Hendricks, insists throughout the movie. It’s curious, because Horrible Bosses feels like a movie pacing itself for a marathon – and that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s consistently funny, with the humour spread evenly over most of the runtime. It’s hard to point to particularly brilliant sequences that had the audience in stitches, but instead the room was constantly giggling throughout. It’s a solidly entertaining comedy, which makes the most of a clever premise and superb cast, even if it does falter just a little bit as it reaches the finish line.
Spacey is boss...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Charlie Day, CharlieDay, colin farrell, film, Good Girl, Horrible Bosses, jason bateman, Jason Sudeikis, JasonSudeikis, jennifer aniston, kevin spacey, KevinSpacey, Movie, non-review review, review, Seth Gordon | 6 Comments »
Posted on June 3, 2011 by Darren
The Way Back is an impressive technical accomplishment. Peter Weir has repeatedly demonstrated that he really is one of the very best directors working today, and that he’s a deft hand at establishing mood and atmosphere. The Way Back, the story of a prison escape from the coldest depths of Siberia, is packed with beautiful vistas – from mountains snuggled in clouds to endless desert to icy tundras – and it’s also efficient and effective. However, it seems to spend so much time on the scenery that it almost forgets about the characters.
They got snow where else to go...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: colin farrell, ed harris, escape, films, himalayas, india, Jim Sturgess, journey, mark strong, Movie, Movies, non-review review, Peter Weir, revies, saoirse ronan, siberia, Way Back | 4 Comments »
Posted on November 29, 2010 by Darren
The British criminal underworld has provided a background for countless movies over the past few decades, a rich cinematic tapestry drawing from classics like Brighton Rock through to neo noir like The Long Good Friday to modern pop classics like Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. However, London Boulevard isn’t a masterpiece like the earlier examples. It tries to find a niche balance between gritty urban violence and surreal bizarre quirkiness, but ends up just positioning itself awkwardly between comedy and action, never really finding its own footing.
Facing up to the past...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: colin farrell, David Thewlis, Departed, film, Keira Knightley, London, London Boulevard, Movies, non-review review, ray winstone, review, William Monahan | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 27, 2010 by Darren
I like Neil Jordan. He’s probably the greatest Irish director, and one of the few directors who can switch back and forth between big Hollywood productions like The Brave One and quirkier Irish films like Ondine, with neither feeling particularly strange or inappropriate for its particular genre. Ondine is Jordan’s attempt at a lowkey Irish fairytale, told in a small fishing village down in Cork – calling to mind the sort of stereotypical portrayal of country life in Ireland, filled with drunkards and gossiping locals, where everyone knows everyone else and a stranger is instantly remarked upon. It’s to Jordan’s credit that the film works as well as it does. The director manages to create a genuine sense of magic and whimsy which carries a large portion of the film. However, like most magic and slight of hand, if you look too closely you’re liable to figure out that nothing’s going on.
Does Neil Jordan's latest hold water?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Brave One, colin farrell, Dervla Kirwan, Ireland, irish cinema, irish film, mermaid, Movie, neil jordan, non-review review, Ondine, review, selkie, Stephen Rea, Tiny Tim | 6 Comments »
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