fantasy | the m0vie blog

Now That’s First Class: X-Men – First Class & Superhero Nostalgia

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Darren

I have to admit that X-Men: First Class is a movie that I find myself in a wild state of flux over. At times, I’m delighted by the sensational casting, the fantastic director and the wonderful artistic design that we’re seeing. However, I am equally curious as to what the point of a prequel is, or why Bryan Singer jumped ship so quickly. At times, it’s one of my most anticipated movies of the coming year, while at others it’s just another film awaiting release. Somewhat lost amid the announcement that Bane and Catwoman would be the villains of The Dark Knight Rises, Fox released a slew of information about their newest X-Men film last week. looking at eth photos, I can’t help wondering whether the superhero movie genre is on the cusp of the nostalgia-fest which has swept their comic book counterparts in recent years.

He always had a magnetic personality...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bryan singer, Comics, comics books, Cuban Missile Crisis, elektra, emma frost, fantasy, first class, Fox, Gwen Stacy, james mcavoy, January Jones, mark webb, marvel, Mary Jane Watson, matthew vaughn, nostalgia, realism, retro, sam raimi, sony, spider man, superhero movies, superheroes, x-men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Inception

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Darren

Does the dreamer dream the dream, or the dream dream the dreamer? Nolan’s Inception somehow finds a way to cram a year’s worth of philosophical questions and big ideas into a two-and-a-half-hour epic which seems fleeting even with that runtime. Indeed there’s so much on offer at this cinematic banquet that I feel I need a second helping to fully savour the flavour. I can see Inception being divisive film – between those who feel it somehow is somewhat conceited and not as clever as it would have you think (many of whom, for example, may focus on the movie’s ending – some may even have honestly claimed to call it) and those who favour a movie which intelligently poses all manner of questions for it’s audience, believing answers – like dreams – are subjective and personal, and to offer or share them is a recipe for disaster. I am firmly in the latter camp.

Mind- (and corridor-) bending...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: blockbuster, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, dream heist, dreams, Ellen Page, fantasy, films, Inception, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, ken watanabe, ken watanbe, Leonardo diCaprio, marion collitard, marion cotillard, Michael Caine, Movie, non-review review, review, science fiction, tom berenger, tom hardy | 14 Comments »

Alice: A Feminist In Wonderland?

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Darren

Alice in Wonderland opens this weekend, and we were lucky enough to tag along to the Irish premiere. Since we came out of the cinema, we kinda suspected that this would be a polarising film – as the Rotten Tomatoes score seems to demonstrate. However, taking a moment to step back and appreciate the breadth and depth of the critical response, is it possible that we’ve all completely missed the point? Rather than being a fantastically realised gothic fantasy that strays just a little bit closer to The Lord of the Rings rather than its own source material, has Tim Burton produced a uniquely feminist fantasy film?

Should feminists be up in arms?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alice in wonderland, disney, fantasy, feminism, feminist, film, gender, Movies, tim burton | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Alice in Wonderland

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Darren

I imagine Lewis Carroll’s iconic fantasy story poses quite the problem for anybody looking to bring it to the screen. Both Alice in Wonderland and Alice’s Adventures Through The Looking Glass essentially consist of a collection of vignettes, very loosely linked to each other. One minute you’re translating The Jabberwockey and the next you’re hearing the story of The Walrus and the Carpenter. I can’t imagine it would be particularly easy to produce a film following that sort of almost random structure. Perhaps that’s why Tim Burton’s wonderfully visual fantasy seems to draw perhaps more heavily from The Lord of the Rings than its own source material, which is a shame, as the director fantastically brings the magic of Wonderland to life. If only there were more of it.

Down the rabbit hole...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 3d, alice in wonderland, anne hathaway, disney, fantasy, films, helena bonham carter, johnny depp, lord of the rings, Movies, non-review review, review, the lord of the rings, tim burton | 3 Comments »

You Are Now Re-Entering… The Twilight Zone

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Darren

This is one of those ideas I am not too sure about. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way has announced that they are moving forward with a new Twilight Zone movie. With The Box coming out later this year, I imagined that Hollywood’s thirst for remakes could soon find its way to these precious anthology series (which have themselves been remade). It makes sense – there’s a lot more scope and freedom in taking a name from a show without a regular cast or confined to single storyline but still has name recognition. The only problem is that, without these staples, what exactly are they going to do to create a two hour movie?