film | the m0vie blog

Clip from Devil

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Darren

The guys from Universal Studios Ireland sent over the following clip from Devil. It’s part of a proposed series of films from M. Night Shyamalan that’s he’s deeming “Night Chronicles”. In fairness, the director’s stock has taken a huge fall from its peak with The Sixth Sense (although I’ll argue Unbreakable is his true masterpiece), but it looks like he’s taking something of a backseat on this production – it’s actually directed by Drew & John Erick Dowdle, the guys responsible for the quite good (but not a patch on the Spanish original) Quarantine. Being honest, it could go either way, but the premise – several strangers trapped in a lift and one of them may be Satan – is intriguing enough that it could be the horror hit of the year or it could be terrible.

I guess we’ll see… Check out the clip below.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Devil, Drew & John Erick Dowdle, film, Film director, John Erick Dowdle, M. Night Shyamalan, night chronicles, quarantine, Sixth Sense, universal pictures ireland | 3 Comments »

The Fish Bites Back: James Cameron & Piranha 3D

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Darren

I kinda sorta almost want to see Piranha 3D. Not because I think it will be good, you see, but because I genuinely want some cheap, visceral 3D action. After all, what’s the point of 3D if it’s simply adding several layours to your 2D watching experience. I realise this makes me sound like an uncultured slob (which, let’s face it, if the glove fits…) but I really want to see a tacky exploitative bit of 3D cinema where things fly out of the screen at me a make me jump out of my seat. It’s not a feeling I’m particularly proud of, but it’s there. Anyway, James Cameron seems to hate me, and people like me. When asked about Piranha 3D, he offered this snippet:

I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip. And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D. It is a renaissance—right now the biggest and the best films are being made in 3-D. Martin Scorsese is making a film in 3-D. Disney’s biggest film of the year — Tron: Legacy — is coming out in 3-D. So it’s a whole new ballgame.

Okay, I can’t quite argue with that, but it still seems a little bit harsh.

From the looks of it, what James Cameron wants to do to Piranha 3D...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: avatar, Boxcar Bertha, Christopher Nolan, film, francis ford coppola, james cameron, leap year, Movies, piranha, piranha 3d | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Jurassic Park

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Darren

Jurassic Park is one of the “big” blockbusters which defined the nineties. It’s easily recognisable and has thoroughly entrenched itself deep in popular culture – along with Independence Day or Terminator 2. Also, like the two aforementioned films, it’s actually quite good. Of course, coming from director Stephen Spielberg, the man who invented blockbuster cinema with Jaws, can’t hurt.

I call him "Rex"...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, dinosaurs, film, films, Ian Malcolm, Independence Day, jeff goldblum, jurassic park, jurassicpark, laura dern, michael crichton, Movies, non-review review, review, richard attenborough, sam neill, samuel l. jackson, Special effect, stephen spielberg, wayne knight | 7 Comments »

Excuse My Na’vi-ity: At What Point Does Re-Releasing Avatar Become Overkill?

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Darren

I’ll admit that I did not like James Cameron’s Avatar as much as most. It was a slight disturbing racial fantasy played with Disney-esque simplicity and some truly incredible special effects. Such is life. It’s inevitable that my opinion diverges from the mainstream from time-to-time. I mean, everyone’s should at one point or another, right? Still, I can’t be the only person who thinks that re-releasing Avatar into the cinema smacks of cynicism – particularly with eight minutes of restored footage (that’s less that 5% of the total runtime). The movie is already the most successful movie ever made. At what point does enough become enough?

This movie has wings...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, avatar, avatar re-release, avatar rerelease, avatar: special edition, dark knight, DVD, film, george lucas, james cameron, Movies, re-release, special edition | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Siege

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Darren

The Siege has the benefit of becoming a lot more relevent in the past couple of years. Exploring the aftermath of a series of terrorist atrocities on New York City by Islamic extremists, the film isn’t exact a subtle exploration of the relationship between liberty and security – instead preferring to offer two-dimensional strawmen instead of characters or legitimate viewpoints. Still, despite its heavy-handedness, it does have some interesting insights into the world after it has been shaken to its core.

Washington under Siege...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: america, annette benning, bruce willis, denzel washington, extremism, film, islam extremism, Movie, non-review review, politics, review, september 11th, subtext, terrorism, the siege | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Forrest Gump

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Darren

On one level, Forrest Gump is just too sacchrine for me. Really, I feel like a need a filling after joining the eponymous character on a whirlwind tour of modern American history (or what could really be described as “America’s greatest hits”). That said, there’s a certain charm to the movie that belies this incredible sweetness (which itself stands in sharp contrast to the cynicism of the novel upon which it will be based). And most of that charm is Tom Hanks.

Plus it doesn’t hurt that the movie has an amazing soundtrack.

Forrest was quite popular in the nineties...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 1994, film, forrest gump, gary sinese, Movies, non-review review, review, robert zemeckis, tom hanks | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Koyaanisqatsi

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Darren

Koyaanisqatsi is a word that comes from the language of the Hopi. It’s handily translated at the end of the film, with one of the meanings lending the film its unofficial subtitle: “life out of balance”. Brought to the screen by director Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass (not that you’d know it from the film’s sparse opening credits which simply identify the film as “a Francis Ford Coppola production”), it’s safe to say that Koyaanisqatsi is one of a kind. Or, given the two sequels, one of three of a kind, but that’s still quite impressive.

Let there be light...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: cinema, documentary, film, films, godfrey reggio, hopi, Koyaanisqatsi, life out balance, Movies, non-review review, philip glass, prohecy, pruit igoe, review | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Expendables

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Darren

Nostalgia is a double-edged sword. When it was mentioned that Sly Stallone would be putting together a dream team of action movie stand-bys – Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dolph Lundgren – our minds immediately go to a happy a place. We remember the joys of films like Rambo: First Blood or Die Hard or Total Recall. However, we forget that a great many of the films produced over that iconic era we look back to were also just plain terrible (or, at best, woefully mundane): Red Heat, Cobra, Tango and Cash, among many others. Sadly The Expendables stands more with the latter than the former. Which is a damn shame.

Sly managed a long and arduous shoot...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 1980s, action, actions movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger, bruce willis, Dolph Lundgren, eighties, Eric Roberts, expendables, film, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Movie, non-review review, review, sylvester stallone, the expendables | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Nine

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Darren

I have to admit, I greatly enjoyed Nine, even if it never really felt substantial or fulfilling. I’m not convinced that the film works as a story, but it does provide director Rob Marshall the opportunity to put together setpiece after setpiece, each choreographed with impeccable skill. Indeed, given his ability to stage glitzy sequences and the sheer volume of talent in front of the camera, coupled with lavish production values and a mesmerizing setting, it’s easy to forgive Nine its faults – the most glaring of which is that nothing really happens for the first three-quarters of it, and then stuff happens which doesn’t necessarily feel earned in the last quarter. Still, it looks damn pretty and the soundtrack is quite catchy.