Posted on May 4, 2010 by Darren
“Love,” someone suggests at a key moment in Joss Whedon’s big screen sequel to his cult television show Firefly, is what keeps a ship afloat, “Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she’s hurtin’ ‘fore she keens. Makes her a home.” In a way, it’s hard not to feel that he could just as easily be talking about this particular movie adaptation. Serenity is a movie which by all rights shouldn’t exist. Based on a television show unfairly cancelled by a network which couldn’t bring itself to offer it a fighting chance, it seems odd to see the series transitioned to the big screen in search of closure. The movie is itself an act of love – an act early in the film confused (understandably) with madness – love for the show, for its concepts and for those who gave it the benefit of the doubt that its own producers couldn’t.
Thank god there's a master at the helm...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: chiwetel ejiofor, film, firefly, joss whedon, malcolm reynolds, Movie, nathan filllon, non-review review, review, serenity, Television | 8 Comments »
Posted on April 30, 2010 by Darren
Legacy. It’s all about legacy. What we leave for our children and what we inherit from our parents. Sometimes it’s bitterness and hatred, sometimes it’s more than we think. Iron Man as a concept is inherently linked to the Cold War and American foreign policy, so it’s a fitting theme for the sequel to tackle. Fathers and sons dominate the film, as does the simple and haunting fact that the now is shaped by the then. Some of us get to change the world, some of us simply leave big smoking craters behind us. Even the bad guy, a Russian, consciously evokes conflicts fading from memory that shaped our modern world.
Sometimes you just need to slow down and take a break...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: black widow, blockbuster, don cheadle, film, iron man, iron man 2, ivan vanko, jon favreau, justin hammer, marvel, Mickey Rourke, Movie, natasha romanov, nick fury, non-review review, review, robert downey, robert downey jnr., robert downey jr, sam rockwell, samuel l. jackson, scarlett johansson, tony stark, war machine, whiplash | 10 Comments »
Posted on April 29, 2010 by Darren
Date Night is a perfectly okay film (okay, maybe a tinsy bit better than “perfectly okay”, but “a tinsy bit better than than a perfectly okay film” just doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as it should). It essentially coasts off its deliciously old-school comedy-of-errors premise and the charisma of its two leading actors (plus their ensemble of cameo! friends), while never really trying too hard or ever really hitting a note of pitch perfect comic genius. There are no lines you’ll be quoting to yourself for weeks afterwards (except maybe “kill shot!” every time somebody tilts their sideways gun at you – but I’ll assume that doesn’t happen too often).
Their date night is about to become a late night...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, date night, film, Movie, non-review review, review, shaun levy, steve carrell, tina fey | 7 Comments »
Posted on April 28, 2010 by Darren
I’ve been thinking a bit lately about how I write my “non-review reviews” and what I make of a given film and so on. In particular, I’ve been wondering if I should start offering some form of “grade” to my reviews, like some sort of overzealous teacher – “this film has Darren’s seal of approval!” The thing is, I’m not quite sure if I should.
Stars in my eyes...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: film, grades, Movie, Movies, points, ratings, reviewing, reviews, stars | 12 Comments »
Posted on April 26, 2010 by Darren
I hope you aren’t tired of comic book movies, because it seems like the past few summers have just been an attempt to whet our appetites for even more of the four-colour heroes. Marvel, ever keen to stay one step ahead of their “distinguished competitor”, have announced a scheme to allow the less well-known of their characters a day in the spotlight. DC is still struggling to get its iconic heroes to the screen, let alone put together a coherent shared universe, and Marvel is already scouring the depths of its published materials for new films. I have to admit, I’m kinda excited about the news.
Who's next?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: comic book films, comic books, dc, film, genre, marvel, Movies, subgenre, superheroes | 7 Comments »
Posted on April 23, 2010 by Darren
Papillon is a great film. I fall just short of declaring it a masterpiece, but it’s certainly a proud cinematic achievement (seriously, there’s some lovely stunt work going on here). Based on the true, kinda true heavily fictionalised story of Henri Charriere (his real name is never given here, except for a brief shot of his jail cell), the movie is pretty much an episodic collection of incidences from his time in captivity, having been wrongly convicted for killing a pimp. Naturally some of these individual segments work better than others, and some seem a little disjointed, but Steve McQueen really ties it all together. Which is really something since he’s starring opposite Dustin “Oscar gold” Hoffman.
Hail to McQueen...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: dustin hoffman, escape, film, Movies, non-review review, papillon, prison, review, steve mcqueen | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 21, 2010 by Darren
Planet 51 is an enjoyable little animated film. It mostly skirts by on it’s rather interesting premise (what if an astronaut landed on an alien world exactly like fifties America?) and razor-sharp pop culture references (I wonder how many kids are going to get the references to E.T. let alone Alien or 2001: A Space Odyssey), but it’s ultimately let down by the fact that nobody involved seems to be trying too hard… or at all, really. The film relies on its intriguing premise to carry it, which it just about does, but it’s hard to feel that there isn’t so much more that could have been done.
I'm not sure if Chuck demonstrates to Planet 51 that there's intelligent life out there...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: aliens, animation, cgi, film, jessica biel, justin long, Movies, non-review review, planet 51, pop culture, review, the rock | 6 Comments »
Posted on April 18, 2010 by Darren
Castor over at Anomolous Materials tagged me for the latest internet blogging meme. Basically it asks me to share ten bit of movie trivia about me and then to pass it on. I can’t promise this will be interesting, but here we go…
Darren thinking up movie trivia. Simpson-ness may have been exaggerated.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blogs, film, list, Movies, ten movie facts, trivia | 12 Comments »
Posted on April 15, 2010 by Darren
Whiteout is a “just okay” thriller, perfectly average in most areas (but hopelessly deficient in others). Setting a murder-mystery-thriller in the cold icy tundra and in the middle of a storm immediately brings to mind any number of cinematic fore-bearers, virtually all of which are superior to this little film. Perhaps the greatest crime that Whiteout is guilty of, aside from following the usual tropes and conventions too slavishly, is that it just doesn’t do anything with its setting, which seems to want to be distinctive.
Snow wear to go...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: antartic, film, kate beckinsale, Movies, non-review review, reviews, tom skerrit, whiteout | 4 Comments »
Posted on April 1, 2010 by Darren
Kick-Ass may be the action movie of the year. It will more than likely be the comedy of year. And it is currently among the best movies I’ve seen so far (and it’s been a very good March, might I add). Kick-Ass does what Watchmen should have, and takes superhero movies to the next level: working on the assumption that the genre is so well recognised that audiences will appreciate all the tiny little tropes, Kick-Ass picks apart the big budget superhero flick, but manages to avoid being mean.
Kick-Ass kicks... well, you see where this is going...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: aaron johnson, big daddy, Chloe Moretz, film, hit girl, kick-ass, mark millar, matthew vaughn, Movie, nicolas cage, non-review review, parody, review, superheroes | 12 Comments »
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