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 October 2, 2009 by Darren
Hey, Disney, wassup? Seriously. I know I live in Ireland and that ripping off people is the norm, but c’mon? Everywhere else seems to be receiving Toy Story 3D as a double feature including Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in a four-hour epic? Instead, I have to fork out €10 twice to see two movies I’ve already seen and I can’t even make a decent weekend afternoon of it. We’re getting the first Toy Story rendered in 3D today, but we have to wait until Christmas for the second one.
Buzz isn't the only person the joke is on...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: back-to-back, double feature, films, Movies, pixar, toy story, toy story 2, toy story 3, toy story 3d | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 30, 2009 by Darren
I make no apologies, I love this movie. Though it might not always hit the perfect notes, it maintains Ben Stiller’s pitch-perfect ability to just throw tonnes of stuff at the wall and if even 30% of the jokes hit, you’re at least grinning for the film’s runtime. He also has a fantastic cast full of the talented and the one-note, all of whom are perfectly chosen for the roles that they play within Stiller’s war comedy. Sure, the film may lose focus a bit, and it has a fairly short attention span, but this means that Stiller isn’t afraid to pull away from a gag that isn’t working.
Jungle Fever
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: apocalypse now, ben stiller, comedy, films, hollywood, jack black, les gorssman, Movies, non-review review, review, robert downey, robert downey jnr., satire, tom cruise, tropic thunder | 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 30, 2009 by Darren
I considered writing this little piece in a vacuum, leaving the issue the sparked it sitting like an elephant in the room – but there’s really no point avoiding it. I’ve been troubled watching Roman Polanski films ever since I read up and discovered why he had to direct The Ninth Gate from abroad. The knowledge that he had engaged in sexual acts with a thirteen year old girl has been very hard to disassociate from the man in viewing his filmography – oddly enough, it’s harder to disassociate than the grisly facts surrounding the brutal murder of Sharon Tate by the Manson family. I saw The Pianist and his rather lacklustre (Playboy financed) version of Macbeth before I found out about his flight to Europe and his seemingly eternal exile. I was unlucky enough to see Chinatown afterwards, and as great as the film was I couldn’t quite get over what Polanski had done. Am I being a little silly or is it really hard to view the work of film makers in a vacuum?
"Forget it, Jake, it's Polaski..."
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: behind the scenes, chinatown, external factors, films, in a vacuum, Movies, rape, roman polanski, statutory rape | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 29, 2009 by Darren
I am going to just come out and say this. I like Tom Cruise as an actor. I think he’s hugely talented and vastly underrated. I think he suffers from a subset of the Sean Penn Syndrome that affects Christian Bale – his wacky personal life tends to overshadow his on-screen roles, which is a damn shame, given the talent that’s been hinted at repeatedly throughout his career.
A pleasant cruise...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: actor, collateral, films, hollywood, Movies, publicity, rain man, tom cruise, tropic thunder | 4 Comments »
Posted on September 28, 2009 by Darren
Next month is October, which means Halloween, so I’ll be taking a closer look at the horror genre (both with reviews of movies and my own unique style of commentary), but the success of the new Paranormal Activity on a budget of less than $15,000 (and I thought District 9 was cheap) has got me wondering: why is it that low-key horrors are so scary?
There's been a lot of activity around Paranormal Activity this weekend...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: chillers, films, horror, horror movies, Movies, paranormal activity, scary movies, the blair witch project, thrillers | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 27, 2009 by Darren
Ah, the good old conspiracy thriller theory movie is alive and well, it would appear. For those not quite up-to-date on Hollywood’s fascination with sequels, remakes and adaptations, State of Play is a remake of the classic BBC miniseries of the same name. Following an old-fashioned investigative reporter as he attempts to investigate the death of a Congressman’s aide, he finds himself getting drawn closer and closer to a lion’s den of corruption and defense contractors. It’s a solid conspiracy movie elevated by superior performances that doesn’t really live up to its potential.
Russell Crowe attempts to explain the plot twists of State of Play to a confused Ben Affleck...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: ben affleck, conspiracy, defense contractors, films, helen mirren, jason bateman, jeff daniels, journalism, Kevin Macdonald, Movies, non-review review, rachel mcadams, review, robin wright penn, russell crowe, state of play | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 25, 2009 by Darren
Is any profession less secure than film criticism? Really. I mean, I was depressed about the box office success of Transformers 2 as well and was disappointed no one heeded you, but I didn’t begin to doubt my very profession. Similarly I was upset that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was marketed around film critics, but I didn’t become openly petty about you guys not seeing the film for free. This time, it’s the fact that critics are being grouped with bloggers that has prompted a rather severe reaction from some quarters. Is there any point to be made?
The film critic on new media...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: awards daily, bloggers, blogging, criticism, critics, film criticism, films, hollywood elsewhere, indieWire, jeffrey wells, Movies, roger ebert, sasha stone, tiff, toronto international film festival | 34 Comments »
Posted on September 24, 2009 by Darren
I picked up Cliffhanger on bluray because it was €9 and because I’d never seen it before. My aunt and uncle both suggested that the film would look absolutely stunning in high definition – and they were right. Say waht you (and even I) will about Renny Harlin’s storytelling ability or his difficulties with actors, he does shoot good scenery. The scenery gives the best performance in the film, with the aerial photography give a huge sense of scale to proceedings. Nice mountains, shame about the movie.
No, don't let go! Being in the movie isn't THAT bad...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: action movie, cinematography, cliffhanger, films, john lithgow, Movies, non-review review, renny harlin, review, stunts, sylvester stallone | 1 Comment »
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