france | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: The Family

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Darren

I can’t tell you what The Family is. Not because of omerta or anything as cliché as that, but because it seems like The Family itself doesn’t know. I can describe what happens in the film, taking you through the events as they unfold on screen. I can describe the set-up. I can talk about its obvious influences. But I can’t tell you what exactly Luc Besson’s latest film actually is, because it seems like Besson himself can’t make up his mind.

Is it an action film with a quirky and unconventional set-up? Is it a gangster comedy about a former crook trying to go straight? Is it a fish-out-of-water comedy of manners about Americans arriving in northern France? Is it a pitch black comedy about a self-justifying sociopath attempting to carve out his own place in the world? Is it a high-stakes thriller about a family putting their lives on the line? Is it a weird coming-of-age drama? The Family is all of these things at various points, but it never commits to any of them.

Instead, it uses these elements to just keep circling until the running time is over.

Family values…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Besson, Dianna Agron, EuropaCorp, family, film, france, Gangster, luc besson, michelle pfeiffer, Movie, Robert De Niro, robert deniro, Soprano, United States | 2 Comments »

Doctor Who – School Reunion (Review)

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.

School Reunion originally aired in 2006.

You can tell you’re getting older. Your assistants are getting younger.

– Sarah Jane to the Doctor

Coming at the start of the revived show’s second season, School Reunion changed the way that the show related to its long and complex history, explicitly confirming what had been implied at least as early as Dalek and Aliens of London, that this was indeed the same Doctor who had had all of those adventures for all those years on British television. Bringing back the iconic pepper pots was one thing, as was name-dropping the paramilitary outfit from early in the original show’s run.

However, bringing back the most fondly remembered companion of the classic television show and affirming that she had travelled with this man for several years provides a firm anchor to the past. Looking back now, it’s hard to appreciate how dramatic a shift this was, and just what it represented. However, it’s hard to imagine that Doctor Who could get to the point where the Doctor could recruit a Silurian detective and her Sontaran butler in Victorian England without School Reunion.

It changed the game.

(Anthony Stewart) Head master…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Aberdeen, arts, bbc, christopher eccleston, Croydon, doctor, DoctorWho, fiction, france, Mawdryn Undead, Mickey Smith, Online Writing, rose, russell t. davies, Sarah, Sarah Jane Smith, School Reunion, science fiction, Story arcs in Doctor Who, tardis | 1 Comment »

Star Trek – Operation — Annihilate!

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness this month, we’ll be running through the first season of the classic Star Trek all this month. Check back daily to get ready to boldly go. It’s only logical.

How do you follow The City on the Edge of Forever? The previous episode is one of the best-loved episodes of Star Trek ever produced, one of the great science-fiction television episodes of the sixties, and one of the best science-fiction romances ever written. It’s a gigantic and massively influential piece of television, one of the cornerstones of Star Trek and perhaps the best indicator of just how thoughtful and how genuine the franchise can be when it tries. So, what’s next? Where do we go from here? What is the next shot after that last scene of Kirk abandoning the Guardian of Forever on a desolate rock?

It’s always interesting to compare the first season of Star Trek to the first year of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The former can be counted among the very best of the show’s thirty televised seasons, while the latter can be counted among the worst. However, they do have something in common. They both probably should have ended an episode early, with The City on the Edge of Forever and Conspiracy serving as effective caps on each show’s first season, leaving the audience a chance to digest what they had seen.

Unfortunately, neither show ended on anything that could be measured among the strongest show of a given year. The Neutral Zone ended the first season of The Next Generation with a moralising whimper. While Operation — Annihilate! is quite entertaining on its own terms, it doesn’t rank among the best of the season. Still, it’s a solid pulpy science-fiction tale, which might not be the worst thing.

Man of action!

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Benedict Cumberbatch, City on the Edge of Forever, france, gene roddenberry, kirk, Leonard McCoy, Lysergic acid diethylamide, Mark Kurlansky, Mexico, Mexico City, Operation: Annihilate!, paris, Peter Hitchens, Poland, Pont-Saint-Esprit, Return of the Archons, Royal Navy, Social Sciences, spock, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, star trek: the next generation, star wars, Starfleet, United States, Vietnam War | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Le Capital

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013.

Thanks to Costa-Gavras, Le Capital looks amazing. It’s crisp, it’s vibrant and it’s beautiful. For a movie about financial corruption, it moves along relatively quickly and with a lot of visual flair. The problem with Le Capital, though, is that it’s really a very simplistic version of a story we’ve all seen countless times before. A person assumes a large amount of power, only for that power to have a potentially corrupting influence. Okay, Marc Tourneuil is already a successful executive when good fortune thrusts him into the role of CEO of one of France’s largest banks, and he’s certainly not naive when he negotiates his salary and bonus scheme, but Le Capital hints early on that there is some level of decency to Tourneuil before the wealth and influence start chipping away. As such, as the movie explores his corruption and the way that power erodes him, Le Capital feels like an engaging modern telling of a story that we’ve already heard quite frequently.

Byrne the bondholders…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: american, art, Costa-Gavras, dublin, film, Film festival, france, Francis Urquhart, gabriel byrne, Gad Elmaleh, jameson dublin international film festival, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013, London, Movie, non-review review, review, United States | 2 Comments »

12 Movie Moments of 2012: Dancing (Monsieur Lahzar)

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Darren

As well as counting down the top twelve films, I’m also going to count down my top twelve movie related “moments” of 2012. The term “moment” is elastic, so expect some crazy nonsense here. And, as usual, I accept that my taste is completely absurd, so I fully expect you to disagree. With that in mind, this is #5…

Sometimes it’s the simplest moments that stick in the memory. Monsieur Lahzar was a superb little French-Canadian film that went under the radar last year. It’s a film that I really recommend. Comedian Mohamed Fellag gives a wonderfully moving central performance as a replacement teacher helping his class deal with the suicide of his predecessor. The eponymous Lahzar is so buttoned down that it’s oddly affecting to watch him interact with the children, but it’s the smaller private moments that allow Fellag to really craft and define his character.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: art, avengers, Cinema of Canada, Dark Knight Rises, Fellag, film, Filmmaking, france, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper, Movie, New York City, ParaNorman, We Built This City | Leave a comment »

12 Movie Moments of 2012: September (Intouchables)

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Darren

Apparently there was a great deal of upset when Intouchables was chosen ahead of Rust and Bone as France’s Oscar nominee this year. While I’d argue that any film that restricts nominations to one-per-country is a little bit daft (even if I can understand the practical concerns), I can’t help but feel like France made the right choice here. The Intouchables is a superb piece of feel-good cinema that works much better than one might expect. Even my inner cynic was convinced. And I was convinced, conveniently enough, by the opening sequence, which features a joy ride to the sound of September by Earth, Wind and Fire.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, arts, Bone, Driss, Earth Wind & Fire, france, Intouchables, Ludovico Einaudi, Movies, oscar, paris, Philippe, Rust | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Day of the Jackal

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Darren

The Day of the Jackal is a fascinating entry in the assassination subgenre, most impressive for the careful and meticulous way that it examines the unfolding events – it’s more of a procedural than a cat-and-mouse thriller. Indeed, it’s almost an hour into the film before the two detectives chasing the eponymous hit man appear on screen. Fred Zinnemann’s movie has a two-and-a-half hour runtime, but doesn’t rely on a shifting or twisting narrative to fill it. Instead, it simply allots the characters and the world that they inhabit a bit more room to breathe, to the point where The Day of the Jackal seems a great deal more human and personal than most assassination thrillers, as we get a sense of the people tied up in a plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle.

Tie a grey rope ’round the old… I’m not sure what type of tree that is…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Africa, assassination, Business and Economy, Claude Lebel, Day of the Jackal, Edward Fox, Fox, france, Fred Zinnemann, Jackal, Jaejoong, japan, murder, Nigeria, Parallax View, Smoking Gun, Song Ji-hyo | Leave a comment »

Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, Vol. II (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Darren

It’s fantastic that Marvel have gone to such pains to collect all of the classic seventies Tomb of Dracula. The main title is collected in the first of three volumes, with this second oversized hardcover rounding out Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan’s run on the on-going series. Indeed, with Colan’s consistent pencils and Wolfman’s long-form plotting, Tomb of Dracula feels remarkably close to a single long-form story, one massive epic in seventy-odd chapters, with ideas hinted and developed years before they would eventually pay off. As such, the collection holds up remarkably well, and is a joy to read. While the second half of the series might not be as solid as Wolfman and Colan’s work on the first thirty-odd issues, it still makes for a satisfying conclusion to this chapter of Dracula’s story.

Out for the Count?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: boston, Bram Stoker, Brother Voodoo, Doctor Sun, dracula, england, france, gene colan, Harker, Harold H. Harold, history, Jonathan Harker, Marv Wolfman, Mina Harker, New England, Romania, silver surfer, Tomb of Dracula, Transylvania, vampire, wolfman | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Untouchable (Intouchables)

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Darren

Untouchable is that rare gem. It’s a sweet, life-affirming story that never overplays its hand. It never devolves into cheap melodrama, as stories like this tend to. The story of two people from two very different walks of life coming together and learning from one another is a well-travelled plot-device, but there’s a strong heart at the centre of Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano’s comedy drama. It has soul, it has rhythm, and it refuses to wallow in tragedy or angst as it follows the unlikely relationship between a wealthy paraplegic and a street-smart welfare recipient.

Joy ride!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Driss, Dunkirk, Eric Toledano, fiction, film, François Cluzet, france, Ludovico Einaudi, non-review review, Olivier Nakache, Online Writing, paris, Philippe, Plot device, review, Short Stories, Untouchable | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: To Catch a Thief

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Darren

To Catch a Thief is unique among Hitchcock films. It’s the only Hitchcock film produced by Paramount to remain distributed by Paramount. The rest reverted to Hitchcock and are now distributed by Universal. More than that, however, the film feels remarkably “light” as measured against some of his other work. It feels almost like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly are just supporting players, with the French Riviera serving as the headlining star of the film. That not to dismiss To Catch a Thief entirely – it’s still a beautiful and well constructed piece of cinema from a master director, just one that feels a little shallow compared to his better work.