frank darabont | the m0vie blog

The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye (Pilot)

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Darren

And so it has arrived. The Walking Dead, as written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the comic books (or “series of graphic novels”) written by Robert Kirkman. Logically, a zombie television show was long overdue – the creatures have been the staple of our pop culture landscape in some form or another for nearly fifty years now, and have seen a huge increase in popularity in recent times. So, with an incredibly strong pedigree behind it, this tale of zombie survival made it to the small screen.

The road less travelled...

Continue reading →

Filed under: Television | Tagged: AMC, Andrew Lincoln, Dawn of the Dead, frank darabont, george romero, Lennie James, Morgan Jones, night of the living dead, robert kirkman, Shawshank Redemption, Television program, Walking Dead | 8 Comments »

The Walking Dead, Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Darren

Welcome to the m0vie blog’s zombie week! It’s a week of zombie-related movie discussions and reviews as we come up to Halloween, to celebrate the launch of Frank Darbont’s The Walking Dead on AMC on Halloween night. So be sure to check back all week, as we’ll be running posts on the living dead.

I want to like Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. I really do. I love zombies. I love it when writers use horror to explore socially relevent issues. I totally dig the black-and-white style which is clearly intended to evoke the vibe of George Romero horror films. I love that it’s a mainstream comic book property that has broken into popular culture despite not featuring muscle-bound guys and gals with impossible physiques in ridiculous spandex – proof to the masses that comic books can be about more than superheroes. However, as much as I may want to embrace and love The Walking Dead, I just can’t bring myself to.

Grimes and punishment...

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: AMC, arts, charlie adlard, comic book, comic books, Comics, end of the world, feminism, frank darabont, gender, george romero, image comics, michonne, robert kirkman, sexism, sexist, stereotypes, Walking Dead, zombie apocalypse, zombies | 7 Comments »

the m0vie blog launches Zombie Week!

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Darren

Halloween is next week! And, for those of you living in the States, that heralds the premiere of Frank Darabont’s The Walking Dead. So, we’ve decided to run a themed week leading up to the premiere. Each day between now and next Sunday, we’ll be reviewing a particular zombie film – some classic, some modern; some American, some British – and running a host of zombie-related fun. In fact, before the premiere, we’ll be reviewing the second full year of the comic book it’s based upon, The Walking Dead. Be sure to check it out. It’ll be dead fun.

Bring out your undead!

Filed under: Comics, Movies, Television | Tagged: AMC, frank darabont, halloween, Holidays, List of zombie films, opinions, robert kirkman, Walking Dead, zombie week!, zombies | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Shawshank Redemption

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Darren

I have to admit, I’ve always found The Shawshank Redemption a tad overhyped. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a masterfully made film with a fantastic cast and a fantastic score from a director at the very top of his game. Still, the movie’s never entirely won me over – perhaps because I can’t entirely buy into the parable of hope and redemption that is being spun. It’s very powerful stuff, but I can’t help but feel a little cheated with the fact that the movie asks us to believe that something good came of the pit of human suffering at Shawshank.

You can easily get board in Shawshank...

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bob gunton, clancy brown, frank darabont, Morgan Freeman, Movies, prison, Shawshank Redemption, tim robbins | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Green Mile

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Darren

I never really responded to The Shawshank Redemption. I’ll go into why exactly if I ever get around to writing a review of it, but perhaps the fact that I never really embraced the film as strongly as most film fans (or even just, y’know, people) is the reason that I am somewhat fonder of The Green Mile than most. The Green Mile is admittedly as guilty as Frank Darabont’s early Stephen King adaptation set in a prison when it comes to emotional manipulation of its audience (look at us humanise the prison guards by having the three of them tackle a mouse in a borderline comedic fashion!), but I find it a lot more honest about its inherent darkness than that tale of redemption in Shawshank.

No, it's not a halo, but it's pretty close...

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: barry pepper, david morse, doug hutchinson, film, frank darabont, green mile, james cromwell, michael clarke duncan, Movie, non-review review, review, sam rockwell, stephen king, the green mile, the shawshank redemption, tom hanks | Leave a comment »

Why Hollywood Doesn’t Make Smarter or Better Movies…

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Darren

I really shouldn’t be too surprised at this, but here’s an excerpt from an interview with director Frank Darabont on looking for a study to produce his film version of Fahrenheit 451:

“I actually had a studio head read that script and say: ‘Wow, that’s the best and smartest script that I’ve read since running this studio but I can’t possibly greenlight it’ I asked why and he says ‘How am I going to get 13-year-olds to show up at the theater?’ And I said “Well, lets make a good movie and I bet that will take care of itself.”

– Frank Darabont

Continue reading →

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, dumb movies, Fahrenheit 451, frank darabont, hollywood, Movies, remakes, smart movies, studios | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Mist

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Darren

Our recording of the 24 season finale failed last night. We’re hoping that Sky will put the two-hour episode up on Anytime, like they did with Lost. It’s not all bad though, figuring we’d prepared the snacks and beverages, we decided to see what was on to watch. We settled on The Mist, a small-scale horror movie based on the Stepehn King novella. Our random selection of films from Anytime has never been particularly lucky, so were we impressed with our choice of horror film?