hollywood | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Leon (The Professional)

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Darren

What makes Leon so fascinating is the combination a wonderfully disturbing script that puts a novel and unsettling twist on that “suddenly a father” subgenre, Besson’s understated direction, Eric Serra’s atmospheric score and a trio of fantastic central performances. The movie is never less than completely engaging, especially when it’s being very deeply uncomfortable. The movie is very much a “messed up”portrait of the survivor of a family massacre and her unconventional surrogate father figure, with the difficulties that both have adapting to their situation, although it’s probably Gary Oldman’s powerhouse villainous performance that you’re going to leave the film thinking about.

Leon is a bit daunted by the scope of fatherly responsibility...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adam sandler, arts, Éric Serra, Besson, fiction, film, gary oldman, george clooney, GoldenEye, hollywood, Jean Reno, Léon (film), Leon, madonna, Mathilda, Movie, Natalie Portman, New York City, non-review review, Oldman, rain man, review, Shopping, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | 5 Comments »

Generation Next: The Changing of the Cinematic Guard…

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Darren

There are times when I feel quite young. I was born on the same day that The Joshua Tree was released. My dad took me to the cinematic re-release of Star Wars. I was mainly introduced to the great directors through video and DVD. Hollywood as it exists today is not markedly different from the Hollywood that I grew up with. However, as I sat in the cinema last week, it occurred to me: perhaps I have sat through my first real changing of the cinematic guard, so to speak. It’s an occurance so subtle and gradual that I never really noticed it, and yet it must, by necessity, be part of Hollywood’s seasonal cycle.

Putting the older generation out to feed?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adam sandler, al pacino, Benedict Cumberbatch, brad pitt, bruce willis, dennis hopper, george clooney, Gerard McSorley, hollywood, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Costner, michelle forbes, Niels Arestrup, robert deniro | 9 Comments »

My Best of 2011: The Artist, Tempering Nostalgia & Truly Accessible “True Art”…

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Darren

It’s that time of the year. To celebrate 2011, and the countdown to 2012, I’m going to count down my own twelve favourite films of the year, one a day until New Year’s Eve. I’m also going to talk a bit about how or why I chose them, and perhaps what makes this list “my” best of 2011, rather than any list claiming to be objective.

The Artist is number three. Check out my original review here.

Spend a bit of time discussing film with people, and you’ll discover that a lot of prejudices exist about certain types of films and their audiences. For example, you’ll discover that some people cling to the believe that any film made on a budget of over six figures and released in the middle of summer is a brain-dead offense to the senses. On the other end of the scale, you’ll find those who protest that any narratively challenging or otherwise unconventional film is “pretentious” or “inaccessible.” These views don’t represent the majority opinion, but you’ll stumble across them if you converse about film enough. Thankfully, at least, The Artist puts paid to the idea that a black-and-white silent film is inherently “inaccessible.”

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: Bérénice Bejo, Christopher Nolan, Citizen Kane, dark knight, Filmmaking, hollywood, Jean Dujardin, martin scorsese, Michel Hazanavicius, silent film, Woody Allen | 6 Comments »

The Art of Compromise: Picking the Family Christmas Movie…

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Darren

Christmas is a fun time in my household. We pack in the entire extended family for a day of fun and celebration, a nice dinner, some drinks. They stay over for a night or two and we do all the usual family activities. Christmas night, we watch a movie. St. Stephen’s night, we play a game of Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. As you can imagine, finding a movie that thirteen-odd people will sit down and enjoy in a crowded sitting room by the fire, glasses of wine and popcorn handy, is no mean feat. And, I admit with some measure of pride, the task is assigned to me: I’m the one asked to come up with a suitable movie for the Christmas evening. And, as much as it’s a fun task, it’s also a daunting one.

Ghosts of Christmas past...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: christmas, Edward Scissorhands, film, Hangover, holiday, hollywood, indiana jones, Nightmare Before Christmas, Terrence Malick, tim burton | Leave a comment »

Follow Me: The Lost Art of the Sequel Hook…

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Darren

I had the pleasure of seeing David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on Friday, and it was a very good film. It smoothed out some of the issues I had with the original adaptation, was beautifully acted and directed, and was just a very nice piece of film. However, I was a bit disappointed with the ending of the film, which served as a twenty-minute trailer for the sequel. This is a sequel that hasn’t been greenlit yet, and hasn’t even been written. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I do think there is a point where setting up a later instalment undermines the original film.

Leaving the series with snow where to go?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman begins, bourne ultimatum, dark knight, david fincher, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, green lantern, hollywood, Italian Job, movie-making, sequel hook, sequels | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Artist

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Darren

It’s funny that The Artist should end up being so accessible. It’s a black-and-white silent film, shot in an abandoned aspect ratio, set in old Hollywood from a French director. It sounds like an exercise in arthouse excess, and yet it’s easily one of the most charming and engaging stories in recent memory. It’s hard to put a finger on which part of the film works so well, so I’m going to opt for a massive copout: they all do. It’s a love letter to cinema, but not necessarily to “classic cinema” – the movie feels pretty timely for a story set in the twenties. In short, if you are any sort of cinephile, do yourself a favour and check it out. You won’t regret it.

Released just in time for New Year’s, it seems like 2011 might have saved the best for last.

Now THAT's Entertainment!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bérénice Bejo, black and white, Dujardin, Filmmaking, george clooney, George Valentin, hollywood, james cromwell, Jean Dujardin, john goodman, Malcolm McDowell, marion cotillard, Michel Hazanavicius, New Year, silent film, The Artist | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Shrink

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Darren

There’s a good movie to be found somewhere within Shrink. I’m just not sure exactly what it is. Ensemble dramas are a lot tougher to get right than they may initially seem: lining up a variety of interesting plot lines is only half the battle, as the movie has to balance these threads and ensure that all remain intriguing, while none dominate. Shrink doesn’t really do that. Using Kevin Spacey’s “self-medicating” Los Angeles psychologist as a jumping-off point, the film never really finds a compelling hook for us – and the performances aren’t strong enough to get us to invest in the characters colliding and intersecting like balls on a pool table.

Small problems...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: A Bug's Life, colin farrell, film, films, hollywood, kevin spacey, los angeles, Movies, non-review review, review, robin williams, Shrink | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Contagion

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Darren

It’s somewhat ironic that the biggest fault with Contagion is that it’s not nearly clinical enough. Soderbergh’s exploration of the impact of a mass pandemic actually works best when the director pulls back to give us a high-level overview of a society collapsing, the individual lives reduced – appropriately enough – to microscopic cells in a larger organism in what might be its death throes. It’s these sequences and shots that are brilliantly effective, demonstrating the systemic and group dynamics that enable and facilitate the spread of a deadly bird flu variant, while the more intimate moments feel awkward and shoehorned in, never afforded enough space to develop character or plot lines. Still, if you pull back and look at the big picture, Soderbergh’s latest effort is an engaging ambitious disaster movie.

One sick picture...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bird flu, Bryan Cranston, Contagion, disease, film, films, Gwyneth Paltrow, hollywood, Horror film, Jennifer Ehle, jude law, kate winslet, laurence fishburne, matt damon, Movies, review, roland emmerich, Soderbergh, Steven Soderbergh | 6 Comments »

Tinkers, Tailors: The Phantom of the Prestigious Sequel…

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Darren

If rumours are to be believed, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is such a dramatic success that discussions have begun about a possible sequel, with Gary Oldman even chiming in that a follow-up might do well to adapt both The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People into a single film – reducing leCarré’s trilogy to a duology. Still, even if there’s only one more film produced, the news can’t help but seem a little strange: after all, it’s very intellectual material for a Hollywood franchise, isn’t it?

Every right to be Smiley...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, box office, Christopher Nolan, franchises, gary oldman, George Smiley, hollywood, Honourable Schoolboy, sequels, Smiley's People, The Honourable Schoolboy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tomas Alfredson | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Unstoppable

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Darren

I guess I’ve kinda marked Tony Scott as a more talented Michael Bay, in that he’s a director who manages all the tense and superficial elements of his action films particularly well, but that he also a strong eye for dramatic talent and seems to work much better with his leads – or, at least, draw stronger performances from them – than Bay. I was kinda thinking that as I was watching Unstoppable, pondering how Bay’s fascination with physical objects and explosions could have turned the film into a nigh-impossible mess, as the movie is literally based around the idea of a runaway train. Scott can’t quite find the human drama at the core of the story he’s telling, but he does try. And I think that effort alone makes the film watchable, if not remarkable.