Movie | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: True Grit

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Darren

True Grit is a strange proposition. It’s very clearly a very typical Western movie, about a bunch of (effectively) hired guns hunting down a fugitive on the run from the law, in pursuit of a large bounty. However, it’s also very distinctively a Coen Brothers movie, in attitude and tone. It isn’t that the two are mutually exclusive (No Country For Old Men, for example, was a modern Western with a very Coen aesthetic), but it’s just strange to see both elements so strongly pronounced. Although not quite perfect, True Grit is a movie well worth your time.

Snow man's land...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: coen brothers, film, Hailee Steinfeld, jeff bridges, John Wayne, matt damon, mattie ross, Movie, no country for old men, non-review review, review, Rooster Cogburn, the coen brothers, the coens, true grit, Western (genre) | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Fighter

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Darren

The Fighter comes from a long line of Oscar-friendly boxing films. From Rocky through to The Cinderella Man to Raging Bull and beyond, filmmakers seem to see something poetic in the boxer. A figure in the ring, usually from a disadvantaged background, fighting because it’s the only thing that they know what to do. There’s a noble simplicity to the sport, a brutal honest that one seldom finds in football (American or otherwise), basketball or baseball. There’s always something touching about watching a protagonist beat the odds, and boxing films thrive on the literal nature of their conflict. I can’t say that The Fighter adds anything new to the long established “Oscar boxing film”, but it does have one advantage: the sheer volume of talent in its corner.

How does it measure up?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, christian bale, David O. Russell, Fighter, film, Homer Simpson, mark wahlberg, Melissa Leo, Micky Ward, Movie, non-review review, review, Rocky Balboa | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Blind Side

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Darren

Is this some sort of white guilt thing?

– anonymous female friend #1

The fundamental problem with The Blind Side is that it takes Michael Oher’s struggle to overcome everything stacked against him, and makes it abundantly clear that the real hero of the story is Leigh Anne Touhy, the rich and privileged white woman who took him in. In fact, the sports legend ends up playing a supporting character in his own damn biopic.

The trouble with this story is in the telling...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, Big Mike, Blind Side, film, Leigh Anne Tuohy, Michael Oher, Movie, non-review review, oscar, Quinton Aaron, review, sandra bullock, the blind side, Woody Allen | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Salt

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. It’s the final post I’m doing as part of it, looking at last year’s pretender to the “super spy” crown.

I pride myself on my suspension of disbelief. Richard Donner convinced me that a man could fly. My favourite film of 2008 was about a man who dressed as a flying rodent who took on a psychotic clown in downtown Chicago. I recently enjoyed a movie where the inner workings of a computer were represented as neon motorbikes. The film of the year features a crack team of specialists who break into people’s dreams and steal their ideas (or plant new ones). And yet Salt taxes my suspension of disbelief.

Are they arresting her for a Salt?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: angelina jolie, chiwetel ejiofor, Chuck Norris, film, jack bauer, liev schreiber, Movie, non-review review, review, richard donner, salt, Sleeper agent | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Die Another Day

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

A new watch. Your twentieth, I believe.

How time flies.

– Q and Bond go all meta on us

I next joined Pierce and co at the premiere of Die Another Day in 2002, which marked the 40th anniversary of the series. When asked later what I thought of the film, I merely said “interesting”. In truth I thought it just went too far – and that’s from me, the first Bond in space! Invisible cars and dodgy CGI footage? Please! They gave the public what they wanted, though maybe they too realised there was only so far they could push it before Bond became a caricature of himself, and the funeral directors were called in.

– Sir Roger Moore, who seems like a lovely guy

Truth be told, Die Another Day doesn’t quite deserve the reputation that it has earned over the years. But, then again, I can appreciate A View to a Kill, so what do I know?

Close, but no cigar...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: British Empire, diamonds, Die Another Day, Elliot Carver, film, gustav graves, history, homage, james bond, james bond january, Movie, non-review review, pierce brosnan, reference, review, Roger Moore, toby stephens, United States | 11 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The World Is Not Enough

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Darren

The World is Not Enough is a mess of a film, even by the standards of the Bond films. It proposes some interesting ideas and has some neat concepts, but there’s also some really stupid moments thrown in as well. If Tomorrow Never Dies was Pierce Brosnan doing tribute to later Sean Connery films, this him stuck in homage to Roger Moore – a few smart and emotional moments scattered over a large serving of camp, like vanilla pods mixed into the most bland vanilla ice cream you could imagine. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s so wildly inconsistent that it’s far less satisfying than generally weaker instalments.

That's the crushing weight of expectation, right there...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Christopher Nolan, Elektra King, GoldenEye, james bond, james bond january, judi dench, m, Movie, non-review review, pierce brosnan, renard, review, robert carlyle, Roger Moore, sean connery, sophie marceau, The World Is Not Enough, tomorrow never dies | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Tomorrow Never Dies

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Darren

What the hell is he doing?

His job.

– Admiral Roebuck and M watch Bond do the impossible before the opening titles

I have a confession to make. I unapologetically love Tomorrow Never Dies. It’s the first Bond movie I saw in the cinema, with my dad and brother while on a shopping trip up North. I believe the girls went to see Titanic. It’s my first cinematic Bond experience, a perhaps that’s why I am somewhat fonder memory of the film than most – but, even on reflection, I still hold the movie in high regard. I just think it’s the perfect companion piece to the superb GoldenEye. While Martin Campbell’s film was about deconstructing the spy, showing how useless he was in times of peace and arguing he was “a relic of the Cold War” who needed updating and introspection, this Bond film was about how he can do all the cool stuff he used to, even after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Sure, it’s not as deep, smart or sophisticated as the earlier film, but it’s an unashamed throwback to the classic Bond films – and what’s wrong with that?

By the way, how telling is it that – while Bond used to drive a snazzy sports car in the sixties – he drives a family sedan in the nineties?

I'm pretty sure that the only reason Tomorrow Never Dies is because Bond never tried to kill it...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: British Empire, China, daniel craig, Elliot Carver, ernst stavro blofeld, film, GoldenEye, james bond, james bond january, jonathan pryce, List of James Bond villains, m, michelle yeoh, Movie, Nintendo, non-review review, paris carver, pierce brosnan, review, sean connery, teri hatcher, tomorrow never dies, uk, Vincent Schiavelli, war, Wii | 8 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Licence to Kill

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

Licence to Kill is the Bond movie that almost killed the franchise. The gap between the release of this movie in 1989 and GoldenEye in 1995 is the longest period that the film series has been left dormant. Although the legal issues surrounding the series hardly helped ensure the British secret agent’s return to the big screen, there’s also the fact that this movie was something of a box office dud in the States. (Although it was quite successful elsewhere.) Licence to Kill is perhaps the most divisive of the Bond movies – even more so than On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Detractors see it as a poor attempt to emulate Miami Vice, indulging in ridiculously over-the-top violence and darkness for the sake of darkness. Fans argue that the movie is a lot closer to Ian Fleming’s original novels, and feels more like the recent relaunch of the franchise – it’s a perfect bedfellow with Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace. My opinion is somewhere in the middle.

Bond always uses protection in bed…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: casino royale, film, GoldenEye, ian fleming, james bond, james bond january, Licence to Kill, Movie, non-review review, pierce brosnan, review, robert davi, Roger Moore, timothy dalton, United States | 9 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Octopussy

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Darren

Despite having quite possibly the most awkwardly unfortunate name in the history of the English language, the most enduring image from Octopussy is Roger Moore, flailing wildly and trying to be taken seriously, while dressed as a clown. Oddly appropriate, eh?