Movie | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: The Candidate (1972)

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Darren

The Candidate is that rare movie that is anchored firmly in its own time, released in June 1972, but remains relevant through until today. Writer Jeremy Larner won an Oscar for his screenplay, and his portrayal of election politics seems worryingly plausible. The Candidate is remarkably frank about its politics, but also in its depiction of the system. There’s no pussyfooting around for fear of alienating the audience with hostile political ideas, instead the film embraces its political position and runs from there. While it feels like it was written in the shadow of the then-looming 1972 Presidential election, it does seem to be quite applicable to modern politics.It remains relevant, perhaps an illustration of how little has changed.

If anything, it seems like The Candidate is relatively tame compared to current political realities.

“I came here to chew gum and get elected… and… well, I’m not out of gum.”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Abortion, Beauty, Boyle, Candidate, david palmer, Democratic, Democratic Party, film, Gene Wilder, George McGovern, hair, Health, Jeremy Larner, john f kennedy, McGovern, Mitt Romney, Movie, nixon, non-review review, Peter Boyle, politics, Redford, review, richard nixon, Roman Empire, Shopping, Sideburns, United States, West Wing, Young Frankenstein | Leave a comment »

Watch! Top 250 Films, in 2.5 Minutes…

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Darren

As far as compiling a list of the best films of all times, the IMDb Top 250 films of all time is a fairly populist measure. Some enterprising soul out there decided it would be fun to compile all that into on two-and-a-half minute clip. It’s pretty intense, and kinda brilliant in a surreal sort of way. If nothing else, I never realised that so many movies featured trunk shots. Enjoy.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, Beatles, Cypress Hill, film, House of Pain, Internet Movie Database, Movie, review | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Darren

In many respects, The Creature From the Black Lagoon feels like a brass band funeral for the golden age of the Universal monster movies. The subgenre would continue ticking over for quite some time. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy would be released the following year, The Creature From the Black Lagoon would spawn two sequels for the two years following, and Universal would try a spate of monster movies up until The Leech Woman in 1960. However, it’s clear that – by 1954 – the golden age of the Universal monster movie was well over.

And I think that part of the reason that The Creature From the Black Lagoon works so well is because it’s almost a mournful eulogy for the genre.

Out of the depths…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Amazon, Biology, Black Lagoon, bride of frankenstein, creature from the black lagoon, David, Departments, film, frankenstein, Gill-man, Human, invasion, James Whale, Loreto, Love triangle, Mark, Meyer, Movie, non-review review, Peru, Pet Sematary, review, Richard Denning, Ricou Browning, South America, universal, Universal Monster | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: AntiViral

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Darren

AntiViral is a dirty film. It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward. It’s unnerving. It’s not for the squeamish. And I mean that in a good way. It’s a fairly disturbing exploration of the public’s (and the media’s) relationship to celebrity, and the lengths to which people will go in order to insert themselves into the life of their idol or role model. It’s a vicious and sometimes unsettling look at what our attitude towards those people says about us as a society, imagining a world that sadly isn’t too far from the world as we know it. I think that might be the most disturbing facet of AntiViral. It’s not too far from where we are now.

What a vial trade…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Antiseptic, AntiViral, Antiviral drug, Brandon Cronenberg, Brood, Caleb Landry Jones, Cosmopolis, Dangerous Method, david cronenberg, film, HIV, Movie, Naked Lunch, non-review review, People, Rabid, review, RNA, Syd, University of Leeds, Videodrome | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Phantom of the Opera (1943)

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Darren

The Phantom of the Opera is something of an outlier in the Universal monster movie blu ray collection. It’s the only film in the collection available in colour but, more than that, it’s really the only film in the collection that doesn’t have a serious claim to being the definitive big screen adaptation of its source material. I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t include the 1925 adaptation starring Lon Chaney in the title role, as it’s certainly one of the forerunners to the subgenre that would be launched by Dracula in 1931. The 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera is easily the weakest film in the set. Although not without its charms, it feels just a little bit too mangled and messy to try be a classic horror film.

In the gutter, looking at the stars…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Christine, Christine Daaé, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier, film, Hollywood Reporter, Incest, magic, Movie, Music of the Night, non-review review, Opera, Performing Arts, Phantom, Phantom of the Opera, Raoul, review, universal monsters | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Rust and Bone

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Darren

Rust and Bone feels a bit… lazy, for lack of a better word. It feels like the product of a writer and director with a huge amount of talent, but no real ambition or enthusiasm. The film features two superb leading performances from Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, but they’re trapped in a film that never seems too bothered. Writer and director Jacques Audiard mistakes trite melodrama for brutal honest, and seems to give up on the film in the third act. It’s a shame, because there’s some solid stuff here, but the whole is much less impressive than the sum of its parts.

The killer (whale) inside (the aquarium)…

Note: This review contains spoilers for the third act of the film. I’ve tried not to give away specific plot points, and to talk in the most general of terms, but I do discuss the ending. Consider yourself warned.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Alain, Bone, Dark Knight Rises, film, Jacques Audiard, marion cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Movie, non-review review, review, Rust, rust and bone, steve mcqueen | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Wolf Man (1941)

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Darren

Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night,

May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

Although hampered by perhaps the weakest leading performance of the “great” Universal horror films, I maintain that The Wolf Man has the strongest script of any of the classic Universal monster movies. Although, like so many other horror films produced by the studio, it went through any number of re-writes and executive meddling before reaching the screen, I think Curt Siodmak’s script deserves a great deal of credit for doing several very import things. On one level, it presented one grand unifying story archetype for werewolf tales, to the point where it is almost that subgenre’s Dracula. However, it also plays as a fascinating and compelling psychological drama, with an element of humanity and complexity that shines through Jack Pierce’s phenomenal make-up work.

Lon Chaney as the wolf man. Or me, early on a Sunday morning…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Back to Blood, Béla Lugosi, Book of Werewolves, Bride of the Gorilla, Curt Siodmak, film, John, Larry, Larry Talbot, miami, Movie, New York Times, non-review review, review, Sabine Baring-Gould, Siodmak, Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast, Talbot, Tom Wolfe, Universal Monster, Warren William, Wolf Man | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: The Invisible Man (1933)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Darren

We’ll begin with a reign of terror. A few murders here and there. Murders of great men, murders of little men, just to show we make no distinction. We might even wreck a train or two. Just these fingers around a signalman’s throat, that’s all.

The Invisible Man is a classic, sandwiched between James Whale’s celebrated monster movies – Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The movie was renowned at the time for its special effects, which still hold up remarkably well on the snazzy new blu ray issued by Universal Pictures. However, the film itself is still fantastic on its own terms, featuring a great leading performance from Claude Rains, a witty script and some fantastic direction from Whale. I think it’s also quite wonderfully telling that The Invisible Man manages to feature the story of simultaneously the most human and the most inhuman of these Universal Monster Movies.

The freak who came in from the cold…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: batman, Claude Rain, comedy, Doctor Septimus Pretorius, Experiment, film, frankenstein, George Carlin, god, Griffin, h.g. wells, india, Invisible Man, jack, James Whale, John J. Mescall, John P. Fulton, joker, Kemp, Movie, murder, non-review review, Recreation, review, Shopping, Una O'Connor, United States, universal monsters, Victor Frankenstein | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Room 237

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Darren

Room 237 is an ode to cinema. Not just Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, mind you, despite the fact that fact that Kubrick’s horror film is the focus of the film’s talking heads (or disembodied voices) discussion. No, Room 237 is a celebratory tribute to every discussion and dissection of popular film, no matter how plausible or implausible, no matter whether conducted in print, on-line or in the pub with friends. Director Rodney Ascher’s documentary is as interested in the personal lives of its subjects – where they came from, with regards to the film – as it is with their views on the film itself.

In case you can’t tell, I was very taken with it.

Cut it there, Jack!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 2001: A Space Odyssey (film), Barry Lyndon, blade runner, documentary, film, holocaust, kubrick, Movie, Native American, Native Americans in the United States, non-review review, Pope John Paul II, review, Rodney Ascher, room 237, shining, stanley kubrick | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Stitches

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Darren

Stitches is an interesting little Irish film. Featuring an interesting set up to parody the conventions of the supernatural slasher film, the movie finds itself falling prey to them just a little bit too often. Irish writer and director Conor McMahon creates a credible gory teenage bloodbath, but doesn’t really find a narrative hook to engage the audience. Never entirely sure how ironic it is trying to be, Stitches is a solid effort, albeit one far from greatness.