Movie | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Batman – Mask of the Phantasm

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises, July is “Batman month” here at the m0vie blog. Check back daily for comics, movies and television reviews and discussion of the Caped Crusader.

There is a legitimate argument to be made that Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie produced prior to Christopher Nolan taking over the film franchise. While I narrowly prefer Batman Returns, it’s hard to deny that this animated take on the character from the creator behind Batman: The Animated Series isn’t a superb exploration of the Caped Crusader and his world. Kevin Conroy is still, after all these years, my favourite actor to play Batman, and I can’t help but feel like the movie deserves a lavish re-release to celebrate the pending release of The Dark Knight Rises.

You’d have to finally go batty to do this in the long-term…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred pennyworth, Andrea, batman, Bruce, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, danny elfman, Dark Knight Rises, Dick Sprang, film, frank miller, gotham, gotham city, Harley Quinn, joker, kevin conroy, Movie, non-review review, Phantasm, review, Shirley Walker, tim burton | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Ghost Rider – Spirit of Vengeance

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Darren

I’m convinced that there must be a half-decent Ghost Rider movie to be made. In fact, I’m sure that Nicolas Cage already made it, in the form of the deliciously pulpy Drive Angry, which touched on a lot of the grindhouse and B-movie qualities one expects from a movie featuring a stunt driver with a flaming skull who sucks souls from criminals. In contrast, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance feels like it’s trying a little too hard. The script feels just a little bit too stilted and conventional, while the direction seems to overcompensate, feeling gimmicky to the point of being distracting and almost disorientating.

Hell’s Angel…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Brian Taylor, Camera, ciaran hinds, Crank (film), Drive Angry, film, ghost rider, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, hulk, Idris Elba, Johnny Blaze, Mark Neveldine, Movie, Movies, nicolas cage, non-review review, review, Satan | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Rushmore

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Darren

I am quite fond of Rushmore. It’s strange, because I found that Anderson’s schtick wore off on many of his following films – The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited. I suspect my affection for the film is rooted in the fact that it was the first Wes Anderson film I ever saw, and so his quirks and style were refreshing to me. There is, after all, nobody who writes movie dialogue and directs scenes quite like Wes Anderson. In a way, he feels a bit like Quentin Tarantino, an autuer who seems to sign almost every frame of his work. I think, perhaps, that I am so partial to Rushmore because Anderson’s plot devices and his writing seem much better suited to it than to many of the films that followed. After all, it’s a lot easier to accept a film based around a character who acts like an emotionally immature teenager when that character is an emotionally immature teenager.

It all goes to the Max…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Anderson, Bill Murray, film, Grover Cleveland, Jason Schwartzman, Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Moonrise Kingdom, Mount Rushmore, Movie, non-review, Olivia Williams, Owen Wilson, Oxford, review, Royal Tenenbaum, Rushmore, Sorbonne, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, United States, wes anderson | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Dracula (1931)

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Darren

I have a soft spot for classic Universal horror. Not that it should come as a surprise – I’m a sucker (ha!) for some vintage Hammer Horror as well, and all other forms of classical horror (even if they may occasionally veer into the realm of kitsch). It’s really hard to overstate the massive influence that the 1931 Universal version of Dracula had on the subsequent adaptations of Stoker’s truly iconic novel. I honestly don’t believe that the character would the same without Bela Lugosi’s truly magnificent central performance, as seen here. Sure, I’m less than convinced about the ending, but most of Tod Browning’s adaptation is a feast for the eyes and pulpy horror classic.

Stairway to heaven?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, art, Béla Lugosi, Bram Stoker, Carla Laemmle, Count Orlok, dracula, film, frankenstein, horror, Jonathan Harker, Lugosi, Movie, non-review review, Nosferatu, Renfield, review, Romania, Stoker, Tod Browning, universal monsters, vampire, Van Helsing | 9 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Darren

The Amazing Spider-Man is a jumble of clever ingredients thrown into a pot, stirred for two hours and yet never managing to produce that ideal flavour. There are moments in Marc Webb’s adaptation that are fantastic, as good as anything Raimi brought to the best of his films in the series, Spider-Man II. However, there’s also simply too much going on here for its own good. Running for two-hours-and-a-quarter, the film feels like one-part origin to two-part stand-alone adventure, unsure whether it should it is trying to rush through the motions of one of the most iconic origin stories ever told or if it’s trying to bring something a bit deeper to the table. When it gets going, it’s a solidly entertaining piece of film that does try to do something just a little new with the superhero formula, but it suffers from the same identity crisis as its lead and struggles to really find its own voice.

Peter’s not quite on top on the world…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, batman, Christopher Nolan, film, lizard, marc webb, martin sheen, Movie, oscorp, Peter, Raimi, reboot, sam raimi, secret identity, spider man, spider-man 2, stan lee, Steve Ditko, the amazing spider-man, the amazing spider-man (2012), the amazing spider-man (film), the lizard | 9 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Boyz N The Hood

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Darren

Boyz n the Hood remains a powerful, moving and depressing piece of cinema. Director John Singleton has arguably failed to match this impressive debut effort, but there’s no shame in that. Most directors will go entire careers without offering a film that so effectively captures a slice of life. Reportedly based on a lot of the director’s own experiences growing up in South Central L.A., it’s a very strong and very personal piece of film, and one that hasn’t been diminished in the years that followed its release.

As happy as Larry?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: African, African American, Arts and Entertainment, Birth control, Boyz n the Hood, Cuba Gooding, DJ Khaled, ethnicity, film, Health, Hip hop, Hood, Internet Movie Database, Jerry Maguire, John Singleton, laurence fishburne, los angeles, Movie, non-review review, Reproductive Health, review, SAT, Shinee, Singleton, Skateboard, South Central LA, South Los Angeles, Television | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Broadcast News

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Darren

Broadcast News feels like it has lost a bit of its bite as the years went on. Originally released fifteen years ago, it undoubtedly seemed like a prophetic commentary on trends in news media, voicing an understandable unease at the line blurring between merely reporting the news and “selling” it to an eager and unquestioning population. Back then, these trends were undeniably present and one could sense a none-too-subtle shift in the approach to news. Unfortunately, it looks like those trends are to stay, and I think that has aged Broadcast News considerably. It doesn’t feel like James L. Brooks’ telling media satire is attacking a coming change so much as it is making one last stand against it. It’s still a very clever, very powerful and very well put together piece of film, but it sadly feels like it’s fighting a battle lost long ago.

That, perhaps, makes Broadcast News the most depressing comedy I’ve seen in quite some time.

They let an Tom, Dick or Harry host the news…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Aaron, Aaron Sorkin, Albert Brooks, Blair, Broadcast News, Brooks, film, fox news, hbo, holly hunter, James L. Brooks, Jane, Journalist, Movie, news media, Newsroom, Nuclear disarmament, review, Television, Tom, United States, white house, william hurt | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Fast Five

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Darren

Fast Five reminds me a lot of the kinds of cars that its leads drive. Now, please excuse me if the metaphor is a bit clunky. I know nothing of cars. However, whenever we cut to inside one of these enhanced driving machines, it’s clear that virtually every unnecessary component has been stripped out in order to make room for more relevant pieces of equipment. The passenger seat, for example, has been removed and replaced with some canisters I can only assume allow the car to go faster. In many ways, Fast Five feels a bit like that. I knows exactly the film that it wants to be, and it knows exactly what it needs to be that sort of film. Anything else – whether wit, sophistication or character development – is all just dead weight between fast one-liners, impressive action sequences and effective stunt work. And, I am not ashamed to admit, I actually quite enjoyed it on its own terms.

Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: characters, Chris Morgan, david tennant, Dominic Toretto, Dwayne Johnson, fast & furious, Fast Five, film, Internet Movie Database, Justin Lin, List of The Fast and the Furious characters, men, Morgan, Movie, movie trailers, non-review review, Paul Walker, People, review, tommy lee jones, Vin Diesel, Wikipedia, Yahoo! Movies | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Take Me Home Tonight

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Darren

There’s something strangely charming about Take Me Home Tonight. I say “strangely” because I’m not blind to the movie’s many awkward flaws. I can spot the predictable plotting, the douchebag entitled protagonists and the shallow “high school crush” romance. None of these are any less conventional than the plot’s attempt to conceal saccharine romanticism with cheap lowbrow humour. I can see those problems with the film, but for some reason I think it works well in spite of them. I think the strongest aspect of Take Me Home Tonight is not the eighties setting (though that helps), but the sense that Topher Grace may have finally found his niche.

We can dance if we want to…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: art, Art of War, arts, Book of Five Rings, Chinese, Dan Fogler, Eddie Brock, film, literature, Michael Biehn, Movie, non-review review, review, Sun Tzu, SunTzu, Take Me Home Tonight, Teresa Palmer, tobey maguire, topher grace, United State, United States, Washington D.C., World Literature | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Apartment

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Darren

The Apartment is a classic romantic comedy, and deservedly so. Reuniting director Billy Wilder with actor Jack Lemmon, it’s a wonderfully dysfunctional look at life in the big city, and the compromises the people find themselves forced into. While I think the movie probably works better as a romantic drama than as a comedy – with some outstanding moments of bleakness, including a serious suicide attempt and another false alarm towards the end – Wilder and Lemmon do an exceptional job keeping the movie just light enough that the darker elements don’t overwhelm the film. It is a piece of cinematic history, and one that holds up as well today as it ever did.