Movie | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Chicken With Plums

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

As the follow-up to Persepolis, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest that there’s a lot of expectations around Marjane Satrapi’s follow-up, Chicken With Plums. The second in her trilogy of graphic novels, Chicken With Plums might fall a bit short of the heights that its predecessor reached, but there’s no denying that Satrapi and her co-director, Vincent Paronnaud, have composed a truly beautiful film. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Chicken With Plums might be the most beautiful film that you will see this year – a bold statement for late February. There are some very fundamental problems with the movie, most stemming from the fact that it can never decide if it’s a story or a collection of anecdotes, but it’s held together by superb artistic direction and a charming central performance from Mathieu Amalric.

A man at peace, but with inner violin...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: art, Azrael, Chicken With Plums, dublin, film, Film festival, jameson dublin international film festival, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012, Marjane Satrapi, Mathieu Amalric, Movie, non-review review, Persepolis, reivew, United States, Vincent Paronnaud | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Good Doctor

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

Much like its protagonist, there’s something not quite right about The Good Doctor. It’s undoubtedly fascinating, as a young doctor makes a series of questionable moral decisions that lead to a variety of uncomfortable situations, but there’s no real internal life to the movie. You can see what is happening, and you realise the consequences, but the script and Orlando Bloom’s headlining performance never allow you to immerse yourself in the title character. You know what Dr. Martin Ploeck is doing, and perhaps you can intuit a reason, but he never seems tangible. That is perhaps the most significant flaw with the movie. Then, of course, there’s also the third act.

Window of opportunity...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Bloom, djimon hounsou, film, Film Festivals, films, Good Doctor, j.k. simmons, Martin Ploeck, michael pena, Movie, non-review review, Orlando Bloom, Patient, review, Taraji P. Henson, Wine tasting descriptors | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Stella Days

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

Stella Days is held together by a sterling performance from Martin Sheen and a boldly challenging look at the Irish cultural mentality. Indeed, it’s easy to read this tale of a small-town parish priest trying to build a cinema as a metaphor for Irish cultural philosophy. In particular, with its distinctly American star, Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s movie seems like a bold challenge to what might be deemed Irish cultural xenophobia, the notion that our culture must be distinctly and completely independent of the world around us. Instead, Stella Days rather boldly and romantically suggests that Irish culture is not defined by independence or autonomy, but by its willingness to engage and accept the world around us. While the movie might occasionally indulge in a bit too much sentiment, it’s hard not to like that sort of uplifting and engaging idea.

I must confess, this was quite good...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Celtic, Culture of Ireland, ethnicity, film, Ireland, irish, Irish American, Irish passport, martin sheen, Movie, non-review review, Priest, review, Stella, Stella McCartney, Thaddeus O'Sullivan, United States | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Stupid Crazy Love

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Darren

Stupid Crazy Love suffers a bit from being a tad inconsistent, fluctuating between compelling character drama and well-observed romantic comedy. It isn’t an issue that movie fails at either of these, it just runs into a bit of bother bouncing between the two extremes. The ending might be a little trite, and a tad conventional, but the movie manages to raise some interesting ideas along the way. Still, it allows Steve Carell his best big screen appearance since The 40-Year-Old Virgin and makes for an alternatingly side-splittingly and heart-breakingly affecting movie.

Saving Ryan's Privates...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 40 Year Old Virgin, Crazy Stupid Love, Dan Fogelman, Emma Stone, film, jacob, John Carroll Lynch, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Movie, non-review review, review, romance, Romantic comedy film, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, steve carrell | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Monsieur Lahzar

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

Monsieur Lehzar is a truly splendid piece of film-making, and a superb addition to the “teacher and class” subgenre, adhering to the type of mood and atmosphere that one expects from that sort of uplifting film, but with a little added nuance or bite to give it the edge. Adapted by director Philippe Falardeau from the play Bashir Lazhar by Evelyne De la Chenelière, it’s an impressively engaging film. It deals with fairly hefty themes in a way that never feels weighed down, or to sombre – providing a cautiously, rather than blindly, optimistic outlook on life.

Class act...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, art, Bashir Lazhar, Energy, Environment, Evelyne De la Chenelière, Falardeau, film, Filmmaking, Hanford Site, Monsieur Lazhar, Movie, non-review review, nuclear, Nuclear Waste, Philippe Falardeau, Quebec, Radioactive waste, review, Technology, United States Department of Energy | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Silent House

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Chris Kentis and Laura Lau are both big fans of Edgar Allan Poe. In translating the cult Uruguayan horror for American audiences, the two directors seem to evoke Poe at every opportunity, from the dreary New England setting, with its early sunset and dreary overgrowth, through to symbolism lifted almost directly from Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. However, they juxtapose this classic American horror film vibe with a self-consciously modern filming technique. “Real terror in real time,” the poster boasts. While the decision to film the movie so it would seem like one continuous take is generally technically impressive, but also undermines a lot of the stronger elements of the tale. There is, after all, a reason that directors tend to favour long takes for very particular types of films.

In the silent house, nobody can hear you scream...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Chris Kentis, Edgar Allan, Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Olsen, Fall of the House of Usher, film, Horror film, House of Usher, jameson dublin international film festival, Laura Lau, Movie, New England, non-review review, Poe, review, Silent House, the silent house, United States, Uruguay | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Into The Abyss

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

Capital punishment is always a thorny issue to tackle, if only because of the delicate relationship between the victim and perpetrator of the original crime. It’s easy to seem sly or manipulative while painting the convicted murder as some victim of society or social injustice, while ignoring the impact of their actions on the family and friends of those they killed. Werner Herzog is always a deeply fascinating director, whether of narrative films or documentaries.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Abyss, capital punishment, Chevrolet Camaro, Conroe Texas, Crime and Justice, documentary, Documentary film, film, Herzog, Into the Abyss, jameson dublin international film festival, Michael Moore, Movie, murder, non-review review, Peter Zeitlinger, review, texas, Werner Herzog | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Fort McCoy

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

Fort McCoy is a mess of a film that manages to botch a fairly interesting and compelling premise. Though Eric Stoltz does manage to escape the film with much of his dignity intact, many of his co-stars are not nearly as lucky. Written and directed by, and co-starring, Kate Connor, the movie struggles to find any measure of tonal consistency, as the movie takes basic concepts like cultural identity and coming-of-age drama, only to mangle them by playing to extreme melodrama. Indeed, most of the movie’s problems find expression in a single awkward moment: following the death of one of their own, the German P.O.W.’s at the eponymous camp arrange a funeral profession, which Connor opts to film in slow-motion, treating us to the unintentionally hilarious image of a bunch of mourning slow-motion goose-stepping Nazis. It’s a scene that beautifully evokes all the sorts of complex emotions that Connor was undoubtedly aiming for, but also demonstrates that the film has absolutely no idea how to get them to work together.

The war at home...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Child, Colt McCoy, Eric Stoltz, film, Fort McCoy, German, germans, germany, history, jameson dublin international film festival, Jews, Lyndsy Fonseca, Movie, nazis, non-review review, review, Twentieth Century, United States, William Shatner | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Solaris

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Darren

Can you tell me what’s happening here?

I could tell you what’s happening, but I don’t know if it would really tell you what’s happening.

– Chris Kelvin and Snow

Soderbergh’s Solaris is bold, challenging, brilliant, chaotic, unstructured, clever, obtuse, dense, frustrating, unsatisfying and fascinating. Frequently at the same time. The director’s adaptation of Andrei Tarkovsky’s incredibly dense science-fiction feature might not necessarily be for everybody, but there’s enough substance here for eager audience members to chew on. A film subscribing to the idea that less is more, it seems to take more joy in posing questions than in answering them. This will obviously frustrate those viewers who dislike that sort of ambiguity.

Well suited to this drama...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrei Tarkovsky, art, arts, Chris, Chris Kelvin, film, god, IBM, literature, Mark Hurd, Movie, NASA, non-review review, Operating system, Oracle Corporation, review, science fiction, Soderbergh, solaris, space, Steven Soderbergh, Sun Microsystem, Technology | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: My Little Princess

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2012.

My Little Princess is a deeply disturbing piece of French cinema. It’s very hard to address the topic of the sexual exploitation of children in a way that doesn’t end up feeling exploitative itself. However, despite some moments of melodrama, Eva Ionesco’s creepy and unsettling character exploration is a fairly well-crafted film, one that leaves you feeling just a little bit dirty for even watching it.