Posted on December 16, 2009 by Darren
It’s like a Hollywood blockbuster murder mystery brought to life. I can see it now: Bruce Willis as a cocky private detective investigating the dispatching of a controversial emerging star. A lot of people are mumbling in their drinks, but everyone’s afraid to say what they know. That is, until a surly-voiced stranger straightens up and says what’s on everyone’s mind. Cue Sam Elliot:
The Catholic Church happened to The Golden Compass, as far as I’m concerned. It did ‘incredible’ at the box office, taking $380million. Incredible. It took $85million in the States. The Catholic Church … lambasted them, and I think it scared New Line off.
Did the Catholic kill The Golden Compass, a potentially viable fantasy franchise in the mould of Harry Potter or The Lord of The Rings (or at least as far as fans would have you believe)? Let’s investigate.
An un-bear-able crime?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: catholic church, chris weitz, controversy, films, his dark materials, his dark materials trilogy, hollywood, Movies, new line, northern lights, philip pullman, phillip pullman, religion, sam elliot, sequel, the golden compass, the subtle knife | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 13, 2009 by Darren
It looks like The Wolfman, the first monster movie reboot due from universal, has just secured an ‘R’ rating State-side. In Ireland and the UK, we’re used to blockbusters receiving higher film ratings (12s, 15s, 18s), but in the US it’s unheard of for a major motion picture intended to make loads of money to go out with a rating higher than PG-13. It’s bizarre, as technically an adult can take a child to see an R-rated movie, whereas over here, back in the old days, it didn’t matter who you were with – if you weren’t the age on the poster, you didn’t get in. So what’s with this recent trent towards selling big budget movies with the R rating on them serving not as something to be downplayed by the studio, but actually used as a major selling point? Hell, we’re even seeing more redband trailers.
Because red is just sexier...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, motion picture association of america, Movies, mpaa, pg-13, R, rating restricted, ratings, the wolfman, violence | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 11, 2009 by Darren
It’s not easy being green. I imagine it’s even harder being blue. It’s almost as hard being a film nerd, with all the news and speculation that’s been going backwards and forwards about Avatar, James Cameron’s triumphant return to filmmaking. There was a lot of hmm-ing and hah-ing, a lot of speculation about the film’s budget and about the director’s excess. Too late to do anything about that. The first reviews are sneaking in. And I think we can all rest a little bit easier.
Apparently James Cameron is still king of the world...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3d, avatar, avatar reviews, films, james cameron, Movies, review | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 11, 2009 by Darren
It’s been a while since I looked at the possible villains lined up for Spider-Man 4. With the shooting date drawing dangerously close, I’ve bowed out of all the rumours we’ve been hearing about the film – mainly about whether The Lizard would be appearing or who would be playing the Black Cat. But, as far as rumours go, this one is too juicy – and too close to the deadline – to avoid discussing. Basically two Oscar-nominated actors – John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway – are playing a pair of villains. Malkovich will be playing Adrian Toomes, and Anne Hathaway will be playing Felicia Hardy – but the character apparently won’t be sharing her comic book counterpart’s secret identity (the Black Cat), instead getting an entirely new secret identity (something called ‘the Vulturess’).
Somebody finally figured out that the only way to make John Malkovich more badass was to strap wings on him...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: anne hathaway, black cat, comic book films, films, john malkovich, lizard, marvel, Movies, raptor, sam raimi, sequel, spider man, spider-man 4, spiderman, spiderman 4, the lizard, the raptor, the vulture, the vulturess, villains, vulture, vulturess | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 10, 2009 by Darren
My spidey-sense is tingling. Word on the rumour mill is that we’ll know next month if Christopher Nolan will be making a Batman trilogy, or simply leaving it at a duology. There’s all manner of discussion about what will happen if he isn’t back – but I think it’s looking increasingly like we may be moving away from the Zack Snyder’s The Dark Knight Returns approach, which means a new Batman movie relatively similar to the last two (because nothing succeeds like success). But part of me is wondering what the plan is beyond that. Are we going to see a direct sequel or a reboot? Would Warner Brothers reboot Batman so quickly?
Not only the director we deserve, but the the director we need right now...
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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: batman, Christopher Nolan, continuity superman, earth one, film, green lantern, justice league, Movies, reboot, relaunch, ultimate marvel, ultimate universe, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 3, 2009 by Darren
Well, I guess Twilight: New Moon was ahead of the curve in at least one regard. Perhaps horror tastes are cyclical, as it seems that werewolves have cycled back into public consciousness after a few hundred years. Disregarding the aforementioned sequel, we have the release of The Wolfman coming up next year. That the werewolf has been chosen to spearhead the planned relaunch of classic Universal horror properties is perhaps a large vote of confidence in the beasts, and perhaps a long overdue one. How come, for all the cheesy B-movies they’ve been featured in, werewolves have never pierced popular culture in the same way that vampires, zombies or even plain old ghosts have?
Benecio del Toro looks only slightly hairier than usual...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: an american werewolf in paris, creatures, films, horror, Movies, teenwolf, the wolfman, twilight: new moon, vampires, werewolf, werewolves, wolf, zombies | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 2, 2009 by Darren
Stumbled across this the other day and thought it was worth a post. Basically it’s Irish Times film critic Donald Clarke’s top twenty films of the last ten years. I have to say – as someone who rarely agrees with him at all – his list is populated with good choices. Still, I’m not sure that the majority of those would make it into my top fifty, let alone my top twenty. Which reminds me, I probably should put some sort of list together to commemorate the end of the decade – but it’s not over yet. I’m not even sure I could put together a list for this year, seen as I haven’t seen nearly anything, let alone nearly everything. Anyway, Donald Clarke’s list (and some comments) are below.
There Will Be Blood! Let The Arguing Commence!
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 00s, cinema, decade, donald clark, donald clarke, films, irish times, Movies, naughties, screenwriter, top twenty | 6 Comments »
Posted on December 1, 2009 by Darren
You know how interested I am in quirky interpretations of the deeper meanings of popular culture – like the discussion over whether Anton Chigurh of No Country For Old Men is actually an angel or whether this year’s Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries was actually about the recession. So it should come as no surprise that when I read about how The Shining by Stanley Kubrick is supposedly about the genocide of the Native Americans, I was more than a little intrigued.
Even the baking powder is in on it…
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: allegory, film, genocide, holocaust, horror, indians, kubrick, metaphor, Movies, native americans, racism, shining, stanley kubrick, the shining | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 25, 2009 by Darren
What an odd film. It’s bright and colourful and simplistic and airs on Sky Family and full of Robin Williams flailing around in a way that is sure to impress small children. On the other hand, it features a lot of curse words, some rather disturbing violence and fairly explicit sexual references (including a father-son-nurse romantic triangle, escalated by a pity shag). It’s arguably too plain and niave to draw in an adult audience (with Barry Levinson of all people pioneering the MTV school of film-making for audiences with ADHD) and yet too adult and sophisticated for children. Who is going to want to play with these toys?
Oh, ball(s)...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: barry levinson, film, joan cusack, ll cool j, merchandising, michael gambon, Movies, non-review review, review, robin williams, toy factory, toys | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 14, 2009 by Darren
Do you remember when Robert Zemeckis used to make accessible films starring actual human beings? Films that were no less magical because filming was constrained by reality rather than computer generated imagery. Well, apparently that Zemeckis is long gone at this stage, as he’s announced that he’s going to be following up A Christmas Carol with The Nutcracker, a similar CGI adaptation.
So many inappropriate jokes, so little time...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: a christmas carol, animation, cgi, films, live action, Movies, robert zemeckis, the nutcracker, toy story | Leave a comment »
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