Posted on July 3, 2009 by Darren
An Asteroids movie is coming. Yes, it’s like all your 1980’s Christmases are coming at once. The Atari classic about a two-dimensional triangle which blasts two-dimensional representations of asteroids is getting the deluxe movie treatment. And we’re as excited as anyone else! Which is not very excited at all. I would love to have been at that pitch meeting.
“So, what’s the plot about?”
“A two-dimensional triangle which blasts two-dimensional representations of asteroids.”
“Oh…”
“And in some modern versions, the triangle is different colours.”
“Sold!”
I wish I were making this up...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: asteroids, asteroids game, asteroids movie, films, matthew lopez, minesweeper, Movies, super mario brothers, universal studios, videogame adaptations, videogame movies | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 2, 2009 by Darren
I have to admit, I’m a little excited about Predators. It seems that I’m really more excited about next year’s cinematic treats – Green Lantern, Predators, Inception, even Iron Man 2 – than I am about what lies ahead for this year, well outside this month’s releases. Avatar is going to be groundbreakingly jaw dropping, but it’s not really interesting to think about it. It’s boringly amazing, if that is possible. Predators, on the other hand, is great fun to speculate about. Sure, it’s a rake of horror monsters from the past few decades being revitalised – like Freddie Kruger who has a three-picture deal and the Weinstein Company returning to its roots with a remake of An American Werewolf in London – but Predators is the only one of the remakes of more modern schlock that seems to have a chance of not sucking. I love Jackie Earle Haley, but even I can tell that a Nightmare on Elm Street reboot is a bad idea. I’m sure he could prove me wrong on that count, but I’m not expecting to him to. And I think that quirky genre-bending flicks are hard to emulate the second-time around, so I’m nervouse about remaking Landis’ low budget classic. So, Predators is the most hopeful of the bunch.
The thing's got dreadlocks... geddit? Dread... locks... no?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2010 releases, action movies, aliens, blockbusters, films, Fox, Movies, Neil Marshall, Nimrod Antal, predator, predators, robert rodriguez | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 2, 2009 by Darren
Blu Ray isn’t working quite the magic for home entertainment media that it should. The DVD market share is still falling and Blu Ray can’t seem to rise fast enough to catch it. There’s a lot of talk about whether hard copy media – actually owning a piece of hardware containing the movie – is outdated and the future of media consumption lies in direct downloads, but I don’t ever think that people will stop buying disks or videos or whatever the hard-copy medium of the day is.
The Watchmen Blu Ray allows director Zack Snyder to offer a blow-by-blow account of the movie.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blu ray, disks, downloads, DVD, films, home entertainment, home media, media, Movies, netflix, optical media, special features, watchmen | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 1, 2009 by Darren
We were browsing through the channels last night, looking for something to put on to amuse ourselves and quite disheartened to find that there was nothing really good on. We decided that the evening called for some light relief, so we stuck on Forgetting Sarah Marshall – and we were amazed at how well it holds up to repeat viewings.
Sex is a lot like a game of chess...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, forgetting sarah marshall, hawaii, jason segel, jonah hill, kristen bell, mila kunis, Movies, non-review review, paul rudd, review, russell brand | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren
Hey, I thought in might be handy if I did a little post at the very end of every month that sort of picked out (from my own point of view) the highlights, so someone trawling through the archives has a handy little guide right at the top (but if you want to jump in wholesale, go right ahead).
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Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: commentary, film, june, month in review, Movies, Opinion, summary | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren
We caught Valkyrie at the weekend. It’s a movie that Dad had been quite looking forward to and I’d heard good things from friends and family. I’m a big fan of Bryan Singer and was more than a bit excited to see him reteam with Christopher McQuarrie. The pair had given us one of the best neo-noir films ever in The Usual Suspects, but how do they deliver on historical epics?
Couldn't be more badass if he tried...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bryan singer, christopher mcquarrie, film, hitler, kenneth branagh, Movies, non-review review, operation: valkyrie, review, terrence stamp, tom cruise, valkyrie, von stauffenberg | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren
The ability of Transformers 2 to succeed so massively even with the godawful reviews that it is receiving has prompted yet another introspective look at the role that critics do, should and must play in the movie business. It’s a bout the right time of year – last year David Edelstein’s bitchy tirade against a certain blockbuster received such a vigorous lambasting that the author himself had to post an article in defense of his review, prompting other commentators to ask if the critics are out of touch with the public. I didn’t do film studies or go to journalism school. I didn’t do a term-long module on the role of the critic in the arts. Sure, it might sound like a simple enough role – you critique, it’s all there in the verb – but should you try to tell people if they’ll like the movie, or simply whether you did? If you know you hold a minority opinion, should you make some sort of concession to that? I don’t know, but the question interests me greatly.
The film critic in its default position...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: box office, critics, film criticism, film critics, film discussion, films, Movies, reviews, transformers 2 | 10 Comments »
Posted on June 29, 2009 by Darren
So, the details on the Watchmen DVD and Blu Ray are officially out. Warner Brothers is going to make us double-dip for an Ultimate Edition near Christmas, but Snyder is assuring us that it will likely be just a vanilla release – so we best get buying now! (As if Warner Brothers won’t be releasing a hideously overpriced box set.) Anyway, the real news for me was that Watchmen: The Director’s Cut is getting a limited theatrical run in the United States and the United Kingdom. I’ve emailed Cineworld to see if there will be a screening in Dublin, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, as Watchmen returns to the cinema, I thought I’d take the time to ponder what went ‘wrong’ during the film’s initial release?
The many many copies of Watchmen coming to you on Blu Ray and DVD...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alan moore, box office, directors cut, film, home media release, Movies, watchmen, watchmen dvd, zack snyder | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 29, 2009 by Darren
I’m going to give the expansion of the Best Picture category the benefit of the doubt and I don’t really care about the Original Song rules, to be completely honest, but I am a little ticked off at the announcement that the Honorary Oscars are being shunted back stage. Talk about completely missing the point – the Academy doesn’t seem to get that most viewers aren’t clamoring for that extra High School Musical song so badly that they’re shunt off someone who has made such a massive contribution to popular culture as to warrant the Honorary Award. I just don’t get this decision.
We want the Academy to take its hat off to Charlie Chaplin...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: academy awards, AMPAS, charlie chaplin, cinema, film, Honorary Oscars, Movies, Oscar telecast, Oscars, Zac Efron | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 28, 2009 by Darren
I’m not a big fan of posting stuff I find on-line at the blog (I’ll generally link to the article and offer my own reaction to it), but this was too fun to pass up:
Television Without Pity has this lovely photo journal contrasting Christian Bale and Johnny Depp’s approach to making Public Enemies. Click the link or the picture. It is one of the funniest film-related articles I’ve read in quite some time.
Check out our own review of the film here.
"Then we stopped by a Steak n Shake for a Steakburger (I love those f@!?ing things), but the waitress forgot my f@!?ing chili. I knew it was going to be a problem when she didn't f@!?ing write anything down. "It's all up here!" she said. F@!?ING LIAR. How does someone get to become a waitress without the ability to remember a f@!?ing order?"
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: christian bale, film, funny, johnny depp, Movies, parody, public enemies | Leave a comment »
the m0vie blog 
June in Review
Hey, I thought in might be handy if I did a little post at the very end of every month that sort of picked out (from my own point of view) the highlights, so someone trawling through the archives has a handy little guide right at the top (but if you want to jump in wholesale, go right ahead).
Continue reading →
Filed under: Months in Review | Tagged: commentary, film, june, month in review, Movies, Opinion, summary | Leave a comment »