Posted on June 27, 2009 by Darren
I watched Quarantine with my aunt, uncle and brother last night. It was fairly okay – it did pretty much exactly what it promised on the tin, nothing more nothing less – but it was undermined by a fine third that revealed to us (and the characters) the reason for said outbreak. The reason wasn’t particularly smart or original – it was really exactly what you’d expect, which isn’t what you’re looking for in the final twenty minutes of a horror film. It got me thinking, are these horror films scarier the less we know about the beasts lurking in the darkness?
Hangovers were worse than usual at the office Christmas Party - no one could remember where they parked...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: films, george a. romero, horror, horror films, horror genre, horror movies, Movies, night of the living dead, quarantine, the revolution will not be televised, undead, world war z, zombie apocalypse, zombies | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 26, 2009 by Darren
I really shouldn’t be too surprised at this, but here’s an excerpt from an interview with director Frank Darabont on looking for a study to produce his film version of Fahrenheit 451:
“I actually had a studio head read that script and say: ‘Wow, that’s the best and smartest script that I’ve read since running this studio but I can’t possibly greenlight it’ I asked why and he says ‘How am I going to get 13-year-olds to show up at the theater?’ And I said “Well, lets make a good movie and I bet that will take care of itself.”
– Frank Darabont
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, dumb movies, Fahrenheit 451, frank darabont, hollywood, Movies, remakes, smart movies, studios | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 26, 2009 by Darren
We all caught Quarantine last night (which is a remake of the Spanish horror [rec]), and we were – for the most part – impressed as a family of horror buffs. Somewhat less irritating than most films shot on handheld cameras (it’s trick that is growing increasingly passé in horror, to be fair) it delivers more than its fair share of jump-in-your-seat shock moments. Still I’m not entirely won over. It’s a movie that does what it says on the tin, but nothing more, and falls apart in the third act.
I'd love to see the B-Roll...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: horror, Movies, non-review review, quarantine, remake, review, zombies, [rec] | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 26, 2009 by Darren
The trailer for The Box hit the internet yesterday and I’m… not really impressed. From what looks like an attempt to turn a moral quandary (would you take an action that would kill a stranger for a huge sum of money?) into a brainless action movie to the use of the Saw theme (“Hello Zepp”) as an overture at the end of the movie, it’s striking all the wrong notes. On the other hand, I’m quite taken with what looks to be a sixties-style design, so who knows? Director Richard Kelly can be really good (Donnie Darko) or really terrible (Southland Tales). Pending reviews, this is probably one to rent. Since the fad of remaking has spread to remaking episodes of old television shows, I’m wondering if there are any other anthology episodes that warrant a remake?
"So, if I push the button, I get $1 million... and an Oscar nomination?"
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: and when the sky opened, anthology shows, Movies, night call, nightmare at 20000 feet, nothing in the dark, outer limits, richard kelly, richard matheson, Television, the box, the monsters are due on maple street, twilight zone | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 25, 2009 by Darren
My uncle and I were looking for something good to watch on Tuesday and unfortunately Sky doesn’t offer Sky Premiere HD +1, so we arrived halfway through Sweeney Todd. Feeling somewhat cultured for sitting through five minutes of musical (it is a fantastic film), we decided to indulge our… baser instincts. Digging through a pile of Blu Ray discs we’d found in some godforsaken bargain basement somewhere, we began to despair. Until we found it – the golden poster boy of mindless, insane, frentic and fun action movies of the 1990’s. Yes, we stuck on Face/Off.
Travolta took the news of Nicholas Cage's Ocar win worse than most...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: face/off, film, john travolta, john woo, Movies, nicholas cage, non-review review, review | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 25, 2009 by Darren
I’m not American, but I feel a strange fascination with Richard Milhouse Nixon. He’s a figure of almost Shakespearean complexity, driven to phenomenal heights and fantastic accomplishments, but never able to do enough to placate the insecurity gnawing at him. I had the pleasure of reading Conrad Black’s rather even-handed summary of his life and career last summer, and he seems as much a mystery as ever. The recent news item about another of his paranoid ramblings has grabbed media attention, but I’m amazed that there doesn’t seem to be much debate over the true impact of Nixon’s Presidency beyond the obvious shadow cast by Watergate. What is the American fascination with painting Nixon as a villain or a fiend? Why can he not embody something just a tad more complex?
Richard Nixon unsuccessfully attempts to distract from the Watergate scandal by declaring "It's behind you!" during a Press Conference...
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Filed under: Opinion | Tagged: film, frost/nixon, history, Movies, nixon, oliver stone, pop culture, richard m. nixon, richard nixon, watchmen, watergate, watergate tapes | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 24, 2009 by Darren
The early reviews for Transformers 2 are in, and the Irish public seem to have more-or-less unanimously spoken (based solely on my own personal experience and those around me). It’s a mindless, stupid, soulless action movie that seems to propel itself forward not by the strength of its plot or by any particular arc, but merely by the force of its explosions. It manages to be dumber than the first film, which (in fairness to it) benefited slightly from a quirky sense of humour. As I sit here an dwell upon the pretty depressing reality that this may be the second biggest hit of the summer – never underestimate Harry Potter – I need to get my mind off that thought. Blockbusters weren’t always this stupid and loud and pointless, were they?
Meet Devastator, he's got the cajones to be a big summer baddy. I wish I were making that up...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, Movies, summer movies, transformers 2 | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 23, 2009 by Darren
It’s a news story that’s got a fair bit of coverage all over the shop, but I thought I’d simply put it up here.
Pixar got a phonecall from the family of ten year old Colby Curtin, a child dying of cancer. Colby was a huge fan of the studio’s work to date, and had told her mother that she’d hang on in to see their latest film, Up. The family had planned to take her to the cinema, but she took a turn for the worse before the release. Apparently the family didn’t even know anyone at the company, they’d just made the call when it became clear Colby would not be able to see the film in cinemas. Pixar sent out the film to her house for a private screening. Apparently Colby was impressed with the result. Having seen the movie, she died later that night.
A still from Pixar's Up
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cinema, colby curtin, Movies, pixar, up | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 23, 2009 by Darren
I saw The Hangover last weekend, and it occurs to me: has there ever been a truly great Las Vegas movie? A movie (or even a show) that fully captures the feeling of living in a city that glows with neon glare twenty-four hours a day? I can name at least a dozen movies using Vegas as a backdrop: there’s the obvious ones like Viva Las Vegas, Leaving Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and maybe even Casino. Then there are the smaller films like Jon Favreau’s Swingers or The Cooler which are set in the city. I’m not sure that the film has received definitive treatment on film.
Bright light city gonna set my soul on fire...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cities on film, film, las vegas, las vegas on film, Movies, the hangover | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 20, 2009 by Darren
We caught a late screening of The Hangover at Cineworld last night – which started ten minutes late and had twenty minutes of trailers attachmed (most of which were for movies that didn’t look particularly interesting), which led to us missing our rides home by about five minutes, but that’s a different rant. Still, it was kinda total worth it – like the eponymous hangover itself.
Three Men and a Baby it is not...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bradley cooper, Ed Helms, film, las vegas, mike tyson, Movies, non-review review, review, the hangover, Zach Galifianakis | 5 Comments »
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