Posted on June 9, 2009 by Darren
Last week we caught The Prestige on Network 2. It’s a breath-taking movie that tends to get lost among 2006’s other magic-themed outings (Scoop and The Illusionist). A well-crafted magical treat, I think that the film might be Nolan’s most well-crafted to date. And – a little to my surprise, I must admit – my girlfriend enjoyed it as well.
"Are you watching closely?"
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: christian bale, Christopher Nolan, film, hugh jackman, magic, Michael Caine, Movies, non-review review, review, scarlett johansson, The Dark Knight, the prestige | 8 Comments »
Posted on May 31, 2009 by Darren
Probably the only “feel-good film of the year” to involve excrement-covered urchins, the blindng of beggars and brutal police interrogation methods within the first half-hour of screentime. I have to admit I love the marketing for the film, which has pitched it as a movie that will leve you feeling as though you just spent two hours basking in sunshine. I’d suggest the experience is somewhat different. That’s not to say I didn’t greatly enjoy the film – it was one of the best of the year – just a warning to viewers not to expect sunshine and lollipops for most of the film’s runtime. So, how does the official Best Picture of 2008 stack up?
Jamal noticed he was getting a lot more attention after he went on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: anil kapoor, best picture oscar, danny boyle, dev patel, non-review review, Oscars, review, slumdog millionaire | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 31, 2009 by Darren
I checked out Coraline in 3D on Friday night there in Cineworld. While I have my own thoughts on the format that I will talk about next week, I have to say that the film is – in one word – magical. The better half completely agreed with me here. I think it may be the best stop-motion production that I have ever seen – and this is from a guy who counts The Nightmare Before Christmas as must-watch seasonal entertainment. It really was one of the cinematic highlights of the year.
Cute as a button...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 3d, coraline, henry sellick, neil gaiman, non-review review, review, sandman, stop-motion | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 30, 2009 by Darren
Network 2 reaired the whole Terminator trilogy to celebrate Salvation‘s release on Friday. My luck being my luck, I caught the tail end of the franchise, the weak link if you will. As I write this, I face the question that I face when I review any given sequel or part of a franchise: should I judge it independently or alongside its predecessors (and – if I’m a latecomer to the party – its successors)? If I adopt the former approach, is Terminator 3 a reasonably solid sci-fi/action movie? If I look at it as the third installment in the franchise, is it fit to be considered alongside two of the greatest action movies ever made?
Spot the one non-classically trained actor in this shot...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Arnold Schwarzenegger, claire danes, nick stahl, non-review review, review, roger ebert, sequel, terminator, terminator 3, terminator:salvation, terrminator 3: rise of the machines | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 27, 2009 by Darren
While waiting for the 24 finale last night, my brother and I checked out what we had on DVD. We caught The Incredible Hulk, one of the blockbusters that seems to have unfairly become lost in the mix last year. It didn’t fail as spectacularly as Speed Racer, nor did it soar as high as Iron Man or The Dark Knight. Not expecting much, we found ourselves quite enjoying it.
It's not easy being green...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bruce banner, comic book movie, edward norton, hulk, marvel, non-review review, review, the incredible hulk, tim roth, william hurt | 3 Comments »
Posted on May 26, 2009 by Darren
Our recording of the 24 season finale failed last night. We’re hoping that Sky will put the two-hour episode up on Anytime, like they did with Lost. It’s not all bad though, figuring we’d prepared the snacks and beverages, we decided to see what was on to watch. We settled on The Mist, a small-scale horror movie based on the Stepehn King novella. Our random selection of films from Anytime has never been particularly lucky, so were we impressed with our choice of horror film?
We had a picture to go with the film, but it was just too intense...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: frank darabont, horror, non-review review, review, stephen king, the mist, the shawshank redemption | 9 Comments »
Posted on May 25, 2009 by Darren
On seeing the new Star Trek, I decided to dig into my old DVD’s and review my personal favourite of the Original Series movies. The cliched choice is The Wrath of Khan, and it is indeed awesome, but I’ve always had a soft spot for The Undiscovered Country, despite its abuse of Shakespeare. So, having just witnessed Kirk and Spock’s first voyage, what did I make of their last?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: christopher plummer, kirk, non-review review, review, spock, star trek, star trek 6, star trek vi: the undiscovered country, the undiscovered country | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 23, 2009 by Darren
You can’t make this stuff up.
Another one of those movies we hadn’t heard about until Dad brought them home from the videostore, but this time in a good way. A look at the hunt for war criminals in the aftermath of the Serbian war, it’s glib and well-acted, if a little illogical and preachy in parts. As far as war-reporter films go, this one is solidly in the middle of the pile, but there are worse places to be.
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: non-review review, review, richard gere, serbia, terrence howard, the hunting party | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 22, 2009 by Darren
I finally caved. I went to see Star Trek and I dragged my girlfriend along for the ride. I was cautious, hearing two separate opinions about the film: the mainstream media’s orgasmic delight at being offered a premium piece of geekdom for their visual pleasure and my work colleagues’ enjoyment of the film, but lament that ‘it just wasn’t Star Trek’. Who was right? Well, they both were.
Like the Enterprise itself, the new Star Trek is a carefully constructed engine that takes a while to build up momentum, but has a phenomenal top speed
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: dark knight, eric bana, first contact, iron man, james t. kirk, jj abrams, non-review review, review, spock, star trek, star trek franchise, the wrath of khan, uhuru | 14 Comments »
Posted on May 19, 2009 by Darren
We caught Wanted on Sky Anytime this evening, and figured it was worth a look. My aunt loved it, my uncles seemed less-than-enthuised, and me? I’m not quite sure what to make of it. If I had to sum it up, I’d say that there are worse ways to spend an evening, but there are a whole host of better ones too. On the summer blockbusterfare, this is pretty distant from The Matrix or The Dark Knight or even Iron Man. It doesn’t have the kitsch value of Independence Day either (“… and today… is our… independence day!”). But it is significantly better than Transformers or Bad Boys II.
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Filed under: Movies, Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: angelina jolie, atonement, blockbuster, girl, interrupted, james mcavoy, mark millar, Morgan Freeman, non-review review, review, wanted | 4 Comments »
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