non-review review | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Wakolda (aka The German Doctor)

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

Wakolda is a good old-fashioned pulpy pot boiler. The latest film from writer and director Lucia Puenzo, adapted from her own novel, is set in Argentina in 1960. Given the title, it’s easy enough to predict which direction Puenzo’s piece of historical fiction will be going. The history of the Nazis who sought refuge in South America following the Second World War is pretty compelling stuff, and Puenzo skilfully builds off this basic premise.

As much as popular history likes to paint the Second World War as an epic conflict of good against evil that neatly tidied itself up, there were lots of lingering threads – lots of loose ends dangling from the edge of this historical tapestry. The flight from justice, the protection that these people were afforded, and the desperate desire to bring these criminals to justice makes for a gripping pulpy narrative – but there’s also something more unsettling at work.

After all, acknowledging that the history of Nazi war criminals does not end after the signing of the German surrender means confronting the reality that such beliefs and philosophies cannot be vanquished with the stroke of a pen. Darkness still lurks in the wider world.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Argentina, eugenics, film, germany, Guilt, Movie, nazis, non-review review, responsibility, review, second world war, the german doctor, wakolda | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Muppets Most Wanted

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Darren

“We’re doing a sequel,” the Muppets sing in the opening number of The Muppets Most Wanted. “That’s what they do in Hollywood. And everybody knows that the sequel’s never quite as good.”

That’s the sort of wry self-awareness we’ve come to expect from the gang, but there’s also a note of truth in the statement. The Muppets was a cinematic highlight of 2011, and the best movie musical of the past decade. It was light, it was fun, it was sweet and it was moving. There was – as with the best Muppets material – an endearing sincerity underpinning all the well-observed gags and broad comedy.

The Muppets Most Wanted falls into the traditional pattern of Muppet sequels. Like The Great Muppet Caper or Muppet Treasure Island before it, there’s a sense that The Muppets Most Wanted has been constructed as a lighter film. The film lacks the emotional resonance of The Muppets, instead opting for high-concept fun. The result is endearing and enjoyable, but doesn’t feel quite as satisfying.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, Movie, muppets, muppets most wanted, non-review review, review, the muppets | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Hide Your Smiling Faces

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

Kids these days, am I right? Hide Your Smiling Faces feels like an eighty-eight minute extended catalogue of various fears and insecurities about the children growing up in today’s world. Following the tragic death of a young boy, Hide Your Smiling Faces focuses its attention on the young kid’s closest friend and that friend’s older brother – exploring their different emotional reactions to the loss. Writer and director Daniel Patrick Carbone adopts a naturalistic approach to dialogue, trying to lend Hide Your Smiling Faces an authenticity or realism.

Unfortunately, the film is simply too dull for its own good, mistaking inertia for pensiveness and inactivity for pensiveness. It seems like Hide Your Smiling Faces spends most of its runtime trying to convince the audience – and itself – that less is more. Sadly, sometimes less is less.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, hide your smiling faces, jameson dublin international film festival, jdiff, Movie, non-review review, review | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Need for Speed

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Darren

The obvious comparison for Need for Speed is to suggest that the movie feels like a video game. After all, the film is an adaptation of EA’s successful car racing video game franchise, porting the adventure to the big screen. However, that doesn’t quite cover Scott Waugh’s Need for Speed. Instead, his car racing adventure feels almost like a cartoon for most of its runtime, adopting a much lighter tone and more careful visual style than the Fast & Furious series which also invites comparisons.

This cartoonish quality is endearing at points, with certain racing sequences and chases feeling almost like a live-action version of Wacky Races, but it means that the movie struggles to shift gears. Attempts to get the audience to invest in a standard central plotline about redemption and justice are hard to balance against the decidedly over-the-top atmosphere of the rest of the film. There are points where Need for Speed needs to convince us to care about its characters, but it can’t make them seem real – no matter how hard it tries.

Stop right now, thank you very much…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: aaron paul, cars, cartoon, cops, dominic cooper, film, Imogen Poots, Movie, need for speed, non-review review, racing, review, scott waugh, stylised | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: 300 – Rise of an Empire

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Darren

It is almost immediately apparent that 300: Rise of an Empire was not directed by Zack Snyder. Snyder is credited on the inter-quel’s screenplay, but Rise of an Empire is directed by Noam Murro. Murro’s only other feature-length directorial credit is the forgotten indie movie Smart People, which would hardly make a case for Murro as an obvious choice to succeed Snyder in the director’s chair.

300 was a lavish and rich (and surprisingly shrewd) visual feast – packed with iconic imagery and memorable mosaics, treating it’s muscle-bound stars as props for epic spectacle while casting a knowing look out at the audience. Rise of an Empire feels like an attempt at imitation rather than innovation – with a sense that Murro isn’t bold enough to put his own stamp on the film, instead trying to channel one of the most unique voices currently working in action movies.

Slice o’ life…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 300, 300: rise of an empire, athenians, empire, eva green, frank miller, greece, greek, lena headley, leonidas, Movie, non-review review, persians, racism, review, rise of an empire, sexism, Spartans | 12 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Non-Stop

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Darren

At its best, Non-Stop evokes one of those mid-nineties high-tension high-altitude thrillers – movies about various crises unfolding on a plane, with a questionable hero wading in to help save the day. There’s a decidedly pulpy aspect to Non-Stop, as the film revels in the absurdity of its set-up and the contrived planning of the movie’s would-be skyjacker/ransomer. Those looking for a tightly-plotted thriller that withstands any level of critical thought would be best served to look elsewhere, but that’s entirely the point. Non-Stop basks in its minute-to-minute thrills, which it delivers with just enough consistency to maintain momentum.

The movie runs into problems though. Running to almost two hours, it’s impossible for the film to maintain the necessary level of tension for such an extended period. One sense that twenty minutes might have easily been trimmed from the film and tightened up the pacing a bit – after all, it’s not as if the plot hangs together particularly tightly as is. Non-Stop also runs into difficulties when it is forced to confront the fact that it is not – despite its best intentions – a hijacking movie from the mid-nineties. For better or worse, Non-Stop is set in the wake on 9/11, and the movie’s attempts to acknowledge that can’t help but feel a little forced.

Non-Stop is hardly an exceptional little thriller, but Neeson anchors it well and the movie often feels like an affectionately pulpy throwback to much more exciting skyjacking films.

Cabin fever…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, liam neeson, Movie, Neeson, non-review review, non-stop, review | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Grand Seduction

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

The Grand Seduction is nowhere near as cynical as it needs to be, and nowhere near as cynical as it thinks that it is. The story of a small Canadian ~~town~~ harbour in desperate need of a doctor in order to win a lucrative contract from a nebulous oil corporation, The Grand Seduction sets itself up as a vicious satire of these sorts of communities. Trying desperately to convince a visiting doctor to stay in their small community, the locals fashion themselves an endearingly quaint façade, manipulating their guest to get what they want.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: brendan gleeson, Canada, film, jameson dublin international film festival, jdiff, Movie, non-review review, oil, review, Taylor Kitsch, the grand seduction | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Stag

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

On the surface of it, The Stag feels like an Irish version of The Hangover; a “lads going wild before the wedding” comedy that thrives on men behaving badly and even features the bride’s brother as a reluctant invitee and breakout character. Of course, there are any number of differences – substituting the wilds of rural Ireland for the glitzy glamour of Vegas, the decision to make the groom a main character more than a plot device, the nature of the breakout character’s anti-social personality – but The Stag essentially takes a tried and true comedy template and runs with it.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: comedy, irish, jameson dublin international film festival, jdiff, Movie, non-review review, review, the stag | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Beyond the Edge

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

The story of Edmund Hillary is a fascinating one, rendered skilfully in 3D by Leanne Pooley. While Beyond the Edge leans just a little bit too heavy on pop psychology to dig into is subjects, and while the documentary could use a bit more room to breathe, it is a very effective illustration of exactly what the Hunt expedition accomplished in scaling Everest in May 1953.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: beyond the edge, documentary, edmund hillary, Everest, film, Mountaineering, mountains, non-review review, review, the summit | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Locke

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2014.

Lock a character in a tight space for an extended period of time, crank up the pressure, watch the results. It’s a tried and true method of generating compelling drama – albeit one that depends on a wide range of variables. Films like Phone Booth and Buried demonstrate – to varying degrees of success – the appeal of such a format. If you can get a good actor in a tight space for an extended period of time and crush them, the results are inevitably fascinating.

At the same time, it’s a very delicate cocktail. The set-up has to be convincing, the script has to be tight without being contrived, the direction needs to be spot on, the performance needs to be perfectly modulated. Steven Knight’s sophomoric feature-length film manages to maintain this fine balance for Locke‘s eighty-five minute runtime. Essentially an hour-and-a-half locked in a car with Tom Hardy, Locke is a powerhouse of a feature, an utterly compelling and heartrending watch.