review | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: The Dictator

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Darren

The obvious point of comparison for The Dictator would seem to be Borat or even Bruno. After all, the film reteams Sacha Baron Cohen with director Larry Charles, while providing a vehicle for exploring American society. However, The Dictator is a very different beast – it’s a much safer film, which is quite something to say about a film featuring a joke about “911 2012.” It is more conventional, more accessible, and more driven by a clearly focused narrative. In a way, it feels almost closer to Ali G in da House, only a lot funnier.

The Dictator is a very funny film, but it does feel like Cohen is a little more constrained than usual, a lot more rigidly structured. This lacks the sort of anarchic spirit that viewers have come to expect from Cohen, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it. Still, Cohen has a unique ability to blend offensive boundary-crossing with classic comedy, and The Dictator feels like a film that will have a broader appeal than his cult hits. Despite the abundance of jokes about male and female anatomy, I think this might be the first Sacha Baron Cohen film I would recommend to my parents.

Coming to America…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Aladeen, ali, Borat, bruno, Cohen, Dictator, film, Howard Stern, israel, Larry Charles, Movie, non-review review, review, sacha baron cohen, United States | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Dark Shadows

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Darren

I really liked Dark Shadows. Of course, the film comes with the proviso that it’s probably nothing at all like anybody is expecting, at least based on the trailers. While there are elements of a comedy about a vampire lost in time, Tim Burton is far too busy constructing an elaborate spoof of a gothic melodrama to every really develop that thread. Instead, it’s a movie that seems wry and self-aware more than it is side-splittingly hilarious, an old-fashioned homage to the melodramatic horrors of old rather than a compelling story in its own right. I don’t think anybody could argue that this is truly “classic” Burton, measured against Ed Wood or Batman Returns. However, it is a director who seems to be having a great deal of fun playing with some rather esoteric toys.

Collins family values…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Angelique, art, Barnabas Collins, burton, Chloe Moretz, Dark Shadow, Dark Shadows, Ed Wood, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, eva green, film, helena bonham carter, jackie earle haley, johnny depp, Julia Hoffman, michelle pfeiffer, Movie, non-review review, review, tim burton | 114 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Blues Brothers

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Darren

I had the pleasure of catching a Jameson Cult Film Club screening of The Blues Brothers earlier this evening. And it was awesome. Really, really great night. Might have been the best yet. I’ll have more details on it later in the week, but now seems like a good time to revisit the classic.

It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.

Hit it.

– Elwood and Jake

It might seem a bit redundant to say it, but The Blues Brothers has soul. Not just the funky music, though it has plenty of that. Nor an evangelical message, although the two brothers are, as they claim, “on a mission from God.” No, The Blues Brothers has a core of pure exuberance, a sense of joy that is all too rare – it doesn’t seem like writers Dan Ackroyd and John Landis threw ideas at the wall to see what stuck, so much as they demolished the wall and threw it at another wall. The Blues Brothers is, by turns, absurd, wry, grounded, sarcastic, charming, heartwarming and sardonic, with those elements frequently overlapping to an almost insane degree. In many ways, like John Belushi’s scheming, manipulative and aggressive Jake Elwood, it’s far more charming than it really should be. But we love it for it.

It’s a dirty business…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Blues Brother, Chicago, Dan Aykroyd, Elwood, films, Illinois, Jake, John Belushi, John Candy, john landis, Movies, non-review review, Rawhide, Ray Charles, review, Steven Williams | 4 Comments »

Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont Omnibus, Vol. 1 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Darren

With our month looking at Avengers comics officially over, we thought it might be fun to dig into that other iconic Marvel property, the X-Men. Join us for a month of X-Men related reviews and discussion.

Chris Claremont wrote Uncanny X-Men for seventeen years, which is really quite a run in mainstream American comics, especially for a writer who didn’t create the property that he was working on. Over the course of a defining run that lasted almost two decades, the creator shaped the franchise from the forgotten stepchild of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby – cancelled and reduced to reprints – into Marvel’s biggest and most successful comic book franchise. While the book hadn’t quite made it to the top of the sales charts by the end of this omnibus collection, it was well on its way – and you can see Claremont gradually moulding the team into the iconic collection of mutants that we’d see across a myriad of mediums.

Marvel had a smash hit on their hands…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: chris claremont, comic book review, jack kirby, joss whedon, marvel comics, marvel omnibus, review, stan lee, uncanny x-men, uncanny x-men omnibus, United States, x-men | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Half Moon Street

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Darren

I do feel a little pang of sorrow that Half Moon Street opens with the “RKO” branding. RKO was the studio that gave us Citizen Kane and King Kong, so it’s just a bit disheartening to see the studio branding a half-hearted thriller that seems to exist only to show as much of Sigourney Weaver naked as humanly possible. Don’t get me wrong, of course, I’m not a prude. I have no problem with the notion of an “erotic thriller”, were it well handled. However, Half Moon Street is just a disjointed poorly-conceived mess featuring two leads who seem to give up on the movie about half-way through. It’s not as if there isn’t fertile ground for a gripping espionage thriller here, it’s more that the script by Edward Behr and Bob Swaim is so lifeless (and Bob Swaim’s direction so lethargic) that there’s absolutely no reason to care at all about anything that unfolds throughout the series of insanely massive coincidences that drive the plot.

“Okay… try to look inconspicuous…”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bob Swaim, Citizen Kane, Edward Behr, film, Half Moon Street, Jan Hammer, Michael Caine, Middle East, Movie, non-review review, review, sigourney weaver, Slaughter | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Safe

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Darren

Safe is remarkably up-front about what it is. It’s a collection of action clichés strung out on a series of contrivances and coincidences that exist purely so Jason Statham can appear menacing and get involved in brutal fight sequences. There’s no surprise to be had in Safe, save perhaps the charm of Statham as a leading man and his wonderful chemistry with the debuting Catherine Chan. The movie’s never outside its comfort zone, but it manages to do what it sets out to do with a respectable efficiency and charm. While he does occasionally succumb to the rapid-fire editing that plague modern action movies, I think that it’s safe to say that Boaz Yakin is a much stronger director than he is a writer.

Looking for a Safe house…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Action film, Boaz Yakin, Catherine Chan, film, guy ritchie, Jason Statham, Luke Wright, New York City, non-review review, ovie, review, Safe, Safe (film), Statham, Transporter, Yakin | 2 Comments »

Kurt Busiek’s Avengers – Avengers Assemble! Vol. 5 (The Kang Dynasty) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Darren

April (and a little bit of May) are “Avengers month” at the m0vie blog. In anticipation of Joss Whedon’s superhero epic, we’ll have a variety of articles and reviews published looking at various aspects of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

I’ll be honest. I am still not sure what to make of Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run, republished here in five lavish oversized hardcovers. The first three volumes of the set included the stellar artwork of George Perez, but the fifth and final volume contains the entire Kang Dynasty (aka Kang War) saga. For those unfamiliar with the storyline, it was a fairly massive plot told over fifteen issues and an annual, and marked the climax of Busiek’s five-year tenure on the title. For better or for worse, it’s a more than adequate conclusion to his run – complete with many of the flaws which chipped away at it, but also possessing many of the recognisable strengths.

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, avengers, avengers assemble!, brian michael bendis, Busiek, captain america, Comics, graphic novel, iron man, joss whedon, kang, kang (marvel), kang dynasty, kang the conqueror, kang war, kurt busiek, marvel, marvel comics, retrospective, review, Rob Liefeld, stan lee, the kang dynasty, the kang war, thor | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Lucky One

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Darren

It’s hard not to feel a tad manipulated by The Lucky One, a story that seems to want to be about the relationship between fate (or chance) and choice. Following a veteran of a foreign conflict as he tries to adjust to life back home, trying to make sense of his survival in a war that claimed the lives of countless friends and colleagues, I don’t doubt that The Lucky One was intended as a profound meditation on those themes. However, what we end up with is a rather muddled romance that never truly gets off the ground thanks to a lackluster central performance from Zac Efron and some rather uncomfortable subtext.

Not quite picture perfect...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Blythe Danner, Dr. Seuss, Efron, film, High School Musical, Lucky One, Movie, Nicholas Sparks, non-review review, Posttraumatic stress disorder, review, Romeo and Juliet, Taylor Schilling, youtube, Zac Efron | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Cedar Rapids

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Darren

Cedar Rapids is a charming little film, even if it seems to struggle a bit blending its drama and its comedy. Despite unfolding at an insurance corporate conference, there’s a lot of very sincere and very earnest observations contained in the film, as we watch small-town insurance salesman Tim Lippe expand his world view. (Not just figuratively, but literally – the film features the character’s first trip on an airplane, for example.) While the movie’s sincerity and respect for the naive small-town operator lends the movie a bit of weight, the film struggles to balance that earnestness with a very immature sense of humour. The resulting cocktail isn’t always smooth, but it’s always fascinating, and director Miguel Arteta populates the film with a talented cast who help keep it all together.

It never really embraces its drama or its comedy...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: anne heche, Cedar Rapids Iowa, CedarRapids, Central Time Zone (North America), Ed Helms, film, hollywood, Insurance, Isiah Whitlock Jr, john c. reilly, Miguel Arteta, Movies, non-review review, review, sigourney weaver, Tim Lippe | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Seamonsters

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Darren

Seamonsters makes for an interesting feature film directorial debut from Julian Kerridge, Kerridge has a long and distinguished filmography as an actor, and has directed a pair of short films before this, but Seamonsters stands out as a fascinating first feature-length effort. Working from a script by Kerridge and co-writer Martin Sadofsky, the film offers an exploration of teenage life in a quiet seaside town. While Kerridge does seem to lose a grip on the plot during the second half, Seamonsters benefits from a wonderful young cast, a mostly light approach to its subject matter and an endearing almost ethereal atmosphere, perfectly capturing the idleness of teenage life.