review | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Uncle Buck

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Darren

Uncle Buck doesn’t represent a career high for any of the major players involved, with John Hughes have any number of more iconic films behind him, and more enjoyable family comedies ahead of him, and John Candy enjoying the space the movie affords him, but somewhat restricted by the material. That said, the film represents an enjoyable little comedy with a strong cast, a good central performance and marks an interesting transition point for Hughes, who had cut his teeth on teenage comedy dramas before transitioning to write more mainstream comedic fare.

This is not a drill...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Breakfast Club, ferris buellers day off, films, Jean Louisa Kelly, John Candy, John Hughes, Macaulay Culkin, Movies, non-review review, review, Uncle Buck | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The King of Kong – A Fistful of Quarters

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Darren

I think part of the reason that The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters works so well is because it takes any number of well-loved and popular story-telling tropes concerning the conflict between a hard-working underdog and an exclusive and elitist authority, and then plays them out against one of the most brilliantly ridiculous backdrops possible. Professor Wallace Sayre, a political scientist at Columbia University once made the observation that “in any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” So perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised that a competition over a videogame world record should capture these ridiculous grand themes with such skill, and a wonderful sense of humour.

Steve's game for a challenge...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Arcade game, Billy Mitchell, Columbia University, Donkey Kong, Filmmaking, filsm, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Movies, non-review review, review, Seth Gordon, Steve Wiebe, the king of kong | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Ring

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Darren

The Ring is actually a surprisingly effective horror when measured on its own terms, as well as being perhaps the most successful American adaptation of a Japanese horror. I would make the case that the film isn’t a patch on the original Ringu, but it’s to director Gore Verbinski’s credit that he attempts to subtly distinguish his film from the one that inspired it, while remaining true to the spirit of that classic cult horror.

Watts going on here?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Armie Hammer, DVD, Edgar Allan Poe, films, Gore Verbinski, horror, horror films, japanese horror, Jerry Bruckheimer, johnny depp, Lone Ranger, Movies, non-review review, review, Ring (film), ringu, the ring | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Ringu

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Darren

There are a handful of movies I will forever associate with a particular viewing experience – and some with the first time I had seen a given movie. I remember, for instance, seeing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the first time with my father in the local cinema during its nineties re-release. When I think of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I recall the time I had to sit in the hall while the grown-ups watched it. Anytime I see The Shining, I think back to watching it in the wee hours of the morning with gran and granddad. The Japanese cult horror Ringu is something of a similar experience.

All's well that ends well...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, film, Gore Verbinski, Horror film, John Carpenter, Movie, non-review review, review, ringu, Television, the ring, vhs, wes craven, Woody Allen | 10 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Unstoppable

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Darren

I guess I’ve kinda marked Tony Scott as a more talented Michael Bay, in that he’s a director who manages all the tense and superficial elements of his action films particularly well, but that he also a strong eye for dramatic talent and seems to work much better with his leads – or, at least, draw stronger performances from them – than Bay. I was kinda thinking that as I was watching Unstoppable, pondering how Bay’s fascination with physical objects and explosions could have turned the film into a nigh-impossible mess, as the movie is literally based around the idea of a runaway train. Scott can’t quite find the human drama at the core of the story he’s telling, but he does try. And I think that effort alone makes the film watchable, if not remarkable.

Train-ing Day...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: chris pine, denzel washington, film, films, hollywood, michael bay, Movies, non-review review, review, tony scott, train, Unstoppable | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Change-Up

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Darren

This movie was seen as part of Movie Fest, the rather wonderful film festival organise by Vincent and everybody else over at movies.ie. It was well worth attending, and I’m already looking forward to next year. Good job all.

Body swap comedies are pretty much a subgenre unto themselves. There’s a fairly standard formula, much like the conventional romantic comedy, but the success or failure of a given movie rests pretty much entirely on the execution of that formula. It’s finding the wit and energy to inject into a familiar structure, to produce an interesting and compelling result. It’s been done with considerable frequency. However, The Change-Updoesn’t really generate enough laughs consistently to make a memorable addition to this category of comedy.

Just kidding around...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alan arkin, Body swap, Change-Up, comedy, film, Film festival, films, jason bateman, Leslie Mann, Movie, movie fest, Movies, movies.ie, non-review review, Olivia Wilde, review, Romantic comedy film, ryan reynolds, The Change-Up | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Drive

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Darren

This movie was seen as part of Movie Fest, the rather wonderful film festival organised by Vincent and everybody else over at movies.ie. It was well worth attending, and I’m already looking forward to next year. Good job all.

Drive took home Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why. This pulpy retro crime thriller is an intense joyride featuring what might hopefully be a long over-due star-making role for Ryan Gosling.

Gosling has an impressive body (of) work...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Albert Brooks, arts, Bryan Cranston, cannes film festival, Carey Mulligan, Clint Eastwood, Drive, drive (2011), drive (film), film, Film festival, france, Lacemaker, los angeles, Madame Bovary, miami vice, Movie, Movies, Nicolas Winding Refn, non-review review, Piano Teacher, review, ron perlman, Ryan Gosling, United States | 11 Comments »

Justice League International: Volume 3 (Hardcover) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Darren

In light of the massive DC reboot taking place next month, launching with a Geoff Johns and Jim Lee run on a new Justice League title, I thought I’d take a look back at another attempt to relaunch the Justice League, emerging from the then-recent Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Instructions, m’lord?

Keep him sedated and set course for —

For where, m’lord?

Quiet L-Ron… Don’t you know a dramatic pause when you hear one?

Set course for — Apokolips!

L-Ron and Lord Manga

The third volume of Justice League International is certainly more consistant than the one directly previous. Giffen and deMatteis are – with the exception of a final-issue tie-in to Invasion – free to tell their own story featuring their somewhat eclectic cast. The series has swung heavily in the direction of humour, with the issues increasingly becoming a collection of gags with the occasional nice set-piece rather than conventional super-hero stories with a greater-than-usual dosage of humour. Admittedly, some of the humour (and set-ups) feel a little tired and dated, but it’s still not a bad little series.

Licence to Thrill...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Blue Beetle, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, comic book review, comic books, crisis on infinite earths, dc comics, fans, hawkamn, J. M. DeMatteis, jm dematteis, justice league, Justice League International, keith giffen, review, star trek: the next generation | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: 30 Minutes or Less

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Darren

It’s kinda strange to watch 30 Minutes or Less. It’s an entertaining enough farce that is carried mainly by its superb primary cast, but it feels strange because the viewer gets the sense that the film might have worked better as a quirky caper film instead of a flat-out comedy. I enjoyed the movie, even if it wasn’t really in the same ballpark as Ruben Fleischer’s early film, Zombieland. I spent most of the movie with a smile on my face, rather than laughing out loud.

Banking on another great comedy...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 30 Minutes or Less, Aziz Ansari, danny mcbride, jesse eisenberg, michael pena, Nick Swardson, non-review review, review, Social Network, zombieland, Zombieland [Blu-ray] | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Fright Night

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Darren

Fright Night is great fun. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s one that’s produced with enough skill and charm that it feels well worth your time. A superb cast and confident direction make the film feel like a breeze, even with a slightly muddled middle section and some strange plotting and pacing. It’s also one of the best uses of 3D I’ve seen since Tron: Legacy, and I genuinely don’t say that lightly. All of adds up to a movie well worth sinking your teeth into.