review | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: The Book of Eli

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Darren

The Book of Eli is an interesting film. It’s undoubtedly well made, featuring a strong cast and a pretty great script. Being honest, we’ve had more than enough death and destruction amid post-apocalyptic wastelands, so a movie that doesn’t dwell too much on the soulless nihilism of the setting – well, relatively speaking. It’s sort of an action movie response to the after-the-end thrillers we’ve been seeing a lot of in recent years (The Road comes to mind, as does Carriers and Hollywood’s current fascination with zombies). However, the movie comes across as a little too polished and stylised for its own good – at times it seems as if the cast are recording a perfume commercial set amid the ruins of a world that once was.

Have we been down this road before?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, Book of Eli, denzel washington, films, gary oldman, George Washington, Hughes Brothers, michael gambon, Movies, non-review review, post-apocalyptic, review, Washington | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Blind Side

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Darren

Is this some sort of white guilt thing?

– anonymous female friend #1

The fundamental problem with The Blind Side is that it takes Michael Oher’s struggle to overcome everything stacked against him, and makes it abundantly clear that the real hero of the story is Leigh Anne Touhy, the rich and privileged white woman who took him in. In fact, the sports legend ends up playing a supporting character in his own damn biopic.

The trouble with this story is in the telling...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, Big Mike, Blind Side, film, Leigh Anne Tuohy, Michael Oher, Movie, non-review review, oscar, Quinton Aaron, review, sandra bullock, the blind side, Woody Allen | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Wolfman

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Darren

The Wolfman was clearly intended to kickstart a relaunch of Universal’s Monster Movie franchises, updating them for a whole new generation of movie-goers. It was intended to call back to a whole generation of horror films, starring Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff and so on. However, director Joe Johnston’s attempt to update the monster movie for a new generation is a muddled affair, simple and straight-forward, but clouded with unnecessary blood, gore and CGI.

No escape claws...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Benicio del Toro, Boris Karloff, Emily Blunt, frankenstein, horror, joe johnston, Lon Chaney, monster movie, monster movies, Movies, non-review review, review, universal monster movies, universal monsters, universal studios, werewolf, wolfman | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Salt

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. It’s the final post I’m doing as part of it, looking at last year’s pretender to the “super spy” crown.

I pride myself on my suspension of disbelief. Richard Donner convinced me that a man could fly. My favourite film of 2008 was about a man who dressed as a flying rodent who took on a psychotic clown in downtown Chicago. I recently enjoyed a movie where the inner workings of a computer were represented as neon motorbikes. The film of the year features a crack team of specialists who break into people’s dreams and steal their ideas (or plant new ones). And yet Salt taxes my suspension of disbelief.

Are they arresting her for a Salt?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: angelina jolie, chiwetel ejiofor, Chuck Norris, film, jack bauer, liev schreiber, Movie, non-review review, review, richard donner, salt, Sleeper agent | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Quantum of Solace

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Darren

Note: I have another review of the film here, but this was written as part of “James Bond January”, after watching all 22 films in quick succession. This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

Quantum of Solace is a strange film. In many ways, it feels more like a return to the Bond formula than its direct predecessor, and yet it feels like less of a Bond film. It isn’t a case that film takes the franchise in a new direction while retaining its core identity (as Licence to Kill did, for example), but the feeling that there’s been a fundamental shift in the series, occurring under the radar. It feels as if, though the movie can talk the talk, there’s something different in the step – it can’t quite walk the walk, unfortunately.

Don’t leave us dangling…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bond girls, British Empire, casino royale, daniel craig, films, james bond, jason bourne, Movies, non-review review, quantum, quantum of solace, review, Roger Moore, sean connery, sex, villains | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Casino Royale

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Darren

This post is part of James Bond January, being organised by the wonderful Paragraph Films. I will have reviews of all twenty-two official Bond films going on-line over the next month, and a treat or two every once in a while.

Casino Royale was breath of fresh air for the Bond franchise. The twenty-first film in the series, it represented something akin to a “back to basics” philosophy, pulling back from the camp excesses of Die Another Day to offer us a version of Bond which was a thriller rather than an action comedy. It’s a familiar pattern for low-key entries to follow over-the-top instalments (after all, the producers followed Moonraker with For Your Eyes Only), but arguably not to the same extent. While other movies made the pretense of operating within the same continuity (with numerous references, for example, to Bond’s marriage from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), Casino Royale was an attempt to completely start from scratch, with a new actor playing a James Bond who was new to his 00-agent status.

What’s on the cards for Bond?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: casino royale, daniel craig, eva green, GoldenEye, james bond, james bond january, mads mikkelson, Movies, non-review review, pierce brosnan, quantum of solace, quentin tarantino, review, Roger Moore, vesper, vesper lynd | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Morning Glory

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Darren

Early in Morning Glory, our plucky female lead (TM) is interviewing for a position at a major morning show. Asked to outline her vision, she states that “no story is too high or too low” for the show to tackle. Unfortunately, the film makes it clear that the emphasis on that last part. Because this is exactly what we need – a movie about how morning shows aren’t dumb enough.

It's a news day...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: american chat shows, american media, Devil Wears Prada, Diane Keaton, films, harrison ford, jeff goldblum, lowest common denominator, media, meryl streep, Morning Glory, morning shows, Movies, news, non-review review, rachel mcadams, review, Ty Burrell | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Die Another Day

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Darren

A new watch. Your twentieth, I believe.

How time flies.

– Q and Bond go all meta on us

I next joined Pierce and co at the premiere of Die Another Day in 2002, which marked the 40th anniversary of the series. When asked later what I thought of the film, I merely said “interesting”. In truth I thought it just went too far – and that’s from me, the first Bond in space! Invisible cars and dodgy CGI footage? Please! They gave the public what they wanted, though maybe they too realised there was only so far they could push it before Bond became a caricature of himself, and the funeral directors were called in.

– Sir Roger Moore, who seems like a lovely guy

Truth be told, Die Another Day doesn’t quite deserve the reputation that it has earned over the years. But, then again, I can appreciate A View to a Kill, so what do I know?

Close, but no cigar...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: review, non-review review, history, film, Movie, james bond, pierce brosnan, Roger Moore, United States, British Empire, Elliot Carver, Die Another Day, toby stephens, gustav graves, diamonds, homage, reference, james bond january | 11 Comments »

Non-Review: Lover’s Jump

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Darren

I had the pleasure of checking out Lover’s Jump, a short film directed by Mark McCombe. It’s a short piece, clocking in at under four minutes – the writing is efficient, but perhaps a little busy (if only it seems that there’s quite a lot going on to fit into four minutes). I won’t spoil it for you by discussing the plot – only to suggest that it is well worth your time. The film distinguishes itself on the technical front, featuring a superbly haunting soundtrack from Rich Keyworth underscoring McCombe’s atmospheric direction. Despite the limited runtime, McCombe efficiently establishes mood – he creates a wonderful impression through a series of carefully chosen shots complimented by the eerie music in the background.

McCombe is undoubtedly aided by his lead actor, Laurence Fuller, who conveys a lot through controlled and restrained body language. There’s a lot of ways to read the scene when it opens, and Fuller manages to keep it open-ended without seeming indecisive. I’m not entirely sure what to make of the short’s ending – it seems so much about mood and emotion that it seems counter-intuitive to stick a twist in (given that there’s really only about a dozen lines of dialogue in total). I suppose that’s probably an unfair criticism to make, given the time constraints – but it still struck me on watching it.

Setting the bar...

Still, it’s the intensity of the short which really makes it work – it conveys a sense of foreboding and dread effectively within four minutes, to the point where the actual dialogue and plot seem almost perfunctory. I can see great things on the horizon for McCombe. He’s certainly skilled. His approach is relatively minimalist, but he gets a lot of impact for that. It’s well worth your time if you can get a look at it. I suspect it will be appearing as a special feature on the DVD of McCombe’s directorial debut soon enough.

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Australia, Filmmaking, india, Keyworth, laurence fuller, lover's jump, mark mccombe, Movies, non-review review, review, Short film | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The World Is Not Enough

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Darren

The World is Not Enough is a mess of a film, even by the standards of the Bond films. It proposes some interesting ideas and has some neat concepts, but there’s also some really stupid moments thrown in as well. If Tomorrow Never Dies was Pierce Brosnan doing tribute to later Sean Connery films, this him stuck in homage to Roger Moore – a few smart and emotional moments scattered over a large serving of camp, like vanilla pods mixed into the most bland vanilla ice cream you could imagine. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s so wildly inconsistent that it’s far less satisfying than generally weaker instalments.