Posted on January 28, 2010 by Darren
The title is misleading. It isn’t actually complicated. I’d demand my money back for such a misleading title, but the movie staisfies my basic need for naked Alec Baldwin. Because everyone needs more naked Alec Baldwin. You just don’t know it yet. All joking aside, the movie works as what it is: another attempt by Meryl Streep to demonstrate that women over fifty can be just as emotionally immature and as haplessly self-centred as any romantic lead in her twenties or thirties. Who says Hollywood is ageist? Romantic comedy can be equally demeaning no matter what your age.
One of these just scored way out of their league...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: affair, alec baldwin, cheating, comedy, complicated, its complicated, meryl streep, Movie, nancy meyer, non-review review, review, romantic comedy, steve martin | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 27, 2010 by Darren
I was impressed by the original Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus, but I wasn’t as blown away by his run as almost everyone else seems to have been. A lot of my problems were outside Brubaker’s control – the big Civil War event in the Marvel Universe loomed large over the climax of his run – and, in fairness to him, he worked around it as well as he could have been expected to. His on-going run is continued in a second (albeit smaller) omnibus, succinctly entitled The Death of Captain America Omnibus, which does exactly what it says on the tin, following the events which immediately followed the climax of the last omnibus (even going so far as to reprint the last issue in that volume as the first one in this volume). It’s just over half the size of the early collection – even factoring in the reprint – but I’ll concede that I actually enjoyed it a lot more. Maybe it was the sense that Brubaker was delivering a pay-off to all the threads opened in the first part of his run, or that he was solidly unfettered by editorial mandate this time around, or even that the storyline was considerably more streamlined and focused – no matter what the reason, the vast majority of my (already admittedly small) qualms about the first collection are dealt with here.
That's gonna be a pain to clean...
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Bucky, captain america, ed brubaker, marvel, marvel comics, Red Skull, retrospective, review, Steve Epting, the death of captain america, the death of captain america omnibus | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 26, 2010 by Darren
When people hear the name M. Night Shyamalan, a lot of different films pop into their heads. Everyone knows The Sixth Sense – most know Signs. He’s ridiculed for The Village and The Happening. The Lady in the Water slips under the radar, but that might be a good thing. What tends to get forgotten in the midst of all this is Unbreakable, which is probably the best movie that Shyamalan has directed. He’s known as something of a one-trick pony, relying on twist endings that throw his audience for a loop and – though Unbreakable contains its own novel twist in the tale – this is the one film on his filmography that doesn’t depend on that reveal. It’s a movie that stands up to the scrutiny of a second viewing answering questions and actually seeming painstakingly obvious in retrospect. It’s so good that it barely missed my list of the top 50 movies of the decade.
Holding out for a hero...
Note: As alluded above, the ending of this movie is a key part of discussion about it. Rather than splitting this post in half, I’m going to discuss it below. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a head’s up. I would make one recommendation though: don’t spoil the movie for yourself. It works better whent he audience doesn’t know quite what they are expecting. You could make the case about most movies, but I think that this movie in particular deserves to be seen sight unseen with an open mind.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bruce willis, M. Night Shyamalan, Movie, non-review review, review, samuel l. jackson, twist, unbreakable | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 22, 2010 by Darren
Waltz With Bashir garnered quite a bit of attention on its release – winning all sorts of awards and even receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film (though it didn’t get a nomination for Best Animated Film – because, didn’t you know, animation is for kids?). An animated film from Israel, it’s a very interesting look at the Lebanese War, and what we tend to remember and – more importantly – what we tend to forget in hindsight.
Tanks for the memories...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animated, best foreign film, film, israel, lebanon, Movie, non-review review, Oscars, review, waltz with bashir | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 21, 2010 by Darren
Yes, it’s Rear Window for the MTV generation, but what’s the harm in that? They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. Disturbia is a movie that is more than entertaining on its own terms, a light bit of fun that doesn’t let itself get carried away with taking itself too seriously. The final third degenerates into standard teen thriller fare, but – for most of its runtime – the movie manages to keep you smiling along enough that you don’t mind that it’s a copy of a cinematic classic.
Yes, even in his dressing gown, David Morse could still take you and use you as cheap building insolation... ((Allegedly...))
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: david morse, disturbia, film, hitchcock, Movie, non-review review, rear window, remake, review, shia labeouf, thriller | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 20, 2010 by Darren
There’s a lot of buzz out there suggesting that Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America might be the run on the character, the one for the ages – like Frank Miller’s tenure on Daredevil, for example. I decided that – with the movie coming out next year – it might be worth bringing myself up to speed on the character. While I haven’t finished Brubaker’s run (it’s on-going and I still have to read The Death of Captain America Omnibus), it is a very solid run, packed with great ideas. It’s a clever and well-crafted story that demonstrates that Brubaker has more in him than just gritty pulp like his fantastic runs on Daredevil and Gotham Central. On the other hand, I’m slow to call the run an instant classic – I’d rather finish his run before I make that judgement. Towards the end it feels like Brubaker’s own story has become somewhat derailed by the larger events looming in a shared universe. He’s still an amazing writer and succeeds in keeping the train mostly on the tracks, but one gets the sense that the collection would have been better if he had been granted complete control over it.
"Hey, Cap, what are we staring at?""You'll know it when you see it, Bucky; you'll know it when you see it."
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Bucky, captain america, Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus, Captain America Omnibus, Civil War, comic books, Death of Captain America Omnibus, ed brubaker, gotham central, graphic novel, marvel omnibus, Nazism, Red Skull, review, Steve Epting, United States, Winter Soldier, world war ii | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 19, 2010 by Darren
There’s something pleasant about watching just-past-their-prime actors working together on small-scale productions. Kinda a reminder that even though they don’t dominate Hollywood anymore (because Hollywood has little respect for their elderly), they are still around. It’s even nicer when they stray from the projects that they are obviously making a fair bit of capital on (such as Dustin Hoffman’s work in Meet the Fockers) towards smaller, more intimate fare. Last Chance Harvey is a solid and sweet romantic comedy in the very classical sense. It doesn’t rely on inappropriate sex jokes or physical comedy to make its audience laugh, just provides some wonderfully awkward ‘that could happen and it would be mortifying’ humour paired with some emotional honesty. And, despite being crafted in the mould of a classical genre, it manages to seem like a breath of fresh air.
Thankfully, Harvey is never short with her...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: dustin hoffman, emma thompson, film, joel hopkins, last chance harvey, Movie, non-review review, review | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 18, 2010 by Darren
Surrogates is a solid actioner with some great ideas, a recycled plot and an above-average director. In short, it’s quite satisfying for what it is. Perhaps beating Avatar to the punch (and certainly dealing with its core ideas in a much more interesting fashion), it imagines a future where human beings can interact in the real-world much as they interact on line at the moment. Denying genetics or lifestyle, they are able to craft a robotic body double to their own design (skin-colour, age, sex, weight, height) to send out into the world, allowing them to live via uplink. You could live your entire life without ever leaving your bedroom. It isn’t exactly a new idea in science-fiction, but it’s certainly a big idea for an action movie to tackle. Thankfully, it manages very well.
You know it's a messed up future because Bruce Willis has hair...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: avatra, bruce willis, james cromwell, jonathon mostow, non-review review, review, science fiction, surrogates, ving rhames | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 15, 2010 by Darren
Something’s happening… And it’s happening all over the East Coast… And it’s just happening to people without a reason… And… oh, that’s what’s happening? What the hell was M. Night Shyamalan smoking? Probably some killer grass.
It's a car crash of a movie...
Note: This review contains spoilers. But I’ll flag them beforehand. Still – you have been warned. Oh, and – if you’re looking for a recommendation – the only appeal of the film is in the ‘so bad it’s good’ category. It’s the movie that Lesbian Vampire Killers wishes it were.
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: ecology, evolution, film, hitchcock, horror, intelligent design, M. Night Shyamalan, mark wahlberg, Movie, non-review review, plants, review, science, the happening | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 14, 2010 by Darren
I like to think that I can appreciate a movie for what it is. I was even able to find something positive to say about The Land of the Lost, for crying out loud! Still, this doesn’t stop Lesbian Vampire Killers from being one of the worst films I’ve seen in quite some time (The Reader and Deception are the only other two movie that stick out so strongly in my mind). Paul McGann is literally the only thing that is anyway half-decent in the film, and – much like his lead role in Doctor Who – he is sucked into the mindless vacuum of crap which surrounds him. Who the hell thought this was a good idea? Really?
Look, Paul McGann, if your religious relics couldn't keep you from getting tied up in this mess, they're probably not going hold off that rampaging sexually-liberated blood-sucker...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: hammer, hammer horror, james corbet, lesbian vampire killers, lesbian vampires, matthew horne, Movie, non-review review, paul mcgann, review | 1 Comment »
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