Posted on July 11, 2009 by Darren
That was… intense, in a word.
I really didn’t come to the miniseries expecting too much. The first two seasons of Torchwood had been entertaining – for the most part – but nothing special, and seemingly lacking the va va voom of its older sister series. The promise of a more mature and considered Doctor Who was more-or-less unfulfilled – unless you consider nudity and sex jokes to be mature. Then Children of Earth aired.
Frobisher initially thought the alien ambassador was full of hot-air...
Note: This review contains spoilers. Really. Lots and lots of spoilers. If you want a recommendation: go watch it. It’s the best sci-fi you’ll see on TV this year. Then come back and talk about it.
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: 456, aliens, bbc, captain jack, children of earth, doctor who, drama, john barrowman, miniseries, peter capaldi, review, russell t. davies, science fiction, Television, torchwood, torchwood: children of earth, whoniverse | 3 Comments »
Posted on July 3, 2009 by Darren
I want to love this film. I really do. I enjoyed Miami Vice, so devoted am I to the cult of Mann and his study of the modern man lost in the world of violence and suffering. And Public Enemies has a lot going for it, it does. A fantastic cast, a better-than-fantastic lead, a solid script. On the other hand, the film is, technically speaking, a mess. And not the good kind of mess.
Don't get Christian Bale angry... He won't like you when he's angry...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: billy crudup, christian bale, crime, fbi, film, high definition, history, j edgar hoover, john dillinger, johnny depp, michael mann, Movies, non-review review, public enemies, public enemy number one, review | 11 Comments »
Posted on July 1, 2009 by Darren
We were browsing through the channels last night, looking for something to put on to amuse ourselves and quite disheartened to find that there was nothing really good on. We decided that the evening called for some light relief, so we stuck on Forgetting Sarah Marshall – and we were amazed at how well it holds up to repeat viewings.
Sex is a lot like a game of chess...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, forgetting sarah marshall, hawaii, jason segel, jonah hill, kristen bell, mila kunis, Movies, non-review review, paul rudd, review, russell brand | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 30, 2009 by Darren
We caught Valkyrie at the weekend. It’s a movie that Dad had been quite looking forward to and I’d heard good things from friends and family. I’m a big fan of Bryan Singer and was more than a bit excited to see him reteam with Christopher McQuarrie. The pair had given us one of the best neo-noir films ever in The Usual Suspects, but how do they deliver on historical epics?
Couldn't be more badass if he tried...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bryan singer, christopher mcquarrie, film, hitler, kenneth branagh, Movies, non-review review, operation: valkyrie, review, terrence stamp, tom cruise, valkyrie, von stauffenberg | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 28, 2009 by Darren
Straight Face Comics is is a relatively new web-based comic series that’s been running since about April this year. I had the chance to peruse their archives and I’m quite impressed to be honest. There are three strips a week, so that’s a lot of work and a lot of gags to produce on a weekly basis – I don’t know how these guys do it. The artwork is very well put together (I took the liberty of borrowing some screenshots – click them to be taken to the relevant strip on their pages) and shows a… unique sense of humour.
© 2009 Matt Barak and Donald Poquiz
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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: non-review review, review, straight face comics, web comic, web comics | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 28, 2009 by Darren
I caught this foreign gem playing on Sky Premier today. I’d actually heard quite a bit about it while it was playing at the IFI last year, but most of it was mixed enough that I put off catching it in the cinema. The movie – following the rise of Genghis Khan – is a historical epic of the kind that Hollywood doesn’t really make any more – and I mean that as both a compliment and a criticism. It isn’t as utterly brilliant as those who praise it claim, nor is it as bad as its detractors would have you believe.
A Khan not to be messed with...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: film, genghis khan, historical epic, history, mongol, mongol film, non-review review, review, Sergei Bodrov | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 27, 2009 by Darren
Caught this playing this afternoon on Sky HD, so I figured it was worth a look in High Def. I’ll be honest, I was very impressed. It’s a humourous light-hearted look at the Star Trek phenomenon, which manages to avoid feeling vindictive or mean. It’s anchored in a fantastic cast and with top notch special effects, there’s really no reason why anyone with any interest in the fringe of popular culture shouldn’t check it out.
Remind you of anything?
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alan rickman, film, galaxy quest, Movie, non-review review, review, sci-fi comedy, science fiction, sigourney weaver, tim allen | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 26, 2009 by Darren
We all caught Quarantine last night (which is a remake of the Spanish horror [rec]), and we were – for the most part – impressed as a family of horror buffs. Somewhat less irritating than most films shot on handheld cameras (it’s trick that is growing increasingly passé in horror, to be fair) it delivers more than its fair share of jump-in-your-seat shock moments. Still I’m not entirely won over. It’s a movie that does what it says on the tin, but nothing more, and falls apart in the third act.
I'd love to see the B-Roll...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: horror, Movies, non-review review, quarantine, remake, review, zombies, [rec] | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 25, 2009 by Darren
My uncle and I were looking for something good to watch on Tuesday and unfortunately Sky doesn’t offer Sky Premiere HD +1, so we arrived halfway through Sweeney Todd. Feeling somewhat cultured for sitting through five minutes of musical (it is a fantastic film), we decided to indulge our… baser instincts. Digging through a pile of Blu Ray discs we’d found in some godforsaken bargain basement somewhere, we began to despair. Until we found it – the golden poster boy of mindless, insane, frentic and fun action movies of the 1990’s. Yes, we stuck on Face/Off.
Travolta took the news of Nicholas Cage's Ocar win worse than most...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: face/off, film, john travolta, john woo, Movies, nicholas cage, non-review review, review | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 23, 2009 by Darren
Damn you, Billy Joel! No I’m stuck humming Leningrad! (Cold War kids are hard to kill, under their desks in an air raid drill!)
Anyway, it looks to be a relatively quiet week, cinema-wise. The calm before the proverbial storm when Transformers 2 arrives at the American Box Office. Us Europeans got it first and trust us – it ain’t that great. The real movie we’re looking forward to next weekend is Michael Mann’s Public Enemies. The king of crime dramas working with both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale on one of the most compelling true-crime stories in American popular history – what’s not to like? We’d tell you, but Universal is taking down all those early reviews, so we best be careful. I guarantee half the people reading this post will be lawyers from Universal.
Universal have a novel approach for dealing with reviewers breaking the embargo...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: christian bale, embargo, johnny depp, michael mann public enemies, public enemies review, review, review embargo, universal | 6 Comments »
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