review | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Hannibal

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Darren

I actually have a bit of a soft spot for Hannibal. I think the key to enjoying and appreciating Ridley Scott’s 2001 serial-killer film is to realise that it’s a fundamentally different animal to The Silence of the Lambs, to the point where it isn’t really a sequel – despite featuring many of the same characters and considerably fewer of the same actors. Those expecting a faithful follow-up or conclusion will be disappointed, as will those who fell in love with Jonathan Demme’s delightfully understated The Silence of the Lambs. Even the title character here seems to lack the complexity he demonstrated in that earlier instalment, instead acting like the villain of a slasher film cast in the unlikely role of an anti-hero.

Still, despite these flaws, Hannibal is quite entertaining (if far too uneven and unsatisfying) on its own terms.

She looks good enough to eat…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Belvedere, Bolton, Bryan Fuller, Clarice Starling, Federal Bureau of Investigation, film, Florence, god, hannibal, hannibal lecter, Jesus, laurence fishburne, Lecter, Movie, NBC, non-review review, review, Starling | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Shadow Dancer

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Darren

Shadow Dancer is a taut, intelligent, sophisticated thriller. In a way, James Marsh’s film is more notable for what it doesn’t say, than what it does. Long passages of the film go by in relative silent, with the an economy of language to communicate information to the audience. It’s quite heartening how much faith Marsh seems to have in his viewers, that the film never feels the need to burden itself with awkward exposition, instead trusting the actors and the surroundings to tell the story. You won’t find a thriller this year that thinks more highly of its audience.

“Have you seen ‘The Informant!’…? Good, because this is going to be a lot less light-hearted.”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrea Riseborough, arts, Belfast, Clive Owen, Colette, Downing Street Declaration, film, James Marsh, John Major, ken loach, Marsh, Movie, non-review review, Northern Ireland, review, Shadow Dancer, Tom Bradby, Troubles, Wind That Shakes The Barley | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Gattaca

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Darren

I genuinely think that Gattaca is an unsung modern science-fiction classic. Andrew Niccol also wrote the screenplay for The Truman Show at the same time, another science-fiction masterpiece of the nineties, and another film way ahead of its time. I wonder if The Truman Show eclipsed Niccol’s work on Gattaca. It’s certainly a far more conventional science-fiction feature film, with a decidedly retro-futuristic aesthetic to it, and a slightly more earnest approach to its central themes. Still, I think that Gattacais a film that has held up remarkably well since its release and deserves a great deal more praise and attention than it really gets.

A face in a crowd…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Andrew Niccol, ethan hawke, films, gattaca, Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, Genetics, Jerome, Josef, jude law, Movie, Movies, non-review review, review, sci-fi, science fiction, uma thurman | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: When the Lights Went Out

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Darren

At its best, When the Lights Went Out feels like a cinematic throwback, almost like The Woman in Black. While The Woman in Black harked back to a period of classic British horror, the height of Hammer’s gothic schtick, When the Lights Went Out feels like an affectionate homage to the urban haunting movies of the seventies, like The Amityville Horror with a Yorkshire accent. Although the final third comes off the rails in a fairly massive way, there’s enough charm and nostalgia to keep When the Lights Went Out entertaining for most of its runtime. It’s not just the setting and the aesthetic that hark back to the seventies, but also the tone and the mood.

I hope she’s not left hanging…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Amityville Horror, Amityville New York, arts, Colin Wilson, daniel radcliffe, film, Hammer Film Productions, horror, Lutz, Movie, non-review review, pat holden, review, stephen king, when the lights went out, Woman in Black | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Shadowlands

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Darren

Shadowlands is, at its core, a very typical “weepy” romantic drama. However, it’s an exceptionally well-executed example of the genre, one that demonstrates a rather uncanny understanding about the complexities of love and loss that help it stand out from a lot of its fellow films. A superbly powerful central performance from Anthony Hopkins certainly doesn’t hurt, and Richard Attenborough’s elegant, yet unintrusive, direction allows the story to flow without ever feeling too emotionally manipulative. It’s an intelligent and well-constructed exploration of a tragic love affair, one that feels distinctly human in its approach to its subjects and themes.

Does Hopkins deliver a superb performance? You can bank on it…

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Non-Review Review: The Expendables 2

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Darren

There’s a very thin line between being a tribute to something and becoming an example of it. The Expendables sold itself as an affectionate homage to the cheesy eighties action movies that you’d find populating the godforsaken post-midnight hours on a local television station. They’re the kind of movies we remember with a sense of casual fondness – we don’t lie to ourselves that they were great, but focus on the cheesy one-liners and the ridiculous stunts and the scenery-chewing bad guys. Unfortunately, those movies generally weren’t as good as we remember them. We omit certain details – the terrible pseudo-political subtext shoehorned in, the cringe-worthy character work, the pacing issues, the performances that aren’t so bad they become good, but are instead so bad that they remain bad. The Expendables felt like a revived eighties late-night action movie, rather than a tribute to our cultural memory of one.

So I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed The Expendables 2, the sequel to the all-star actioner. It seems to have learned a lot from its predecessor and feels like exactly the sort of light and brainless entertainment we remember, rather than the mind-numbingly bad films we actually watched.

Eighties action movie reunion!

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bruce willis, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, expendables, expendables 2, film, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, mercenaries, Movie, non-review review, review, Stallone, sylvester stallone, the expendables 2 | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Psycho (1960)

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Darren

Psycho is a masterpiece from Alfred Hitchcock, a uniquely American horror story that redefined and codified the horror genre. Even after one has already seen the film, and knows the twists and the plotting detours that Hitchcock’s adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel might make, it’s still a powerful and compelling piece of cinema. Hitchcock laid a template here that would inform generations of horror films that followed, with the DNA of Psycho to be found even in the most unlikely of places.

“You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave…”

Note: Hitchcock famously guarded the ending to this project. “Don’t give away the ending — it’s the only one we have!” he pleaded in advertisements. However, it has been fifty-two years, so I fear that the statute of limitations on potential spoilers has expired. After all, Psycho has been so massively influential it’s hard not to know what happens. If, by some fluke, you know nothing about the film… see it! See it now! We’ll still be here when you get back.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, art, AT&T, Edward Hopper, film, graphic design, Graphic Designers, gus van sant, halloween, hitchcock, Janet Leigh, Movie, non-review review, Norman, Norman Bates, Psycho, review, Robert Bloch, Saul Bass, United States, wes craven | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Bourne Legacy

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Darren

The Bourne Legacy is the kind of trick you only get to pull once. It’s an interesting narrative experiment, but it doesn’t really work as its own movie. It almost feels, at times, like a deleted subplot from the second two films in the trilogy, removed and expanded to fill two-hours-and-a-half. It’s certainly an interesting idea, and it’s a clever way of skirting the issues created by Matt Damon’s refusal to return, but the problem is that The Bourne Legacy never feels like it is entirely its own film. While it features two characters who have their own arc, the overall plot plays out according to storybeats that are happening off screen – in another story with another agent. It’s a fascinating take on the summer blockbuster, but I’m not convinced it’s an entirely successful one.

Bourne again?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Aaron Cross, bourne, Bourne Identity, Bourne Legacy, bourne ultimatum, film, jason bourne, jeremy renner, matt damon, Movie, non-review review, rachel weisz, review, Robert Ludlum, Singapore, Tony Gilroy | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Total Recall (2012)

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Darren

Len Wiseman’s Total Recall is a total mess. While the film features some superb production design and some passable action sequences, with an obvious affection for the design of contemporary science-fiction classics, the direction is muddled,the pacing is awkward and the script is constantly tripping over itself. At one point it’s suggested that the lead might have had has memory scrambled during a muddled recall session, the result of procedure started and yet not quite finished. In many ways, that feels a lot like what happens here – a choppy, uneven and unsatisfying movie that is a result of a muddled production and post-production process. “We can remember it for you,” an advertisement for the Rekall service boasts, homaging the classic short story that inspired the film. Unfortunately, they omitted “wholesale”, which is about the only price I could recommend this at.

Where’s your head at?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Arnold Schwarzenegger, arts, Bryan Cranston, colin farrell, david fincher, Departed, film, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, jessica biel, kate beckinsale, Len Wiseman, Movie, non-review review, Paul Verhoeven, Post-production, review, science fiction, Sharon Stone, total recall, Wiseman | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Grabbers

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Darren

Grabbers is a fascinating little premise, executed in a delightfully quirky and off-kilter manner. Very much an affectionate homage to classic creature features (you can spot Night of the Living Dead playing in the background of one early scene), director Jon Wright and writer Kevin Lehane are sure to give the story a delightfully stereotypical Irish twist. While the Americans might defeat a potentially hostile alien invasion with moral certitude and superior firepower, or the the British might best those otherworldly monsters with a stoic stiff upper lip, the inhabitants of the even stereotypically named “Erin Island” take on their visitors using the sheer unmitigated power of the pub lock-in.

It’s a premise that could easily collapse under its own weight, or become one joke extended well past the point of hilarity, but it’s to the credit of Wright, Lehane and the cast that it flies through its hour-and-a-half runtime.