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The X-Files – Eve (Review)

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Darren

The X-Files owes a conscious debt to Twin Peaks, in quite a few ways. David Lynch’s landmark television series perfectly blended the mundane with the surreal, creating a world that managed to be both incredibly familiar and hauntingly ethereal. One of the hallmarks of Lynch’s approach to Twin Peaks – and of his work in general including, most obviously, Blue Velvet and Dumbland – was the sense that there was something quite horrid and rotten lurking beneath the flowerbeds and picket fences of those lovely suburban houses.

Eve is the show’s first real exploration of suburbia, hitting on all manner of rich Cold War anxieties and fears lurking just behind those neatly-trimmed hedges.

Breaking up families…

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Filed under: The X-Files | Tagged: Arts and Entertainment, Bear, Blue Velvet, business, Cold War, david lynch, Federal Housing Administration, GI Bill, Shopping, Special effect, Teddy bear, toys, twin peaks, twitter, United States, world war ii, x-files | 4 Comments »

Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (Review)

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Darren

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the longest-running science-fiction show in the world, I’ll be taking weekly looks at some of my own personal favourite stories and arcs, from the old and new series, with a view to encapsulating the sublime, the clever and the fiendishly odd of the BBC’s Doctor Who.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs originally aired in 1974.

How are you feeling now?

Hungry, tired and I’ve got a headache.

– Mark asks Sarah Jane how her viewing went. I can empathise.

Ah, ambition. It’s hard to fault it… although there is a point where you simply have to. Invasion of the Dinosaurs crosses that line in the first episode. I know that Doctor Who is a BBC television serial. I understand that the classic series hardly had a huge amount of money to hand when it needed special effects. I am well aware that the special effects for the following season’s The Ark in Space amount to some bubblewrap and green paint. There is an art to watching many of these classic stories, and that art involves being wilfully blind to the fact that the special effects aren’t up to scratch. Beyond that, it’s arbitrary. There’ll always be one silly special effect that undermines an otherwise impressive episode – which special effect and which episode will vary from person to person.

However, Invasion of the Dinosaurs makes the special effects the whole point of the exercise. The title tells you that you should be watching the dinosaurs. Malcolm Hulke was given the brief to write a story about dinosaurs in contemporary London. There might be a plot underneath it all, but the serial expects that you are here for the dinosaurs. And, if you are…

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

A smashing time…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Ark in Space, art, Barry Letts, bbc, Brigadier, Chromakey, Dalek, Dinosaur, doctor, DoctorWho, Finch, Invasion of the Dinosaur, Jon Pertwee, London, Malcolm Hulke, Mike Yates, Online Writing, Sarah Jane Smith, science fiction, Special effect, tardis | Leave a comment »

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Too Short a Season (Review)

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and also next year’s release of Star Trek: Into Darkness, I’m taking a look at the recent blu ray release of the first season, episode-by-episode. Check back daily for the latest review.

Too Short a Season falls back on one of those classic Star Trek stand-bys, the story of a dangerously obsessed senior officer who proceeds to put the lives of the crew at risk in order to feed his own ego. I’ve always found it hilarious that Starfleet seems to have truly terrible psychological screening, or maybe they just kick the more unreliable officers upstairs. After all, while Admiral Jameson is clearly a sandwich short of a picnic, at least he’s out of the line of fire. Too Short a Season winds up seeming like quite a trite episode, despite the fact that some of the elements are arguably intriguing on their own. It feels a little too safe, a little too comfortable, and far too predictable for its own good.

A shady character…

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Filed under: The Next Generation | Tagged: Brent Spiner, Clayton Rohner, Earth, Game, iran, Iran-Contra, Iran–Contra affair, james t. kirk, Middle East, Next Generation, picard, Q Who, Special effect, star trek, Star Trek Next Generation, star trek: the original series, Starfleet, Technology, Tracy Tormé, Where No One Has Gone Before | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Omen

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Darren

A whole bunch of ropey sequels and a dodgy remake aside, The Omen remains a rather wonderful little Satanic thriller, and a fantastic horror movie in its own right. The sixties and seventies were populated with reproductive horrors like Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen, and I think that there’s a reason that The Omen has endured. More than three decades after its original release, The Omenremains a superb example of seventies horror at its very finest.

Not quite father-of-the-year material…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Billie Whitelaw, Damien, Damien Thorn, film, Gregory Peck, Horror film, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Movie, non-review review, Omen, patrick troughton, r eview, Robert, Robert Thorn, Rosemary's Baby, Satan, Special effect, Thorn, United States, United States Ambassador | 2 Comments »

Win! Tickets to the Jameson Cult Film Club Screening of Jaws (27th November)

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Darren

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water… JAWS swims into town.

Jameson Cult Film Club is coming to Dublin’s ‘Amity Island’ for a spectacular screening of Spielberg’s iconic shark thriller, JAWS on Tuesday 27th November 2013.

Attendees lucky enough to hook tickets to this event will be treated to much more than a typical screening, as actors, live theatre and special effects timed perfectly with on-screen action help to create an electric atmosphere throughout the screening.

Re-live the suspense, fear and drama of this cult classic from the moment you arrive on ‘Amity Island.’

If you would like to join Chief Brody at this exclusive Jameson Cult Film Club screening of JAWS and win some tickets for you and three of your mates, then simply complete the below quote from the movie:

This competition is now closed. The winner will be notified shortly.

Check out www.jamesoncultfilmclub.ie for details and register for the chance to win free tickets to the screening on 27th November. If you are not lucky enough to bag tickets to the screenings, you can buy the newly released JAWS on Blu-ray now.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Amity Island, Blu-ray Disc, Brody, Cult following, dublin, jaws, Record label, Screening (medicine), Special effect, steven spielberg, Universal Studio | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Blob (1958)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Darren

I’m surprised that The Blob doesn’t get more love as a late-fifties creature feature. It has all the right ingredients, from a compelling monster, a clever central metaphor and a dashing lead in Steve McQueen. Sure, the special effects haven’t aged well, and the movie occasionally veers into the realm of cheese, but it is a wonderful example of type of monster movies American studios used to churn out during the fifties – seemingly disposable little horrors that ended up a lot smarter and more sophisticated than most viewers took them for.

It came from outer space...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 1950s, Binary large object, Blob, business, Database, Drinkbox Studios, Earth, Google App Engine, Jeff Sharlet, non-review review, PlayStation Vita, review, Special effect, Star jelly, steve mcqueen, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, The Blob, United States | 4 Comments »

My Best of 2011: Rise of the Planet of the Apes & Hailing Caesar…

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Darren

It’s that time of the year. To celebrate 2011, and the countdown to 2012, I’m going to count down my own twelve favourite films of the year, one a day until New Year’s Eve. I’m also going to talk a bit about how or why I chose them, and perhaps what makes this list “my” best of 2011, rather than any list claiming to be objective.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is number seven. Check out my original review here.

If you had told me last year that one of the best summer blockbusters would be a prequel to The Planet of the Apes, I would have laughed at you. Hell, I’m still chuckling a bit now, trying to get over how such a strange concept on paper managed to work so well. After all, a movie about a bunch of damn dirty CGI apes taking their share of the planet from us humans, led by a chimpanzee on Alzheimer’s medication, sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And yet, for some reason, it works incredibly well. I’ll concede that the plot is a bit ropey, and the human characters are quite underdeveloped, but I think Rise of the Planet of the Apes managed to grab its audience so well purely because it creates a fascinating and compelling three-dimensional lead character who we completely understand to and relate to.

Did I mention that the lead character is a CGI ape?

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: andy serkis, best of 2011, Caesar, Caesar (monkey), Christopher Nolan, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, david fincher, James Franco, Julius Caesar, my best of 2011, my favourite films of 2011, planet of the apes, rise of the planet of the apes, Special effect | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Supernova

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Darren

I’m going to be honest. I like B-movies. I have a soft-spot for a nice cheesy bit of entertainment that doesn’t demand to be taken seriously, and I can forgive a movie some bad acting or dodgy special effects, if the core ingredients are at least marginally interesting. Hell, I actually honestly enjoyed Event Horizon, something not too many other people will confess to. However, watching Supernova, a surprisingly lame rip-off that comes from a handful of directors (including Francis Ford Coppola), I found myself struggling to find anything to remotely enjoy. Instead, I spent most of its relatively short runtime counting down the seconds until it was over.

Guess which one of these gives the least mechanical performance...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, film, francis ford coppola, James Spader, Movie, non-review review, Peter Facinelli, review, Special effect, Supernova, Tom & Jerry, White dwarf | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Jurassic Park

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Darren

Jurassic Park is one of the “big” blockbusters which defined the nineties. It’s easily recognisable and has thoroughly entrenched itself deep in popular culture – along with Independence Day or Terminator 2. Also, like the two aforementioned films, it’s actually quite good. Of course, coming from director Stephen Spielberg, the man who invented blockbuster cinema with Jaws, can’t hurt.