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My 12 for ’12: Skyfall & Balancing Bonds…

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Darren

I’m counting down my top twelve films of the year between now and January, starting at #12 and heading to #1. I expect the list to be a little bit predictable, a little bit surprising, a little bit of everything. All films released in the UK and Ireland in 2012 qualify. Sound off below, and let me know if I’m on the money, or if I’m completely off the radar. And let me know your own picks or recommendations.

This is #11…

The wonderful thing about a pop culture commodity like James Bond is the flexibility that the character affords those looking to tell stories using the iconic character. Want to tell a story about high-stakes gambling? We can do that. What about averting a war between China and Great Britain? We’ve got it covered. Want to knock off Star Wars? Why not? How about pitching the character against Fu Manchu? We’re way ahead of you. Bond is flexible, and it’s one of the strengths of the character. Don’t like Roger Moore’s interpretation? Here’s Timothy Dalton. Tiring of Pierce Brosnan? Daniel Craig will be along to kick things into action.

While this makes for a fascinating study of the flexibility and adaptability of a cultural touchstone, it does create a bit of a dilemma when trying to celebrate his fiftieth anniversary. Given that Bond is so many things to so many people, can he be everything at once? Skyfall does an impressive job balancing the old and new, while managing to focus on the character at the heart of one of the most enduring cinematic franchises.

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: american beauty, casino royale, daniel craig, European Court of Human Rights, games, Human Rights Act 1998, Ireland, Jame Bond, James Bond in film, January, Lykke Li, Northern Ireland, pierce brosnan, quantum of solace, Roger Moore, sam mendes, Skyfall, timothy dalton, twitter | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Paranormal Activity 4

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Darren

I actually quite liked the opening set-up of Paranormal Activity 4. As far as horror franchises go, the Paranormal Activity series is still much more spry than most other long-running series, and there’s a certain charm to the opening hour of Paranormal Activity 4 that seem almost playful. It feels strange to talk about a movie featuring an ominous demon hunting a small suburban family in these terms, but there’s a surprisingly warm and endearing sense of humour to be found in the first two-thirds of the film. Things definitely come off the rails towards the finalé, as the movie (and the series) become too burdened down with mythology and story – and the last third certainly becomes a little over-crowded and generic, threatening to collapse under its own weight as so many modern horrors do.

While it’s nowhere near as innovative, clever or genuinely frightening as Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 4 measures up reasonably well to the standard set by the sequels, ending up much stronger than Paranormal Activity 2, and about on-par with Paranormal Activity 3.

Something to watch over me…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: @TweetYourScream, facebook, ghost, Google, Horror film, Investigators, Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively, paramount pictures, Paranormal, paranormal activity, Paranormal Activity 3, Paranormal Activity 4, twitter, United States, youtube | 4 Comments »

Doctor Who: The Power of Three (Review)

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Darren

The Power of Three is Chris Chibnell’s best Doctor Who script to date. While a little heavy-handed in the way it deals with the relationship between the Doctor and Amy and Rory, it’s still a nice change of pace. It’s a thoughtful episode exploring the Doctor’s relationship with time. (And that shared by his companions.) While the alien invasion seems a little tacked on, to the point where it only seems to serve the final pun, The Power of Three is still a solid penultimate outing for this trio of adventurers.

Thinking outside the box…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Alan Sugar, amy, amy pond, Apprentice, business, doctor, doctor who, Moffat, Piers Morgan, Power of Three, rory, rory williams, russell t. davies, steven moffat, Sugar, twitter | Leave a comment »

Have a Look at Jill Thompson’s Sandman Movie Concept Art!

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Darren

We’re big fans of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman here at the m0vie blog. It’s genuinely one of the masterpieces of the medium, and the perfect book to recommend to somebody who wants to see the very best work in the medium. There has been talk of adapting the story for film before, and I remember having nightmares about the damage that could have been done to it by an industry that hears “comic book” and thinks “superhero.” At one point Gaiman apparently read “not only the worst Sandman script I’ve ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I’ve ever read” attached to the project.

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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: art, comic book, concept art, coraline, Gaiman, henry selick, JillThompson, neil gaiman, sandman, twitter, Warner Bros | 4 Comments »

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Darren

It’s officially up! Check out the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises below and read our analysis here.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bane, batman, Batman in film, gary oldman, harry potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film), Teaser trailer, The Dark Knight Rises, the dark knight rises teaser, the dark knight rises teaser trailer, twitter | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Toy Story 2

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Darren

For my money, Wall-E is perhaps the strongest Pixar film from an artistic point of view. The Incredibles is perhaps the most consistently entertaining. Finding Nemo is the most emotional. Truth be told, I could probably find a way to rank almost every Pixar film so that it was my favourite in some way or another, because they’re all pretty much that good (although I’ll concede that Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life and Cars were merely “good” or “very good”). So, having completely picked apart any lavish praise I could shower on the film, I have a very special fondness for Pixar’s Toy Story trilogy.

Just say Jesse...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Action figure, andy, arts, buzz lightyear, Collecting, films, jurassic park, List of Toy Story characters, Movies, non-review review, pixar, Recreation, review, Sheriff Woody, Shopping, star wars, Toy, toy story, toy story 2, toys, twitter | 9 Comments »

GoSave Deals…

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Darren

The guys over at Simply Zesty sent this link on, and it’s something close to my better half’s heart, so I thought I’d share it. Basically, GoSave.ie is a website that runs deals on Irish businesses, and donates a certain percentage of their costs back to charity. It’s a very handy way of supporting the local economy, which is – understandably – a source of concern for many people in this day and age. If you’re Irish, and interested in this, you can check them out on Facebook here or by clicking the link below.

Note: I am sharing this link because I think it’s the kind of thing that might be important people viewing the blog, and I know that supporting local industry matters to some people very close to me in my personal life. I’m not earning or receiving anything in return for this post, nor does it represent a direct endorsement of the service – I’m merely sharing something that some readers might find interesting. It’s unfortunate that this sort of thing needs to be clarified, but it’s important that I am open and transparent with you, the reader, on why I post a link to a corporate website.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: business, ethnicity, facebook, Google, Simply Zesty, social media, Social Network, twitter | Leave a comment »

Make This Movie: To The Manor Bourne…

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Darren

We’re looking at the Bourne trilogy this week, with a review of The Bourne Identity today and one of the The Bourne Supremecy on Thursday, so I thought I’d post this nifty little bit of movie fun from The Guardian. They ran a competition for a Twitter pitch, pitching a movie in 150 characters or less, about a month ago. This was the winning entry:

To the Manor Bourne: Jason Bourne retires to the countryside. With violent consequences

And the poster…

Click to enlarge

I say scrap this Bourne Legacy stuff and just make this.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bourne, Bourne Identity, Bourne Legacy, jason bourne, matt damon, Paul Greengrass, the guardian, to the manor born, to the manor bourne, Tony Gilroy, twitter | Leave a comment »

Silent Bob Strikes Back: Kevin Smith & The Perils of Twitter

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Darren

I like Kevin Smith. I appreciate he’s been through a lot. He is a legend for taking a huge paycut to get Cop Out made the way that it should have been made, regardless of what you think of the result. That’s dedication to his art, no matter how you cut it and there’s not enough of that these days. He was also perfectly right in his recent airplane trouble and I can appreciate that Hollywood has repeatedly (and thoroughly) screwed him over time and again. He’s never had the mainstream success that his breakout talent deserved, and I’m fairly certain that most of that isn’t in any way his own fault. But he really needs to learn when to disengage.

Just keep those mikes pointed AWAY from Smith and it'll be okay...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: cop out, criticism, critics, fims, kevin smith, Movies, rant, tweet, twitter | Leave a comment »

How Has New Media Affected Cinema?

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Darren

The Internet has given everybody in America a voice. For some reason, everybody decides to use that voice to bitch about movies.

– Holden McNeill, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

There’s been a lot said about new media. Blogging and twitter and facebook and so on, this modern age of new media we live in. I took up blogging as a hobby fairly recently (just under a year), so I’m rather late to the party. There’s a whole host of stuff written about how social networking and the internet have drastically altered civilisation as we know it, so I thought I’d just ponder about cinema and the old, established media.