video games | the m0vie blog

X-Men: Inferno (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Darren

With our month looking at Avengers comics officially over, we thought it might be fun to dig into that other iconic Marvel property, the X-Men. Join us for a month of X-Men related reviews and discussion.

I don’t like Inferno. There, I said it. There have been dry patches in Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men run before, and some would argue that his work following Inferno would be quite esoteric, but Inferno has always represented, to me at least, the creative low-point of Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men run. That doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate it for what it is, or acknowledge the care with which the writer crafted it, but it is just too much of a big random mess to really enjoy it. It’s a disjointed crossover that resolves the long-running Madelyne Pryor mystery that Claremont had been weaving through the book, but also features demons and goblins for some reason. It’s just a great big mess.

There’s a Storm comin’…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Act of Vengeance, chris claremont, Claremont, cyclops, dark phoenix saga, Empire State Building, games, inferno, Jean Grey, John Carter, Louise Simonson, Madelyne Pryor, Mister Sinister, Orphan Maker, Tina Turner, uncanny x-men, video games, wolverine, x-men, x-men: inferno | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Three Colours Red

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Darren

This week we’re taking a look at Krzysztof Kieślowski’s celebrated “Three Colours” Trilogy. We’ll be publishing reviews on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so check back and sound off.

Three Colours Red has been described as “the best film among equals”, and it’s a position I can’t quite bring myself to disagree with. While I adore the beautiful synergy between the colour, the imagery and the mood of Three Colours Blue, I think that the final film in the trilogy perfectly captures the essence of what director Krzysztof Kieślowski seems to have been trying to accomplish. Three Colours Red beautifully ties together his central themes about the way that people relate to and interact with each other. It’s a film that works well be itself, viewed in isolation, but it’s also a fitting end to a piece of cinematic history. And, like so much of Kieślowski’s work, it’s dense without being oblique and elegant without being exclusive. For all we talk about the depth of meaning in the work, it’s just an astoundingly well-made piece of cinema.

A model citizen?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 3 Colours Red, action, art, Color, film, games, Irène Jacob, Kieślowski, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Peter Bradshaw, Secondary color, The Three Colors Trilogy, Three Colors: Blue, Three Colors: White, three colours blue, three colours red, trois couleurs rouge, Valentine, video games, voyeurism | Leave a comment »

Doctor, Who?

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Darren

Believe me. Just believe me for twenty minutes…

My blu ray copy of Doctor Who arrived today and I am delighted. I’ve already written a review of the fifth season (and the Christmas special), but I loved it to pieces – despite its considerable flaws. I’ve done a bit of revisiting today and shall likely continue to view the episodes again later into the week. Anyway, just because I feel like celebrating, here’s a little piece of artwork I found on-line from artist Christopher Jones. I figured it was worth sharing.

Men and their screwdrivers...

Filed under: Television | Tagged: BBC America, Charles Dickens, christmas, Christmas Carol, doctor who, Eleventh Doctor, games, video games | Leave a comment »

Trailer Park

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Darren

I was delighted over the weekend to be asked to take part in a joint blog post with the rather wonderful Frank over at the Pompous Film Snob, outlining my favourite trailer and why. The article’s well worth a look and features some fantastic contributions. There’s a lovely selection right there. Anyway, he got me in the trailer frame of mind and I thought I’d maybe just post some of my favourite trailers for non-movie-things here, as a kind of a spin-off.

This post is rated "A" for awesome...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: film, Movies, parodies, Television, trailers, video games | 4 Comments »

Game On: The Video Game Curse…

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Darren

Prince of Persia is coming soon. You can’t miss it, what with all the airtime they’re filling the television channels with, and all the movie specials. The movie is what it is – it’s a cynical attempt to cash in on the retro-chic of the old swords-and-sandals pulpy serial adventures in the same way that Pirates of the Caribbean originally did, while remaining anchored to a property with at least some geek recognition attached. It isn’t by any stretch of my imagination a must-see movie this year (not even making it into my top ten most anticipated films), but it looks it might manage to do what it says on the tin. It might offer a distracting low-brow Middle-Eastern-themed romp with an effective cast and competent direction masking what’s undoubtedly a weak premise. However, the movie has one major fact playing against it: it’s a video game adaptation. And those have something of a dodgy history in Hollywood.