Posted on September 15, 2012 by Darren
I see ‘Keep Out’ signs as suggestions more than orders.
– the Doctor
To be fair, it’s very clear that these two annual trips to North America have been an attempt for Doctor Who to “break” into the market place over there – to provide viewers with something recognisable as a gateway to a uniquely British television show. While the American backdrop of The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon added some wonderful stylistic touches, and a nice juicy role for President Nixon, A Town Called Mercy feels like a more overt attempt to tell a distinctly “American” story within the framework of the show. Borrowing more than just its aesthetic from the setting, A Town Called Mercy is also decidedly American in theme and tone.
A gunslinger built…
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: a town called mercy, america, american mythology, archetypes, bbc, doctor who, doctor who: a town called mercy, old west, review, Television, toby whithouse, western | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 23, 2011 by Darren
Well, blockbuster season is really kicking into swing at the moment. Next week will see the release of X-Men: First Class, which will be the second major superhero movie of the summer, following Branagh’s superb Thor. There are two more due to touch down before the end of the blockbuster season, Green Lantern and Captain America: The First Avenger. It’s fascinating how large the superhero genre has grown in recent years, to the point where one might legitimately argue that it has subgenres. Part of me wonders if this particular blockbuster fad is approaching its climax – if the superhero movie might out-stay its welcome, and go the way of the Western.
Is the superhero genre's blackest night ahead?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Batman in film, captain america: the first avenger, Christopher Nolan, Dolph Lundgren, films, genre, green lantern, Movies, richard donner, sam raimi, superhero, superheroes, western, X-Men (film) | 12 Comments »
Posted on March 3, 2011 by Darren
I quite enjoyed Gore Verbinski’s Rango, even though I was never quite sure what to make of it. While it isn’t quite as strong as the typical Pixar fare, the film compares rather well with some of Dreamworks’ better output over the last number of years.
A prickly customer...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animation, bill nighy, cgi, Ennio Morricone, films, Gore Verbinski, Jack Sparrow, johnny depp, Movies, non-review review, Rango, Raoul Duke, rattlesnake jake, review, sergio leone, western | 8 Comments »
Posted on July 1, 2010 by Darren
We all know the story. Artists are apparently particularly self-destructive, especially those who write country and western songs. Crazy Heart isn’t exactly a boldly original film by any stretch of the imagination – in fact, it’s typically predictable up until the end – but it does have a thing or two working in its favour, which elevates it just a bit above these almost conventional films. The first is a rather endearing soundtrack which is – in many ways – better written than the film itself. The second is Jeff Bridges.
Jeff Bridges plays your heartstrings...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: bad blake, biopic, colin farrell, country, country and western, crazy heart, film, jeff bridges, maggie gyllenhaal, Movies, music, non-review review, otis blake, review, soundtrack, western | 5 Comments »
Posted on June 8, 2010 by Darren
Early in the movie, our anonymous bounty hunter, Blondie or The Man With No Name or whatever you want to call him, wanders into a tavern looking for his target. Identifying the bandit gambling at a table, inches from an impotent sheriff, the hunter wanders over to his mark. He silently grabs the cards and starts counting them out. The hardened criminal stares up silently, and he plays along. The game is poker. The two men settle their hands and trade their cards. The villain lays out his cards on the table. It looks good, and then the stranger reveals his cards. Of course, his hand is better. The gambler at the table looks up to this drifter who has so silently intruded on his game. Apparently behind the audience, he asks what the stakes were. As it always is in stories like this, “Your life.”
You know how it ends.
Sometimes you have to take the Good with the Bad...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Clint Eastwood, deconstruction, dollars, eastwood, films, for a few dollars more, Movies, non-review review, review, sergio leone, western | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Darren
Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
We live in a spaceship, dear.
So?
– Wash and Zoe, Objects in Space
Joss Whedon writing a science fiction show – a science fiction western, to be precise. Doesn’t that excite you? Just a bit? Well, it should, because they’re just so… very… pretty. Huh? Look at that chiselled jaw!
And yes, I am already quoting it. It’s going to be a fun review.
Male bonding... Or bondage, I'm not sure...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: firefly, joss whedon, nathan fillon, review, science fiction, serenity, Television, western | 13 Comments »
Posted on February 19, 2010 by Darren
This article begins with a massive disclaimer. I keep a pile of salt in my backyard because I need to take every planned project from Quentin Tarantino with a grain of salt. It build up after all the Kill Bill, Vol. 3 and Casino Royale rumours. Anyway, Tarantino has a new project planned – a Western. But, being the man he is, it certainly isn’t going to be your average gun-slinging morality tale:
I’d like to do a Western. But rather than set it in Texas, have it in slavery times. With that subject that everybody is afraid to deal with. Let’s shine that light on ourselves. You could do a ponderous history lesson of slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad. Or, you could make a movie that would be exciting. Do it as an adventure. A spaghetti Western that takes place during that time. And I would call it ‘A Southern.’
It’s certainly a novel take on the genre, right?
There are two kinds of people in the world: John Wayne people and Clint Eastwood people...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: film, inglourious basterds, Movies, quentin tarantino, southern, the underground railroad, western | 7 Comments »
Posted on October 12, 2009 by Darren
It’s a funny world. But it has always been a funny world and it’s arrogant to presume that the world waited until we got here to go and get itself in a mess. Sure, some of us carry the fire off into that night, but it’s a very cold and very dark night and all we have is faith that there is an even greater fire out there waiting for us. No Country For Old Men is a stunning film – an odd fusion of the Coen Brothers with Cormac McCarthy which manages to say a hell-of-a-lot without weighing itself down with too much exposition or dialogue. It’s a great film which realy stands out even amongst the Coens’ already-impressive filmography.
Yes, it's a silencer. On a shotgun.
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adaptation, anton chigurh, best picture, best picture oscar, book, coen brothers, cormac mccarthy, drama, film, javier bardem, josh brolin, Movie, Movies, no country for old men, non-review review, review, the coen brothers, thriller, tommy lee jones, western, woody harrelson | Leave a comment »
Posted on September 23, 2009 by Darren
That was fun. Really, pure unadulterated fun. A skewed trip through the Sergio Leone Westerns with the ingenuity of Raiders of the Lost Ark thrown into the mix, filtered through a modern Tarantino-esque filter of pop cultural awareness and thirst for action and violence. It’s a jumble of a million and one different things, a fresh and mostly original cocktail that leaves a rather pleasant taste in the mouth. If it doesn’t quite measure up to the classics it seeks to emulate, it can take great pleasure in the fact that it is a much more fitting tribute than anything Hollywood has produced in the last two decades.
Naked gun...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Byung-hun Lee, film, Ji-woon Kim, Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom, Kang ho-Song, korean cinema, Movies, non-review review, review, sergio leone, the good the bad and the ugly, the good the bad and the weird, the good the band & the weird, western, world cinema | Leave a comment »
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