Sunday, 29 April 2012

Saturday, 28 April 2012

THE AVENGERS ****½

aka Avengers Assemble
USA: Joss Whedon, 2012

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Kudos to Joss Whedon. THE AVENGERS proved to be as resoundingly entertaining and epic as a HUGE blockbuster encompassing an ensemble cast could be. Surprisingly but undoubtedly my favourite film of 2012 so far.

The most pleasing aspect of the film on a personal level was the handling of The Hulk. Not only does he get to play more than a cameo, he finally gets to be a hero.

Enough talk... Go see it!

The Count's Verdict: Marvel bring one of the swiftest (4 or 5 years) film franchises ever to a near perfect climax leaving the legacy of a rich and entertaining cinematic universe which doesn't destroy the heritage of the comics.

Saturday, 21 April 2012

Friday, 20 April 2012

Thursday, 19 April 2012

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

MOVIE MATTERS MINI #1 - WHAT WE'VE BEEN WATCHING

Movie Matters returns with the first in a series of mini-episodes designed to bridge the gaps between our more traditional and time-consuming "themed" episodes. The mini-episodes dispense with the likes of the Blu-ray Hall of Fame and upcoming releases section in favour of a more informal, unstructured discussion about various film-related topics. In this episode, co-hosts Lee Howard and Michael Mackenzie discuss various films and TV shows they've been watching recently and play the final remaining listeners' "Top 10 of 2011" MP3 list.


The music sampled in this episode is from THE WOMAN IN BLACK and THE KILLING.

Created by Lee Howard & Michael Mackenzie
Edited by Michael Mackenzie

Friday, 13 April 2012

INSIDE ****

Original Title: À l'intérieur
France: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, 2007

Thursday, 12 April 2012

(*) DEEP RED *****

Original Title: Profondo Rosso
Italy: Dario Argento, 1975

Tuesday, 10 April 2012

Saturday, 7 April 2012

THE HUNGER GAMES **½

USA: Gary Ross, 2012

IMDB reference

Having not read the book or followed the media discourse, I went into the cinema with an open mind. My main attraction to the film was to see Jennifer Lawrence in a lead role in a big film. After a needlessly overlong two hours twenty minutes, I came out thinking what a shame it was that the kernel of a good idea - albeit unoriginal - this film promises is never fulfilled due to its blatant courting of mainstream acceptability.

THE HUNGER GAMES should be a full on gore-fest with hard, biting SF satire. Instead what you end up with is a clumisily (shaky-cam) directed and heavily thematically diluted reworking of THE RUNNING MAN and BATTLE ROYALE sanitised and made bland for the broadest audience possible.

No doubt it'll go on to be an enormous hit with early teen TWILIGHT generation and further cement Lawrence as a rising star. Sadly, for anyone over its 12A rating THE HUNGER GAMES will leave you pondering what might've of been if the studio and filmmakers had delivered on the dark dystopian promise the material and the texts that inspired it undoubtedly offered.

The Count's Verdict: There is a decent genre movie in here somewhere it just gets swallowed by the safe and shameless studio polish heavily applied the longer the film goes on. Jennifer Lawrence is watchable as always but isn't asked to extend her range far here. A missed opportunity although I concede I'm not the target demographic for this film.

Friday, 6 April 2012

KUNG FU PANDA ***

USA: Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, 2008

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Thursday, 5 April 2012

THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET ***

Original Title: La flor de mi secreto
Spain/France: Pedro Almodóvar, 1995

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KIKA **½

Spain/France: Pedro Almodóvar, 1993

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Wednesday, 4 April 2012

PARKS AND RECREATION - SEASON 3 (8/10)

USA: Various Directors, 2011 (Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur)

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Sunday, 1 April 2012

THE KILLING - SERIES 2 (8/10)

Original Title: Forbrydelsen II
Denmark: Various Directors, 2009 (Written by Søren Sveistrup and Produced by DR)

IMDB reference