Film Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

When it was released in 2008, Vicky Cristina Barcelona was roundly hailed as one of Woody Allen's periodic returns to form. Having seemingly exhausted London as a subject/setting, he turned his restless eye to Barcelona, and used it as a setting for a story of love and the many forms that it can take. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scralett Johansson) are a pair of Americans who visit Barcelona together, though they do so for different reasons.

Shot/Reverse Shot: Episode 10 - The Dark Knight Rises

Following on nicely from our Blockbusters episode, this special Bat-episode of Shot/Reverse Shot finds me and Joe discussing The Dark Knight Rises, the final instalment in Christopher Nolan's Batman series. Along the way we discuss how the film works as a conclusion to a trilogy (pretty well), as a film in its own right (perhaps not as well) and we offer our thoughts on Nolan's work in general. However, since this wouldn't be an episode of Shot/Reverse Shot without a little bit of off-topic waffle, we also talk about The Big Sleep, point out in what way Batman Returns is better than The Bible, and fail to get Joseph Gordon-Levitt's name right.

We go into a fair deal of detail about the plot, so you positively should not listen to this podcast until after watching the film itself.

You can stream the episode below or subscribe to the podcast using iTunes. If you choose the latter, please listen, rate and review.

Film Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Ever since he revitalised the franchise with Batman Begins in 2005, Christopher Nolan has used the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne and the setting of Gotham City as a prism through which to view the fears and tensions of contemporary America. This was especially explicit in the second film, The Dark Knight, which posited Heath Ledger's Joker as a chaotic, unstoppable force of destruction with nothing to lose. In short, he was a nervous and unhinged personification of the spectre of terrorism, complete with recorded messages of violence, political assassinations, and destruction on a massive scale.

Film Review: Ted (2012)

Growing up in a town just outside of Boston, John Bennett was such a thoroughly lonely child that he even  envied the Jewish kid everyone else on the street would regularly beat up. So one Christmas he wished that the stuffed teddy bear he received as a present would come to life so that he could finally have a friend. Since there is nothing more powerful than a child's wish (other than military hardware) that wish came true, and John and Ted vowed to be best friends forever. Fast forward twenty-something years and John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (voiced by writer-director Seth MacFarlane) share an apartment together where they routinely waste their days getting spectacularly high whilst watching Flash Gordon. When this behaviour endangers John's chance for a promotion, as well as his relationship with his girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis), John is forced to choose between growing up, or getting rid of his best friend/stuffed toy.

Film Review: To Rome With Love (2012)

Though the films Woody Allen has made since decamping from his New York stomping ground have varied in terms of story, tone and style, one of the main consistencies has been that each new city he has visited on his European Vacation has invigorated the resulting work. This is particularly noticeable with his latest film, To Rome With Love, since, whilst it bears a number of similarities to his pretty woeful London-set 2010 film You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger - both are films set in a major European city, both are ensemble comedies, and both consist of disparate stories connected almost solely by location - the former film is actually a lot of fun, whilst the latter was a terrible chore. There's a vivaciousness to the film that suggests that Allen enjoys exploring a great city on screen almost as much as he does telling a story set in that city, and that sense of discovery then infuses the story itself with new life. The quality of his trips to Paris and  Rome suggest that a change of scenery does the veteran director a world of good, so long as he doesn't hang around for too long.

Shot/Reverse Shot: Episode 9 - Blockbusters

'Tis the season! Blockbuster season, that is, and to commemorate this auspicious occasion, Joe and I decided to discuss the pros and cons (mainly cons) of modern blockbusters, discussing the ways in which modern films prize spectacle over storytelling, and don't even bother to make the spectacle all that interesting to begin with. Along the way, we imagine a Tom Bombadil film starring Bradley Cooper, use Jaws as a massive shark-shaped stick to beat the work of Michael Bay with, and I try my hand at a Tom Waits impression, with mixed results. It's a pretty strong episode, but also a pretty long one, even by our standards. So sit back, relax and enjoy nearly two hours of  spirited negativity.

You can stream the episode below or subscribe using iTunes. If you choose the latter, please listen, rate and review.

Ante Up: Differing Depictions of Cards in Film and Television

To feed my already fervid anticipation for the third season of FX's Louie - which, so far, has been great - I recently rewatched the first two seasons. Whilst watching the second episode of the show, "Poker/Divorce", I was really struck by how, even though one of the segments of the episode unfolded entirely around a poker game between Louis C.K and his friends, hence the title of the segment, the game itself was completely incidental to the scene.

Things I Learned From Movie X: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

In the latest Things I Learned With Movie X, I consider the historical lessons to be taken away from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a film in which Abraham Lincoln chases down and kills the undead. Even though I sort of liked the film overall, there were some parts of it that drove me a little crazy when I was thinking about them afterwards, and if nothing else, these columns act as handy ways for me to work through my conflicting feelings about crappy films.

Film Review: Chronicle (2012)

Even though The Blair Witch Project did not invent or perfect the found footage aesthetic, whereby a fictional story is presented as if it were a real event recorded by the characters experiencing it, it did much to establish the style in the popular consciousness, and as a viable means for film-makers to make genre films for money that usually wouldn't cover the catering budget on a major Hollywood production. There have been plenty who have tried to replicate the style, not to mention phenomenal success, of Blair Witch since 1999, particularly since Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity and its sequels actually managed to do just that, and the majority of the found footage films from this time have been spins on conventional horror films, a development which has resulted in films of wildly varying quality (though that variance more often than not is between "not completely awful" and "just about preferable to eye surgery").

Film Review: Rock Of Ages (2012)

"I sense that Xenu is near..."

Adapted from the hit show, Adam Shankman's Rock Of Ages sets itself out as a rowdy, debauched entry into that venerable cinematic tradition, the jukebox musical. Based largely at the the Bourbon Room, a dingy rock club which, despite apparently being the home of rock and roll within the universe of the film, is always on the verge of financial collapse. Over the course of a few days in 1987, the film follows the stories of people whose lives revolve in some way around the club; the girl fresh off the bus from Oklahoma (Julianne Hough) who dreams of making it as a singer; the bartender/aspiring rock star (Diego Boneta) who falls in love with her; the owner (Alec Baldwin) and his second-in-command (Russell Brand) who are trying to keep the club alive; and the puritanical busybody (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who wants to shut it down.