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Movies (duplicate thread)
saw THE SOCIAL NETWORK over the weekend. it was good, but there was so much hype over the movie I left wondering what was the big deal.
I watched the remake of Death at a Funeral this weekend, out of sheer curiosity. How could they remake it so quickly? How could it work without the Britishness?Answers: They shouldn't have. It didn't.
It was like an American Idol audition version of a good song. All of the same jokes were there, but told in really loud voices, with explanations following in case you couldn't understand the nuance ("I'M A PHARMACY STUDENT, SO I MADE SOME FANCY PILLS, LIKE ACID MIXED WITH ACID.") Every scene was there, but the beats were off, so the surprising things were no longer surprising, and the funny things were no longer funny, and the grossout stuff was played for more grossout. There was a superfluous added plotline about the main character's wife (and mother) wanting a baby NOW, funeral notwithstanding. Luke Wilson played the cad as a likeable-if-self-centered guy who had apparently dated Zoe Saldana's character for TWO MONTHS, rather than one drunken hookup, which throws her own judgement even more into question.
Chris Rock was actually the only redeeming thing about the movie. James Marsden did ok too, but he's no Alan Tudyk.
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More kid torture...
Back in the Dark Ages, when cable television first reared its ugly head in and around Detroit, me and Jonesy welcomed our local provider's sales people with open arms and a cold Molson. They politely declined the suds, but appreciated the sentiment.
We wound up with a basic-cable package and an introductory offer of all available movie channels for 90 days - which worked out well because we lived like vampires back then anyway - but someone downtown fell asleep at the switch and we enjoyed the fruits of their blunder for well over a year until we had to enter a service call, at which point we came crashing back to earth. On the bright side, our electric bill plummeted dramatically.
So we watched a lot of "Scarface," "Valley Girl," "Urgh! A Music War," and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," all of which seemed to be on constant rotation along with this sleeper. Michael Pare shines as Eddie Wilson, a working-class jamoke from the Jersey shore, whom we meet via a series of flashbacks to the early 60's. He has the black leather jacket, the attitude, and even a band, but the planets don't align until he meets Frank Ridgeway (Tom Berenger), the "Word Man," a real college graduate who knows how to spell Rimbaud. With Wilson's tunes and the Word Man's lyrics, Eddie and the Cruisers climb the charts. With success in their grasp, however, Eddie drives his car off a bridge and his body is never found. The end.
Not really. Flash forward 20 years when an entertainment reporter (Ellen Barkin) convinces her editor that Eddie may have faked his death in order to disappear, perhaps unknowingly providing the inspiration for Ritchie Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers in the process. The key to the mystery, she decides, are tapes of the band's last, unreleased album, "A Season in Hell."
I won't spoil the ending, but "North by Northwest" or "Citizen Kane" this is not. It will, however, keep you guessing while the acting and ambience take you back. And for those who like Bruce Springsteen soundalikes, John Cafferty's original music sure makes things go down easy. For those who don't, look away now.
More kid torture...
Back in the Dark Ages, when cable television first reared its ugly head in and around Detroit, me and Jonesy welcomed our local provider's sales people with open arms and a cold Molson. They politely declined the suds, but appreciated the sentiment.
We wound up with a basic-cable package and an introductory offer of all available movie channels for 90 days - which worked out well because we lived like vampires back then anyway - but someone downtown fell asleep at the switch and we enjoyed the fruits of their blunder for well over a year until we had to enter a service call, at which point we came crashing back to earth. On the bright side, our electric bill plummeted dramatically.
So we watched a lot of "Scarface," "Valley Girl," "Urgh! A Music War," and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," all of which seemed to be on constant rotation along with this sleeper. Michael Pare shines as Eddie Wilson, a working-class jamoke from the Jersey shore, whom we meet via a series of flashbacks to the early 60's. He has the black leather jacket, the attitude, and even a band, but the planets don't align until he meets Frank Ridgeway (Tom Berenger), the "Word Man," a real college graduate who knows how to spell Rimbaud. With Wilson's tunes and the Word Man's lyrics, Eddie and the Cruisers climb the charts. With success in their grasp, however, Eddie drives his car off a bridge and his body is never found. The end.
Not really. Flash forward 20 years when an entertainment reporter (Ellen Barkin) convinces her editor that Eddie may have faked his death in order to disappear, perhaps unknowingly providing the inspiration for Ritchie Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers in the process. The key to the mystery, she decides, are tapes of the band's last, unreleased album, "A Season in Hell."
I won't spoil the ending, but "North by Northwest" or "Citizen Kane" this is not. It will, however, keep you guessing while the acting and ambience take you back. And for those who like Bruce Springsteen soundalikes, John Cafferty's original music sure makes things go down easy. For those who don't, look away now.
My mother made us watch Eddie & The Cruisers a hundred times. We had the record too.On the dark side, whoa yeah.
BunWat wrote: "I strongly dislike when producers remake English tv shows and movies into American. It so rarely works - most of the time they just kill whatever was interesting or fun about the original. It jus..."The only two that have worked for me so far are The Office and Queer as Folk, both of which took on BBC shows but strayed away from their proscribed formula.
Most of the time I just cringe when I see an American adaptation coming down the pipeline.
I knew I would hate the Death at a Funeral remake, I just couldn't even imagine how it would work.
I agree completely, and the Office is a great example, since it's one of the rare instances that both versions work, but in different ways. The British version of the Office is savage -- and also more cringe-inducing. The American version throws in happy and uplifting moments between painful ones. It's actually a balance that I enjoy. I like that Michael Scott is inept in 99 out of 100 episodes but that there's one moment in one episode that shows how he got to be boss.But for the most part, American TV seems to buy British premises that fall apart without the British sensibility.
:) I was going to use AbFab as an example of what doesn't work. I remember seeing an episode of the American version and being horrified.
The British version of "Life on Mars" the American version not so.
Producers in America have actually tried three times to remake "Fawlty Towers" and each has failed miserably. You cannot replace John Cleese with Bea Arthur or John Laroquette (no offense to the latter two) and expect the same result.
Yeah, disregarding the different comic sensibilities, most of these roles involve filling some pretty big shoes. Cleese, Saunders, etc. Physical approximation isn't enough.
i loved bbc life on mars so so much.
My bassist told me the end of the American version of Life on Mars, which I didn't watch. What a ridiculous way to end it.
maybe we should just spoil it to stop anyone thinking about watching it from watching it. we would be doing them a service.
!SPOILER! THE ENDING OF THE AMERICAN VERSION OF LIFE ON MARS, AS TOLD TO SARAH PI BY HER BASSIST
!SPOILER!
They wake up. It turns out the main characters are all astronauts on their way to Mars, coming out of deep sleep and having weird dreams.
So both 2008 and 197whatever were figments of his imagination, product of a programming glitch in his dream-software.
There's something about President Obama, and how SHE said blah blah blah
END SPOILER
This concert film is tolerable as long as Neil Young is singing. He plays a sometimes-painful solo acoustic set and then an electric one with Crazy Horse that spews more fuzzy toxins than Courtney Love's bladder. The song selection is just alright and the sound is even good. But a filmmaker, this guy is not.
It opens with seven full minutes of little people (irradiated munchkins?) scrambling about in dim light on stage. And if you think this sounds pointless, they return later! Do yourself a favor. Buy the album ("Live Rust") and skip the movie.
We watched Defiance and The Thin Red Line over the weekend, they were both pretty good movies. Not sure why George Clooney was in The Thin Red Line, it was a very short cameo appearance at the end. Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber were both very good in Defiance.
Clark wrote: "This concert film is tolerable as long as Neil Young is singing. He plays a sometimes-painful solo acoustic set and then an electric one with Crazy Horse that spews more fuzzy toxins than Cour..."
Have you seen Year of the Horse? I think the edition I watched was a bootleg from South America or something, because it had the most bizarre subtitles I've ever seen.
I haven't. With or without Crazy Horse, cuz that's where I draw the line when it comes to Neil.
Barb wrote: "I watched Maramduke this weekend ... yes, I know it was a talking animal movie, but the kid liked it.
*embarassed*"
Barb, I feel your pain. Don't feel bad. I actually forked over the long green for the entire family to see it at the theater.
That's about $40 I'll never see again.
*embarassed*"
Barb, I feel your pain. Don't feel bad. I actually forked over the long green for the entire family to see it at the theater.
That's about $40 I'll never see again.
Barney wrote: "We watched Defiance and The Thin Red Line over the weekend, they were both pretty good movies. Not sure why George Clooney was in The Thin Red Line, it was a very short cameo appearance at the end..."Both Clooney and Adrien Brody initially had significantly more screen time. But they fared better than Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Jason Patric, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke, all of whose work was completely excised in the final cut.
Still, it’s an extraordinary movie, as are all of Malick’s films, imho.
My daughter is now old enough for "Chick flicks" so I am digging out some oldies. She wanted to see some musicals this weekend, we hired 'Footloose' and 'My Fair Lady'.
I thought I had seen Footloose previously but apparently not. It surprised me, I really enjoyed it. We giggled through most of the last half of the movie.
I thought I had seen Footloose previously but apparently not. It surprised me, I really enjoyed it. We giggled through most of the last half of the movie.
Mod
I haven't seen Steel Magnolias.
Would my 13 year old like it?
As long as it doesn't have Adam Sandler...
Mod
it is a classic chick flick/mom-daughter relationship flick. make sure you have Kleenex!
Today is the twins' 10th birthday. In a weak moment of drunken goodwill over the weekend, I told them we would go see:
...next week when it opens. I'm hoping they forgot about it.
...next week when it opens. I'm hoping they forgot about it.
There is nothing like drunken Goodwill!
I think it looks like a lot of fun Clark! a great cast!
I've never seen it, but there aren't a lot of movies in or about Wisconsin.
I'm down with Pink Flamingos as our representative, except for the chicken scene. That skeeved the hell out of me. More than the dog poop scene.
CO should have either The Shining or Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead...
American Movie is AWESOME and definitely an accurate depiction of a Wisconsin subculture. Extra points to HP for picking The Blues Brothers for Illinois, too.
Now it appears that I will have to watch American Movie - off to Netflix.
OK Barb and Ms. Petra, take down my address and you can come and pick the girls up on November 5th and take them to the AMC Livonia 20. I'll pay your way in and spring for concessions because I fear if I see another animated movie, my head will explode.
Speaking of animated, I will now admit that we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs last night. It had very little to do with the book. It was a little irritating and a little cute.
Never read the book, but didn't mind the movie. It's not one that I will stop at as I'm channel surfing though.
keeping on the subject of animated movies: these i watched with my sister (she's 11) this week. she loved all of them and i'm a sucker for animated movies so i did too, they were all my picks.despicable me (in 3D)
it's so fluffy!
igor
hoodwinked
millions
ponyo
I wasn't as smitten with Ponyo as I have been with other Miyazaki movies. I liked Despicable Me quite a bit.
First Blood is NOT representative of Washington state! Geez!Better picks would be Singles, with its representation of the grunge music scene, or even Sleepless in Seattle, although very few Washingtonians live on house boats in Lake Union.
Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "First Blood is NOT representative of Washington state! Geez!Better picks would be Singles, with its representation of the grunge music scene, or even Sleepless in Seattle, although very few Was..."
Yeah, Singles would make sense.
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Terminalcoffee
Books mentioned in this topic
I Am Legend (other topics)Water for Elephants (other topics)
Long Walk to Freedom (other topics)
Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation (other topics)
The Thief Lord (other topics)
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Where's Mr. Miyagi when you really need him?
If you have kids, it’s inevitable. You will watch what they watch and listen to what they listen to. Which means that at some point you'll want to put your head through drywall or a car window. And by "watch" I mean everything, including every last bloody bonus feature, one of which here includes a dead-serious Jerry Weintraub claiming this "Karate Kid" is not the same film as the original. I told the kids, "You'd better get your feet up. It's getting pretty deep in here."
Dre Parker (Jaden Smith, who can't act a lick, Ralph Macchio he is not) moves to Beijing from Detroit and it's not long before he realizes he's not killing time on the corner of Michigan and Livernois with his homies any more, Dorothy. Next thing you know, the local kids are chop-sockying his ass after he makes goo-goo eyes and dances the robot for a comely Asian violin prodigy whose name I never did quite catch. Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) saves him from what surely would have been a brain-scrambling, life-altering, closed-head injury by tearing the locals new rectums then caves to Dre's pleas to teach him the ancient Chinese art of ripping off heads and shitting down necks ala Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine. You can pretty much guess the rest.
The Chan-choreographed fight scenes are pretty damn good; let's face it - Chan could take Pat Morita and barely break a sweat if they hooked up in a loser-leave-town match, but he lacks Morita's beautiful, humble soul. And it was hard to work up the same type of animosity and hatred for these Chinese kids as I did for Macchio's blow-dried, feathered-back southern California tormenters. Those guys were a bunch of d'bags.
If you aren't convinced Hollywood is now completely and utterly creatively bankrupt, here's another signpost on the road to Armageddon.