May 6, 2024
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Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Really, sir? Really?
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is the best movie Homer Simpson would ever see (he loved HAIL TO THE CHIMP, remember). It has
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
…gorilla fighting a horse; a gorilla fighting a helicopter; a monkey RIDING a horse (different horse); a CGI monkey out-acting James Franco; an orangutan & gorilla teaming up like Riggs & Murtaugh to take down cop cars; apes bribing apes with cookies…
END SPOILERS
Plus, that Draco Malfoy-looking guy really did not like monkeys.For no apparent reason.
That movie was load of fun. Good time.
hey DP – i mentioned in another thread about tickets for movie festivals and how expensive they are – it seems the
average price is 15 to 20 bucks depending on the city..
so is it worth it ? people get to see movies first but
it takes 6 months to get the same movie in normal theatres where prices can be under 10 bucks …
maybe some people get lucky and see 3 films in a row and find it worthwhile but then if you watch a movie that totally sucks for 18 bucks ..what are you going to do ?
the biggest festivals have the biggest sponsors and still
they charge big prices …
its hard to find any articles about pricing being high when the local newspapers and local tv stations sponsor most festivals – they are busy hyping all the big name actors … they won’t send their local reporter to slam
the pricing …
I thought Apes was so bad. Is it just me? Franco’s character is an idiot, and why is there a giant ape jail in the middle of San Francisco, let alone one with just three staff people? And if Draco Malfoy hates apes so much, why does he work there?!
sanj… came up a lot around Tribeca, where the pricing got more out of hand.
I believe TIFF has student pricing and of course, people buy tix in blocks, cutting the price somewhat.
It’s a tough thing, as the cost of tickets sold can’t cover the cost of a festival, but it’s still prioritized.
Some people go to TIFF only to see movies that are on their way to theaters. Others go only to see movies that may never get North American distribution. Mostly in between.
I’ve never done the fest circuit as a regular paying customer, so my perspective is a bit off personally. But TIFF’s best moments are in theaters with real paying customers, turned on to films they are really hoping will be great, really excited to hear from filmmakers (even not famous ones).
And ironically, the best moments of the most expensive fest, Telluride, are hanging around in line with people, talking about movies and what we all love and hate.
At some point, you forget the pricetag… after you’ve paid it.
Rob, it’s a difficult economy, and this means ape haters have to work with apes. Damn Teabaggers.
DP – i had a quick look at TIFF and Teluride sites –
they have got way too many packages … average TIFF price
is 19 bucks ..average Teluride price is 25 bucks ..
the Telluride package that costs like 600 bucks is sold out..
does every movie get sold out at all these festivals ?
if you went in a regular person would you get in ?
I have been told that one detail that reveals a movie was shot in Vancouver is almost any shot taking place in a back alley:
http://imgur.com/FfBay
Most other major cities in North America use underground cables for electricity in their downtown cores. Vancouver alleys all have wood poles on either side of the street with platforms hung between them. I noticed a single scene in Rise of the Planet of the Apes featuring that style of power line. Sure enough, IMDB lists Vancouver as one of the filming locations.
Back in the day when The Houston Post was still around, I had a reader tell me that largely because of what I wrote about TIFF, he decided to take a vacation from his job — he was an anesthesiologist — and attend the fest. That’s where he met a lovely young lady, and they fell in love. The next year, they attended the festival together — on their honeymoon. No kidding.
Joe – great story for Tom Hanks to make a movie .
one day i’ll win the lottery and spend like 1000 bucks
to attend some movie festival . chances are i’ll never
meet a celebrity and hate it.
also DP – get Todd Phillips to do special reports for a movie festival like TIFF …quick 10 minute reports with lots of actors and directors .. it’s totally worth it cause he is a director and has his own camera and can edit
them to be super good.
sanj – The key thing a film festival can deliver is the opportunity to see the filmmakers and actors discuss the film afterward. Yes, seeing a big film before anyone else does can be exciting, oftentimes seeing many films that will never receive a wide release (if they get released at all) is also a draw. But the thing that usually hooks someone and gets them to always come back for more is the personal contact or moment with the people that make the movies.
As far as taking the chance that you’ll see something “not good” – yeah, of course there is always that chance (whatever you consider “not good”). However, what you will rarely see is pre-processed film product. I’ve seen A LOT of flawed films in my time either doing PR for film fests or covering film fests for sites like this one. But more often than not, it’s very clear that the filmmaker “needed” to make that film. And when that is the case, I can forgive a lot – at worst, or find it very exciting – at best.
And there are countless film fests around the country – likely very near you. Thinking that Toronto, Sundance, Telluride are the only film fests worth traveling to is like thinking that NY and LA are the only cities worth living in. It’s just silly, lazy thinking.
It’s like David says: Lots and lots of civilians show up for public screenings at TIFF. Over the years, I’ve stood in line with Toronto locals who’ve told me that they take off from their jobs 1-2 weeks every year just to attend the films. Now that there are so many press screenings — for which, don’t get me wrong, I’m enormously grateful — I don’t get to attend as many public screenings as I used to. And that’s a shame, because some of my happiest memories of TIFF involve public screenings. Back in the day when Midnight Movies were shown at the Bloor, there was a screening of Hellraiser II that was one of the wildest festival events I’ve ever attended. Seriously: The audience was revved up like the crowd at a ’70s heavy metal band concert — all that was missing was the flicking of cigarette lighters.
BTW: I know we’ve had some loose talk on this blog in years past about having some sort of Hot Blog get-together during TIFF. Well, I propose that 2011 is the year we make it really happen. And I know just the place where we should meet.
http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2007/08/fox-among-chickens.html
Telluride FF shows films in the park (Abel Gance Outdoor Theater) for free, or course getting to the Colorado mountain town and obtaining a room is another matter …. so for a PG-13 film THE HELP had so many references about “eating shit” that I actually thought it outdid The Change-Up in that baby poop first scene … I’m sorry – no amount of vanilla will make shit taste like chocolate pie
John Wildman is quite right, of course. Nashville and Denver are two of my favorite regional festivals. And there are festivals like WorldFest/Houston that program virtually nothing but what I call garage-band movies — feisty small-budget productions that may lack stars and polish, but are well worth seeing. And Sanj, it’s true: At the smaller festivals, you can actually meet the filmmakers, even have a drink or two with them, and learn more about the creative process from people actually in the trenches.
Nash and Den are great but aren’t you on their comp list too as a guest speaker? Look, Telluride premieres all the important films for the next six months after, before they play Toronto, before they play NYC. You park once and walk everwhere … there’s no press junkets going on so nobody from the press gets a one-up on anybody else attending … for instance, I am walking down the street and the director of the film I saw last night gives me a high five on main street … never had a problem getting into a venue even when showing up at the last minute …
Yes, Berg, I have been a guest at both the Nashville and Denver festivals, where I have conducted on-stage Q&As with all sorts of neat folks. But, again, I’ve also noticed lots of civilians in the audiences, and I’ve been pleased to see their early response to offbeat and challenging films because these are folks who aren’t in the industry, don’t have a vested interest in box-office — but who really, truly, madly love movies. I was very happy to be on the dramatic competition jury this year at Nashville, because we voted to give Weekend top honors. I wasn’t surprised to see that film played well at SXSW — but seeing it play just as well in Nashville confirmed my guess that it will be accepted anywhere there are smart, discerning moviegoers.
BTW, Berg: Nashville appears to have a bigger audience for alt-cinema than we do in H-Town. Remember the touring retrospective of Janus Films from a few years back? Yes, it toured Houston. But did you know twice as many of them screened in Nashville?
I was going to say that maybe Draco doesn’t hate apes so much when he starts but 2-3 times of them tossing their poo on you that would change.
— ** SPOILERS ** —
Wasn’t there a line in there that the guy who ran the place was actually his father? I didn’t think he had much choice. Well, maybe he did but that would explain a lot.
One thing that stuck out as absurd, besides the whole movie itself, to me was him bringing the chicks around with the beer, as if that’s a great party spot. Sure it’d be cool if they did some like circus stunts or if the ladeez got to feed a baby one with a bottle but I’m thinking the smell alone, much less seeing them all caged up would be an instant dealbreaker for the guys.
Also, another movie where a helicopter goes down like a piñata, in almost half the effort. At least use blimps if you’re going to make them that fragile.
END SPOILERS **
Do movies setting up sequels bother you guys? It’s one thing for stories to end where the future is wide open with many paths for like a new couple but in cases with all Marvel movies setting up the Avengers, is that irksome. It was really stupid in one film earlier this summer and I’d rather things naturally play out where you wouldn’t mind seeing more but a few people I’ve heard talk recently say this is more irksome than people talking during a movie. Is it that way for you?
yeah Joe, Houston has sunk to the bottom of the last stop on the traintrack of coolness with only the totally outdated Landmark recycling films from SPC, Fox Search and Focus to the exclusion of all the other smaller distribs
yeah, a scary monday, the tea party terrorists won and they destroyed the economy to ensure a political victory next year. All election outcomes at the macro level are more dependent on the state of the economy than on policy, platform or party in charge. We were headed towards a slow, nearly stagnant, but slightly climbing upward trend. Slow recovery was bad for the tea party so they went nuclear and triggered a double dip recession/new great depression in order to achieve their goals.
we’re well on our way to a Neal Stephenson outcome. Burbclaves here we come, soon you can get your very own picture-redemption-degree with Jesus and Sarah Palin at a Palin’s Pearly Gates franchise (salvation in thirty seconds or less or double your money back!), coming soon to a former elementary school near you.
Triple, if you are a comic book fan, you want an Avengers movie. I’ve wanted an Avengers movie from the first time I picked up an Avengers comic. Seriously those films leading into a bigger film is tremendous, because it gives Avengers it’s own back story except for Janet and Hank. Who will be in there somewhere but they might be a part of the mystery Marvel films in 2014. Nevertheless, building towards a sequel is fine as long as you get the sequel, but when you have the shit you had with the ending of Super Mario Brothers. That’s just a bridge too far, man.
I’ve been to Toronto 4 times and I’m dying to go again. I’ve seen movies I’ve loved, hated, and everything in between. I never felt like I got ripped off or overpaid for the tickets. It’s about so much more than the movie. Standing and line and seeing the movies with film lovers from all over. The exuberant crowds at Midnight Madness. Walking to and from the theaters in awesome Toronto. Getting to see the filmmaker Q&A’s before the screening. I feel like the tickets are worth every penny and then some.
Geez movielocke, watch much MSNBC?
I don’t watch MSNBC and don’t think that’s a requirement to believe that the tea partiers in Congress did exactly what movielocke said.
The tea partiers did help tank the economy because of their debt ceiling stunt but I don’t think they’re smart or capable enough to pull off the kind of conspiracy movielock is talking about. They’ve damaged the country but also what ever (very slight) positive reputation they had. They now officially look like the complete policy lightweights they are. Yes, a Romney or something similar could movie in with a bad economy against Obama but no tea partier has a shot, whether Palin or whoever. If anything, what just happend means that the GOP establishment (who, unlike in the D primary, has complete say over the nominee), along with the business community, will do everything in their power to crush and discredit any far-right, looney challengers.
But JKill, if they do their part to keep the economy in a weak state, doesn’t that make it easier for a Republican to win next year? A tea partier might not be able to win a presidential contest, but the tea party members of Congress can band together to help the GOP candidate win. That doesn’t seem outlandish or too smart for them to pull off.
I went to TIFF every year for about a decade but there was definitely a loss in the magic somewhere along the line. Maybe it was Midnight Madness leaving The Bloor, maybe it was the demolition of The Uptown. It used to be such a nice LOCAL festival with all the theaters in easy walking distance but now it just seems more corporate and soulless. The ticket prices also practically quadrupled in that same timespan.
I haven’t been to TIFF in 5 or 6 years, so if it’s changed a lot during that time and not for the better, that’s a real shame.
watched Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas
When his journal of bright ideas is stolen, college freshman Bickford Schmeckler (Fugit) has to blanket the campus in order to locate it.
it’s okay Olivia Wilde was good – Matthew Lillard
was also good …. wanted the ending to be way better
5 minute feature / interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECvaryKKRc4
Terrible title. It’s on Showtime 24 hours a day. Tried watching it and gave up quickly.
To answer your Telluride question, sanj, it is like being a civilian at that fest, No free passes. No press events.
Does Telluride have all the TIFF players? No. But you can get 7 or 8 key titles out of the way up there. And it’s a joy.
Sorry to hear that ticket prices have gotten put of hand elsewhere. I guess fests figure out what the markets will bear. But yes, that must leave some people out.
Telluride is a $2k weekend, at minimum,
maybe they should let groupon take over movie prices for film festivals .. those discounts are 50% or more
if the ticket price is 18 bucks x 200 people = 3600 bucks per screen – 50% discount = 0 bucks per ticket / 1800 bucks per screen
DP – with all the big corporate sponsors shouldn’t ticket prices be cheaper ? don’t you get to see even more ads in every film fest ?
i had no idea that Telluride was that expensive
Draco did say that Brian Cox was his dad, so that’s probably why he worked there. But he seemed unusually hateful of the monkeys, like they were mudbloods, or had flinged poo at Prof Snape or something. The whole movie hinges on that guy being a dick. Weak and silly. But we had fun at the movie and that’s more than I can say for a lot of crap this year. It was silly and fun.
Actually, one perk that can be rather obnoxious at some fests is how many seats are roped off for the corporate sponsors.
Telluride is $600 for a pass, about $500 for airfare, about $200 a night minimum for accommodations (Th, Fr, Sat, Sun, and Mon, if you are going to get everything out of the weekend, as there are screenings all Monday). The maximum you can really see is 1 movie Thursday night, and 6 a day, Fri-Mon. So 25 would be the outside limit. Can easily be $100 a movie… and up… as you break it out.
Before Crazy Stupid Love i saw 2 trailers that both used the same Pink “raise your glass” song.
The new Anna Farris movie whose title escapes me and New Years Eve.
Then on TV i saw a Glee 3D ad using what song? “Raise Your Glass” by Pink.
It’s a little odd.
Yeah, trailer makers seem to suffer from groupthink.
I think the Anna Faris movie is called WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER.
How is Jason Sudeikus not in New Years Eve? I thought he was contractually obligated to appear in each New Line film for the next two years.
Right as London burst into flame, Cracked posted a Photoshop contest where one of the entries blamed a lack of “Work Ethic” for our economic problems (look for the picture of Dr. House: http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_233_one-step-solutions-to-fixing-economy/ and yeah, that’s me shooting my mouth off in the comments section a few times ). Yesterday, an angry poster at http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html?spref=fb repeats “work ethic” before trailing off into bigotry.
Yeah, the economy’s in the crapper because people are too lazy to take all those wonderful high-paying jobs that are available everywhere, so like J.K. Rowling they went on the dole to mooch off the gov’t. And yet…many, many more people were collecting benefits during the Reagan years, and the economy boomed.
Why the difference?
Could it be that there were still some decent jobs back in the day, jobs that had yet to be shipped off to China?
Interestingly enough, I also heard the term “WPA” used twice in the media yesterday, which I hope means that some of the folks in Washington are starting to realize that if capitalists are unwilling to create decent jobs, then maybe gov’t just might have to.
Edit: More boneheaded Republicans comments at http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/nebraska-ag-jon-bruning-compares-welfare-recipients-to-scavenging-racoons.php and http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/08/michele-bachmann-is-worried-about-the-renaissance.html, and more to make the blood boil at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/08/nearly-1500-millionaires-paid-no-taxes-in-2009-says-irs.html Whatever would the rich do if the Republicans actually levy a flat tax on everyone? Throw the bums out, I suppose.
Yes, Bachmann actually believes that leaving the Dark Age behind was a bad idea.
I wonder if the “Raise Your Glass” thing is a rights issue. I’ve heard the Stone’s “Gimme Shelter” tonz over the years in trailers. They’re huge hits which would make one think they’d be too expensive but when I only hear a handful of songs being repeated I wonder if it’s more than typical Hollywood copycatism.
raise your glass from glee ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REIXS44hiAg
went to see rise of the apes movie .. it was sold out.
people in front of me got the last 2 tickets. so i left .
true story.
MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan yells for 5 minutes about the economy
http://www.megrobertson.com/post/8708219865/dylan-ratigan-mad-as-hell-his-epic-network-moment
Yancy – Yeah, trailer makers seem to suffer from groupthink
How many summer films used a rift of the Inception bass in their trailers?
Thor
GL
Cap
Apes
Trannies
so my brilliant plan is to get Walmart to be
the main sponsor at TIFF ..
they can figure out a way to lower ticket prices
they an figure out a way to get cheap junkfood like pop and popcorn
they can give every movie a real poster to promote themselves
they can sell tickets at walmart to save time and lineups and figure out real demand for movie
walmart will save the movie business.
of course movie critics will hate this
And people who hate Walmart.
sure lots of people hate walmart but when ticket pirces go down they might hate it less
plus celebrities can go to walmart to do autographs and talk about movies all day long . walmart has room.
1 Brad Pitt inside a Walmart could mean 5000 people .. who would buy stuff … probably his movies …
DP – if you get a chance ask the TIFF people why no deals
with walmart ..
how come hollywood studios don’t target us the forum users ?
dozen movie blogs = 10000 active people who talk about movies ..
so instead of banner ads everywhere ..
just umm..ask us directly about trailers / posters / actors and anything else about movies ..
i guess the facebook and the twitter is more important to them than nutty people on forums…
but it would freak me out if some real human from warner bros said ..hey sanj. you like horror films. well we got
one coming up called final destination 5 ..want free tickets ?
or like hey sanj. we know you liked the dp/30 with Todd Phillips. wanna talk to the guy on the phone for 10 minutes ?
or hey sanj .. you’ve been saying bad stuff about our
movie new years eve. cut that out. it’s better than you think .
so maybe it’s a good idea for these studios to talk directly to the forum people … it’ll cost money but
then again they can outsource this to China / India..
my point is ..can a real movie person answer at least 1000 + questions a day about their studio movies ?
also i know i’m a nobody and nobody at warner bros cares what i think about any of their movies .
PaulMd (sorry for the delayed response) I do agree that a weak economy does allow for an R to have a greater chance, who would, in turn, have a polarized tea party legislature to work with. I was speaking more to the fears many on the left are having of a Nut Job-In Cheif. I also don’t personally think, even with recent events, that there is a huge chance of Obama losing, regardless of who he faces.
It’s just that they can’t, as those with the majority in the House, continue to act like they have zero responsiblity. Their debt ceiling tomfoolery had real, easily understood consequences. The extremity of their views will drown them out. This is a basically moderate country and demographically it’s almost impossible to picture what their 2012 electoral victory would look like. The GOP has established themselves as the party of white, male, straight, evangelical, old, and the fiscally neanderthal. They’ve went so incredibly narrow that they’ve dug their own graves. A silent majority of the sane will show up on election day.
Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times, Dubya raised it 9 times. Since the Dems couldn’t get that basic message out, I have no faith left in them whatsoever.
Scuttle the ship, let it sink. It’s a waste of time trying to keep the Democratic Party afloat any longer.
Oh yay, it looks like AMC’s head of programming decided success doesn’t matter, and so he kicked Darabont off “The Walking Dead” while slashing the budget for each episode:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/walking-dead-what-happened-fired-221449
“The show shoots for eight days per episode, and the network suggested that half should be indoors. ‘Four days inside and four days out? That’s not Walking Dead,’ says this insider. ‘This is not a show that takes place around the dinner table.'”
Heh, heh: “Couldn’t the audience hear the zombies sometimes and not see them, to save on makeup?”
So is it too early to predict the death of the show?
This can’t help but bring to mind every story about stupid Hollywood executives who have no idea just how dense they are. Kevin Smith’s might be the best known, but Neil Gaiman had a ton of these stories relating to comics, like the studio who bought the rights to “Love and Rockets” nearly two decades ago, a comic starring two Hispanic lesbians. The clueless exec actually asked “Do they have to be Hispanic? Do they have to be lesbians?”
Times have not changed.
Two of the biggest, and most influential, political pundits on either side, Limbaugh and Olbermann, used to be sports talk guys. They were smart enough to know they could get super rich by talking about politics like they used to talk about sports. Rah-rah siss boom bah to the Home Team and Boo hiss to the rivals. They’ll analyze policy like they analyzed players, but ultimately players like policies come and go, but the team remains. They are about supporting their team and trash talking the rival team. Policy goes under the bus when it comes time to support their team, because they are not ideologues.But rival teams are only rivals at the fan level, because their owners belong to the same monopoly.
It is interesting to look at the backgrounds of our political pundits, because almost always that background isn’t a degree in economics or politics or law. No, mostly they are former middling comedians or sports talk guys, or even former theater critics. That pretty much explains why our public discourse is the way it is.
Madam: comparing Keith to anyone of those idiots is a false equivalency. Seriously, Keith has been on Obama’s ass for years. He believes in policy and certain polices this country needs to be better. While Rush is about supporting a team and supporting policies that fuck over the American people. Please: note the difference between Keith and the right wing nitwits in the future.
Sam: Mad Men made that network what it is and it’s getting the fat cash, and thus keeping the money from The Walking Dead. Sure Walking Dead has better ratings but not better agents and that’s why it’s definitely a dead show walking, but Frank leaving probably makes up for that missing 250k, each episode.
Knucklehead execs are nothing new. Several years ago, a TV writer wrote a book collecting many of the dumbest notes he and others received from studio suits. His number one pick became the book’s title: “A Martian Wouldn’t Say That.”
Vic and Scott talk about the latest movies ..
12 minutes
Victor needs a dp/30 … he knows about comic book
stuff and can talk all day without being boring or too
geeky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCd-JaFtNVo&feature=channel_video_title
i don’t remember the oz movie cause it was so long ago.
ssomething about witches and some robot guy without a heart and some gold bricks and some mini dog
this could bomb because there’s too many famous actors ..
of course all the actors will hype up the movie to the max…
Oz: The Great and Powerful
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623205/
As a fan of Darabont and horror, I was psyched about The Walking Dead. Ultimately I found it to be a bit of a letdown though. Last night I watched the last two episodes of season 3 of Breaking Bad. I made it through the first 3 seasons in the last 2-3 weeks. The Walking Dead is definitely second-tier AMC, like The Killing. I’m much more excited about Hell on Wheels than season 2 of The Walking Dead.
Saw Another Earth last night. SPOILERS
Hated almost every single minute of it. Pretentious indie claptrap nonsense. I can’t remember the last time I hated music in a movie so much. Obnoxious, grating, and intrusive. So was having so much plot explained in radio broadcasts. Marling annoyed me. I didn’t believe or care about the romance. I didn’t buy that he would go 4+ years without wanting to find out who killed his family. Only scene I liked in the entire movie was the video game playing. Cowboys & Aliens is better.
Walking Dead mostly bored me. Dropped it after 3 episodes. Just seemed like the same old, same old to me. Not that a lack of originality is a dealbreaker with genre stuff — heck, it’s kind of expected. But I didn’t think the execution, though perfectly serviceable, was quite enough to keep things interesting. Funny that AMC’s TV-bred auteurs (Weiner, Gilligan) have more distinctive voices and styles than Darabont, at least in this instance (a moot point come season two, I guess).
I can take or leave Walking Dead. At first it sounded like a fun idea for a show, but zombies and the end of the world have already been done to death. We’ve had serious and comedic takes on the fall of civilization. We’ve had zombie movies about the attempt to hold onto or recreate civilization. We’ve had so many about the theme of the living are worse than the dead. So, really what is there left to say on a weekly basis? Maybe if the human characters were interesting, but they’re mostly pretty bland. I don’t think Darabont or anyone still working on the show really has anything new to say beyond zombies movies are cool.
I much prefer Breaking Bad, though I think it’s funny that a good portion of its audience loves it as a modern gangster story. When really, the show itself is perfectly happy to spend lots of its time on slow human drama, like the sister-in-law dealing with a broken, immobilized husband, and why that brings out her kleptomania.
My brother gave up on Walking Dead after a single episode, saying “It’s just a soap opera, with zombies!”
The show’s fatal flaw, as pointed out in the article, is that it’s owned by AMC. When the network tried to pull the same crap on Breaking Bad, the producer said other networks were more than willing to air their show.
Stylewise, the article also noted that Darabont brought a cinematic quality to the show. I noticed; it looked great. Handing the show off to “TV-bred auteurs” willing to work on the cheap will destroy that distinctive look.
I’d be all for a zombie soap opera if it was any good (True Blood is a great vampire soap opera). But as others have mentioned, The Walking Dead’s characters aren’t all that compelling, and it didn’t do enough to differentiate itself from countless other zombie tales.
Breaking Bad sure lived up to the hype. I can’t count the number of times I was on the edge of my seat, ready to scream “holy shit” at my TV. Cranston, who never did much for me in anything else I’d seen him in, has blown me away. Can’t wait to catch up with season 4.
the walking dead was really boring. i kept watching hoping it would get better, but it was painfully slow. And the final episodes where they try to explain what caused the outbreak was so labored it almost felt unionized.
very weird game
techno kitten adventure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzqac0efhL0
all them alien movies / tv shows .. i wants something
to happen..
if the aliens want water. i want to see half the ocean gone
if the aliens invade i want to see damage ..not fake damage real damage ..not the same place like nyc .
aliens always can find nyc to invade ..
if the aliens want humans i want to see aliens touture humans
i want to see smart zombies
why do people get hyped up on the same stuff over and over.. stupid comic con makes everything look cool
always its about human drama when them aliens attack .. but never see it only from the view of the aliens..
most disappointed with falling skies . every episode is the same . stopped watching it.
Was anyone else here a fan of Frank Darabont’s tragically short-lived Raines series?
I love that StellaBoy put a spoiler warning on “I fucking hated it.” That’s really the only spoiler there. Great.
sanj:
Did you ever see District 9? You get an alien viewpoint in that one (sort of).
Joe:
I thought Raines was the show Jeff Goldblum had been waiting for since Tenspeed and Brown Shoe. Good stuff.
I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry. People can be touchy about potential spoilers.
HYPOTHETICAL SPOILERS
All these Dark Knight Rises pics seem to indicate that Bane has Batmobiles and Selena Kyle has a bat-cycle.
If Selena Kyle aka Catwoman is a thief, would it make sense that she has stolen Waynetech information and sold it to the League of Shadows who are now using Batman’s own technology against him?
It’s weird how many pics and tidbits have been leaked from this shoot.
I liked Raines, didn’t realize it was Darabont. I was all set to really hate it, since it came at the heels of TOO MANY “I see dead people” shows. But Goldblum really sold it, and I thought it was an interesting conceit that the guy was in therapy and still hallucinating.
It’s really too bad that there seems to be no room at the networks for these intelligent, alternative, non-Jerry-Bruckheimer police procedurals. The other show that I really loved with an unusual detective was Life. Great leads, great premise, great crimes-of-the-week, great role for Adam Arkin, gorgeously produced, AND regular cameos for Christina Hendricks. Two seasons? Really?
Pete B: Here’s a post I wrote about the show, with links to full episodes (including the pilot directed by Frank Darabont).
http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2007/04/raines-came-and-left.html
I was very pleasantly surprised by Final Destination 5. I suspect it will play best with long-time fans of the franchise, who will appreciate the ingenious ending. I don’t want to say more because I’m afraid I’ll slip and post a really unforgivable spoiler. (Sort of the like the NYT critic who gave away the final twist of the Raines pilot in the FIRST PARAGRAPH of her review.) Suffice it to say that if you’ve enjoyed any of the previous Destination films — especially the first one — you’ll likely like this one.
Pete B and NDB: I have to admit that when they announced Jeff Goldblum was joining Law & Order: Criminal Intent as a regular, I was hoping he’d carry over his Raines character to the series, kinda-sorta like Richard Belzer carried John Munch over from Homicide: Life on the Street to Law & Order: SVU. Call me a dreamer…
Was just looking at your review Joe. I can’t wait to see it. I love the first two and even 3 & 4 have their charms despite being significantly less fun and inventive than 1 & 2. Former Office guest star and FD5 lead Nick D’Agosto was in my graduating class back in 2001.
Joe: I have never watched a single ep. of any L&O series. The only thing I really know about Goldblum’s participation is every time he shills on the Colbert Report.
Homicide was a really good show.
i really liked District 9 – they tried something different
… they should have made Distict 10 or whatever faster ..
people forget easy ..plus it should be on free basic cable by now ..
Neill Blomkamp has Elysium coming out with Matt Damon in 2013.. nobody knows what that film is about .
if space aliens want our resources – water or humans or gold ..i want to see the giant spaceships where they put
all this stuff in …all these films lack the details
DP – phone up NASA and get a dp/30 with the space aliens they have hidden over there .
I would have to rank Homicide right up there with The Fugitive, St. Elsewhere, Harry O and Fawlty Towers as one of my all-time faves.
Joe:
I had thought the same thing that the Raines character would be on L&O: Criminal Intent. I was disappointed when it wasn’t. That would have been interesting.
Especially had they had Raines interact with Goren.
Pete B: EXACTLY what I thought. And hoped. Can you imagine Goren being spooked out by SOMEONE ELSE’S eccentricities?
Well, The Walking Dead was never presented as an action picture–considering it’s based on an ongoing comic that’s already up to issue 87, there will obviously be no quick conclusion anytime soon.
So yes, it is a soap opera.
(Hard to believe that critics gave Mary Shelley a thorough thrashing over the very idea behind “The Last Man”, considering it laughably absurd to even think that mankind might die out. Her response was so ingratiating, so eager to please these idiots that it was rather sad.)
Seeing big cities go boom has grown rather boring; I guess Thor tried to go in the other direction but I never saw it so I have no idea how successful it was.
Cracked had an interesting piece on alien invasions, suggesting a half-bright force intent on devastating the U.S. would choose to attack…the Middle East. With petroleum energy gone, the whole country would grind to a halt in a matter of weeks.
anghus – If the fan-theory about the character Cotillard is really playing, as opposed to the one she’s announced to be playing – a rumor more or less confirmed by some of the set photos (trying to remain vague for those who don’t like spiolers) then I’d wager Cotillard is responsible for the Tumbler(s) being there.
I liked RAINES.
Pete B.: A friend of mine was a producer on TENSPEED AND BROWN SHOE. Would love to see that one again — I don’t think I ever saw all the episodes.
Yeah I really hope 30 minutes or less kills FD5 because that series is such a stupid piece of middling trash, that the sooner it’s killed off. The better off all of film will be. Good lord, as if Death is an asshole, who has Rube Goldbergian schemes to kill kids. Those movies are so stupid. They need to be hit by my Bufford Pusser stick.
Also, The Walking Dead has potential and unlike Breaking Bad, has a premise that doesn’t make you want to throw a shoe at your TV. Seriously, Breaking Bad is like wanna be badass TV but how dare anyone talk/write shit about the greatest bunch of bullshit to ever air on TV. Fuck Breaking Bad, there, I wrote it, and The Walking Dead may not be that great at this moment, but firing Darabont may have been for more reasons than cash. The guy creatively has a view of things that dragged that show down. Some of the more cinematic sequences come from him, but most of the detritus from the first season is also him. Removing that should lead to a better show.
If the Hollywood Reporter story is accurate, and Darabont was fired while trying to deal with unusable dailies, that doesn’t sound promising. And oddly I’ve never felt like throwing my shoe at the TV while watching Breaking Bad. Here’s to 15 more FD movies!
@Joe: Does one “need” to see any/all of the previous Final Destination films before seeing #5?
…and Darabont wasn’t even the director who submitted those unusable shots. The article suggests the network was looking for a pretext to get rid of him and finally latched onto that incident.
Kinda like firing the coach because a player dropped the ball.
Triple: It would be a good idea if you saw, at the very least, the first one. More than that, I cannot say.
Anghus – Re: TDKR. That’s exactly what I thought at first, but the current word is that Kyle’s background is from Year One, aka thief/hookah.
I think the attack is either before or after they grab the Mayor. Who it appears Bane kills in the middle of a Gotham/NFL football game at center field.
The second time I watched that clip of Hathaway’s stunt double destroying an IMAX camera, I looked instead at all the paired-off extras “punching” each other in a fakey high-school musical way and all I could think was
SCHUMACHER!
Paul, I hate you… so damn much :P!
Sam, the Enterprise will be built in Iowa, and that’s how people fight without beating the shit out of one another. Once you add some sound design… THAT SCENE WILL BE EPIC!
They were paired off so perfectly, so mathematically, I was waiting for someone to start singing.
IMO: First FD is good; second has good set pieces, but weak acting; I missed the third; the fourth is dreadful, save for some well-executed 3D. The script for that one is stunningly bad. There are roles, but no characters. I realize the 3D and the stunts are the true stars, but the you’d think the supposed humans on screen might have jobs, families, interests. Nope. This new one almost has to be an improvement.
Oddly enough, it might be a good idea if David set up a “Spoiler Zone” thread for Final Destination 5, so those of us who have seen the film can toss around ideas and opinions.
Yeah FD4 is pretty wretched, even though I still got a kick out of waiting to see how they would dispatch the hapless young people. Even for a horror sequel the acting is terrible though. While not as cool as FD 1 & 2, I still had a pretty good time with 3. Fun kills and decent acting. And yeah there’s almost no way to not improve on FD4.
FD1 is actually really suspensful, with characters you don’t want to see offed. FD2 is a lot of fun because it’s so gorey and splatstick-y, and it’s kind of an amped up sequel in the vein of ALIENS or TERMINATOR or MAD MAX. I thought 3 and 4 suffered from a similar blandness because they didn’t really alter or tweak the formula. I didn’t hate them but they felt like greatest hits collections of death scenes on repeat rather than real movies. Glad to hear the new one is good.