Friday, July 07, 2006
Miami Vice: Site Update
With technology as it is today, when a big movie is released, we expect a top-class website to accompany it, together with all the trailers, wallpapers, and whatever else that usually comes with it. But some sites go the extra mile, and you can certainly say that about the site for MiamiVice.com, which has just updated with a huge amount of cool shit, not just about the film, but giving you a sense of context before you watch it.
Michael Mann has had a history of researching his movies as deep as he possibly can, usually going so far as to cast Police officers in them, and we're also told Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx underwent training with the DEA and the ATF to prepare them for the movie. But this is embellished by the new site, where we're taken on a trip through the different aspects of the drug trafficking trade, all with new clips from the film and some neat tricks, such as exploring Miami and the drug trade up close.
It's very impressive stuff, as you'd expect from Mann, and the clips are promising. But a word of warning: you'll have to put your real name, D.O.B. and zipcode in if you want to access this "restricted site," I imagine mostly because of the clips containing a lot of swearing, predictably from Colin Farrell. But it's worth it.
Miami Vice is released on July 28th.
Source: MiamiVice.com Continue reading Miami Vice: Site Update
Geek Pin-Up #5: Mia Sara
Do you have a kiss for daddy?
The most famous Mia who didn't give birth to the spawn of Satan, Mia Sara is known to us geeks for a variety of roles, but mostly as Sloane Petersen in John Hughes' classic 80s picture Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Her other roles include Princess Lily in Ridley Scott's ambitious fairytale Legend, and Jean-Claude Van Damme's main squeeze in Timecop. Other than that... there's not a lot to say, and I'm not that interested. What matter is that she's pretty hot, and - if I was still single - I wouldn't mind getting a shot at those Buellers. Continue reading Geek Pin-Up #5: Mia Sara
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Routh Vs. Bale: Happening?
It's funny. Superman Returns has barely been released, it's not exactly doing gangbusters at the box office, and yet people are talking about the sequel, and specifically, whether we'll see the Man of Steel go up against the Caped Crusader.
Speaking to MTV, Bryan Singer revealed that it's on his mind, but I don't think he's counting his bats just yet:
"I've thought about it for a long time — even a longer time ago, actually. But I don't know who would be the villain. I guess Batman would be the villain, but then he can't be too bad, because he is Batman. So not quite yet. ... I think Superman needs to have his own movies for a little while before that happens. [But] everybody's excited to do more... and I'm sure we'll do another one."
The closest thing we've come to like this previously was when Warners announced Wolfgang Petersen would be making "Batman Vs. Superman" from a script by SE7EN scribe Andy Kevin Walker, but that was nixed when Petersen left to make Troy. But Comic fans will note that Batman and Superman went up against each other spectacularly in Frank Miller's seminal The Dark Knight Returns, and also teamed up in the "World's Finest" episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, also known as The Batman/Superman Movie - which I highly recommend - before shacking up full time on Justice League.
But which is the way to go? You can't have one of them end up losing, because like Freddy and Jason, they have their fanbase who will complain, and Warners/DC won't risk putting off the nerds by having one triumph over another. I'd say the World's Finest team-up is the mostly unlikely option, but the two words of Singer's Metropolis and Nolan's Gotham don't seem like they mesh -- but then again neither do the two characters. But somehow I doubt we'll see this until both franchises are a bit more fleshed out.
Source: MTV Continue reading Routh Vs. Bale: Happening?
Meet TFL #1 - His Hat Is Like A Shark's Fin
Sometimes, it's nice to know what the people whose words you read look like, or what they're into. Sometimes. So in this spirit, get ready to meet our fractured clan, and cower at our normality!
Carlton Stevens
Favourite Movie: Throne of Blood
Favourite Director: Michael Mann
Favourite Quote: "For a handful of coin I happen to have a private and uncut performance of "The Rape of the Sabine Women," or rather woman, or rather Alfred, and for eight you can participate."
Who I Am: I'm only 19, so my history consists of a whole lot of nothing. I wanted to draw comics. Then I wanted to write and draw comics. Then I wanted to make movies. Then I wanted to write movies. Somewhere in there I just played Street Fighter and Tekken for ten years. I forgot what happened after that.
Now I'm just going to college and sleeping a lot.
Where I Live: Ohio. Yes, I'm sorry too. Don't ever come here unless you're Dr. Doom planning to destroy it. Continue reading Meet TFL #1 - His Hat Is Like A Shark's Fin
Trailer Park Handjob
Trailers are great. How else are we supposed to judge and therefore rip the movies that are heading our way? With that in mind, here's what's new from movie marketing gurus...
My Super Ex-Girlfriend: Luke Wilson is the average joe who manages to pull a mild-mannered Uma Thurman, only to find out she's a superheroine. Trouble is, he breaks up with her, leaving him open to a world of pain involving car-throwing, chainsaws, heat vision and Thurman hurling Great White Sharks at his apartment. Yes, you read that line right: IN THIS TRAILER, UMA THURMAN THROWS A GREAT WHITE SHARK AT LUKE WILSON'S APARTMENT.Unfortunately, the shitty player MSN uses A: will only work in Internet Explorer, and B: won't let me take a screencap, so all you Firefox nerds - myself included - will have to switch to the inferior browser in order to witness this. But it's worth it, again, because - and I can't stress this enough - UMA THURMAN HURLS SHARKS. Ticket: bought.
Hollywoodland: Formerly known as Truth, Justice and The American Way, Hollywoodland is the legendary story of George Reeves, the man who filled the tights in the 1950s Superman serials, and who apparently killed himself. But did he? Investigating is Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins is a seedy studio chief, and Diane Lane is Reeves' older lover. It looks like your standard thriller, but with the added bonus of a good host of talent in front of the cameras. Hell, I'd happily watch every movie ever made if it starred Brody.
Borat: Sasha Baron Cohen, known to legions of fans as Ali G, takes his hilarious Kazakhstani character Borat from the depths of his village - and his loving sister, the fourth best prostitute in the country - to the United States, on behalf of the Ministry of Information. The trailer introduces Borat and his country, his compatriots and his sister, and it's fucking hilarious. Cohen's Ali G lost steam after everyone found out who he was, leaving him unable to mock people as he once did, but here, he's free to be as funny as possible, all for our entertainment. Watch this trailer immediately, it's very probable this is going to be the best comedy in a long time.Source: MSN, Yahoo, Apple
Continue reading Trailer Park Handjob
Trailer: Deja Vu
Tony Scott seems to get a bad rap, mostly for making glossy pictures and experimenting with editing and subtitles (George and I are huge fans of Domino, as opposed to Andrew, who would rather spend a night with James Blunt, but separating people is what good art does, right?
In any case, Yahoo! Movies now have the trailer for Scott's latest blow-up-a-thon, Deja Vu, starring Denzel Washington in a hat not unlike the one Rick Moranis wore in his Vinz Klortho mode in Ghostbusters. The movie looks interesting, and a bit more "sci-fi" than Scott's usual fare, although I can't say the trailer blew me away. Then again, it doesn't have Brandon Routh in lycra.
Deja Vu is released in November.
Source: Yahoo! Movies
Continue reading Trailer: Deja Vu
Klingons Sneezing
So the Transformers 'announcement' teaser trailer was released onto the Internet last week and, as always, the most interesting thing about it is the reaction of all the Internet nerds who played with the breaky, chokey pieces of crap when they were kids. I believe that one of the more interesting results of the information age is that many of the barriers between artists and audiences are breaking down. We have immediate access to everything they do and the tools they use to make it. This complete levelling of the playing field (give or take $200m or so) means the true differences between us and them emerge: we are dumb.
We spent time magnifying and filtering the reflection in Spiderman's eye in the poster for Spider-Man 3 and try to convince ourselves that we can see Venom (or Venom shaped exactly like a brick wall), we argued over whether the image was in black and white, even after the studio issued a press release specifically stating the image is not in black and white.
When the Transformers poster was released, we obsessed over whether the giant eye belonged to Optimus Prime or Megatron when the makers were concentrating on the design of the eye and how menacing it should be (AICN's Quint visited Michael Bay's production offices a month or so ago and saw several designs for the poster).
And now with the trailer, we have been arguing that the tone is too serious. Oh dear. Once again we prove to be looking at entirely the wrong things, and so proving that it is entirely a good thing when nerds are kept to only bitching about the movies real film-makers create.
We are looking for seriousness in all the wrong places. A cartoon can be very serious and mature, a kill-filled horror movie can be utterly daft. If you look at only the surface details, you miss everything underneath. This is why fan-films are usually so terrible. It is depressingly predictable that Transformers fans can't tell that there is more here than meets the eye.
The trailer is using the old trick of using a real event and then explaining it using the fantastic conceit the movie wants to sell. It's pure carnival barker territory; disguising the fakeness of the 'mermaid' within a relatable and compelling story about sailors in The Indies.It exists to give people a way in to the world. The problem is that nerds have already accepted the world and so are blind to the fact that there is a giant robot at the end of the trailer. Even if this was filmed as a neo-realist drama, it would still be very, very silly on account of the giant robots.
It is tragic to have to point out that, actually, Transformers aren't real.
Also bear in mind that this mars explorer seems to have a dozen high definition cameras attached to it and that the film is being directed by Michael Bay.Nerds: relax.
Other things to think about: Does Michael Bay know how silly this film is? Even better: does he care?
Seriously now: how do you spell the transforming sound?
Finally: If the studio asks us to remove that image of Bumblebee, will we finally be a real movie site? Continue reading Klingons Sneezing
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
By Goyer's Hammer...
Here's a bit of shocking news that'll make you spit your cornflakes all over your monitor: David Goyer is writing a superhero movie! Unbelievable, huh? I never thought I'd see the day that would happen. This truly is a moment for the ages.
In all seriousness, the man who is still on Amazing Spider-Man despite having one of the worst runs ever on a Spidey book, J. Michael Stracynszki recently announced at nerdlinger event Heroes Con 06 that David Goyer is writing a treatment for Marvel's upcoming adaptation of The Mighty Thor.
While I'm not emotionally/nostalgically connected to the material at all - although Walt Simonsen's work with the character is undisputably amazing - it still amazes me that Goyer is writing every comic book movie under the sun, when there are so many better writers out there. Hell, his work on Batman Begins was terrible.
What amazes me even more is that there are a ton of great writers out there - writing comics. Who wouldn't kill to see Bruce Timm and Paul Dini take on a Batman movie following their work on the animated series, or Jeph Loeb (who actually co-wrote Arnie classic Commando) take on Superman after his take on the character in Superman For All Seasons, or Grant Morrison in charge of X-Men?
Maybe I'm just a hopeful nerd. But fuck it, it makes sense to me.
Source: Newsarama Continue reading By Goyer's Hammer...
Where Do These People Get Their Money From?
It seems everyone wants to do trilogies these days. It's not enough that people make one film, they want to make three. Well, everyone apart from legendary huge melon-headed action-auteur James Cameron, who wants to make six. Yes, that's right, SIX. Two trilogies, to be exact.
Cameron, who hasn't made a theatrical movie that didn't involve water and non-fiction since 1997's blockbuster Titanic, is looking to create the sexology (is that right?) using the same model George Lucas used for the original Star Wars Trilogy, i.e. releasing the first part, and if it's successful, making the next two back-to-back, ala Back To The Future II/III.
The first of these will be the film he's in pre-production on now, the long-rumoured Avatar, also known as Project 880. Described as a sci-fi love story (obviously breaking new ground then!), the film is apparently designed to be a self-contained story, but with material that could be expanded upon if the first movie is successful enough to warrant sequels. After that will be Battle Angel Alita, based on the Manga about a 26th century cyber-chick. Again, if the film is successful, it will apparently spawn two more sequels.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. Cameron definitely has the chops to pull off a good sci-fi flick - Aliens, The Terminator, and The Abyss are still bonafide classics - but it seems he's been in gestation with these movies for so long, it's almost like George Lucas after he made Star Wars, and look what happened to his talents after that.
I have no idea when and if these movies will actually be released, but for safety's sake, I'll say 2008.
Source: MTV Continue reading Where Do These People Get Their Money From?
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Bullshit Or Not? #1
Here's a new feature here at TFL, one where we try and examine all the rumours around movie-land and attempt to sort out the chaff, finding out which really are Bullshit or Not...
Today's items:
- Disappointed by the lack of interest in his Hannibal project, Vin Diesel will console himself by starring as Jimmy Somerville in Alan Parker's longtime on/off project Don't Treat Me This Way: The Story Of The Communards.
- Frank Darabont is looking to complete his "prison trilogy" he started with The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile with a rather esoteric choice. Darabont is reported to have contacted Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins in view to him playing Fletcher in an adaptation of UK sitcom Porridge.
- Inspired by the current World Cup fever, Tom Cruise has hired Robert Towne to write a screenplay that will tell the story of Davis Johnson, an aging American soccer player in Japan who is given the chance to play for the misfit Japanese national team, bringing together a host of oddballs as he leads them to possible World Cup glory.
- Feeling upstaged by fellow grey-rocker Keef Richards and his foray into acting in Pirates of the Caribbean III, mouthy octogenarian Mick Jagger has announced that he'll be playing the father of Dr. Teeth, of the Electric Mayhem fame, in the next Jim Henson feature, The Muppets Take LSD And End Up Using A Mars Bar On Marianne Faithful.
- The latest instalment in the ongoing Friday the 13th saga is currently on track, with news of the latest script revolving around the anniversary of Jason's death, and a cabal of Manson-esque "Jason-heads" travelling to Camp Crystal Lake to celebrate it, and inadvertently raising Jason from the dead. However, reports that New Line have titled the film "Friday the 13th, Part XI: Voorhees a Jolly Good Fellow" are sadly false... Continue reading Bullshit Or Not? #1
The Incredible Hulk Will Not Be Australian
Word's come in from a scooper at Cinescape regarding the impending Marvel remake of Ang Lee's Hulk (which will now be known as The Incredibly Non-Psychological And Pretty Much Dumb Hulk), who won't be playing the green giant, and who might.
Mmm... Hulk Pops.
So Eric Bana is out. Makes sense since, as the scooper for Cinescape points out, he was under contract with Universal and this new iteration of the Hulk will be done by Marvel as an "indie" venture. I guess we'll see how that works out. Bana was/is great, btw. But I'm not really dismayed by this news since a.) I didn't really care for Ang Lee's Hulk and b.) since watching him be absolutely amazing in Munich, I'd rather see Bana tackle more material like that anyway.Who are they looking at for Bruce Banner then? Dominic Purcell (English, but ironically raised in Australia in an attempt to make my article's header incorrect... also, Prison Break), Adam Garcia (shit, this guy is from Australia... also, Coyote Ugly), and Brendan Fraser (not Australian... and greatly underrated).
So there you go. Now find out how I can get my hands on these fictitious Hulk Pops.
Source: Cinescape Continue reading The Incredible Hulk Will Not Be Australian
Samuel L. Jackson Must Be Destroyed!
Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes?
Yes, here is the brand new poster for oddball flick Snakes on a Plane, the only movie that seems to be directly influenced by the internet. I'm assuming that means it will be full of thematic hypocrisy, whining and people attempting to show all the other nerds that they're smarter than everyone else, but that'd probably produce a much better movie that Snakes on a Plane will be.
Directed by David R. Ellis, the "genius" behind the gore-porn epic that was Final Destination 2, SOAP is released on August 18th.
Source: Snakes on a Blog Continue reading Samuel L. Jackson Must Be Destroyed!
Genocide: The Musical
The Weinstein Bros are gearing up to spring back from their break with Disney by making a film called Spring Break In Bosnia. It has Richard Gere in it. I couldn't think of a joke to do with Bosnia. And that is kind of the point.
Spring Break In Bosnia is being described as a comedy thriller about some journalists who sneak in to Bosnia to find the No 1 war criminal in the country. Hijinks apparently ensue. In Bosnia. I can't help but feel that this is another example of America's massive cultural insensitivity towards conflicts and disasters that don't directly involve Americans. It is OK to have real-life genocide, famine and tsunamis be used as the back-drops for pretty Hollywood stars to fall in love, re-discover their principles, or fall on banana skins - just as long as it isn't Americans doing the dying.
How would people react if there was a film made about a couple of randy Bosnian tourists who travel to New York to get high, get a hotdog and get laid...on the 11th September 2001?
Now Richard Shepherd is doing the writing and directing, and he made last year's The Matador, which was actually pretty good. Nothing happened, but it happened well and, for the most part, in a mature and intelligent way. And it had James Bond swearing. So maybe this film can be more like Three Kings and less like Behind Enemy Lines - with a title that corny, surely (surely!) it is a knowing wink to exactly the concerns I am raising. Nonetheless, Spring Break In Bosnia is a film that is going to have to actively prove that it isn't a wrong-headed piece of shit.
Spring Break In Bosnia has Richard Gere in it.
Source: Hollywood Reporter Continue reading Genocide: The Musical
Monday, July 03, 2006
Revisiting Freddy, Part 1: A Nightmare On Elm Street
Franchises are a huge part of moviedom, and have been for a long time. Granted, you immediately think of Star Wars and Alien, but we have Planet of the Apes, The Pink Panther, even the Fu Manchu movies. Some of them have a good reputation, others are viewed solely as hollow moolah-making enterprises, but they're a huge part of movies, so we're going to take a look back at some of the big franchises, see what's good, what's bad, what we would have done, and how they stand up today.Our first instalment takes us into the genre where franchises are the most fruitful: horror, and takes a look at a certain film which introduced the concept that even when we sleep, we're still not safe from those who would like to pull our tendons out and use us like puppets...
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm Street - somewhat unfairly - has long been seen as the movie that ended the "golden age," running from 1968 to 1984 with classics such as Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Thing, all of which took an incredibly serious and somewhat cynical edge to horror that brought the genre out of the trappings of lumbering monsters and giant ants and had it attacking not only us, but America and its policies as a whole. Along came Freddy Krueger, a demonic villain with personality and a sense of humour, who slashed his way through six - seven if you count 2004's Freddy Vs. Jason - increasingly-funny sequels and paved the way for Wishmaster, Leprechaun and other ogres that would be seen by some as killing the genre dead for a good long time.
This is a bit unfair, as unlike Wishmaster and Leprechaun, Nightmare is a genuinely good movie. Then again, it doesn't have Wicket from Return of the Jedi as a retarded Irish midget. But still, let's take a proper look at the film, and see how it's held up over the years.
Wes Craven's film opens - appropriately - with a nightmare. We see a goat, we see dark alleys, and down those dark alleys comes a man with knives for fingers and a penchant for the dramatic. He is, as we all know, Freddy Krueger, a child killer who was acquited for his crimes, leaving the parents of the children he murdered to take it on their own initiative and burn him to death. Who says parents don't care about their kids?
Unfortunately, Freddy is back, and is now taking his vengeance upon the living children of these rampaging parents through their dreams. Main protagonist Nancy is the focus of the film, as she is ridiculed for having bad dreams, until it's revealed that all the kids are having the same dream about the same weirdo with the same finger-cutlery. As she finds out more and more about Freddy, and more of her friends - including Johnny Depp! - get offed, she decides it's time to have it out with the man, and sets about doing that.
One thing you have to immediately realize with Nightmare is that it's an incredibly low-budget movie. This was the flick that launched New Line Cinema, turning it from a college distribution company to an actual studio, and as such, they didn't have the riches they have now from Austin Powers and Lord of the Rings. Because of this, there are some parts of Nightmare that suffer quite badly. Some of the effects are decent, but some are incredibly poor, such as Freddy extended his arms across the alley, which looks like a cross between a vacuum cleaner hose and the extending arm effects in Roger Corman's infamous Fantastic Four movie.
But I can't really fault it for being cheap. And there are scenes where the effects work brilliantly, mostly in the scene where Tina is murdered, which is far and away the best scene in the movie. I'm not sure what it read as in the script, but on screen we're treated to grand-guignol of the highest order, an intense and horrifying scene as we see this poor girl ripped to shreds by something we can't see. It's always hard to do these kind of scenes where someone is acting as if they're being attacked by an invisible force, and it's a big credit to the filmmakers that it doesn't look silly.
It's here that Craven returns to his roots somewhat, with a scene that - supernatural and fantasy elements aside - wouldn't be out of place in his notorious feature debut Last House On The Left. It's certainly not an easy scene to watch, and amidst all the screaming and all the blood - of which there is a huge amount - we're left almost traumatised by this act. As a way to really bring the reality of what is happening to these kids, and what they will face on their journey to defeat Freddy, it works beautifully. Unfortunately, by doing this, the film shoots its load in the first reel, following with a whole lot of grunting and groaning, but no incredible money shots as spectacular as this one. You sense the filmmakers agree, as they try and equal it later on with Depp's death, but it doesn't have the same impact.
And it makes the film pretty lopsided. You could argue that it's similar to Jaws - Chrissie's death is perhaps the most shocking attack in the film - but the film itself is designed to become a Boy's Own adventure after all the horror, so it's not the best comparison. But we have a scene that almost seems like it's from a different movie based on what comes after it. We have Nick Corri strangled by a sheet, which is neatly done but seems kind of silly, and Johnny Depp is sucked into his bed, which then vomits gallons of blood onto the ceiling. Again, a decent setpiece, but it doesn't have the impact of Tina's death.
Therefore, the meat of the movie is dedicated to Nancy and her battle. It's a brave performance by Heather Langenkemp, but she comes off like an irritating chipmunk at times, and her constant arguments with her alcoholic mother become tiresome very quickly. But to be fair to her, for such a young and inexperienced actress, she carries the movie well. But the most interesting character in the film by far is its antagonist. A certain Mr. Frederick Krueger.
Freddy is certainly a well-created monster. His past allows for a mythic quality to his character, as if Jeffery Dahmer or Ted Bundy returned from the dead to start killing, and his grimy appearance, along with his interesting choice of weapon puts him as an instantly recognizable villain, which was immediately absorbed into pop-culture iconography. Like Leatherface with his chainsaw and his blood-spattered apron, Freddy's red-and-green jumper, fedora and razor glove are well-realized choices that make him unique, and memorable. Even if people haven't seen a Freddy movie, ask them about the guy with knives for fingers and they'll say "Nightmare On Elm Street."
But what makes Freddy so powerful is his ability to enter into our dreams. As a subconscious representation of our lives, our dreams are an incredibly personal and private place, and to be assaulted in them is always a traumatic experience, at least until we wake up. But to take that mindset, where we are defenceless, and have something be able to kill us in our dreams - and therefore in reality - is incrediby powerful. It also allows for unbridled creativity where the filmmakers are concerned, or at least as much as their budget allows them to. The dreams in Nightmare aren't especially creative, nor are Freddy's methods of killing, but the immediate potential of the creative options of murdering someone in dreamland led to the series eventually trying to one-up the previous, and gave birth to the Final Destination-style way of going to the movie to enjoy seeing how people are killed, as opposed to creating good characters who you can actually root for.
But we are able to root for the characters in Nightmare, partially because of the quite brilliant way Craven designed the movie for teenagers. Teenagers have always been a mainstay of the horror audience, although during the golden-age, it's hard to see a lot of the good movies really being targeted towards that audience, and it's possible that this is why people see Nightmare as the beginning of the end for the genre, because - along with Friday the 13th - it brough the teenage audience squarely back to horror, by again putting them as the protagonists. Here we have a bunch of teenagers all going through similar traumatic experiences - which teenagers often do - only to have their parents turn round and say 'you're being silly, this can't possibly be true, you're all a bunch of dumb kids.'
This is the root of the teenage mindset - where all adults have no understanding of what the kids are going through, and can't possibly understand, whether it relates to rock music or being murdered in your dreams. The parents don't realize what's happening, they discount the kids, so the kids have to take it on themselves to prove their parents wrong and show that they can survive in the world without their protection. A rite of passage, if you will.
Going back along the tangent to Freddy again, he is the most powerful character in the film because he has personality, and a sense of humour. He thinks its a riot to cut his own fingers off, and slice his insides open, and pull his face off. The only problem is, the film presents itself so that the acts themselves are funny, intentionally or not. Seeing Freddy cut his own fingers off, only to see green blood spurt out with a silly sound effect is not in the least bit scary, and Freddy suffers because of it. The only time we really see Freddy as the powerful and horrific murderer we've been told he is, is when he murders Tina, and then, we don't see him at all.
But what keeps Freddy interesting is his history. The most intriguing scene in the film is where Nancy's mother finally reveals who Freddy really is, and what happened to him. This gives his rampage a sense of purpose, where he's not just killing arbitrarily, but instead is on a vengeful crusade getting back at the people who murdered him. I almost get the sense that he preyed on children because he was unable to prey on anyone else; mainly because of the way he fights with Nancy, which is to say, clumsily. He lumbers about like - apologies to the sensitive - someone with Downs Syndrome, and in a world where dreams can make anything happen, he's reduced to a weird guy in a sweater running after someone in an alley. And that takes away his power much more than anything else could.
The way the barrier between dreams and reality is used is interesting. Nancy is able to bring items from her dreams into reality, which she first does with Freddy's hat, and then Freddy himself, although you get the sense the rules were never really clearly defined. The final battle is represented by Nancy setting a bunch of booby traps in her house, and while they're fun, they just devalue Freddy even more as a villain, because not only is he clumsy, he also seems really, really dumb. And thus we're privy to a proto-Home Alone, with the final blow being Nancy turning around and saying that she doesn't believe in Freddy, and thus he doesn't exist. This is alluded to in a conversation she has with Depp earlier about tribes and their approach to dreams, but in the film, it serves as a final solution to deprive Freddy of all his power as a character. After all, how threatening can someone really be if they can be wished away by someone saying "I don't believe in you"?
I'm not exactly sure where the final ending is supposed to take place, whether it's in dreams or reality, but it's pretty silly, and evidential of Craven wanting a final shock, ala Jason jumping out of the lake or the hand out of the grave in Carrie. We have the kids in Depp's cadillac, all alive again, and Nancy's mother waving, before the convertible roof of the car - painted in green and black - comes forward and traps the kids, and Nancy's mother is pulled through the tiny window in the door by Freddy. It doesn't work, and just serves as a baffling footnote, and comes off especially silly because of the terrible dummy used as a substitute for Nancy's mother.
Overall, looking back at the film, I'm a bit disappointed. I don't think it's a bad film, quite the opposite, but looking at it structurally and thematically, it doesn't quite reach the potential it perhaps should have been. Freddy isn't very scary at all, but his character and the myth hold the film together, and the lack of creativity in some of the dreams, even taking budget into consideration, is a bit weak. It's a shame in some ways, because with a bit of a tune-up, it could be turned into the horror classic many hold it up as. But I just don't see it in that way.
News Round-Up: 7/3/06
Obviously, due to some of us taking vacations, and two or three of us undergoing the severe pain of hysterectomies and being unable to go and see Superman Returns, we haven't been around that much, so here's a look at what Hollywood has spat out at us this past couple of weeks.
Hooray! A few days before it was supposed to be online, DreamWorks and Paramount did us a favour by posting the Transformers announcement teaser. Consisting of your normal 'earth will be a battlefield...' type foreboding, along with shots of what really happened when the Mars Rover took a trip to, well, Mars (it actually was attacked by a Transformer!), it's not a bad teaser, although the serious tone makes it somewhat hysterically funny. But judge for yourself, and marvel that they haven't actually changed the Autobot logo.Source: Paramount/DreamWorks
Next: The folks at Latino Review have managed to get their hands on David Benioff's hotly-anticipated - well, as long as it's not directed by Brett Ratner - script for the solo Wolverine movie, unsurprisingly called Wolverine. It seems relatively faithful, although is missing any samurai stuff, but Benioff is a top writer, so it all depends on who they get to direct, although some of it does seem close to the abysmal Origin comic Marvel published a few years back that revealed Logan was a posh young man who ran away from his family after he clawed someone. Hopefully not Len fucking Wiseman, as rumoured. Be warned, the review contains some spoilers.Source: Latino Review
Donnie Darko guru Richard Kelly was probably - and understandably - in tears when reviews from his Cannes showing of his new sci-fi flick Southland Tales tore the film to shreds, and probably didn't think he'd actually get any kind of distribution. But now, Sony have come to the rescue, and will distribute the film domestically. According to Sony honchos, Kelly is completing a new edit, and it's that one we'll see sometime this year. I don't know whether it's crap or not, but Kelly wrote Domino (shut up, Andrew), and that's enough for me to love him.Source: The Hollywood Reporter
And finally, we have a little bit of poster news, as the one-sheet teaser for the next installment in the bafflingly-popular Saw series is revealed. Imaginatively titled Saw III, it's not a bad poster, although all too evident of the glossy grunge Hollywood is currently presenting to us in their horror movies. I can't imagine it won't suck, but we'll find out in October.Source: Lions Gate
Until next time... Continue reading News Round-Up: 7/3/06
"She called me a gift-wrapped turd."
That's a funny line, mainly due to the fact that Harsh Times will probably be exactly that if you're judging this off David Ayer's pretty horrible filmography* and this pretty solid new international trailer.
Then again... Christian Bale.
And the man looks to be pretty terrific in what's shown here. Also, Freddy Rodriguez has gotten some good notes for his work on Six Feet Under. Our very own Shane Yaroch approves, and he typically frowns upon non-whites. So that's always a good sign. As for the story itself, it sounds dumber on paper than in the snazziness of a well-cut trailer. But I'm holding out hope for this to deliver something beyond its somewhat DTV sensibilities. Word of mouth has been mixed and the constant delays don't bode well, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.Or not.
Harsh Times currently has no US release date (though I've heard rumors of early September). Limeys get a dose of crazy Bale on August 11. Supposedly.
*Stop telling me Training Day is a great film, you jerkoffs.
Source: YouTube, TheMovieBox.net, CHUD Continue reading "She called me a gift-wrapped turd."
His Dark Materials Turn Green
The Guardian has reported that The first film of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy of children's books, to be called The Golden Compass instead of The Northern Lights, has finally been greenlighted by New Line. This follows several years of entertaining development hell where director Chris Weitz was on then off then on again and arguments were raged over the toning down of the anti-Christian aspects of the books. Now it's all go for a Fall 2007 release with Weitz on board and a budget of around $150m.
The books were certainly very entertaining reads, though I must admit I remember very little of the plots of these books now. They did rely on a lot of talking and a lot of oppressive atmosphere, both of which tend to make the move to the screen rather badly. We will have to wait and see how many unnecessary action scenes they add to pep all that boring character stuff up.
The film is sure to be a handsome and tasteful piece of big budget fun, but then so was the first Chronicles of Narnia and I really found myself hating that movie by the end of it. Lunatic religious groups aside, the film kept its Christian leanings mostly absent from its text. However, every film has subtext whether the studios like it or not, so if the film-makers disgregard it, it becomes loose, wild and open to unexpected interpretations. Narnia is a story with Christian DNA, so the religious side was going to show up whatever happened, but it is not this by itself that annoyed me - only that, by upping the military aspects of the film (ie. emphasising the big battle for the finale), meant that it was a particularly harsh, blood-and-thunder form of Christianity that came through. The kids became only heroes when they were given weapons. By Father Christmas, of all people. Equally, Edward - the Judas character - was the only child I identified with. He was curious, free-thinking and open in his emotions, yet he was utterly vilified in favour of his dull, do-as-you're-told cretin of a brother.
All of that means we shouldn't worry about the playing down of the anti-Christian subtexts of Philip Pullman's work. It is in the DNA of the story, and will come out if you are looking for it. The problem will be that, removed of its meaning, a lot of the business with 'Dust' (the mystical substance that makes all life possible) will become incredibly dull, expositiony nonsense - especially as one of the main characters spends most of the third book doing research on it.
Another problem is that Lord of the Rings has already done the anti-Christian thing much better. Tolkein made sure no characters prayed to deities and that salvation always came from people staying loyal to their friends and finding the strength within themselves to carry on.
If all of this is rendered irrelevant by the sight of armoured polar bears beating the shit out of each other at the North Pole, we shall find out next Christmas.
Source: The Guardian Continue reading His Dark Materials Turn Green
Movie Blog Updates
Movie Weblog The Fake Life was updated today - a development that surprised both its writing staff and reader.
"It wasn't me," said Katanga. "I had hand cramp from milking my pigs". Charlie Brigden, currently unable to see Superman Returns on account of living in England, stared blankly at TFL's reporter while scraping his splintered, stained fingernails across his desk. Andrew, who admitted writing the update, said "I only watch movies for the popcorn, honest".
TFL's reader, who chose to remain anonymous, said "at least it's better than those crappy commentaries".
TFL hopes to update again sometime before Jesus comes to kill us for watching X-Men 3. Continue reading Movie Blog Updates
