Riley ,'Conversations with Dead People'
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There are parts of the music I love. There are parts of the show I love. There are other parts that I really really don't like,
Yeah, I agree with you on this, and the combination of the actors being mostly 10 years too old and what I expect from Chris Columbus is what makes me reluctant to recommend the movie to someone who wasn't already conditioned to love it.
Loved Donnie Darko. Made no diff that I wasn't quite sure what I was watching initially. Still loved it.
and the combination of the actors being mostly 10 years too old and what I expect from Chris Columbus
Yeah, these were both worrying me. From the trailer, the actors don't look quite as old as I was expecting, and I'd say the lower end of the age range most of them look overlaps a bit with the upper end of the reasonable character ages, if just barely. A few interviews I've read with Columbus still have me a bit wary of the second point, though.
I love Donnie Darko too. But it definitely makes no sense.
If I'm in a better mood tonight, I'll give it a shot.
ION, thanks to participating in a focus group, I just got three free months of Netflix. Whee!
Can I ask what's probably a stupid question?
Why do we hate Chris Columbus? Because when I saw his name, I had a vague sense of dread based on half-remembered comments I've heard about him, but then I looked at his iMDb listing and realized that, while he's never made a movie I loved to itty-bitty pieces, most of the films I've seen by him have been competent in a commercial family-oriented way. (I hate the Home Alone films, but I don't think they would have been any good under any director.) I'm not sure how that sensibility will work for Rent, but I don't know enough about directors to know for sure who would have been a better choice.
Apologies for the stoopid.
most of the films I've seen by him have been competent in a commercial family-oriented way.
That's pretty much why I didn't think he'd be a good director for Rent. His movies tend to be, IMO, way overly sentimental. The other recent movies where I remember "Why him?" comments were the first Harry Potter movies, and I think the fear there was that kids in his movies tend to be overly precious in a way that wouldn't really go with a kids book that had some darkness in it.
Why do we hate Chris Columbus?
Pretty much what Hil said. He goes for the schlock, and hasn't shown much of a grasp of the darkness in some of the stories he's filmed.
while he's never made a movie I loved to itty-bitty pieces, most of the films I've seen by him have been competent in a commercial family-oriented way.
I think what bothers me about Chris Columbus' movies is that they are presented as family oriented fare and they have all struck me as portraying some pretty messed family dynamics, as well as presenting really atrocious behavior as a successful problem-solving technique.
Most of his movies have left me feeling quite ill.
I don't hate him; I just think he's fine. Competent, commercial, like you said. So I figure he won't add anything to what Larson did that's any better than the original. And I wouldn't really try to talk anyone into loving the show at this point, anyway.