Always wanted to see that
You'd love it, Frank. Very stylish French noir. Swanky and doomed. Plus, Paris in the 50s!
You're like my fairy godmother, and Santa Claus, and Q all wrapped up into one! Q from Bond, not Star Trek.
Buffy ,'Help'
Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
DavidS - Jul 26, 2006 10:38:09 am PDT #3172 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Jessica - Jul 26, 2006 10:53:41 am PDT #3173 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Very stylish French noir
Oh, that reminds me! I saw a new French animated film called Renaissance over the weekend (they held the press screening at Comic Con, figuring that it would be a good match for the attending critics). Oddly, the film is in English, but the website is only available in French. But the important thing is that this movie is fucking gorgeous. It's done entirely in black & white, and I mean that exactly -- no gray here, everything is either light or shadow. Kind of like a sleeker version of the art in Sin City. It's weak on storytelling (and for having Daniel Craig and Ian Holm in the cast, weak on voice talent as well), but the visuals make up for it 1000%.
Jessica - Jul 26, 2006 10:59:41 am PDT #3174 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I also saw Miami Vice on Monday night, and it was pretty dreadful. I wanted to like it because it's a beautifully shot film, but...it's not good. I actually had some of the same issues with it as I had with PotC:DMC in that the plot is only workable if you assume from the outset that everyone involved is very, very, very stupid (except for Gong Li, whose only weakness is wanting to have lots and lots of sex with Colin Farrell, for which I really can't blame her). Colin Farrell is overacting in a bad way, and Jaime Foxx seems to just be playing himself. It's a toss-up which was the better choice. Gong Li is the exception in the cast, mostly because she's Gong Li, and is therefore awesome. She's flinty and tough and smart and her scenes with Colin Farrell are unbelieveably hot. Those two should be naked onscreen together more often, mrowr.
As I said, it's visually stunning -- the action sequences are gorgeously shot. Unfortunately, it's kind of the same gorgeously shot action sequence over and over and over, and so by the nonclimactic third act, I was too bored to care anymore.
erikaj - Jul 26, 2006 11:12:41 am PDT #3175 of 10001
Always Anti-fascist!
So glad to know...the trailer had me a little tempted. I'll wait for it to show on cable.
Strega - Jul 26, 2006 11:21:18 am PDT #3176 of 10001
I can think of one actor who does this (Clooney); I doubt there are more than half a dozen who could.
Really? I can think of an awful lot of actors who made their directoral debut at the helm of a multi-million dollar movies. Often, though not always, starring themselves. I'm not a conspiracy nut, but that seems like a remarkable coincidence.
It is a good point, that you can't not-see the bad performance as easily as you can avoid a vanity project.
IAmNotReallyASpring - Jul 26, 2006 11:35:52 am PDT #3177 of 10001
I think Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel
From way back:
It's frustrating, because I feel like he could be the next Kubrick, and instead he's gonna wind up as the next Spielberg
Really? When I think of Kubrick, I think of sophisticated intellectualism (and other less flattering things); when I think of Shyamalan, I think of empty-headedness.
Hayden - Jul 26, 2006 11:36:27 am PDT #3178 of 10001
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
Colin Farrell is overacting in a bad way
Does he still look perpetually constipated? I'd assumed it was an acting choice in The New World before I saw him as himself, face clouded with the pain of the backed-up, in the dvd extras.
IAmNotReallyASpring - Jul 26, 2006 11:36:27 am PDT #3179 of 10001
I think Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel
Kathy A - Jul 26, 2006 12:12:24 pm PDT #3180 of 10001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I remember a review of LotR:FotR that mentioned in a tangent that the reviewer thought that Viggo would have made an incredible Lt. John Dunbar in Dances with Wolves (apparently, Viggo's good friends with Michael Blake, the screenwriter), but Costner wouldn't have gotten the green light for the movie without agreeing to star in it as well as direct.
bon bon - Jul 26, 2006 12:13:58 pm PDT #3181 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
Really? I can think of an awful lot of actors who made their directoral debut at the helm of a multi-million dollar movies. Often, though not always, starring themselves. I'm not a conspiracy nut, but that seems like a remarkable coincidence.
Undoubtedly there are a lot of actor-directors, but I still only can think of one where it seems a clear case of the studio backing a vanity project to get him to act in their movies. (ETA: currently; I think Kevin Costner may be in that category in the past) It seems to me that there would be very few because there are very few actors where the studio can toss them a couple dozen millions in order to make a guaranteed blockbuster with them later. I don't think Clint Eastwood is being given vanity projects because he's a big box office draw, I know Mel Gibson wasn't, nor is Favreau or Tucci or Braff or whoever.
Which is not to say that those people can't get small investors, just that they're not pressuring a studio to back a project with the promise of another blockbuster later.
ETA2: Maybe Tom Hanks with That Thing You Do!