I will never see "The Wicker Man" because I read the reviews. But now I have to ask: *** Why would Cage's character be in a bear costume? The only thing I can come up with is that Cage lost some sort of bet with the director, refused to pay, and this was his punishment. I'm thinking that's not the official explanation though. ***
Tara: 'Your One-Stop Spot to Shop for Lots of New-Age and Occult Items.' Catchy. Giles: Think so? Tara: Uh huh. In a... hard to say sorta way.
'Sleeper'
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.
Narrator - Sep 04, 2006 12:02:19 pm PDT #3975 of 10001
The evil is this way?
sj - Sep 04, 2006 4:22:57 pm PDT #3976 of 10001
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
We saw The Illusionist tonight. It was beautiful done and well acted. My only problem with it was that I figured out the major plot twist halfway through. Has anyone else seen it yet?
Sean K - Sep 04, 2006 4:29:01 pm PDT #3977 of 10001
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
But now I have to ask:
Narrator, I don't know from the remake, but IIRC, it's a scene straight from the original, which involves everyone in the pagan community on the island getting dressed up as animals and such for a festival leading up to the burning of the Wicker Man.
SailAweigh - Sep 04, 2006 4:44:18 pm PDT #3978 of 10001
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb
Not yet, sj. I considered going to it this weekend, but ended up doing other things. How did you like it otherwise?
sj - Sep 04, 2006 4:52:52 pm PDT #3979 of 10001
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
I really loved it. The costuming and the look of it was beautiful. The actors were all very good. Jessica Biel, who I have really never seen in a film was surprisingly good. Plus, it is the kinds of movie that kept Teacup Guy and I talking about it all through dinner, which I always like.
erikaj - Sep 04, 2006 4:54:16 pm PDT #3980 of 10001
Always Anti-fascist!
That's great, as long as you don't fight.
sj - Sep 04, 2006 4:58:23 pm PDT #3981 of 10001
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
No, no fighting. Just theorizing.
Jessica - Sep 04, 2006 5:05:01 pm PDT #3982 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Sean is correct regarding the bear suit. Somehow, it's not a laugh-out-loud funny scene in the original the way it is here...
sj, I had the same issue with The Illusionist -- since offscreen death = not really dead, I spent the last hour of the film waiting for Paul Giamatti to figure it out and wondering what the hell Ed Norton was still doing in town, since if she's not dead, the prince didn't murder her, and he has no reason to want revenge! I guess we were supposed to think that he was also really opposed to him ever becoming emperor, but...meh. There just didn't seem to be any motivation for his actions after Sophie "died" that weren't directly tied to misleading the audience.
[Ironically, DH and I saw both the same day and were surprised to find that The Wicker Man was the one generating more conversation. The Illusionist, we both thought was fine, kind of disappointing, and very predictable, so not much to talk about. But The Wicker Man sucked in all sorts of fascinating ways.]
sj - Sep 04, 2006 5:17:39 pm PDT #3983 of 10001
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Jessica, I assumed he stuck around because the prince had it in for him and, therefore, it was better to do a big disappearing act. Plus it brought the story back around to the beginning.
Nutty - Sep 04, 2006 6:23:52 pm PDT #3984 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
sj, I had the same thing. I figured it was just me, since I almost always figure out a mystery before I'm supposed to. With The Illusionist, it was the items Norton packed into the suitcase, which we see him give to Biel. He packs a glass jar of something, and glass jars mean some kind of medicine, and I just automatically made the leap to Juliet faking her death with a potion that puts her into a coma. I saw the jar and immediately knew, and spent the rest of the movie half-wondering whether I was wrong.
P.S. Did you catch the modern panty line at the end? All movie long, mostly-respectable historicity, and then that panty line.