Buffy ,'First Date'
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Pete and Jilli,
Can you say more about the self-referential part? I clearly didn't pick up on the references or it has been so long since I've seen the movies that I just can't remember. The CGI work for Crispin Glover was really terrible. Especially every time he was on a horse.
The advertisers for the Oscars are going to be miffed.
no shit. that's a big market.
also? apparently there is a Lakers/Magic game that people can't watch either.
I am so not surprised by the lukewarm response to Wonderland, much as I hoped for it to be good. I love the look of his films, but Burton can be so insufferable sometimes as a director. I started to worry as soon as I found out that Alice wasn't going to be a little girl because at that point it was clear he wasn't trying to be faithful to the source text. And really, Alice in Wonderland is such a great book.
We watched all the Oscar nominated animated shorts last night. Well all but the coffee one as it had been pulled off the web. Our vote is Wallace and Gromit. Not the best Wallace and Gromit, but by far the best of the nominees.
And I came away somewhat offended because it really wasn't an Alice in Wonderland movie, it was a Tim Burton movie that had a patina of Wonderland. It was interchangeable with so much else produced currently (especially Tim's own works) and the movie was weighed down by Tim apparently buying into his own press.
YES THIS THIS THIS. Argh. The more I think about it the more I dislike it.
Tom, I'm hoping to watch over at a neighbors apartment (who don't have cable).
Bwahaha - I called my neighbors and the first thing she said was "Wanna come over and watch broadcast ABC?"
So we're taken care of.
Can you say more about the self-referential part?
1) The tree where Alice first falls into Wonderland (I refuse to call it Underland) is the tree from Sleepy Hollow. I'd be less miffed about this if it wasn't for the fact that the tree has also appeared in at least one more Burton movie... can't remember which.
Suffice it to say that when I saw the tree it wasn't the "Ooh, it's that tree!" response that Tim apparently wanted, it was "Oh god, that tree again?"
And that tree shape appeared over and over again in the movie, each time wrenching me out of what little immersion I had.
Also, among the wreckage of the village seen in the long pull-out shot is what seemed to be an exact replica of the burnt down huntsman cottage, also from Sleepy Hollow.
I know I saw a couple of other things but they've slipped away and I'm glad for it.
YES THIS THIS THIS. Argh. The more I think about it the more I dislike it.
I think I've found a way to sum up my distaste for this movie...
In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Alice and Wonderland are reduced to supporting roles. The starring role is given to Tim Burton.
There's having a distinctive look, and there's drowning your source material in your own hubris.