Remakes

I heard a rumor that The Third Man is being remade with Leonardo DeCaprio. Roger Ebert wrote that he wanted to throw up when he heard the news. I myself am indifferent, feeling no particular sentiment towards the original. Don't get me wrong; The Third Man is a good film - a very good film. It has a terrific score that I won't soon forget, a memorable performance by Orson Welles, terrific shots of the city of Vienna, and the main character is a man named Holly (!). But the pace is too slow and it lacks the suspense that Orson Welles' other classics embrace. But just to give you an idea of how revered this film is in the movie world, check out this article from the Pioneer Press, which describes the various The Third Man tours available in Vienna.


The bigger topic here is remakes. Over the last 5 years, Hollywood has exploded with remakes. A couple of years ago, I felt that every movie made was a remake. Some examples that come immediately to mind: 3:10 to Yuma, Alfie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, Guess Who, King Kong, The Manchurian Candidate, Ocean's 11, The Producers, Posiedan, and so forth (I didn't even touch on horror movies which seem to be exclusively remakes these days).

I have mixed feelings about remakes. On the one hand, I revile them. First, many people go to movies not realizing the movie is a remake. Some of these remakes are so bad, it may discourage audiences from wactching the original film. The remake Guess Who and its original Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? are a good example. Second, far from being an homage to the original, many new versions are an insult to the halmarks of cinema. Again, Guess Who is an apt example. This is probably why Roger Ebert wanted to throw up when he heard about The Third Man.

But on the other hand, some remakes breathe new life into stories and improve on the long forgotten originals. I am thinking here of 3:10 to Yuma. Or they reimagine the characters in new and interesting ways (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

But I still have that nagging suspicioun that most remakes are simply a function of laziness. Writers can't come up with anything original so they recycle an old script, hoping audiences won't notice.

What do you think of remakes? Have you ever watched an original movie for the first time after watching the remake?

And the Oscar hosts are . . .

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. I love them both! I can't wait to watch them host the Oscars together (there hasn't been co-hosts since the 1980s). They should make a great comedy team. Of course, I would have preferred Steve Martin with Tina Fey but Tina is not starring in a holiday movie with Steve. So naturally, the Oscar producers had to pass her up and go for the shameless plug of Its Complicated (starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin coming out December 25 to a theater near you).

A Serious Man

I saw A Serious Man last Friday. After seeing the movie, I stand by my prediction that it will be nominated for best picture this year.

Set in surburban Minneapolis in the 1960s, the movie follows Larry Gopnik, a physics professor, who is going through a bad spell in his life. His wife wants a divorce, someone is writing nasty letters to the tenure board, a korean student is trying to blackmail him for giving him an F, his brother won't leave his couch, and creditors are calling him for not paying for his record club subscription that he never even ordered. Larry hits rock bottom when his wife demands that he pay for the funeral for the man she was going to leave him for. With no where left to go, Larry turns to three different rabbis at his synogogue in order to determine what God is telling him.

Richly textual, the movie makes no apologies for being smart. I will be the first to admit that I didn't catch most of the biblical allusions or understand many of the Jewish phrases. (But I certainly understood the Minnesota references! The theater audience chuckled everytime a Twin Cities reference was made - such as to Ron Meshbesher or the Red Owl in Bloomington). But I don't care. Movies with layers of subtexts are the best kind to go back and watch again as you age, and gain wisdom and experience. This is the type of movie that you will take away a different interpretation with each viewing.

Many people will find this movie difficult to watch. It is slow, seems to have no point, and has an unconclusive ending (which may be an understatement). But I like movies that are more interested in the characters than in their stories. The Coen brothers drew heavily from the European New Wave traditions in this respect. Within the movie itself is a parable about a Jewish dentist who finds a message in Hebrew on the back of a patient's teeth. Wondering if this is a message from God, he visit his rabbi. The \rabbi, to the unsatisfaction of the Dentist, cannot tell him that the message means anything. It is what it is. And I think this parable is an allegory to the movie as a whole. The movie is not a story meant to give us a definitive message. Rather, it a snapshot of a character, meant to make us ponder.

A Serious Man is not the best movie I have seen this year, but it very good. Overall, I give it 3 1/2 stars and recommend that you see in theatres (rather than video).

Have you seen A Serious Man or are you planning on going? Are there any movies that you find different meanings in with each viewing? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Paranomal Activity

My uncle posted this interesting news item on facebook which I want to pass along:
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/usmovies.accesshollywood.com/paranormal-activity-becomes-most-profitable-movie-ever

Paranomal Activity is now the most profitable movie ever made. The article reports that the movie was made for less than $15,000 and has grossed over $65.1 million.

What I found most interesting is that Paramount studios has spent "only" $10 million to market the movie. It is unsettling to think that $10 million in advertising is a drop in the bucket. I wonder how many movies I've seen soley because of the advertising?

Attack of

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would take this time to pay homage to my favorite movies: B-movies--particularly B-horror movies. B-horror movies from the 1950s and 1960s are pure camp. The acting, the dialog, and special effects are always abominable. The plot is always some variation of people getting stuck in a remote location with a mad-scientist. But for me, there is nothing better then curling up with my popcorn cart (!), a blanket, and a stack of B-movies.

Here are some of my favorites:

The Manster

"When a reporter (Peter Dyneley) is injected with an experimental serum by a crazed Japanese scientist (Tetsu Nakamura), he sprouts a second head and begins terrorizing the streets of Tokyo. Can the police -- or the mad scientist -- stop him before it's too late? Or has an irreversible new phase in human evolution begun? Directed by George Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane, this campy horror flick also stars Jane Hylton and Jerry Ito." - Netflix

Best scene: a three-way tie between the geisha party, when the eye sprouts on the reporter's shoulder, and the volcano scene

Bottom line: If you are only going to see one B-movie from this list, make it The Manster. He's half man, half monster!



The Attack of the Killer Shrews - also know as The Killer Shrews

"Like your horror mixed with camp? . . . Go to an isolated island where a mad scientist (Baruch Lumet) has created giant shrews with gnashing teeth -- and they're out for human blood." - Netflix

Best scene: when you get your first good look at the "Killer Shrews" and realize they are just dogs in costumes

Bottom line: This is the quintessential "Attack of" movie.



The Terror

"Lt. Andre Duvalier (played by a very young Jack Nicholson) is an officer in Napoleon's army. When he pursues a mysterious woman into the castle of an elderly baron (Boris Karloff), he uncovers a bizarre plot: A witch (Dorothy Neumann) is planning to drive the baron to suicide. Duvalier soon finds himself in a world of supernatural treachery where nothing is what it seems in this thriller shot in just three days by B movie king Roger Corman." - Netflix

Good to know: Francis Ford Coppola shot the second unit footage of this movie. Is there anyone in Hollywood who didn't get there start with Roger Corman?

Bottom line: The king of B-movies - Roger Corman - pairs up with Jack Nicholson for some delightful camp!



Attack of the Puppet People

"Deranged puppet maker Franz (John Hoyt) is terrified of being abandoned, so he invents a machine to shrink humans down to doll size. By kidnapping people and turning the machine on them, he soon gathers a troupe of shrunken prisoners to keep him company. But when he shrinks his lovely secretary (June Kenney) and her fiancé (John Agar), they're determined to find a way to stop the crazy puppeteerb." - Netflix

Best scene: the "scientific"explanation of how the puppet maker is able to shrink people

Bottom line: A man shrinks people into puppets - what more do you need to see this movie?


Many of these movies were featured on the popular show Mystery Science Theater 3000. They are also widely available on Netflix or at Half Price Books. Happy Halloween!

Oscar Nomination Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2009 Oscar nominations that will be announced in January. Note that I have seen only one of the films listed here (UP) so this is based on pure buzz. There could be a lot of potential to make fun of me come January! But for those of you looking for some good flicks, most of these will be released in theatres during the next 2 months.

Best Picture
1. The Hurt Locker
2. Up in the Air
3. Nine
4. Inviotus
5. Precious
6. Up
7. An Education
8. A Serious Man
9. Bright Star
10. A Prophet

Other Contenders:
Where the Wild Things Are
The Informant
Star Trek
Inglorious Basterds
A Single Man


Best Actor
1. Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
2. Colin Firth - A Single Man
3. George Clooney - Up in the Air
4. Matt Damon - The Informant
5. Morgan Freeman - Inviotus

Other Contenders:
Nicolas Cage (Honestly!) - Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Daniel Day-Lewis - Nine


Best Actress
1. Hillary Swank - Amelia
2. Marion Cotillard - Nine
3. Carey Mulligan - An Education
4. Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
5. Vera Farminga - Up in the Air

Other Contenders:
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Gabby Sidibe - Precious
Helen Mirren - The Last Station


What about you? What would you like to see nominated this year? Do you try to see Oscar nominated films?

Zombieland

On Saturday, I saw Zombieland with the in-laws. In the movie, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is making his way from Texas to Ohio to find his family. His progress is severly impeded due to the fact that nearly everyone in America has turned into a human-eating zombie. Columbus has managed to survive because he follows simple rules such as "Always check the back seat," and "Do cardio" (so you can outrun zombies).

Columbus meets Tallahasee (Woody Harrelson), and they team up. Tallahassee loves to kill zombies in inventive ways. With car doors. Banjos. Hedge Trimmers. You name it. Tallahassee and Columbus meet Witichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) while searching a grocery store for twinkies. After some initial skirmishes, the four of them decide to head to Pacific Playland, a fictional amusement park in California, where rumor has it, there are no zombies.

On paper, the movie should have the perfect movie for me: comed;, stylized, gratuitous violence; and cameo by Bill Murray. But frankly, I was disappointed. It was good, but I had heard that the movie had the biggest laugh of the whole year. "The biggest laugh!" I thought. "The whole year." "How exciting!" "Even bigger than the Hangover?" "Maybe Abigail Breslin will dance with Bill Murray to Superfreak!" But alas, there was no Superfreak. The big moment turned out to be something that my sister had already told me about. So I probably ruined it for myself by knowing too much about the movie beforehand.

But that is not the only reason I was disappointed. I found the ending unsatisfying. The group of misfits had found a family in this zombie land: each other. Aww how cute. But hadn't they all been friends for the majority of the movie? Was there ever any doubt?

I also found the line "It's time to nut up or shut up!" distracting. This line was the catch phrase of Tallahassee and repeated throughout the movie. But every time we heard the line, the flow of the movie was interuppted so that Woody Harrelson could deliver another sound bite for commercials and trailers. Two years ago one of my friends tried to make the phrase "nut up" common parlance. He even made a fake wikipedia article about the origins of the phrase. It never caught on in the group, and I doubt it will catch on after Zombieland. Overall, the movie was worth seeing, but not purchase-worthy.