Bits and Pieces

There's finally some decent news arriving about the upcoming year (in some cases, years) in movies. I thought some of this was definitely worth passing along.

We've got our first good look at Chris Evans as Captain America. The film, which is expected to be the final lead in to The Avengers, is due out this summer. It's being directed by Joe Johnston means it could go anywhere. I won't be shocked if it's horrible. I won't be shocked if it's a solid, fun, but not great film. If it's great, I will be shocked. This is the best look we've gotten at the suit, which is important. If the suit looks ridiculous, the whole thing is a non-starter. The suit looks pretty good. The utilitarian focus was a good way to go with it, and not making it absolutely skin tight was a good idea as well.

I'm including this because I find it interesting in the negative sense. In other words, I really wish these people would stop making films or at least move on to making original material only. A remake of The Monster Squad is one of the worst remake ideas I've come across. Shockingly, it's coming from the same people who gave us remakes of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street (why Jackie Earle Haley... why?), both of which were horrific only in the degree to which they were terrible films. If you're interested in what Brad Fuller, producer and one of the brain trusts behind Platinum Dunes, has to say about the Monster Squad remake and the possibility of Nightmare and Friday sequels, I submit it for your perusal.

In case you hadn't heard, let me be the first to tell you that Christopher Nolan and David Goyer (the majority of the creative team behind rebooting the Batman film franchise) wrote a script for a Superman reboot. They've hired Zack Snyder of 300, and Watchmen fame (and the upcoming Sucker Punch which looks mind bogglingly beautiful as a mash up of every possible piece of action geekery known to man) to direct, and the search for someone new to put on the blue and red jumpsuit began. Henry Cavill is that man, and you can get a look at Cavill to decide for yourself to decide if you think he could possibly fit the role.

Javier Bardem is in the midst of quite a streak. He's been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his work in Biutiful, he's officially been offered the role of Roland Deschain, the lead character of Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series. The project is one of the most ambitious ever undertaken. It's being proposed as three full length film with two television mini-series to be released between each film. It could be three to four years in filming, and could possibly become as successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And now, it seems he's been offered the role of the heavy in the upcoming James Bond film. Daniel Crai is still on board for the role of everyone's favorite Double O agent, and Sam Mendes whose previous work includes the awesome satire American Beauty, and the understated and under appreciated Road to Perdition is set to direct. Bardem had some very interesting things to say about the role, and the direction of the series. 

In somewhat related news, Stephen King's apocalyptic opus, The Stand is apparently getting a chance to come to theaters as well. Warner Brothers has secured the rights to a film based on the novel. I can say with confidence that the novel can't be adapted successfully into one feature length film. It would have to be at least three films, possibly two if the cuts to the material were most austere and unkind. It's going to be interesting to see how Warner Brothers goes about planning for this adaptation, and will be something to keep an eye on.

James Cameron has long been suggesting he would be making a big screen version of the manga Battle Angel. As technically inspiring and visually beautiful as Avatar was, it's narrative was uninspiring and kind of trite. I'd be on board to see a James Cameron version of Battle Angel because I think it would be much stronger from a narrative perspective, but with Cameron's flare for visual inspiration and technical achievement, it could become something really special. Here's what he's had to say about it recently. 

Andrew Bird directed WALL-E, one of my favorite animated films of all time. He's now directing a film version of the extremely influential John Carter of Mars, about an astronaut who finds himself on Mars, attempting to help a princess sustain her kingdom. In the sci-fi world, it's canon, like Lord of the Rings for fantasy. The combination of Andrew Bird and this seminal source material make it an extremely interesting prospect to me.

This is always a good time of year for movie news, if for no other reason than that Sundance has just wound down, and we'll probably be getting our first glimpses and reviews of what usually are some of the best films of each year.

Silent House has been getting mixed reviews in terms of the films over all quality, though every single review has praised it's technical prowess and even those who were less positive suggested it's got some good scares.

Lucky Mckee previously directed the superb indie horror thriller/character piece May (which you should see immediately if it has escaped you to this point). His new film premiered at Sundance to both fanfare and controversy. The Woman has been loved and hated in equal measure, with one awesomely self important audience member throwing an epic tantrum, and getting caught on tape while doing so.

Brendan Gleason is an actor I'd love to see more of. He's an excellent dramatic actor who also has near perfect comedic timing and the kind of dry delivery I tend to most appreciate. He's starring in a new film called The Guard, and reviews for it have been extremely positive.

A Tribe Called Quest is one of the groups that provided the soundtrack for my childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. They are one of the most influential bands in hip-hop history, and created some of the most engaging and inspiring music in the genre. To say I'm a fan is to put it mildly. Actor Michael Rappaport has directed a documentary called Beats, Rhymes & Life. It's getting mostly positive reviews. Even the least favorable reviews have at least said it's a really fun documentary. It's shot straight to the top of my list of must see films for 2011.

Morgan Spurlock makes entertaining documentaries, no matter what else you might be able to say about him, you can't deny that. He's taken a lot of heat from the documentary purists through the years, but his films are really fun, while still being somewhat informative and thought provoking. As long as you can tolerate his blatant self promotion and his obvious bias, you can enjoy his films. I'm really interested in his latest film, appropriately called The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, about product placement and the way advertising has effected our culture.

Where have all the original projects gone?

I have refrained from turning anything on this blog into a frothing at the mouth, hate spewing rant. I don't like reading websites or hearing podcasts which are little to nothing but people being so cool they don't have enthusiasm for anything except taking shots at people who are actually doing things and making movies. I love movies. I started this blog as a way to try and celebrate that, because other people celebrating their love for things like film and music, literature and so on, have added something really essential to my life. I have tried to take their example and write a whole lot more about what I like and what I'm excited about than what I don't and what think sucks.

I've even tried to be open minded on the deluge of remakes which have come out in the last few years. I've tried to look at them as much as their own, separate films, in todays cultural setting, as I possibly can. I've even enjoyed some of them, and been willing to say that out loud, which isn't always a popular position in todays film world. I've been hounded from DVD to BluRay in some movie forums for expressing those opinions, as is want to happen in forums anywhere on the internet. Even considering some of the films which have been remade (and poorly so) are part of the canon of truly formative film experiences in my life. Some of these films are responsible for the love affair I have with movies.

If you were to go back and look at the reviews I've posted, and the news I pass on, I think it would be pretty clear that I also try not to have a bias in toward whether a film is a major studio film or an independent film. A good movie is a good movie, a bad movie is a bad movie, you can make either with very little money or a mountain of money.

I don't like wasting my time with bad movies. Going to the movies and plunking down my hard earned cash only to be faced with something crappy, uninspired and which isn't entertaining, just sucks. I don't generally get angry about it. As a film geek, I know I'm going to have to see some really bad movies some times in order to be able to find some really good movies sometimes. Most of the time I'm going to sit through movies that are somewhat good and somewhat bad. A friend of mine explained it perfectly by saying, "You go looking for flecks of color, and sometimes you end up finding a nugget of gold.

What I'm trying to say is that I do my absolute best to be reasonable and fair with the films I see and read about. Someone put time and effort into them. Someone worked hard at getting them written, and then financed, and then from script to screen. It's more work than most people really consider, and most of the time, even in the worst film, somebody did some good work they should be proud of and feel good about. Even if it's set design, conceptual design, the chances someone did some good work they should be proud of are better than the chances that absolutely no one did anything at all decent.

I say all of this because I'm going to do something I wouldn't have possibly considered when the idea of starting to try and be more regular and disciplined with this blog occurred to me. I'm going to beg you, all of you, any of you who are reading this, whether you know me or not, do not, under any circumstances ever in your life pay to see the proposed remake of The Monster Squad.

If you have seen The Monster Squad, especially if you saw it as a kid, I'm going to bet you understand what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it or you were a full grown adult when you saw it, you might not understand what I'm talking about.

The Monster Squad is one of those kids adventure films that gives kids a film that is really, actually, specifically for them. Yeah, there are a few jokes in there that are going to be over a kids head, but on the whole, it's a kids film, and even more rare, it's a good one. This isn't a movie made to cash in on "the family demographic", it's a kids movie. Fred Dekker somehow figured out how to make a movie so unabashedly for kids that when you're a kid watching it, you know it's for you. You know it's not for the adults, and it's a good movie, not just some crap thrown together, but a very good movie. It's an adventure that the kids have, together, without the adults and as a kid it was thrilling, heart warming, kind of scary, and all awesome.

It's also not a movie that's going to suffer from being dated. A ten year old kid watching this movie now would find it just as thrilling and fun as ten year old kids did when it was released, because kids, have awesome imaginations that aren't crowded up with all the crap adults minds get crowded with. A kid today would enjoy this film just as much. A generation of movie fans cut their teeth on the famous movie monsters, cultural icons like Dracula, Frankensteins monster, The Wolfman, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, and The Mummy. That generation of movie fans are all grown up now, and many of us have continued our love of movies and gone back to see the films that inspired the characters in The Monster Squad.

At this point, some of the films I most enjoyed growing up John Carpenter's Halloween, Friday The 13th, A Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, Last House On The Left, When A Stranger Calls, have all been remade. I enjoyed the Chainsaw Massacre remake, and I think there's some chance something good could come of the upcoming Elm Street remake. With Jackie Earle Haley starring as Freddy, there's a chance to see something new done with the character, but still in keeping with the spirit of the original. As much as I am worried about ending up with another Friday the 13th or When A Stranger Calls, I'm still willing to acknowledge it this could end up working out and being decent or even good and enjoyable.

But, The Monster Squad, is something else altogether, and considering a remake of this film is nothing more than the most blatant and obvious grab for money because it's a "property" whose name people will recognize. Making The Monster Squad more slick or with CGI effects isn't going to make it any better or even any more accepted by it's target audience. It's target audience are kids who have been watching both the incredibly beautiful and ground breaking work of Pixar, and horrible Japanese animation like Dragonball Z.They react to the characters and the story and whether or not it's exciting for them. Lucky ones have gotten to see Miyazaki as well. And that's what Monster Squad was for a lot of kids, an adventure with a heart, for kids, one hundred percent for kids. A remake isn't going to do that, and you can guarantee it, especially one from the Micheal Bay's Platinum Dunes company. Even if they tried, they couldn't possibly pull something like this off. This is a company which has made it's fortune remaking the horror films The Monster Squad generation made successful the first time and turning them into slick, bloody, generalized schlock. 

So I entreat you, I beg you, do not, under any circumstances pay your money to see it if that remake does actually make it to theaters. I'm honestly thinking of starting an online petition against it to let Platinum Dunes know they're going too far. If you actually would sign something like that, leave me a comment here or at my Facebook page. If it seems like there would be some support, I'll do it and post a link here on the blog and on my Facebook page.

Don't worry, this isn't something you should expect to see from this blog or from me at all. I just couldn't let this one pass.