“When I was born, the doctor came into the waiting room and said to my father, ‘I’m sorry. We did everything we could, but he pulled through.'” Pull through he did…until today. R.I.P. Rodney Dangerfield 1921-2004.
Tag: Cinema
MMXLVI.
The french trailer for Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046, alluded to here, is now back online. Looks beautiful, if nothing else.
It’s All Greek to Me.
The final trailer for Oliver Stone’s Alexander hits the web. I dunno…I like Stone’s movies more than most, but I’m getting a serious Moreau-vibe from Val Kilmer, and Angelina Jolie appears to be channeling Kate Beckinsale in Van Helsing.
Rohan vs. the Martians.
Human reinforcements arrive as Team Human Nature/Ian and Eowyn, a.k.a. Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto respectively, spell Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Good. I generally root for all of these actors, Code 46 notwithstanding.
HM:2?
What has gotten into John Woo these days? Apparently, he’ll now be making He-Man after finishing up Spy Hunter with The Rock. I mean, I know the guy needs a hit, but this is an even worse idea than Metroid. (And between this and The Punisher, Dolph Lundgren must be wondering at this point when Rocky IV is getting redone.)
Life after Shrek.
If The Incredibles doesn’t satisfy your itch for CGI-animation this fall, it looks like there’s much more to come. First, Ewan MacGregor goes all Threepio in Robots (also with Halle Berry and Robin Williams), while Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Chris Rock (and, surprisingly, Ali G) speak for the animals in Madagascar. I’m not really feeling either of these, to be honest. Madagascar in particular looks like a cutscene from Monkey Island.
Amelie: Resurrection.
Also in the trailer bin today is the first look at Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement, starring Audrey Tautou. Somehow, I don’t really see Amelie-whimsy carrying over to the WWI trenches, but we’ll see.
Feeling Rock, Seeing Spots.
In comic casting news, Laurie Holden (a.k.a. Marita Covarrubias of The X-Files) is rumored to have been cast as The Thing’s fiancee Debbie in Fantastic Four (Debbie? I take it she’s pre-Alicia Masters, who may be played by Kerry Washington of She Hate Me.) And Simon Pegg, whose praises I was just singing as Shaun of the Dead, may be up for Rorschach in The Watchmen. Ooh, that’s a great idea.
Courtiers to the King.
It seems Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, and Mark Ruffalo may be joining Sean Penn (Willie Stark) and Jude Law (Jack Burden) in the forthcoming remake of All the King’s Men. Streep is apparently set to play Sadie, Willie’s long-suffering right-hand woman, which must make Winslet and Ruffalo Anne and Adam Stanton respectively.
No Brains Please, We’re British.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Shaun (Simon Pegg of Spaced) is having a bad go of it. He’s a working stiff killing time at a dead-end job. His relationship with his long-term girlfriend — who has decided he’s a deathly bore — has given up the ghost. His patience with his deadbeat flatmate is on its last legs. And, just as all his hopes for this world seem to have gone six feet under, the rest of the neighborhood starts acting rather strangely…
A friend of mine saw the trailer for Shaun of the Dead and noted it looked like a zombie movie written by The Kinks. That’s actually a pretty good shorthand for this wry, witty film, although it eschews Ray Davies-like bitterness for a romantic comedy sweet that, for the most part, fits quite well. In fact, for the first hour or so, Shaun of the Dead is a total gas, particularly as Shaun and his couch-potato roommate Ed (Nick Frost) verrry slowly get wise to the shambling undead amidst them.
The only missteps in Shaun of the Dead occur in the last thirty minutes or so, right about the time Queen blares on the Winchester’s jukebox and, soon thereafter, when our heroes find themselves embroiled in an unlikely Mexican Standoff. For one, the film’s tone falls off its comic-horror razor’s edge and veers a little too abruptly into the standard zombie tropes. More problematic, all of the characters we’ve been following start making stupid decisions which can’t be explained by the duress of their situation. (Fortunately, the film finds its footing again in the closing scenes.)
Despite these small lapses, though, Shaun of the Dead is a fall fanboy film treat, filled to the brim with quality dry Brit humour. Whatsmore, Shaun is particularly fun for both Romero fans (“We’re coming to get you, Barbara!”) and Anglophiles (As Shaun and Ed try to decide which records to use as Zombie Decapitators: “The Stone Roses?” “No!” “Second Coming?” “I liked it!”) In fact, I was previously thinking of picking up a grey hoodie and channeling Donnie Darko this Halloween, but perhaps a Shaun-like goatee and nametag might be the way to go…