Tag: Remakes

Yanked out of proportion.

NBC begins its full-court press on the American version of The Office, premiering next Tuesday with The Daily Show‘s Steve Carell as Ricky Gervais and Six Feet Under‘s Rainn Wilson in the Gareth role. Hmmm…from the Screening Room clips, I’m not feeling it. Update: The NYT weighs in: “Luckily for NBC, which bought the rights to the British comedy, only a relatively small number of viewers in the United States have seen the BBC version. Those happy few should try to erase every trace from their brains – Eternal Sunshine of the Digital Cable Mind – because the NBC series, though it pales in comparison, is still funnier than any other new network sitcom.” Slate‘s Dana Stevens is less sanguine. “Remember that scene near the end of Annie Hall, when Woody Allen (as Alvy Singer) tries to recreate a fun date he once shared with his ex-girlfriend Annie (Diane Keaton), chasing live lobsters around the kitchen in an attempt to catch them and boil them for dinner?…That’s sort of how fans of the BBC series The Office will feel about the new American remake.“

Give them the $@% ball.

With Spring right around the corner, Hollywood serves up a twin helping of lousy little league coaches: First, Billy Bob Thornton turns on the Bad Santa in Richard Linklater’s Bad News Bears remake, and then Will Ferrell channels Mike Ditka (and Victory) in the full trailer for Kicking and Screaming.

Trailer Park Xmas.

Hello all…I finished up the end-of-term grading yesterday evening, at which point Berkeley and I started settling in to the christmas spirit down here at Murphy Home Base in Norfolk. Here’s hoping everyone out there is having a safe and merry holiday season, and that you get something better from Santa than Dubya’s warmed-over right-wing judges.

Also, if you’re looking for some trailers to tide you over, here’s Leggy & Liam battling freedom-hating infidels in Ridley Scott’s crusader pic Kingdom of Heaven, Russell Crowe trying to out-Seabiscuit Seabiscuit in Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man, a slew of A-listers vamping and vicing in the Robert Rodriguez version of Frank Miller’s Sin City, MTV Films butchering another needless remake in The Longest Yard, and creepy undead kids claiming yet another victim in Boogeyman. Enjoy, and happy holidays, y’all.(Aragorn pic via Fark.)

Samurai Bat.

The holiday trailer season continues today, with the first look at Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and, if you’re fast, this early copy of the spiffy new Batman Begins trailer. (If that doesn’t work, there are a number of screencaps here.)

Don’t Eat the Chocolate.

Would you let your kids near this man? The all-new, all-creepy trailer for Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory just popped up on the grid, and it seems Johnny Depp is playing it more Ed Wood and Hunter Thompson than he is Gene Wilder. I like it.

Tony (to) Stark.

The cast for All the King’s Men fills out, with Patricia Clarkson replacing Meryl Streep as Sadie, Anthony Hopkins taking on Judge Irwin, and James Gandolfini portraying Tiny Duffy, Willie’s most grotesque sycophant. Hmmm…I like Clarkson as Sadie, but Hopkins screams stunt casting, and (as with Streep earlier) I’m not sure Gandolfini makes sense given that Sean Penn’s playing Willie. I’d love to see a well-done remake of All the King’s Men, one of my favorite novels, but I fear this project may fast be veering into Cold Mountain “Miramax All-Stars” territory.

Detroit Red.

The trailer for the Assault on Precinct 13 remake, with Ethan Hawke, Lawrence Fishburne, Brian Dennehy, Ja Rule, Maria Bello, John Leguizamo, Drea De Matteo, and Gabriel Byrne as the Big Bad, is now online. It’s a bit depressing to see Tom Reagan of Miller’s Crossing clearly in the “Paying the Bills” phase of his career, but I guess you could argue it was already in full swing by 1999’s End of Days, versus the Governator.