2013: UPCOMING MOVIES/CASTING/RUMORS/ETC

[jaedmc]

I think it's a great movie. The lead performance is fucking awesome, the hammer scene is one of my favorite fights in cinema in the last 10 years probably, and Park has a very awesome aesthetic and dark dark humor. I'd recommend it, but it's up to you if you think any of that sounds like fun.

[Swift]

And it's not really about sex/violence either. It's about adding more moral ambiguity to characters. Or refilming a film with modern technology to create a possibly more beautiful work. 

 

For a perfect example of this, see All That Heaven Allows vs. Far From Heaven.

[Devon Malcolm]

I'm not saying every movie that was made then needs to be remade, I'm just saying it's a more interesting time to mine stories to remake, as opposed to looking at SuperHero movies and great foreign films.

 

And it's not really about sex/violence either. It's about adding more moral ambiguity to characters. Or refilming a film with modern technology to create a possibly more beautiful work.

 

There was plenty of moral ambiguity in films in that era, though, if you look at the true classics, the directors just had to be cleverer in how they did it. Look at Double Indemnity, for instance.

 

Also, modern technology does not necessarily make for a more beautiful film.

 

I'm not being deliberately argumentative, I'm just saying that I think these reasons for remaking the classics are flimsy. I would much prefer to see the potentially great but imperfect remade rather than trying to improve on films that can't be improved on in any way like The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three or Psycho.

[glfpunk]

They're always going to remake popular movies because they think they can squeeze dollars out of it. You don't and won't see remakes of many movies that failed the first time around because nobody wants to invest much money into something that already failed once and then big names don't attach themselves to the project either.

[Matt D]

There was plenty of moral ambiguity in films in that era, though, if you look at the true classics, the directors just had to be cleverer in how they did it. Look at Double Indemnity, for instance.

 

 

A thousand times yes. Directors had to be MORE creative to get around the limitations and make the movies good. I'm not saying it was an intrinsically a good thing, but by forcing creators to think outside the box, they were forced to be more creative as well. Limitations almost always force creativity and make sure that the easy options and shortcuts aren't taken. 

[jaedmc]

Also, modern technology does not necessarily make for a more beautiful film.

Of course. I don't believe they're reasons that will 100% work. There are no sure bets in creative endeavors. I'm saying these should be the motives for trying. Instead the motive is money, and that's the ultimate problem. When looking for something to remake, why not take a movie that inspires you to do it again? The Cell is a great example. I LOVE aspects of that movie, but they don't add up. Or, for an even odder example Jonah Hex, which was a great premise and a HORRIBLE movie. One of the worst I've ever seen. And yet, I wish I could grab Josh Brolin and do it all over again. Friday the 13th Part IV, is another one.I just want to see artists innovate. We have more tools than ever to do so, and we don't, at least not as much as I'd like. I'd rather see artists remake a movie that actually inspired them to do so, than remake a movie because a studio believes it will make money.

[jaedmc]

And since this is the new movies thread, not Jae talking about remaking movies thread, I wanna see this -

[Devon Malcolm]

A thousand times yes. Directors had to be MORE creative to get around the limitations and make the movies good. I'm not saying it was an intrinsically a good thing, but by forcing creators to think outside the box, they were forced to be more creative as well. Limitations almost always force creativity and make sure that the easy options and shortcuts aren't taken. 

 

Indeed. Of course, it would have been ideal if directors had been able to make whatever the hell they wanted, but look at just how many truly great films were made from the early 1930s to the early 1960s, and it really is remarkable that they were able to do so considering the shackles that were on them. In some ways you have to ask whether the great directors like Hitchcock and Lang would have been quite so great if they had been allowed total creative freedom.

[Burgundy LaRue]

I really wish more big-time directors and actors would look toward making micro-budget movies.  Let's see how creative they can be with just a few million instead of their usual 'equal to a small country's GDP' monies.

 

William Friedken has redeemed himself with Bug and Killer Joe (gotta watch that at some point), and they were made for pennies by Hollywood standards.  Soderbergh is always up for a challenge like this.  Matthew McConaughey is showing what a good actor he can be when he's not going for the easy payday those rom-com movies give him.  Nicole Kidman is always best in small, on the fringe films.  It forces out-of-the-box thinking.  I wish more big-name talent would do that.

[Devon Malcolm]

Killer Joe was pretty good. A bit overrated by some, I think, and a certain scene that everyone talks about in that film is actually really stupid, but I enjoyed it. The ending is brilliant as well.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I have never seen Oldboy. That trailer was great. I must see the original then?

 

 

I think it's a great movie. The lead performance is fucking awesome, the hammer scene is one of my favorite fights in cinema in the last 10 years probably, and Park has a very awesome aesthetic and dark dark humor. I'd recommend it, but it's up to you if you think any of that sounds like fun.

Niners, here are some Korean movies you should definitely see along with the original Oldboy if you haven't: I Saw the Devil, Bedevilled, A Bittersweet Life, Breathless, The Man From Nowhere, Pieta, the other movies from the Vengeance trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), The Chaser, and The Good, the Bad, the Weird.

[RIPPA]

The HTTYD2 teaser finally hit youtube

 

[odessasteps]

@ComicBookdotcom: http://t.co/ZripSDceIy - Mystery Science Theater 3000′s Original Cast Reunite http://t.co/IZ8KTQJbN6

Doing a commentary track for The Heat DVD

[Elsalvajeloco]

Apparently, this cost $130 million to make.

[Bustronaut]

Apparently, this cost $80 million to make.

[Dolfan in NYC]

Apparently, this cost $80 million to make.

And it made $41.5M, making it the second highest grossing movie of the weekend.  Well ahead of Pacific Rim.

 

Have I mentioned how much I hate people?

[Bustronaut]

I wouldn't say $3M is WELL ahead of PacRim.  Barely would be the term I use.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I don't want to sound like I'm defending Grown Ups 2 but it's been a dry Summer for comedies and when it comes to Pacific Rim I feel like the thought was either A. I have no idea what this is or B. I've seen enough 'save the world' movies for a while.

[odessasteps]

I saw an article, relating to the Godzilla movie at San Diego, wondering if people have "apocalypse fatigue" with movies.

[Elsalvajeloco]

You can still make those type of movies, but it gets very gritty at the box office during this time of year. Take a look at the schedule for 2014. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes went to mid July while the X-Men movie gets the prime May spot with very little competition. There is no way that Dawn is going to take #1 if Fast Seven comes out a week before. If it had stayed in May, it would have at least had a realistic shot at taking number 1 the week after Godzilla. 

[BrianS81177]

Kevin James' repeated box office success makes me want to punch a kitten.

[Death From Above]

I don't want to sound like I'm defending Grown Ups 2 but it's been a dry Summer for comedies and when it comes to Pacific Rim I feel like the thought was either A. I have no idea what this is or B. I've seen enough 'save the world' movies for a while.

I agree with what you're saying to a point. Sandler also has the non R-rated edge. We've got a choice of (depending on your size of theater) like 6 action movies to go see, but the other big comedies so far (Hangover III, This is the End, The Heat) have all been R-rated. I don't like Sandler much and his success is kind of crazy, but his studio picked a good spot for his film here.

 

The commercials for Pacific Rim had some great visuals (well it's Del Torro, no kidding) but I didn't see any plot beyond ROBOTS! MONSTERS! Not that I have anything against robots vs. monsters as a plot. And it's not like Grown Ups 2 really has a plot either. But there is probably something to action movie burnout this summer.

 

On the same front, I thought the commecials for The Heat looked really unfunny but I still would have picked it to beat White House Down which came out the same week, for basically the "comedy over action film #6" logic. White House Down looked like probably the most generic action film of the year thus far without a ton really going for it. The Heat looked like "that thing the wife made you go see because White House Down looked stupid and no one under 50 cares about The Lone Ranger" that ends up making a bunch of money.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Seems like there's always a comedy that comes out of nowhere and RAKES. Off the top of my head I'm thinking The Hangover which had an incredible word of mouth going for it and probably something else with Sandra Bullock.

[Elsalvajeloco]

White House Down was the worst movie I saw this summer. From the sound of the bullets to the dialogue, there was nothing redeeming about it. Just absolutely godawful in every way.

[Ellsworth Toohey]

White House Down was the worst movie I saw this summer. From the sound of the bullets to the dialogue, there was nothing redeeming about it. Just absolutely godawful in every way.

 

Worse than Olympus Has Fallen with its seemingly gleeful depictions of innocent civilians getting slaughtered?