Toob Talk

Anyone who’s been paying attention to things showing up in the movies or on their television over the last few years has probably noticed that everything old is new again–either through a re-make (or re-boot, or re-visioning) or through a sequel. Well, it looks like the coming film and television season won’t change that much.

AMC is producing a six-hour remake of the classic surreal and intriguing series The Prisoner. I’m a little excited about this. The cast is solid and the time is right for some serious commentary on government secrecy and authority.

ABC is taking the BBC show Life on Mars and moving it to America… and, apparently, changing major plot points, like the entire base reason the 21st century cop has found himself in the 1970s. The best thing about this show may be that Harvey Keitel has joined the cast (though he’s not listed yet on the IMDB entry). I still think we may have gotten lucky with The Office, since so many other “ported” shows haven’t at all lived up to their foreign originals.

There are others, but TV shows come and go… chances are most people won’t even notice these or know that they were once (possibly better) shows from other places.

Movies are another story. While there may still be some general ignorance of originals that get remade and there is definitely a lack of understanding on how things change from the first iteration to sequel n, some movies have made their way into the cultural lexicon. Right now, we’re looking at remakes of some of those “modern classic” films. And quite frankly, I’m a little worried.

Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and The Rocky Horror Picture Show are all currently getting ready to hit the big screen as completely new movies, unconnected to the already existing films.

In all fairness, Nightmare and Friday have both been so transformed through their lifetimes as series that the most recent editions have only the most vague echoes of what originally made the films stick. There’s little question that they’ve lost their original focus and relevance. But while that’s true of the series as a whole, it is not true of the original films that started the series. The first two iterations of both Nightmare and Friday still stand up today, thematically. Yes, the hair and sets and cars and clothing are horribly dated (thank you 1980s), but the cores of the films are solid. In fact, in some ways, those films are more relevant today than they were when they first hit the screen.

What I worry about–what I always worry about when remakes hit the deck–is that they’ll be over produced, over thought and tweaked to meet marketing agendas more than anything else. You know, just like most new mainstream films. (I’m going to have to do a whole separate post about the horror genre and how it’s changed over the years…)

I’m willing to give the remakes a chance. I was happy with the redone Amityville Horror and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So it’s not hopeless. But the originals of those films, while groundbreaking, suffered many technical problems that reduced their overall effectiveness. Nightmare and Friday don’t have a lot of problems in those areas.

By far, the scariest remake news is that MTV is the force behind Rocky Horror. If there was ever a film that did not need to be remade, it’s RHPS. It was a unique blend of camp and creative forces that made the original an accidental cult classic. Trying to replicate that on purpose is a recipe for disaster. The only “good” thing that may come out of it is that we might get to hear some of the songs that didn’t make it into the original. (Just to put “cult classic” status into perspective: RHPS has grossed about $140 million since it premiered in 1974–that’s less than what The Dark Knight made in one weekend.)

Thankfully, it looks like the new RHPS will be a TV release. So maybe it’ll go by unnoticed.

All is not bad news, though. It seems Disney is finally putting together a sequel to one of the greatest computer-focused films of all time: Tron. Some of us have been waiting decades for this… and were quite annoyed back in 2004 when what looked like was going to be a fantastic follow-up turned out to be a video game. Here’s hoping they don’t pull that again.

…and, wow am I glad I didn’t see that in the theater!

Seriously. They could have had two good movies and, instead, they crammed it all into one kinda crappy one. Pretty, though. In fact, as long as you don’t care about semi-sensible plot, proper character development or actual working story arcs, it’s the perfect movie–a collection of clips and sound bites that vaguely hang together, mostly because they have the same characters in them.

The Sandman story could have been great… if it had had space to actually grow and, maybe, brood a little. Him and Parker could have been great dramatic point and counterpoint. Different men, different choices and all that. And the fights could have escalated wonderfully as Sandman learned more about his newly acquired powers and the Webhead slowly became more attached to his black suit.

The Green Goblin II story could have been fantastic… if Harry had a chance to grow more sinister at a more measured pace after his bump on the head. Parker’s life could have been real hell as people and things he loved were taken from him one by one. All the while his emotional turmoil feeding the black symbiotic suit and making it stronger… until it culminated in the awesome knock-down, drag-out between the Web slinger and the new Goblin. A real study in rise and fall of character that would have given all the actors (even Kirsten Dunst) a workout.

The Eddie Brock/Venom story would have been perfect for a fourth film. It was just kind of sandwiched in between everything else. What a waste of that character and Gwen Stacey. ‘Nuff said there.

So, yeah. That was almost a total waste of 2+ hours.

According to reports from Ain’t It Cool News and Zeit Online, a massive amount of previously unknown footage from the sci-fi classic Metropolis has been discovered. This is footage that may not have been seen anywhere since the first showings of the silent epic in the late 1920s.

Anyone who’s a fan of sci-fi should be very excited about this. Fritz Lang’s vision of the future is one of the major roots for the sci-fi we see on the screen today. Without Metropolis and it’s far-reaching themes of empowerment and oppression, spectacular set-pieces and astounding special effects (for their time–and even by today’s standards, they’re not half bad), generations of writers, designers and artists would be wandering lost without inspiration.

I learned years ago that there are a number of different cuts of this film, each containing different bits of footage, spliced together in different ways. It wasn’t until 2002 when a “definitive” edition came out, using original script bits, set drawings and production stills to fill in some of the known holes. The newly discovered footage, according to the articles, adds nearly 100 minutes of previously unseen footage.

Now, for the first time in nearly 80 years, the full depth and scope of the story will be known.

Even as it has been, the story of abuse of power, worker uprisings and true love is as rich and character-filled as any modern epic. The extra footage now available will flesh out some of the more vague points that have often confused and frustrated fans of Metropolis.

I don’t expect a DVD of this to be out for at least another two years. Restoration of footage can take a while–and I’m guessing we’re not dealing with the most meticulously preserved stock, either. But when it does come  out, I can only imagine the batch of extras that will be available. Think of it–a half dozen different cuts of the movie from over the years, multiple scores, a documentary about the restoration process and detective work that had to go on to make the newest version happen, another about the impact the  movie has had on pop-culture and the film world. Heck, throw in a nice biography of Lang and you’ve got at least four disks worth of stuff.

And, without question or hesitation, when that DVD set becomes available (perhaps with a limited edition statue of the robot) it will quickly be on my shelf.

Cry_Wolf was pretty good. A bit better than I expected it to be. The plot keeps you guessing what’s really going on and it all pays off pretty well in the end. Taking into account that the writer/director Jeff Wadlow has only done some shorts before, it’s pretty darn impressive. The young cast already has a good amount of experience behind them, so I’m sure that helped.

The story is pretty straight forward. The new kid at the swanky private school falls in with the fringe group of mild troublemakers. Just for fun, they decide to capitalize on the news of a local murder and create a serial killer rumor. Problem is, it quickly appears that their imagined killer has come to life and is after them. Is it the real killer upset that he’s being made fun of? Is it one of them just out to scare the others? Are they all out to spook one another? Or is it something else?

If you’re interested in a good mystery slasher film with some witty twists, check it out.

Wall Street is a classic and rightfully so. Oliver Stone’s examination of the rise and fall of stock broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) gives us a perfect look at the culture of oppulance and greed that personified the mid-1980s. We get to meet Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) who is greed personified. Gekko earns at all costs and takes a liking to Fox. A special treat is seeing Martin Sheen play Fox’s blue collar father. Both men are good actors and play well off one another.

By today’s standards, the film may move a little slow and the computers in use are ancient. But that’s how things were in 1987. There was no 24 hour trading. No web-based brokerages. Everything was done by running, making phone calls and yelling. A lot. It wasn’t easy to get inside information. It wasn’t easy to make millions of dollars (and millions of dollars were worth a lot more).

If you remember the “Greed is good!” ideals of real-life Gekkos in those heady days of the boom–or if you’re interested in seeing how things have and haven’t changed since then–check it out. Stone’s films have a well-earned place in the history of cinema and this is one of them that made his name known to everyone.

A weekend in means I have plenty of time to make use of my TV. This time around, there were a handful of movies watched and some of my favorite episodes of old anthology TV shows.

Shaolin vs. Evil Dead is a Hong Kong supernatural kung fu film a friend of mine lent me ages ago. I finally got around to watching it. I found it quite entertaining, but a bit off in a few ways. First and foremost, dubbed versions of Honk Kong films always leave me with that “Kung Fu Theater” Saturday afternoon feeling–all flash and no quality. Well, this film didn’t have a lot of flash and the quality wasn’t helped by the very silly sounding dubbed voices for most of the characters.

The plot has potential, though it seems to be heavy on the Chinese mythology (so if you’re not willing to leave your supernatural pre-suppositions at home, you’ll hate it) which takes a little getting used to. Basically, it’s the story of a priest and his young apprentices who are leading the bodies of the dead back to their home town for burial. Along the way, they encounter a haunted village and have a run in with an old acquaintance of the priest–an ex-best friend who trained under the same master but went off on his own when he wasn’t picked to take over the school. Yeah, that last part is pretty standard kung fu film plot, but it plays well in this case.

Overall, the film’s really not that bad. Some of the editing leaves me wondering what they were thinking, but there are some very nice shots between the awkward cuts. The worst of the editing problems happens right at the end. Just as the dust is settling from a climactic fight scene, the credits roll. I though my DVD had skipped a chapter. It had not. A little looking online shows that there’s a second part to the movie out there somewhere. If the action scenes running along side the credits are form that, then it’s a whole lot better action-wise than this film was.

After the flying fists smashed the undead, I popped in a disk of episodes from The Twilight Zone and was pleasantly greeted with a couple of very hopeful and well-done episodes. Of course, I remember them well from when I first saw them, this particular incarnation of the show was very influential for me growing up. The episodes caught were Time and Teresa Golowitz, Voices in the Earth, Song of the Younger World and The Girl I Married. If you’ve never seen this version of TZ, you should. Unlike the most recent incarnation, the producers understood that it’s more about the writing than the faces on the screen (not that they were hurting for on screen talent back in 85, they just managed to get the best of both worlds).

Those episodes were followed up with the original Ocean’s Eleven (which I’ve owned for a while but never watched). The story is more than a bit different from the more recent version, but the feel is very similar. Or at least it is if you know anything about the Rat Pack. This is your basic heist film and this version is nowhere near as complex as the new one. Sinatra and crew were all in the same outfit during World War II and get together to help a shady character rob five casinos on the Vegas strip. As much fun as this version is–complete with song and dance number from Sammy Davis, Jr., and more than a couple of songs from Dean Martin–I like the complexity of the new one much more. 1960 was obviously a much simpler time when it came to security. The extras on the DVD that I have are really neat. They have little mini-documentaries about the five casinos featured in the film.
A little more browsing through my DVD collection brought me to The Last Man on Earth, starring the impeccable Vincent Price. Since there’s another new version of this coming out soon with Will Smith, I figured it was appropriate. The story centers around Dr. Robert Morgan (Price) who has spent the last three years holed up in a suburban house, completely alone except for the still-shambling victims of a plague that seems to have eliminated all life on Earth except for him. The film unfolds slowly and is thick with desperation and hopelessness. Being based on a story by Richard Matheson, you really have to deviate far from the original plot in order to make something bad. This film is far from bad, but may move too slowly for the more MTV accustomed viewers that often complain about older films. It will be interesting to see how the newest version plays out, especially how they deal with the end of the film (which in this version is a little depressing, yet not at all unexpected).

Because I was still wide awake and raring to go, I popped in my copy of The Boondock Saints, yet another film I’ve been recommended numerous times but never actually seen. I obviously should have listened sooner. This film is fantastic. The cinematography is creative and (most of the time) perfect for setting the mood of the scenes. The music is well places and quite effective. The acting is top notch–especially from Willem Dafoe who once again proves he can play strange like nobody’s business.

The plot is an exciting and off-beat story of two brothers in Boston who accidentally start a war with the Russian mob after picking a fight in the local bar with the enforcers who come to collect the protection money. That leads to a night in prison where they have a vision–God tells them to, basically, go out and kill bad people. So like good Catholics, they do just that. The results are intense, action-packed and often quite humorous as they appear to actually need divine intervention (or at least amazingly good luck) to not get killed. Dafoe plays an FBI agent assigned to track them down. Billy Connolly appears as “Il Duche”–an almost mythical killer the Italian mob brings out of prison to help take out the brothers MacManus. That, of course, doesn’t quite go as they had hoped.

If you haven’t seen this film, you should. Yes, it is violent and there’s a whole lot of swearing. But it is also creative and very well done. If watched with your brain turned on, it even poses some very good questions about law enforcement and the state of the world.

That, more or less, capped off Saturday night. Sunday afternoon found me tuning in (via InDemand) to a handful of episodes from one of my other favorite anthology series, Amazing Stories. This particular group featured one of my all-time favorite episodes, Gather Ye Acorns. In it a tree troll tells a young boy to hold on to being a kid as long as possible. This leads the kid to be a world-class slacker (after working his tail off to get just the right car, of course). For most of his life, he never works and just holds on to the things that he loved most as a child. Sure he’s living out of his car and looks like a filthy bum. Sure he doesn’t have any friends and his family disowned him. But it all pays off in the end. This episode has two very nice quotes in it. The first is “The world has plenty of doctors and lawyers, what it needs is a few more dreamers.” And the second (which is, perhaps, the most counter-productive–and yet so totally true–quote floating around in my head) is “Lag behind long enough and you’ll find that the world will have to catch up with you.”

Yes, it was a weekend full of nostalgia and generally good films. Only thing that would make it better would have been to watch all of them with an audience. But that’s what movie nights are for, right?