Cinema Death Watch, part I

I realise a lot proposed remakes and reboots and sequels never get made, but there are still piles that do.

The latest? A remake of Fame, this update starring Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neurwith. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for seeing Bebe getting her dance on--she's an oustanding dancer--but still... this just has to go on the Cinema Death Watch list. It can't be good, can it? The original was a touchy-feely piece of dreck; the spin-off TV series even more so.

I'm reminded of the old Saturday Night Live parody of the Fame song, sung as "Same! I sing the same song forever..."

Blech.

Fascinating.... ?

http://www.jawsphobia.blogspot.com/

I [heart] Moleskine

Been investing a fair bit of time getting GTD up and running on a Moleskine. GTD isn't the most intuitive system but as I start to work with it I find it works a treat.

Anyone else out there managing their lives an a low-tech analogue format? I'd love to hear about your systems.

District 9

Caption: "If you just sign here, we'll be sure to over-render you in the sequel, just like we did for the Transformers."

District 9 is the first film with CGI characters interacting with real actors that didn't leave me thinking "nice CGI. What else you got?" There are no CGI fireants or gophers or Cyberkings kicking the shit out of Victorian London or confusing Trans-form-o-bots here. Instead we get Prawns, a race of human-like aliens rendered perfectly. They are even more enjoyable to watch because they're in there in service of a compelling story. Just try not get excited about the robot rig at end of the film, exquistely designed, and rendered by someone who obviously understands how machines work.

That this is a relatively low-budget film will surely make the Big Players take notice. I've always said if I had a $150 million dollars, I'd make seven or eight of these little films, not one big mess, a la Spider-Man 3. I doubt it, but perhaps the revolution has begun. Of course I'll eat my words when Neil Blomkamp is given $200 million to make District 10 or Halo.

Wow x2

Seen: The Godfather and The Godfather Part II on the big screen at the good old Bloor Cinema. Excellent films, with so many classic moments and lines. Easy to see where The Sopranos took their inspiration from.

Best line: "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

Tuesday chuckle.

The circle of no life

Credit: http://gizmodo.com/5329594/the-circle-of-no-life

Seen: Not Good nor Bad

Caption: Johnny Depp sez... "Where's my backstory? Three lousy sentences? Guess I'll just shoot the gun some more, huh?"


Public Enemies directed by Michael Mann. It was great to look at, but the characters had no resonance. I needed more behind the characters of John Dillinger and F.B.I. agent Melvin Purvis. Though jam-packed with great actors, this long film felt slight.

And there was real, jolt-you-out-of-the-story moment... In a nightclub, singing (quite beautifully) is none other than Diana Krall. How can you not help but think "out of place?" If they wanted Krall on the soundtrack, they should have had another actress lip sync the nightclub singing. A very strange casting choice.