Movies

[Kathy Li]

So, I'm back from Comic-Con (sorry, took me a while to recover) and I barely saw anything because I was spending most of my time hanging with my friends. But one of the few panels I made it to was the Disney panel, where they presented on Prince Caspian (which is currently filming, and won't be out unti May 2008). Yes, they're planning on doing all seven (yikes!). They didn't have any footage, so they showed us pre-visualization stuff instead. Looked kind of like a video game, of everybody invading King Miraz's castle. It looks pretty cool.

And the second half of the presentation was on the next Pixar (which also won't be out until 2008, obvious) movie, Wall-E. It was freaking amazing. I'd tell you more about the movie, but I don't want to spoil it. Andrew Stanton, the director, said that the seed of the story (which he mostly wrote while he was procrastinating on Finding Nemo) was the idea of what if everybody abandoned the Earth, but there was one robot that was left running.

He began to realize that he was thinking of making "R2D2: The Movie", and that's when it occurred to him that Ben Burtt lives very nearby Pixar (i.e., Skywalker Ranch is pretty darn close).

Ben Burtt, if you don't know who he is, is the guy who heard the hum of a projector motor, and the crackle of the vacuum tubes in the back of his television, recorded both sounds, mixed them together with about a dozen others, and created the sound effect for a lightsaber. He was the sound designer for the original Star Wars. Believe me, you know his work.

And he was on stage. With his keyboard, which was plugged into Hall H's sound system. And it was cranked up, ("Just what a sound guy likes to hear." he said.) And for a crowd of 6,000 fans, he began to play the sounds that he used to make up the character of Wall-E. And then showed us test animation with the sounds put together. And then did it for three more characters. And then Andrew Stanton showed us a huge clip (like, four or five minutes) from the movie.

It was really amazing. So, I'm definitely looking forward to Wall-E.

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In more mundane movie-going, I finally got around to seeing the Transformers movie. It was really really fun, and exactly the sort of huge-mecha-and-explosions silliness I needed. I also loved the fact that they used the original cartoon voices, and that it was taking the cartoon as seriously as if they were making Blackhawk Down or something. Serious love letter to the military, which is something I can get behind, living in a navy town as I do.

Then, I followed that up with No Reservations, which was about as good as I thought it would be--fun, but not quite as good as the German original (Bella Marthe or Mostly Martha). They really simplified the character of the restaurant owner, and they dumped the entire subplot of looking for Zoe/Lina's Italian father, which was annoying.

Next week: Stardust!

[Kathy Li]

So, I saw Stardust and was actually a little disappointed. I liked the book so much better. But it was fun.

This last week, I went to see The Last Legion and if anybody else would be amused by another possible Roman legion beginning for the Arthurian legend, I'd say you'll want to hurry and try to catch it as soon as possible, because I doubt it's going to linger long in the theatres. I was (almost) the only person at the showing I went to.

It was also incredibly funny to see Kevin McKidd, whom I'd been watching for two years as Lucius Vorenus on Rome, switch sides and play one of the maurading Goths.

The only really huge historical boo-boo was that they made India part of the Byzantine Empire... but I suppose they can be forgiven, since, y'know, they had to include a fierce but gorgeous girl warrior type character, and they'd decided to cast Aishwarya Rai. Made for a fun novelty, anyhoo, to see someone fighting with a katar in a Roman legion vs. the barbarian hordes type flick.

[Rhi]

So, I saw Stardust and was actually a little disappointed. I liked the book so much better. But it was fun.

I like the book and the movie just about equal. I mean, they changed the story a bit (okay a lot but there's Hollywood for you ) but I liked the way they did it. And the ending was cuter than the book, though on reflection I'm not sure if cute is the thing to go for in that story...The only thing I wished they had left in was the slave girl's riddle, I really liked that part of the story and it wouldn't have been too hard to mention. Maybe they didn't want to make their audience have to think

[Dragon Writer]

i've neither read the book, OR seen the movie...but from what someone who read the book, then saw the commercials said, a BIT doesn't begin to describe how much it was changed...*wants to see the movie still* it helps that there's no way i can read the book....

[Kathy Li]

Over in the SYWTBAW movie thread,

Originally posted by wolf_wizard:
Have you seen any of the trailers? They made Pan's voice a girls. That pretty much is the beginning of totally destroying tha movie in my opinion. I don't know if i'll see it- it appeares as if they have already totally messed it up- if they couldn't make Pan a boy, who knows what else they'll have messed up?

Actually, Pantalaimon's voice is Freddie Highmore--the guy who played Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Not a girl's voice. From what I've seen, Golden Compass looks pretty decent--a great deal of the production design is pretty closely in line with what I pictured when I read the books. Given, they're not using the Tom Stoppard screenplay, but I'm not going to be making any snap judgements until I've actually seen the movie. Sam Elliott as Lee Scorseby is perfect casting.

Given who they've cast for each of the roles, I'm hopeful. Getting Sam Elliott for Lee Scorsby is perfect casting, as far as I'm concerned. The HBO behind-the-scenes thing has got me impressed.

Oh, and on the Philip Pullman adaptation front, apparently the second of the Sally Lockhart adaptations, The Shadow in the North is airing on the BBC on Christmas Day.

[wolf_wizard]

Oh, it's just that the movie trailer I saw makes it sound that way then. Some of my friends who saw the same trailer thought the same as well. Maybe now there is a slightly higher chance that I will see it. Thanks! I don't know... I really like the books so much I can't help myself, though I know they will ruin it.

[Kathy Li]

I know how you feel. I'm currently driving a friend of mine crazy with my rants about the upcoming Sweeney Todd movie. I am a Sondheim fan. Sondheim is sacred. You do not mess with the Sondheim. But Tim Burton, being who he is, is not going to not put his personal stamp on things.

It's just that, to me, Sweeney Todd is not just a musical, it's opera-level. It's one of the last Broadway musicals to be written for a baritone. And Burton (of course), cast Depp, who, judging by the trailers, is singing tenor, which would cause practically the entire score to be raised up a fifth, and ... and... you just don't DO THAT to a Bernard Herrmann-inspired horror score that has things like inverted bits of Mozart's Dies Irae in it!! [huff huff huff].

I'm sure it'll be a gorgeous gory glorious film for a great many people--but I know every word and note and move and piece of dialogue of that show. And that accent that Depp so fondly believed was British that he was using all through the Pirates trilogy...omg.

I am soooooo not sure whether I can go into a movie theatre and see it. Not to mention that as much as I typically love watching Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, and Helen Bonham-Carter, I don't think any of them could be said to be noted for their singing ability.

I can understand why the trailers and ads are emphasizing the horror elements instead of the musical elements (because, honestly, you really don't wanna give anybody the mixed message that this is a merry happy type movie or anything, given that it's one Grand Guinol bloodbath with cannibalism to boot. It so should have released at Halloween!!). But it's still frustrating me that Sondheim is getting buried beneath the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton factor.

Oh well. At least it's Sweeney Todd which is a good match for Burton, and not something like Sunday in the Park With George, A Little Night Music, or Into the Woods.

[wolf_wizard]

I've seen some trailers for Sweeney Todd, and they do seem to be emphasising the gore a little bit. I've never heard of it, but i'm not a huge musical fan. I agree they'll probably mess this one up a little bit to, because of the singing from what kli6 posted. I don't know. I think all movies made off of some form of writing are going to be messed up in some way or another. It's just that the majority of people who see the movies don't know, so they take shortcuts. *sighs* Sorry for the comentary, but I just don't like it when movies mess up the story for those who have not read it. *sighs again*

[vashmata]

No offence, movie-changer-haters, but there is always something that needs to be changed or removed. It is impossible to make a movie exactly the way the story is described in the book. Now I know most of the time much too much is removed or changed, and I agree with that. I'm just trying to make you guys aware that you shouldn't completely hate the producers.

Candyman Jr, Master Procrastinator, Joe Green, Vashmata

[Kathy Li]

Oh, I don't hate the producers, and I don't hate the idea of any book being adapted. Even a bad movie can do a ton to promote a book and cause people to be curious enough to pull it down off the shelf. And it's not as if the book is actually harmed--it's still there, on the shelf, all its words unchanged and intact.

And then, there are all those changes that DD's had to do to fit SYWTBAW into a screenplay...

Cuts always have to be made. In a screenplay/teleplay, one page (properly formatted) translates to a minute of screen time. If a movie has to fit into two hours, then the screenplay can only be 120 pages long. If it's a good adaptation, though, you won't notice the missing bits.

[Sean L.]

I'm definitely hyped for the Golden Compass - it looks like a high budget but well made adaptation of the book. As you said, Kathy, the casting for Lee Scorsby looks excellent - and I think Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig may also do well.

I heard rumors about the movie not ending where the book does, which bothers me slightly, but we'll see how that goes.

Judging by the trailers, it will be an magnificient epic of a fantasy story - but then, judging by trailers is a bad idea, I hear :P. It looks set to be the next LotR though - three books, epic tale, big budget. As long as they don't mess it up...

As for Sweeney Todd, it looks interesting, though I'm a bit weirded out that it's a Disney film. I couldn't get the picture of Johnny Depp not as a pirate out of my head at first, but now it seems like it might as well fit. Considering Secret Garden had him as a pretty messed up writer and Pirates of the Carribean has him drunk most of the time, I don't think that playing someone insane and out for revenge will be too much of a stretch.

Thinking back to Comic Con - Kathy, did you see The Man From Earth? I liked the film a good deal; it's sort of a science-fiction that isn't predicated on beautiful but scantily clad women and lasers. Not that I don't like a good space opera, but as one of the magazines described it, it's more of a thinking sci-fi than a visceral one. It was apparently chosen as one of the Comic-Con movies or something, so I'm curious if you had caught it.

[Lazy Leopard]

The review I heard a couple of nights ago said that the film only covers the first two thirds (or so) of the first book. That'd mean they'll have left off some fairly crucial stuff, but maybe they're going to try to spin the story out for four or five movies?

I must find out where I can go to see it.

[wolf_wizard]

They're only doing the 1st two thirds of the movie??? Are thay just going to skip the other third and somehow make up for it in The Subtle Knife, or are they going to make several movies? I think the second sounds like a better idea, though Knowing the way they make movies I think maybe the 1st is more likely.

[Maelstrom]

Does anyone else hate those annoying movies that come out around Christmas time and all seem to have the same essential plot (or lack of same)? You know, movies like Elf, the Santa Claus movies, and, most recently, Fred Claus. They seem to generally make a lot of money, but I can't think who would like to watch them.

Teenagers hate them, adults only go to them on sufferance, and I know that when I was a toddler (if that's who they're marketed to), that I disliked them as well. My theory is that parents think that their children will enjoy these "family films", and that they bring the kids to control them for an afternoon. i can't see any other way that these movies can make so much money.

[wolf_wizard]

Yeah, I definetly agree with you that there is hardly any plot to them. Why should I wnt to see something that has a little bit to do with Christmas(I'm not ignoring other religions, it's just the main type of movie of the type that people are currently discussing) just because it's around Christmas time? I would rather watch a movie that contains actual plot during the winter season. Maybe they do make them for the people who want to see 'family films' with their entire family, although the majority of people don't really enjoy them. (Sorry if you're in the minority, nothing against you. It's just how I feel, and I could be wrong...)