I've been in a comic book frame of mind lately, what with all the superhero movies hitting theatres this summer.
Hot on the heels of The Dark Knight's debut comes the trailer for next year's most highly anticipated comic book - I'm sorry, graphic novel adaptation, The Watchmen.
You can watch the trailer here.
My first impression is that Dr. Manhattan looks great, but the Nite Owl looks far too young, muscular, and slick. The paunchy, bookish Dan Dreiberg from the original seems to have been sexed up for the Hollywood version, and that doesn't bode well for the movie.
Not that I ever had any real hope for this project. Not after 300, which had all the subtlety and intelligence of professional wrestling. There's no doubt that Zack Snyder has a visual flair, although he tends to overdo it if you ask me, but it's his story sense and ability to work with actors that I found so appalling in 300.
A great movie could be made based on The Watchmen, but I doubt Zack Snyder's the guy to make it.
An Eventful 24 Hours
Yesterday at this time I was unemployed, discouraged, and wondering if I would ever find work again. Then, just before bed, I decided to check the job bank, fully expecting to find nothing.
Five minutes later, I'd found a position I was perfectly qualified for. Thirty minutes later, I'd sent off an application, my hope restored.
This morning, at 11:00 am, I received a message saying I would probably be able to start today if I was available. At 1:00 PM, I spoke to the person doing the hiring over the phone. By 1:20 PM I was hired. At 3:00 PM, I met my new boss face to face for the first time. By 5:00 pm I had been given the keys to the office and was left alone to supervise the operation. What's more, I was working in the owner's office where she'd left her passport in plain view.
It's a good thing I'm so damn trustworthy.
I don't normally like it when things move this fast, but it seems my new employer was every bit as desperate as I was, so it's a good fit for now. There's no job security, it's strictly an on call position that could disappear next week or next month, and the responsibilities are significantly less than what I'm used to, but the hourly rate is as much as I've ever made in my life, the location is good, and I can show up for work in shorts if I want to.
It's a dream job in many ways, but my main duty is something I haven't had to do regularly for ten years, and I hated it then. But there's a good possibility for advancement, and if things continue to move quickly I'll hopefully be moving on to bigger and better things soon.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
Five minutes later, I'd found a position I was perfectly qualified for. Thirty minutes later, I'd sent off an application, my hope restored.
This morning, at 11:00 am, I received a message saying I would probably be able to start today if I was available. At 1:00 PM, I spoke to the person doing the hiring over the phone. By 1:20 PM I was hired. At 3:00 PM, I met my new boss face to face for the first time. By 5:00 pm I had been given the keys to the office and was left alone to supervise the operation. What's more, I was working in the owner's office where she'd left her passport in plain view.
It's a good thing I'm so damn trustworthy.
I don't normally like it when things move this fast, but it seems my new employer was every bit as desperate as I was, so it's a good fit for now. There's no job security, it's strictly an on call position that could disappear next week or next month, and the responsibilities are significantly less than what I'm used to, but the hourly rate is as much as I've ever made in my life, the location is good, and I can show up for work in shorts if I want to.
It's a dream job in many ways, but my main duty is something I haven't had to do regularly for ten years, and I hated it then. But there's a good possibility for advancement, and if things continue to move quickly I'll hopefully be moving on to bigger and better things soon.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
New Actors, Old Roles
When The Dark Knight opens this Friday, the character of Rachel Dawes will appear, but Katie Holmes will not. And in the trailers for the latest Mummy movie, that's clearly not Rachel Weisz tagging alongside Brendan Fraser. The re-casting of raven-haired Rachels is a distraction in both cases, but hardly without precedent. And with the first of these high profile sequels opening this week, the Onion's AV Club and IFC.com both decided to look at other awkward re-castings in film history.
I think the AV Club did a better job of it by focusing on situations where characters with new faces are appearing in the same timeline as their earlier incarnations, so reboots and remakes are given a free pass, but the IFC deserves top marks for remembering Crispin Glover's absence from the Back To The Future sequels.
In the case of The Dark Knight, I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief because Katie Holmes was horribly miscast in the first film and Maggie Gyllenhaal seems much more at home in Christopher Nolan's version of Gotham City. Holmes is adorable eye candy and she's been excellent in other roles, but she's far too youthful and perky to be convincing as a District Attorney who bravely crusades against murderous crime bosses. Maggie Gyllenhaal, with her off-beat looks and aura of intelligence, should easily fill Katie Holmes' shoes, but not her bra, while making the role her own.
And if the re-casting of Katie Holmes is distracting, imagine how awkward it will be if the studio tries to replace Heath Ledger as the Joker in the next Batman film. I doubt Christopher Nolan would get involved with something like that, but it's just the sort of thing a clueless executive might think up.
Here's hoping that common sense prevails.
Or buy from Amazon.ca (Canada)
I have very little to say about Maria Bello taking over for Rachel Weisz in the Mummy sequel because I like both actresses but I despised the first film, skipped the second, and have no intention of watching the third. Replacing the writer/director with someone a lot better than Rob Cohen would be the only way to get me to watch another Mummy movie.
You can read the AV Club's article on awkward re-castings here and the IFC take on these matters here. Both are interesting reads for movie buffs.
I can't think of any glaring omissions on either list, but I did find David Hyde Pierce's absence in Hellboy 2 a disappointment. I know it wasn't him under Abe Sapien's makeup in the original, but his distinctive voice brought the character to life in the first film, and Doug Jones gave a comparatively flat performance in the second.
And on a final note, I got a real kick out of this part of the IFC's article:
How soon we forget Boogie Nights.
I think the AV Club did a better job of it by focusing on situations where characters with new faces are appearing in the same timeline as their earlier incarnations, so reboots and remakes are given a free pass, but the IFC deserves top marks for remembering Crispin Glover's absence from the Back To The Future sequels.
In the case of The Dark Knight, I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief because Katie Holmes was horribly miscast in the first film and Maggie Gyllenhaal seems much more at home in Christopher Nolan's version of Gotham City. Holmes is adorable eye candy and she's been excellent in other roles, but she's far too youthful and perky to be convincing as a District Attorney who bravely crusades against murderous crime bosses. Maggie Gyllenhaal, with her off-beat looks and aura of intelligence, should easily fill Katie Holmes' shoes, but not her bra, while making the role her own.
And if the re-casting of Katie Holmes is distracting, imagine how awkward it will be if the studio tries to replace Heath Ledger as the Joker in the next Batman film. I doubt Christopher Nolan would get involved with something like that, but it's just the sort of thing a clueless executive might think up.
Here's hoping that common sense prevails.
Or buy from Amazon.ca (Canada)
I have very little to say about Maria Bello taking over for Rachel Weisz in the Mummy sequel because I like both actresses but I despised the first film, skipped the second, and have no intention of watching the third. Replacing the writer/director with someone a lot better than Rob Cohen would be the only way to get me to watch another Mummy movie.
You can read the AV Club's article on awkward re-castings here and the IFC take on these matters here. Both are interesting reads for movie buffs.
I can't think of any glaring omissions on either list, but I did find David Hyde Pierce's absence in Hellboy 2 a disappointment. I know it wasn't him under Abe Sapien's makeup in the original, but his distinctive voice brought the character to life in the first film, and Doug Jones gave a comparatively flat performance in the second.
And on a final note, I got a real kick out of this part of the IFC's article:
For unspecified reasons — speculation ranges from script dissatisfaction to loyalty to departing "Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme — Jodie Foster chose not to reprise her performance as FBI Agent Clarice Starling. Ultimately, the honor of playing Clarice in Ridley Scott's sequel fell to Julianne Moore. Demme went to great lengths to diminish Foster's Starling physically onscreen; in a world of beefy guys, she's always the smallest person in the elevator. Scott and Moore's Starling, on the other hand, is some kind of supercop; blissfully snoozing seconds before she's blowing baddies away. After seeing the performances side by side, it's hard to believe their IMDb pages, which state that at five foot four inches tall, Moore stands just a half an inch above Foster. In, "Hannibal," it's more like half a foot. People joke about the camera adding 10 pounds; I never heard of it adding 10 inches before.
How soon we forget Boogie Nights.
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