Rants and raves about other films

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Rants and raves about other films

Postby fish » Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:49 am

Rather than clutter up other topics with our rants and raves about particular films I thought it would be a good idea to open up a new topic just for that purpose.

Plus I wanted to continue about "Låt Den Rätte Komma In", (Let The Right One In), and I couldn't find the old topic anywhere. :?

I'll start this where Snaps left off in "What Are You Currently Watching (on tv/dvd)?"

snaps wrote:Image

Thye've cast Chloe Moretz to play the part of Eli in the USA remake of LTROI. I'm not saying she isn't a pretty little thing, but she looks about as mysterious and threatening as a girl scout cookie.


First let me repeat something I wrote many, many moons ago. "The Magnificent Seven" good though it was, is not and will never be as good as the Japanese original "The Seven Samurai".

The quote below is from 411mania.com http://www.411mania.com/movies/columns/127773/Around-the-World-in-24-Frames-01.29.10:-Let-The-Right-One-In.htm and I think very nicely expresses my views on "remakes" in general and in particular the remakes of "Låt Den Rätte Komma In" and "Män som hatar kvinnor".

"I will come right out and say it now so there is no debate on how I feel: Sweden's Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson is point #1 as to why I can't stand mainstream American film studios and a good chunk of mainstream American film audiences. This is a film that is practically perfect the way it is, and is told best because of where and when it takes place, that any spin that defends the "Contemporary" and "Americanized" version is full of shit. Drizzling, nasty shit. It wouldn't be this way if 1) the U.S. based studios pushed harder when it came to the distribution of foreign-films and 2) if the majority of the U.S. based audience could get past their pathetic quasi-jingoism and actually consider that – yes – there are mainstream stories that DO exist and CAN be told from outside of the United States with non-English-speaking characters."

If you've a like mind I recommend the link to the rest of the review. If you're not of a like mind then just don't go there.

Lina Leandersson and Kåre Hedebrant at the 2009 Guldbagges.
Image

There have to be other remakes which reflect this view as well as some remakes which no doubt are far better than the original, it's just that I find the assumption by the US film industry that it is the only one of consequence, to be insulting to the other 95% of the earth's population.

Takes another tablet.
Rant subsides. :T
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby Ian » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:42 am

You can rest assured Fish that I 100% agree with you. Did you know they are even remaking the 2005 BRITISH comedy "Death of a Funeral"... with Martin Lawrence? :T :T :T

Words truly fail you.


I have zero intention of watching the american LTROI. Ever. The whole thing drives me batty these days. :roll:



EDIT: Great review, by the way. I agree with every word (incl how cutting out/making less clear certain aspects of the book actually enhances the film, particularly Eli and Hakan's relationship. The tantalising possibility that he may have once been just like Oskar is one of the film's most haunting unsaid notions).
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby fish » Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:30 am

Ok, yesterday I had a rant about the US film industry and remakes, today it's a rave about a favourite US film from 1999 of which I caught the last minute or so last night and made a solemn promise to watch again soon. Being John Malkovich for anyone who hasn't seen it is one of the most original and unusual films you're ever likely to see.

Image

Stars John Cusack as puppeteer and filing clerk Craig Schwartz.
Cameron Diaz as his wife and pet store employee Lotte.
Catherine Keener as Maxine Lund who works with him.
The great actor John Malkovich plays the part of actor John Malkovich.
Superb cast from top to bottom. Orson Bean as Dr Lester deserves a special mention.

The story revolves around Schwartz who's trying without luck to find work as a puppeteer and settles for a job as a filing clerk. While at work he discovers a tiny hidden doorway which turns out to be a portal into the mind of Malkovich.

Directed by Spike Jonze, written by Charlie Kaufman, one of the producers is Michael Stipe from REM.

The scene where Malkovich enters his own portal is worth the cost of the DVD rental on its own.
And Maxine and Lotte are super cute together.

It's original, it's serious, it's funny, it's just damn brilliant. I hope there's never a remake. :P *:)*
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby snaps » Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:20 pm

Bless John Malkovich, and the small but dedicated number of Americans who are prepared to put art and edgy storytelling before making easy megabucks with st*rbuckssucksfilms.
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby fish » Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:29 am

snaps wrote:Bless John Malkovich, and the small but dedicated number of Americans who are prepared to put art and edgy storytelling before making easy megabucks with st*rbuckssucksfilms.

Indeed.Image


Didn't know where else to put these pics of the Män Som Hatar Kvinnor stars.

Noomi Rapace from finest.se Image
Noomi & her husband at the Guldbagges Image
Michael Nyqvist & his wife also at the Guldbagges Image

So here they are. :roll:
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby snaps » Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:10 pm

Don't know where to put this post but I'll park it here. Things have moved so fast didn't even gave time to get it into the films coming up thread.

Basically, ''Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' premiered in UK today (at last :roll: ) Went to the early showing cos I wanted to be one of the first here to see it. *:)* intial impression? As Elin would say ''prrrrfffffrrt'' *:|* I'm not going to knock the direction, or the filming, or the acting or even for that matter the scriptwriting. I thought they were all well done. My basic bone of contention is that of trying to get a literary whopper into a 2+ hours film. I think even the ABRIDGED version of the audio book is something like 17 hours worth.

And that is where it begins and ends really. If something is sooooo good don't you want it to go on longer *coughs* :oops: I literally ''lived'' inside the trilogy last year when I was going through a tough time. I would have hated the job of editing the book down to movie proprtions so I'm not knocking the script editor. Sure some things were ripe for pruning, like the Agatha Christie type setting up of the whole Vanger clan as potential suspects.

But the film left me feeling cheated. It was all too ''flash fiction'' , Disneyesque even. The length was not sufficient to do justice to Blomqvist and certainly not a character of the complexity of Salander. In the film she just comes over as a ''chick with attitude''. You need to understand the nature of her autistic self to be able to warm to the character. Here she just appears rather cold and mechanical. Even the comic references to Pippi Longstocking are drowned in the editing.

Another casualty is the political/economic/ social context of millenial Sweden. Described at length in the book, but still essential for max enjoyment of the story.

Yet another casualty is the VERY detailed I.T. intrigue described throughly in the book. Even though its my weak point, Larssson revelled in revealing details of how hacking works, how to set up global networked companies and how this could part of the plot actually really works in reality.

Needless to say, the bisexual nature of Salander is reduced to a sideshow of a few seconds that doesn't even have time to give her GF Miriam Wu a name.

My conclusions? is best see the film as a ''trailer'' for the book, and that it should have been done as a TV serial (maybe six eps of one and a half hours) rather than a film. :Y
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby Ian » Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:31 am

Oh dear.

Still, I haven't read the book. :lol:
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby fish » Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:44 am

I'm glad I never read it first but now that I've seen the trailer I guess I'll have to buy the book. Oh dear. :roll:
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby Ian » Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:42 am

Well, I'M still looking forward to it anyway. :P
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby triddy » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:26 pm

snapsie, I agree with pretty much everything you say, to me the film just felt...empty. I admit I haven't read the books, but I suspect I would dislike the films even more if I had. You could really feel that they had left out a lot of important stuff.

This is also the reason why I'm actually a bit curious about the american remakes - maybe, I'm just saying maybe, they'll be able to pull it off better then the swedes. Fortunately, they have at least stated that it will be new films based on the books, rather than exact remakes of the films.

Oh, and about the bisexual nature of Salander - watch film number two and you'll complain no more :roll: :wink:
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby fish » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:43 am

I've decided I should see all three "Millenium" films before I even contemplate buying the books. I know films made from books, especially ones written on an epic scale, are almost always poor in comparison. I mean they have to be don't they? Such large sections have to be omitted and other parts of the story changed to accommodate the missing parts. What results is a film which "somewhat" resembles the book but just isn't the same.

And I think that's the point. The book should continue to be enjoyed but the film can also be enjoyed for telling another version of the same story, or even for telling another story entirely. Always providing of course, that it tells a good story well.

I enjoyed the first film ''Girl with the Dragon Tattoo''. Sure it was violent, confronting even, but I thought it was all relevant and in context. I can see that a novel is capable of developing it's characters more fully but I'm prepared to accept them in the way the film portrayed. When I finally get to read the books that should only enhance what I've already learned about them.

When it's all done, when I've bought, seen and enjoyed all three, I'll probably wind up buying the books to see what the "real" thing is all about.
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby Ian » Thu Mar 18, 2010 1:24 am

I can't be arsed to read books these days.




Have I ever mentioned what I do for a living?



*:|* :P :lol:
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby fish » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:05 am

For shame, for shame. :shock:

Just don't let the film industry know or your credibility is straight down the crapper. Then how are we going to get Alex and Rebecka to pay attention to all these wonderful scripts you're developing for them. :P :lol:
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Re: Rants and raves about other films

Postby Ian » Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:14 am

I just never seem to find the time these days. Plus - like traipsing out to the cinema - when you're frequently left disappointed after you have made the effort, it kinds of puts you off.
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