Weekend Forecast: 3/14/08
By Craig Kennedy - March 13th, 2008; 12:01 am
Naomi Watts in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games
Here are this week’s new wide releases:
- In a boardroom at Fox, in the Kingdom of Hollywood,
Lurk some studio cocks who would fuck with my childhood.
They’ve pissed on The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat too.
Those made my teeth clinch, why not Horton Hears a Who?
I have a small amount of hope this won’t suck, but the odds are against it. The problem with Dr. Seuss movies is that the typical Dr. Seuss book has about enough material for a 30 minute cartoon if you pad it with songs and commercials. Blown up to a 90 minute movie, you’ve got an hour of stuff written by people who haven’t a fraction of the spirit or cleverness that make the original stories so wonderful. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a recipe for disaster. This particular (potential) disaster is brought to you by the folks behind the relentlessly mediocre Ice Age movies. For what it’s worth, Horton is voiced by Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Yopp! - Doomsday. R-rated thriller starring Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell from Neil Marshall, the writer/director of Dog Soldiers and The Descent. 30 years after an entire country is quarantined because of a mysterious and deadly virus, the disease pops up in a major city on the outside and a team is sent in to retrieve a cure. The premise sounds a little sketchy, but if the movie delivers the R-rated thriller goods, the premise won’t really matter. I’m officially giving it the benefit of a doubt.
- Never Back Down. The Karate Kid Without A Cause. New kid in town is bullied, gets Djimon Hounsou to teach him the ways of Mixed Martial Arts. Martial arts mixed with what? Suck?
The limited releases:
- Funny Games. Michael Haneke (Caché) remakes his own 1997 psychological thriller about a vacationing family terrorized by the boys next door. This one is in English and stars Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Michael Pitt. I’m not one of the many fans of Caché, but the cast has me intrigued and I’m willing to give Haneke another shot.
- Flash Point (NY, LA & SF) From Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip, it’s more Mixed Martial Arts action, but this one comes without the annoying sulky teens.
- Sleepwalking. This one is written by Zac Stanford who also wrote Chumsucker or Thumbscrubber or Chumthumber or Scumchummer or Chumscrubber or whatever the hell it was called and it’s directed by William Maher, the guy who did the visual effects for same. AnnaSophia Robb is abandoned by her mother so she hits the road to go find her father…or something. It’s also got Nick Stahl, Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson and Dennis Hopper. Ms. Robb was pretty good in Bridge to Terabithia and the rest of the cast is promising, but I do not have a good feeling about this one.
You punks in NY have a whole bunch of indie releases all to yourself
- Blind Mountain (Wed 3/12) From Li Yang, director of Blind Shaft, comes this tale about the practice of luring city girls to Chinese farming villages with the promise of jobs where they’re essentially forced to marry and breed. I caught this one at AFI, but I was a little underwhelmed.
- Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise (Thu 3/13). The world’s most unlikely rock star prepares to tour Canada some 30 years after the release of his smash-hit album Bat Out of Hell.
- Heartbeat Detector. Whoever came up with the English title for La Question Humaine should be beaten. Mathieu Almaric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) plays a human resources psychologist at a German pharmaceutical company who is assigned to investigate the firm’s director.
- Sputnik Mania. Documentary about the ramifications of the first satellite to successfully orbit the earth.
- Towards Darkness (Hacia la Oscuridad) (LA 3/21) The son of a Colombian banker is kidnapped and held for ransom. Apparently this happens quite a bit in Colombia. Fearing that the police won’t be able to help, the parents hire an American “kidnap and ransom” company to get their son back. Ugly Betty’s in it.
- War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. Finally, someone besides PBS is talking about the media’s complicity in lying us into a war in Iraq. Left-wing media, my ass.
- Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub (LA 3/28) Documentary about the famed New York nightclub, Wetlands Preserve, which saw performances by the likes of Pearl Jam, Phish and Dave Matthews Band before closing in September 2001.
Finally, here are the movies opening in LA. The first four already opened in NY. Punks.
- Snow Angels. In case you’ve forgotten what I wrote about it last week: David Gordon Green (All the Real Girls) adapts Stewart O’Nan’s novel featuring three connected stories of people at various stages in life. There is a first romance for an awkward teen; there are his divorcing parents; and there is his former babysitter, a single mother trying to put her life together while the father of her child tries to reconnect. Oh yeah, there’s also a tragic accident of some kind. Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris, Michael Angarano and Olivia Thirlby star.
- Paranoid Park. And another recycled blurb: Gus Van Sant’s latest foray into adolescence is about a Portland skater teen who accidentally kills a security guard and must come to terms with what he’s done. The horror…the horror!
- The Unforseen. And the last one: Documentary about a real estate developer in Texas vs. a community fighting to protect their limestone aquifer. Winner of the IFC Truer than Fiction Award at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards.
- Beaufort. I missed this Academy Award foreign language nominee when it opened in NY on 1/28, but here it is now in LA. From Israel, it’s a war drama about the 1982-2000 occupation of Lebanon.
- All In This Tea. Documentarian Les Blank (Burden of Dreams) directs this ode to tea. That’s right, I said “ode to tea.”
- Dying to Live. Ben Mittleman chronicles his battle with a genetic heart condition. Not to be confused with the 1999 made-for-UPN movie produced and starring Jonathan (Star Trek: The Next Generation) Frakes. Or go ahead and confuse the two. No one is likely to notice.
Filed under: Upcoming
Related Posts: - Weekend Forecast: 4/18/08
- Weekend Forecast: 8/24/07
- Weekend Forecast: 2/8/08
- Weekend Forecast: 6/15/07
- Fred Simmons Wants to Show You ‘The Foot Fist Way’
I’m going to go see Funny Games, but I hated the original and I’m only going for academic purposes.
Not a great week, is it?
And Jeff, I just saw my first Haneke last week, and let me just say I was unimpressed. I’m curious about Funny Games, but not exactly anxious to see it.
I’m checking Doomsday, If Marshall comes anywhere near The Descent then it will be time to officially consider him someone to reckon with in the genre. Funny Games sounds like the sort of post-modern wank that I’ll hate, but I am curious, and I will probably see it.
Hoping to catch up to In Bruges or The Bank Job this weekend also.
With all due respect Jeff, I completely disagree with you on the original FUNNY GAMES. The film received spectacular reviews, and most consider it at the top or near the top of Henecke’s accomplishments. It is perhaps the most disturbing film I have ever seen with the possible exception of the original THE VANISHING and Pasolini’s SALO. I don’t hold the film dear to my heart, but it is brilliantly made across-the-board.
As far as the remake, well……………I would expect no more than what we got with the remake of THE VANISHING; ironically both remakes are American “exploits” of superb originals, helmed by the same directors!!!
i’m a wimp..and scared very easily but i think i may see funny games remake. i’m still surprised that it plays ‘in my area’ opening weekend..
I’ll second that glimmer. I can’t believe how easy it will be for me to see Funny Games (its not in my area, but its close). WB must be feeling froggy this weekend.
craig…martail arts film in the states have teenagers ???
are teens in these sort of films common ?? uh i know nothing about the genre import or other wise. so help… :)
I feel that Haneke is a truly great director. I am definitely one of CACHE’S many fans, but several others (by him) are outstanding, including FUNNY GAMES.
chuck, do you know the opening weekend theatre count on funny games ???
sam are ready for the cache u.s.a. remake next year ???
seems ron howard may direct…
Box Office Mojo is saying that Funny Games is only going to 285 screens this weekend, guess I just got lucky.
I confess that I’m a Haneke virgin, despite the fact that the boxes to The Piano Teacher, Code Unknown and Cache look me right in the eye everytime I go into the local videostore. I may start with Funny Games US and work my way backwards.
Sam is certainly right about the brilliant original The Vanishing as well as the awful remake, which may as well have been the film that was made at the end of The Player.
as always thanks chuck….
so 825. that’s almost not limited. and i think pre oscar win wasn’t ‘no country’s’ highest screen count something like 1,200 ??
and i’m gonna paste this…hold on…
The remake’s major concession to the American market is a long scene of Naomi Watts hopping around in her underwear; in the original, the wife is clothed.)
opps you wrote 285. opps. darn..ok 285 guess we’re both lucky chuck. if i see this this will be my first haneke film too. maybe we can be scared togther . ;)
local video store…..is a nationwide chain you go to ??? or more regional/local ??
No its a mom and pop store run by an elderly polish lady who knows her shit. We agree on many films, but the major divide in our POVs is that she generally loathes violent films or even more subtle portrayals of evil. She says she’s bored with that aspect of life (she’s 70 couple).
She’s also bored with sex in movies (though she grants special leniency to Y Tu Mama Tambien). I, good naturedly, accuse her of being a biiter crank who wants to purge movies of their lifeforce, she, good naturedly, calls me an arrogant punk who doesn’t no crap. It’s one of those friendships that you wouldn’t believe if it were to appear in an independent film. I also have Netflix.
Thanks Chuck!
Glimmer: I can’t say I’m thrilled about yet another American remake of a classic European thriller (CACHE) lol!
It still looks like you have a way better line up this week than me, Juno opens officially in SA and nothing else worth mentioning. So once again, I have the opportunity to rewatch films I have already seen, which is a good thing for me.
If I lived in the US, I would try and see Snow Angels, P.Park, Sleepwalking and maybe Funny Games.
I have Beaufort on DVD and I recommend it, if that is worth anything.
chuck you and video store lady should get together and crank out that screenplay ! :)
sam..hmm you know i think the kids at universal or whomver has the rights to cache remakes. may being they have another ‘infernal affairs’ on their hands..
from the tidbit i read the plan was to americanize the plot. get a name director and big name stars. take that and a couple of fancy trailers and there could be $100 million plus some critical acclaim. and maybe some affair juice…..
and we could have ‘infernal affairs’/the departed’ all over again. the general public will never know the orginal ‘cache’ was ever made.
sorry sam… ;)
I’m locked in for Chicago 10 on Friday night, but my friend is pushing for a Funny Games double feature and I don’t think I can handle it. I thought Cache was unique and interesting, but I just don’t know if I would gain a lot from the torture. Were it any other director this would be considered Saw V, right? Well, it’s not any other director, but the content is the same for me if the motives and technique are different. I’m just not there yet in terms of graphic violence. As such, I’m going to try for The Witnesses instead, which I believe received some positive words here in the past month?
Also, I saw The Counterfeiters last night, and if anyone is receiving that in their area, I highly recommend it.
Chuck that video store sounds like it would have made for a better Be Kind Rewind.
and to continue naomi watts has a co-executive producer credit on the stateside ‘funny games’ remake(is this her first producer credit??)
and she appears in her underwear in this movie. interesting….
someone rip off daniel’s.better than rewind idea ! *now* :)
Thanks Daniel, we are certainly more bitter than those characters. The place is even called Cinema Paradiso after (obviously) the film. I actually have considered writing about it, not as its own story, but as a compliment to another.
LOL Glimmer!!!
I agree with you Daniel on THE COUNTERFEITORS, that is most assuredly worth checking out.
Haneke is not to everyone’s taste, but he is a surefire critic’s favorite (and the most scholarly critics at that)
I would look forward to reading about that Chuck, if and when it happens.
So I’m well-known outside of this circle for irrationally criticizing Naomi Watts as being typecast for screaming/crying roles, but I’ve scaled back a bit in recent years and I enjoyed her in Eastern Promises. Then comes Funny Games, where the poster alone presents my case pretty well…
Snow Angels, Paranoid Park, Beaufort, The Unforseen, Doomsday and Funny Games. But not necessarily in that order. Plus whatever I missed the last couple of weeks.
Could be a busy movie weekend.
Daniel, don’t hold 21 Grams against Naomi. All I’m saying.
Also, there’s something bizarrely compelling about that Funny Games poster. Very unsettling.
I hated watching the trailer for Funny Games, so I’ll be skipping that one.
However, I’ll have to be first on line for Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub, as I went many, many times. :-)
La Question Humaine is intriguing as well, so maybe I’ll try to fit that in this weekend. I refuse to call the film by its English title.
Still haven’t caught Paranoid Park yet. So many movies, so little time.
Movies are what time is for, Alison.
I hated the original Funny Games, liked The Piano Teacher okay, thought The Time of the Wolf was more uncompromising while being more successful on its own terms, the best Haneke film I’ve seen, and I kind of loathed Cache. So, Haneke’s batting average with me isn’t so high. The Time of the Wolf is pretty good and interesting and I like how it seems so heavily influenced by Bergman’s Shame. That said, I will probably see the new Funny Games for the reasons Jeff describes at the beginning of the thread.
The original The Vanishing is awesome, though. I saw it again at Christmas and it was even better the second time. My girlfriend detests it, though, so I don’t carry on about it with her. ;-)
I’ve only seen two Haneke movies, Cache and the original Funny Games. I loved both and really look forward to seeing the remake. I originally heard about Funny Games by seeing the trailer for the remake. So even though I’ve seen the original first, it’s always been in my head as an American movie with Michael Pitt and Naomi Watts. Being a much crisper, more modern movie than the original interests me. We’ll see if it holds up as a remake.
I agree with Chuck about Marshall. I’m really excited about Doomsday. It looks quite ridiculous but if it’s anywhere near as good as The Descent then we should be in for a treat.
Not a lot of love for Haneke around these parts. Interesting.
I’m willing to give him another shot, but my response to limited exposure has been minimal. Something about the freaky trailer and Naomi grabbed me for this one though.
We’ll see.
ahhh…but I see now Justin was ringing in with some Haneke love while I was typing away.
I’m going to try to see the original before I see the remake and I’d like to catch Cache again.
I share your and Chuck’s enthusiasm for Doomsday, though I’m a bit more skeptical.
Count me in among the Haneke fans. Here’s my review of the original “Funny Games:”
http://fromthefrontrow.blogspot.com/2008/02/review-funny-games-1998.html
I know I’m kind of alone in this among genre film fans, but I really didn’t like Descent much. I thought Dog Soldiers was silly fun, but it suffers from the same issue that made me dislike Descent: Marshall has nary an original thought in his directorial toolbox. Both movies have no original ideas or visual elements in them. In fact, I had more fun during Descent spotting all the shots Marshall blatantly lifts directly from other original horror and action films.
I don’t mind homage if you’ve got something original to say. Otherwise it’s just ripping off other people’s ideas. I know horror fans are by far the fandom most obsessively aware of their history, so I’m a little surprised Marshall gets such a massive pass on the issue.
Sorry, I know I’m alone in my Marshall dislike here.
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days opens here this weekend for one week, so I’m contractually obligated to see it. Delerious is also playing a local specialty house, so I’m curious to see that too.
I nearly had an out-of-body experience watching the Horton Hears a Who TV ad last night. It was genuinely disturbing how bad it was.
I also didn’t care for the Funny Games trailer. I just can’t get behind it.
Never Back Down looks like ten types of bad.
10,000 B.C. and Never Back Down will definitely be remembered–by the Raspberries.
I agree with you, joel, about Descent. Honestly didn’t do a thing for me.
I just saw John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980) again last night and it reminded me of how poorly things have “ended up” for the vast majority of American “horror.” (Obviously, it’s not “the end,” but, it is “the present.” Perhaps one day things will change for the better.)
The Descent made me genuinely uncomfortable at times though I wasn’t especially happy with the American ending.
One thing I liked about it was the weird subtext of dread mixed with suspicion that was built up throughout the whole thing. There was comething wrong right from the very start, but it was left unspoken.
I’m an outsider to the horror genre however. I didn’t watch it a lot as a kid so I don’t have a special fondness for it as an adult. I’m trying to branch out a little.
Hopefully I’ll catch the original Funny Games this weekend and I’ll check out your review toute de suite Matthew.
I loved “The Descent,” I still think it is by far the best horror film this decade…and maybe the last one too.
I was especially impressed with how it builds up its feeling of dread without anything really happening - the cave itself is what is the scariest. The fear comes from the unseen and the expectation of horror - which takes about an hour to really start.
It’s the slowly mounting tension that makes it so successful.
Was I wrong or was there something creepy and weird going on underneath the surface between the girls even at the very start on the rafting trip?
Oh yeah, “The Descent” is full of subtext and creepy things under the surface. Pun intended. ;-)
Mine wasn’t, but you’re smarter than me. :)
I love me some Haneke as well. FUNNY GAMES is actually one of the lesser Haneke films I’ve seen- I much prefer THE PIANO TEACHER, THE SEVENTH CONTINENT, CACHE (sorry) and especially CODE UNKNOWN. If the shock tactics of CACHE turned you off, I’d suggest any of the other films I’ve listed alongside it, as they’re relatively subdued in comparison. Especially CODE UNKNOWN.
I’m going to start with Funny Games because it’s current, but I’ll be sure to check out the others as well, and as I said before perhaps I’ll revisit Cache.
I can’t deny that he’s compelling, i just haven’t decided if he has anything to back it up.
I absolutely think that Neil Marshall is a better director than Haneke, from what I’ve seen from each of them so far. One is an honest director out to give his audience both a good time and something to think about, the other is a filmmaker who seeks to undermine his own talent with masturbatory intellectual games. But I’ll see both movies to see if this holds up. I have to say, Doomsday just looks like the umpteenth Mad Max ripoff.
“Doomsday just looks like the umpteenth Mad Max ripoff.” Yes it does, but as I said above, at a certain point if it can deliver the R Rated excitement, I’m willing to overlook a lack of originality.
Plus, since trailers are often designed to look like ripoffs of something else, maybe it’s not as rippy offy as it seems.
“Neil Marshall is a better director than Haneke” wow, that’s a throwdown. If someone reads that, there’s going to be trouble.
Between the two of them I’ve only seen Bully and Cache, and I don’t think I can compare the two effectively. Stylistically they seemed so different, but again, those are the only two I’ve seen.
I am rather shocked at the negative comments against Hanecke here, especially since the finest film critics (en masse I might add) adore him. Alexander, I was also most intrigued with TIME OF THE WOLF, but disturbing as it may be, FUNNY GAMES vies with the utterly brilliant CACHE as the best of his stellar output.
Let me just say up front you’re not going to like my Funny Games review, Sam…if I write one.
Craig: If you are referring to the NEW film of FUNNY GAMES, I would expect no less. The film has been comprehensibly trashed by every critic under the sun. When I praise Hanecke, I praise his foreign-language cinema, which is everything apart from this one ill-advised effort.
In any case, this new redo was intended (only) to make money as opposed to any artistic ambition, much like that dreadful THE VANISHING that Sluizer did years back as an “American re-make” of his brilliant first European effort.
Needless to say Craig, I will definitely like your bad review of the new FUNNY GAMES. Hanecke has earned it (this time.)
I’m referring to the original which I watched last night. I’m planning on seeing the remake today (though I’m not paying for it) because I want to see if the audience reacts as Haneke clearly intends.
The original was technically well done, but it was smug, intellectually dishonest and spiritually vacant. It’s message of anti-violence in cinema is sung to a choir of people who already feel morally superior to ‘the masses’ the movie is designed to scold.
I’ll have more in a review later after I see the remake and I’d encourage you to wait until that time to trash me, but feel free to have at it right now if you must. I won’t be able to argue back for a few hours though.
Craig: LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will agree that the original FUNNY GAMES was “spiritually vacant” but it was precisely this quality that made it so monstrous and disturbing. Don’t get me wrong—I doubt that I could watch the film again (much like I don’t think I could ever watch the original VANISHING again) but it is still brilliantly made. I’m not sure I see the intellectual dishonesty, but I can certainly see and respect where you are coming from.
To be honest, CACHE is probably his masterpiece, but kudos to THE PIANO TEACHER, BENNY’S VIDEO, THE CODE UNKNOWN and THE SEVENTH CONTINENT.
Craig, regardless of what we think of Hanecke, I am now convinced of one thing…………..you are a scholar and a gentleman!!!
I have never even seen a Haneke film, and I don’t plan to, in all honesty.
The intellectual dishonesty is that Haneke is loudly declaiming a practice (cinematic violence) without interrogating his own guilt or complicity.
I think HORTON HEARS A WHO is far more spiritually bankrupt. I like how Variety’s review singles out the incredible Suessian line”…and I poop butterflies” as an example of the wit it doesn’t HAVE ENOUGH of…
I really would like to gather the development people together and force them to read their own terrible soulless hackiwork aloud. And I’m pretty tired of the oh-so-ironic bland comedy of Carell. For kids to boot!
What they really need to do is stick to 1/2 hour cartoon adaptations of Dr. Seuss’s books peppered with commercial breaks and cease making these awful full-length features that don’t do justice to the charming childrens’ books that they’re supposedly based on.
Nope, haven’t seen Horton Hears a Who, and I’m not planning to. If I want to see it I’ll track down the old cartoon.
“Boil that dust speck, boil that dust speck, boil that dust speck!”
There’s nothing wrong with Steve Carell except for the occasional Evan Almighty. He’s one of the best around.
I like him, I just don’t want to see him slide into these obvious roles. GET SMART looks pretty dumb.
Ok, just to keep from lining the charlatan Haneke’s pockets, I bought a matinee ticket for Bank Job, but snuck into Funny Games. After that I ducked into Horton Hears a Who and followed that up with a Doomsday chaser.
Quite possibly the worst 6 dollars I’ve ever spent.
Jeff touches on what I meant by Haneke’s intellectual dishonesty. He wants his cake and he wants to eat it too. He wants to make a comment about human nature while displaying a profound misunderstanding of it. He’s made a movie that he expects you to walk out of, and if you don’t he punishes you for it.
Ok, I’m cranky. More later.
Wow, Craig, 3 shitty movies in a row. I didn’t even need to see them to know that they would be. You’re a brave soul to put yourself through them back to back.
Like I said above…
Well, the first and last are completely on me…and I knew what I was getting into with Funny Games. Horton just worked out timingwise. It wasn’t as bad as The Grinch, but it had about as much Dr. Seuss in it as a case of the clap.
Well, as an English bloke once sang, you can’t always get what you want.
Haneke’s American remake is even worse than the original.
Craig, your endurance is incredibly admirable.
If admirable is suddenly synonymous with stupid, I’ll accept that. :)
I’ve only seen Cache, but from that film I can tell Haneke is a difficult filmmaker to like. His style will either be perceived as gratingly pretentious or refreshingly twisted. To really understand him, you have to ask yourself the right questions. And it’s all about the questions, most definitely not the answers.
As much as I don’t understand movie remakes, I understand shot-for-shot remakes even less. If you didn’t say it right the first time, why go back for another round? If it was perfect the first time, why dwell on past achievements? Based on my rather simplistic logic, I have to assume that Haneke’s well is running dry.
I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford tonight and my kneejerk reaction is: I love it. I’m surprised by how much the Jesse James character is deconstructed. He’s such a fucked up guy, daring fate to find a way to kill him, testing the limits of man and nature. It’s strange to say this about a 3 hour film, but I wish it was longer. The ending felt too tentative. There was probably a lot more about Robert Ford that was cut by (the assholes at) Warner Bros. This is one of the few films I’ve seen that doesn’t have a time. Until the credits roll, it just is.
Craig, the word stupid could very easily be synonymous with any number of individuals, but not you. Not ever.
Endurance is an exceptional quality for someone of the male gender to possess - especially in some specific circumstances.
Trust me on that.
I really believe that Haneke is a filmmaker who only appeals to moviegoers who want to buy what he’s peddling.
CACHE checked in at RT with an astonishing 107 to 15 (favorable to unfavorable) 88% cumulative with a stellar 7.8 average rating.
This certainly does NOT show appeal to “moviegoers who want to buy what he’s peddling.” The film made tons of ten-best lists, was big on the Village Voice list at the end of the year. In short the film registered as a gigantic critical hit.
But there were those who didn’t like it among that small minority and among them were Sarris and Armond White (the latter always seeing to crop up on these threads for good or bad.LOL)
But I can hardly disagree with what W.J. says above in his exceptional essay on Hanecke’s ultimate resonance with the moviegoer. Terrific work there.
Craig has a right to be slightly “rubbed wrong” after what he subjected himself to yesterday.
and Craig, was HORTON really all that bad? The concensus seems to imply otherwise, but I admit I wouldn’t watch this film in preparation for a graduate exam! I am tempted to take my kids to it this afternoon.
I saw a very fine Brazilian film last night, but I will hold that for The Watercooler.
Incredibly and unbelievable, HORTON has a 77 to 17 concensus (favorably) with an 82% and 7.1 average rating. This translates to a solid three-star rating out of four………….does that mean I will disagree with Craig?
When all is said and done, probably not! LOL.
I could have seen Horton at a pre release screening, but I passed. I cannot bear to have my Dr. Seuss-infused childhood smashed to pieces. If anyone can tell me that I will not be dissapointed, I might change my tune. I am not holding my breath.
Sam, Horton was by far the best movie I saw yesterday. My point was that it owes very very very little to Dr. Seuss. As a stand alone cartoon, it was mostly not irritating and fairly harmless if entirely unremarkable
Nick, if you want Dr. Seuss, just read the wonderful book again (I did). Horton is not an abomination like The Grinch was and the Seussiness isn’t completely lost, but it’s certainly cluttered up with a lot of unneccesary crap.
WJ, Haneke remade the movie because he wanted to reach an English languauge audience. Judging by the box office figures, he failed.
Hah hah, Miranda. Cheeky.
Also, Jeff, I read your review of Funny Games 97 after watching it on DVD. I was thinking exactly some of the same things as you were, particularly regarding the Bertolt Brechtian nonsense. Good review.
http://whenthedeadwalktheearth.blogspot.com/2008/02/funny-games-1997.html
Fair enough Craig on HORTON. I will be taking my brood to an afternoon showing at our local Edgewater multiplex.
As this site is a bonafide promoter of French cinema, I think it significant to mention (for the sake of the NYC members) that a remastered print of Godard’s CONTEMPT is presently running at the Film Forum for two weeks. This is a most tempting proposal.
Nick: I have not seen HORTON yet, so I can hardly presume anything, but as a “stand alone” as Craig indicates, perhaps it will at least make for a reasonably entertaining diversion. In view of the rather surprising solid reviews, I am not approaching this with any kind of dread. Like you I revere my childhood memories of our esteemed Mr. Theodore Geiser, and I am hoping that exploitation will be minimal here. But the proof will be in the pudding.
I suspect Craig’s position will be right on.
Then perhaps I will give it a go, what is the worst that can happen? Like you said Craig, I still have the books :)
I don’t think it will piss you off too badly Nick, but when I said it was the best movie I saw yesterday, that was faint praise.
It’s servicable at best. I’ll be curious to hear from Sam how the kids liked it. The crowd I saw it with was pretty restless. To me the movie seemed to be trying to cover up its talkiness with a lot of pointless hubbub. Not sure if it worked.
The best thing you can do is go into it as a fan of Jim Carrey or Steve Carrel, but not Dr. Seuss.