Interesting Movie Facts and Rumors

[House of Mustard]

I personally worry that any movie adaptation of Ender's Game would end up being too much of a kid's movie.  All the major characters are kids, and it would be hard for a movie company to sell the movie to a public unfamilar with the story.  Adults might not want to see it because it's all about kids.  Kids would probably want to see it, but, if kids are the target audience, it would have to be dumbed down quite a bit and the tone would be considerably lighter.

[Fellfrosch]

Jerry Seinfeld is making a movie/documentary about his development of a new stand-up act. It will have to be pretty dang funny if it wants to be funnier than the trailer.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/comedian.html

[42]

So Disney is planning on making a martial-arts version of Snow White. It'll have Shoa Lin monks instead of dwarves. Could this be a reaction to the pacifying of fairy tales?

[Kid_Kilowatt]

I don't really see Disney reacting to the pacifying of fairy tales since they are the worst offender in the first place.  More likely, this is another entry into the current trend of remodeling classic stories and repackage them by incorporating this season's fads.  The Ocean's Eleven remake injected modern crime-drama sarcasm and attitude into a limp Rat-Pack project.  The new Solaris (also by Soderbergh) livens up a cerebral Russian sci-fi art film with big name stars and CGI.  Guy Ritchie is about to release a remake of the classic Italian romance Swept Away with Madonna (does she count as a fad?)  Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was repackaged as a lowbrow Adam Sandler comedy.  The Ring is being remade as a slick and moody supernatural thriller with much of the disturbing creepiness of the original diluted down to "for the masses" levels.  Insomnia was remade from the Swedish original with almost no change whatsoever except for casting Robin Williams as the killer (with Al Pacino playing the Skarsgard protagonist note for note).

Remakes are popular now like never before.  Disney has simply decided to capitalize by making a martial arts fairy tale that everyone is familiar with and that can capitalize on the high-energy martial arts popularized by Jackie Chan and the mythic atmosphere of Crouching Tiger.  Does that answer your question?

[42]

Kid, the question was a joke, perhaps too subtle, but an intended joke none the less.

[Kid_Kilowatt]

See - this is why we have emoticons.  So people can tell if you are joking and they're allowed to laugh.  Especially when you're making a joke that could be argued as a serious statement.  Disney is not a monolith with a single brain (believe it or not) and I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are elements within the company that would like to distance themselves from what Disney's done with fairy tales in the past.  The retelling of Snow White could very well represent this sentiment from people working for Disney.  The company as a whole may also by trying to rework its image to stay competitive now that new kiddie-movie companies are stealing their business.  By retelling Snow White in a different way, they may be consciously trying to distance themselves with their "old-timey" reinterpretation of 1937.  I believe that this could very well be part of the reason they are green-lighting the Snow White and the 7 Shaolin Monks movie, but I think it is motivated in a more general sense by the popularity of repackaged hits.

[Fellfrosch]

If they want to do a cool martial arts fairy tale movie, why not Momotaro the Peach Boy? I've been waiting for them to do that for years.

[Kid_Kilowatt]

It was announced today that Will Smith will be starring in the film adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot."  The movie is being directed by Alex Proyas ("Dark City," "The Crow") and the script has been passed through the hands of several writers, including Hillary Seitz ("Insomnia") "A Beautiful Mind" writer Akiva Goldsman.  Personally, it sounds like a terrible mess and a travesty to me.

[Slant]

Just when I thought that there couldn't be any worse Hollywood rumor than Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about doing a live-action version of Captain Planet.....

[Mr_Pleasington]

Please tell me you are joking, Slant.

The cartoon was terrible, WHY would they make a movie out of it?  Let alone a movie starring Arnold.

[Lord_of_Me]

does anyone care that Star TRek 10 is coming out in a little over a week?

[Fellfrosch]

I desperately want to care about it, but I'm finding it hard. The commercials sort of look cool, but the 2nd Edition CCG looks cooler--and when you're upstaged by your own merchandise, you know you're in trouble.

Besides, with The Two Towers nearly upon us, I find very little room in my brain or time in my schedule to think about other movies.

[Lord_of_Me]

*WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD*

























the bad guy looks like picard

[House of Mustard]

That just ruined the movie for me...

They show that much in the commercials.

[EUOL]

I keep trying to be excited too, but I'm more worried.  The sources I've read say that this is probably the last Star Trek movie in a long while.  I suppose that's probably a good thing, since we--it's target audience--are so unexcited.  However, the movies have kind of been a staple.  They just aren't earning cash, though.  Let's hear it for the market system....