Tex, I don't remember getting a reply notification, but I see you posted days ago. Howdy, even if belatedly.
I am glad to hear you enjoyed
I Walk the Line. If I were more of a Johnny Cash, Reese Witherspoon or Joachin Phoenix fan (although I loved his performance in
Signs), I would certainly go. As it is, I still want to see
Goblet of Fire again before it leaves the theatres, I liked it so well.
My daughter and I went to see the
Chronicles of Narnia last week. We both were very disappointed in it. I didn't like the book, though, so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. The sheer volume of blatant LotR film rip-offs was rather astounding, but the whole original story was a rip-off, I thought. I prefer my bible stories straight up. I much preferred Lewis's later installments, which I thought much more original and interesting:
The Silver Chair,
Prince Caspian,
Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
The Last Battle. I just couldn't get over what a thinly veiled piece of religious education the first volume was. But apart from that, my teen-aged, CGI-spoiled daughter agreed at once that the BBC Narnia productions from the late 80's were much better, even if the special effects were not especially effective. Well, you can make up your own mind.
However, we did have an EXTREMELY satisfying night at the movies tonight. We went to see
King Kong. Remember how I said I saw the trailers and they didn't make the film look good? Well, the film itself is massively better than the trailer. I have to say I was terribly proud of the Jackson/Walsh/Boyens team, not to mention Richard Taylor, Andrew Lesnie, Grant Major, Tania Rogers and everyone else from Weta. They did a great job on this film, the actors, the production people, all of them. It was a little self-indulgent here and there (we all know how PJ loves his monster stuff and action set pieces), but, really, it was a splendid film. An old-style, "bring down the house"
movie.
I haven't heard any new stuff about the
Iggy Pop film, or about
Bobby, Tex. But I have been skimming a lot over in
The Faculty. I will certainly post a notice if I see anything there.
Tex, you wrote,
I realize Elijah has made a concerted effort to distance himself from the hobbit label, but I'd like to see him play an interesting, but rather ordinary character next...not so over the top. A film like The Station Agent comes to mind, where, granted, the characters are misfits, but are misfits with whom the viewer can identify.
After
King Kong, my daughter and I went down the little bits of similarity to the LotR films (not
one hundreth of the number that are in the
Narnia film!). We agreed that Naomi Watts got the Frodo part. Brave, but perpetually worried or suffering. She was very good, I'm just teasing. There actually was a supporting role that seemed like a "natural" for Elijah Wood, the angsty, boyish but troubled youngest member of the ship's crew. I kept thinking, "Ah, another role in which EW could have run circles around the actor who played him!" Not that it would have been a good role for him, career-wise. I think if he's going to take supporting roles, he's doing the right thing, looking for stuff that seems like a significant departure for him. This role was too much like other things he's done, I suppose.
Now I am ooking forward to the opening of
Brokeback Mountain. I thought it might not play here, since the subject matter might be considered controversial, but I saw a poster for it on display when we were at the movies tonight. I'd been reading a lot of excited remarks about it in the LJ of someone from K-D whose posts and thinking I really admire. I am so out of the loop when it comes to more recent literature, I didn't know anything about the story, much less that a film was being made from it. I Googled up the story and saw it was very highly thought of. Then I read the film was directed by Ang Lee, whom I really, really like! So I definitely perked up my ears. All in all, it sounds like the sort of film I would really like. If I get to see it, I'll mention it.
~ Mechtild
