Team Experience: "Maleficent" and More
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 10:28AM I'm always curious about your film experiences out there in the dark. That curiousity extends to the contributors here at TFE, not all of whom I know in real life given that they're spread across the globe. You know them, virtually speaking. Hopefully you love them. But I thought we'd ask them a couple of questions each week. Feel free to answer yourself in the comments and join the conversation.
WHAT'S THE BEST THING YOU SAW THIS WEEK?
JA: A tie between every single second of Emmanuel Lubeszki's photography for The Tree of Life (it's a gorgeous film that left me cold), and that probably photoshopped image of Jake Gyllenhaal doing the Grace Jones pose in his underpants. I see beautiful things!
Andreas: John Carpenter's The Thing -- after several viewings, it retains all of its original power.
Robert: Ramin Bahrani's short film Plastic Bag. I stumbled upon it while attempting to keep my Herzog high going after being enthralled by Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Bahrani's film follows and anthropomorphized plastic bag (shades of American Beauty are minimal) and finds itself spiraling into themes of life, death, and meaning and best of all, it's narrated by Werner Herzog himself... as the plastic bag of course!
Michael (Unsung Heroes). The best thing I saw this week was, without question, the montage of drunk cast members from the latest episode of Parks and Recreation. I want an episode length edit of all the improv that went into that scene.
Jose: Since theaters here are only playing four movies (Rio, Fast and Furious 5, Thor and Priest) I re-watched Gone With the Wind in HD. Mind blowing! Sure gives any new movie a run for its money. It also felt much shorter than Thor.
WHAT'S THE WORST?
Michael : the worst thing I saw, or rather didn't see, was screen time for Rene Russo in Thor. It's been forever since Russo had a high-profile gig and she gets 30 measly seconds of screen time? You can't tease me like that Thor.
Andreas: The first 10 minutes of I Know Who Killed Me. (Nonetheless, I may revisit it later; I'm a glutton for punishment.)
JA: The worst thing I saw was the original ending to Alexander Payne's Election. Truly, stupefyingly awful.
TIM BURTON HAS OFFICIALLY LEFT DISNEY'S "MALEFICENT".
Robert: The marriage between Tim Burton and Disney makes me so sad. They're like two people who were really sexy back in high school, still trying to fit into their cheerleading and football uniforms, telling each other how great they still look, and wondering how that dorky kid Quentin got so popular (this metaphor has gotten away from me). But I still want to like them very much. So I guess what I'm saying is I wish they'd split and find new partners who could convince them to hit the gym... cinematically speaking.
JA: Never much loved Sleeping Beauty as a kid - I was all up in Alice in Wonderland and Fantasia - so I was never attached, beyond really liking the way the word "Maleficent" rolls off the tongue. Maaaalefahcint! I don't understand why people didn't take it up as a name for their children. Little Maleficent would rule pre-school with an iron fist.
Jose: Maleficent would serve itself better from a director with an eye for actual Gothic, I say call Jane Campion or Catherine Breillat!
YOUR TURN...
- Who do you think should direct MALEFICENT with Burton gone?
- What's the best & worst anything you saw this week? I've been enjoying True Blood and Ishtar (more on the later in a bit.)
Reader Comments (23)
Guillermo del Toro would be great for Maleficent. I am also glad Burton won't be doing it as I was dreading another Alice.
I love Angelina but i wish they'd go with someone older for Maleficent. Like a Joan Allen or a Michelle Pfeiffer (duh) or a ... someone severe and beautiful and also an awesome actress. :)
The two paintball episodes of "Community" have been the best thing I've seen this so far week -- seriously epic. It has quickly become my second favorite comedy ("Modern Family," I still love you). As for the worst, that dubious distinction goes to "The Resident" featuring the illustrious Hilary Swank. It's quite clear she neither reads reviews nor takes sound professional advice between Oscar-bait projects.
In the line of Guillermo del Toro, I would love to see Alfonso Cuarón direct Maleficent.
Darren Aronofsky.
To the second question, I misread it as "the biggest thing", so my mind is obviously elsewhere. So, I'd rather not answer, then. :)
At least with Burton gone, there's a chance I'll pay money to see "Maleficent". After "Alice," I'm going to need something original from Burton to make me run to a theater. "Planet of the Apes," "Alice...," = disasters. "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood," "Big Fish" = fantastic/bordering on masterpieces.
Right there with ya Pedro... That's exaclty what I was going to say...
Paramount took down the original ending video from youtube. Question: Do they really own that ending? Or, even better, does keeping that ending up "hurt their financial statement"? The first one: Questionable, especially since I don't know cinematic property laws regarding final cut privleges, but considering Hollywood has given Payne said privleges, I think they should only own what he gives them, even retroactively. (If director doesn't have final cut: The studio owns every frame shot. If director does: Studio only owns theatrical print.) The answer to the second: NO!
I don't think the metaphor got away from you. Disney's resurgence started in 1989, Burton started directing in 1985. Five and nine years after those events, respectively, Quentin shows up, just as Disney and Burton started getting bogged down in the mire again. (I don't think he's made anything even APPROACHING greatness since Ed Wood. (I only have Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow as missing spots.)) Big Fish: B, Alice in Wonderland: C, Sweeney Todd: B+. Planet of the Apes: D.
Del Toro, Cuaron, Campion, Arronofsky are great choices...Maleficent has only been one of the scariest, creepiest Disney villians...she's like the female version of Tim Curry in Legend...like Jose says, hope the director can maintain that element of gothic horror.
Best things I saw last week...The Way Back (two hours of human suffering, but the direction and actors were brilliant), All Good Things (Gosling can do no wrong), and The Ghost Writer (love Ewan, always good for a butt shot; Olivia Williams rocked).
Worst things...the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was meh...not scary at all...Jackie Earle Haley is a brilliant actor...but he just doesn't have that Robert Englund creep factor.
The ending to Country Strong was all wrong and I didn't believe Garrett Hedlund's attraction to Leighton Meester.
The Tourist...talk about a paycheck movie for Depp and Jolie...they kinda had a little chemistry...but if you want some eye candy, the film has a boatload of HOT Italian and French actors...yum!
I'll be the pessimist: I hope no director signs on and the film doesn't get made. Disney has fine-tuned the art of self-cannibalization.
Alfonso Cuaron, Bryan Singer, Spike Jonze or Jean Pierre Jeunet
Best Thing this Week:
Nikita - I LOOVED the season finale! Fingers cross for a new season
Salt - rewatched this the other day. Jolie jolie
Tinker,Tailer, Soldier, Spy - just finished reading the book and looking forward to the movie
Keeping Mum - a mediocre funny little movie with the always sensual Kristin Scott Thomas and Dame Maggie Smith
Oslo 31 August - getting a 10 minute standing ovation at Cannes after screening
Tilda Swinton - she looks strong for a oscar nod
Worst Thing this Week:
The Tree of Life - getting mixed reviews
Cannes 2011 - Im not attending
Best Thing: The trailer for NBC's new show AWAKE starring Jason Isaacs. Everyone needs to see it pronto. Of course, it's benched until mid-season, sadly. Also, Saturday's Doctor Who episode written by Neil Gaiman.
Hey SoSueMe,
I felt the same but opposite about Country Strong, I couldn't understand Meister's attraction to him. Apart from the obvious very-hunky-singing-cowboy thing i though the character was a dickhead :).
Pedro-Cuaron directing anything would be something I'd like to see. Five years is SUCH a long time!
The best and worst thing I saw this week is Body of Evidence. I can't believe gays waste their lives on Showgirls like geeks waste their lives on Starwars. This cheap Basic Instinct ripoff with Madonna attempting to outsex Sharon Stone is the best piece of early 90's chesse ever!
The sex scenes are horrible. The score ripsoff Basic Instinct too! The movie has Julianne Moore in the best period of her career-- the early 90's -- her Madonna bitchslap in the ladies room is priceless. There was so much to laugh at and choke while doing it I should sue MGM for attempted murder.
manuel -- i hear you on the "worst" thing -- not attending cannes ;) and spike jonze doing maleficent. God... all of those names you mentioned are so intriguing let's have an ombinus Maleficent film
3rtfull -- omg. i feel a post coming on. Yes, that movie is TERRIBLE in the so bad it's good way. although ones time is never wasted with SHOWGIRLS which is a bajillion times more entertaining.
At worst, this is going to end up mixed, leaning positive (70-80% on RT.) (Straight mixed is 50-60%.)
Since I missed the deadline for this powwow, here's my two cents:
The Best Thing I saw this week was the finale of "Survivor: Redemption Island." It's one of maybe five shows my partner and I watch religiously, and series MVP Boston Rob (who, I'll admit, I'm relatively unfamiliar with), mopped the floor with the competition like no one I've seen. It was especially relevant because I just finished the first two "Hunger Games" books and my mind is hooked on the -- exhaustively covered -- 2012 film. The story is Survivor -- with teens killing each other. Crazy. But the studio, of course, is going for PG-13, which, wrong as it may sound, really sucks. The material needs a hard, "Kick-Ass"-style R.
The Worst Thing would be "The Beaver," but that was technically last week. Mel Gibson killed it, but the film is horribly watered down. I expected consummate strangeness, and what I got, basically, was another nondescript family dramedy. Zzzzzz
I am thrilled to hear that Tim Burton is NOT getting his dirty hands on "Maleficent." She is by far and away one of my favorite movie characters, and the last thing I want is to see her mangled by an old-school wizard with no aptitude for utlizing the magic of modern technology. Unless he promised to steer clear of anything CG- or stereoscopic-related, it's best the project go to someone like Guillermo del Toro, who's become a better Tim Burton than Tim Burton.
Hmmm....the last film I saw at the cinemas was Fast Five (which was meh), but I just watched Nanook of the North today, which I thoroughly enjoyed (though I'm still undecided on how it represents the Inuit people).
This is the first I've heard about Burton leaving Maleficent. I'm thinking this is a good thing...maybe he should take a break from reworking Disney and do something original...I miss the good ol' days of Edward Scissorhands!
Kurtis -- i register surprise. Survivor is still on? Jesus!
Few things.
1) That possibly real photo of Jake Gyllenhaal recreating that famous Grace Jones pose in his undies? Amazing. Right click & save.
2) Jane Campion would be a GENIUS choice for Maleficent. But alas, not holding breath. Also, in lieu of Angie, is Angelica Houston available? She might be a tad too old now but she would've been perfect for the role 15-20 years ago. Can you imagine?!
3) I'd also like to echo the Parks & Rec drunk montage from last week. This show is always surprising me with their flashes of brilliance. I don't find it to be a consistently fantastic series (their format isn't fresh; Community is the top right now IMO) but when they hit it, they strike gold. See also: Parker Posey two weeks ago.
4) Alexander Payne is sorely missed. I think I'll have a mini fest of all his movies over the weekend.
Best thing I saw this week: The costumes in The Madness of King George for the first time.
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