Linkrise Blogdom
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 8:39PM Rex Pickett, the author of Sideways, writes an open letter to Virginia Madsen. As a writer I get why he's pissed but I do think he's undervaluing the depth of her contribution to that movie.
Playbill Peter O'Toole is retiring from acting, on both stage and screen.
Ginger Haze awesome Spider-Man vs. Lizard cartoon
Variety Chris Cooper has joined the August: Osage County. It's an Adaptation reunion... let's just pray that Mr. Cage doesn't show up.
Movie|Line Robert Pattinson talks bullshit about playing James Bond. Wouldn't it be so weird if your every wandering train of thought spread all over the internet?
The Cooler beautiful essay on Wes Anderson's Noah Ark motif in Moonrise Kingdom
The Film Stage a preview Nathan Johnson's futuristic Looper score.
Encore Entertainment Clothes Horse. Can you guess where these costumes are from?
Shock Til You Drop displays the Carrie (2013) banner from San Diego's Comic Con. The hashtag the P&A team is pushing is #WhatHappenedToCarrie ... um, well... She got pointlessly dug up from her grave for starters. To be played by the least meek least shy least awkward teenager on the planet.
Oh and yes, I heard about all the Catching Fire casting news and the splitting Mockingjay into two movies and all of that but I do not care. I was mildly interested in the Hunger Games franchise until today. I mean, I definitely didn't hate it like that other YA franchise. Now I think I'm done. Now it proves, like too many franchises before it, that it has no interest in storytelling, only an interest in feeding Hollywood's gaping maw. I think, no exaggeration, that this split up final books into two movies to make an extra billion even if it means barely anything happens in the movie is the worst thing that's happened to mainstream cinema in the past five years. Even worse than 3D!
Tweet o' the Day: This Games of Thrones funny is from Scott
Reader Comments (12)
Bit harsh to entirely dismiss three as-yet unmade films, don't you think? Seeing as the first one was rather decent.
Splitting up a book into two movies is a good thing in my opinion. It only means they get to flesh out the characters and the story beyond what was on the page. Obviously with Twilight it doesn't matter because the material is shit anyways, but for HP and HG, it's definitely a good thing.
Even though I liked DH1 & 2 and felt having separate films was a good thing (people complain about Harry Potter plots being the same and these two films were very different from the rest), I actually feel the same way about this trend. Breaking Dawn: Part I is what officially made me hate it. Everything that happens in that film could've been cut down to thirty-minutes and you'd lose nothing.
This is not a new trend, however. The Matrix Sequels and The Pirate Sequels did the exact same thing with the only difference being that they're not based on books. This has me a little worried about The Hobbit films but, much like LOTR, the two films will be fleshing out things from the appendices (so there's at least some legitimacy behind it).
Then again, why is The Hunger Games getting me into a passionate talk about anything? I mean I liked the first film but I'm not peeing myself in anticipation for the next ones. Let them do what they want.
Glad to see Mr. O'Toole ending his career on his terms. Well done, sir.
I kind of want to see Nic Cage doing more prestige stuff like Osage, but that movie doesn't need any more Oscar winners. If I wanted a cluster fuck full of Oscar winners, I'll watch and endure Nine again. At least that movie had singing.
Yeah-congrats to Peter O'Toole on over 50 years of great movie-making. I have a sneaking suspicion that your 8 acting nominations without a win will be one of those records that will last for decades and decades and decades. Also, Lawrence of Arabia turns 50 this year-appropriate time to celebrate.
Ehh, Rex comes off really poorly in that letter. What an ego on that guy.
I agree that this book splitting trend is terrible. Potter had a decent excuse, what with so much plot in book 7, but there was no reason for Twilight to follow suit other than money. I don't think The Hobbit will be ruined, but one complete story would've been preferable. Mockingjay is a similar case to Twilight, but I'm more disappointed since the Hunger Games books and movies are so much better. The last book is easily the lightest on plot and the worst received by fans. Lionsgate did such a great job making and marketing the first one, yet ever since has shown their amateurism with blockbuster franchises. The whole director mess and now this blatant cash grab. All in the span of 3ish months. I hope they get their act together, but consider me worried.
LOL, Rex...what a sour man. His open letter was tasteless and whiney and his novel, which I read because I loved the movie so much, was awful. I'm glad Payne redirected that trash and made something wonderful out of it.
Nathaniel (and Ames), have you read the second and third books in The Hunger Games series? If not, let me tell you-- I loved the first book, but the second is borderline bad and the third is *TERRIBLE*. Barely anything happens in that book as is and what does occur is angsty and out-of-character. There's no conclusion to either the second or third books; just mini-epilogues explaining briefly what the author couldn't develop over the course of the novel.
This series is going to start out at Harry Potter levels of acceptability (filmwise) and end up at sub-Twilight levels.
Wow, Rex's letter could not be more off-putting. First of all, for all he knows, he's blatantly mis-interpreting what's a pretty vague statement from Madsen. Secondly, why the public letter? Why not contact her privately to ask her what she meant? Thirdly, the overlong, indulgent, masturbatory essay, where he literally praises his own novel, is a ridiculous overreaction even if he read her statement correctly (which I doubt he did).
That Rex Pickett rant was ridiculous. Calm the fuck down, please. Virginia Madsen didn't mean all that about your precious PLAY, sir. Honestly, some people need to take it down a notch or ten.
And I don't care much about the "Hunger Games" series, but I can't blame TPTB for seeing a cash cow with this and wanting to squeeze out a fourth film. Did it work for "Harry Potter" and "Twilight"? Financially, absolutely. Creatively, hell no. But that's the business. "Hunger Games" is no different. Maybe with all this extra money they're going to make, they'll make better quality films? Yeah, right.
Evan - I've read all three books (the second is my favorite). No, they're not perfect. But they are actually about something, which means they could never be "sub-Twilight".