The Fountain (trailer): I want to see this so bad I can hardly wait until tomorrow night. All praise and glory be to The Fountain!
Deja Vu (trailer): I hope this doesn’t suck. Tony Scott’s Domino was one of the worst movies that I saw last year, and two sucks in a row would be a very bad sign for a guy who’s not all that great to begin with.
Bobby (trailer): I know I should see it, and I certainly will, but everything I’ve seen and read about it leads me to believe that I’ll hate it.
Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny (trailer): Noted without comment, because I honestly don’t know what to say.
Unknown (trailer): Rule #1 of independent movies: Beware the movie with a large, well-known cast, that appears out of nowhere and without advance buzz.
Deck the Halls (trailer): I don’t know if I’ve ever formalized the Matthew Broderick Rule, so here goes: There’s only 2 reasons that Matthew Broderick appears in movies. Either it’s because other, better actors said no, or it’s because the filmmakers actually wanted Matthew Broderick in their movie. Both reasons are a giant, red blinking warning light. With accompanying siren. And a man on a megaphone yelling, “Stay away! Stay away, for the love of your souls!”
I want to see this so bad I can hardly wait until tomorrow night. All praise and glory be to The Fountain!
Setting yourself up for a mighty big fall there, buddy. But this is one film you just have to write a proper review for. This one doesn’t even have a release date here yet.
a guy who’s not all that great to begin with.
Whaddaya mean? He’s made True Romance, Crimson Tide, Man On Fire, Enemy of the State and, for chrissakes, TOP GUN. The guy’s made some of the most entertaining action-thrillers of the last two decades. Cut him some slack.
I know I should see it
No, why? It’s the Weinsteins that’s got you fooled again. I’m avoiding this one. It smells bad.
Rule #1 of independent movies: Beware the movie with a large, well-known cast, that appears out of nowhere and without advance buzz.
My thoughts exactly on seeing the trailer suddenly pop up on Apple.
Whaddaya mean? He’s made True Romance, Crimson Tide, Man On Fire, Enemy of the State and, for chrissakes, TOP GUN. The guy’s made some of the most entertaining action-thrillers of the last two decades. Cut him some slack.
Yes, yes. Well aware of all that, of course. I never said that he’s a hack, but he can pretty much do one thing, and only one thing, well: make entertaining action thrillers. And two bad action thrillers in a row probably means he’s lost it.
I mean, did you see Domino?
Setting yourself up for a mighty big fall there, buddy.
Not at all. Whatever problems arise in the world, The Fountain will make better. That includes the problem of The Fountain being disappointing.
But this is one film you just have to write a proper review for. This one doesn’t even have a release date here yet.
OK, I will if I can.
No, why? It’s the Weinsteins that’s got you fooled again.
Probably so. In retrospect, I’m amazed that I got through a post featuring two Weinstein movies without taking a shot at those guys.
But, I’ll see it, because that’s what I do. 127 movies and counting this year.
I mean, did you see Domino?
Hey, check out the three films he made before True Romance.
OK, I will if I can.
And I’ll try and get back to that review of Volver. Man, that is a hard film to review.
I tried really, really, hard to fool myself into thinking True Romance was a great film. I even owned it for a while. Watched it many times.
But I’ve finally come to the conclusion that it just isn’t. I’m not going to call it bad, but if there’s ever a movie that is less than the sum of its parts, that’s it.
I’m not sure I even need to dig into that one.
Besides, the parts that are good are pretty great. The Dennis Hopper Sicilian speech alone makes the film ‘not bad.’
Well, fine. Again, sum of its parts.
No big hurry on the Volver review, by the way. I’m looking forward to reading it, of course, but it turns out it’s not actually opening here – and I assume everywhere else that’s not NY/LA – until 12/22. So it will still be timely for another month.
Wait a minute: I’m getting a little confused. I thought Brian’s effusive praise for The Fountain was meant to be mocking
I, as well, get confused when Brian is in non-mocking mode.
No big hurry on the Volver review, by the way.
I just want to get it over and done with, so I can do other reviews.
In theaters. Not counting reperatory shows (midnight show of A Clockwork Orange, special screening of The Godfather, maybe one or two others).
If it makes a difference, I see a majority of those for free. I’m not sure how much that matters, as I’ve always seen a lot of movies, but it’s worth a mention.
Also, 128 now.
what would make a big difference would be if you got paid to see them
OK, OK, you found me out. I’m really Jeffrey Lyons. That’s why I have trouble writing real reviews – I so rarely have to write anything more than “The summer’s ultimate thrill ride!” or “The funniest movie of the decade!”
Ha, ha. Anyway, wanted to make it 129 this afternoon, but Fur was only playing matinees and I got bogged down by the Wii. Zelda is cool.
Bobby–you will probably hate it, because the writing is amateurish, like out of a college creative writing class. Characters stop and make big speeches every five or ten minutes. Estevez has modeled this film after Grand Hotel, and even has the temerity to mention that film early on. It also reminded me of the disaster films of the 1970s–introduce a bunch of characters (whether on a cruise ship that’s about to turn over, or a building about to catch on fire) and then unite them in the last act. The only saving grace in this film is the last ten minutes, which I found very moving, but only because I have a Kennedy-loving gene in my DNA. Worst moment–Laurence Fishburne’s speech to busboy referenceing Once and Future King. Talk about clumsy Camelot references.
Oh, and I wanted to step up and defend Matthew Broderick, just a little bit. He can be very good–I liked him in Biloxi Blues, and in Election, which is one of my favorite films of the last ten years, I think he’s great, superbly portraying a man who spirals from mediocrity to complete despair. And while I’m sure Deck the Halls is complete dreck, I do have a soft spot for “tit for tat” movies, going back to Laurel and Hardy, who made the best of them (Big Business, Them Thar Hills, and uh, Tit for Tat).
Fact is that the only warranting Broderick’s existence is Election. Reason he was born probably.
I think he was born to play Ferris Bueller.
After having it on my DVD recorder hard drive for ages, finally got around to seeing ‘The Fountain’ tonight. It takes a while to get used to but it has a pretty compelling story, is very well made and interesting enough to make me seek out various views on what it actually meant by the end.
An underrated feature of it was that it was comfortably under 100 minutes; far too many modern films are needlessly over the 2 hour mark.
Ah, that warms my heart, Marco. With the release of The Wrestler, it seems the critical community has taken the opportunity to piss all over The Fountain; seemingly every other review out there mentions how Aronofsky is “back” after that earlier debacle.
But for me, The Fountain has only gotten better with time. I’ve already watched it on DVD twice, and find myself wanting to pick up the Blu-Ray to watch it again. I read a Tarantino quote (not about The Fountain) a few weeks back about how he gets angry when he hears people piling on a movie he loves, and that’s how I feel about the movie. Every casual dismissal I read gets me sorta mad.