TWO FOR TUESDAY - WINNERS & NEW DEBATE!!!
So M. Night defeats the big nasty, stanky dragon thing...
And he's so happy in and understated way...
Gore is back for more!!! WOO HOO!!! (rhyme scheme provided by Shitty Rhymes Inc.)
And since he's out of the picture, I think now is a good time to drive Justin up the wall and see how many ways we can misspell David O. Russell's name.
O' Russell. O: Russell. O; Russell. O! Russell. Oh! Russell.
Oi Russell. Oy Vey Russell. O.R. McRussell. David O. Russellcrowe.
Ah...so many ways...
OK, these debates are taking longer than they normally should so I’m going to impose a new rule here.
One week per debate OR until we have enough votes to move on.
In the case of a tie, cell phone #’s for people who haven’t voted will be published for all to see and call…early in the morning…I’m talking REEALLLL early…
So here goes…the debate for the week...have fun chillens...
The B.H.O.C. (Big Hobbit On Campus) VS ....
Peter Jackson VS Stephen Sommers
(consider it another mercy round...or maybe not)
This next one is the BATTLE OF THE BEARDS!!!!
(which I jus trealized sounds like gay porn)
Shawshank VS The English Patient!The Green Mile VS The Talented Mr. Ripley!
The Majestic VS Cold Mountain!
Frank Darabont VS Anthony Minghella
So let's start the debate!!!
posted by Erin_Echo | 9:03 AM
33 Comments:
Peter Jackson VS Stephen Sommers
There's really nothing to debate here in this match-up, and I defy any of you to make a case for the "director" of 'Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride' (which actually won the Coaster D'Or at Cannes last year).
WINNER: Petey Jackson
This next match, however, is going to be brutal!
I know that Ang Lee's The Hulk At Universal Parks was the winner of the 2003 Coaster D'Or, but who took it in 2004?
I going waaayyy off topic. Had a few. But here goes...
I just read where Avi Arad (President and CEO of Marvel Comics) was asked about 'The Hulk' sequel, and he sounded overly apologetic when he described the future pic to be "a re-do" of Ang Lee's version.
How about a fucking apology for 'Daredevil', 'Electra', and 'Fantastic Four' (among others)? I think the problem here is Marvel feels the need to cater to the lowest (and I mean THE LOWEST) common denominator sitting in the audience.
At least Ang attempted to add some humanity and goddamned relatability(sp?)to the characters. Ang took the Shakespearian tragedy route while these other shills (Mark Stephen Johnson, Rob Bowman) were hired hands who bowed to the number crunchers concerned with filling seats.
Avi Arad is pimping out characters with fifty plus years of history to the FIRST bidder. He is obviously someone who has neither a clue nor taste, yet holds producer credits for future projects that would make Robert Zemeckis cream in his DeLorean. I just hope you are seated when you check out Avi Arad on IMDB!
How about talking to Fincher, M. Night, Cronenberg, Aranofsky, Liman, or even Niki Caro (yeah, I said it) about giving these franchised characters some real heart?
There's a reason Marvel went bankrupt in the 90's, and you'll see why after the next couple of rip-offs.
Discuss.
Ang Lee's biggest mistake with the Hulk...no Lou Ferrigno.
Oh, there was love for Lou.
Credit from IMDB:
Lou Ferrigno....Security Guard
And on the seventh day of filming, the Ang spoke and said, "LET THERE BE LOU".
At which point a PA tapped Ferrigno on the shoulder and pointed to the set.
I'm moving to Indiana on Wednesday (good bye to the shithole that is Las Vegas)and therefore packing up my computer tonight. Since I'm not sure when I'll be hooked up again, I want to make sure I get in on this debate. So I'll keep it short and sweet.
How do you direct a ride? And as a Hollywood director, why would you want to? The Mummy films were entertaining, but in a sucky way. Lord of the Rings may, in my opinion, rival the Holy Trilogy of the original Star Wars for best film series. Call me crazy if you will. Although King Kong was WAY too long and self-indulgent, Jackson shows a lot of promise for his future endeavors.
WINNER: Jackson.
Talented Mr. Ripley was one of my favorite films that year. Both Darabont and Minghella make wonderfully dramatic films with fascinating characters. However, Darabont makes films that appeal to a wider audience. Shawshank is played almost weekly on TBS. When's the last time you saw English Patient on TV? Frank will be remembered more (I even liked The Majestic).
WINNER: Darabont
Stephen Sommers vs Peter Jackson
I think we all agree that Mr. Sommers is a Nickelodeon grade Michael Bay that has the limited creative capacity for only remakes and sequels. But who here isn’t at least mildly interested in his take on the dread drenched end of the world epic, ‘When Worlds Collide’ (my personal guilty pleasure when I was a kid) and his take on the 80’s homoerotic Technicolor space yarn, Flash Gordon (They gotta at least bring back the Queen sound track) . Those two future projects give me wood.
Peter Jackson on the other hand has gotta a lot of work to do to overcome King Kong for me. After the LOTR trilogy (he was given the keys to Dad’s car, and what does he do the first night out, he totals the car.) he does THIS with all his new found power- reinterprets a classic film as a CGI heavy action movie that is from the Quentin school of movie masturbation. If CGI wizardry was the equivalent to great movie making, we’d be calling him Lord Lucas instead of Fat Lucas.
Jackson’s obviously surrounded himself with either clones or yes-men, either way it makes for Stephen Sommers style filmmaking. Scorsese (Gangs of NY), Coppola (one from the heart), Cameron (The Abyss) and Spielberg (Hook) have all done these ‘Yes Boss, you’re a genius' type movies. I was so thoroughly disappointed with almost every aspect of Kong, that I now have a deep reservoir of anger toward this guy.
Side note: Erin, you almost completely dismissed last year’s War of the Worlds because of the final scene where the son has a dirt face- do you also completely dismiss the entire Kong movie because Ann Darrow is on top of the world’s tallest building in mid winter in a night gown and we don’t see her breath (not to mention any gratuitous nipple or hair pie action – see Raiders’ Karen Allen on the cargo ship for the right way to do that)
This was actually closer than you would think. But today I guess I’ll be a Peter Jackson Yes man- great idea Peter, you are a genius, and three T-rexes is always better….
Winner: Peter Jackson
The warmth of love felt between Kong and Ann is what kept her warm, Peter.
Love.
Something you are lacking in your cold, black heart...
Justin,
I love the marvel discussion. Bring it on.
Marvel's problems started when they first sold a few of their characters (Spiderman, X-men and blade) that were turned into decent movies. They and the rest of Hollywood went on a marvel wholesale character blitz (thankfully, the superhero movie market has dried up). When you turn so many characters into so many movies so fast under someone else’s creative control (Fox, who shelled out the money), and you are on their timetable (which marvel agreed to when they sold the characters in the first place), you are bound for some god awful movies.
Fox saw it as a money making venture ( and why wouldn’t they) and the only one holding back the plague was Avi (there was only so much he could do considering the behemoth he was up against. Marvel saw it as a love making venture- be nice to the studios and they'll make more movies.
DC might have the right attitude now. Funny, now marvel is playing catchup. I do think they are on the right track now.
...and that bite from a radio active spider gave Ann that amazing ability to cling to the empire state building in dispite that wintery wind.
did they have radio active spiders in the 30s?
Frank Darabont VS Anthony Minghella
I think there is a box at the bottom of the Oscar voting ballot that reads: "When all other movies suck monkey cocks, pick a Frank Darabont or Anthony Minghella movie".
For some (Miramax) fuckin stupid (Harvey Weinstein) reason, Hollywood (Bob Weinstein) falls in love with Anthony Minghella movies.
Darabont wins because Cold Mountain was a monumental waste of talent, production money and a decent book, not to mention open space.
Frank Darabont VS Anthony Minghella
At first, I thought this would be difficult because we're dealing with two directors with similar styles and taste. And then I realized the only movie I really enjoyed by Darabont is, you guessed it, 'The Shawshank Redemption'.
Unfortunately, for this contest, the winner is the director who sticks in the public conscience for the long haul, and everyone on the planet loved (or at least liked) 'Shawshank'.
Darabont has a way of showcasing an historic view of Americana that only existed in Norman Rockwell paintings (if he had painted convicts). That's what he's good at. Minghella also has a flair for history and the period piece, but has taken on much more ambitious projects. Projects that appealed more to the critics I'm afraid, and to high brow, intellectual (sorry Pete) film-goers like myself.
I know this is a losing vote.
WINNER: ANTHONY MINGHELLA
P.S. Pete- 'Cold Mountain' offended you so harshly, yet I bet you smiled with popcorn stuck in your teeth for all 152 minutes of the ham feast that was 'The Majestic'. Give me a break.
OK, Stephen Sommers has not made a good movie ever. He’s made movies with good intentions, but the end result falls flat on it’s face. Too much CGI, not enough actor direction, and even more CGI. He’s got the Flash Gordon franchise and I really don’t want to see him fuck it up. But he will.
Flash Gordon could be a great adventure movie in the vain of Indiana Jones. With Sommers it will be a CGI fuck fest of Ming from the planet Mongo(loid) proportions.
Jackson made The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Place in history secured.
Kong was a good movie with an even greater movie somewhere in there (with more editing, less CGI, and even less of the bizarre homoerotic relationship between the cook and the Chinese guy…um…Mr. Jackson…what was with that again?)
Jackson’s got my vote…like there was ever a question.
WINNER: JACKSON
Darabont has made his one good movie. But everything since then has been a gradual move down the slide of mediocrity.
Minghella’s movies are more interesting. Truly Madly Deeply is a film that sneaks up on you, goes in directions you didn’t expect it to, and contains great performances and totally takes the idea of “Ghost” and turns it on it’s head.
The English Patient came out and I saw it and I loved it. Then I saw it a second time and realized that the only story I cared about in this multi-storied movie was the Fiennes/Scott Thomas love story. The rest of it bored me. I think English Patient is a hit or miss with people. It doesn’t hold up well.
Mr. Ripley, on the other hand, is a very well constructed film. All the performances are fantastic (Damon in particular) and it moves along at an interesting pace.
I have not watched all of Cold Mountain (what I saw made me shudder -- Renee Zellwegger’s bizarre monologue “They call it rain and they go to the mountain and buy a bottle of liquor and then they make a yarn cap that they wear to the beach and they have the audacity to yell at me because they got a sunburn!”) Um…what?
But Cold Mountain was nominated for things. Majestic wasn’t.
His new project looks interesting with a good cast. I think Minghella will be able to bounce back from his “slump”. Darabont might not.
WINNER: MINGHELLA
justin
never saw the majestic (never had any real desire to see it). is it any good?
it didn't look good. did you really like cold mountain?
Justin,
Although I savor a scrap with you... eerrrr ahhh I mean debate, I'll readily confess that I care little or nothing for either of Frank Darabont's or Anthony Minghella's movies. They do zilch for me.
While reading the above posts on those directors, although cleverly written by intellectual giants, I became more interested in the coffee stains on my desk than the content of their discussions. Sorry. I'll save my fight for another day.
Excuse me while I go back to sleep… errr, ahhh, I mean work.
What happen to the Marvel discussion?
MMMmmm...Coffee....stains.
We need some participants on this site-- besides the usual three or four of us-- who actually enjoy posting here as much as we do.
I was drinking and alone when I posted that Marvel rant. I've been clean and sober for four days now. You know there's trouble with a post of mine that starts out with "I(?) going waaayyy off topic".
Pete Jackson wins big.
Frank Darabont VS Anthony Minghella
The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley are two movie's I disliked the first time I saw them. Thanks to Hbo I gave these films a second chance. I liked both films more and more every time I watched them.
Shawshank was great, Green Mile was ok, and the Majestic was crap.
Winner Anthony Minghella.
Pete is right, this debate is boring. I don't feel any connection to these directors.
Justin,
Let me get this straight, when you get drunk you rant about Marvel movies? Cool. You and me and tequila make three, baby! ...and hurry, cause Ray-Ray and I are bonding.
Ray
I promise you that the next debate (which will be up soon) will not only be more interesting...it may make you cream your shorts.
Or someone else's shorts.
Since I'm bored and I thought this would be discussed more than it was... can I take a survey:
what best describes your impression of jackson's King Kong:
a- a classic
b- a great movie
c- a good movie
d- an OK movie
e- a disappointment
f- surprisingly weak
g- a mess
h- a steaming pile
I would have to go with
s-self-indulgent
or maybe
l-look what I can do
Seriously, from remembering what I thought after my first and only time seeing it, I would have to say it was
d- an OK movie.
I must confess though, I did buy the DVD. I'm such a sucker for making-of docs. That and New Zealand accents.
WINNER...MR JACKSON AND Darabont
while we're on New Zealand, did you happen to see "Once were warriors"?
No, I have not. Is that a war film? Sounds familiar.
justin, justin, justin...
I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your window, open it and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm going to go rent Once were warriors right now!'
This movie should be on everyone's list of 50 must see movies. seriously.
promise me you will see it.
it's not for everyone. its very brutal, but oh so very good.
made stars out of Lee Tamahori and Temuera Morrison.
hi guys I'm new to the debate but am I the only one here who enjoyed Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong?? I'm a huge fan of the original and thought it was a great tribute film.
Pete I have to agree Once were Warriors is a great movie Justin you must check this film out
Tie Breaker, here we go:
One word: Shawshank
Contest to Darabont.
Dude, Minghella casts hotter actors. Minghella all the way.
bss makes my point accidentally with his one word.
Lew, I'm really confused.
you liked 'Once Were Warriors' and the $250M blue screen video game called 'King Kong'? two movies from New Zealand that couldn't be more opposites.
yikes.
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