As soon as I heard Mel Brooks was making a movie version of the musical version of the movie version of the Producers, I had to see it. "Huh?" you say? Yeah, I know - capitalism at it's best. Very few people actually get to see a show in the theatre, so they made a movie version to collect ticket admission prices from the masses. But that's OK. John, myself and my parents were four of the first few hundred people to see the musical when it came out. They did a short test run in Chicago before they moved to Broadway, and we saw it the second night - with the original cast of Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. It was the funniest thing we'd seen in a while. So I was eager to see how that would translate to the screen, and it did so amazingly well. The reason? They used the same director who did the stage version. There were parts of it that looked play-like with the backgrounds, and that's good - because that's what it's supposed to look like.
Lane & Broderick work so well together in this. Though no one could ever replace the orignal duo, they pay homage while also making the roles their own. Will Farrell is hysterical. I used to think he was a hack - but that's because SNL just sucks now. In movies, he's fantastic. I honestly think he'll go down as one of the great comedic actors.
So don't be stupid, be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi Party! And stay after the end credits.
We went to see this at Piper's Alley, a great theatre in Old Town, so we also went to the Spice House afterwards and scored us a pound of Vietnamese cinnamon, 5 grams of saffron powder, and some chocolate extract. I highly recommend Asian cinnamon - if you really like cinnamon there's nothing like it. McCormick's smells like soap in comparison.
The next day we went to see King Kong at the Davis by our apartment. I was unimpressed. There was absolutely no reason why this movie had to be 3 hours long (though at least it didn't have 12 different endings like Return of the King). I was rooting for Peter Jackson because I've liked him as a director ever since I saw Dead Alive. The acting was outstanding and you felt sorry for Ann Darrow and Kong and you wanted something terrible to happen to Jack Black. But at the same time - 3 hours? I mean, I don't mind a long movie when it's integral to the story. But seriously folks, fire the editor of this one. I started to lose it during the never-ending fight sequence between Kong and the Dinosaurs. Did Jackson take a page out of John Carpenter's book? Seriously, it was the longest fight sequence since "They Live" and I half expected Kong to look at the Dinosaur and say "You dirty mother fucker". The cynical side of me couldn't help but laugh at the "Koko loves kitten" moments either. Those of you who've seen it know what I mean...
Syriana is a heavy movie to see on New Year's Eve... it' gives you a lot of perspective (in the words of David St. Hubbins - "Too much fucking perspective"). Unlike a lot of people I talked to, I didn't find it hard to follow at all. I'm not sure why others found it hard to follow, maybe it's because all those brown people look alike. Either that, or they haven't read House of Bush, House of Saud. I don't want to write a review that will ruin it for others who haven't seen it - because it's one of those movies that I want to talk about what certain things meant and why different people did certain things.
The acting was incredible. Clooney deserves an Oscar, I think. I definitely think it's worth seeing.
The one thing that ruined it for me was some selfish bitch in the theatre who brought her crying BABY. Look sweetie, I understand you can't get a babysitter on New Year's Eve - but do you think you could wait to see the movie? It's pure selfishness IMHO when people do this. It's all about what she wanted to do. This is one of my pet peeves, especially in a movie like this. I'm sure the baby LOVED the scene where Clooney gets his fingernails pulled out.
Anyway, I don't want my rant to detract from the movie - there's only one hard to watch scene, and it's short. So if you're worried about violence, don't be. Most if it is just switching from place-to-place and slowly realizing what is about to happen in the name of a big oil merger in a Middle Eastern Emirate.
3 comments:
I actually wrote a three part series on movie theater do's and don'ts because I've been totally robbed of my theater enjoyment so many times.
Babies are the worst.
I pay for a babysitter so I can have peace. I expect nothing less.
MILD SPOILER - Syriana
Based on your quick run down and the trailers I've seen I decided to run out and catch Syriana last night. Overall I thought it was a great movie with a good performance by Clooney but I felt a little despondent after leaving the show.
In some movies you root for the good guys and in others you root for the bad. In this the bad guys win and they don't even act excited about it. There is no single overlord who chuckles when he presses the trap door button sending the heroes into a pit of vampire monkeys. It's just a bunch of people committing mildly (in most cases) bad acts that they know are wrong. All of these acts come lead to the easy demise of the good guys who are trying very hard to do the right thing... or at least they think they are. For the bad guys it’s just another day at work and they don't even seem to find it all that hard to take the good guys out... they just expect to win.
Sometimes art imitates life too well.
My father used to sing The Producers' songs all the time. Never seen the play, but looking forward to seeing this movie.
Funny I gave King Kong a fair review. Now, looking bad, I'm starting not to like it. Yeah, three hours was way too long.
I liked Syriana but I was one of those people who said it was difficult to follow. Too many characters. By the way, I was going to get the biodiesel before seeing Syriana. Just had to say that. ;)
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