October 8, 2003
2:28 PM
2:28 PM
genre revivals
The genre I most want to see revived is the dance movie, ala Centerstage or Flashdance. Coyote ugly was a start what with the clogging on the bar and such. I'm putting all my hopes on Jessica Alba's small shoulders. She's coming out in a movie called "Honey" where she plays an aspiring choreogapher named "Honey." I hope it's about dreams and dancing and dancing dreams. I'm counting the days...
Hmm... not really directly on the topic of revivals, but I suppose it fits in with the whole "nostalgia for things past" idea...
I'm curious as to your opinions first on the spate of remakes, particularly those that -- to my eyes, anyway -- don't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Gus Van Sant's Psycho. The upcoming Texas Chainsaw Masacre. The soon-to-begin Peter Jackson-helmed King Kong. Remakes have been around forever, but the prevailing wisdom (as articulated by Soderbergh with regard to Ocean's Eleven) has usually been, "Why on earth would you want to remake a classic?"
And second on the "altered rerelease" craze. Obviously, Lucas succeeded (commercially, anyway) with his Star Wars films, while Spielberg tanked with E.T. Now we have Ridley Scott's "director's cut" of Alien. Okay, now I'm the first to admit I love alternate versions on DVD. And I can certainly see the argument in cases where a director's vision was radically altered by studio or circumstance, but on the whole, do you think these "new and improved" versions are really adding anything to the film world, or are they just symptoms of the much-ballyhooed "bankruptcy of ideas" in Hollywood?
Hey, it's Lauren, from the book. Hollywood is a morass of sin and degredation, and that's just the comedy clubs.
I think revivals are due not to lack of creative writers, but lack of creative producers - I just watched THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE - about Bob Evans, and you know what - I can't point to one hardass, has a vision, know it all, brass balls producer that is an original who knows that you have to have a great script first and foremost, before you greenlight a project. Where IS our Thalberg or Evans? Every exec I know is a play it safe kind of person, and that's a shame, because since so few of them have a creative background, how are they going to recognize a great script when they see it? Oh, they won't. And we'll have Freaky Friday XVIII starring the Olsen Twins who will exchange their personalities with HANSON and no one will be able to tell. Sad really.
One word, folks: "Shag".