Mark

Ok, so RedRival is still in the process of “upgrading”, but I’m going to start posting stuff anyway.

Salon recently ran an interesting article about the new “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy that is presently in production. I am currently reading The Fellowship of the Ring, which is the first book of the trilogy. When I first heard that Peter Jackson would be directing, I was a bit suprised. This is such a high profile film that I would have expected a “safer” director to be chosen. While Jackson is best known for his mainstream work (The Frighteners and Heavenly Creatures, neither of which did blockbuster business), he was also known as a bit of a B-film maker, with some real disgusting movies under his belt (Meet the Feebles, Bad Taste).

Also suprising is that all three films are being filmed at the same time. Generally, the first film is made and released, and, if it does well, the next two are put into production (the scream trilogy and the matrix trilogy are two recent examples). To have all three put into production at once, without a proven box office draw, is unprecidented.

It wasn’t too long ago when I witnessed the atrocity that is “Wild Wild West”. Quite possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen; I actually contemplated writing a review for it, but I found that I was less motivated than a neutered dog when it came time to actually research it. But now I’ve found the ultimate reference for bad movies (“Ripping Hollywood the New Ass it Deserves”), and they’ve actually wasted their time to review all the bad movies so that you don’t have to watch them, including the Wild Wild Worst movie I have ever seen. Mighty selfless of them, I must say.

Why, oh why, are they making a sequel to The Blair Witch Project. Can’t they just accept that they did something original and exciting, and leave it at that? No, oh no, they have to beat the idea to death. I suppose the sequel could be good, but I’m really doubting it. Oh well, was ist ist.

BTW, I put up a review of Red Dragon. Comments and questions are always welcome.

Good: It was an extremely fun movie to watch. There is some very well done characterization and group dynamics. The relationships, especially between Xavier and Magneto, are very interesting to watch. Hugh Jackman nails Wolverine better than I could ever have imagined. Wolverine is portrayed very well and has some great dialogue.

Bad: There were a couple of absolutely aweful lines (“Do you know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning…”), Storm’s wig is just bad and the music score is very bland (but functional, I suppose). There was one scene that I thought was poorly edited and the plot was pretty much incidental. Also, the film seems to have been focused too much on setting up a sequel.

Overall: Given the problems with this movie’s production, this film is a true accomplishment. I don’t know much about the comic books, but it seems to really hold true to the main themes. Some liberties were taken with the characters, but it seemed fair. You’re bound to lose something in condensing something as big as the X-Men. The plot is incidental, but it takes a back seat to the characterization, which was the really story. Its a very fun movie that has more merit than you might think. Three Stars (***) – you can probably expect a full review coming @ Kaedrin soon…