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Pop culture rap...
Aug. 5th, 2006 12:45 amGot my EW today which keeps me abrest, when LJ doesn't, of what is happening in pop culture:
1. The Mel Gibson fiasco - EW had an entire article on how Gibson had managed to destroy his career in the space of one night. I pondered it a bit and realized that I haven't liked Gibson since Braveheart, when he started thinking - oh, I won, a best director oscar so now I'm the big cheese. Sigh. Kevin Costner did the same thing. Guys, you aren't the first actors to get oscars for directing and producing films - please take a page from Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford - those guys have class. Gibson's best work was in Australia, under Peter Weir and other Australian directors - Year of Living Dangerously, Gallopi, the one with Piper Laurie about the mentally challenged man who was goregous, Mad Max, Road Warrier.. His worste? Let's see Bird on a Wire (couldn't watch it), Air America (more Robert Downey JR's film than Gibson and Downey was better), What Women Want (gag). Fun fair: Ransom (sigh - although it did have more to it than most), Lethal Weapon (actually I adore Danny Glover more in these), Maverick (James Garner and Jodi Foster...sigh, much fun). I refuse to see Passion of the Christ.
And can't say I'm shocked by his behavior. Or feel any sympathy for him. Or have any interest in watching anything he's involved with from this point forward. Not that I did before, mind you.
Course knew all about this way before got the EW - LJ people broke the news, before the news channels broke it.
2. Heath Ledger as the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins, called, get this The Dark Knight? Interesting. Really interesting. Not the person I would have cast, in fact it almost is against type. But Heath loves that and so does Nolan. Most directors would have put HEath in the Batman role and Bale in the Joker role. The fact they've reversed them is akin to well reversing Carrey and Kilmer in the third Batman (which come to think of it, would have been interesting). I adore casting against type - it makes the film richer sometimes. Brothers Grimm cast Ledger and Damon against type, which was rather intriguing. Ledger is a man who knows how to show emotion with very little dialogue or movement. Having not been a huge fan of Nicolson's take on the Joker or the Tim Burton flicks, which often felt like style over substance (although they were better than Bruckheimer's cluttered messes that followed), am looking forward to this sequel.
3. Nicole Kidman as the complex villianous from the Philip Pullman novels - the first is to be filmed and released next year. I can't wait. I want to see those books on the screen more than I wanted to see the Harry Potter or CS LEwis. Why? Ah. They are more complex. Not sure how they are going to do it without pissing off the Judeo-Christians. These books are Pullman's critique of CS LEwis's Narnia novels and I highly recommend them to anyone who read Lewis - just as a counterpoint.
Curious to see who they tap for the extranged villainous' hubby, who isn't exactly a hero himself.
4. The Descent is being tapped at the must-see horror flick of the summer. EW gave it an A-. And an intriguing review. Did not like the Night Listener, however. Don't care. I'll probably see The Night Listener and skip The Descent. (The Descent sounds far too gory. Blood and guts is not something I enjoy seeing on the movie screen. I can watch the nightly news or one of the CSI's for that.)
Okay tired now. Going to bed.
1. The Mel Gibson fiasco - EW had an entire article on how Gibson had managed to destroy his career in the space of one night. I pondered it a bit and realized that I haven't liked Gibson since Braveheart, when he started thinking - oh, I won, a best director oscar so now I'm the big cheese. Sigh. Kevin Costner did the same thing. Guys, you aren't the first actors to get oscars for directing and producing films - please take a page from Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford - those guys have class. Gibson's best work was in Australia, under Peter Weir and other Australian directors - Year of Living Dangerously, Gallopi, the one with Piper Laurie about the mentally challenged man who was goregous, Mad Max, Road Warrier.. His worste? Let's see Bird on a Wire (couldn't watch it), Air America (more Robert Downey JR's film than Gibson and Downey was better), What Women Want (gag). Fun fair: Ransom (sigh - although it did have more to it than most), Lethal Weapon (actually I adore Danny Glover more in these), Maverick (James Garner and Jodi Foster...sigh, much fun). I refuse to see Passion of the Christ.
And can't say I'm shocked by his behavior. Or feel any sympathy for him. Or have any interest in watching anything he's involved with from this point forward. Not that I did before, mind you.
Course knew all about this way before got the EW - LJ people broke the news, before the news channels broke it.
2. Heath Ledger as the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins, called, get this The Dark Knight? Interesting. Really interesting. Not the person I would have cast, in fact it almost is against type. But Heath loves that and so does Nolan. Most directors would have put HEath in the Batman role and Bale in the Joker role. The fact they've reversed them is akin to well reversing Carrey and Kilmer in the third Batman (which come to think of it, would have been interesting). I adore casting against type - it makes the film richer sometimes. Brothers Grimm cast Ledger and Damon against type, which was rather intriguing. Ledger is a man who knows how to show emotion with very little dialogue or movement. Having not been a huge fan of Nicolson's take on the Joker or the Tim Burton flicks, which often felt like style over substance (although they were better than Bruckheimer's cluttered messes that followed), am looking forward to this sequel.
3. Nicole Kidman as the complex villianous from the Philip Pullman novels - the first is to be filmed and released next year. I can't wait. I want to see those books on the screen more than I wanted to see the Harry Potter or CS LEwis. Why? Ah. They are more complex. Not sure how they are going to do it without pissing off the Judeo-Christians. These books are Pullman's critique of CS LEwis's Narnia novels and I highly recommend them to anyone who read Lewis - just as a counterpoint.
Curious to see who they tap for the extranged villainous' hubby, who isn't exactly a hero himself.
4. The Descent is being tapped at the must-see horror flick of the summer. EW gave it an A-. And an intriguing review. Did not like the Night Listener, however. Don't care. I'll probably see The Night Listener and skip The Descent. (The Descent sounds far too gory. Blood and guts is not something I enjoy seeing on the movie screen. I can watch the nightly news or one of the CSI's for that.)
Okay tired now. Going to bed.
