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Gimme Gimme Gimme!!!
The Alice in Wonderland trailer is out!!!
It looks damn good. Some of these casting choices are just inspired. You know how sometimes you hear about a casting choice and it just feels like all is right in the universe. It's a weird example, but when Snoop Dogg was cast as Huggy Bear in the Starsky and Hutch remake--I knew that was the work of a genius. And that movie really did kick some ass for what it was. It's damn funny.
If Tim Burton has ever made a bad film, this'll be the first I've heard of it. And lately, I'm having a total girl-crush on Helena Bonham Carter. And I'm sorry I coined the phrase Tim Burton's Disease to describe producers and/or directors who cast their wives in absolutely anything. I've accused Rob Zombie of having it several times now.
Anywhoo, Tim Burton is one of the only people I trust with these silly "reimaginings" that are all the rage right now. Willy Wonka was tits. Totally, totally tits. Sweeney Todd was a modern masterpiece, and I'm a connoisseur of such things. (How sad is it that I had to look up the spelling of connoisseur? I took Spanish, not French.)
BTW, movies are rarely shot on film anymore. So can we still call them films? Is it like album, that has both meanings now? What shall we call them when we want to imply that they are more relevant than a "movie."
Just a reminder that my Annual Birthday Gathering is happening this Saturday, November 21st at my apartment. It starts at 8pm, (contrary to the FB announcement that said it was at 8am--stupid military time) and we'll probably start closing it up around 2:30am so we're not letting people go at the same time as the bars are letting out. If you want to show up before 8pm, please phone ahead.
BYO intoxicants, normal house rules apply. Again, contact me with questions.
It's the triumphant return of spicy Mexican Dip! We'll also be having a pastry filled with nutella, spinach dip with crackers, and the ever-popular pineapple bundt cake I do every year that I don't do a trifle. We can probably expect a trifle on NYE again.
We'll be hosting many of the usual party guests, along with some peeps from my work, a really cool guy I went to school with (Dan and Paul will likely agree with him politically), and maybe even my brother. It shall be A Night to Remember, but not in a sinking of the titanic kind of way. Get it?
Pressies are by no means required or expected. But several of you have asked, so here's a link to ye olde Amazon wish list. Know that I always appreciate people asking for the link so I have an excuse to post it. ;-]
It looks damn good. Some of these casting choices are just inspired. You know how sometimes you hear about a casting choice and it just feels like all is right in the universe. It's a weird example, but when Snoop Dogg was cast as Huggy Bear in the Starsky and Hutch remake--I knew that was the work of a genius. And that movie really did kick some ass for what it was. It's damn funny.
If Tim Burton has ever made a bad film, this'll be the first I've heard of it. And lately, I'm having a total girl-crush on Helena Bonham Carter. And I'm sorry I coined the phrase Tim Burton's Disease to describe producers and/or directors who cast their wives in absolutely anything. I've accused Rob Zombie of having it several times now.
Anywhoo, Tim Burton is one of the only people I trust with these silly "reimaginings" that are all the rage right now. Willy Wonka was tits. Totally, totally tits. Sweeney Todd was a modern masterpiece, and I'm a connoisseur of such things. (How sad is it that I had to look up the spelling of connoisseur? I took Spanish, not French.)
BTW, movies are rarely shot on film anymore. So can we still call them films? Is it like album, that has both meanings now? What shall we call them when we want to imply that they are more relevant than a "movie."
Just a reminder that my Annual Birthday Gathering is happening this Saturday, November 21st at my apartment. It starts at 8pm, (contrary to the FB announcement that said it was at 8am--stupid military time) and we'll probably start closing it up around 2:30am so we're not letting people go at the same time as the bars are letting out. If you want to show up before 8pm, please phone ahead.
BYO intoxicants, normal house rules apply. Again, contact me with questions.
It's the triumphant return of spicy Mexican Dip! We'll also be having a pastry filled with nutella, spinach dip with crackers, and the ever-popular pineapple bundt cake I do every year that I don't do a trifle. We can probably expect a trifle on NYE again.
We'll be hosting many of the usual party guests, along with some peeps from my work, a really cool guy I went to school with (Dan and Paul will likely agree with him politically), and maybe even my brother. It shall be A Night to Remember, but not in a sinking of the titanic kind of way. Get it?
Pressies are by no means required or expected. But several of you have asked, so here's a link to ye olde Amazon wish list. Know that I always appreciate people asking for the link so I have an excuse to post it. ;-]
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BTW, movies are rarely shot on film anymore. So can we still call them films? Is it like album, that has both meanings now? What shall we call them when we want to imply that they are more relevant than a "movie."
It's fascinating how language changes over time. You still hear people say "flipping through the channels" even though how long has it been since we had an actual knob that you turn on TVs?
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I can recall a now-funny story from college about evolving language. I was talking to a guy who worked in the campus radio station when I was running it. He started freaking out like a maniac one day because I was talking in the background. Really, like a maniac. When I asked his buddy WTF, his buddy explained that he'd "been tripping all day."
Geez, I thought, I don't want some acid head on the air, he could do or say anything. So I sent the kid home and told my faculty advisor why.
Turns out, the phrase "tripping" had come to simply mean freaking out (as in the phrase "why you trippin'?) when as far as I knew, tripping was the effect of being on a hallucinagen--something I knew all too well at the time) I was vaguely aware of that use in say, rap vids and 21 Jumpstreet and such, (mind you, this was in 1991) but had no idea that suburban white boys were using it casually. So the kid totally freaked out on me because I "assumed he was a drug addict with no evidence" when I thought I had been explicitly told that the kid was on acid.
Another phrase that has changed dramatically is "gang bang." Now it means a guy (or gal, I suppose) who runs with a gang. I assure you when I was a kid--that's not what it meant.
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In his song "Shake ya ass", Mystikal rapped the charming line, "You think I'm tripping, bitch/I ain't tripping". From the context, I assumed he meant it more metaphorically rather than him actually being on acid. I would have thought that maybe that kid was having a bad acid trip, like you assumed since he was acting so goofy.
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I wish I could share your overwhelming passion for Burton.
As an artist (re: art director), he's without peer in my book.
As a director.......ummmmmm, that is well open for discussion.
I feel he visualizes his films perfectly, but on the other hand I feel he doesn't always tell the story the best way possible.
I'll rate my enjoyment of his major efforts here so you'll have a snapshot of how I feel:
VINCENT/FRANKENWEENIE: 10
PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE: 10
BEETLEJUICE: 7.5
BATMAN: art direction: 10 / movie: 0 - hated it
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS: open/end of film: 10 / middle: 4
BATMAN RETURNS: did not even bother to see
ED WOOD: 9 (an awesome job on a difficult project)
MARS ATTACKS: 1 (I walked out on this one, & I didn't pay.)
SLEEPY HOLLOW: 9 despite Alienist ripoff by the producer
PLANET OF THE APES: 0 (let's remake Requiem for a Dream!)
BIG FISH: not interested enough in to see
CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: =abstain=
SWEENEY TODD: i'll see it someday.
CORPSE BRIDE: 9.5
....and....
....i know he didn't direct it, but....
NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: 10
As you can see, I run quite hot-and-cold on him. I think since he's not sticking to the text of ALICE verbatim he won't screw it up, or at least it will cover his inabilities (at times) to tell the film's screenplay to the degree he tells the film's art design.
Observation: on an interesting note, the mid-20-somethings seem to percieve Tim Burton as a joke. One Manager said, "Can a Tim Burton film even be called that any longer? He has self-referenced himself into oblivion." I defended, saying that any director that has such a specific and realized style was bound to stick out to them, much like one could easily recognize a Hopper or Van Gogh at the museum.
//end movie rant
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"Big Fish" is one of the greatest father-son movies of all time, and a must se for terrific storytelling. Very few movies show a better example of ways to tell a story.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" goes far out of its way to be a very different movie than "Willy Wonka," and it's brilliant through and through.
"Planet of the Apes" is a load of crap, and no cameo of Heston will ever make it better, ever.
I believe that Burton and Gaimen are today's Grim brothers. They are making the best fairy tales we have in the last couple generations. Stories that will be told for many generations to come.
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Actually, I think Burton produced Nightmare, but David Selick directed it unless I am much mistaken.
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Have a great party! I was so jealous while reading your menu that I considered recreating it for myself and partying with you in spirit, but I have no such energy. I will live without the menu and send my spirit to pary anyway.
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Of all the people making movies, he is one I would pick to make this one, but the trailer was like, "Yup, I know that scene... and that one... ohh look, it's the Cheshire Cat... hmmmm" I am just not very interested in what I have seen in the trailer.
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There is the argument that a new generation needs something snappy and modern to lure them in and which enhances the source material. I don't typically buy that argument, because anybody who gives a shit about films will watch it silent, or B&W, or with mandarin subtitles. But then I am reminded that many, many people don't give a shit about quality films--but pay to go to the movies anyway.
Personally, I can't imagine Burton would want to make this movie at all if he didn't have something unique and relevant in mind. He could always prove me wrong, but I hope not.