Is it wrong that I’m so excited about this? Probably…but so be it.
Month: August 2008 (Page 3 of 6)
Say whatever awful things that you want about Adolf Hitler, because there’s little question that he deserves every sling and arrow that you want to throw in his direction, but you can’t say he wasn’t a fascinating individual. “Hitler: The Last Ten Days” is a film that wants to be just as fascinating, but it fails at least as often as it succeeds. The biggest ongoing problem is that, while Sir Alec Guinness unquestionably has the acting chops to pull off the role of the Fuhrer, his decision to stick with his own accent rather than a German one never fails to be distracting. (Don’t tell me it’s because he couldn’t do a German accent!) Setting aside the accent, Guinness’s performance is solid, both in his ferocious outbursts as well as his chilling calm, such as when he makes the suggestion that the Hitler Youth be sent to the front lines. Ennio de Concini selected a slightly strange tone for the film, however, going for humor in the oddest moments. For instance, when Hitler marries Eva Braun (Doris Kunstmann), the officiant nervously asks Hitler, as required by the text, “Are you Aryan?” Later, after Hitler and Braun commit suicide, the first thing the Fuhrer’s subordinates do is light up cigarettes, since Hitler didn’t allow smoking. Granted, these things are based on fact, but the inherent darkness of the events are inappropriately lightened up at times, such as when de Concini chooses to have the post-suicide smoke-fest scored to cheery, upbeat music, almost as if to say, “Hey, Hitler’s dead! Time to party!” “Hitler: The Last Ten Days” is worth seeing, but if you want a film about Hitler with a tone that more accurately matches the subject matter, better you should pick up Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “Downfall.”
When “Death Race,” Paul W.S. Anderson’s remake of the 1975 Roger Corman production, “Death Race 2000,” arrives in theaters on August 22, fans of the original film will be pleased to hear a familiar voice behind the mask of the racer known as Frankenstein: David Carradine, who played the same character in the original film…sort of.
“I’ve seen a lot of it, and it’s essentially a cartoon,” said Carradine, in an interview with Bullz-Eye.com. “It’s only vaguely related to ‘Death Race 2000.’ It’s not a remake. It’s not even an adaptation. It’s just a completely different idea, with people who think that there’s a modern viewpoint that’s different somehow.”
Despite these changes, Carradine describes “Death Race” as “a pretty good movie,” though he’s less than certain about how it will do at the box office. ”
“I don’t know how people are going to respond to it,” Carradine admitted. “It doesn’t have the humor or even the humanity that the original had. I think was the point of ‘Death Race 2000’ (was) that it was funny. The other thing was the moralistic aspect of it. Roger Corman said, ‘I intended to make a movie that was mainly action, secondarily it was a moralistic film, and thirdly it would’ve been a comedy. And what I got was comedy, action, moral.’ But he said, ‘You can’t argue with these grosses!'”
“I know you can’t just remake the original just like it was, because today it would be really corny,” acknowledges Carradine, “but my answer to that is, ‘Let’s just not do it.’ But I’m not Universal.”
As for his cameo, Carradine says, “I think they just did that as a nod to the old fans, saying, ‘Well, David Carradine is in this movie!'”
When asked his opinion of the news that MTV was planning a remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Barry Bostwick, who played Brad Majors in the original version of the film, hadn’t heard anything about it…and once he had, he was none too thrilled.
“Oh, really? That’s a waste of money,” said Bostwick, in an interview with Bullz-Eye.com done in conjunction with his upcoming Spike TV film, “Depth Charge.” “That would be like saying…and understand that I’m not making this as a total comparison, but it would be like saying, ‘Hey, let’s go remake ‘Casablanca’!”
“How are you going to remake it?” Bostwick asked. “Every time it was done on stage, I thought it showed the flaws of the piece. I think it’s a one-off; I don’t think you can repeat that. I mean, look at the sequel, ‘Shock Treatment.’ I never saw that, but it was a miserable failure…even more of one than ‘Rocky Horror’ was when it first came out! That one wasn’t even re-discovered and turned into a cult hit.
“I think films like (‘Rocky Horror’) are stand-alones and brilliant for what they were at the time they were done,” concluded Bostwick. “You should just leave those things alone.”
Say what you will about the phenomenon that is Hannah Montana, but it’s no different from the many other musical acts that preceded her. People are quick to forget just how fanatical female teenagers can get – whether it’s Elvis Presley, The Beatles, New Kids on the Block, ‘N Sync, or even Britney Spears – and though much was made about Miley Cyrus and her Disney-bred alter ego’s “Best of Both Worlds” tour being sold out within minutes, it’s certainly not the first time that it’s happened. That didn’t stop desperate dads from doing whatever it took to score tickets (including running a 50-meter dash in high heels for a radio contest, as documented in the film), but it also didn’t make getting them any easier. Thankfully, Disney not only recognized that thousands of teeny boppers would miss out on the big event, but that they could actually turn a healthy profit by releasing the concert in theaters.
As far as concert films go, “Best of Both Worlds” is typical fare. Most of the movie is spent watching Miley perform, but occasionally, the audience is treated to a sneak peek backstage or a behind-the-scenes look at rehearsals. And guess what? It’s not that bad. The 3D version of the concert is less exciting than it sounds (just when you begin to feel like part of the crowd, a scene not filmed in 3D pulls you right back out), but it’s still a nice addition to the set. Plus, while Miley’s music isn’t exactly the stuff of Grammys, what she lacks in quality material, she more than makes up for with an energetic performance. The same goes for the Jonas Brothers (this generation’s equivalent of Hanson), who stop by to give Miley a breather midway through. Both are key players in this new wave of tween-ertainment, and while you might not understand what all the fuss is about, when all is said and done, you’ll at least respect it.
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