Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Watchmen movie trailer

I hope that it is as good as the graphic novel. Of course, Alan Moore has already disowned it.

New Dune Movie Coming Your Way

It has been confirmed that Paramount has obtained rights from the Frank Herbert estate to produce Dune for the Big Screen. Who cares about the director or producers of this re-incarnation? There is not even a script yet. However, the production staff are promising that this film will be the most faithful of the Dune productions.

I have seen the 1984 original, and it was awful. The novel was merely a guideline, with too much intrigue and modus operandi for the screenwriters. And so fans were subject to watered-down and popularized versions of the defining characters. I won’t even address the presentation of the “Weirding Way”. Blech!

Then the Sci-Fi Channel make a 6-hour mini-series of Dune in 2000.  While superior to the original big-screen production in almost every way, it still lacked the abiding sense of history that the novel captured so well. Also, the portrayal of Paul Atreides was over-the-top. As the actor made the transition from Paul to Muad’Dib, delivery was erratic and the character became less admirable and less believable.

So, while I look forward to the new production of Dune, I also realized that for a screenplay to be faithful to a novel is a huge undertaking. There will be disappointment. However, being the sci-fi and movie geek that I am, my wife will drag me to the theatre to see it. And I will happily comply.

(BTW, we own all of the Frank Herbert Dune series in hardback books. We even own the prequels, as written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The prequels are pretty good, providing details to the immense history only hinted at in the original Dune series.)

Movies I’m Not Supposed to Hate

Steve is Evil. I usually don’t do the whole meme thing, but since I am back to serious blogging, I have to give this a go. So here are the “Top-Five Critically-Lauded Movies I Simply Detest”

1. M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs
2. The Matrix II & III
3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
4. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
5. Chicago

Ok, some of these (or maybe all) are not “critically acclaimed”, but they were popular, I did see them, and I did not enjoy it.

Edit: Here’s a few more:

• Munich
• Leaving Las Vegas
• A Clockwork Orange
• Death Wish
• The Piano
• Monster
• Crash
• Seven

Macabre Canonizations

I was reading about the new movie, “The Dark Knight“, the sequel to 2005’s “Batman Begins”, which opens July 18, 2008. Of course, the focus was on the (not-so) recent death of actor Heath Ledger and other posthumous movie releases.

I walked away from the story wondering at the immortal stardom of those who die before a movie is released. Of course, the article tied in Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, John Candy, Spencer Tracy, James Dean, Clark Gable, and Will Rogers. Hollywood is such a navel-gazing, cannibalistic beast that it continually eats its own to make a few dollars. And pop culture fans will shell out the extra dough to see “last film of <insert-actor-here>”

Every article since Mr. Ledger’s death has (and will) tie in the Joker character in this last film. Every article mentions how tortured he was while performing this role. And every article will somehow whitewash the impact of such roles on the person himself.

“It was punk, it was ‘A Clockwork Orange, it was druggie. It was this kind of fantastic, anarchic look to him. This character who had absolutely no rules whatsoever,” said Christian Bale, who returns as rich guy Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter-ego Batman. “That’s not like any Joker I’ve ever seen before, what I saw Heath do.”

A Clockwork Orange? I still vomit a little bit into my mouth whenever I think about that movie. Why would anyone want to be compared to that? That is a lasting comparison which will taint Ledger’s career until the next celebrity-death-prior-to-movie-release.

And Hollywood wins. Why? Because you have to see it:

… said “Brokeback Mountain” director Ang Lee. “That’s why it’s scary. You see the trailer, just a few shots of him, you have to see the movie. … I’m anxious to see it. I’m afraid to see it. I don’t know how I’ll respond to it, but you have to see it.”