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The Director Of EXCALIBUR And DELIVERANCE Brings You...THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ!?!?
Merrick here...
John Boorman is attached to direct a CGI adaptation of L. Frank Baum's THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ.
The English-language adaptation maintains the tale's main characters and settings. Unlike the MGM classic, however, it's not a musical.
...says THIS WRITE-UP in Variety.
While MGM's WIZARD OF OZ is one of my top three most favoriotest films of all time & I get jittery whenever another OZ adaptation/re-imagining launches, I can actually see Boorman's sensibilities working for this project. The original book's tone was quite different than MGM's musical adaptation & has never been faithfully realized on screen. Also, THE WIZARD OF OZ featured prominently in Boorman's ZARDOZ, so the story is clearly close to his heart. This could be interesting...maybe.
Of course, God knows how I'll feel should those backwoodsy Munchkins go DELIVERANCE on The Cowardly Lion. Or if that creepy balloon guy gives poor Dorothy the Igraine treatment...
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First?
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Don't really dig the original, maybe this will be 'darker'...
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and how do you think those munchkins got that way in the first place!
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looks like boorman will finally get to do zardoz II
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The Wizard of Oz better turn out to be Pazuzu and he flings a bunch of locusts and a comatose Linda Blair at them!
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I was jazzed until I read that part. If it was live action (with CGI elements maybe) that would be different. John Boorman's films (well, the good ones) have a palpable intensity and aesthetic all their own. I want to see him give this the "Excalibur" treatment, not make it another "Hoodwink'd."
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Boorman obviously loves this tale since it is referenced so much in his strange 70's film starring Sean Connery. How old is Mr. Boorman anyhow? 80ish? Cautious optimism for this. "take off them tin panties too"
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Mr. Boorman is getting up there in years and may have one or two films left in him. So why will one of them be a CGI film? I've posted before that if there were a live action "reboot" (God I hate that term) of Tarzan, Boorman would be the natural choice.
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I wondered what the hell happened to Boorman. Great director in my opinion.
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...work far more similarly than most folks suppose. Really, the only big difference is that in animation, actors work for you rather than the other way around, and your own imagination has to cut loose to make up the difference. Let's face it. Anyone directing horror, sci-fi, or fantasy of any interest has a sense of whimsy.
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Right?
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With respect to the beloved musical fantasy, I've been hoping for years that someone would come along and use today's technology to faithfully bring OZ the BOOK to the big screen! Disney's RETURN TO OZ came closest to capturing Baum's spirit and tone, and the original novels' visual sensibilities. If Boorman can do as well here as he did translating the Arthur legend in EXCALIBUR, I'll be very, very pleased. And speaking of those two films, perhaps the great Nicol Williamson can be coaxed out of retirement to play the Wizard! Howard Shore should be hired to compose the score.
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That's what I wanna see! Get Connery back in that purple speedo and crazy black wig and mustache. The gun is good. The penis is evil.....
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...that will actually be my number one question: Can Pixar give themselves to actors?
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...but leave out Exorcist 2? Exorcist 2 had a bloody great cast, not a bad story at all and yet was possibly one of the most boring films I have ever seen. For someone to kill that movie took immense skill and dedication. Even beyond that, he has made some awful shite though. Anyone see that Tiger's Tail one? Yikes.
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I assumed he'd died ages ago.
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I just Wiki'd John Boorman - he's 75. Says on Wiki that his next project is about the Roman emperor Hadrian and slated for 2010. Hmmm, don't know how that effects this OZ story. Also says his real life daughter is the actress who played Igrayne in EXCALIBUR. Damn! He made a flick in which his own daughter got forcibly 'taken' by Gabriel Byrne! That's dedication to your art.
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Effed me up when i was a little kid. The wheelers...that crazy queen. Freaking talking beds...screwed with my little brain. But i loved it.
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Nov 06, 2008 10:41:52 AM CST
So is like a CGI cartoon or a 300 CGI cartoon with people?
by stereotypical evil archer
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The whole series is wonderful, and any adaptation isn't going to capture Baum's imagination on the page
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He is the sort of eccentric director who has made a few much-loved masterpieces, and a MASS of not-so-well-known films that are unusual, and some think flawed, but are nevertheless ten times more interesting than most of the stuff out there. Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur we know about. But I recently saw Zardoz (as in,yes, wiZARDofOZ) and Hope and Glory and thought both were really great. The image in Zardoz of guns and ammo being tossed out from the intelligent, developed world to the undeveloped world was terrifyingly close to the bone.
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And its his son Charlie Boorman that pals around and cycles with Ewen MacGregor.
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Like a pig!
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Least boorman shows a bit of variety! I don't want a kooky, candy striped Twirly Curly gothic OZ!?
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Indeed, and he also appeared in EXCALIBUR, as the son of Arthur, that little annoying golden brat.
And the lady of the lake, none other than Mrs. Boorman, John's wife :) -
...It was also Charlie's face I saw in the UNICEF ad on the side of this very page...coincidence or deliberate?
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MJ needs work! And baby dicks!
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Ned Beatty = Cowardly Lion
Ronny Cox = Tin Man
Jon Voight = Scarecrow
Burt Reynolds = Toto -
Apparently his adaptation of Lord Of The Rings was going to quite bizarre. And well, we all saw Zardoz.
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THE PENIS IS EVIL.ZARDOZ is so fucking great. Those opening credits are a thing of pure beauty, and probably the only reason I even gave the movie the chance it deserved. I hope this actually gets off the ground and is made. It would be great to see a "true" Wizard of Oz adaptation be made.
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Nov 06, 2008 11:45:08 AM CST
If the film was made today, how would the trailer look like?
by koji_kabuto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eItXS0a0y10
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That was some horrible stuff. I love the 39 film, who doesn't? Return To Oz was closer to the feel of the books, and was actually pretty scarry. I really hope this turns out good, becuase there are some really great OZ stories that have never hit the screen before.
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Anyone remember that one? It was pretty dark and not very interesting as I recall, but they said they stayed faithful to the source material. Dunno though cos I never read it?
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to MGM's masterpiece, I think it's possible to do a new version of OZ. The original was one of the most expensive movies ever made, CG is the only way anyone could ever pull off a project this huge. Just keep the actors "live", because CG people SUCK.
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Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but it's infinitely watchable. My penis is evil!
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Zardoz: The gun is good.
Exterminators: The gun is good.
Zardoz: The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life, and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death, and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill! -
for a long time now. TIM BURTON MUST DO THIS MOVIE LIVE ACTION! Christina Ricci is Dorothy. Johnny Depp is the Scarecrow, Jack Black is the Cowardly Lion, Ewan McGregor is The Tin Man, Winona Ryder is Glinda the Good Witch, Christopher Walken is The Wizard, Michael Keaton is Uncle Henry, Helen Bonham Carter is The Wicked Witch and Aunt Emm... (yes both characters.)
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...being worked on? Or is this a new project that's sprung from nowhere? The rumour was they were working on a trilogy of movies on a LOTR scale, adapting the first 4 or 5 Oz books. I like the idea, just make it brilliant and compelling, not simply a moneymaker.
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Nov 06, 2008 12:27:18 PM CST
Anyone seen any of the silent Oz movies made by Baum himself?
by a goonie
I didn't even know they existed until I found a shoddy-looking Silent movie DVD set with 11 movies on 3 discs. One entire disc is dedicated to a handful of Oz movies made by Baum, most of them dated 1914. They're really interesting and I'm sure quite close to the original tone of the books (I still have to read those!). Truly exciting special effects, too, with crazy stop motion and little in-camera tricks that are well executed. And there's this thing called a Woozy that looks like a giant cat made out of cardboard boxes. Crazy stuff!Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone else has had the pleasure of witnessing these movies. If you ever get the chance, they're well worth the time and money.
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but I don't know how a new Oz will go over. Make sure the flying blue monkeys stay scary.
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He was going to direct a LOTR film back in the 70s but he couldn't get the rights and made Excalibur instead. You can read the script at Marquette University in Milwaukee along with Tolkien's original LOTR and Hobbit manuscripts, and all the other LOTR scripts that were never filmed. Anyway, the script wasn't good. It had Gandalf telling Frodo the history of the Ring THE VERY NEXT DAY after Bilbo's party, meaning that Gandalf let Bilbo give Frodo the Ring KNOWING what it was.
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Boorman has some of the greatest movies with surreal touches under his belt... and a clunker as well... but in general...
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Alice in Wonderland.
Move on Hollywood. Stop turning your fans into Cynics.
Let's go through the list of movies coming in 2009. Hardly any are original ideas.
Star Trek, Watchmen, Wolverine, Harry Potter etc.
I will see some of those films yet I'm really starting to be over remakes and sequels. -
Is one of the greatest fantasy epics ever made...It's still a favorite of mine to this day,as is Return to Oz...Not a huge fan of all CGI,but I'd be willing to check this out.And a goonie...yes,I've seen the silent Oz films too...they are fun to watch ( and more than a little creepy at times )...In one of them,the first one I believe,the Tin Woodsman was played by none other than Oliver Hardy !
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Someone had to bring this one up!
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Personally, I think Return to Oz is an underrated gem of the 80s. I LOVE that movie. I don't know why so many people have a boner for the original Wizard of Oz. I can't stand it. It's overrrated. I'm all for the entire Oz series being remade with the original darker tone from the books.
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The book or the play would make for a great adaptation.
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The China Dolls finally coming to life in a wizard of oz adaptation...
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Take a...special...kind of guy to film your own daughter naked getting the high hard one from some dude in plate mail.
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the Narnia movies. Most folks don't realize that there were many other OZ books...from Wikipedia:
Oz works
Main: List of Oz books
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904)
Ozma of Oz (1907)
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908)
The Road to Oz (1909)
The Emerald City of Oz (1910)
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)
Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)
The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)
Rinkitink in Oz (1916)
The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)
The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)
The Magic of Oz (1919, posthumously published)
Glinda of Oz (1920, posthumously published)
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Clever Authorian reference there Merrick!
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There were actually like 12 books, and they were all great vintage fantasy - innocence defined. It would be cool to see Baum's creation in all its glory...but there can't be modern sensibilities in it to work - like fart gags, sex, vomit jokes etc. That said this will probably turn out badly. Boorman will get fired a week into the production for being "too artsy and a general pain in the ass" and brett ratner will be hired fresh off Conan.
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Damn You Michael Bay
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Fuck in it's ass and bleed juices of zeros and ones.
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Hopefully no Smashmouth songs.
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Wrong director.
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I think Boorman could do a fantastic job on Oz. I've watched the Exorcist II: The Heretic several times and I have to say, it's a fascinating failure. Some great themes and ideas, with some great visuals. It's not a horror film, but I wouldn't classify the original Exorcist as a horror film either.
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...anything other than his tired little catchphrase? Kid, it might have been funny once. Twice at a push, but it's ALL YOU EVER FUCKING SAY! Can this really be the highlight of your online life day in, day out? Have you not got ANYTHING else you'd like to put into ANY of these talkbacks? Come on, baby - give us an opinion. Just one. On anything at all. I dare you...
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Michael Jackson could play the wizard...
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Paramount, I believe, owns the movie rights Wicked. I know someone who works with Wicked and there will be a movie, eventually, but not until the cash cow that is the stage version loses some steam. 5-10 years or so.
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...but make it "darker"...
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...as a dark commentary on the evils of corporate banking...
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I especially like the origins of the tin-man: he was a normal woodsman, but the wicked witch cast a spell on him. When he went to chop a tree, he chopped a limb off himself! He went to a tinsmith and got that limb replaced, but then it happened again! And again and again until there was nothing left but tin.
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All those Oz books are pretty screwed up on a psychological and emotional level, but "Return to Oz" was the only film, ihmo, to nail the dark undercurrents of the books.
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from what I read on imdb, is based on the Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. The second and third books. I always loved that movie when I was younger. I think this is a pretty rad idea. I was so excited about Tin Man and it ended up sucking dick. Make this work. If it does, then you can go on forever making awesome Oz movies.
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looks...interesting...
http://tinyurl.com/65c5ld
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They don't want to compete with themselves, as the show is still really popular. I finally saw it in Chicago last month - a couple great songs, but otherwise totally forgettable.
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I'm against any live-action Oz re-make, but a CGI adaptation of the Oz story may not be total blasphemy. Something that doesn't follow the original movie to a 'T' might be a refreshing take on it. This is the kind of thing that will either work well or it'll be horrible/unacceptable.
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A nice match-up of director and material. Looking forward to seeing what he does with it.
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Glad that Boorman hasn't been ignored like his peers Ken Russell and Nic Roeg, both of whom are working under reduced circumstances, if at all. In an ideal world they'd all be making crazy big budget spectaculars.
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Nov 06, 2008 5:31:25 PM CST
If this is an adaptation of the novel then it's about time.
by uncle stan
If it's another dumb-ass "re-imaginging" like sci-fi's Tin Man then they can all fuck themselves.
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That's a perfect combo for a great movie...NOT.
I like Boorman when he's on, but he's got to have someone else storyboard and be master renderer. -
Nicol Williamson was in both "Excalibur" and "Return to OZ". Ever watch the stage version of "The Marvelous Land of Oz"? That's actually moreso based on Mr. Baum wanting to make a play out of this one. You can tell as the Scarecrow and Tin Man are two of the heroes in this one, and the fact that girls played boy parts in those productions...well, I'm not giving anything away, but see for yourself. This one has David Lynch's favorite siren Julee Cruse as General Ginjur.
http://tinyurl.com/65bzvs
(I really wish the theater people I was involved with at times would do this play!) -
Wizard of Oz eh? Yeah I can see that work. I've got Singin' In The Rain in mine. What's your other 2? I gotta say Empire Strikes Back and Shawshank Redemption to round off my 3.
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MC is the main reason I come here. A talkback ain't a talkback until he comes through, and when he doesn't, no matter how good the talkback is, it's missing something. The greatest talkbacker ever. Apatow was slick when he name dropped DannyGloversDickBlood (great handle, okay tber), but I dread the day when people sing the praises of MC. It'll be like having your favorite band no ones heard of show up on TRL.
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Reminding me that Boorman made that spastic shitfest isn't a good way to start. I'm also not that big a fan of Boorman's Excalibur, so clearly I'm not the audience for his Wizard of Oz. I really wanted to see a worthy adaptation, but I don't think this will be it.
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Nov 06, 2008 6:13:55 PM CST
I would be more psyched if it would have been a live-action vers
by chien_sale
that was a waste of news
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The story by itself just isn't all that interesting. The music actually made it all come to life for me. CGI Wizard of Oz? No thanks.
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Nov 06, 2008 6:34:04 PM CST
wierd, just saw Deliverance last night for 1st time
by t 1000 xp professional
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Anyone else remember them? THAT would be awesome.
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Which is a pretty fun but pretty terrible movie. On Boorman's commentary at one point he says something like, "I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time but this is rather silly, isn't it?" referring to the vote around the dinner table. He gets nothing but props for not only realizing that, 20 yrs later, but for saying it.
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I agree 100%.
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Are you sure you WANT to see bondage Dorothy? I always thought a gothic lolita with a grim smile standing next to a half-melted witch would've been better.
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Will be better than Tin Min (though the evil sister was hot, winged monkeys flying out of cleavage tats). But still, one of the few real classics that maybe should never be re-done. and LET'S NOT even bring up...ugh...the Wiz.
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"Eat Aqua you green bitch!"
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That's what the world needs now, gentlemen! A moving-picture parable on the merits of the silver economy! Those fancy shoes that lucky little farmgirl's got ain't no red-as-rubies rosies in the book--no, sirree, it's pure South Dakota-mined silver that she's wearing on those dainty little dogs of hers that let her dance all over that yellow-brick road: all the way on down to that sweet, sweet city of green! Down with gold! Down with the titans of the past, the bloated fatcats too busy playing with golden string to notice they've become ridden with fleas-- and Up with silver! And up with Baum, for writing his 1900 novel as a thinly veiled treatise on the advantages of using the value of silver to measure the worth of the US dollar instead of gold. The children of today can only "profit" from such a notion! (Pun, may God forgive me, intended!) Great idea, Hollywood gents--or should I say, geniuses?! Remake away, I say! Remake Away!!!
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zardoz rules
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Zardoz rules all fuckers!!!
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Half-wit.
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Nov 07, 2008 12:54:45 AM CST
Oz as an allegory for the silver standard is a stupid myth.
by uncle stan
No truth in it at all. Fuck the morons who continue to spread this bullshit.
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Get it?
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I tried that Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'The Wizard of Oz' synchronicity thing once. I was expecting more. The other guys I was with felt the same, since we heard about it for so long. We even made an occasion of it- smoked a joint and everything. We then watched the rest of the movie with the sound up and one guy kept going on and on about how the movie was about real estate and the American Dream, getting people to move from the country to the city etc. So I punched him. Then we watched a documentary on chimps. Watching chimps killing and mating was way more intense.
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Nov 07, 2008 3:57:17 AM CST
Zemekis and Pixar (Brad Bird especially)
by i_am_not_the_droid_you_are_looking_for
These are the only two reasons why ANYONE should want to see a CG Animation. Same with Aardman and Selick in stop-motion. Everything else out there is shite. As for this? I'd be very surprised if it got made.
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and the penis is evil... Why not?
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EXCALIBUR And DELIVERANCE would be a weird merge of a movie. Like if Author's son makes Lancelot squeal like a pig. I have never seen Deliverance. I wonder if it really is any good. Never had the gumption to see it because of that scene everybody knows about. -
I know this because Johnno told me over in the Obama TB. But that's okay... I nurse the evil and cherish it.
The time of the Samurai Monkeys is at hand. I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!!! -
As has been mentioned, the whole "Oz as economic allegory" is a big myth, which was begun unintentionally in 1963 by a high school teacher trying to interest his bored class in American history.
See http://www.thewizardofoz.info/faq02.html#16 -
I'm just wondering out loud...
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It will be stupid like most of the other kiddie movies made now...a few Pixar ones are an exception where they appeal to adults as well. This will be corny and have all celeb voices and probably have Shrek-quality jokes in it.
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jon voight as the wicked witch of the west! cherie lunghi as toto! toto as the flying monkeys!
well, we are talking cgi here -- johnny b. could go all ray winstone on these muhfuhs and make them look ever so shiny and buff(ed)...cgi seems like a strange direction for boorman to go in, fanstasy or no, but he's a strange director from the jump street. provided there's a huge, hollow, flying mask introduced into the narative and provided it's better than _where the heart is_, i'll be where the _oz_ is, (once screened commercially, that is). -
Just leave "Oz" alone.
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...I'm in. (kidding aside, Excalibur is a great film...this could be very interesting)
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Crikey with the keys today dammetz! Casting for this should be interesting too (imagine Picard as Oz...seriously...it could work!)
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This and Gone With the Wind cannot escape the remake-hurricane.
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...and doesn't pretty it up, it might work. I've always wanted to see a more faithful adaptation of the book, with silver slippers instead of ruby ones and a magic turban which actually does the work, Glinda not being terribly nice, the Scarecrow getting a mixture of bran cereal for brains, an extra grandmotherly witch not in the 1939 musical, Oz inhabitants other than the Munchkins (Quadlings?) AND the whole thing being real and not a dream (at the end Dorothy flies through the air over a vast wasteland desert to return to Kansas). There are a lot of other little bits like this, which actually were included in the Wicked novel. It would be cool to see them onscreen.
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Fuck yourself, you negative asshole. My post was pure gold and you know it.
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