Cool News
Superboy gives Hanson's WONDER BOYS a fly-by, and takes us with him
SPOILER ALERT !!
Superboy's X-Ray vision may reveal a little more than you want to see here about WONDER BOYS, the latest from Curtis Hanson who knocked us all on our butts with LA CONFIDENTIAL a while back so ol' FATHER GEEK advises you to read on at your own risk... You have been warned!
I didn't think to much of Curtis Hanson before two
years ago when I saw "L.A. Confidential". That film
just blew me away, as it did with most people I guess.
Now Hanson is here again with the film entitled
"Wonder Boys". Again a much different film from what
he has done before, but it shows us that he is a relly
good director.
Just like "L.A. Confidential" the cast
here is simply superb. Michael Douglas stars as
college professor/writer Grady Tripp. He is heading
for the downside of his life. The chancellor of the
college (Frances McDormand) is pregnant and Grady is
"the suspect". At least that's what everybody except
Grady thinks because he has absolutely no idea of how
he could be in such a position! He's convinced that
it's not his baby. It can't be! But Grady has more
important problems to think about. His writing isn't
going very well, and his publisher (Robert Downey Jr.)
is more and more demanding of new material. And if
that wasn't enough Grady has to worry about one of his
students, Hannah (Katie Holmes) who has a crush on
him. That's a dilemma for Grady because as he says;
"She's not exactly a child!", but he also knows that
his "favorite" student (Tobey Maguire) who he has a
very good relationship with, is in love with Hannah.
So oh horror, horror, what is a man to do? Well, Grady
finds a way out of it all. In a way that I don't think
a lot of guys would do it. One thing is for sure. We
find out that this pleasant professor isn't a very
nice man. Or maybe he just have a problem thinking
about anyone else but himself. It's hard to say more
about it without giving any spoilers because the story
has so many twist. And that what's great about it.
Oh,
yeah Marilyn Monroe has something to do with the story
too!
As I said the performances is suberb. Douglas is
always great and Tobey Maguire really shows what he
can do. In the part as a really strange but very
gifted student. Downey Jr (how on earth has he the
time do do all these movies when he's supposed to be
in the slammer?) is simply helarious as the scandalous
publisher. I don't really know what has happened to
Frances McDormand since "Fargo" but her performance
here is respectable. And Katie Holmes proves here, as
she did in her first role; "The Ice Storm" (with
Maguire), that she's one to watch out for. Her
performance here is without a doubt her best so far.
The character is a bit like the one she had in the
fabulous "Go" but she seems more attractive in this
part. Which is exactly what she's supposed to. She's
the "femme fatale" of the story.
The performances makes this movie... I wouldn't say a
"must see" but it's very, very close. In my book I'll
give it 3.5 out of 5 . And I guess that's kind of ok for a
film that is both funny and actually has a very
interesting story. But I don't think Curtis Hanson has
done all that much here. The movie is watchable only becauce of the
performances and the script, But it's still definately a
worthy followup on "L.A. Confidential" for him.
That's the end from me - "Superboy"
-
+ Expand All
-
Count me in for anything that has anything to do (no matter how remote) about Marilyn Monroe!!
-
is anyone else confused? he made it seem like a really good movie until his last statement about how it was only watchable because of the performances and the script. btw, what else besides a good script and good performances makes a movie good? it's not like it needs fx, since it doesn;t sound like an action flick. maybe i just misunderstood... or maybe i just need more sleep... hmmmm
-
What character did Katie Holmes Play in the Ice Strom? Or did I read that wrong...let me check again....Uh, hmmm. Confused.
-
Me too....
-
Katie Holmes played the part of Libbets Casey in "The Ice Storm" A fellow student of Tobey Maguires character. An by the way. "The Ice Storm" was the best movie of 1997 and fuck the Academy for not awarding it with anything.
-
Damn double post! I don't know about this one. It could be really good, but there are some scary things here. 1) Douglas banging McDormand. This creep is under the delusion that his doughy, flabby ass is actually something that should be onscreen. If it appears here, count me out. 2) Downey Jr. - A talented actor to be sure. But lately he appears to be sleepwalking through his roles. His performance in "Bowfinger" could have been done by a marionette. 3) Tobey Maguire - He SUCKS! His performance in "The Cider House Rules" is moronic. For the first hour, I thought the character of Homer had been rewritten to make him retarded. He B L O W S. 4) The Marilyn factor. Plot devices that slip iconic figures into fictional stories almost always suck. "Elvis" in "True Romance", "Greta Garbo" in "Garbo Talks". And as for Marilyn..."Calendar Girl" ring a bell? But..."L.A. Confidential" is a GREAT film. One of the best of the decade. And Hanson has proven himself as a more than competant director. So, I have confidence that this one will be rock solid.
-
Move over Stone....get outta the way Scorsese...Mr. Spielberg? You're gonna have to take a seat. There's a new wave of great directors that're gonna just absolutely take over and rule the world of Hollywood for the next 10 to 20 years. Bryan Singer, David Fincher, and Curtis Hanson ARE HERE! And they're here to stay and produce classics upon classics for the better half of the next two decades. You guys were good Francis Ford Coppola and Milos Forman....you guys were VERY good, but I think you're all just about ready to hang up or hand in you megaphones. Too bad Tarentino's not around, cuz he could've been part of this.
-
Ok, what is wrong with you? Have you seen Two Guys and a Girl with RDJ, he is flat out un-fucking-believable. The man is one of the most talented guys around and you are judging him based on a CAMEO in the shittiest movie of the summer. Good choice man! Toby Maguire is one of the best up and comers, bar none. Have you seen The Ice Storm, or Pleasantville, or his bit part in Fear and Loathing? Michael Douglas may like the young hotties but that does not impede his ability. He is a good actor, solid in all of his roles, and I have a feeling that this will be his best. I read the novel that this movie is based upon and it is certainly a great character. This has great potential to be one of the better movies to be coming out. So on that note, eegah please rethink your position. Thanks for listening to my snobby shit.
-
OK, 3 directors who have yet to direct a single film which can in anyway be described as a classic are going to replace some of the best filmmakers of the last 30 years??!! Usual Suspects is very good, but Apt Pupil was a missed opportunity. The movie was ruined when the books great ending was altered. We'll see on the X-Men but there are already huge ? about it. I have liked all of Fincher's movies, he has a great visual style, but he hasn't told a story like Forman or Scorsese. Hanson, c'mon, I assume you're basing this praise on ONE movie (unless you think The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is misunderstood genius). It was good, but hardly a classic, nor the best film of 97 (The Sweet Hereafter). LA Confidential isn't in the same ballpark as Chinatown, The Killing, Touch of Evil, The Maltese Falcon, or Double Indemnity. Maybe with a few more films under their belts I'll be proven wrong. And Eegah, be careful about dissing Gordon Gekko, say what you want about his personal life but the man is a damn fine actor: Romancing the Stone, Falling Down, An American President, Coma, etc.
-
I selected "Bowfinger" as an example specifically to see who I could annoy. Mission accomplished. Now...I did see "2 girls.." and felt it to be merely middle-of-the-road. Not bad, just sort of flat. That doesn't mean I think he's a bad actor, quite the contrary. Just that he's in a slump right now. OK? In addition, I also saw the Maguire films you mentioned and found him to be wooden in all of them. Hey, what can I say? My opinion, brother. As for Douglas, "solid in all roles"? Hmmmm. I beg to differ. He's good, I agree. But he can be very bad as well. Many times he appears cranky and puffy, as if he were woken suddenly from a nap. He tends to mumble at times and stare vacantly at others. BUT, "The Game", "Wall Street", "American President", all good performances. Again, the "doughy ass" bit was designed to stir up the flames a bit. So, having re-thought my position...I have to say I stick to it. Save for the "Bowfinger" thing. Thank YOU for listening to MY snobby shit. And PLEASE...do watch out for snakes.
-
As a matter of fact I WAS basing my 'forecast' on just one film by the new guys (with the exception of many of Fincher's excellent works). I'm not putting down the likes of Spielberg, Stone, or Scorsese at all....Those guys are among the best to ever direct movies. I was simply implying that it's almost time for those guys to hang it up. And by the way, LA CONFIDENTIAL is a classic by ANY standard....the best crime drama of the past 50 years. WONDER BOYS as well as X-MEN are really gonna surprise some people. These guys really know how to incorporate great characters into a terrific story.....something that's been lost on Hollywood for a long time.
-
..... "The best crime drama of the past 50 years?" Better than THE GODFATHER PARTS I & II? Better than Sidney Lumet's SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, or PRINCE OF THE CITY? Better than, for God's sake, CHINATOWN, TOUCH OF EVIL, or GOODFELLAS? As an adaptation of a very densely layered novel, I thought Hanson and Brian Helgeland did a very good job, and managed to, on occasion, evoke the triumphs (especially CHINATOWN, by way of Goldsmith, who scored both,) cited above. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL was a narratively complex work that, IMO, sacrificed thematic richness in favor of simply moving the story along. To wit: Kevin Spacey uttering "Rollo Tomassi" is a great scene, but it doesn't approach the bone chilling moment when John Huston drags his daughter out of the car at the end of CHINATOWN precisely because Towne and Polanski took greater pains to develop their characters. And the end of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, while somewhat true to the book, ends on the kind of upbeat note that would've made Raymond Chandler spit out his bourbon.
-
I'd really consider both of the GODFATHER's as well as GOODFELLAS more 'maffia' movies or 'organized' crime films than crime dramas (but that category can be argued all night). With SERPICO and CHINATOWN, you definitely have an arguement....those two are genuine crime classics. DOG DAY AFTERNOON, another classic, is one of my favorites, but I don't think it's characterizations as a whole match up to Hanson's film. But TOUCH OF EVIL? Come on!....It STARS Charelton Heston, for cryin' out loud. That doesn't even COMPARE to LA Confidetial, and you know it!.....Good rebuttle though.....
-
.....but it was directed by Orson Welles, and if you were lucky enough to see the restored version last year..... well, let's just get past Moses playing a Mexican, and consider the masterful opening tracking shot, Welles' brilliant performance, Marlene Dietrich ('nuff said,) Russel Metty's phenomenal cinematography..... its reputation as the Greatest B Movie ever made is well-deserved. Heston might be an ass, but that's hardly enough to sink the film. Hell, Steve McQueen was a raging bastard, but that didn't seem to hurt the quality of THE GREAT ESCAPE or THE CINCINNATI KID.
-
No one's mentioned (presumably cause we're all too busy seeing movies and talking about them) that this film is based on a really excellent novel by Michael Chabon...
quite looking forward to seeing how the adaptation goes...
oh yeah, and if someone already did mention it, well don't flame me then!!
Adam -
Hear, hear, Loaf. I too was wondering why Michael Chabon hadn't gotten a mention. I have a signed copy of each of his books (pointless bragging, I know, but who else can I brag to at this late hour?) The best movies can't compare to a book. Of course, a book can't compare to a really good movie either, but I've yet to see a novel adaptation that surpassed the written work.
-
In a swashbuckling attempt I'm using aicn's search engine to look out for the LET THE RIGHT ONE IN reviews I know I saw on the site most recently. It doesn't really work so I'm trying to use google...which turns into a time machine dropping me into the 20th Century right next to the review of a film that means so much to me. Yeah, the performances are great, but only because this ain't a period film and there's no cgi or special effects or the film doesn't look like a fucking coke-commercial doesn't mean that it isn't well directed. I love the mood of this film, which is of course created by the wonderful cast and story but nevertheless also by Hanson's direction. Now ...where's that LET THE RIGHT ONE IN-review?
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 419 total posts 209 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 131 total posts 129 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 123 total posts 122 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 124 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 191 total posts 47 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 43 total posts 43 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 42 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 27 total posts 27 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 506 total posts 26 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 77 total posts 24 posts