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THE MOOCH Sorts Out The Danny Boyle Rumors and Visits THE BEACH
Father Geek here, luckily the Prof. was monitoring all are systems when we had the great mail overload and was able to snatch this story from the brink of oblivion. As much trouble as our mail problems were I'm just glad that the 3 different warnings to NOT open certain subject matter mail got through first , or we might have ended up with Ebay and CNN's problems. I did have to dump 5 seperate worm infected mail files on both mine and Harry's computers. Well, here's the intercepted report as it was filed from LA this morning...
This one came in while Father Geek's e-mail was down and my computer
was coughing up this week's RUMBLINGS. Thankfully, though, it didn't
get lost. THE MOOCH has done a great job sorting out all those mentions
of a possible Manchester musical, and he's also seen THE BEACH, so all
you Boyle fans... meet The Mooch!
I've just been reading something on your site referring to some sort
of recent "scoop" that suggested Danny Boyle's next film will be a
Manchester Music Scene film. I don't know where this is from, but I was
at a preview of The Beach a couple of weeks ago in Manchester that had a
Boyle / Hodge / MacDonald / Garland Q & A that I imagine could have been
the source, as Boyle mentioned the potential for a good music film to be
made about Manchester. That was it. If this was the source then it was
just a slightly sychophantic, flippant remark and not even worth being
called a "rumour". A question was asked about the soundtrack for The
Beach and this lead to him joking that the Trainspotting troika would
all rather be in a band "especially John", and then someone asked them
if they would make a film about music, to which Boyle said that it would
be very hard, and there haven't really been many good ones, but that he
thinks there is a really good story waiting to be made (ie. there is the
potential in the subject for someone to create a good story and film),
before adding for about the fourth time in the music-related bit of the
Q & A: "especially about Manchester" (he is from Manchester as well).
As for someone's suggestion that a Boyle Manchester film could be
linked to a script Shaun Ryder has written, that is completely
incorrect, Ryder's script is about drugs, violence and prostitution in
Manchester, not the music and not the early 90's Madchester scene. It
is supposed to be directed by the guy who made The Grape Tapes
documentary about Ryder's Black Grape band, as stated by someone in the
talk back to the recent article I read. As for the suggestion in that
talkback that this mythical Boyle project is a biopic of Joy Division,
that is another flippant, throwaway remark made by Boyle in a tiny
little sidebar interview accompanying The Beach soundtrack review in
Select magazine.
There are three real projects that I have heard of relating to John
Hodge and / or Danny Boyle (NOT necessarily both), and the sources for
these are publications. Apparently Hodge is adapting the book A White
Merc With Fins, the first novel by the guy (James Hawkes? I can't
remember his name too clearly) who went on to adapt his own second
novel, Rancid Aluminium into the new Joseph Fiennes film which I haven't
seen but is getting the absolute worst reviews of the year so far
(putting it in the Mad Cows, Fanny & Elvis, Guest House Paradiso
bracket, but with guns). This was mentioned in The Face magazine review
of this guy's third novel and just said that A White Merc With Fins is
"getting the John Hodge/Trainspotting treatment" which I'm suspecting
doesn't actually mean Boyle as well. Another rumour has been that Boyle
is chasing Chuck Palahniuk's second novel (after Fight Club), Survivor.
I personally think that Boyle would be pretty wrong for this book,
having seen what he's made of the excellent material in Garland's The
Beach, Survivor strikes me more of a Mary Harron picture (I can't wait
for American Psycho, YOU MUST SEE 'I SHOT ANDY WARHOL' NOW, its fucking
great. Absolutely amazing). However, the third project sounds as if it
could tread on a Survivor adaptation's toes. Ages ago, way back during
The Beach pre-production, there was a little piece in the sorely sorely
sorely missed Neon magazine (the best magazine around, now defunct
whilst we still have Empire AND Total Film AND Film Review, senseless,
senseless) in which Hodge mentioned an original script he had written, a
satire about the ridiculous nature of celebrity and the press
(particularly tabloid). The film centres around two feuding British
celebrities. Hodge indicated that Boyle and MacDonald would not be
involved, and SEEMED to suggest that the troika would be splitting up
after The Beach was done. This was around the time of the aftermath of
the failure of A Life Less Ordinary and indeed, in a recent Guardian
article, Andrew MacDonald said that if The Beach was a failure they
would all be trying to apportion blame and would likely end up blaming
each other and part. I have heard absolutely nothing else about this
project but it is possible that any observations of Hodge's about the
nature of celebrity could be consumed by a Survivor adaptation,
featuring as it does savage satire on an AMERICA (key word for Boyle)
run by agents and men behind the men behind drugged-up zoned-out
good-looking celebrities. Featuring - of course - the trademark
Palahniuk apocalyptic-framing-device (this time the narrator is talking
into the black box recorder of an empty 747 he is about to crash),
Survivor concerns the lone survivor of a religious death cult who
becomes a famous celebrity religious leader with all the ghostwritten
merchandising that implies. He hooks up with a strange girl who
dreams disasters and accidents that will happen in the future, having
met her at the tomb of her brother, who the narrator anonymously
persuaded to commit suicide, as is his hobby after a Helpline
missprinted their number. It becomes apparent that another survivor
may be around, trying to kill death cult members who didn't commit
suicide as they had sworn to do. Palahniuk has said that it is all
about the education system.
"Moriarty" here again. Just wanted to interject that I think
SURVIVOR is actually a better book than FIGHT CLUB in most ways, and I
think it's a great project for Boyle to pursue. I've heard his name
attached to it several times, but I also know that nothing's been
officially decided yet.
Anyway, brief review of The Beach:
It's a question of ethics, and basically I'm fucked. Due to an
exam in Old English ("cwaed Edmund cyninges" roughly translates as YOU
CHOSE THE WRONG DEGREE) on the same day as the screening, I got there
ten minutes into the film, during Carlyle's speech to Leo in the Thai
hotel / hostel place. So this is before he is even given the map, but
still fucks up my sense of the rhythms of the picture. But I will say
that it will be a lot better experience for those who have not read the
book than for those who have, since - as has been widely reported - the
story has been extremely pared down. The film itself is good. Leo is
very irritating, even though the punching-the-air thing seems to have
been cut and the will-not-die-today thing is fine in its context. He
tries hard. He approaches the role with enthusiasm and energy. He is
just not a good actor. Its the same feeling you get watching his
screaming / squealing outside his mother's door in Basketball Diaries,
and there is quite a lot of squealy-screaming here too (in his most
enthusiastic Supermarket Brat way).
The book just seems to have become very very simplified. Leo just
comes off like a sulky teenager when the character is supposed to be
descending into darkness. The film is too short. It is about 2 hours
and it absolutely races by. Of course, I missed ten minutes but it
seems in too much of a rush to get to the beach, and then in too much of
a rush to get off again. The book focuses a lot on the realtionships
between the community members, and spends a great deal of time subtlely
setting up factions and orchestrating splits in the group, leading to
the great - if a little rushed - ending, but the film is not concerned
with these relationships, going for a wider brushstroke of Us On The
Beach verses All Them. Also, Boyle's admirable penchant for trying out
different visual ideas backfires a few times: the terrible computer game
sequence ranks alongside A Life Less Ordinary's claymation epilogue.
When reading the book, I kept thinking that it would be extremely
difficult to make into a film overall but that there were some
strikingly cinematic images that would work brilliantly. Boyle's film
acheives all the hard things - a beautiful realisation of the beach
itself - and ignores all the great things: the dream sequences, the
morbid darkness / Richard's growing fascination with self-destruction;
and Hodge's familiar Clerks-esque quickfire-gag-compilation device (as
in the lodger interviews in Shallow Grave and the phone-booth
sequence in A Life Less Ordinary) is over-used here, almost "relied
upon" and Carlyle wins the Darth Maul award for Not Being In It
Nearly Enough.
But as disappointing as it is next to the book, the basic story is
good and interesting and although a million book readers will think
they could have done it better, it is still a good film. It looks
gorgeous, the french couple are good, as is community leader Tilda
Swinton and comedy cameo man Unhygenix. No matter how they have fluffed
the explosive potential of the project, it is very very entertaining.
There are also some truly great sequences, basically everything with the
amazing Carlyle in it - the hotel room shoot out is exactly what we're
looking for. As for DuPont's C.R.A.S.H. (I believe The Beach was the
founding member), it is fine, not irritating at all, although the scene
itself is pretty horrid.
Ultimately, it seems like a great film cut down to a decent one.
Boyle had remarked in a magazine that he had a first cut of 4 hours,
a "more kaleidoscopic" version, I wonder how flippant that remark
was. But the environmentally concious should brace themselves: this
book can be done again.
Mooch
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+ Expand All
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A nice example of pre-commercialism Boyle.
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And here I thought that no movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio could possibly be too short!
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Feb 11, 2000 2:47:36 PM CST
So A Bunch of Western Tourists Take Over the Best Beach in Asia
by bink.uk
Is that basically what this film is about? Tell me I'm wrong. The whole backpacking thing is pretentious bullshit to me.
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Feb 11, 2000 2:47:47 PM CST
Us New Order / Joy Division fans are drooling at the mouth for a
by knight_of_ni!
No matter how flippant the rumor, if enough people show interest then rumor can become reality. I got 20 emails this morning alone concerning this project from fellow JD fans. It's a tragic story with great music, could be a wonderful little low budg. movie. Crossing my fingers that it will come to pass, with or without Danny Boyle.
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Okay...i've had it. Leonardo Decaprio is NOT a bad actor. In fact, he is one of the better young actors to come along in a while. What is it that makes it so fun/easy to stomp all over this guy? The fact tyhat he is hugely successful at what he does? The fact that he is widely acknowledged as being a very talented guy? The fact that every woman on this planet seems to want him? Is this all just pure resentment? And do you all REALLY get off at taking pot shots at some guy you've never met and know virtually nothing about? I wish the whining would just stop.
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Feb 11, 2000 5:03:58 PM CST
I want to fle-o when I see Leo in my Geo and take a big pee-o on
by uncapie
Burma-Shave! Cha-cha-cha!
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Okay, granted, at his core Leonardo DiCaprio is a good actor. Just look at his performances in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and This Boy's Life. You can see the amazing potential there. The problem with Leo is that ever since those films, he has chosen nothing quality to challenge his acting skills and help him grow as an actor. He seems content to do trite bullshit a la The Basketball Diaries, Titanic and The Man in the Iron Mask. All for the sake of building his name and image up so he can schluff around Hollywood like he's its biggest bad-ass. I haven't seen The Beach yet. Nor does it look very exciting because it looks like the same Leo. The ONLY reason I would see this movie is because of the team behind it. Even though they gave Ewan the shaft. So while there is quite a bit of Leobashing going on (and a lot of it is because people are somewhat envious of his stature), I would wager to say that quite a bit of it is for good reason. No one wants to see a good, possibly great, actor waste his talents. Would anyone have cared to see Tom Hanks carry on in The Bachelor Party/Money Pit (although I liked those movies) vein? I don't think so. And good thing he didn't. He realized his own potential and went for it. Let's hope Leo does the same. Hell, even Keanu gets in better movies than this guy. (I am convinced he has the best agent in the history of the business.)
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Danny Boyle was on Barry Norman's Film Night yesterday, and he said that there was two things certain about his next film - it would be set in a city, and it would be raining... and Manchester is famous for being the city where it always rains... like you said about his other comments, he said it flippantly, but if all his jokes are pointing in the same direction... I think a Joy Division film could well be excellent... a Stone Roses film would be diverting... a Happy Mondays film would be dull...
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this is a very entertaining movie, wonderful to look at, but really very disturbing the more you think about it, afterwards. Read my whole review on www.greenlightscafe.com if you want. But here, I'll say this. Richard is a very destructive bugger and has no compass. The music is wonderful, the cinematography is wonderful but the narrative is all over the place. His voiceover doesn't help much and is really annoying. French chick is good, and Leo can act. And the director plays some fancy tricks like the waterfall cam, and Rambo in the jungle as a video game
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Danny boyle is thinking about directing Survivor? Be still my heart. I am currently reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk and it is fantastic. Chuck palahniuk has a great knack for social commentary as does Danny Boyle, so those two coming together to form a movie would reslt in nothing less than cool. I will be saying a special little prayer tonight to get Danny Boyle involved with that project we can nly hope someone up there is listening
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Ok... If you're going to make a movie about paradise, why include Moby? His music has nothing to do with paradise at all! I've heard the music and to me, I wonder whether directors these days really care about having the right music narrate their film. I could have thought that Enya was the best choice for this movie, but apparently, no. Also, why is it that when Leo falls in love, it succumbs to sex?! I don't have a problem with movies having sex scenes, but for crying out loud, make these characters be cool and down to earth and shit! Make them talk and say some conversations that actually mean something! Learn from Kevin Smith or from the writer of the Limey or from Tarantino, if you are stuck. Is there much passion in making films anymore?
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Maybe it will be a Cobain biopic.
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...and I liked it alot. People give Leo such a hard time because of his popularity, but I think he's a damn good actor. The music works, the shots are beautiful, and the actin' is good. And that french girl is pretty hot, too.
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Feb 11, 2000 9:18:13 PM CST
hey lookit, i am giving my opinions on the beach AND i have seen
by enigma
what can isay, the film is amazing, its great, although at first i thought it wasn't too great, having seen it straight after i saw toy story 2 for the first time, but now i think its great, it has been greatly toned down at the end form the book yes, but the message is still there.
as for the soundtrack, its perfect for the film.
the computer game sequence wasn't spectacular, but it was goddamn hilarious, it showe dhow he was living life like a game, thgat whole section of the film is about his isloation driving him mad.
but the hwole shark attack 'revenge' sequence is one of the most visually symbolic and gut wrenching pices of celluliod in years. -
The Beach fucking SUCKS! Trainspotting was an aberation, the one and only good film Boyle had in him. Ewan was better off doing Eye of the Beholder, if that gives you an idea how bad this movie is. I don't give a fucking rat's ass what Danny Boy Boyle plans to do with his future.
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Apparently, DiceDano, you haven't seen Shallow Grave, the team's first film. Talk about a mindfuck. That movie was so odd and unnerving it had no choice but to stick with you. You can see so many shades of what would eventually turn up in and into Trainspotting.
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Feb 12, 2000 4:28:12 AM CST
Just got back from seeing the beach, Leo mindmelds with a spider
by malchizedik
this film went from good to bad to good to bad, altogether ending in a trite hurry. Excellent soundtrack but the Score? what happened to Angelo Badalamenti? the island intro scenes felt like an episode of Love Boat with the entirely misplaced score-the video game sequence was one of the worst most revoltingly embarrassing bullshit scenes ive ever watched in my entire life.I was humbled by its juvenile misfire. Even for such a ridiculously bad metaphor, and jolting concept it could have been done better. Maybe with a rear angle tree level shot, faster, without all the colour, anything! Leo did an ok job with what he had, and Virginie was great.Robert carlyle, is there a film where he isn't underused??? he stole the show.
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Boyle and Ennis!!!!! Who's with me??? It's time to get Talalay off of this movie and bank on the unbeatable dream-team combination of Boyle and Ennis. My second choice would actually be Antonia Bird (who directed Priest, which seems swiped from aspects of Ennis' Hellblazer run), and who works often with Carlyle, who should play Cassidy unless Sean Penn wants to try his hand at the ol' Irish accent.
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If the Mooch actually believes that the door scene (actually, I call it the wolf at the door scene) in Basketball Diaries is an illustration of DiCaprio being a bad actor, then he obviously subscribes to a certain school of Leo-bashers that I would call brain-dead. His review has made me want to see The Beach even more than I thought I would. Thanks, Moron!
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Guess the Leo bashers are out in force. You guys must be soooo happy you have another film with which to bash Leo for! It's frustrating to have to read so many stupid posters who don't have a clue how hard it is to bring a sense of energy and naturalism into a scene. Yes, "The Beach" wasn't perfect. Tried to do too much from a flawed source. The book needed to be translated into a better script with more thought into the motivations of the character and less emphasis on Richard. Subbing Ewan for Leo wasn't as big a problem I thought than having him "bonk" the women. Bad call by Boyle & co. But can Leo Act? You better believe it! I'm not alone in my opinion..critics, fellow actors such as Streep,DeNiro, Stone, Barkin,Keaton, Hoffman,Penn,etc. have all said so to the media. So have directors like Scorcese, Holland, Luhrmann, Boyle, Cameron, etc.Posters tend to forget directors like Mingella, Billy Bob Thornton, Ang Lee etc. were willing to work with him. Hollywood professionals who make their living in movies know how talented/gifted DiCaprio is!They know he has range and power, real depth to his gift. So it doesn't matter what leo bashers would like, I think his career will survive. He's very young yet. He's on a learning curve. He needs the freedom to make mistakes! But at least he's willing to take chances! He's looking for off-beat roles. With maturity, better scripts, more experience working with other actors and directors, he'll improve but to say he sucks or is without talent is stupid. The media hyped him up to the point that now rumors about his personal life somehow are equated to his talent. WTF???? He's bratty? Smug? Wimpy Looking? That's your critique on his acting ability??? Hey, here's a new one, when you bashers post your criticisms try couching them in some informed opinon so we can learn from them rather than saying "I can't stand the guy.", "He must be Gay." etc. Who knows, THEN we might have some intelligent talkbacks about films and actors instead of baseless personal attacks on the poor guy!P.S. I agree, "The Beach" isn't one of his best films, the whole 2nd half is disjointed (directorially) and Leo doesn't quite pull it off but there are other moments in the film when he rocks the scene and absolutely NAILS IT!
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I thought the way the movie began was great. It was shot beautifully and it moved at a good pace. The movie only starts to falter once Leo meets the community on the beach. They just are not interesting characters and Tilda Swinton is just too damn ugly to look at. She was so annoying in this movie. The use of beats was real good and Darius Khondji is the man. I thought the french bitch sucked--she had nothing to do once they got to the beach. I did not think the video game sequence was as bad as everyone says. And finally Leonardo DiCaprio--hey the guy might be a white ass moron with a stupid posse of uncreative hanger-ons but he can act. I thought he was good for the role but the movie just sucked so bad in that last half hour. Shoulda stuck to the book--Richard does not fuck Sal or Francoise and the marijuana farmers start hacking up the commune dwellers with machetes as they flee the island. Fuckin Hollywood.
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First of all I must say that this film, "The Beach" did not interest me from the get go. I saw the trailer when Leo was punchung air and immediately I was turned off. I'm not quite sure what happened but Leo was fabulous in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and then his abilities seemed to fall short. I am not a Leo basher by any means, but his acting seems so forced in one or another, instead of seeing Jack Dawson(Titanic) we saw Leonardo Dicaprio playing Jack Dawson. His characters are never fully inhabited. He seems to be an actor playing a character, instead of really inhabiting the role entirely.
On another topic I must say the insults and use of profanity in TALKBACK in general is absolutely appalling. It's so easy to write something very terrible about someone else, when you're at your computer by yourself. But there is always that person who will read what you wrote and may be very hurt.
This is the movies, and in the long run, won't amount to a hill of beans. Obviously I will take heat from this post and will be called every name in the book just to spite me, but, in defense of the people (especially to Googlegirl the comments written in reply to her post regarding Leo bashing was morbid) I must comment on this.
I'm ashamed to be a man when I read this absolute trash.
The truth is any jerk can insult a woman, call her names. I just don't understand it. What I don't understand more is why Harry or whoever manages this site (as Harry is always somewhere) allows this garbage to continue.
In Oneness
James M. Prater
Founder, mainter of
The Student Film Site
www.rimric.com/sfs
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Hmmmmm...that's your idea of entertainment? I rest my case.
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If you have already read the book, then don't see the film unless you are a real Leo fan. So much has been left out of the film that it has nowhere near the impact of the book. An example of this would be the references in the book to vietnam war films and computer games, these have been mostly left out of the film, so on the few instances where a scene has been included it makes no sence in the context of the rest of the film. There are only really two scenes like this, one as a war scene between Richard and Daffy, and the other is an unbelievable crap scene with Richard as a computer game character who looks more like Bart Simpson than Leo.
Having said all that, if you haven't read the book yet, then go and see the film which I am sure you will enjoy, even more so if you then read the book. -
To whomever responsible for cleaning up Talk Back I thank you. So many times we (we as in the public) write in protest, or to defend our beliefs/morality or whatever else there may be.
In this case it appears that I was heard and have much gratitude for the powers that be.
It's so strange in this day and age when technology links the world together at one click of a button; that something as meanigless as the movies can get us in arguments, eventually resulting in insults and profanity being hurdled.
I personally am in no way clean of this behaviour, and have in the past been the abuser of such bad manners.
But is has been with much thought and apologies that I have realized what it is that I am doing. So kudos to you at Ain't it Cool News, you have made a step in the right direction
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How could Boyle and Hodge have possibly thought their revisions were better than Alex Garland's original material? I can not believe that Garland is happy with the result, and I imagine this film would have been much better received if they had stuck with the book. Every single change sucked. I read a few weeks back that Boyle and/or Hodge thought the book's ending was implausible -- that it didn't fit with the characters. And leaving the shark-bit guy out in the woods to die was more realistic? In the book they just avoided the medical tent -- they didn't actually condemn him to die! And guys, ever heard of character development? Maybe if you had kept the number of characters down to a manageable number -- like it was in the book -- you would have been able to accomplish that. Throwing out Jed was not a good idea. Oh, and having Richard/Francoise and Richard/Sal becoming pairs? Terrible idea. I would have had so much more respect if they had kept Richard and Francoise at the playful flirtation level that was found in the book. (It's not as if we were rewarded with extended shots of her breasts in exchange for this thinly plotted development.) Maybe they would have had trouble fitting the book into two hours (though 2.5 hours would not have an unreasonable length for adapting a book of that quality), but we'll never know since they instead decided to replace the spirit of a good novel with lots of Hollywood crap. Boyle and Hodge, you disappoint me. Man, Trainspotting was a brilliant adaptation, but this just reeked. Incidentally, I would just like to take this opportunity to tell you the #1 reason that Fight Club sucked. Three words: "Run, Forrest, run!" Talk about a crock. Fuck up what should be one of the most resonant scenes in the film by turning it into a joke -- and allude to a shitefest of a film, no less!
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My word, someones listening, now the Ryder script has been disscussed any chance of any news on this project, whats going on, is it dead, i long to see Ryders words on screen. Clever bloke despite his dribbling drug/thug exterior. Any hows i want to see this especially since i got burgled last week and some **** ran off with my entire Happy Mondays, Stone Roses collection. Who would nick a record collection? Heartless ******.
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firstly whats fight club gotta do with the beach, and secdonly, whats wrong with the 'run forest run' bit? just cos it isn't done in melodrama style doesn't mean the point doesn't hit home.
a book is abook, a film is a film, why must so many people bitch about difference between the source material and just look at films on their indivudal merits -
How come it is so unacceptable for someone to think that Leo is not a good actor? I've seen this film. I have watched it. In my opinion, Leo is not very good in it, I found him very irritating, I agree with the poster who said it always seems like we are watching Leo do impressions of a character rather than just watching the character. Nobody has any extra last minute evidence to whip out. I have seen this film. But anyone who voices an opinion that Leo is not a great actor is attacked for being "jealous" or dismissed as a "Leo-basher" who obviously hates him because of irrational preconceptions about a guy "he doesn't even know / hasn't even met" What the hell has that got to do with anything? These Leo-defenders are soooo close minded, its like a religion, they're just completely intolerant of anybody else's reasonable opinion, its fucking weird. I'm a brain-dead moron for laughing at the I-want-sweeties-supermarket-brat-at-the-door acting in Basketball Diaries? "Brain-dead"? A "moron"? You actually think I'm "brain-dead"? We watch different films.
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Other people brought up Fight Club. Plus, there's mention that Boyle might handle the next Palahniuk adaptation. It's a tangent. Forgive me. In answer to your other questions, I'm not saying that a film shouldn't be judged on its own merits individual of the book. What I'm saying is that if you're going to adapt a well-received book, isn't it a good idea to stick with the source material when it's of high quality? On its own merits, Fight Club was a good film in my opinion. Perhaps my saying that it sucked was harsh. However, it had individual characteristics that tended toward sucking. Fight Club did stick with the book for the most part, but there were spots in the movie that really didn't work for me. First and foremost, there was the Raymond K. Hessel scene. Sure, maybe they got the point across, but they could have done a much better job of it. Hessel's blubbering distracted me. It lessened the resonance. And the "Run, Forrest, run" remark totally threw me out of the moment. It ended the scene playing for a laugh (that wasn't even funny), as if Tyler didn't even buy what he was selling. Honestly, I did not believe that the movie character Raymond K. Hessel left that situation with any sort of change for his life plan in mind. More likely, he ran home, changed his pants, and went back to work the next day. If you haven't already, read chapter 20 of the book and you'll see how much better it could have been done. After that moment, the rest of the film was downhill for me. I didn't buy the scene at the police station. It was just too unrealistic and out of place. (I suppose that we could pass it off as hallucination, but it certainly did not seem as if that was the message. In the book, we are left wondering what is real and what is not, and the scene in question does not take place at the station. It only involves two cops and occurs under the watchful eye of other followers of Tyler's cult.) I also did not like the change to the ending, but that was a little more forgivable. Anyway, I know it's my own fault for the reading the books first, but when these films put "based on..." in their credits, I think it's perfectly fair criticism.
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. . .just not the greatest thing I've ever seen, is all. Kawaii no Leo-chan's acting was fine, contrary to what the bashers say; he was pretty good as someone simultaniously over-cocky and in over his head. The shark attack aftermath was harrowing indeed, as was the other beach-goers method of "caring" for their wounded. Now, the part towards the end with the video game thing--um, that should have been left out, or something. All in all, worth a matinee if you're tired of movies that are just one long SFX orgy.
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- 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