News from the 'Wood
PRADE will acknowledge that most movies that come out these days are garbage. Hollywood seems to have decided to play to the lowest common denominator in its recent offerings - so we get piles of remakes that no one asked for and way more focus on having gaudy special effects and hot young stars than storytelling and character development.The best films seem to come from filmmakers who choose to reject those patterns and do something daring and different, whether that is the visual innovation of Michel Gondry's ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND or the simple intimacy of Alexander Payne's SIDEWAYS.
That being said, a couple of pieces of good news came out of Hollywood today - and PRADE thought it would be good to keep its readers informed and let them know that there may be hope yet.
- The first piece of news is that the Coen Brothers and George Clooney are rumored to be teaming up again on a film called HAIL CAESAR. One of their collaborations was fantastic (O Brother Where Art Thou), and the premise of this sounds almost similar (in a weird, Coens brothers way). Clooney would play the lead actor in a 1920's theater troupe putting on a performance of Julius Caesar. Expect literary allusions and fantastic cinematography to ensue.
- The next bit of news has a lot of potential, but that's all at this stage. One of my favorite novels ever, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, is being optioned to be made into a film by Leonardo DiCaprio's production company. Now the writing team they put on this isn't wow-ing me (the guy that wrote Sahara and his son), but I really hope Vonnegut's brilliance can still shine through. See the cat? See the cradle?
- And in one more piece of good news, Christopher Guest (who has almost single handedly definied the mockumentary genre with films like Best in Show) is rumored to be teaming up with Ricky Gervais of Britain's The Office on a new mockumentary called FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, meaned to skewer Hollywood and the Oscar campaign process.
And in unrelated news - when the hell do I get to see another Terry Gilliam movie in the way Terry Gilliam wants me to see it? Brothers Grimm sounds like it will be neutered, so I guess I'll have to wait until Tideland.
That's it for PRADE's Hollywood wrap up. Tune in again in about 8 months when we might hear a few more pieces of good news.
posted by Paul at
10:03 AM
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