In response to the leaked promo trailer for Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant remake, some people are claiming the film doesn’t look like a Herzog work at all. This is surprising, especially since the scene with the old ladies reminds us of the Aguirre act-at-gunpoint legend. Plus, ever since we heard the news of this “reimagining” we thought it was too befitting for Herzog to rework Abel Ferrara. However, that had more to do with the idea that both filmmakers are batshit crazy, not that their films are really that similar.
Still, wouldn’t it be more exciting to see Herzog take on something even less appropriate for his style and taste? Inspired by the Twitter meme #wernerherzogremake, which began yesterday in connection with the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans promo, we’ve selected ten films we’d love to see Herzog redo just to see what his warped perspective would bring to these stories. While most of them are slightly tied to something he’s made in the past, each is still a completely unlikely project for Herzog to take on. But hopefully he’ll only see such implausibility as a challenge and actually go with one of our suggestions. …Read more
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces a shortlist for one of its Oscar categories, many critics immediately focus on what titles are missing. Religulous was snubbed! Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired was punished for having a “secret” qualifying run! The Academy’s rules for eligibility must be amended! Such reactions were seen all over the web last week as awards season pundits looked at the narrowed-down list of 15 Feature Documentary hopefuls and criticized the Academy for its omissions.
But the better response (which is the one SpoutBlog had) is to primarily address and celebrate the included films, not just for being contenders for the Feature Documentary Oscar but also for being showcased in general. The wonderful thing about shortlists is that they expand further the idea that it’s great just to be nominated. For feature documentaries, particularly those without a lot of media and major distributor attention, it is also great just to be shortlisted. Non-fiction film fans may now see this as an opportunity to take note of some documentaries that weren’t previously on their radar (unfortunately none of these films are actually allowed to advertise their recent achievement of being shortlisted).
But the Academy Awards are, of course, still a competition. So, while we take notice of the 15 semi-finalists for the Feature Documentary Oscar, we shall also weigh their chances of being selected for the final five and predict which titles are likely to be announced as nominees on January 22.
I’m not down with hockey movies, and I’m definitely not down with movies in which animals play sports, yet somehow I’m a huge fan of this video. And all it is is bears playing hockey.
Maybe it’s because, unlike most hockey movies, I don’t need to actually worry about the game or the plot. I just need to become hypnotized by giant bears skating around on ice and hitting a puck with a hockey stick. Maybe the puck goes into a goal, maybe not, I don’t care. Maybe there’s a ragtag, underdog team on that ice, maybe not, I don’t care. There’s no dialogue, voiceover or narration of any kind, no attacking and killing the referee as if he were Grizzly Man’s Timothy Treadwell, just the calming visuals of a hockey game played by bears.
And apparently those are real bears really playing hockey, which is what makes it better than most animals-playing-sports movies. A lot of those feature real dogs or whatever, but special effects are typically employed when it comes to the animals’ seeming athletic ability. That dog in Air Budis not really playing basketball. And that dog from Karate Dogis not really doing kung fu. And he’s definitely not doing karate, either, for that matter. Put 90 minutes of this on the big screen and I’ll go see it, because it’s genuine and it’s amazing.
Seriously, this is almost as enjoyable as that popular live puppy cam. If only this were perpetual, too.
The Hollywood Reporter has details on Werner Herzog’s next project. Funded by Focus Features and described as Herzog’s “biggest English-language costume drama in more than four decades as a filmmaker,” it’s an adaptation of a novel called The Piano Tuner. Set in Burma, it’s about “a man sent to a remote village in the late 1800s to repair an eccentric military man’s piano.”
Herzog has always alternated between drama and documentary, but each flit back and forth between genres has seemed more significant ever since Grizzly Man significantly upped his profile three years ago. Herzog’s last release, Rescue Dawn, made just $5.5 million in the States, which is nothing for a film starring Christian Bale but was still a significant increase over Grizzly’s $3.2 million. Focus Features + costume drama sounds like Oscar bait; I can’t wait to see what the Herzog spin on that formula looks like.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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