When I saw the title of Olly Richardson’s rant on The Empire Blog asking if CG has killed our imaginations, I presumed he meant filmmakers’ imaginations and how special effects are less creative when done with the ease of computer graphics. But no, he’s really talking about our imaginations, meaning me and you and everyone we know. I’d never given it too much thought, but maybe modern audiences are really losing their ability to believe at the movies:
We never used to be so picky. If somebody watches the original King Kong or any of the works of Ray Harryhausen, you will never hear them complain about how the skeletons were a bit jerky or that the big ape’s fur didn’t blow realistically when he was climbing the Empire State Building (if they do complain, however, you should feel free to shoot them on the grounds of wrongness and philistinism). You just watch the film, acknowledge that what you are seeing couldn’t possibly exist, admire the artistry it took to create it and choose to believe it anyway. That’s what suspension of disbelief is: ignoring the protests of your eyes and more logical parts of your brain in order to enjoy a good story.
The internet is an evil construct that’s causing us to submissively open our arms to totalitarianism! No, this isn’t another one of my posts about how our society is entering the world of The Matrix. This is the belief and fear of Barry Sonnenfeld, the director of Men in Black, Men in Black II and Wild Wild West, clearly a fan of lighter sci-fi than of the Orwellian sort. Speaking this week at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Vegas, he lashed out against the internet, because of how it’s threatening democracy:
Sonnenfeld fears that children today will grow up with “no concept of the right to privacy and in fact not understand the need for it. Because the Facebook generation is not concerned with what people know about them . . . they will have no problem with additional governmental supervision, spying and intervention. They will be thrilled that the Internet will be able to follow their every move.
Apparently there was no lesson learned from Spider-Man 3. I guess all the criticisms of that movie’s having too many characters didn’t exactly balance negatively enough against its worldwide gross of nearly $900 million. So, prepare for the possibility that other comic book adaptations will make the same attempt for box office gold by saturating their plots with familiar and highly demanded heroes and villains. This week the geek circles have been all abuzz about the all-star casting for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which has now been confirmed by the trades and so far includes Taylor Kitsch as Gambit, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am as John Wraith/Kestrel, Liev Schrieber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth (I can’t wait to see Schrieber with blond muttonchops), Danny Huston as Col. William Stryker and Lynn Collins as Silver Fox. Also, there’s rumor that the Blob will show up in the film, too.
Some of these characters will only be showing up for minor appearances, and it’s certainly appropriate to have an X-Men spin-off that features a whole slew of characters, but it still seems like an overload. Even the last X-Men movie felt too packed with supporting mutants. As a veteran reader of the comics, I should be as overjoyed as the rest of the fanboys, but I must point out that when I would pick up a copy of Wolverine’s solo title(s), I would do so with the expectation that the loner-by-nature hero would actually be on a solo mission — or maybe on occasion would have no more than a teen-girl sidekick. I understand that this is the origin story, and most of these casted characters figure into that plot (where’s Maverick?), but the additions of Deadpool, Gambit and the Blob, no matter how long they’re on screen, seems to be a desperate attempt at pleasing the fanbase. Doesn’t Fox realize that we’ll all be showing up even if its just Hugh Jackman and a single villain (my choice would have been Omega Red).
Villains are oftentimes more interesting than heroes. So, it isn’t surprising when a villain becomes popular enough to warrant his or her own comic/movie/book/etc. The latest, according to IESB, will be Venom, one of the three villains featured in the horrible superhero sequel Spider-Man 3. For Marvel Comics readers, this isn’t that shocking. Venom received his own comic titles long ago, and disappointingly turned semi-good-guy vigilante. But will the movie spin-off be the same kind of water-down? If we look at the two ways a villain spin-off typically goes, it’s probable.
First, there’s the villain origin piece, which includes movies like Hannibal Rising, The Scorpion King, Wicked, the upcoming X-Men Origins: Magneto and of course the Star Wars prequels. They attempt to show how the evolution of a wronged person who becomes the iconic villain we’re familiar with. They try to make us sympathize, but usually they just come close to ruining the character. Rarely there is an origin storyline that makes us like the character even more, as in the case of The Godfather Part II’s flashbacks. Fortunately, we already witnessed the Venom origin in Spider-Man 3 and won’t be subjected to one in the proposed Venom movie.
Here is my follow-up to last month’s question of what mainstream movie will feature on the most top ten movie lists. And the winner is … Ratatouille. Oh wait, didn’t I disqualify that one for being too obvious? No? Well, I should have. Yes, according to Movie City News’ Big Ass Chart (aka Scorecard) of critics’ top tens, the Pixar movie made it on to 51 best-of lists, making it the best-grossing best movie of the year. But maybe it wasn’t the most mainstream, if you define mainstream as studio-produced fare. Under that qualification Zodiacwas the best mainstream movie of 2007, having been made jointly by Warner Bros. and Paramount and showing up on 70 best-of lists. Other Warner successes include Michael Clayton, which featured on 54 lists, Sweeney Todd, which received 44 mentions, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which showed up on one list, and Letters From Iwo Jima, which showed up a little late on one list.
As far as those mainstream movies I predicted would feature heavily, Knocked Up(34 lists) ended up defeating Superbad(25 lists) — meanwhile, the third Judd Apatow movie of the year, Walk Hard, managed to get on one critic’s list — though both were actually behind The Bourne Ultimatum(28 lists), when it came to “average vote” (average numerical placement on the list). If we’re going by mainstream appeal (and if Karina is correct in her view of the film), then Junowas the best mainstream comedy of the year with 63 lists. Hairspray(13 lists) beat out its crappy musical siblings Across the Universe(7 lists) and Enchanted(8 lists). In addition to showing up on Richard Corliss’ list, Beowulfmanaged 3 other mentions. And Transformersnot only showed up on a top ten list, it featured on 3! Of course, it’s more surprising that Spider-Man 3made it on 4 lists. The greatest thing to happen, of course, was Manohla Dargis listingThe Kingdomas one of her favorites. Joining her is Don Payne. If I had made a top ten list (instead of this thing), the film could very well have beaten Transformers. Oh well, at least nobody put the shocking blockbuster Alvin and the Chipmunkson their list … yet.
The internet is an evil construct that’s causing us to submissively open our arms to totalitarianism! No, this isn’t another one of my posts about how our society is entering the world of The Matrix. This is the belief and fear of Barry Sonnenfeld, the director of Men in Black, Men in Black II and Wild Wild West, clearly a fan of lighter sci-fi than of the Orwellian sort. Speaking this week at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Vegas, he lashed out against the internet, because of how it’s threatening democracy:
Apparently there was no lesson learned from 
Here is my follow-up to 
