Posts Tagged ‘The Bad News Bears’
2 items.
I think it has become Billy Bob Thorton’s goal in life to take only acting roles where he gets to swear at children.
Why not? He’s kind of cultivated this skeezer persona off-screen? What with the Angelina Jolie, blood in a vial around the neck antics.
Or maybe Angelina was just a bad influence. Who can say?
I’m giving Billy Bob some crap, but actually, I’m very fond of him as an actor. By-in-large, I think he does good work. But you can’t deny the comparisons in his performance as the beer-guzzlin’ Morris Buttermaker (made famous by Walter Matthau in the original Bad News Bears) to his performance as Willie in Bad Santa.
Well, except maybe he plays Buttermaker a little less angry. But still, things don’t bode well when both movies share the same screenwriters in Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. So, in that way, they’re not just remaking one movie, but two at the same time! How’s that for Hollywood efficiency?!
I really have no interest in seeing this version. From the reviews I’ve read, director Richard Linklater copied from the source material almost to the letter. Everything from the girl pitcher with the killer arm to a foul-mouthed runt on the team. Except this time, now there’s a kid in a wheelchair.
Or is there a book version of The Bad News Bears that I haven’t read and the wheelchair kid was in there? Can never be too sure these days! Hate to be called out for my ignorance!
At any rate, I’m just hoping Linklater’s quasi-animated take on Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly turns out better when it’s released next year. I was in awe of Waking Life, and the same rotoscoping animation techniques will be used here as well.
But who knows. Most Phillip K. Dick adaptations often don’t survive the translation to screen. And since Keanu Reeves is in both this movie and another Phillip K. Dick box office dud – Johnny Mnemonic – my attitude is “wait and see.”
Did you enjoy that little tangent I took you on? I hope so, because now I am tired and need to stop blogging.
Talk to you soon.
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Just because summer’s over doesn’t mean the studios aren’t trying to squeeze in some of their outright stinkers before Oscar season heats up.
Into the Blue, for example. A treasure-hunting picture with Jessica Alba and Paul Walker. Wouldn’t this move have been more interesting if it were released in June or July when the weather is warm? It must be a real turkey. In fact, Tom’s convinced he’ll be in sore need of something if made to watch it.
Today’s comic isn’t about Into the Blue specifically, but about the abysmal state of commercial movies in general this year. I only had Jared list a handful of the worst offenders this year, but could have gone on indefinitely. There were a lot of bad movies this year. A lot of sequels and a lot of retreads on franchises that already had footing in television or books. Very little in terms of original screenplays were put in front of audiences this year and I think the industry was punished accordingly with some of the lowest box office receipts in the last 10 years.
I’ve gone on in the past about Hollywood needing to provide more in terms of fulfilling content when in competition against satellite television, video games and even themselves with the Goliath DVD market. Give us something to care about, something we’ve never seen before. We’ll come back. We promise. People are still hungry for authentic theater experience, but there is only so many obstacles you can put in front of them before they decide it’s not worth the effort.
Thank goodness for the autumn. More cerebral films are starting to fill up the multiplexes. I feel like I can start using my brain again.
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