Showing posts with label WATCHMEN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WATCHMEN. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder and the hiding-of-sorts of SUCKER PUNCH from reviewers--even fanboys.

Here's an early review of un film de Zack Snyder (300, WATCHMEN) SUCKER PUNCH:
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2011/mar/23/bc-suckerpunch-movie-review-adv25fr-_-entertainmen/?entertainment&national-entertainment

Actually liked Snyder's Canadian redo of George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD.

I missed 300 in theaters--fell asleep in a hotel room when watching the edited-for-TNT version.

WATCHMEN was a combination of brilliant and what-the-heck-was-that moments.

Didn't bother with the CGI owl cartoon.

SUCKER PUNCH no doubt will have the caffeine-for-the-eyes visuals and bam-bam-bam violence (within PG-13 limitations) of Snyder's earlier work.

But it gives one pause when the reviewer linked to above resorts to the "turn your brain off" cliche--which sounds like a bit of punch-pulling to keep from losing access to future WB cinematic amusement park rides.

UPDATE 3/24/11: The reviews are now flooding in: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sucker-punch-2010/
And here's Jeffrey Wells' I-REALLY-didn't-like-this take on the film:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2011/03/punched_but_no.php

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Warner Brothers likely to get even more safe post-WATCHMEN.

[NOTE: The post below is to be read strictly for entertainment value. Irresponsible behavior is not encouraged.]

It's a reasonably safe guess that you, the reader of this blog entry, could conceivably make a prank call to Warner Brothers in the guise of a talent agent or producer. And you could even talk yourself into a chance at securing a meeting to pitch either a superhero project (preferably DC) or an adaptation of a self-help book or even a remake of an in-house property. Maybe you could say something like: "I know exactly how to make WONDER WOMAN a durable four-quadrant franchise."

With the box office underperformance of WATCHMEN (an uneven--sometimes effective, sometimes ubersilly--film which was probably the best attempt at ultra-adult comic book fare since the original, and definitely superior, ROBOCOP in 1987), it's safe to say that Alan Horn and the good folks of WB will be even more tippy-toe careful in what they greenlight in the future (another bellwether of whether "edginess", even the manageable budget variety, gets more chances to be bankable at Warners: the box office performance of the reportedly-megaraunchy OBSERVE AND REPORT with Seth Rogen and Anna Faris--opening next month).

At this point, potential pranksters could consider pitching WB on a PG-13 comedy adaptation of the 70s self-help book I'M OK, YOU'RE OK--and suggest Rainn Wilson as a hippieish 70s Marin County shrink who gets cryogenically frozen and thawed out in the late 2000s.

The cynic in me thinks that Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov would pay top dollar for such a pitch.

And, don't forget, the 70s sex manual JOY OF SEX came very close to getting made at Paramount in the early 80s as a vehicle for John Belushi. (It did get produced a few years later as a low-budgeter directed by Martha Coolidge and starring quirky cult-actress Michelle Meyrink. And it flopped.)

Safe to guess that lightning could strike twice.