The last two movies I saw?
300-- adapted from a graphic novel
TMNT-- a remake from the original animated series and/or the comic book
Movies I'm looking forward to?
Transformers--obviously adapted from the old animated series
Pirates 3-- end of the trilogy
Indiana Jones 4-- noticing a trend yet?
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time-- adaptation from an excellent game
Hitman-- another game adaptation
Get Smart-- adaptation of an old TV show I don't care about, but starring Steve Carell, which interests me
Die Hard 4-- probably not something I'd pay theater money for, but definitely Netflixable
And these are just the ones that immediately come to mind. There are probably a lot more that I can't remember. (not to mention all the ones I don't care about--the recent Rocky Balboa, for instance.)
This certainly isn't a new trend, but it's starting to bother me. Don't get me wrong. I'll more than likely enjoy all of these movies. But not every movie I see has to be part of a giant franchise with sequels and games and freaking coloring books. Excellent movies that stand on their own do still happen--The Prestige is a recent one that comes to mind. We need more movies where the majority of the money and the creative energy goes into the movie itself, rather than this incessant franchise-building.
Sometimes, remakes do this well--both 300 and Sin City tried to translate Frank Miller's artistic vision to a new medium, and they both did such an amazing job that the adaptations were justified as more than just money-making ventures for the studios. Transformers, though? Michael Bay has no vision. He's just out to make some serious bank, as always. (That won't stop me from seeing it, though. A giant-robots-fighting-each-other-and-smashing-stuff movie is, after all, a giant-robots-fighting-each-other-and-smashing-stuff movie. Still, I hope I've made my point here.)
Right now I can only think of two films I'm looking forward to that aren't part of an existing franchise: Hot Fuzz and Stardust (which is going to blow my mind). There are probably a few others, but I need more.
13 years ago
3 comments:
I'm interested in the Sin City sequel... and I'm horrendously bummed that Hot Fuzz apparently is not coming to Manhattan. I loved Shaun of the Dead, love the writing style, loved the actors, and was really looking forward to HF...
Oh yeah. I forgot about Sin City. And the next Batman movie (Heath Ledger as Joker = awesome). See? As much as I don't want to sometimes, I definitely dig the sequels.
As for HF not coming to Manhattan: what?!? That is powerfully uncool.
I'm not sure what the deal with Hot Fuzz was... but one of my former roommates said it wasn't coming. It certainly didn't make it here this weekend, thats for sure. I can only hope it will come here in a few weeks!
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