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X3 Follow-Up

As I blogged the other day, talking to a cow-orker in the know, Kelsey Grammar will be playing Beast in the upcoming X-men 3 movie.

My cow-orker is pretty excited about it as he thinks it’s the perfect role. I can see it – he has the speech mannerisms down to play a smart scientist. He and I share the same concerns about Bret Ratner directing though.

Jeffrey Wells’ Hollywood Elsewhere column had a brief mention of Ratner taking over in his “Wired” blog like piece on the front page, seperate from the stories he writes, that’s pretty harsh as well:

06/ 9/2005 5:53 AM

The fanboy community freaked last week when 20th Century Fox announced their decision to hire Breet Ratner to direct X-Men 3. Ratner will of course degrade the franchise. Not in any thuddingly obvious way but in a hundred little ways. One of these is his decision to add more laughs. “Not jokes for the sake of jokes,” Ratner said in a recent interview, but “jokes that come from character humor, that come from characters and that come from the situations.” This sounds to me like a guy saying he doesn’t entirely get (much less get off on) the X-Men mythology or metaphor, and that he’s a tiny bit bored by it so why not throw in some more gags? As Red Dragon was to Silence of the Lambs, X-Men 3…we know how this sentence ends, dont we? X-Men 3 will begin shooting in Vancouver in mid-August.

Episode III, Part 2

I figured out what’s been bothering me about Episode III. For as much as I love it, it’s Padme’s role that bothers me. In Episode I, Queen Amidala was portrayed as a strong character, who loved her planet, and fought the evils of the Trade Federation’s invasion. In Episode II, she was again a strong character as a Senator, trying to keep the Republic together when the Separtists threatened to destroy it.

In Episode III, her role is to be in love with Anakin. She’s not shown as a strong political figure anymore, just as someone who questions what side she’s on. Her love for Anakin is the major plot line, and she’s, at best, a secondary character relegated to worrying, instead of taking action like she did in the first two movies, whether it was traveling to Coruscant to defend Naboo, or going to rescue Obi-Wan in AOTC.

It’s too bad really – she’s much more emotive in this film, and for as good as an actor as she is, and her two awful performances in the first two (which I blame Lucas for more than her), it’s too bad too see her relegated to the sidelines in Episode III.

Some other interesting thoughts on Episode III.

Doubletake in X3 Casting

Reading the news that Bret Ratner is taking over filming X3 (X-men 3), I did a double take when I saw:

The original returning stars have been signed, and the cast is bolstered by Kelsey Grammer, Vinnie Jones and Maggie Grace (“Lost”), who just came aboard as new mutant characters. (As reported by VARIETY)

Kelsey Grammer? Really? I have to assume he’s the villain – his over the top acting might work in that role.

Wait and see, I guess.

This week's purchases

A bunch of good stuff this week:

Books:

  • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. A cow-orker lent me this to read last week and it was fantastic. A must read, review coming soon.
  • Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and Stranger than Fiction; all by Chuck Palahniuk. Author of Fight Club, Mr. Palahniuk’s writing style is very unique, and Stranger than Fiction are some non-fiction stories from his time on the road.
  • A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. An author near and dear to my heart from my childhood. Last year I picked up the Incarnations series and Bio of a Space Tyrant series from my favorite used book store. A Spell For Chameleon is the first Xanth novel, published in 1977. I’m going to re-read it and see if Alex is ready for the series.

Music:

  • Gorillaz, Demon Days: Special Editon. From one half of the team formerly known as Blur, Gorillaz’ Demon Days is a fantastic alternative rock album flavored with a bit of hip-hop.
  • Audioslave, Out of Exile. The sophomore effort from Chris Cornell and the former bandmembers of Rage Against The Machine.

Movies:

  • In Good Company. Topher Grace is Dennis Quaid’s boss, and tries to date his employee’s daughter as well.
  • The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Wes Anderson’s (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) third film, with an ensemble cast. I think the Royal Tenenbaums was one of the final straws for my friends in movies I recommended and made them watch that they hated.

Episode III

I got home from Seattle Sunday around 3, played with the kids for a few hours, and headed out after dinner to watch Episode III.

It was easily the best of the prequels (which wasn’t hard to do), and I need to watch it a few more times, but my gut says it will come in at #3 out of the six in my list of favorites.

(Empire, New Hope (nothing beats the rush of the first one, though it’s a bit rough at times), Sith, Clones, Jedi, Phantom).

The lightsaber battles were fantasic, the pacing was well done, Anakin’s conversion and fall were well handled, and even Obi-Wan defeating Anakin was nicely done. I was disappointed with the de-emphasis of Padme, especially as she was such a strong character in the first two, the love scenes and dialogue was rough as usual, and it seemed to break continuity with two minor points. Other than that, it was excellent all around.

I highly recommend it, Lucas brought it to a fantastic finish.

And in other news, Lucas doesn’t like hands.

The horror that is Blade III

I watched the travesty that is Blade III last night. Oh, how the mighty has fallen.

Blade I & II we’re good comic book adaptions of an interesting character. Not great movies per se, but good action, decent one lines, and interesting plots. All three were written by David Goyer, but with Guillermo del Toro, who directed the second one, moving on to Hellboy (and it’s sequel) they gave the director’s chair to Mr. Goyer. We’ll blame him for this horrible piece of work.

What did Blade III want to be? A horror film? Because the last half tried to do that. A hard-boiled mystery of what the vampires were up to? An action flick?

The only saving grace was Ryan Reynolds – his humor and lines were the one spark that kept the movie interesting. The only other things I appreciated were the nods to Blade II through the anatomy of “Dracula” and the vampire dogs, and some nods to past movies.

Other than that, the cinematography was horrible – the scene where Blade is on the roof chasing the baddie, and the camera pans (and later, they did a similar pan around Blade) was bad, the pacing of the movie, especially after the attack on the compound, and the dialogue was terrible. Early in the movie when Blade & Whistler are talking before the FBI storms in, it’s as if Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson aren’t even trying – their acting is wooden and all the chemistry is gone.

And what happened to Parker Posey that she would sign up to do this? The indie flick queen of the 90’s is in this? What a waste of her talent.

If you appreciated Blade I & II for what they were – mindless action movies with an interesting take on vampires, stay away from Blade III. Worse than the Matrix Trilogy, it will leave you with such a bad taste in your mouth you won’t want to watch the first two ever again either.

This week in music

This week’s purchases:

  • DVD:
  • The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (I dig Wes Anderson of Rushmore / Royal Tennenbaums directing fame)

  • In Good Company

  • Music:

  • New Order: NO (Was out of stock last week, but they had it this week)
  • Weezer: Make Believe (Great album, listened to it 3 times already – much more similar to their first disc, than their last disc, Maladroit)
  • Depeche Mode: The Singles (25-30 & 31-36). Released a year or two ago, the follow-up to the box sets released 10 years ago. They have multiple (sometimes up to 7) versions of the same songs from their 7″ and 12″ singles releases, with unreleased remixes and live tracks. A must for the collector, though they break the bank. Unfortunately, I got home and realized I don’t have 19-24. Grrr.

Darth Vader Has a Blog

Darth Vader Has a Blog! And it’s hilarious, here’s a snippet:

20050418

Haste Makes Waste

Bloody interrogation. Imperial audience. More leg woes.

Did you ever have one of those days?

It can be challenging to maintain your dignity as a dark tyrannical overlord when the circuitry in your left leg constantly misfires, threatening to send you off on a mad pirouette without notice. It requires a serious effort of will to maintain my poise, the tendrils of my connection to the Force reaching deep into space to feel out my distant quarry and at the same time wrapped around the mechanisms of my own body to keep them working.

I am stretched too thin.

The traiterous dog Krelcon was captured early this morning and brought around to the Imperial palace after breakfast. I had poached eggs with ham, buttered crumpets and a glass of wetfruit juice.

During my interview with Krelcon he admitted to me that he had been involved in smuggling the stolen data tapes of the Death Star’s technical readout to the Rebel Alliance. In order to produce similarly fruitful results I used the Force to crush all of the small bones in his hands. Krelcon became most chatty then, and we discussed likely locations of the hidden rebel base.

Things went badly after that point, however. I confess that Krelcon took me off guard when he mentioned the prophecy. Eyes burning in a masque of pulp and blood he screamed, “The son of the suns is nigh, knight-bastard! He is on your very threshold!”

I had meant to backhand him but my passions were aroused and my concentration faltered, and so instead I released control of my errant left leg and instantly found myself doing a frenzied, lop-sided jig that turned me in place.

Krelcon found the strength to laugh. Thus, with one powerful thrust of the Force I burst his skull.

Which was probably premature. But que sera, sera.