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PHOTO 124 - 46 Comments
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This bitch is SO not Elektra. I was reading a set report from the movie on Superhero Hype and they are totally using the Hand/Stick/Kirigi/Stone storyline from the Daredevil comics. which is super sweet but it's obvious that they are going to butcher it beyond recognition. Why can't movie execs learn that you have to stick closely to the source material to do it justice? Spider-Man is ironclad proof of this. But no.... we have to have a half-assed Daredevil movie with a turdy treatment of the main characters.
Also, I watched the Punisher last night and it too was a crapfest. There was little resemblance to the Punisher I remember from the comics. Travolta was stanky, and the dialogue - oh my god, it was like a kindergartener wrote it. Thomas Jane was reasonable but for some reason he still didn't work for me. I actually thought Rebecca Romijn was good in it, though, but ultimately useless. When is Hollywood going to learn?
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Jennifer is hot, but she's no Electra. The Punisher was a crapfest and Travolta is like watching a big fat turd. Spider-Man and X-Men are the exception to the Hollywood rule. At least we have these to look forward to.
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Speaking of Travolta, I'm going to Detroit on Monday to interview him and the cast of the movie Ladder 49. It's not a great film by any means (it's kind of a dated, cheesy tribute to firefighters), but the interviews should be interesting. I get to talk to Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Patrick (a.k.a. the T1000 from Terminator 2) as well as The Man Who Played Vincent Vega and Subsequently Hasn't Done Shit. Further bulletins as events warrant...
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Sweet. (745) Think of something Pulp-Fictiony to ask him that only a real nerd would know. :)
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It's certainly hard to compete with Swerb-Sweet (746)!
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Well, Travolta is a really nice guy, totally bigger than life. He kind of walks into a room and takes over... he's always "on." I chatted with him for about 20 minutes, and he's kinda nutty (about what you'd expect from a cheesy Hollywood actor), but totally professional and animated. He was so cool, I saw him later getting onto the hotel elevator, and he waved at me like we were old buddies or something. Kinda surreal.
I did ask him if he knew anything about a Vega Brothers movie, and he said he had dinner with Tarantino recently and nothing was brought up, but that he'd do it in a heartbeat. He also shared some anecdotes about Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty, which should be sw- (746 1/3), um, I mean, nifty.
Joaquin was pretty cool, more serious, and besides, I have more respect for him as an actor. And Robert Patrick is a super-cool guy. We chatted for a while about X-Files and his forever being remembered as the T1000.
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Swerb - Good Lord! That's sweet and I know we're all totally jealous! Travolta is a true movie legend and has had one of the most interesting careers (superstardom in the '70s with Fever and Grease... falling to B-movie status... then the comeback with Pulp). Did you ask him if there's another "Look Who's Talking" movie coming?!?!
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That is really, really, cool... even if Travolta is kind of a douche. Still, few things are cooler than the look on his face after he closes the briefcase at the beginning of Pulp Fiction.
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"We cool, Vincent? Vincennnt?"
And funny you mention that Jack, because the intern at the Press asked me the same question. And I think he may be falling back to B-movie status if he doesn't start picking some better roles, and cool it on the hamminess. Still, Be Cool looks promising.
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Well, the preview for Elektra is out:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/elektra.html
It will be a turd, but I will see it anyway just because. Her costume is closer to the comic book version but I still don't know why if they went that far, they couldn't do the original since it's so much cooler than the one she has on here. Oh well.
I will say though that it's sweet to see a bunch of ninjas (called The Hand in the comics) running around like that.
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(or The Foot in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics) ;)
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I'm seeing Elektra Wednesday night... expect an Official Swerb Review sometime thereafter...
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I just watched the director's cut of Daredevil - man, why do I torture myself? It basically added in another subplot that wasn't entirely necessary, so it was essentially a longer version of the first movie. So much potential squandered. Oh well, at least we have Spider-Man...
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Well we went and tried to go see Sideways on Saturday night but by the time I got to the theater, it was sold out, of course. So I got roped into going to Hotel Rawanda, which wasn't bad by any means but about 180 degrees from the kind of movie I was intending to see that night.
Also, Snert, I downloaded the first three seasons of The Family Guy (are there more?) and I have to say that you're right, the show is absolutely hilarious, right from the get-go. They didn't even need a ramping-up period to start getting their shit together. Between that and catching up on Arrested Development, and the 1st 3 seasons of Seinfeld, I'm in sitcom heaven.
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I want to see Hotel Rwanda - it's being compared to Schindler's List. Of course, it doesn't open in GR for a couple weeks yet. Don Cheadle is getting all kinds of Oscar buzz for his role.
There are only three seasons of Family Guy... and I disagree about your ramping-up comment, because I think the episodes start out funny, but the later eps are uproarious. Stewie transforms from his take-over-the-world shtick to a flamboyant, foppish fellow. And my fave character is easily Brian, the dog.
The best line from the series takes place in a later episode when Peter's big fat son (I forget his name now) is feeling self-conscious about his weight. He's at the public pool sitting on the diving board with his dad, and a guy comes up to Peter and says, "Sir, you can't park your van on the diving board." Hilarious.
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His fat son's name is Chris.
I think Iv'e seen every episode four or five times, but there's this one my girfriend saw, I've yet to see (which she said was the best one she's ever seen) where Peter finds out his son's peter is bigger than his.
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Well I guess I can't argue with you since I've only watched the first couple episodes. But they were damn good. If they get better, then hold on to your potatoes! (Short Round from Indy 2)
And yeah, Don Cheadle was awesome in the movie. It was sort of Schindler's like in a way, there are a couple of scenes where you're definitely reminded of it. But it doesn't try to copy in any way and it doesn't have a big melodramatic flair which I give huge kudos for considering that if there's one kind of film in which it'd be okay to heap on the melodrama, this would be it. On the other hand, this makes it closer almost to a documentary, or like a "this happened then this happened" kind of story. I'm not saying it didn't have tender moments, though - I really have no criticism of the movie at all. It was one way of telling part of the Rwanda story among countless other ways that would also be effective.
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I am also a fan of the Family guy. It took a merry band of Norwiegians to get me to watch it. My buddy ended up buying all three episodes, but unfortunately I have not seen all of them.
I really can't say which is my fav..... I do give them the rare distinction of watching with repeated times - and I love them each time I watch! One that I really likes was when Stewie went inside Lois to distroy his brother before he could be born, oh then there is Petoria, and, well Hell they are all frickin funny.
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Fatty, I think you mentioned Touching the Void in a previous post... I just watched it, and it's pretty sweet. Even though the survivors are narrating it and you know they make it out alive, it's still really suspenseful just to find out HOW they make it out of the ordeal. I quite highly recommend it. Bert, I'm sure, would like it quite a bit.
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From my Diamond Comics e-mail:
It has been reported that the first official trailer for 20th Century Fox/Marvel Studios? Fantastic Four motion picture will accompany the companies? Elektra movie, which debuts on Friday, January 14.
Come on... who's seeing Elektra this weekend?
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Not me, man. One guy at work was thinking about seeing it this weekend and asked me about it, and I basically told him that I probably know more about Elektra than everyone in our entire building combined, yet I am not going to see this movie. So neither should you.
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Yeah, Ross - but you said that about Catwoman too.
Oh. Yeah.
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Well, I just saw Elektra, and it has a rather high stank factor, about on par with Daredevil. The action sequences suck, and everything in-between lays there like a dead fish. It wasn't even so-bad-it's-funny like Catwoman was, although I did chuckle at some of the lame dialogue and cheeseball villains. Official Swerb review pending; will be posted here soon. But here's a quick preview: Ick.
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So no surprises, then.
Isn't it kind of insulting to women that Hollywood can't seem to make a decent comic book movie starring one? I mean, Catwoman, Supergirl, Elektra all follow the pattern of trying to cash in on the male comic book hero counterparts, but do a terrible job. And the thing is, if one character (IMO) is well suited to having her own story, it's Elektra. But I honestly believe that Hollywood suits just don't even respect the idea enough to make a serious effort.
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"mystical ninja crapola" - classic.
"a loner who doesn't trust anybody or anything, not even gravity." - absolutely the stankiest among many stanky things about Daredevil was the Spider-Man-like abilities of the combatants.
Question: was Stone a bad guy in the movie? In the comics, Stone was one of Stick's guys, along with Claw, Flame, and Shaft, I think, and maybe one or two others. Stone was Stick's right hand man, and it was said that he could not be killed by any attack that he saw coming. But he did eventually get waxed by the Hand.
And are you sure you got all the names right? Did they refer to Typhoid Mary as just "Typhoid"? And is Kinko = Kirigi? (or am I missing a joke?) Either way, it's forgivable since the movie sounds so crappy. It's too bad, too, since the stuff in the DD comics with Stick's order vs the Hand was pretty cool stuff.
For fun, check out the Tomatometer:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elektra/
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Ooh! The Tomatometer went up! Last time I checked, it was at 2%. (By the way, I'm working on getting links to my reviews added to the Tomatometer - just need my editor to sign off on the idea.)
Stone was a bad guy in the movie. In fact, he's the one Elektra squashed by amazingly steering a falling tree on top of him. They never once referred to Typhoid Mary as anything other than "Typhoid." And I'm positive they said "Kinko" in the movie, although I now can't find that character's name in the credits on IMDB.
I also reviewed the Topher Grace/Dennis Quaid movie In Good Company here:
http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grpress/index.ss
f?/base/entertainment-0/1105717603193870.xml
You'll also note that Scarlett Johansson is blossoming nicely into womanhood (in all the right places, I might add) here:
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808592515&cf=
premiere&photoid=553583&intl=us
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Indeed she is! I actually have acquired a copy of In Good Company and plan on watching it soon. Isn't it kind of funny though that Scarlett Johansson looks kind of like a hotter version of Donna?
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Electra may be evan stankier than Daredevil. Oh well, you can't always have a Spiderman 2 or X-Men can you?
As for Scarlet Johansson, I want to marry her. In my dream world, Scarlett would be my wife, and Lindsay Lohan would be my mistress. They both got some big ass titties!
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I feel the need to contribute to the Scarlett-fest pictographically:
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Hmmm... HOTTIE PICS... a possible new JA section...
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Interesting idea, but I'd be afraid of turning the site into Jackoffery...
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HA HA HA!
Well, with a title like that, now you HAVE to do it, Bert!
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Okay, Daredevil defenders... here's someone of the same mind via another Press reader, who responded "in force" to my Elektra review:
Dear Serba,
Now that the Elektra reviews are out and everyone of
them contains a negative jab at Daredevil, I feel
compelled to respond in force.
I just saw DD for the second time last week. I am
convinced that hatred of this movie has more to do
with a joy that people get from hating Ben Affleck for
teh sake of hating him. Its all about off screen
stuff, like jealousy over J-lo. Affleck is criticized
for being a stiff in the movie, anyone who knows the
DD character knows that Murdock is even stiffer than
Affleck played him. His "fight" with Elektra in the
playground ROCKED!!! It alone was worth the price of
admission and NOTHING in Spiderman 1 compared to it.
His whole relationship with elektra was convincing,
why the constant bitching? I think that some
starbreaker in Hollywood just decided that everyone
was going to pile on Ben Affleck. Now you will say
that you arrived at your opinion independently and
this may be true but you can't deny that theres a
follow the leader dynamic in the entertainment biz
that makes and breaks movies with no regard to merit.
its like that episode of the flintstones where fred
was a star and wilma and betty called him square and
then everyone followed. Daredevil has been victim to a
similar mania.
And how could anyone ignore ferrels Bullseye, can
anyone seriously tell me that Defoes Green Goblin was
even half as edgy? Their fights in the street and in
the church were awesome. Daredevils fight where he
takes out the entire bar was straight outta Miller.
I've read all of the Miller Daredevils and elektras,
and I read them years ago, I know what I'm talking
about.
The Kingpin character was also slick, that guy did an
outstanding job.
When it cam to Daredevil people decided to focus on
its faults, when it came to spiderman it was decided
that we should ignore them.
Spiderman was for people who've never read a comic or
had a hard on in their entire lives. I would be
interested in hearing your rebuttal.
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Dude, that's it. Now I realize I misguidedly shat upon Daredevil because I was really jealous of Ben Affleck hittin J-Lo's bootie. Word!
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Nothing like using the Flintstones to bolster your argument.
And I guess that since this guy read all the Miller Daredevils, he MUST know what he's talking about, like he says. Oh wait... he's full of shit because that playground fight was the fucking stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life.
And that whole thing about comic books? Spider-Man was FAR truer to the source material than Daredevil, so I think he has it entirely backwards: people who've never read a comic book tend to prefer Daredevil, in my experience, since it plays out more like the typical action shlock they've been getting out of Hollywood for years without a real examination into the superhero mindset like Spider-Man provides.
As for Ben Assfleck, I actually kind of like the guy when I see/hear him in interviews, he seems funny and intelligent. And I wanted nothing but good things for him in this movie, as he seemed like a devoted DD fan just like me. But alas, he is stanky and it's not because I don't like him. But it's not all his fault, either - the whole thing was rather poorly made.
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I just saw Sideways tonight. It came out with Ray today but it was not a hard choice. Ray will be watched on Monday. I did enjoy the movie a lot. I hate to admit it, but I saw many of Jackassery's personalities within the 2 main characters, myself included in Miles. Miles I took to be a great cross between me an Ross. Ross came through in the scene where Jack took Miles aside and told him not to fuck things up for him.... That they might even be drinking Merlot that evening. Ross, I mean Miles was 'No! If they start drinking Merlot, I am out of there!' Jack was a great character, and I tagged him for a Tony type. I had a slight relapse of yellow fever for the Stephanie chick! For an older chick she was 'OH' my god hot! (You could have used that one in your GR Press review Swerb)
MDB is not on the movie schedule yet - The next one is Aviator. I am looking forward to that one. Ray should be good as well. The price I pay to be a freeloader in Europe. I guess if MDB is playing in London, I will have to see it there. Lord knows it will not be in Spain.
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Dude, that is so fucking funny, you have no idea!!!!
I was just telling people about that VERY SCENE today, when we were talking about the bus. I said "I AM NOT RIDING THE FUCKING BUS!" and I tried to explain the scene in Sideways, as I likened it to that exactly. I shit you not, I had this conversation TODAY.
It's enough to make me hang up my skeptical ways and believe in psychic phenomena, I tell you....
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I just saw Sideways today. Pretty entertaining although I think Jack is far more assinine than I am. I'd be hittin the asian chick though.
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I watched it for a second time over the weekend. I love it when Jack drives the car into the tree, and when he starts hitting on the fat, ugly waitress. As soon as the wheels start coming off of Jack is when the movie gets really fucking funny.
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Running naked through an ostrich farm. It doesn't get any better than that.
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I need to see it again. I enjoyed it the first time but it had been so hyped up in my mind for so long that it was disappointing in some way. Now that all that's over I can watch it again for laughs.
And since this thread was originally about Elektra, I should mention that I finally watched this turd a few weeks ago. Man, I didn't expect that level of shitosity. Swerb mentioned that whole thing about Stone getting killed by a falling tree. The truly absurd part was that HE knocked the tree down, and somehow managed to get underneath it as it fell. I was scratching my head the entire time.
So yeah, besides that, they managed to take some truly cool characters from the comics and make them dull and nondescript. Kirigi in the comics was fearsome. In the movie he was simply petulant. As I mentioned before, Stone was a good guy and a member of Stick's order. And Typhoid Mary, although hotter in the movie than in the books, was a mere afterthought! Bah!
The plot was lamer than Lieutenant Dan - who the fuck cared about that guy and his ninja daughter? There was no explanation for how she was some kind of Hindu-style prodigy in martial arts, and she was totally unconvincing in her technique. Terence Stamp as Stick, also, was a waste, and he's now in the Anthony Hopkins camp of talented actors who will accept any script that Hollywood offers.
Man, just think how cool it could have been, a real Elektra (or Daredevil) movie in the hands of a director who took it seriously and wasn't out to make a buck and get a bunch of shitty popular bands on the soundtrack? And who could make an inspired casting decision and not get some bubblegum it-girl to play the lead role?
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