Miscellaneous update for 4/16
Trying something new today. Since I've thus far mostly got a few smaller unrelated bits to get to, I'm logging them all into one update for space purposes. (I'm going to need the room to deal with the "Kill Bill" and "Punisher" related musings sure to pop up starting tommorow.) Titles in caps for seperate sections:
"GODZILLA" RETURNS
A hugely important event to the history of Monster Movies will occur on May 7th. No, I don't mean the official "rebirth" of the Universal Horros in Stephen Sommers' "Van Helsing." (Though that DOES look pretty cool thus far, dunnit?) I'm talking about the first ever legitimate U.S. stateside release of the uncut, unedited, un-dubbed original Japanese version of "Godzilla: King of The Monsters."
The original 1954 "Godzilla" was a bleak but deadly-serious anti-nuclear parable from the one country that knows more than anyone about the devastation of Atomic Weaponry. The film, of course, concerns an irradiated dinosaur that rampages through Tokyo. In it's original vision, the film framed the epic carnage as a decidedly un-subtle analogy for the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The "point" was not lost on Japanese citizens of the time, who made the film a hit, and the great Akira Kurosawa subsequently declared it to be "one of the most important Japanese films ever made."
It was a big enough hit to cross to the U.S., but to avoid the public outcry over a film so blatantly anti-nuclear (and, it could be argued, anti-American by proxy) the distributors cut out the more somber, symbolic moments and inserted new scenes of actor Raymond Burr as an American reporter who witnesses the Big G's attack (relegating the tragic love-triangle of the "real" leads of the original film to the narrative margins.)
The May 7th releases is the first EVER screening of this seminal genre classic. "Film Threat" online has a lil' writeup on the event:
http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=5997
Meh. When DID "Film Threat's" guys get so darn snarky about these things? The writer is entitled to his opinion, of course, butfrom where I'm standing he couldn't have missed the monumentally important POINT of this colossal Film Geek Event by miles. Nice to see the online press taking belated notice, in any case.
"FLASH GORDON" LIVES!
Admit it: 1 in 3 of you who just read that are now humming "Queen" songs. Good for you :)
The New Age of Geek Cinema rolls on, as yet another languishing-in-development fan-favorite project suddenly gets a greenlight and a fast-track. Oh, but this has NOTHING to do with comic-adaptations taking over the boxoffice and "Lord of the Rings" taking over this years Oscars and the Geek Community being the new must-please audience in the industry. You're right, I'm just an optimistic conspiracy theorist about the whole "New Age of Geek Cinema" thing. Geez, WHERE did I come up with THAT, eh? :)
Ahem. So, anyway, IGN Filmforce reports that Stephen Sommers, late of "The Mummy" and "Van Helsing" is allegedly tapped to produced another big-screen version of "Flash Gordon." Two words for Universal on this: Nicely done.
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/506/506851p1.html?fromint=1
This has been a rumor for awhile, and since Sommers' agents at William Morris won't confirm it as far as I'm concerned it still IS a rumor, the notion that Universal is casting their nets at high-profile talent like Sommers ("Van Helsing" is tipped to be a HUGE winner for the studio come May) means that they are VERY hot to get this made. Thats good news for fans of kicky scifi/fantasy epics.
It doesn't take an industry-insider to tell you what's behind this: The seismic-shift that's taken place in Hollywood following the "Lord of the Rings" earthquake has every studio looking to get their own franchise-ready Geek-appeal sf/f flicks made in a BIG way.
Currently, in the world as it now stands, properly-budgeted, respectful cinematic versions of "John Carter," "Flash Gordon" and "Chronicles of Narnia" are all set up at major studios as a direct result of "LOTR's" proving it can be done. Peter Jackson, to borrow a phrase, you bow to no one.
MEOW, ME UGH!
News for Geeks can't be ALL rosy, of course. Despite what must be a deluge of prayers by film fans the world over to all gods, demigods and deities both major and minor, Warner Bros. is STILL moving ahead with Halle Berry's "Catwoman," aka WB's bid to unseat it's own "Batmanb & Robin" as the single worst comic book adaptation ever made.
Superherohype.com offers links to a pair of unofficial posters for the ticking bomb, made up of already-released promotional material. Click at your own risk, and try to let the knowledge that Christopher Nolan's all-signs-point-to-great "Batman Begins" will be out within a year suppress your understandable urge to end it all looking at these:
http://www.superherohype.com/catwoman/index.php?id=1201
STAR WARS DVD PETITION & A PLEA TO THE FANDOM
Just about every Film Geek worth his salt has already seen or heard of this by now, but just because there can never be too many signatures on this thing I encourage everyone visiting here to read and (if you agree) sign this now-infamous petition to George Lucas asking him, in the name of the preservation of our shared Film Heritage, to release on DVD the original, uncut, unedited "Star Wars" series.
http://www.originaltrilogy.com/
Background: At the end of the Summer, Lucasfilm will release the first three "Star Wars" films in a DVD collection. HOWEVER, the films released though advertised simply as "Star Wars" will NOT be the films as they original existed; they will be the heavily-altered "Special Editions" released in the late-1990s. Despite an unprecedented outcry from fans, Lucas has refused to ever allow the REAL "Star Wars" to ever be seen again.
As if that weren't bad enough, he has recently made action to stop the exhibition of theatrical prints of the original-version films and it is heavily rumored that the films will be altered FURTHER for the DVD release (to make them "coincide" further with the newer "Prequel Trilogy.")
My take on this? The cause, however noble and commendable, is pretty futile. Lucas has, I think, made up his mind on this one. He doesn't like the original films, feels the Special Editions are the "real" versions now, and he's holding all the cards. Reason to despair? Absoloutely. New Age of Geek Cinema this may be, but the atmosphere of new joy is ever-tinged by the sad knowledge that, as the Geekdom rises to prominence one of it's progenitors has turned against it.
From the worrisome debacle of the "Special Editions" to the outright disaster of the Prequel Trilogy thus far, (2 stinkers down and 1 to go,) watching George Lucas' mad, sadistic dismantling of all the good that may have been left in "Star Wars" is akin to watching one's girlfriend being savagely beaten by her father: For close to nine years now, the Movie Geek Community has had to sit by and watch as what was once the lynchpin franchise of Cinematic Geekdom is bludgeoned to death by it's once-mighty creator.
I have no desire to own the Special Editions on DVD. I have no desire to see the proposed cover box, which falsely claims to hold "Star Wars" instead of "A Pale Shadow of Star Wars," blight my DVD shelf.
So I'm not buying them. Seriously.
The reason that the studios felt they were able to ignore the Geekdom as a demographic worth listening to for so long was entirely based on the assumption that we'll "buy anything." That our curiosity even about BAD projects that pique our interest means that they're in no danger of losing ticket business in the Geek market. For the most part, it's true. Part of being a Film Geek is being a SERIOUS film watcher, and a serious film watcher doesn't form opinions until he/she SEES the film. And since Hollywood gets paid no matter if you hate or love the film you saw, well... you know the rest.
VERY rarely can bad word of mouth send the studios a message about a bad film that was a hit: It happened most notably with the American "Godzilla" remake in 1998. Primarily, the chances for statement-making by film lovers are limited to the economic variety. This is a chance for me to make mine, and I'm making it. I paid to see your Special Editions once, Mr. Lucas, and I've no desire to ever pay for them again. I'll buy my ticket to stand in the funeral-like atmosphere of the line to see Episode III, but after that I am done. No more "Star Wars" DVD until the REAL DEAL is available for sale.
Who's with me?
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