The General Babblings of Chris Wild
Film
I watched Ferris Bueller 2 last night. I attended a rather glitzy world premier which all the stars also attended. Yes, all the gang back together again….
… so Okay, it was in a dream, but I can tell you.. the film is crap… so if you’re reading John [Hughes], then don’t do it, the script is not very good!
Ferris Bueller, Dreams, Oddness, Movies
I finally got round to watching the Prince of Tides. Having enjoyed the Pat Conroy book so much I was really interested in how the film would pan out. Ultimately, I enjoyed it. However it is definatley a case of the book being better. Not suprisingly really as there is so much in the book that you just can’t fit into a film. It only ran for 2 hours and could easily have been 3.
The film seems to focus on the love story between Tom and Lowenstein, whereas I think that is just the skeleton in the book that the rest of the detail hangs off.
I didn’t actually like Nick Nolte or Barbra Streisand in the leading roles as I felt they over acted them, however it wasn’t enough for me to dislike the film.
One of the things that I was really interested in were the parts that they left out. In the book there is a section about Luke Wingo toward the end which shows how he dies. While reading it I thought that this section alone would make a great film. So as the film completely glossed over it with only a few lines of dialogue, then I am absolutley sure it could make a great film in its own right… ( off to write a script… )
See Also: Currently Reading…
Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy, Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand
Pat Conroy, Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand
Just finished reading H G Wells, The War of the Worlds. One thing that I found very interesting whil reading, was my memory of the script written by Doreen Wayne for Jeff Wayne’s musical version, or more to the point the brilliant narration by Richard Burton.
If we consider the opening of the book, it takes the first 200 or so words to say what Doreen says so eloquently in about 80.
No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us.
 I really enjoyed the book, but it does re-enforce my general belief that older is not necessarily better. As a general rule I don’t enjoy watching old “classic” films, and a number of “classic” books I have read – I didn’t enjoy. It think something that Doreen did in her adaptation of the book was to cut out much of the waffle, like when you buy world of warcraft mounts. Not just as a bridged version, but as a good condensing of meandering narrative. You can read the text of Doreen Wayne’s Adaptation here.
The more I thought about it, the more I considered that Jeff Wayne’s musical is actually a better adaptation of the book that the films. The two films made so far have transported the action to another place and time. Wouldn’t it be much better to have a film set in the time and place that the original story was covering? So am I so glad that I read in a press release…
In addition, earlier this year Jeff commissioned a large team of UK animators to begin production of a feature length CGI-animated film based on his Musical Work which is intended to be released in cinemas in 2007 – and the team are making unbelievable progress. The film will sty true to
the HG Well’s novel, being set in Victorian England and will of course make good use of Jeff’s music!
See Also:
You can read the eText version here.Â
Official Website for Musical Version.
H G Wells, The War of the Worlds, Jeff Wayne, Richard Burton, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
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H G Wells, The War of the Worlds, Jeff Wayne, Richard Burton
Watched Rocky Horror Picture Show on DVD again for the first time in ages. I always love watching it, never tire of it. So many memories from my youth! 🙂 The script is great, so many fantastic lines. And many of the songs are actually quite touching like “Superheroes” and “I’m going home”.
Rocky Horror, Rocky Horror Picture Show Rocky Horror Picture ShowI’ve been looking forward to Tim Burton’s version of CATCF for some time. I love Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and it’s a film that I can watch over and over again. Now, I knew not to compare these two films. Tim Burton was always going to do it differently, and indeed likely stay closer to the book. After the first trailer came out I was desperate to see the film, but when the second trailer came out I started to have doubts. Anyway, I watched it and here goes.
The film is good as a book adaptation. It has none of the magic of the first film, but as I said, that was to be expected. It’s much darker and gorgeously filmed. Johnny Depp plays a brilliant wonka, not the eccentric slightly sinister version played by Gene Wilder, much more odd and emotionally crippled. And this is where the problems with the film start. The screenwriter John August has openly stated that he made Wonka the protagonist of the film which means Wonka is going to grow with the film.
As I pitched it to Tim: Charlie gets a factory, and Willy Wonka gets a family. It’s the whole want-versus-need thing. Charlie doesn’t need a factory. Wonka really needs a family. Otherwise, he’s going to die a giggling misanthropic weirdo.
This really spoils the film. Cut throughout the films are flashbacks to wonka’s childhood. Flashbacks that tried to explain why Wonka is the way he is and why he was driven to become the best confectioner in the world. Only, they don’t work. All the do is distract from the rest of the film. I feel that they become “subtitles for the hard of thinking”. Wonka is an odd character and that is all we need to know, that’s his charm. We don’t need it wrapped up in some neat little parcel. Ultimately this leads to a different focused ending from the book, ie: “Charlie gets a factory, and Willy Wonka gets a family”
It’s a shame because the film goes from being a likable well done Tim Burton film, into a mediocre watch once and forget effort.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory