Todd Phillips Definitely Lost Originality
The co-writer/director of the hilarious comedies Road Trip and Old School, neither the most fresh ideas yet both filled with inventive style, is continuing down the path of conformity that was hoped to be just a fluke with his television series adaptation Starsky & Hutch. This time he and writing partner Scot Armstrong are going with a remake by updating the 1960 British comedy School for Scoundrels with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder in the roles originated by Alastair Sim and Ian Carmichael.
Sean Connery Quits Hollywood
Sean Connery hates Hollywood and the "idiots" making movies today. He hasn't made a movie in three years and says it will take some extreme convincing to get him do another. I love that the man has the balls to speak out about being fed up and I know he has enough money to retire, but I am a bit disappointed that he can't accept any alternatives. I hope that the lack of interest in non-Hollywood fare isn't because of his price tag. Mostly I am just disappointed that I'll never get to see him in a movie like The Rock again. His contempt of big-budget movies has been apparent on screen in the last fifteen years and the attitude is welcomed in action films that take themselves way too seriously. (IMDB)
Invasion Tries to Hide From the Remake Label
Back in the day, when screenwriters and producers weren't original, they pitched movies by referencing others (at least this is what I learn from The Player) as if they were remakes or sequels with no association. The new Invasion of the Body Snatchers redo would be sold as just that but would be reworked and retitled to avoid any licensing problems or redundancy fears.
Now, studios feel they need that association so audiences already have some familiarity with the product being hawked. It doesn't help that The Island and Stealth, this summer's two blockbusters bearing some semblance of individuality (I wouldn't call them original just because they weren't remakes, sequels or adaptations), have tanked, either.
Article comments
1 - Warren
I'm not sure I'd call Stealth individual -- it sounds like Independance Day with artificial intelligence rather than aliens. Maybe I've gotten the wrong impression from the trailers, but just from them, I haven't wanted to see the movie.
2 - Film Cynic
What I mean is that Stealth is not attached or associated directly with any other property.