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Film Tirade: Where's the BUZZ?
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Where's the BUZZ? And my god those buns are HUGE!
FILM TIRADE: This might be just a bit premature, and I'm not really in full-bloom TIRADE mode like I was back when I heard Stephen Sommers had been handed the car keys to the Tarzan franchise so that he could drive it straight into the nearest chasm of DOOM. No this isn't as heavy as all that bollocks. But what I am noticing in 2008 is the obvious lack of "critical darling" films, especially this Fall film season.
I'm one of those people that really look forward to this time of year as far as films go. I love watching movies gather "buzz" and receive garlands of roses from both media sources and the general movie-going public, and in turn extend their stay in theaters till sometime just short of Oscar night. From what I can gather, so far in the Fall of 2008, or maybe even back in the Spring of 2008, we haven't had that movie yet. In fact the only film that's generated any amount of "buzz" at all has been last Summer's The Dark Knight. (review) And I'm starting to believe that with only 8 weeks left in the year that Batman just might be the best thing that ever came out of 2008...
Of course there's still plenty of films left in the allotted 8 weeks of this year. Although a few really promising looking movies have packed their bags and headed into the unknown territories of 2009. Ed Zwick's Defiance has been delayed until early 2009. And John Hillcoat's adaptation of The Road has hit the road apparently, to some undisclosed future date. Both films did look fairly solid.
Of course we've still got some great looking titles left in 2008. Baz Luhrmann's Australia looks like a big glass vile of cinema crack. And David Fincher's holiday flick The Curious Case of Benjamin Button may assuage some of the minus-buzz anxieties. And I notice Clint Eastwood is doubling up on movies again this Fall with The Changeling, (bad title, especially when they released it in October - I honestly thought this flick was going to be a remake of The Changeling starring George C. Scott) and the pseudo-promising looking Gran Torino, (nice to see Mr. Eastwood put the old truck back into ass-kicking gear) but we're days away from November 2008, and there's still really no buzz-worthy films worth mentioning yet.
Ridley Scott's sub-excellent Body of Lies came and went almost without a sound. Oliver Stone's W. hit the box-office and trade papers like three ounces of dandelion wisps. And Fernando Meirelles, who's usually hot with the film critic associations, failed to get any real response with his new film Blindness. (review) These are indeed lean times in movie-land my friends...
This time last year I was enjoying George Clooney's performance in Michael Clayton and marveling at what a great film Director Ben Affleck had turned out to be with Gone Baby Gone. The year before that we were all sitting in theaters watching Little Miss Sunshine outstay her welcome almost till year's end. Where are these movies in Fall 2008?
Believe me I'm not going to complain if Heath Ledger wins a posthumous Best Actor award, or if David Fincher finally gets nominated for Benjamin Button. I'd love to see that. But it's sort of spooky when you know the big pimps in Hollywood aren't dropping their best stock off onto the street corners of American movie houses when the time for it is prime, and the Johns, (me included) need a good distraction from the wears of every day life in the cold days of the pre-winter season. Film critics, movie geeks, and Oscar as well, need some profesional company this time of year. As of right now we're driving around the back alleys looking for a cheap date and coming up with cinematic crack-ho's... Where's Heidi Fleiss when you need her?
I'm thinking maybe Hollywood is doing what everybody in American business is doing. Waiting for the election to be over, so we can all get on with our lives again. To which I say I'm glad that there is only six days left till E-day. I need to see a good movie this Fall... -TIRADE OVER- (not really a tirade after all, just a minor squall)
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