Posted on 01/07/2005 9:11:29 AM PST by pabianice
As I predicted, the "remake" of the classic "Flight of the Phoenix" is yet another case of the doofuses running Hollywood thinking they can better their betters.
"THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX" (2004)
Production Cost: $ 25 million
Marketing Cost: $ 20 million (est.)
Total since release: $17,537,973 (three weeks)
Viewer drop-off since release: 85%
Daily revenue per screen week of 3 January: $ 97
Who but the liberal morons running Hollywood would think that they could replace Jimmy Stewart, Hardy Kreuger, Richard Attenborough, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Finch, and Ronald Fraser with yucking-it-up Dennis Quaid, "rapper" Tyrese Gobson, and Miranda Otto?
There have been good remakes, haven't there?
Let's see, there was... well, NOT Salem's Lot. The Thing is arguable -- I think they're both pretty good movies, just totally different. Um, what else?
Dan
Here's the difference between "classic" Hollywood and today. Courtesy of a Marine I know.
In contrast to the ideals, opinions and feelings of today's "Hollywonk" the real actors of yesteryear loved the United States. They had both class and integrity. With the advent of World War many of our actors went to fight rather than stand and rant against this country we all love.
They gave up their wealth, position and fame to become service men & women, many as simple "enlisted men".
This page lists but a few, but from this group of only 18 men came over 70 medals in honor of their valor, spanning from Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, Distinguish Service Cross', Purple Hearts and one Congressional Medal of Honor.
So remember; while the "Entertainers of 2003" have been in all of the news media lately I would like to remind the people of what the entertainers of 1943 were doing, (60 years ago).
Most of these brave men have since passed on.
Real Hollywood Heroes
Alec Guinness (Star Wars) operated a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.
James Doohan ("Scotty" on Star Trek) landed in Normandy with the U. S. Army on D-Day.
Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape) really was an R. A. F. pilot who was shot down, held prisoner and tortured by the Germans.
David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy.
James Stewart Entered the Army Air Force as a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel.
During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber pilot, his service record crediting him with leading more than 20 missions over Germany, and taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty.
Stewart earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, France's Croix de Guerre, and 7 Battle Stars during World War II.
In peace time, Stewart continued to be an active member of the Air Force as a reservist, reaching the rank of Brigadier General before retiring in the late 1950s.
Clark Gable (Mega-Movie Star when war broke out) Although he was beyond the draft age at the time the U.S. entered WW II, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles.
He attended the Officers' CandidateSchool at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942.
He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943 he was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook where flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s.
Capt. Gable returned to the U.S. in Oct. 1943 and was relieved from active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944 at his own request, since he was over-age for combat.
Charlton Heston was an Army Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak.
Earnest Borgnine was a U. S. Navy Gunners Mate 1935-1945.
Charles Durning was a U. S. Army Ranger at Normandy earning a Silver Star and awarded the Purple Heart.
Charles Bronson was a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps, more specifically on B-29s in the 20th Air Force out of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan.
George C. Scott was a decorated U. S. Marine.
Eddie Albert (Green Acres TV) was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.
Brian Keith served as a U.S. Marine rear gunner in several actions against the Japanese on Rabal in the Pacific.
Lee Marvin was a U.S. Marine on Saipan during the Marianas campaign when he was wounded earning the Purple Heart.
John Russell: In 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he received a battlefield commission and was wounded and highly decorated for valor at Guadalcanal.
Robert Ryan was a U. S. Marine who served with the O. S. S. in Yugoslavia.
Tyrone Power (an established movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed) joined the U.S. Marines, was a pilot flying supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Audie Murphy, little 5'5" tall 110 pound guy from Texas who played cowboy parts?
Most Decorated serviceman of W.W.II and earned:
Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals with "V", 2 Purple Hearts, U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, 2 Distinguished Unit Emblems, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France) World War II Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar, Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar, French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm.
Oh, I wanted to add- I always found the first Willy Wonka to be disturbing. When I was little that scene in the boat where the centipede is crawling around and the chicken gets its head cut off used to scare the crap out of me.
With only $45 Million in this picture I think in the long run they will either break even or make a some money. DVD might bail them out on this and of course the overseas market might make enough for this film to turn a profit even before DVD. Not as bad as say "Alexander" or the horrible remake of "Alfie".
Yeah but toning it down tends to be a skill directors lose over time rather than gain. Something about being successful when they're wierd makes them less likely to avoid wierd. Look at the direction Lynch took. And Burton has a certain rhythm, he's turns everything into "Tim Burton's..." which is OK but I don't think Tim Burton's Harry Potter would be that good, it would still probably make bank, but frankly they could release the rehersal footage and it would make bank. Anyway why would you want to replace the guy that did #3, I thought he kicked ass, the look of the whole movie was wonderful and deep and filled with the magic that should be in the world of Potter, he really made the first two look low rent.
Yes and it has Johnny Depp playing Wonka and I will not watch this under any circumstances.
Wasn't that about astronauts that think they crashed on a planet and go nuts over the water and food? Isn't that where one kills the other, only to find out that they crashed in the desert on earth?
-PJ
Already made it and it was cable movie remake with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close. WIll not watch that film either. It came out in 2003.
The first Willy Wonka had it's disturbing moments, something I first glommed onto as an adult was just how much Willy doesn't like kids or more specifically doesn't like bad parents and their unfortunate creations. But outside the moments Wonka is a basically warm hearted guy in the first movie. From what I've seen of the remake Depp looks slightly pyschotic and about ready to disembowel almost everyone else in the picture, probably something to do with that pageboy haircut.
"Paul Mantz (of Talmantz Aviation) was killed during the filming."
I read a book about Paul Mantz. Great pilot. Sad end.
RIP Paul
LOL! Yes, I agree that the pageboy is very, very disturbing. Oh and what's with the band that just randomly pops up? Is that supposed to be like an Oompa Loompa band? I watched it again and still can't figure it out.
Remakes are uneven; probably, originals are too.
Some are much better than the original:
Philadelphia Story (High Society)
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Maltese Falcon (Bogart's remake was better)
Viktor und Viktoria
Love Affair (An Affair to Remember)
Frontier Marshal (My Darling Clementine)
My Darling Clemetine (Gunfight at the OK Corral)
Some are about the same:
The Killers
The Ten Commandments
Ben Hur
Yojimbo (A Fistful of Dollars)
Imitation of Life
Some are much worse:
Love Affair (Sleepless in Seattle)
The Big Sleep
King Kong
Rear Window
Gunfight at the OK Corral (Wyatt Earp)
I refuse to see this, and the Mangled-churian Candiate. With Mangled, they took a movie that in near-Nostradamus manner predicted the Clinton Presidency and appear to make it an attack on Haliburton.
I really like Denzel movies. He always has the bad guys reap what they sow. But, this is one I will go out of my way to avoid.
Christopher Walken as Willa Wonka? That's a pretty inspired choice. Gene Wilder was just...off...enough to make the part unique, and Walken is one of the few guys who could add the same sense of weirdness without being over the top.
Agreed. Adding a gay encounter between the old professor & a student vampire failed to improve the story, IMO.
However, if his goal was to simply make the story more creepy, King succeeded. Though perhaps not in the manner intended.
I didn't know they only had that guy signed for one, hopefully the Mike Newell (had to look it up, trying to discuss two guys without names in the same sentence is confusing) will do OK. He also did Donnie Brasco and a couple episodes of Young Indiana Jones. He's got a pretty heavy TV background but he doesn't seem to be addicted to close-ups and extreme close-ups like so many TV directors (eg Johnathan Frakes who made the most big screen unwatchable Star Trek movies).
For the umpteenth time, it's THE CURSE OF DENNIS QUAID.
No movie starring Dennis Quaid has even been a box-office smash. Well-known fact in Hollywood.
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