The Lord of the Rings will debut in London. Yes! Yes yes yes! But wait… December 10? Will I even be here? Bugger.
Edited 19/04/2025: Link is dead and not archived.
Category: Movies
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Oh no! The lady who played the “Oracle” in The Matrix has died. I wonder how that will affect the sequels?
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Ebert
Some readers call out Roger Ebert for ripping on Zoolander.
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Ebert
That bug seems to be still firmly lodged up Ebert’s ass. This week he rips on John Cusack’s new film.
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Firth problems
Also note down at the bottom of that same IMDb news page, there’s a blurb entitled “Colin Firth Causes Problems For Bridget Jones Sequel.” And what is it about? “Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding has found a flaw in the adaptation of her sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason — Colin Firth has to be in it twice.” DUH. I’ve been telling everybody I know this for weeks. I don’t really think it’s much of a problem though. The main reason is that the Colin Firth interview in the second book only makes sense when you know about Bridget’s obsession with Pride & Prejudice. Since they cut all of those references in the first film, there’s no reason why they have to include them in the second. Also, as I pointed out before, the second book is really sucky plot-wise anyway and the Colin Firth bit has nothing to do with the storyline, so Fielding might as well lift it out and rewrite the whole thing. And lastly, this stupid blurb makes it sound like Fielding really just forgot that Colin Firth was in the second book. Nobody is that stupid. I think she and the filmmakers made a conscious decision to use Firth in the first film knowing that they’d have problems with a sequel. In my opinion, he was perfect to play Mark Darcy and the value of his performance far outweighs a few missing P&P references. (At least, for most of the non-Austen-fanatic moviegoing public.)
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High-concept
You know, in my History of Film class in college, the professor defined a “high-concept” movie as one where the plot can be summed up in 20 words or less. Giving that definition, I wonder where “One Night at McCool’s” fits. Every advert I’ve seen for it only says one thing: “Liv Tyler washes a car.” I predict this film will bomb at the theaters yet do a reasonably good business on video, simply for the teenage-boy-wank factor.
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Crocodile Dundee
Roger Ebert says the new Crocodile Dundee movie isn’t great, but you could do worse. I also appreciated Ebert’s deft use of Australian expressions. (“Good on ya, mate!”) As a side note, why the heck is Ebert’s site so slow these days? Take my advice – if you actually get the main page to load, open all links in a new window. Otherwise you’ll never get back to the main page again.
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Bridget Jones sequel
I knew it would happen. The producers are apparently mulling over a Bridget Jones sequel. I can see A LOT of problems with this. A) The actual book’s sequel wasn’t very good, if you ask me. I liked reading more about Bridget, but the plot itself (which was apparently based on Austen’s “Persuasion,” I think) was a bit ridiculous and not at all funny. B) There wouldn’t be a role for Hugh Grant. Daniel isn’t in the book at all, and for them to write him in would require a major rewrite of the entire story. And besides, they already expanded his damn part for the first one. C) It’s not very romantic. It kills the “happily ever after” you get at the end of the first book/movie. It would be wrong. I’m sorry, Helen Fielding, but I think you should leave well enough alone.
Edited 18/04/2025: Original link is dead and not archived.
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Ebert reviews Bridget
I knew Roger Ebert wouldn’t let me down. I knew it. His review of Bridget Jones is insightful and accurate and funny. He gets it. He liked it. He even made a subtle reference to “Pride and Prejudice.” And I’m pretty sure he calls Colin Firth “luscious” in there. That’s why Ebert’s my favorite.