Fall Movies ( 秋季影评 )

EW just released its fall movie preview. I believe most of those lists will go straight to video rental shelves. However, there are three movies indeed catch my attention for different reasons.

1. 007 “Casino Royale”

When United Artist announced that Daniel Craig would be the new James Bond, those diehard 007 fans from all over the world suddenly turn into Owls, they all shouted: “ Who? Who?” Some have been outraged by his hair color, some are curious about his sexual orientation. Behind all these frustration is the uncertainty about the cold-war style spy plot in the unfitted post-cold-war era.
The recent two 007 movies featuring Bond thwarted a corporation CEO and intervened a real lunatic. Are we comfortable enough to see our fictional super spy working as an IRS agent or brain shrinker? That explains why the new movie wants to bring back the “Casino Royale” and reintroduce it as if the other twenty 007 films never existed, only this time there are no Sean Connery and the evil empire. It is definitely a bold move but inevitable fruitless. Unless Daniel Craig admits he is gay and the new Bond girl is played by Brad Pitt, the 007 series are, eventually, going down the hill.

2. "The Departed"

Speaking of down the hill, Martin Scorsese’ new film “ The Departed” is scheduled release in Oct. 2006. I saw the Hong Kong version of this movie (无间道) two years ago. It’s really a dull plot. Can Martin Scorsese re-shape it in a more vivid way? All things considered, the odds doesn’t look so good. Let’s face it, he deserved an Oscar either for “Taxi Driver” or “Good Fellas”, but after that, especially in recent years, he started to lose it. I have a suggestion for his next Oscar inquiry. Ok, I have three with all the benign intention ---

First, find a new PR person who can take care of Martin’s off-screen people skills. You don’t really think the beloved Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson took multiple awards by accident.

Second, ditch Leonard DiCaprio. The truth is out that he is never going to be another Robert De Niro. Even with Joe Pesci waving baseball bat behind him, Leonard still remind audience of the sidekick boy from “Growing Pain”.

Third, Martin should use AX instead of scissors to edit his movie. No movie should last four hours and no conversation should exceed twenty minutes. My idea is to have a law mandate all movies to be capped within two hours. If some weirdo desperately need a four-hour movie, he can just watch the same movie twice.
Wait, there is one more thing, Martin. Please stop doing those America Express ads. Tons of less talented directors enthusiastically want to squeeze in the commercial business.

3. "Maria Antoinette"

Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst represent, by all means, the hope of Hollywood youngest generation. Ironically, they teamed up for an old saga in“ Maria Antoinette”.
Why the Queen of France? After all, she was not a significant figure in French history but an exciting character in world literature. Her name in history book means the very own greedy venom in Versailles. What is interesting is, in the meanwhile, she was also an extremely elegant lady. On her way to the guillotine, she accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot, and her last words were, "Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose." It always makes me wonder what she actually thought at that moment since my grandfather told me this story when I was a kid. Was she plain retarded or there were something else, spiritually, tranquilized her mind to face her destiny? Apparently, the inner conflict of the main character generates real challenge for both the actress and director.
As a matter of fact, I think Drew Barrymore is more suitable to play this role than Kirsten Dunst. A former coming back and turning around child, Drew probably has more understanding about this derailed personality. And of course, her chubby appearance will help too. I believe Sofia Coppola will agree with me if she can afford Drew.

---Written by HeDou in August 2006