The Crow is a movie that, like its protagonist, managed to find a second life for itself long after its release in 1994. It continues to hold a cult status today for its dark theme and pioneering of the gritty superhero story arc, but of course it bears even more recognition as the film which resulted in the tragic death of its lead, Brandon Lee.
Much like the recent passing of Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight (Nobody saw ‘Imaginarium‘ so it doesn’t count, before you jump down my throat), The Crow stands as the final showcase of Lee’s promising talent, so it carries an almost memorial-like status for fans. It’s a delicate thing to steamroll over, but that’s just what Relativity Media are trying to do.
In April, Relativity was interested in Bradley Cooper to star, but he had to drop out for ‘scheduling reasons’ and while the studio looked at replacing him with Channing Tatum or Mark Wahlberg, the project inevitably was put on hold (hopefully to beat the casting director with a chair), as quoted here by Hollywood Reporter:
“Bradley Cooper was to have played the title character but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that he has now exited due to scheduling conflicts. Cooper has David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook shooting this fall and then dives straight into Legendary’s Paradise Lost, which shoots first quarter next year…the exact time Relativity plans on making the high-priority Crow […] But akin to the project’s rock musician who is killed and resurrected, two new names have surfaced as possible replacements: Channing Tatum and Mark Wahlberg.”
With Cooper out and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo following suit, the production seems to be dead in the water, but we are now able to check out a slew of just-released concept art by Diego Latorre, courtesy Shock Till You Drop, which gives us a look at the general tone and direction the remake would have followed:
From Latorre himself: “‘The Crow’ images published are very early production sketches and are based in my own visual interpretation of the character and not necessarily in Apaches Entertainment and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s vision.”
For all the concept art, click here. To reminisce on the days before they tried to give The Crow cornrows, click here.
Former Wu-Tang member Robert Diggs, better known as RZA, has been cast as Thaddeus, a role that hasn’t had much news released about it. As well as that, Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast as Scotty, a role that also hasn’t had much disclosure. In fact, the entire film itself has thus far been kept under wraps relatively well, considering you haven’t read the PDF version of the script floating around the internet.
Be as skeptical as you want, but The RZA can act. Surprisingly well, I might add. Besides doing some of the soundtrack for the Kill Bill films, RZA’s face has been popping up in numerous projects like Coffee and Cigarettes, Funny People, American Gangster, Repo Men, Due Date, The Next Three Days, and most recently, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. He’s known for being a scene-stealer, and there’s a good chance he’ll fulfill that duty in Django.
As far as Sacha Baron Cohen, we all know and love him from films like Borat, Bruno, Talladega Nights, the Madagascar movies, and Sweeney Todd. He’ll soon be starring in a new film called The Dictator (not to be confused as a remake of the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film, The Great Dictator), which will be directed by Borat/Bruno director, Larry Charles. Cohen will also be portraying Freddie Mercury in an upcoming and unnamed Queen biopic.
As for participating in Django, Cohen is a special kind of actor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if he’s in a movie, the role was most likely written for him, so seeing him in a Tarantino film leads me to think that his role will be not only extremely interesting, but hovering around genius. I trust both Cohen and Tarantino when it comes to successfully making great films, so there’s no reason that a collaboration between the two won’t be explosive.
Tarantino is known for his offbeat but almost always-successful casting, and with stars of this caliber, there’s no doubt in my mind that Django Unchained will be one of the best films of 2012.
For the decade plus, I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that I felt Batman & Robin was the worst movie of all time. And that’s not a passing remark. This is something I’ve really thought a lot about. I spent over 5 years working behind video store counters in my youth, getting paid to talk movies with costumers, so this is a conversation that’s happened hundreds of times. A lot of people think I’m picking something at random when they ask me because I answer so quickly. People laugh and agree it sucked, but the worst ever? Often times they doubt me, but they haven’t put the thought I have into it. This is a movie with a $110 million dollar budget (back when that meant something), an established Director, great cast and most importantly, an icon that has endured for the better part of a century. Bat Nipples…
Let’s start at the head: Director Joel Schumacher. Prior to 1997, Schumacher had a mostly stellar reputation. Aside from the obvious The Lost Boys, he also put out A Time to Kill, Flatliners, andFalling Down. All of which were pretty well received. I know I was a fan. But in 1997, he spent $110 million (which is more than it took to make all 4 of the aforementioned films) on a mockery of everything DC and Tim Burton had spent so much time shaping.
The Dark Knight got dark again in the 1970s and 1980s, thanks largely to Frank Miller, and the guys at DC wanted a movie to reflect that. They spent most of the 80s trying to get one made, and finally, in 1989 we got Tim Burton’s Batman. It was as far from the hokey 60’s television show as you could have gotten, and it redefined Batman for a new generation. No “BAM! KAPOW!”, but instead a seriously darker look at Gotham City and the Caped Crusader.
The TV show in the 1960’s was a necessary step to keeping ‘Batman’, who was on the verge of his comic getting canceled, alive. And the show achieved that goal. It made Batman relevant again, or at least popular enough to keep his comic going. And while the 1970’s brought the seriousness back to the book, and reintroduced The Joker as a legitimate threat, Batman’s rep was already tarnished by the very show that saved him.
So there we were, 20 years after the end of the TV show and Burton’s Batman comes out and crushes everything at the box office. Batman was reborn.
After 20 years of fighting to rebuild Batman’s image, it was finally a success. The ‘Dark Knight’ was dark once more. Burton pumped out a sequel that saw more of the Gotham built-in the first movie, and shortly after that we got one of the greatest cartoons of all time.
Then, in 1995, Joel Schumacher was handed the franchise and it took a turn.
At first glance Schumacher must’ve seemed like a perfect fit. Flatliners was dark as Hell and Falling Down was as hardcore a vigilante movie as we’d seen since Charlie Bronson’s Death Wish.
But what we got was a lighter Batman then we’d seen in the previous 2 movies.Batman Foreverwasn’t completely terrible, but it certainly didn’t hold a candle to its predecessors. Sure, Jim Carrey’s ‘Riddler’ was gonna lighten things up by nature.
And it’s not Schumacher’s fault that the writers destroyed Two-Face, turning him in a joke. And let’s face it, Robin was forced on him.
All these factors, along with Keaton leaving the title role were going to handicap Schumacher, so in large, he got a pass.
2 years later we get Batman & Robin. Surely Schumacher has ironed out the kinks from the last film, right? WRONG. He took everything wrong with the 3rd movie, and expanded on it. He made it Cheesier. He introduced a Bat-Credit Card. Brought in Batgirl in the dumbest way imaginable, and put nipples on the Bat-Suit. Because nothing strikes fear in the hearts of villainy like erect male nipples. Schumacher ignored the very purpose of the first movie and reverted back to the exact garbage they were trying to escape.
Next, the cast:
[quote] “[The cast] is quite a line-up, boasting a broad choice of dramatic styles, and what lends the movie cohesion and integrity is the fact that all those involved have come up with their worst imaginable performances…You sit there feeling brain-damaged and praying for the mayhem to cease.” – Anthony Lane, The New Yorker. [/quote]
Like him or not, George Clooney is a good actor. I loved Out of Sight and I thought he was perfect in From Dusk Till Dawn. Then the Academy also liked him in all those Oscar type movies for which he was nominated. I really don’t think you can blame Clooney for ruining this. If I were asked to play Batman I’d of said yes too, regardless of the script.
So then, next to Clooney we bring in Alicia Silverstone, still hot coming off of Clueless and it kills her career. Silverstone was another actress I liked, but she never really recovered from her inclusion in here to reach the heights previously expected of her.
And on the other side of the law, 2 of my all time favorites: Arnold and Uma.
I mean look at that, what the F? Polar Bear slippers? This man is dead inside, he wouldn’t wear Polar Bear slippers to keep his feet warm. I love Schwarzenegger, but this might be his low point, and yes, I’m includingHercules in New York.
As far as Uma, there is no doubt this is her lowest point. What’s sad is these are 2 of my favorite villains and seeing them misused here…well, as Charles Barkley would say: Turrible. And let’s not forget, they took Bane. The man who broke the bat, and turned him into a brainless joke of a henchmen.
So you have a huge budget for the time, a strong cast, a respected Director, and a cultural Icon. You take all that and give us what amounts to Sub-B movie. Schumacher had a responsibility to the character and he failed. It was because of this colossal failure that a lot of planned comic movies got shelved, and it wasn’t till Singer did X-Men 3 years later that people started to forget how Schumacher had undone all of Burton’s work.
Well EMPIRE a while back conducted a poll and released a list of the 50 WORST MOVIES EVER MADE. And guess who feels vindicated? Booyah. #1 with a bullet on that list: BATMAN & ROBIN. Not only did it win this dubious honor, but it racked up more than three times as many votes as the second place flop BATTLEFIELD EARTH.
Other notables making the list:
#50 – Spiderman 3
#46 – Howard the Duck
#45 – Blade Trinity
#44 – Matrix Revolutions
#41 – Van Helsing (Screw You Wolverine)
#40 – Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
#39 – Dungeons and Dragons
#37 – Max Payne
#36 – Eragon
#35 – House of the Dead
#32 – The Spirit (Should’ve been higher)
#27 – Street Fighter
#25 – Transformers 2
#15 – Catwoman (Just edging out PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE)
#13 – The Avengers (Uma, NOOOOO!)
#9 – Highlander 2
Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.
The newest trailer for The Hunger Games is out and thank God it’s not another spinning acid trip in the woods. For a while there I thought I was watching daytime outtakes from The Blair Witch Project. With slightly less snot.
I will say from the top that I like the trailer. It encapsulates the character of Katniss quite well, and I am more than pleased with Jennifer Lawrence in the role with what I’ve seen so far. That and Donald Sutherland is basically a badass, so you know he’ll be awesome. I can make my peace with Lenny Kravitz, I really can. I’m sure he had the best acting coaches money could buy that auto-tuned his on-screen performance. I’m sure he knows some guitar hypnosis voodoo to get what he wants.
I really have a hard time making my peace with Woody Harrelson because of what an obscenely awful actor he is. He wasn’t exhibited much in the trailer, but I think this role should be a cinch for him. He’s like Keanu Reeves. Keanu has solid performances when he plays someone who has no clue what’s going on; because Keanu has no clue what’s going on. In this film, Woody portrays a crazy drunk who tends to lash out in a violent rage. Three shots of Tequila and he just has to read the script.
Anyhow, here it is…
I have high hopes for this film because I did thoroughly enjoy the book. There is a wide margin of screw-up possibility, as in any book to film adaptation. However, being that this was the only book in the trilogy that was actually worth reading, I’m excited to see it. This new trailer really gave us a glimpse into Katniss’ life before and leading up to the games; her bravery in volunteering to die to save her sister’s life, her friendship with her fellow tribute, Peeta. It felt inspiring. Hopefully the film lives up to the hype.
Love has been represented on film since cameras could capture imagery. For hundreds of years, love has been the sole representation of many artists through all kinds of artistic mediums. Music, paintings, sculptures, and even buildings have been created due to love.
So, why is it that love can’t be honestly captured through cinema? Is it because “love knows no bounds” and is impossible to represent through a picture? Or is it because we really don’t want to know what love actually is, rather a more, well, romantic version of it.
Like Crazy, which is director Drake Doremus’ debut film, is about a pair of college students who fall for each other during their senior year. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) is an aspiring furniture maker, while Anna (Felicity Jones) is hoping to make it as a journalist. The two meet after Anna leaves a romantic, and somewhat long, note on Jacob’s car. They go on a date, and the chemistry is immediate. For the rest of their final year at college, they’re inseparable, but when graduation rolls around, Anna has to go home because her student visa has expired. She’d have to be out of the country and out of Jacob’s arms for two and a half months. Not able to bear this almost insurmountable amount of time, she decides that she’s going to stay, and Jacob stupidly agrees.
The two spend the rest of the summer together, until she really has to go back for a family member’s wedding. When she tries to come back to the states, though, she is denied access due to violation of her prior visa. She is sent back to London alone and heartbroken. The film then fades to what we can presume is a couple of months later since Jacob and Anna don’t seem to be talking much anymore. Finally, Jacob breaks down and goes to London to visit her, where again the two are madly in love. During the end of their holiday together, Anna suggests that Jacob be allowed to see other people for “his benefit” because she feels like he’s “not able to live the life he wants to.” Jacob is hurt by this, and goes back to the states lonely and heartbroken (sensing a pattern here?).
The film proceeds to fade again to what the audience must presume is months later again. Jacob is now with a girl named Sam (Jennifer Lawrence, oddly enough, as Yelchin’s love interest for the 2nd time this year, after the far superior ‘The Beaver’). Anna is alone, and begs Jacob to come back and marry her because she’s so madly in love with him. Jacob then stupidly agrees again, breaks Sam’s heart, and goes and marries Anna.
They are then separated again for six more months while Anna’s visa application processes. When the six months are up, they go to get everything validated, only to find out that her visa is still not eligible for validation to due the first incident. Angry and annoyed by this, they have another huge fight, which prompts them to divorce.
Jacob goes back to the states lonely and heartbroken yet again.
You guys know the drill by now. Film fades, Jacob is back with Sam, and Anna is with Simon (Charlie Bewley), a neighbor that was a little too friendly with Anna when Jacob wasn’t with her. Both Simon and Sam seem exponentially happy with their relationships whereas Jacob and Anna still aren’t fulfilled even though it clearly looks like they are. I know you must hate me by now as I’m giving away the entire plot, or shreds of what can be called a plot, but I feel required to for numerous reasons.
For one, Like Crazy is a mostly aimless film. Written only in outlines, and having the cast improvise all of the lines, Like Crazy is simply a selection of scenes rather than a coherent story. At first, I thought that the improvisational approach the film took was both experimental and innovative, but seeing how conventional the story is, and how bland the characters are, it seems more like a lazy cop-out than an artistic decision. Our protagonists are borderline unlikable in the way that they toy with the feelings of not only each other, but also all the other people around them. Anna’s parents, whose roles end up being more of an extended cameo than anything, have the most fascinating and funny scenes in the film. They represent a much happier, more decisive couple that knew what they were getting into before they rushed to get married.
In my opinion, Sam was a much better match for Jacob than Anna, but love does what it wants, and in this case, it kicked her heart in the ass, twice I might add, which I felt was extremely unfair to her character. As for Simon, he was also a great guy who truly cared about Anna’s well-being and future. Not that Jacob didn’t, but I felt like Simon took a much more proactive approach to life than Jacob did.
In defense of Like Crazy, the performances, music, and direction were all fantastic, but its lackluster and frankly boring story, as truthful and real as it may seem to be, drags its 89 minute running time to extraneous and unfair lengths. Like Crazy plays out like a hybrid of (500) Days of Summer and Going The Distance, but neither as funny, entertaining or insightful. If you want to see love in all different forms, go to a wedding. There’s more drama, more dancing, and free food.
“Bradley Cooper was to have played the title character but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that he has now exited due to scheduling conflicts. Cooper has David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook shooting this fall and then dives straight into Legendary’s Paradise Lost, which shoots first quarter next year…the exact time Relativity plans on making the high-priority Crow […] But akin to the project’s rock musician who is killed and resurrected, two new names have surfaced as possible replacements: Channing Tatum and Mark Wahlberg.”
From Latorre himself: “‘The Crow’ images published are very early production sketches and are based in my own visual interpretation of the character and not necessarily in Apaches Entertainment and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s vision.”
For all the concept art, click here. To reminisce on the days before they tried to give The Crow cornrows, click here.
Grizzly Bomb 
