Hollywood Yay or Nay

Hi again, folks! Sorry for the delay in posting, but I couldn't sign in to this blog for about three weeks and thought it had disappeared. But on this day the Gods of Google have smiled down on me, so without any further adieu, here we go!

* Hollywood YAY! to director Sam Raimi, who had the courage to stand up to The Big Hollywood Machine and say that he couldn't deliver a quality Spider Man 4 in time for next summer, causing Columbia to pull the plug and initiate a franchise reboot focussing on Peter Parker's teenage years. I guess memories of Spider Man 3 haunt Raimi as much as they do me, with its multiple muddled plotlines. In fact, I am so proud of Sam that it pains me to have to cite him for a

* Hollywood NAY! for his plans to remake The Shadow. Personally I loved the 1994 film directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Alec Baldwin, Ian McKellen, and Penelope Ann Miller. I thought Baldwin made the perfect Lamont Cranston, and found the film a perfect mix of "mind-clouding" mysticism and 30's-era action-adventure, but unfortunately it came out on July 1, five days before a little film called Forrest Gump. Consequently, it only made $48 million worldwide and was thus considered a failure, but it's an absolute gem. I see Raimi trying to peek behind the mysticism, "explaining" Cranston's sometimes strange behavior by saying that his daddy ran a bar and his mommy put dishwater in his baby bottle. And if Sam's version is even a fair hit, its studio will be screaming franchise and he'll be back in sequel hell. Do yourself a favor and stick with your indie roots, Mr. Raimi.

* Hollywood YAY! to the news that Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote film is finally going before the cameras again a decade after it was shut down due to wind, weather, an aling Jean Rochefort as Quixote, and unsigned contracts. All the heartbreaking details are in the documentary Lost in La Mancha. Robert Duvall's playing Quixote this time out, and Johnny Depp's trying to squeeze back into his modern Everyman role in between stints in The Tourist and Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides. And he has Rango and The Rum Diary in post-production! Whew! But I have a feeling he'll find a way.

Next time: In praise of George and Matt

Thanks for stopping by!

MTMG