Friday, July 29, 2005

Friday Morning Movie News

Just a couple stories that've caught my eyes this a.m.:

- I'd been wondering when there would be a new Body Snatchers flick, they tend to show up every couple decades or so (1956, 1978, 1993), it's been 12 years since the last one, and the story could be worked out to be pretty prescient right now. Anyway, lo and behold, uber-star Nicole Kidman just signed on for a new version, to be directed by someone I've never heard of, "German director Oliver Hirschbiegel" (Oh, okay, looking him on on imdb, I see he did a movie I've seen, Das Experiment, which was based off of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 and was actually quite a good movie. It starred Moritz Bleibtreu, whom I still have a Run Lola Run crush on).

Anyway, there've been two Invasion of the Body Snatchers and one Body Snatchers, so I guess Invasion was the title left. It's probably pretty blasphemous to say this, but the 1956 version is actually my least favorite of the three versions so far. I'm not saying it's not great, it is, just that I like the 70's and 90's versions a whole lot and find what they say about the decades they're set in more interesting. The 70's version is far and away my favorite - it's probably in my top five horror movies, actually. And I do think of it as a horror movie, even though it's got a science fiction bent - when Donald Sutherland is smashing in the pumpkin like head of his replacement, it's pretty much the definition of horror right there. The 90's version, I think, is terribly underrated.

So I'm excited there will be a new version, and say what you may about Miss Kidman, I usually like her a lot onscreen. And the last horror movie she did, The Others, is another one of my faves, and I thought she gave an especially fine performance there. Lord knows the woman can pull off cool and icy better than most other actresses out there.

And if you're bored, check out that link for the Stanford Prison Experiment, it's really fascinating stuff. After watching Hirchbiegel's film I went all through that site myself and couldn't get enough.

- Freddie Prinze Jr. needs to shut his piehole. Sure, he lives with Miss Buffy, but I'm not buying that he as a clue what she's thinking about the project, or what Joss Whedon will be doing in the future. I'm not saying I see it happening for at the very least five years or so, but I still have faith it could happen. And yes, my place on de Nile is very nice, thank you very much.

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