Upcoming Movies…Week of May 16th May 16, 2008

BLOCKBUSTER SEASON HAS BEGUN!!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy Pevensie (William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley) are summoned back to Narnia by a magical horn. One year for them is 1300 years for Narnia, and when they return, the siblings find that the magical land they once knew is no longer. The Golden Age of Narnia has ended and it is now under the tyrannical rule of evil King Miraz. The Pevensies unite with rightful heir to the throne, King Miraz’s nephew, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). Together, (along with the help of a kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik) they will embark on a journey to find Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson), rescue the Narnians from the evil King Miraz, bring Caspian to the throne, and restore magic to Narnia.

According to the cast and director of The Chronicles…, the sequel is told in a much grander scale than the previous film. “It’s a bigger story, it’s a bigger adventure,” said director Andrew Adamson. With the battle scenes and change in the story’s tone, the film’s location was moved from New Zealand to Eastern Europe’s Slovenia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.

As if a studio would let a lucrative franchise like this slip through their fingers, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (May 7th, 2010) is already scheduled to begin filming this summer. In order to get the movies out as fast as possible, and ideally–a year apart, they have brought on Michael Apted to direct the third movie, while Andrew Adamson finishes up the second. The Silver Chair is scheduled for a 2011 release. Production has yet to begin, and casting has yet to be announced. However, it is presumed Ben Barnes will return as King Caspian due to his three-film contractual obligations. However, I imagine they will need to use a considerable amount of aging makeup, because he is supposed to be 66 years old with a grown child in the storyline. Barnes is currently 26 years old. ALSO, I imagine they cannot begin simultaneous production on The Silver Chair until they cast the part of Eustace. She is the only character (at least in the book) that will appear in both Dawn Treader and Silver Chair.

According to the books, Peter and Susan Pevensie only take part in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Caspian, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie’s roles extend to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Dawn Treader also introduces future main character, and Pevensie cousin, Eustace Scrubb. The Silver Chair does not include any of the Pevensie children. However, with William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, and Georgie Henley being so closely linked to the public’s perception of the franchise, it is unclear what sort of roles (if any) the actors will play in the rest of the series. With The Horse and His Boy taking place during the Pevensie’s reign of Narnia (as told in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe) it is up to the studio/writers if they will bring those characters or actors into the film. (But if you remember, different actors portrayed the adult versions of the child actors in the end of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. So, they may not even need to rush through production because keeping the child stars looking young won’t matter. Either they will use adult actors, or those actors will look old enough by the time they film their parts. If they DID return, wouldn’t that make for exciting cameos?)

Here is a complete list of all the 7 books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia: (They are listed in chronological order, not in the order that they were written by C.S. Lewis.)
1. The Magician’s Nephew (published in 1955)- The sixth book written, it is a prequel. It explains the beginnings of Narnia and how people could go from the outside world into Narnia. It follows two English children Digory and Polly. The old professor that the Pevensie children stay with in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is an aged Digory.
2. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (1950)- The first book written by C.S. Lewis, he introduces the Pevensie children for the first time.
3. The Horse and His Boy (1954)- The fifth book written, it takes place during the Golden Age of Narnia when Peter is High King, Edmund is King, and Lucy and Susan are Queens. It pairs Bree, a talking horse, and Shasta, a boy, who plan to return to Narnia and alert the king of impending invaders.
4. Prince Caspian (1951)- The second book written, it brings the four Pevensie siblings back to a changed Narnia and introduces Prince Caspian.
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)- The third book written, Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace. They embark on a seafaring adventure with Prince Caspian.
6. The Silver Chair (1953)- The fourth book written, it is the first time the Pevensie children are not in the story whatsoever. Cousin Eustace returns and brings her classmate Jill Pole. They aid an aged King Caspian find his kidnapped son, Prince Rilian.
7. The Last Battle (1956)- The seventh and last book written, Eustace and Jill return to save Narnia from an Aslan impersonator.

Plans for “The Hobbit” continue amidst another law suit May 5, 2008

Despite the lawsuit brought against New Line Cinema by JRR Tolkien’s heirs in February of 2008, clearly the studio is moving ahead with their plans to create two Lord of the Rings prequels. Guillermo del Toro who has signed on to direct The Hobbit and a script that bridges the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has discussed his desire to maintain the continuity of Peter Jackson’s films. He has gotten Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis to reprise their roles as Gandalf and Gollum. del Toro has said that after he completes Hellboy 2, he will move to New Zealand for the next four years in order to film the two-part LOTR prequel.

The heirs of the Tolkien estate are claiming that New Line owes them more than $150 million. According to a 39-year-old agreement, they are entitled to 7.5% of the gross revenue of each movie based on Tolkien’s novels. They are claiming that they haven’t received any of that money. They are not only seeking full compensation, but also the right to block any future production of Tolkien’s works. Bonnie Eskenazi, the trustees’ attorney who filed the complaint, said, “New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase ‘creative accounting’. I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars and yet the creator’s heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don’t get a penny.”

New Line Cinema’s production of the prequels was previously mired in a law suit with LOTR director, Peter Jackson. The dispute was settled in December, and he is now signed on as a co-executive producer of The Hobbit. He accused the studio of cheating him out of tens of millions of dollars by selling the rights to LOTR merchandise to its own corporate family (Time Warner) below market value.

New Line will finance the films along with MGM. This is a much needed venture for the struggling studio whose film, The Golden Compass, greatly underperformed its expectations. New Line is also the studio releasing Sex and the City: The Movie.

“Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” (2005) April 17, 2008

rating: B+
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is Chan-wook Park’s final installment in his trilogy of vengeance films. It departs from Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance in more ways than one. Most noticeably, the protagonist is a beautiful woman—Geum-ja Lee (Young-Ae Lee). Secondly, compared to the defining gore of Oldboy, the violence in this film is negligible. But there clearly are links to the previous two films: the reappearance of actors (though not characters), the black comedy, and most importantly—the theme of vengeance, guilt, and redemption.

Park shields his audience from the final act of revenge, thereby manipulating the rise and lull of our voyeuristic/empathetic rage. This is in keeping with Park’s theme of control. Unlike her male counterparts, Lady Vengeance formulates a plan of action for the duration of her wrongful imprisonment. Like a predator lying in wait for its prey, she carefully bides her time, gaining allies, and collecting debts of honor. Geum-ja even explicitly says that she could be angelic when she chose to be, and only when she chooses to be.

In the end, Lady Vengeance does not pack the punch its predecessors did—so, just because you enjoyed Oldboy and Mr. Vengeance does not necessarily mean you will like this film. However, its message is strong, and it rounds out the trilogy in a beautiful and poetic way. In an interview with the director, Park stated that he never thinks vengeance is justified. Some might find this ironic since he is best known for his highly popular series on vengeance. However, much like Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy, his artistic genius should not be confused with the glorification of a topic.

“A Room With A View” (2008) April 17, 2008

rating: B-/C+
For someone who loved the 1986 feature film A Room With A View, I at first had to ask, “Why even bother with a remake?” After all, the original boasted a star cast of: a young Helena Bonham Carter (just 19 years old), Daniel Day-Lewis, a delicious Julian Sands, and who could forget Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. But then again, 22 years seems a sufficient passage of time for a remake; and the divine Andrew Davies did write the screenplay—so I decided to give it a shot.

This is a much more dramatized version, with main characters Lucy Honeychurch (Elaine Cassidy) and George Emerson (Rafe Spall) appearing less like young loves and more like star-crossed lovers. An hour and a half is not nearly enough time to for such drama, much less to tell E.M. Forster’s story about breaking with Edwardian social strictures. But it’s jammed in there, and at times it’s even beautiful.

The novel deals with a young girl’s first experience with sexuality and love in Italy, and her choice between marrying the rich bore, Cecil Vyse, and an exciting radical, George. In this adaptation, sex isn’t just bubbling under the surface, it’s in your face and all around. (PBS saw fit to blur out some nude shots.) One could argue that it’s appropriately updated for the expectations of modern audiences. Others might say that blatant sexuality is anachronistic for an Edwardian romance. You decide.

As Davies is often keen on doing with his adaptations— Forster’s main story is there, but there are several changes that give this new account an air of originality. A twist at the ending (which was not in the novel) could have been interesting if there was more time to explore it. But the departure from the original conclusion only leaves you with some unnecessary questions. The only explanation I can think of for Davies’s choice was that he was too ambitious. All I have to say about that is, you can’t jam an Atonement-esque story into the last ten minutes of another film.

Special recognition should be given to Sophie Thompson, and Timothy Spall (real-life father of Rafe Spall) who were wonderful as Charlotte Bartlett and Mr. Emerson. Mark Williams had potential as clergyman, Mr. Beebe, but his motives remained unclear in this film—and in the end, it seemed he was unnecessary to the storyline. Davies insinuates that Mr. Beebe and Cecil are gay—but one might ask, to what effect?

If you want to be swept away for an hour and a half, feel free to watch this. But if you only want to watch it once—stick with the definitive 1986 version.