Sam’s Top 42 Films of the Decade
Just for the sake of my own sanity and desperate need to have these written somewhere, I give you my favourite forty-two films of the past decade. There are at least fifty-six other films I would like to put onto a list, but I think I need to forcefully prevent any more decade-based listmaking as quickly as possible. So beneath is the top ten list, along with a sentence or two on each film and then thirty-two, out-of-list-order, films which I had to include.
Gondry Gabbing About Green Hornet
Impish auteur Michel Gondry has been talking to all and sundry about his involvement in the much-anticipated, Seth Rogen-headed adaptation of The Green Hornet.
Gondry said to Total Film that he was surprised that Rogen was even listening to many of his ideas given his current box-office clout compared to the former Freak and Geeker. He said the trust put in him by Rogen is “quite amazing”, adding: “I mean, look at my numbers on IMDb, and my average is $10 million and his average is $90 million a movie, so I’m glad he’s paying any attention to what I’m suggesting.”
He goes on in the interview to say that this could well have something to do with the fight scene he made for his audition tape to try and get the job. He describes the seen as being “not elaborate”, explaining that he changed the camera speed at “different spots in the image at different times”. Going further, Gondry illuminates:
“The camera speeds up and slows down but at different times for different characters’ images. So one will go fast and the other will go slow — and then they’ll meet. It’s as if they’re in different dimensions, but when they touch each other, they come into the same dimension”.
Deeper than this is a short interview with Sci-Fi Wire in which he explains his entire directing style. He says he takes the comments from critics of his work which hurt him – “Generally if I was upset about a comment, it was because there was some truth in the comment,” he says – and compiles them into a notebook to help him improve as a director.
He goes on to explain his ethos in approaching the Green Hornet project:
“I’ll try to portray a human quality I see in real life and I appreciate through the medium. That’s my job, to not use the film to camouflage moments of a person’s personality, but to reveal that personality, and I think this is a very clear and broad statement, maybe something to do with feeling good or this type of direction, so I don’t see why this should not be easy for people to appreciate.”
As usual, his comments seem encouraging for his plans on the project, indicating a desire not to fall into the traps of so many indie film directors entering into the Hollywood machine and losing their personality in the process.
There seems to be a desire on the side of both Gondry and, importantly, Rogen to make something outside of the standardised formula now prevalent in comic book hero movies. More and more, this is becoming a very anticipated project in my book.
In addition to the above, /Film notes other interviews with Gondry on ComingSoon.net, AICN and VH1.
Photo from Flickr user tomsaiyuk
Rogen Talking Green Hornet
The Green Hornet has become something of a buzzed-about project since the addition of Michel Gondry as director, adding his talents to those of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in the writing department, the former also starring. For all the excitment building around the film however, it seems even Rogen is a little unsure as to how things will pan out when it comes to fruition.
Speaking in an interview with Collider, Rogen said he and Goldberg had been given a rejection by Gondry after coming to him with ideas which involved incorporating some of his own style, “weird people made out of string and shit like that” as Rogen puts it. “He’s like, ‘No, I don’t want to (do) any of that’,” Rogen says of Gondry’s reaction, adding that he hates to be “predictable and repetitive”.
The other question Rogen is fielding is over the involvement of Hong Kong action star, and the creator of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, Stephen Chow. The latter had been tapped to play both Kato and direct at one point, although this then devolved into him only playing Kato and on to further speculation that he is not involved at all.
On the issue, Rogen : “He may be Kato. I’m not 100 per cent sure if that’s the case, but it’s a very likely possibility”, adding the movie is in the very early stages and that he honestly knows nothing else.
On the subject of the actual story however, Rogen indicated that he and Goldberg were edging towards doing an origin piece. He said the two had resisted such an option to begin with, “but then we realized if we kind of embraced it and played with that idea it could be a lot better so that’s something we’ve added”.
The whole project still sounds pretty decent, especially with the visual style and imagination of Gondry on board. I would also like to see Chow take on the role of Kato, mostly to provide him with a way into Hollywood and an opportunity to start competing for those Jackie Chan comic-kung fu roles he so richly deserves.
Movie News Round-Up
Michel Gondry has been signed up to direct The Green Hornet, the crime-fighting comic book adaptation starring Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow. Chow had been signed up to direct but later dropped out over what were described as ‘creative differences’. Gondry’s presence makes this easily the most interesting comic movie on its way at present. I may not have fully loved Be Kind Rewind, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best films of the past ten years while Science of Sleep is an endless well of whimsy and imagination. Notably, the news was first reported on the Twitter feed of Production Weekly. Also, the trailer for Rogen’s new movie, Observe and Report, has emerged and looks like something of a departure for him into a slightly darker area.
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Drew Barrymore, she of the adorable poppet-ness, is among the candidates being considered for Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series which will follow up the next instalment, New Moon, in 2010. Barrymore has recently signed off on her debut in the chair, Whip It, starring Ellen Page.
Eddie Murphy has apparently signed on to play Richard Pryor in ‘Richard Pryor: Was It Something I Said’ for director Bill Condon. It will reunite the pair who worked together previously on Dreamgirls, the film which garnered so much buzz for Murphy and won him an Academy Award nomination. Seems like a strong part for him given the placement of Murphy as the next in line in succession in the evolution of black comedians after Pryor and preceding Chris Rock.
Cate Blanchett has signed on the dotted line to play Maid Marian in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. This news follows that from last week that Scott has changed the name and vision behind the project to a more straight-forward retelling.
Samuel L Jackson is to play Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers and, possibly, in a Nick Fury movie should Marvel decide to do this too. There had been issues over Jackson joining in the past but now it seems such things have been pushed aside for the sake of continuity.
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are to team for The B Team, a comedy from Adam McKay which will follow the misadventures of two mismatched cops. Sounds like it be in a similar vein to all other Ferrell/McKay projects and have around four very funny Ferrell moments, almost no story and an effort to make up for any shortcomings through shouting.
Sean Penn and Naomi Watts are involved in talks for Fair Game, not a remake of the Cindy Crawford-starrer from the mid90s, but a drama about the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. It would reunite Penn and Watts from when they starred together in the Innaritu/Arriaga piece 21 Grams, a role which won Watts a Best Actress nod at the Oscars. Fair Game will be directed by Doug Liman.
Joss Whedon has spoken out during an interview with Maxim on why many DC comics adaptations are having difficulty in getting to the big screen, including Wonder Woman, which he was often linked with in the past. Whedon said the difference in the era in which the DC comics were made meant that the heroes were not being created as people, but as gods. ‘DC’s characters, like Wonder Woman and Superman and Green Lantern, were all very much removed from humanity. Batman was the only character they had who was so rooted in pain, that had that same gift that the Marvel characters had, which was that gift of humanity that we can relate to.’ Whedon has long been working on getting Wonder Woman off the ground with Eliza Dushku in the lead. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Dushku’s acting so I’d put forward Morena Baccarin of Firefly and Serenity fame instead. Probably wouldn’t get made either way though.
Francis Ford Coppola has given out some new information on Tetro, his new film following the life, loves and troubles of an Italian family of artists. It stars Vincent Gallo and is, according to Coppola, his first ‘original screenplay’ since his The Conversation. A film from Coppola about an Italian family of artists, autobiography much?
Also in the news: Emily Blunt will definitely not be in Iron Man 2, instead she’ll have to star alongside Jack Black in Gulliver’s Travels; Mel Gibson’s The Colonel has a trailer; Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal are to star in a remake of Damn Yankees; Naomi Watts and Freida Pinto have joined Woody Allen’s next movie; Warner Bros has picked up the rights to adapt comic series Suicide Squad; The Coens have directed a 30-second commercial mocking the claim of clean coal; Gore Verbinski is to bring Clue/Cluedo to screens; Seth Green will star in animated caper Mars Needs Moms!; Ed Helms is to write and star in a Civil War-themed comedy; Danny Boyle and Dev Patel may take part in the real-life Who Wants to be a Millionaire; Peter Baynham, a collaborator of Sasha Baron Cohen on Borat, will write the Arthur remake for Russell Brand;
Alternatives to the EW Twenty-Five Directors
Entertainment Weekly recently posted a list of the top twenty-five active film directors. These lists will forever cause disagreement and controversy but some of the inclusions, and subsequent exclusions, on this list are pretty unforgivable. Even if you don’t find it too irratating, as a film fan and blogger I feel it only necessary to present some arguments both against the inclusion of some and against the exclusion of others while I would also like to take some time to argue for the inclusion of a few that I think may brook argument elsewhere.
The Movie Overdose 
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