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August 10, 2007
A BRIT AND AN AUSSIE AS COWBOYS
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are starring in a remake of the 50s B Western 3:10 TO YUMA. It looks like Bale is back to his trademark brooding intensity after the levity and sweetness of Dieter Dengler from RESCUE DAWN. Crowe is playing a character he's played before, the amoral but charismatic villain. "From The Director of WALK THE LINE" conjures up many nice sentiments, but it could also read "From The Director of KATE & LEOPOLD." However, James Mangold is an interesting dude, because all of his movies are so radically different. IDENTITY wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen or anything, but it was a clever potboiler.
I'm excited about 3:10. There hasn't been a good western since Kevin Costner's superlative OPEN RANGE. The trailer is here.
Continuing remake fever, there's SLEUTH. The original film was based on a hit play from London, starred Laurence Olivier, and is incurably campy and dated though very entertaining. It is one of the most curiously puppet-filled movies I've ever seen. Olivier is at his hammy best. The remake has the following going for it:
1) It's directed by Kenneth Branagh
2) It stars Michael Caine, who was in the original.
3) It's written by Harold Pinter.
But . . .
1) What's up with the house?
2) The original was light and jokey, while this one looks sleak, stark, and humorless.
3) The last time Kenneth Branagh was doing anything interesting was the late 90s.
Why remake this? And why remake it in a different tone than the original? Why is it so hard to come up with new ideas?
The trailer is here. If you want to see a trailer for the original, it's here. (I love these 70s trailers)
| By Andytown | 08:00 AM
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