The UBS Evening Television & Movie News 08.13.09
Posted by George H. Sirois on 08.13.2009
A look back at my personal favorite lines written by the late John Hughes and my opinions on the Lego movie in development and Comedy Central's roast ratings slide. The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves presents an original ending to a cult favorite, and Andy once again brings the goods with a look at a True Blood favorite. All this and more in The “Little Shop of Horrible Test Screenings” Edition...
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and if you're on Twitter, you can find me HERE! And don't forget, for all of you who are new to 411Mania.com, make sure you check out all of our zones. We have some of the best writers on the Internet right here, and we love to hear from all of you! So keep coming back to read what we have for you, make us your homepage and if you have Facebook, make sure to join our group HERE!
I'm sure everyone heard about the unfortunate passing of John Hughes. I believe many of my fellow writers here made the point that it really sucks someone has to die to make people look back at that person's body of work. We've sadly seen this happen more than once recently with cars driving by with "Billie Jean" blaring on the radio, and now so many of my friends on Facebook making random quotes from Hughes' films – mainly Ferris Bueller's Day Off as their status updates. Of course, I joined in on the fun with the opening lines to Oingo Boingo's song "Weird Science" – "From my heart and from my hands, Why don't people understand, My intentions" – just because I don't think that movie gets enough love.
I'm gonna raise a glass to Mr. Hughes and thank him for everything he did for my generation. He gave us a shoulder to lean on, he allowed us to identify with at least one of the many characters he created and he assured us that we weren't alone out there. And he also made us laugh our asses off by writing such comedy classics as the aforementioned Ferris Bueller's Day Off, National Lampoon's Vacation & Christmas Vacation, The Great Outdoors, Planes, Trains & Automobiles and so many others.
Here's my personal favorite piece of brilliance that Hughes wrote over 20 years ago, from Ferris Bueller's Day Off…
ROONEY: What's the score?
BARTENDER: Zero-Zero.
ROONEY: Who's winning?
The bartender gives him a look, and then answers…
BARTENDER: The Bears.
Why is that line awesome? Because you have to remember that it's a Cubs game they're watching. Football season doesn't start until the start of the next school year. That's just screenwriting poetry, and it would do all screenwriters out there a lot of good to go back and study this script.
Just don't remake it. Don't even try.
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
UPCOMING MOVIES
District 9: An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology.
Cannot WAIT to see this! The trailers have looked great, and the commercials have looked just as good. It's always a plus to see new players in the science-fiction genre getting a first-class treatment like this.
The Time-Traveler's Wife: Based on the best-selling book about a Chicago librarian (Eric Bana) with a disorder that causes him to involuntarily time travel and the complications it creates as he tries to build a life with the woman he loves (Rachel McAdams).
The House That Freddy Built now has a fuzzy toilet seat cover. I'm not happy. Moving on…
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: H2
I was not a fan of Zombie's first take on Michael Myers, but this one looks pretty damn good. Maybe it helps that the original Halloween II wasn't nearly as good as the original classic…
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S THE HONEST TRUTH DEPARTMENT
I was a big fan of this toy when I grew up, but…: Warner Bros. is building a Lego movie.
The studio and producer Dan Lin have acquired theatrical rights for a motion picture on the timeless toy, and set writers Dan and Kevin Hageman to pen the script.
The live action-CG pic is described as a movie set in the world of Lego that centers on the idea of a child-like imagination and examines themes of creativity and teamwork in the manner of "Toy Story." While the pic will have elements for children, the studio is hoping the film is a four-quadrant pic that can also play to adults.
In addition to Lin (whose credits include Guy Ritchie's upcoming "Sherlock Holmes" at Warners), Roy Lee will produce and Stephen Gilchrist will co-produce, while Jill Wilfert will oversee creatively for Lego.
Matt Reilly is overseeing for the studio.
I can kind of understand producers wanting to do a Lego movie since there are plenty of Lego tie-ins with other franchises, including video games. However, what they don't understand is that when it comes to standing on their own, there's not much of a story for this toy. And if they're really trying to latch on to Toy Story's success, they need to be reminded that Toy Story 3's going to come out soon. That's only gonna make this movie look more like a Pixar rip-off.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
So I'm not the only one who thought Saget's roast sucked?: Joan Rivers' appeal may have dipped following her "Celebrity Apprentice" win.
The Comedy Central roast skewering Rivers on Sunday night drew 2.8 million viewers, 32% fewer than for the previous one on the cabler. Larry the Cable Guy's soiree drew 4.1 million viewers in March.
It's difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for the decline, but ESPN drew young men away from the special as the Yankees-Red Sox contest scored 4.6 million viewers for the most-watched baseball game on the net since 2007.
With the roasts always ranking near the top of Comedy Central's programming lineup - Bill Engvall (6.2 million) and Pamela Anderson (4.3 million) drew best - the cabler decided to increase its roast coverage this year.
I think Variety meant Jeff Foxworthy rather than Bill Engvall. That roast was pretty good, except it relied on videos from people who couldn't be there so much that it reminded me of Chevy's roast. And I really didn't need to be reminded of that.
I've always been a big fan of the Comedy Central roasts, especially the ones that were put together with the NY Friar's Club, but based on how the Bob Saget roast came off, it seems that Comedy Central's stuck in a rut. There's always a joke about how there aren't any stars. Well, if there aren't any stars, what's the incentive for people to watch if they're just going to keep hearing the same lines over and over again, tweaked to focus on the roastee of the year? I'd recommend the network stop the cruise control bullshit with their roasts and put some effort into next year's show.
Credit: Variety
Over ten years later, the Geek still inherits: Vanguard Films has gained screen rights to "Circus Galacticus" and "The Oz Wars," two graphic novels that Vanguard topper John H. Williams acquired at Comic-Con.
"Circus Galacticus" is a futuristic story that revolves around a fantastical circus with mythic creatures, fantasy aerialists and heroic guerrilla fighters. They navigate the dark realm ruled by despotic tyrants who've taken control of Earth and have designated the circus as the only permissible form of entertainment. The graphic novel is the work of screenwriter-author Michael Walker.
"The Oz Wars" is an action film set in the Emerald City, where a fierce war is waged by the Witches in their evil citadel against the resistance fighters led by the beleaguered Wizard. The storyline was penned by an established screenwriter who's using the pseudonym "Dorothy Gale."
Both films will be produced by Vanguard's Williams, who found both in galley form at Comic-Con and bought them as works in progress.
"Both have huge spectacle, a clearly defined sci-fi genre PG-13 audience, and powerful themes of liberation and independence," Williams said. "They'll make great graphic novels and have film franchise potential as well."
Vanguard's Rob Moreland will be involved in a producing capacity on both projects.
It's hard to imagine a period of time when comic book properties either didn't do very well or weren't in very high demand. Hell, remember when Superman IV couldn't even make back its $19 million budget?! Now, we're more than a decade removed from the first Men in Black film, which literally saved comic adaptations from Batman & Robin, which was released during the same summer.
Now, you can't go a couple of days of reading the trades without getting news about a studio picking up a comic book property, ANY comic book property, and preparing to put it on the silver screen. As a fan of this genre, I'm pleased to see it get this much attention, but you can just see the over-saturating of this market coming around the corner. That is, if you don't consider the market over-saturated with comics already.
ANDY CRITCHELL'S INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
A few weeks ago on the all request babe photo brief I mentioned my love for Christina Hendricks, the lovely red head on Mad Men. Well this week I am going to feature another foxy redhead, this one being Deborah Ann Woll who plays the newly turned vampire Jessica on HBO's hit series True Blood.
Even though she is only 24, Deborah is not new to acting as she has done some stage work in college and a lot of guest spots. If you are a True Blood fan like me, you have really enjoyed the comic relief that her character brings to the show as she struggles with being a new vampire as well as having her first boyfriend after leading a very sheltered life. Recently she has been in various stages of undress but she is one of the few on that show who have not stripped down completely. Let's get a look at her…
And there you have it! Hope you enjoyed. Also, don't forget to check me out over in the wrestling zone where I write the hottest new TV Report, ECW Extreme Extracts. Here is the latest entry. I'm also keeping a blog here on 411 which you can read here. Of course, if you were smart and checked out my blog, you would have already seen a picture of this week's gal. If you didn't, well keep an eye on my blog for a preview of next week's girl.
MAD PROPHET OF THE AIRWAVES
It's amazing what you can find when you get a sudden urge to watch an old favorite. Earlier this year, out of nowhere, a song from the Frank Oz-directed musical adaptation Little Shop of Horrors popped into my head, and that made me want to watch the movie again. Also, wanting to watch it made me think of how I spent a pretty long period of time a few years ago trying to buy the infamous first special edition of the DVD off of eBay. Man, I really tried, but it seemed during the last hour, someone else would outbid me and the cost would be just too rich for my blood.
Now, why is this first special edition "infamous?" Well, it's infamous in both the bad way and in the Three Amigos good way. It's bad that it's become such a rare collector's item that it's demanding hundreds of dollars on eBay and other sites, but it's good that it raises awareness of a certain piece of footage that was removed after it was pulled off shelves.
Let me backtrack a little here. Let's go back to the late 1990's, during the time when DVDs were just coming out and making themselves known to consumers everywhere. One of the most beautiful things about these products was the option known simply as "Special Features." Commentary tracks, original trailers & teasers and making-of featurettes were put on these CD-sized discs that offered more than anyone ever thought, and they quickly put the nail in the casket of VHS, buried right alongside the by-now-fully-decomposed Beta. And as current films and old favorites were released on shelves alongside each other, presenting movie lovers with a whole new way to love their movies, one in particular gained an unexpected notoriety after only two days of its release: the Special Edition of 1986's Little Shop of Horrors.
This special edition lived up to its name and then some. Not only did it have a commentary track by director Frank Oz, and not only did it have several deleted scenes but it also contained...... the original ending!
When I first saw this movie on HBO, I was only aware of the Off-Broadway musical that came a few years before this was released in theaters. However, I didn't know that the ending I had seen in the film was very different than the one in the musical. Not only that, but I wasn't aware of the original Roger Corman film from 1960 that started it all. My friend Bill brought the Corman version to my attention, telling me how Seymour (Jonathan Haze) stepped into Audrey Junior to cut it up from the inside and Audrey Junior swallowed him.
Not long after seeing the film, I got the original cast recording for the Off-Broadway musical and I got to hear all of the songs deleted from the film as well as the original ending. From what I could interpret, the musical actually took the original film's ending one step further. Seymour dies in the end, but so does Audrey and so does Mr. Mushnik. Audrey II (as it is called from now on) wins at the end and during the finale, its vines spill out into the audience. How cool is that? It's almost like a nod to William Castle, a low-budget exploitation filmmaker just like Corman, who would come up with gimmicks to give his audiences a little extra.
When the musical made the jump to the big screen, everyone involved realized they had an opportunity to give their audience something really special, a tribute to all the great B-movies of the 50s and 60s, which is when this film takes place. So they followed the lead of the musical and not only killed off Audrey and Seymour, but they put together a finale that showed people buying little Audrey II's, getting tricked into feeding them blood and becoming their food once they all get as big and strong as the original plant. The last shot shows Audrey II's vines draping over the crown of the Statue of Liberty, while the lyrics of "Don't Feed the Plants" plays over the soundtrack: "Hold your hat and hang on to your soul, Something's coming to eat the world whole!"
That's great stuff, isn't it? And it's perfectly in line with all of the other versions of this story. Everyone involved remembered that this is a story of a meek little man who allows his aspirations to get out of control to the point where he has to pay for his crimes.
So what happened?
Well, it was a fateful test screening that changed it all. The audience that was treated to the first cut of the film was really taken with the characters Seymour and Audrey and wanted them to be together. Once Audrey died and the tone of the movie shifts, their reactions bottomed out and they hated the filmmakers for what they did. Never mind that they were simply telling the same story that had been an Off-Broadway hit; the audience didn't care. As Frank Oz later said, "When characters die at the end of a show, they come out and bow when the curtain comes down. Here, they didn't come out and bow. They stayed dead, and the audience hated that and hated us."
To avoid the bad press, the filmmakers launched into damage control and scrapped the darker ending, allowing both characters to live and for Seymour to kill Audrey II at the end. Basically, he got away with everything he did – specifically allowing Orin to die and backing Mr. Mushnik into Audrey II's open mouth – and got the girl when all was said and done. To this day, both Oz and Rick Moranis have gone on record saying they preferred the original ending.
Another fan of the original ending was producer David Geffen, who had plans to re-release the film in theaters edited the way it was supposed to be all along. There was one problem in his mind; he was made aware after the fact that the special edition DVD had the half-finished black & white version of the last twenty minutes. So Geffen demanded a recall of all the discs and released a new version that included all of the special edition footage EXCEPT the original ending.
Now, because of that recall, the first editions of the DVD have become favorites on eBay, with consumers paying hundreds of dollars per disc. Even when I was single, I couldn't fathom paying that much just for ONE DVD, so for a long period of time, I resigned myself to the fact that I may never have this disc in my collection.
But then, a funny thing happened only a couple weeks ago. I thought, "What the hell, I'll check on YouTube. And sure enough, there it was in three parts, the original ending to Little Shop of Horrors.
Now that I've finally seen it, what did I think about it? Well, I can understand that audiences aren't supposed to go into a movie already knowing the Off-Broadway musical. They're supposed to go in fresh and take this movie on its own merits. That's the beauty of an adaptation, whether it's a book, play, musical, comic or earlier film. You have the freedom to change things up if they don't work for the intended audience, and the audience they showed the movie to didn't want Seymour and Audrey to die.
That being said, I would have voted for this ending in a heartbeat. It's such a better piece of storytelling to have Audrey finally be "Somewhere That's Green" and not have it be anything she imagined. Paul Dooley's take on Patrick Martin with the little Audrey II smiling at Seymour is so much creepier than the scene with Jim Belushi. The final battle between Seymour and Audrey II is a lot better since it shows Seymour's desires – which is what the plant represents – are just too strong and overpowering for him and literally consume him whole.
And of course, there's the big finale. Why were audiences turned off of this? This takes place in the 1960s. Did this kind of thing really happen? No? So what's the problem? The ending was simply the perfect tribute to the era when the original film was released. It's Corman's dream come true, and you know he would have done something like this if he had the money and more than two days on his shooting schedule.
But hey, don't just take my word for it. Have a look for yourself. These are the clips I discovered when I went on YouTube. Take a peek and let me know what you think.
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS – ORIGINAL ENDING – PART 1
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS – ORIGINAL ENDING – PART 2
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS – ORIGINAL ENDING – PART 3
Now that we've all seen it, let me make this pledge to Mr. Geffen, who had this footage pulled off the DVD. Do what all the other filmmakers do nowadays: release the original version on its own disc. Don't worry about putting it in theaters since the movie's time has come and gone. Go all out with this disc. Make a featurette about the original ending's fate, record a new commentary track and clean up this footage so it blends in perfectly with the rest of the film.
Trust me, sir. People will buy it if you do this. I know I will…
And that's a wrap for Chapter 125 of The UBS Evening Movie News! For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois and we'll see you next week!
Awesome choice for the Babe of the week, she just seems to get hotter every week on True Blood.
Posted By: Butters4Prez (Guest) on August 13, 2009 at 12:51 AM
Thank you for, sadly, a new take on a movie I remember mostly for my parents seeing in the mid-80's. I remember them speaking of the singing and dark comedy but I never felt the urge to view it. Your writing makes me want to see this movie for myself. This sounds bad but it isnt meant to sound so.
Posted By: Guest#7806 (Guest) on August 13, 2009 at 01:13 AM
"As a fan of this genre, I'm pleased to see it get this much attention, but you can just see the over-saturating of this market coming around the corner. That is, if you don't consider the market over-saturated with comics already."
I don't think this is something we really have to worry about. There is such a large ammount of varying stories out there in comic form, that the majority of movie going public probably will not even realize they are watching a comic book adaptation. For example, had it not been mentioned I never would have known that Wanted was adapted from a graphic novel.
And Thank you Andy Critchell for yet some more red-headed love. You can make the brief a red head every week, and I would be a happy man.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on August 13, 2009 at 09:40 AM
thanks for the LSH.. i never saw that until now..that was great... an the redhead gets my "jerk of the week"...
Posted By: seemorethesaint (Guest) on August 13, 2009 at 11:21 AM
"There is such a large amount of varying stories out there in comic form, that the majority of movie going public probably will not even realize they are watching a comic book adaptation."
Excellent point, Todd. I'm sure there are a lot of people who never knew that Road to Perdition started out as a graphic novel. Or A History of Violence. I could go on and on...
Posted By: Sirois! (Guest) on August 13, 2009 at 02:23 PM
_26941.jpg)
