411 Fact or Fiction Movies/TV 10.02.09: Week 197

Posted by Ben Piper on 10.02.2009

Will Zombieland be a worthy companion piece to Shawn Of The Dead? Will this be the final Heroes season? Will Whip It jump start a second career for Drew Baryymore? Are people interested in seeing Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D? 411's Arnold Furious and Porfirio Diaz debate these and other topics in week 197 of 411 Fact or Fiction: Movies/TV!



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Hey, yo. Welcome back yet again to the one column sure to either set the comments section on fire or be met with complete apathy, Fact or Fiction. This go around we've got Arnold Furious and Porfirio Diaz taking part. Let's see what they have to say, shall we?


1. Zombieland will be a great amount of fun and a worthy companion piece to Shaun Of The Dead.

Porfirio Diaz: Fact Well considering that the only noticeable post-apocalyptic zombie comedy movie is Shaun of the Dead, I think Zombieland will be a worthy companion piece. Judging by the trailers, Zombieland seems to contain a mixture of "Left 4 Dead" story-inspired horror (which somehow leads to another rise of the ravenously angry fanboys) and fun zombie shenanigans. Word of mouth is that critics are raving hilariously for this Americanized version of Shaun of the Dead. I can definitely imagine a party of people having a blast watching this one, similar to the experience of watching Transformers 2 or Snakes on a Plane. You know, where people had fun watching movies that didn't take themselves seriously at all. Plus zombies run fast in this one! Don't forget to watch out for the special guest appearance somewhere during the movie as well.

Arnold Furious: Fact. The alarm bells were ringing for this until the early reviews came back positive. Shaun of the Dead is such a good spoof and is so funny because it often avoids the obvious laughs. It plays out quite seriously and relies on building characters to get where it's going. My initial take on Zombieland, based on the trailer, was that I'd quite happily watch the movie but my expectation level was significantly lower than it would be for a film from Simon Pegg/Edgar Wright or George Romero for that matter. I was sold by the presence of Woody Harrelson. I've always found him to be hugely underrated and thought it was strange how quickly the wheels came off his success. He was hot from Cheers through White Men Can't Jump and all the way up to playing Larry Flynt in 1996. And then someone in Hollywood decided he wasn't a leading man. I don't know who makes that call but someone just upped and did it. Then he dropped back to supporting actor like in EdTV, which would have been way better had he been in the lead, and after that he was reduced to smaller roles and cameos. But you never know; this could be the year Woody puts himself back on the map. After all his next movie is 2012 and Roland Emmerich tends to drum up big business for his disaster movies. I hope he is back. Maybe we can finally celebrate the successes of both stars of The Cowboy Way, which is quite frankly what they deserve. Kiefer got his. Now it's Woody's turn back in the spotlight. Looking forward to it.

Score: 1 for 1

2. Considering the plummeting ratings, you expect this season of Heroes to be its last.

Porfirio Diaz: Fact I keep getting psychically abused but no matter how many times that has happened, I would always come back to it…at least for another hour. That's how I feel about this show. We have sort of a love/hate relationship. Sure the show may be turning into a mess of inconsistencies, frustration characterization, and random reestablishments but despite their faults, I always get a kick out of watching this show. But judging by the ratings, I seem to be only one of five people to think the same way. Heroes may have survived on past ratings drops, but it was only going to be a matter of time before the ratings plummeted far enough to the point of cancellation. People are just past the point of dissatisfaction with this show and have given up on it. I kept trying to talk myself into thinking that Heroes have at least one more season left in them but the rapidly declining numbers and loss of interest among viewers kept me from choosing "Fiction" over "Fact". Since this will most likely be the last season, I'm hoping that the last couple of episodes brings everything to a satisfying close and has it end on a high note.

Arnold Furious: Fiction. I think it's far more likely that NBC cut the budget back. After all despite losing ratings Heroes remains one of their leading TV franchises. If they did cancel it then they'd better have something good to replace it with. The shine has somewhat come off Heroes since the dazzling opening series and I found the writers strike hurt series two's flow pretty badly. I think that's where the long term damage was done. Had series two played out how Tim Kring had wanted it to they might have started out into series three in better shape. So Heroes has been dwindling in popularity for some time so maybe NBC has got something ready to replace it. Who knows. We should find out in due course. I generally don't expect successful shows to get cancelled that easily. Even if ratings are on the decline. If this is to be the final series it'd be nice for Kring and company to be notified of that. That could allow them to round out everyone's story and give the fans of the series an ending they can approve of and enjoy. Otherwise it might just drag on forever like Lost. Maybe Heroes just doesn't possess enough quality characters to keep fans interested. After all ratings began to fall during the first season! They averaged out 14 million viewers per week in the opening series but that dropped below 11 million at one point. Season two averaged out at 12.5 million viewers and then season three saw a big dip to a 7.61 million average. If ratings show another drastic fall during series four then Heroes is in trouble and it's not off to a good start. But still 7.61 million viewers isn't anything to be overly concerned about. The last show did 5.82 million. Now we're getting worried about it hence the question. But as I said at the top if the show is still attracting an audience then they'll carry on making the show. And when it seems like demand has bottomed out then they'll announce the final season. At least that's what I'd hope for. I know American TV has a habit of dumping shows unceremoniously regardless of how good they are.

Score: 1 for 2

(Editor shakes fist at Arnold for taking an unneeded shot at a vastly superior show…)

3. You don't think David Cronenberg should remake his own remake of The Fly.

Porfirio Diaz: Fiction Why not? It's his version and having a man-fly appear in CGI would be pretty awesome. Hmm…maybe not but my point still stands. There are some who would prefer a sequel rather than a remake but considering that the original remake was a success, I could see Cronenberg going down this route. Ya, I know. This is nothing but another remake trend that Hollywood loves only this time it's worse because it's a director remaking a movie which was itself a remake. But if Cronenberg did a good job with his 1986 original classic, then at least let him have a chance to see what he could do with today's technology. By remaking this movie, at least we can have a choice in determining which version was superior. Like that would be a hard choice to make.

Arnold Furious: Fact. I don't get the sheer number of re-makes that seem to be flooding the market these days. I know more movies are being produced per week than ever before and hence the number of re-makes keeps getting larger but some of the films being re-made aren't worth it. The Fly, whether Cronenberg made it or not, is one of those. Do they have a shot at doing a better film than the Goldblum version? Maybe. But chances are everyone's reputation will just get hurt by the attempt. Look at Rob Zombie's promising career and how he's now struggling because he chose to remake Halloween. He had a great reputation coming off The Devil's Rejects and now everyone hates him! Look at some other recent re-makes; Day the Earth Stood Still just missed the point of the original and came across as too preachy. Yes, it is a bonus having Cronenberg involved but I get the feeling he's doing it so someone else doesn't do it and fuck it up. What he should do is let someone else fuck it up and then bury the movie. After all Cronenberg has strived to make more worthwhile films of late and he's matured beyond the creature feature. I hope this doesn't happen.

Score: 1 for 3

Switch!!!



4. Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It will launch a successful second career for the actress.

Arnold Furious: Fact. Before writing this I had a quick think about successful actress turned director career moves. Let me tell you; the subject would make for a shorter book than Jewish Sports Legends. Recently Sarah Polley made the conversion from actress to director on Away From Her and did a decent job on the tearjerker that saw Julie Christie nominated for an Oscar and unlucky to lose. Sophie Marceau has shot a few films in France. I thought Emma Thompson had directed but she's only got credits as a writer and actress. That was pretty much it. So Drew Barrymore's move behind the camera is a bit of a surprise. Or is it? After all Drew has been around films virtually her entire life. Everyone in her family were actors. Her Dad was an actor. Her mom was an actress. Her grandparents were actors. Her great-grandparents were actors. She started acting herself at eleven months old! Normally actors and actresses aren't mature enough to move behind the camera until their twilight years but Barrymore has 33 years on film sets already (and she's only 34 years old!) Early reviews for Whip It have been very encouraging too. I'm sure if Drew wants to pursue this career avenue then this will be good practice. I don't think she should move over full-time just yet. She still has a lot of star qualities and I like her as a lead actress still. But if she directs every now and again she could hone those skills and be a very good director when she's up into Hollywood Royalty in 10-15 years time. I wish her the best of luck.

Porfirio Diaz: Fact. First off I would like to welcome Drew Barrymore's career back from the dead. We missed you. I would also like to add one more name to Furious' actress-turned-director list: Barbra Streisand. The Prince of Tides belongs on one of those underrated movie lists somewhere. Whether Drew Barrymore will reach the directorial success of these fine women is up for debate but Whip It sounds like she will be off to a good start. Certainly better than I expected, which was none at all since I didn't even know that Barrymore was going to be directing until I got this question. I also think she will go down the George Clooney route, where she'll lead in a couple more movies before venturing into directorial work once more. Going from acting to directing does help prolong one's career life and she'll be ready when she wants to go into a full time director gig. Just look at Ron Howard. Barrymore will definitely find her niche in the world of directing. Just keep the alcohol away from all the cast parties.

Score: 2 for 4

5. The Invention Of Lying will not only further demonstrate Ricky Gervais' comic genius but shall elevate him into true comedic movie star territory.

Arnold Furious:: Fiction. It's no secret I don't count myself among Ricky Gervais' fans and so far I've felt his career has mostly been quite fortunate. He's been in the right place at the right time and just before he got found out for being one dimensional in the UK he moved to the USA to try and chase down the Hollywood dream. I don't hold that against him. Fair play to the man. He's fairly quick witted but not blessed with any other attributes that make a star and somehow he's gotten himself a couple of starring roles in big Hollywood movies. I've not seen Ghost Town, because I don't find Gervais funny, but it got good reviews. The Invention of Lying is being pushed pretty hard, in the UK at least, and promises to be a bigger hit for him. However the reviews would concern me. The Tomatometer at RottenTomatoes usually tells the story of whether a movie is any good or not but even the positive reviews seem loaded with criticism and one positive review says that "the movies premise slowly deflates" (David Fear – Time Out). So no, I don't think The Invention of Lying will do a great deal for either Gervais' attempts at stardom in the USA or his reputation.

Porfirio Diaz: Fiction. Ricky Gervais is not an actor. He just plays one in film and TV… or so he says. But I just can't see him being elevated to true comedic movie star territory when so many better comedians have tried and failed. If Dane Cook couldn't make it as a comedic movie star, than what chance does Ricky Gervais have?! (/end joke) I just don't see anything that helps him stand out as a movie star except for the fact that he's a funny guy and even that can only go so far. The Invention of Lying may end up being a nice little film that I may have some interest in watching, but reading Furious' reaction to Rotten Tomatoes reaction to critics reaction, Gervais still has a long way to go before reaching any kind of movie star potential.

Score: 3 for 5

(Dane Cook? Seriously?!)

6. You're keen on seeing the Toy Story and Toy Story 2 double feature in 3-D.

Arnold Furious: Fiction. As a wearer of glasses I don't like the 3-D craze that's currently "in". I find whatever they give you to wear is uncomfortable and frankly the technology isn't entertaining enough. I've seen a 3-D movie in Imax and the only memory I have of it was how much my nose hurt from where the glasses pushed up against my face. So until some new technology comes along that makes watching 3-D films comfortable I have no interest in seeing any movie in 3-D. No offence to Pixar. I'm sure the double release of Toy Story and sequel will be well worth checking out if you don't object to the discomfort but it's not for me.

Porfirio Diaz: Fiction. It's been 14 years since the release of Toy Story and it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise that Pixar's signature films are headed back to theaters with a 3-D makeover. Both still hold up quite well. I have dabbled in a couple of short 3-D theme park-style films, such as Honey, I Shrunk the Audience at Disneyland and Escape from Dino Island 3-D at Great America. I recall those "rides" being loads of fun to watch back during my adolescent years, even if they did give me slight headaches. But I have never seen a full 3-D movie before and I just don't think I plan to watch one in theaters anytime soon. I'm just not that exciting in watching the original films again, even in 3-D. I will say that those willing to go will not leave disappointed, as I have no doubt that both film's transmutation to 3-D will look great. Just have a couple of Tylenols handy afterwards.

Final Score: 4 for 6

Bonus Non Fact or Fiction Question: What is your favorite movie genre?

Arnold Furious: For all the bashing of action, adventure, comedy and sci-fi movies that come out I find those tend to contain my favourite movies. I'm a mainstream guy who likes to dip his toes in the cinematic waters every now and again and check out something different. But the bulk of my DVD collection is action and comedies. I think of all genres the films I most look forward to seeing, most recently District 9, are films in the sci-fi genre. I think that probably makes me a nerd of some kind. Who cares…bring on Avatar!

Porfirio Diaz: For me, it came down to action/adventure vs. comedy. I like the thrill watching action heroes always escaping through in the skin of their teeth, the car/boat/airplane/jog-a-thon chase scenes, and the gullible bad guy that tops the list of every worst action movie clichés. However, comedy offers several crafted amusements: screwball, slapstick, parody, and today's latest craze, foul humor (hello Bruno). I think over the years I have enjoyed comedy films more than I have action films. In the end, comedy was the winner. Most movies under the action genre are disguised as a form of unintentional comedy anyways. Take a bow, Fast & Furious.

__________________________________________

There you go. Profirio and Arnold agree more often than not. I thank them both for their participation. Check back next week for more of this particular shindig.
-BP

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