A Little Push: Thoughts on the Hollywood Machine 09.27.08

Posted by Rick Tym on 09.27.2008

Benjamin Linus wants revenge, more on Ghostbusters 3, Will Smith to reprise I Am Legend role (but in the past), and the digitization of cinema...

No Love for Benjamin Linus at the Emmys

No love for Michael Emerson, actually. I, along with many other Lost and entertainment fans in general, thought that Emerson winning the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama this past Sunday night was a foregone conclusion. However, FX's Damages actor Zeljko Ivanek —or, more accurately, the Emmy voters—had another idea.




Locke, did you see that? Is this the right channel???

Rest assured this isn't going to some kind of slam on Ivanek, the man who beat my favorite television villain (although you can't really make that categorization just yet, so it may be better to refer to Ben Linus a "tweener") for the award. The man did a fabulous job on a show I consider just a tiny bit overrated (just throw Glenn Close at the screen and that's what usually happens when she sticks). He's been featured in so many programs that it's impossible to list them all, from ER to 24 to Law and Order. He was even on Lost (season three's excellent Lost in Portland, for those curious). So there's no way I can shy away from the truth. He's a great character actor and deserved the win.

Problem is, I can't shake the feeling that Emerson deserved it more.

Anyone who isn't a Lost fan is sure to cry foul but I'm going to push ahead anyway. I'm not interested in why Battlestar Gallactica is the better show (and don't worry, I'm a big fan of that show as well, just a bit peeved that we have to wait another several years for the final "half season") so please don't start a war in the comments section below. What many people who are not regular viewers need to realize is what we Lost fans already know: Michael Emerson is a fantastic actor and his portrayal as the ousted leader of the Others is one of the best things going on television today. Here is an actor who was so powerful in the role that the executive producers of the ABC powerhouse saw his potential and made the character not only recurring, but a major piece of the Lost puzzle for the past two and a half seasons, with presumably much more to come. Not bad considering the role was only supposed to last a few episodes. The skill with which Emerson portrays the character, walking the line between sympathetic father figure (like when his daughter Alex was mercilessly shot by Keamy) and calculated, manipulating killer (like getting revenge on Keamy and not thinking about blowing up a freighter full of people in the process) has no equal on television. Many viewers, me included, can't wait to see what Ben really is or what he will evolve into. So I find some consolation in the fact that this won't be the last time he is up for an Emmy honor (nor is it the first--he's won in this category before). However, I still maintain that the statue was rightfully his.


Breaking Ghostbuster 3 news!


Before I get started, please know that this is not going to be a regular feature of the column. I just wanted to follow up on the GB3 story featured here last week, with even more positive news concerning our favorite men in brown…

Bill Murray recently spoke to reporters at a film festival and confirmed that he was slowly but surely warming up to bringing Dr. Venkman back to the big screen for Ghostbusters 3. He went so far as to comment that enough time had passed from the last sequel to take away the bad taste making the film apparently left in his mouth, and that lending his voice to the upcoming video game had renewed his enthusiasm in the franchise.




Yes, it's true. This man…just might come back after all.

He also gave a bit of a warning to the current writers (those guys from The Office, remember?) that the success of (specifically) the first film was due to the great script, which was more character-driven and not as concerned with special effects. While this may dampen my ongoing need to see some cool updated supernatural CGI goodness, Dr. Venkman's return has me pleasantly surprised and even more optimistic about the possibility of another Ghostbusters film.


I Will Be Legend?

This one has me scratching my head a little bit. Sources are murmuring that a prequel to the 2007 blockbuster I Am Legend is on the way, once again starring Will Smith as Robert Neville, the scientist whose research leads to the manifestation of the very same vampire plague (or mutation, or infection, or whatever you want to call it) he is trying to eradicate. (I refuse to substitute "zombie" for "vampire" in the previous sentence. Not now, not ever. They were vampires. Let's move on.)

Yes, I underlined prequel for a reason.

I really, really enjoyed this film in the theater and think that those involved, from the producers down to Smith himself, got it mostly right. The first two-thirds of the movie conveyed such a convincing atmosphere of a desolate and deserted world that even the bad vampire CGI could be forgiven. While the theatrical ending left something to be desired it was a completely valid interpretation of the Richard Mattheson classic (which may never be translated completely to any fans liking anyway, let's just admit it).

So where are they going with this?





What do you mean I'm not in the script?

I have absolutely no idea. Neville's story was already told satisfactorily through flashbacks interlaced in the movie's events. We know the basic story of how the virus came to be, Neville's part in it, and what became of his family. I thought that these scenes were well done, contributing to just how alone Neville felt in this apocalyptic version of New York while the audience was being shown what happened to his family. Rehashing and expanding these plot points will only lessen and perhaps even trivialize the impact of these scenes in the original movie.

Then there's the whole problem that, in a prequel, the monsters won't even be around as a threat! Not in a logical sense. The pathogen swept through the movie's landscape with such swiftness and devastation that I am not going to buy some kind of ret-conning whereby some infected victims already being studied before they conveniently escape. Nor do I think that showing Will Smith as a scientist in a lab coat for two hours is going be compelling. I'm almost tempted to recommend that a sequel be planned instead, where we can learn about the fate of the world after the cure is disseminated amongst the plague-ridden. If it were up to me the entire idea would be scrapped. I Am Legend was not a masterpiece but it was a damned good movie, and Will Smith gave a damned good performance in it. Neville becomes a legend (according to the ending narration) at the end of the film and there's no need to tarnish it.


The End of (Physical) Film?

Well, it's finally happened. First vinyl was obsolete, then cassettes, today I just read an article about a new format that may replace the compact disc, and now I hear this news.

Facing declining attendance due to our economic woes, cinemas may have just found a solution to get more butts in the seats at affordable new prices. Walt Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Studios are going to pool together just over one billion dollars to facilitate the transition to a completely digital delivery method of their films to theaters. This would cut down the cost, claimed to be in the billions as well, incurred by the studios to print and deliver reels of film.




Dave? Dave? Do you want popcorn with that soda?

Despite the little intro to this news item, I'm not ready to sound like a crotchety old man just yet, and I don't really think this new digital delivery system is going to take us over like Skynet. Some purists who tout the use of physical film over digital cameras and projectors may beg to differ, and up until just a few years ago such debate may have been more heated. I'm not enough of a technical guru to argue the advantages and/or disadvantages of either, but I know that movies made and shown using digital means don't look nearly as alien as they used to. If the studios are footing the bill to make our wallets lighter, then I am in full support. I already get a lot of my entertainment through digital means, usually at a cheaper price than going out and buying it physically, so why not? However, if ticket prices slowly creep back up because bandwidth fees are regulated by greedy companies with names like ExxonWeb and Citgo(ToTheMovies) , then we're probably going to be talking about this one again.

Outtro

Thus ends The Push (for now). Take care of yourselves, and try to enjoy the good (and even the bad) that comes your way from the Hollywood Machine. I guess if action is your thing you can check out The Beef in Eagle Eye this weekend. Some of you may be lucky enough to live in a market less depressed than mine and get to go see Choke. Me, I'm going to start prepping my Halloween movie viewing list for October. Thanks for reading, and see you next week.