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Gonna claim The Avengers '98. Sixty million dollar budget, made about thirty in the states and precious little more worldwide. A sentimental favorite. I will say I'm not entirely sure of the criteria- we may run up against My Year of Flops- but sounds like it could be a fun project. I just hope I make the cut.
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Sep 2, 2013 03:31
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Formally pitching: The Avengers (1998) Budget: $60,000,000 U.S. Gross: $23,000,000 Warner Bros. bought the rights to make a film version of a cult classic 1960s TV series expecting an action movie and got something closer to a surrealistic fever dream. In this the makers of The Avengers cannot be faulted for straying from the source material- of the many swinging 60s takes on the spy genre, the original TV series probably went the farthest into pure psychedelic weirdness. Certain elements could not be replicated- the flawless chemistry of Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg, mainly- but despite UK critics' particularly loud howls of Americanization and betrayal, it's hard to say the show's picture-postcard Britishness and whimsical absurdity isn't on full display here. It never had a chance. A disastrous test screening prompted the studio to delay its opening from June to August and in the meantime trim approximately half an hour of footage from the picture, footage which has yet to resurface in full. Major plot points go by so quickly you can miss them easily as a result, and a lot of people declared the finished product incomprehensible. Not helping matters, the studio opted not to screen the film for critics beforehand, giving it a toxic reputation before people laid eyes on a frame of it. And yet there's something magical here. The film offers a number of gorgeous visuals and imaginative concepts, and there's a strange kind of poetry that makes it seem like a living, breathing world that happens to operate on the rule "anything can happen at any time." Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman are not their predecessors but their more reserved take on the protagonists generates a certain tender chemistry, and a load of leaden Bondian puns can't disguise either performer's charm. The story is your standard "stop the diabolical mastermind" adventure, but seems to get to one of the key "lessons" behind the trope, the folly of seeking to dominate something rather than be prepared for and adjust to it. It's cute, it's fun, it looks and sounds great, and the blistering reception it was accorded has always made me feel rather protective of it. I've written up reviews of the picture three times so far and it's sort of an evolving text. It's unlike any other action or spy movie I've ever seen. There is something special here.
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Sep 2, 2013 07:21
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axleblaze posted:Damnit, I find the budget thing annoyingly limiting because most found footage movies are so low budget they can bomb and still make money and if they don't they're so obscure they're not even worth writing about. I'll find something though. At the very least it looks like Gremlins 2 (barely) didn't make back it's budget. Yeah, I was pondering Exorcist II as a backup since I can write up a lot on that too, but that actually made a profit thanks to a low budget and good opening weekend.
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Sep 2, 2013 15:04
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Yeah, the mix of darkness and light is pretty close to Capra.
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Sep 2, 2013 19:22
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I'm in the early stages of trying to figure out how much I should purely focus on the text of the finished film [Chechik's Avengers] and how much I should talk about, say, the fact that it has 30 minutes missing, the critical response, WB generally dumping the picture, etc. It won't be pure formalism anyway since I probably will at least mention the TV series and compare and contrast the two, but I'm trying to decide how much I want it to be a rigorous defense of the film's aesthetic qualities vs. a purer scholarly thematic reading.
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Sep 22, 2013 05:58
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So far I'm trying to sound kinda scholarly, but still making it as much a spirited defense of the film as a thematic analysis. (Of course if you hate the movie you can make it a spirited takedown- so far the Lucky Number Slevin thread on this forum is a good example of how to do that and still be reasonably professional-sounding about it.) 500 words in and I haven't even really gotten to the plot. I'm trying to decide whether this is a good sign or not.
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Sep 27, 2013 07:26
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Almost done with the first draft. Organizing my thoughts is the big issue thusfar, I've got a lot of things that could probably be moved around or dropped.
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Oct 6, 2013 18:19
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CloseFriend posted:So I'll probably not have time to get my own submissions done before the bell, so I'm passing that savings onto you: the new due date is November 1. Enjoy! Thank you!
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Oct 6, 2013 22:59
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CloseFriend posted:Extension number 2! You now have until November 8. Somehow I don't think my colleagues will mind, because I know they're busy like me. Excellent! Halloween season is busy for me. (I've got a first draft and printed it out last night to start doing notes, but I fear the structure will still end up a little sloppy. There's just so much to talk about, but not all of it ties into the main thesis such as it is.)
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Oct 29, 2013 16:27
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What format do you want these in? I figured RTF would work but I'm not sure how you'd work in pictures.
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Nov 8, 2013 17:39
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Okay, so much the better. VLC is not opening DVDs for me anymore so my screen captures are from an... inferior source, but we'll see.
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Nov 8, 2013 18:33
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And sent.
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Nov 8, 2013 18:59
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How many people have turned stuff in? Has judging started or are we waiting on a few? (Not to be pushy but I'm worried about making the cut.)
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Nov 23, 2013 03:12
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Would you consider multiple pieces by authors? Because I was starting to think it's a shame there's no essay for Speed Racer.
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Dec 16, 2013 21:02
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Obviously this will add more time but I think I can commit to that.
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Dec 16, 2013 22:58
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Okay, I've finally crawled out from under the post-holiday "all your regular responsibilities are back and more so" heap to actually get a fresh viewing of Speed Racer in and I'm formally ready to start work on an essay. Screencaps may not be feasible since my MBP has no Blu-Ray functionality, but I'll see if I can scare up any images. My basic thesis will be something about how the movie's cartoon imagery strips away the familiar baggage of racing and sports to reduce it to a pure state, which goes hand in hand with the plot being about reclaiming the purity of competition from greed and corruption.
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Feb 1, 2014 06:32
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This has taken longer than I expected, so sorry about that. I also have to rewatch to get some details right.
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Apr 10, 2014 22:00
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 00:47 |
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:Yeah I wouldn't worry about it, this is very clearly not happening at this point. Well dammit. Put a lot of effort into that essay.
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Apr 11, 2014 01:30
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