TV/Movies Megathread

[Syt]

 

[Savonarola]

Nomads of the North (1920)

Set in the treacherous world of the Canadian north, Betty Blythe plays Nell Nannette, a woman with whom every man is smitten including Dudley Do-Right Corporal O'Connor of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Snidely Whiplash Buck McDougall, heir of a fur trading company and the most villainous snake to come from Montreal.  He once clubbed a man to death with a hockey stick; just to watch him die.  In any event Nannette's heart belongs to Raoul Challoner, played by none other than Lon Chaney.

Nell's father has the frosted lung (the most dreaded of Canadian illnesses.)  He's been living off the charity of Snidely's father; but when Nell refuses Snidely's offer of marriage he threatens to throw him out into the unforgiving Canadian wilderness.  Nell agrees to marry him only once it's proven that her long absent Lon is dead.  Snidely is selling whiskey to the Injuns, and convinces one of his smuggling associates to tell Nell that he saw Lon die.  Lon though is returning home with his pet bear cub and puppy.  He saves Nell at the altar, but that night Snidely and his associate jump Lon, and Lon accidentally kills Snidely's associate.  Lon and Nell get married and flee to the wilderness.  Dudley is given the order to find Lon and the mounties always get their man...

When Dudley is taking Long back to civilization (after three years of pursuit) he brings Lon, Nell, their infant daughter and Lon's now full grown bear and guard dog; but only Lon is restrained.  I don't think Dudley was in the gifted class at Mountie school.

The film is a terrible waste of Lon's talents.  Throughout the film I was expecting him to become mutilated, or to mutilate someone, but that didn't happen.  Betty Blythe is a large woman, and not at all what you'd think of as a 20's era starlet; but she was famous for wearing revealing costumes early in the decade.  (She does have hips well suited for child-bearing, which is undoubtedly why her character was being pursued by so many French Canadian men.)

The studio recreated the Canadian wilderness in a studio in California.  The panoramas look like a model rail set, but the close ups are well done.  There's a forest fire at the end of the film, Betty, Lon and the Mountie were almost burned to death in the scene.

[viper37]

You no longer get genre stuff like say, Aliens, Predator or Robocop or a lot of good movies from years past that didn't have huge budgets but enough to be ambitious but at the same time could be original.

Hey, there's a new Robocop coming, and I swear I saw some Aliens vs Predators recently somewhere... Oh wait, I get it now   

[viper37]

Buck McDougall, heir of a fur trading company and the most villainous snake to come from Montreal.

Anglo-Québécois.  That was to be expected!

[Sheilbh]

most movies are commodities scripted to fit beat sheets and named or associated with some known property or franchise. If you are going to dump 200 million dollars into a movie you have to have a star or a franchise and everything else needs to be predictable and conform to expectations. That's why its just so boring and thats why franchises have taken over everything, it's the only passion to be found anywhere related to any film.

Also I think the internet created a free marketing/hype machine of fanboys which made adaptations and reboots more attractive.

Aye, one of the problems with Hollywood is that the "middle of the road" movies have almost disappeared. It's all megablockbusters or underfunded small movies (which end up being the more interesting ones). 100m+ budgets force producers to reduce risk as much as possible, going with bland "proven" formulas and recognizable names. You no longer get genre stuff like say, Aliens, Predator or Robocop or a lot of good movies from years past that didn't have huge budgets but enough to be ambitious but at the same time could be original.

Yep. I want something in between Francis Ha and Iron Man 3.

[viper37]

Also I think the internet created a free marketing/hype machine of fanboys which made adaptations and reboots more attractive.

Let me respectfully disagree.  It wasn't better before.  Adaptations and reboots are no more attractive today than they were in the past.  But it's something you'll see more often in a given year where there are economic hard times, that's a given.  Just as you try to invest your money in securities instead of the more volatile stock market, studios seek less volatile investment for their global portfolio of movies.  For every Iron Man, there is a John Carter.


In the early days of cinema, adaptations of theater plays were common.  As soon as movies started to be made, there were remakes/reboots.

Case in point, one among many, Last of the Mohicans:

Films
A number of films have been based on the lengthy book, making various cuts, compressions, and changes. The American adaptations include:
    a 1912 version starring James Cruze,
    The Last of the Mohicans (1920), starring Wallace Beery;
    The Last of the Mohicans (1932), a serial version starring Harry Carey;
    The Last of the Mohicans (1936) starring Randolph Scott and Bruce Cabot;
    Last of the Redmen (1947) starring Jon Hall and Michael O'Shea;
    Last of the Mohicans (1963) starring Jack Taylor. Jose Marco, Luis Induni and Daniel Martin;
    The Last of the Mohicans (1992), starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

7 movies based on The Last of the Mohicans; on average that's almost one per decade.  If we look at Romeo and Juliet, I don't think I know how to count that far for all the remakes&reboot of the famous Shakespeare play

[Scipio]

Also I think the internet created a free marketing/hype machine of fanboys which made adaptations and reboots more attractive.

Let me respectfully disagree.  It wasn't better before.

In the early days of cinema, adaptations of theater plays were common.  As soon as movies started to be made, there were remakes/reboots.

Case in point, one among many, Last of the Mohicans:

Films
A number of films have been based on the lengthy book, making various cuts, compressions, and changes. The American adaptations include:
    a 1912 version starring James Cruze,
    The Last of the Mohicans (1920), starring Wallace Beery;
    The Last of the Mohicans (1932), a serial version starring Harry Carey;
    The Last of the Mohicans (1936) starring Randolph Scott and Bruce Cabot;
    Last of the Redmen (1947) starring Jon Hall and Michael O'Shea;
    Last of the Mohicans (1963) starring Jack Taylor. Jose Marco, Luis Induni and Daniel Martin;
    The Last of the Mohicans (1992), starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

7 movies based on The Last of the Mohicans; on average that's almost one per decade.  If we look at Romeo and Juliet, I don't think I know how to count that far for all the remakes&reboot of the famous Shakespeare play

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

[viper37]

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

Well, there was a lot of bitching about this movie, because it's not faithful to the original book.
Not that I complain, I found the book quite boring compared to the movie.

[Savonarola]

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

Well, there was a lot of bitching about this movie, because it's not faithful to the original book.
Not that I complain, I found the book quite boring compared to the movie.

You might enjoy this:

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain

[viper37]

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

Well, there was a lot of bitching about this movie, because it's not faithful to the original book.
Not that I complain, I found the book quite boring compared to the movie.

You might enjoy this:

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain

I read parts of this somewhere, on Wikipedia, I think.  But thanks, it's nice to see

[Queequeg]

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

Everything but the last 8 mints of Last of the Mohicans: boring
Last 8 minutes of Last of the Mohicans: one of the best scenes ever

[Habbaku]

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

Everything but the last 8 mints of Last of the Mohicans: boring

[Queequeg]

I don't think the central romance works, even though I like Stowe.

[Admiral Yi]

The central romance works fine.  DDL has never appeared more virile, or confident, or sexy in any other movie.  Whereas Stowe is the quintessence of pink Caucasian womanliness.

[FunkMonk]

If all reboots were at the level of 1992's Last of the Mohicans, there would be nothing to bitch about.

Everything but the last 8 mints of Last of the Mohicans: boring