oh, FFS!

[winterbadger]

Hollywood, original and creative as ever, has decided to remake Bella Martha, an excellent German film from 2001, as an English-language vehicle for Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Because, gosh, no one will see a movie in a FOREIGN LANGUAGE! Because GOD FORBID they come up with an original idea. Why not make an over-produced, corny, cutesy sexpiece extravaganza out of a sweet, beautiful, slightly sad, understated, gentle romantic film?

And I have to say, I've reached my limit of interest in CZ-J. Many of the male (and some of the female) members of my readership may be astonished at the idea of having enough of her, but IMO she's turned into the worst kind of star--one who is all about celebrity and not much about actually acting. Yes, she's very pretty and very sexy, but it's like that has been so highly polished that she's gone over the top, like a really good piece of cake that's been covered with so much buttercream frosting, glazed nuts, crystallised flowers, and chocolate-dipped berries and stuffed with so much jam, candied fruits, and liquer that no one could actually bear to eat it.

Comments

[wolfette]

When I'm watching French language movies at the cinema, I often think "will Hollywood remake this? - and how will they change it?"

I'm waiting for the remake of "Tell No One" and "My Best Friend"

[wolfette]

oh and I should have added a great big smiley :-)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I hate that no one has an original idea, that subtitled films are disregarded. Catherine Zeta Jones was lovely when she was in The Darling Buds of May, but that's where she should have stayed.

[winterbadger]

Catherine Zeta Jones was lovely when she was in The Darling Buds of May, but that's where she should have stayed.

Exactly! She's become a commodity, IMO, and stopped being an actor.

[cmlc.livejournal.com]

I got to the point years ago now where I could hardly bear to watch American Hollywood films. I can't put my finger on exactly why but they just make me cringe. So artificial. So formulaic. So childish.
The last good film I remember seeing was Goodbye Lenin!. Now there's a good film.

[winterbadger]

I know what you mean. By far the larger part of the movies I watch are British, European, or other "foreign". On the other hand, I watched 'The Departed' last night with soccer_fox and gr_c17 and thought it was quite good. And I really liked 'The Devil Wears Prada' (which is, I think, the last US film I saw in the theatre--the only thing I saw since then being, IIRC, 'Pan's Labyrinth'.)

A check of my Netflix rentals over the last 5 years (not counting ones I returned after watching enough to know I didn't want to watch more) shows:

17 US films (probably at least 1/3 of them made before 1970)
11 UK films
5 Japanese films
11 other films (3 Canadian, 2 German, one each Dutch, Russian, Polish, Irish, Indian, and Chinese)
5 US TV series
18 UK TV series

A couple may have been misattributed or really don't fit their notional category, as all or most of the talent was from one country, even if it was made by a studio from another. 'A Constant Gardener' is credited on IMBD as "German/UK', but I put it down for UK...

[cmlc.livejournal.com]

Isn't that funny, I liked that one too. Saw it on a plane. Schmaltzy and silly and I probably sighed and looked out of the window during the worst of the cliches (why do they put them in? It's like they assume the audience to be totally stupid and ignorant too, it's insulting) but good fun.

I forgot, I approve of Pirates of the Caribbean as well! Great fun. Partly because the way he walked reminded me very much of someone I knew when I was younger. Well, more the way he stood, slightly unsteadily, and swayed a bit from side to side.

[cmlc.livejournal.com]

Errm, just realisd this was rather unclear! I was talking about The Devil Wears Prada :-)

Am currently catching up with Life On Mars, did I say? The rest of the UK, almost uniformly judging by my workmates, seems to have been utterly hooked on both series of it. They're showing it again from the beginning and I've started watching it now. Silly in places and we spot one or two trivial historical inaccuracies per episode but overall it's really good stuff.

[winterbadger]

Yeah, I really liked the first season of 'Life on Mars'. I'd have trouble explaining why, but I did.

[wolfette]

when you reach the end of season two, the "historical inaccuracies" will be explained.

:-)

[bidger.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm... butter cream! :) Now what were you saying?

I'm always cynical about these remakes, and I share your
disinterest in CZJ. (The trailers for her new effort with...
Aaron Eckhart? The guy who was in that execrable The Core,
which is the worst movie I have ever seen, failing even at
Enjoyably Bad Summer Action Fare! .. oh, well, anyway, the
trailers do not grab me)

But once in a while they do a good job - I generally go
(as I do for non-remakes) with directors, writers, and
actors. Christopher Nolan (who, for my money, can do no
wrong, and has used Christian Bale and Michael Caine to
good effect for 2 movies now, with a 3rd in a row coming)
remade a movie I loved from '97, Insomnia with Stellan
Skarsgard. And I liked the result quite a lot. So it CAN
work, but I think for me it's slipped to independence from
the story's origins. The Hollywood motives and hit rate
are poor in general, and I'm definitely with you on this
one. :)