![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerHollywood, 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.
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.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-16 12:20 am (UTC)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. :)