Well, the official name will not be changing, but at least until Survivor finishes its season, consider this feature TGITDBNMAR, with the "B" standing for "Before." Rather than try to pound out two features on Friday, I figured it couldn't hurt much to move this up a day. Don't get too excited.
As for this week, I'm left flabbergasted again at the lack of quality films being released; that's compounded this time out by the lack of quantity, as just two large scale releases hit theaters tomorrow. I guess that counts as progress, right?
The Seeker: The Dark is RisingLook! A Harry Potter clone. Oh wait, no one cares. This film is noticeable for...um...co-starring two vets of HBO shows in Ian McShane (Deadwood) and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) and for...well, the director (David L. Cunningham) worked on last year's The Path to 9/11, a TV movie that caused quite a stir. Aside from that...I got nothing. Watch it come and go from theaters in record time.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 0%
The Heartbreak KidI've been mulling over doing a "Build 'em up, Tear 'em down" post for Ben Stiller recently, as I'm just so turned off by the guy these days. Here's a mini one:
Ben Stiller was fresh and funny once upon a time, as he broke onto the scene with his eponymous TV show and later with Reality Bites. For the next few years, his breakout continued, with varied roles in under seen quality movies such as Zero Effect, Your Friends and Neighbors and Permanent Midnight, along with star turns in the wildly successful There's Something About Mary and the hit-and-miss Mystery Men (which I appreciate but don't confuse with being great). The next two year's were Stiller's best, with Keeping the Faith (very good), Meet the Parents (decent, but a big commercial hit), Zoolander (probably his funniest film after Mary, if not before it) and The Royal Tenenbaums.
Since then? Crap on a stick, with an occasional halfway decent film (Dodgeball, a nice diversion as the diminutive Ben plays a bodybuilding bully) thrown in. But mostly, it's been a sh*t parade, what with Duplex, Envy, Along Came Polly, et al. The Heartbreak Kid teams Ben back up with the directors (Farrellys) that made him a star, but judging by the previews, it looks no better than anything else he's done in the last five years.
Ben - you MUST have enough money by now. Do a good film already, or be destined to have a Steve Guttenberg-level of success in about eight years.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 5%
4 people have chosen wisely: on "TGITDNMAR (10/5/07)"
It's strange... Ben Stiller is a decent actor, put him in the right setting and he is great... but he sure manages to get himself involved in some utter crap projects.
I'd really love a candid account of why he was in different movies... is it just the money?
Maybe he just can't differntiate what's going to be good with what is going to be terrible... Envy seemed like a good concept for a movie, it had a good cast (Jack Black before he was overdone, Christopher Walken and Ben Stiller) but it just didn't deliver.
Here's my new theory: Ben Stiller is a good enough actor to not fuck up a good movie, but isn't good enough to carry a bad one.
I think Royal Tenenbaums captured the role he does best...
Thus concludes my long, pointless rant.
The end.
I think farmacy is on to something with Ben Stiller.
And I just read a review of The Seeker that says it's the heir apparent to the Harry Potter series. That's not high praise in my mind, but the review said the film's stand out feature was the special effects which is funny since the previews I've seen make The Seeker look much much crappier than Harry Potter or the upcoming Golden Compass film.
Yeah, I've been surprised - most of the reviews I've seen for both movies have been generally positive. Color me shocked.
Hey Fletch, I saw the heartbreak kid.. it was decent. I've got a review up here, and will be putting one up on FSR soon probably.
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