SOME RECENT VIEWINGS

THE PRODUCERS : Uma goes to work!

II thought I'd take a few moments to mention some of the more recent movies that I've seen that, while being pretty good, didn't exactly inspire me to write about them. First were two musical remakes of earlier films. THE PRODUCERS starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell is hugely enjoyable, as is HAIR SPRAY, although neither completely wipes out my fondness for the originals and, for once they are not meant to. The new films are more than able to stand on their own feet. Of the two I preferred THE PRODUCERS. I've been putting off seeing TROY for reasons I really can't explain. I picked up cheap in a sale and, although I thought it overlong (this is the Director's Cut), I was impressed by the spectacle and the overall design. Performances are excellent with Brad Pitt making a more than one dimensional Achilles. The armies of both the Greeks and Trojan are so huge one wonders just how they'd keep then fed during a ten year siege - but, hey, that's movies for you! I thought that the ghost story 1408 started well enough and the early scenes between John Cusack and Samuel Jackson hold promise of frissons to come. Sadly the promise is not kept and the whole thing deteriorates into a special effects nightmare punctuated by a lot of fake Freudian backstory. I had problems getting to the end although I made it, which is more than what can be said for THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK which lasted ten minutes before I switched channels to THE FANTASTIC FOUR. Which, although, and perhaps because, I was not a fan of the comic, I found quite enjoyable.