"Good" trailer
A nice, intelligent, very confident trailer for Ridley Scott's A Good Year (20th Century Fox, 11.10). It's obviously going to be an agreeable, intelligent, wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee movie about cherishing the things in life that are rich and fine and good for your soul. And it has another quite-good Russell Crowe performance to boot, and some wonderful capturings of many delectable south-of-France locations. The downside is that the story (i.e., the portion provided by the trailer) seems a tad predictable. But it's all in the telling, right? The singer, not the song.
Sandler = Dylan<< previous
|
next >>Bitter Tea
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 25, 2006 at 6:08 PM
comment #1
nickc says ...
Looks terrific but I am sucker for anything done by Ridley Scott. Looks like a nice change of pace, a companion of sorts to his obscenely underrated flick Matchstick Men. As per usual, Scott seems to have shot the piss out of his locations...Italy will never look better I bet.
Posted by nickc at July 25, 2006 6:22 PM
comment #2
nickc says ...
Sorry...France will never look better.
Posted by nickc at July 25, 2006 6:28 PM
comment #3
Stella's Boy says ...
I think it looks fairly awful, and exactly like something Lasse Hallstrom would direct.
Posted by Stella's Boy at July 25, 2006 6:32 PM
comment #4
Wrecktum says ...
Dreary, predicatable hokum. Do we really needa remake of Under the Tuscan Sun so soon?
Posted by Wrecktum at July 25, 2006 6:42 PM
comment #5
Anonymous says ...
Good point wrecktum. Based on its trailer A Good Year looks no better than Under the Tuscan Sun. I cringed a few times during it.
Posted by Anonymous at July 25, 2006 6:43 PM
comment #6
Pablo Villaça says ...
I hated it. It looks like a butch (well, sort of) version of "Under the Tuscan Sun".
Posted by Pablo Villaça at July 25, 2006 6:45 PM
comment #7
Wrecktum says ...
It looks like a paycheck picture for Crowe. He got tons of money, a vacation in the French countryside, and a hot chick to make out with. He wins. The audience? Loses.
Posted by Wrecktum at July 25, 2006 6:51 PM
comment #8
graig says ...
What was the last movie in which Crowe used his own voice (i.e. no american/british accent)? I honestly can't remember.
Posted by graig at July 25, 2006 7:01 PM
comment #9
Dixon Steele says ...
Wrecktum,
Do you really think Ridley Scott is going to make the piece of crap you're describing?
You're really living down to your unfortunate name.
Posted by Dixon Steele at July 25, 2006 7:08 PM
comment #10
Anonymous says ...
Forget that crap... Kevin Smith is apparently filling in for Roger Ebert this weekend!!!
http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=267
Poland and Wells, eat your hearts out.
Posted by Anonymous at July 25, 2006 7:13 PM
comment #11
Stella's Boy says ...
I'm a Ridley Scott fan, but while I watched this trailer, I couldn't believe it was something he directed. It looks bad.
Posted by Stella's Boy at July 25, 2006 7:13 PM
comment #12
Anonymous says ...
Wow a remake of Elizabethtown so soon?
Posted by Anonymous at July 25, 2006 7:23 PM
comment #13
sprofessor says ...
looks awful. i'll see it because its scott, but if it were anyone else i wouldn't waste my time. the scenary will be beautiful i've no doubt but the script sounds terrible.
i love ridley scott, he's one of the greats, but he's very inconsistant. he's much better sticking to the big ambitious stuff, at least then when he fails you can admire him for trying, but when he aims lower he often doesn't make it off the ground.
or maybe its just a bad trailer...
Posted by sprofessor at July 25, 2006 7:27 PM
comment #14
Wrecktum says ...
"Do you really think Ridley Scott is going to make the piece of crap you're describing?
You're really living down to your unfortunate name."
I've disliked (to various degrees) every single Ridley Scott film I've seen, save Alien. Frankly, I don't even watch his films anymore, because I know that, from past experience, won't enjoy them. Haven't seen one since the excreble Gladiator. So, I do think that Scott would make the piece of crap I'm describing.
As for my name...it's all a matter of taste, isn't it? Some people here used to work for a place called Movie Poopshoot, speaking of unfortunate names.
Posted by Wrecktum at July 25, 2006 7:28 PM
comment #15
Scott Weinberg says ...
HUGE Ridley Scott fan, but this one looks more than a little saccharine. Fingers crossed....
Posted by Scott Weinberg at July 25, 2006 7:51 PM
comment #16
Larry says ...
I happen to think the song is more important than the singer.
Posted by Larry at July 25, 2006 8:13 PM
comment #17
sanddd says ...
yowza! You guys are tough......except that you cringe....which isn't tough...
....what if this is a film about a (venal) fellow (who's a real good actor) who turns his values, and therefore, his life, around.....in the beautiful vineyards of southern France......in golden dappled sunlightr?
Surely that has some value?
ps. sweet, sweet Freddie Highmore is mini-Crowe? Strains belief, but adds to the mystery. Just believe.
Posted by sanddd at July 25, 2006 8:31 PM
comment #18
J.C. says ...
"What was the last movie in which Crowe used his own voice (i.e. no american/british accent)? I honestly can't remember."
Posted by: graig at July 25, 2006 07:01 PM
I've noticed this myself. I think Crowe's best performance, actually, is in "The Sum of Us." He's relaxed, settled in his own skin, and credibly romantic. Part of has to do with pre-fame innocence; he was charming and oozed charisma in "The Quick and the Dead" and a fantastic villain in that Denzel Washington film that I can't recall right now. But I've noticed that, for me, his best performance has been the one in which he used his own accent.
Posted by J.C. at July 25, 2006 9:26 PM
comment #19
gh says ...
I think I just vomited a little in my mouth.
Posted by gh at July 25, 2006 9:37 PM
comment #20
Ajay says ...
Why would anyone think Ridley Scott could pull off a movie like this (even assuming you want a tuscan sun remake made)? Ridley Scott's strengths are his visuals, surprisingly good casting, and technical proficiency. Writing and character development are the last things I would associate with a Ridley Scott movie; unfortunately, those are the two qualities a movie like this depends on. His skills are best used to make big-budget genre pictures that look great and to bring some new conventions to them.
Posted by Ajay at July 26, 2006 2:56 AM
comment #21
Anonymous says ...
Could have worse.....could have been Tony Scott.
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 4:42 AM
comment #22
Anonymous says ...
Looks good -- a nice change up for Scott.
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 7:38 AM
comment #23
NYCBusybody says ...
I dunno, I got attacked on another post for intimating my belief that Wells is a feminized girl-man.
I think his interest in this proves my point.
Posted by NYCBusybody at July 26, 2006 7:56 AM
comment #24
Anonymous says ...
Wells seems to be interested in more than just comic book flicks and that same movie Kevin Smith keeps making.
Shame on him!
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 8:03 AM
comment #25
Hopscotch says ...
My sister read the book that it is based on and said that it was downright dreadful. And it's always good to have deceint material to base your motion picture on.
Is this a remake of "Under the Tuscan Sun"?
Posted by Hopscotch at July 26, 2006 9:12 AM
comment #26
Nicol D says ...
Crowe is one of the few actors working today who can call himself an artist and say it with a straight face.
I see anything with him in it.
Posted by Nicol D at July 26, 2006 9:35 AM
comment #27
Anonymous says ...
Scott wanted to do something lighter after Kingdom of Heaven. He's also a friend of Peter Mayles' and has owned a home in Provence for years. It'll be a nice change for both Scott and Crowe. I'm expecting the same people who complain that Crowe always chooses intense, Oscar-baity movies will also complain that he's doing a romance/comedy/drama.
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 10:36 AM
comment #28
Anonymous says ...
Exactly. Bitter folks who hate everything.
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 10:43 AM
comment #29
CS says ...
Exactly.............A nice change of pace for them both but never fear Wrecktum there starting American Gangster in August. Maybe...but I doubt it, it might better suit your tastes.
I have also read the book and enjoyed it....yes it was light but nothing wrong with that and I understand it is "loosely" based on it. I bet they had fun making it.
Everything doesn't have to be Oscar worthy.Frankly I can't wait to see it.
Posted by CS at July 26, 2006 11:35 AM
comment #30
Liz says ...
Sounds like a great chick flick to me. I can't wait, and the visuals, both landscape and human , look fantastic.
By the way, it's well-documented that both Scott and Crowe took a cut in their usual fees to make this.
The last movie where Crowe used his native accent was Proof of Life (2000)
Posted by Liz at July 26, 2006 12:11 PM
comment #31
Anonymous says ...
"What was the last movie in which Crowe used his own voice (i.e. no american/british accent)? I honestly can't remember."
Probably Proof of Life.
It looks like there's a fair bit of comedy in this film, which I can't really see Crowe doing. In the trailer he seems to be struggling to be light-hearted and charming.
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 12:19 PM
comment #32
ROB says ...
All of the comparisons to Under the Tuscan Sun seem apt. I just wanted to add that the trailer also leaves a taste of a strained, facile effort by Crowe to publicly atone for his intemperate phone-throwing image.
Posted by ROB at July 26, 2006 2:30 PM
comment #33
Rhonda says ...
This film was in the works long before any phone-throwing image problems. Movies don't just happen over night. It's a nice change of pace for a director and actor who needed a change of pace.
Posted by Rhonda at July 26, 2006 3:50 PM
comment #34
ROB says ...
Rhonda said: "This film was in the works long before any phone-throwing image problems."
If you're saying Crowe was attached to this film "long before any phone-throwing image problems," that's just plain wrong. Crowe signed on to the movie at the very end of July 2005, about two months after Cinderella Man premiered (and tanked) and about six weeks after Crowe was arrested.
Posted by ROB at July 26, 2006 4:10 PM
comment #35
Anonymous says ...
Crowe may have signed in July but I think it's ridiculous to presume this movie was made so he could "atone" for the phone-throwing incident. The film has been in the works for awhile, it didn't just materialize between June and July. In fact, Scott urged Mayles to write the story in the first place.
Regardless, it will interesting to see Crowe, who I am convinced can do any type of role, in a lighter, comedic role for a change. We can already tell from the trailer that Scott, who is indeed a visual artist, has done his magic bringing the countryside of Provence to the screen.
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 5:04 PM
comment #36
silvia says ...
I totally agree with Mr Wells: "the singer, not the song". I usually prefer movies with original plots, but that's kind of rare, isn't it! So it could be also interesting to see how Ridley Scott takes on the comedy/drama genre, and I can't wait to see Russell Crowe (one of the finest actors) in a lighter and romantic role.
One thing is for sure: this duo has done something preatty different from their first collaboration...remember that little movie called "Gladiator"?
Posted by silvia at July 27, 2006 1:34 AM
comment #37
lucilla says ...
... little flick, small script, light role, low budget, uhm ... do you know the best wine is in the smaller barrel?
Posted by lucilla at July 27, 2006 5:51 AM