Day: October 6, 2010

A time-pressure element has obviously been built into Paul Haggis‘s The Next Three Days, but this remake of Pour Elle is primarily about a husband (Russell Crowe) busting his wife (Elizabeth Banks), wrongly convicted of murder, out of jail. So what’s the hurry? She’s not about to be executed like Grace Kelly in Dial M for Murder. She’s in stir so what difference does it make if you bust her out this weekend or three weeks from now or whatever?

I’m saying that I smell the scent of un-grounded artificial tension built into the story if the breakout has to happen with 72 hours. Take it easy, be careful, don’t rush, knock back some brewskis, go to the football game on Sunday, etc. A jail break is not easy. My favorite was when Robert Redford and pals busted out their pal Greenberg in Peter Yates‘ The Hot Rock ; my runner-up is the organized jailbreak in John Huston ‘s The Macintosh Man, when they air-lifted Paul Newman over the wall with a crane and a net.

Darren Aronofsky has as much right to grab a creative paycheck gig as Chris Nolan or anyone else on that level. He’s one of the very few helmers who can take an over-and-done-with superhero franchise like Wolverine — Jesus! — and make it work. He can bestow integrity. But at the same time there’s something odious about corporate Hollywood responding to the artistry of Aronofsky’s Black Swan by saying, “Wow, great flick…would you take a shot at reviving a ruined pop-trash superhero franchise if we pay you enough?”

I said roughly the same thing on 9.29 when it was being reported that Aronofsky was in discussions with Chris Nolan about directing the Superman reboot.

Tim Gunn‘s message about how “it gets better” for anguished gay, lesbian, transgender or conflicted youth applies to any kid who feels suppressed and despairing. I was one of the most miserable kids on the planet in my mid teens (constant criticism and belitting, powerless, alcoholic household) but it got better for me. I also love Gunn, a renowned fashion critic/personality, for having said “the Kardashians have an absence of taste and I don’t think that that should be perpetuated.”