Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
June 2007 activity
Total Log Entries: 45
- Adam (9)
- Andrew (0)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (7)
- David (0)
- Eva (0)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (7)
- Jenny (0)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (0)
- Megan (0)
- Rumsey (3)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (0)
- Timothy (0)
- Victoria (0)
Total Comments: 14
- My Darling Clementine (0)
- Waitress (0)
- Venus (0)
- Under The Sun Of Satan (0)
- On The Waterfront (0)
- Pickpocket (2)
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (0)
- Ocean’s 13 (0)
- A Trip To Mars (0)
- The Candle And The Moth (0)
- Temptations Of A Great City (0)
- The Abyss (0)
- Brand Upon The Brain! (0)
- Six-String Saumurai (0)
- An Evening With Kevin Smith (1)
- The Bridge (0)
- The Hustler (0)
- Sherman’s March (0)
- Nana (0)
- La Fille de l’Eau (0)
- A Chorus Line (0)
- The Long, Hot Summer (0)
- God Said, ‘Ha!’ (0)
- Ocean’s 13 (1)
- Knocked Up (0)
- Marnie (0)
- Knocked Up (0)
- Kind Hearts And Coronets (0)
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (1)
- Casino Royale (2)
- The 40 Year Old Virgin (0)
- Vacancy (0)
- Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (0)
- Brideshead Revisited (2)
- Odd Man Out (0)
- Andrei Rublev (0)
- Imitation of Life (0)
- Waitress (0)
- Knocked Up (3)
- His Girl Friday (2)
- Knocked Up (0)
- The Lookout (0)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (0)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (0)
- Dirty Harry (0)
Full Archive
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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer / USA/Germany / 2007
Someone has to explain to me how it makes sense to cast Jessica Alba as Sue Storm. I know her name provides greater incentive for comic-book fans to spend their money on these films, but it’s rather astounding that Hollywood is suddenly bereft of semi-talented blondes who could carry this franchise. It’s not as if the part requires a great deal of acting talent or physical ability. Why would anyone require Alba – whose beauty is specifically a product of her “exotic” appearance – to go blonde and wear blue contacts lenses? Alba is certainly attractive enough to pull off minor changes to her appearance, but these alterations of her image are asking a lot of acceptance from the audience. In fact, the images of Alba’s eyes only alternate between artificial, distracting, and disturbing.
The decision to alter Alba’s appearance borders on being comparable to Rita Hayworth going blonde in The Lady from Shanghai, considering how jarring the results are in both films. Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four’s filmmakers, their creative choices aren’t subdued by the softer hues of black-and-white photography. It’s also probably a safe assumption to make that Story doesn’t have as much talent to fall back upon, considering his crew doesn’t include anyone as ingenious or inventive as Orson Welles. Hence, since Story’s film never exerts or extends itself beyond the customary attempts to entertain, the entire project feels incredibly generic and bland for the most part. Thus, Alba serves as just another comic-book cog rather than as the glamorous object-of-temptation that Welles envisioned and sculpted for Hayworth, though this is kind of an unfair comparison to be making considering the diverging talent-levels and goals of each project.
Seriously, if I ever meet the genius who decided to reduce Alba to just another Hollywood-blonde remind me to smack them with my shoe. Also, someone needs to remind me to start picking better movies to watch during the summer months.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: 20th Century Fox 35mm Theatrical Print
25 Jun 2007 5:42 PM | Submit Comment