The Cinephile: Matthew Torti's blog

Nice blog. I think you'll find alot of love for Billy Zane here on the boards.

Count me in that group.

Will be reading next monday's.

Nice blog article. I used to love all the anthology series from the fifties that you mentioned, but none of the ones since then have grabbed me. As with variety shows and westerns, the American viewing audiences tastes have simply evolved away from that particular format. Starting perhaps with "Hill Street Blues", dramas with story arcs that spanned multiple episodes became more popular than those that were self-contained. Even with shows that tell their stories within a single episode, I think people have grown to like the comfort of familiar characters in familiar locales -- perhaps to make up for the chaos of modern life, in which it's hard enough to spend quality time with our own real-life families.

Nice blog, Matthew. Unfortunately, I don't think the anthology format will be making a return anytime soon. Fear Itself will probably do as well as the last major network's attempt, ABC's Masters of Science Fiction. Even with some heavy SF names behind it (hosted by Stephen Fucking Hawking!), the show failed hard.

I recall Little Monsters having some really brutal gore, especially in the last act.

I'm really enjoying these, Matthew. Keep them up, it's good stuff.

Freaked rules! It's right up there with UHF and Happy Gilmore for me as far is "hilarious movies I can't show my wife" go. Great stuff.

Just stumbled onto your blog today Matt. Very much enjoying it and the memories it brings back. Loved the article on Drop Dead Fred. Am drooling with anticipation over the new X-Files movie. Can't wait til Friday for Hellboy 2. And having Del Toro woking on the new Hobbit film is a dream come true.

Thanks Matt for the article on Fisher. I was just thinking about him when i saw that Early Edition was now out on DVD. Fisher was a supporting character in the 1990's tv show that starred Kyle Chandler. I never saw Short Circuit or Short Circuit 2 but might have to pick them up now.

Holy crap. I honestly thought I was the only one disillusioned by the films of John Hughes. What high school was and what I had wanted it to be were definitely two different things.

Great blog post!

I've read the Kevin Walker script. Seeing as there's been the Self rewrite, I don't know how valid any of the following is but...

THE BAD
Bad finale. Not so much to do with the action, but the dialogue is the same forced drivel that villains seem to slip into come finale time (Iron Man had this problem too).
Bad closing scene with the gypsies.

THE GOOD
Violence. It is fitting in this story.
Not every horror story need be R, and when horror directors proclaim in interviews 'It's sooo gonna be a hard R!' I always get the feeling they're focusing their attention in the wrong area. Anyway, The Wolfman, needs some blood and violence, it's just that kind of film. And if that's changed, then that's a real bummer. It's not a pleasant situation to be turned into a wolf and will be an even worse situation to find yourself as an audience member watching as the camera cuts away for yet another off-screen kill.

Really can't think of anything else good about the script. I didn't like it. I do however like del Toro, so it has that.

Last thing however...

You say a CGI transformation is a bad thing. I don't. Of course Rick Baker is gonna be pissed off at that, he's a make up guy. And there are a few notable bad CGI transformations (Underworld, Van Helsing, pretty much anything in LXG) HOWEVER! The only reason why Transformers looked so goo is because people have spent the last 20 years developing the art to a point where special effects are beginning to become less 'special.' By this I mean they're not as noticeable, blend better with the rest of the mise en scene and we spend less time these days going 'Oh that looks so fake.' So I'd say, let em do a CGI transformation in combination with make up. There's been five years worth of progression since Van Helsing. And if they don't get it right this time, they'll be better eqiupped for the next film.

To condense all that, a shot of Davy Jones from POTC is all you need to argue against 'make up is soooo much better than CGI.'