JACK THE BUZZKILLER

June to March? Talk about being sent out to die.

My curses at Singer for letting the Phoenix story die at The Rat's hands seem to have worked rather more strongly than I thought. My bad.

I think, at this point, Singer needs to walk away from big budget adventure fare (be it superheroes or fantasy) and go back to more character-based work.............be it thrillers or something else.

Indeed. Even considering this I think he still has enough clout to pick up a small cool script and get it made easily. But I don't think his mind is in that place right now. Blockbusteritis has him by the balls.

I'd like to see him make something else along the lines of The Usual Suspect or Apt Pupil again...................or even Valkyrie.  I love his X-Men films (especially the second one) and really liked Superman Returns despite its faults.  From the looks of things though, he is burnt out on blockbusters.......................which is another reason why we dodged a bullet when he decided not to direct First Class and handed it to Matthew Vaughn instead.  I'm sure developing countless ones for years that haven't gotten made (Battlestar Galactica, Excalibur, Logan's Run, etc.) hasn't helped things either.  He needs to make a handful of smaller films to clear his head again.  I thought Valkyrie might have accomplished that, but I don't think he's quite distanced himself enough yet.

Speculation aside, if I were Bryan, I would be lining up my next project or two IMMEDIATELY.

Uh, you guys seem to be forgetting that his last movie was Valkyrie. Not exactly a tiny indie film, but it wasn't a huge spectacle blockbuster. It's as small of a film as he's likely to do now.

EDIT: Bob mentions Valkyrie, my bad. But my point remains that Singer isn't likely to scale things back further than that.

I'm saying that he should. A period movie with Tom Cruise and half the cast of Harry Potter is anything but scaled back. 

I don't disagree that he should, it's just when director's get to that playing field they don't tend to go back. I think the chances of ever seeing a USUAL SUSPECTS sized movie from Singer are unlikley.

"Apparently Warner Brothers isn’t too impressed with the film either…….since they just postponed it NINE MONTHS."

OUCH.  Singer needs a career intervention.  He's been fucking up genre films for too long now.  I'm afraid to admit this, but it could be a case of Emperor having no clothes.  

Edited for foolishly loose lips. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambler 

"Apparently Warner Brothers isn’t too impressed with the film either…….since they just postponed it NINE MONTHS."

 

OUCH.  Singer needs a career intervention.  He's been fucking up genre films for too long now.  I'm afraid to admit this, but it could be a case of Emperor having no clothes.  

Too long? He's done two films since X2 w/ mixed receptions. I can't speak for Valkyrie, but Superman Returns isn't a bad film, just the wrong film at the wrong time. The man has skill, but what he needs is a script that makes the best uses of his sensibilities (though I do recall several rumors about his penchant for "absentee filmmaking").

     Quote:

Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

(though I do recall several rumors about his penchant for "absentee filmmaking").

He's too busy fucking boys in his trailer.  

I think the real problem might be that the best version of Jack the Giant Killer still isn't very good, or something people would want to see. Maybe the script has hidden depths, but the trailer certainly didn't indicate this. This was easily my knee jerk pick for biggest flop of the summer, so maybe this will work out for everyone, although it may be too late. Bottom line is it appeared much less fresh than the Kristen Stewart starring Snow White film, so the writing was on the wall. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

Too long? He's done two films since X2 w/ mixed receptions. I can't speak for Valkyrie, but Superman Returns isn't a bad film, just the wrong film at the wrong time. 

No, it's a bad film. Weren't you also mounting a defense for Ang Lee's HULK in a Batman thread? Clearly your taste in superhero films runs in the "over-ponderous and woefully misguided".

I kid because I love, Johnny.
 

We can debate Superman Returns all day long, but conclusively calling it a "bad film" makes me want to punch you from the other side of the internet.

It's happened before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

Uh, you guys seem to be forgetting that his last movie was Valkyrie. Not exactly a tiny indie film, but it wasn't a huge spectacle blockbuster. It's as small of a film as he's likely to do now.

I'm completely cool with him working on more projects the size of Valkyrie.  I loved Valkryie!  I just think he needs to take a step away from summer blockbuster fare, as his heart doesn't seem to be in it anymore.  Among all the other "big" projects that he's been attached to that haven't been able to get off the ground, Jack the Giant Killer always seemed to scream "I'm only making this because it managed to get financed" to me.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe this IS a passion project for him, but it certainly doesn't look that way.  Let's just hope that whatever is done to it over the next year can help hone it into a decent film.  The concept is sound (I dig the original) and it has a good cast, so it would be a shame to let it all go to waste.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

I don't disagree that he should, it's just when director's get to that playing field they don't tend to go back. I think the chances of ever seeing a USUAL SUSPECTS sized movie from Singer are unlikley.

Ironic considering the man peaked with that one and Apt Pupil after that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

but Superman Returns isn't a bad film, just the wrong film at the wrong time.

Yeah, if it came out BEFORE Donner's it might appear original.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

We can debate Superman Returns all day long, but conclusively calling it a "bad film" makes me want to punch you from the other side of the internet.

 

It's happened before.

"Donner homage, stalk ex-GF, lift something heavy, rince/repeat". I certainly don't call it interesting. You may not call it a "bad film", but It's a "bad Superman movie"... or to quote SOB..."over-ponderous and woefully misguided". Right on the money (HULK too).

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

Ironic considering the man peaked with that one and Apt Pupil after that.

How dare you. "X2" is his masterpiece. Without a doubt. I liked "The Usual Suspects" too, but one really fun performance, a few mildly amusing smaller ones, and a memorable twist ending don't make it a peak.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naisu Baddi 

Quote:

How dare you. "X2" is his masterpiece. Without a doubt. I liked "The Usual Suspects" too, but one really fun performance, a few mildly amusing smaller ones, and a memorable twist ending don't make it a peak.

 

If you like that kinda thing, sure.

I have trouble calling X2 a masterpiece, or any Singer film.

And Superman is a bad movie.

X2 is pretty good but it's no masterpiece.  Usual Suspects is a better movie.  RD is right, he peaked early.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

I have trouble calling X2 a masterpiece, or any Singer film.

 

And Superman is a bad movie.

No, it just misunderstands the difference between a 1978 audience and a 2006 audience and seems to be under the impression that the majority of the latter have just as much investment as the former. There's passion there, and skill, and a good bit of it works, but it's ultimately too myopic to be widely appealing. It's not the Superman film I was looking for, and obviously it wasn't what audiences where looking for, but I look at the film for what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. 

Also, not being defensive at all, just making a statement here. Whether it's Hulk, or Superman Returns, or whatever, I don't so much care about the tone of a superhero film, it's a genre, and genres are generally allowed to run the gamut in terms of tone. I care about content. That doesn't mean I want to sit through some enormously depressive and pessimistic Wonder Twins film, but I generally trust intelligent and passionate filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Ang Lee, and if they want to see how their sensibilities mesh with the men-in-tights genre, I'll go in like a sponge.

There's so much more to Usual Suspects than the twist. It's one of the best edited and structured neo-noirs of the 90s. The dialogue pops. All the performances are informed and allowed to shine. Even knowing the twist, it's still a fun ride.

It has been sort a thing lately to claim that The Usual Suspects isn't really all it's thought to be. And it's something that I find utterly ridiculous.

I'll say this for Superman Returns; it made me want to see Kevin Spacey play a Bond villain.

IMO any suggestion that The Usual Suspects and X2 aren't each great in their own ways is the talk of madness. Madness, I tells ya!

With Singer, he just comes across to me as one of those guys who lost his 'voice' along the way. Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, even the X-Mens felt like the work of a guy with a worldview and something to say. Even Superman Returns had the hint of an authorial voice, albeit an odd one. But it's like that experience broke him and he's just become 'For Hire' guy; even Valkyrie, his strongest film in a while, felt sort of rote in narrative terms. The guy needs a creative refresher, and this movie ain't it.

There is also the possibility that he's run out of things to say. He wouldn't be the first artist who said everything he wanted to with his first few works and was left trading on their brilliance for the rest of his career.

I just want to be the dissenting voice who says that, while the trailer looked like cocks, Singer's been working on this for a very long time, and I don't get how everyone's so quick to write it off given that Singer has yet to make a bad movie and fuck you for disagreeing!

He's made some that are better than others--I'm in no hurry to revisit Apt Pupil or Superman--but yeah, I'll get with that. And the trailer being that terrible WAS shocking to me, because just based on my love for Usual Suspects and the X-Films, Singer's still got one of my "I really just owe it to see what he does next" cards.