Hello folks, welcome to the May 2012 edition of Five of the Fifth!
As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here. So let’s get started, shall we?
1. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Last year I chose to highlight a Mexican actor to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride , but this year why not talk about directors? There are quite a number of Mexican directors working in Hollywood today, and few are highly successful, i.e. Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón, and the celebrated Luis Buñuel.
Out of the list, I’m most familiar with Cuarón’s work (Great Expectations, a segment of Paris, je t’aime, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and one of my favorite dystopian sci-fi thriller Children of Men. I saw it on the big screen when it came out in 2006 and was quite affected by it. I think it’s one of Clive Owen’s best performances to date, IMO.
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2. Ok, since I just blogged about being hooked on Spooks, I had been reading a lot about the show and apparently a US remake is in the works [surprise, surprise]. According to Dark Horizon, ABC has acquired the American adaptation rights of the BAFTA-winning show, though no word yet whether it will remain set in the U.K. or shift its location and agency setting to the United States.
Heh, naturally I’m skeptical about such projects, most likely it just won’t be as good as the original. I read this soon after I heard news that The Help director Tate Taylor wants to make a movie version of 2002 BBC miniseries The Jury (starring a young Gerry Butler in one of my top five roles). It’s such a fantastic miniseries that explored how each juror’s life is affected by the case, not sure how that’d translate into a 2-hour feature film.
Now, I do welcome the idea of a Spooks movie however, after all there are dozens of TV series that have been made into films, I mean look at Serenity, Charlie’s Angels and of course the highly successful Mission: Impossible. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Spooks being made into a film franchise and with the right people that could be an awesome one.
Richard Armitage who played Lucas North is very keen on the idea, in this interview he said, “Every time I see the producers I’m saying, ‘Come on, Olympics 2012. Come on, do it. Make a film’ I think it would be fantastic. And it would be great to see — I mean one of the things Spooks has done brilliantly is put London visually on the screen and shoot London beautifully…” Hear, hear, Richard! Of course they should make it with Richard in the lead 😉
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3. Ok, I wasn’t going to feature this trailer anywhere on my blog as I thought the first movie is such an abominable! If you’ve read my short review of it, you’ll know why. But I think the second movie promises even more ridiculously bombastic and preposterous high-octane action in massive proportion!
Not only do we have the original 80s action heroes like Sly, Ah-nuld, Bruce Willis, and Dolph Lundgren, we’ve also got Jason Statham and Jet Li returning, along with even MORE action heroes in the form of Jean-Claude Van Damme AND Chuck Norris!! I have to admit I laughed out loud watching the trailer, and everyone practically cheered when good ‘ol Chuck strutting into the screen taking off his sunglasses, ahah. Hey like the trailer said… When the threat is this great… only a cast this verbose could do it!!
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4. Ok, since I just saw The Avengers last night, I have to have one Avengers-related question. I read on Friday on Deadline that apparently Samuel L. Jackson was furious that A.O. Scott gave The Avengers a negative review. Here’s what he tweeted:
#Avengers fans,NY Times critic AO Scott needs a new job! Let’s help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do!
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) May 3, 2012
This is what the NY Times reviewer wrote: “…while ‘The Avengers’ is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting. The light, amusing bits cannot overcome the grinding, hectic emptiness, the bloated cynicism that is less a shortcoming of this particular film than a feature of the genre.”
Now I disagree w/ Scott as I thought The Avengers was fun and definitely entertaining, but really is it really necessary for Jackson to be so bitter about just one bad review, especially when overall the critical reception has been positive? Proof that these superheroes certainly have super ego, ahah.
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5. Ok last question. Today is Henry Cavill‘s 29th Birthday. As you already know, I’m highly anticipating Man of Steel with him in the role.
Apart from some behind-the-scene footage of him and this photo, we haven’t seen ANY teaser trailer yet. I’m hoping that maybe we’ll see at least a teaser with The Dark Knight Rises? Now, you’ve probably read that this Zack Snyder adaptation might focus a bit more on Clark Kent as ‘young twenty-something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond anyone’s imagination’ [per ComicBookMovie]
There have been some on-set pics that show Cavill as Kent without his trademark glasses. Now, we should expect that under Christopher Nolan/Zack Snyder collaboration, we may see a Superman reboot unlike anything we’ve seen before. I mean look at what Nolan did with the Batman franchise, he’s not afraid to give the classic hero a whole new level of realism and darker tone with the story. So does that mean perhaps that would include Clark Kent having a different set of disguise in Man of Steel?
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Well, that’s it for the May edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!
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1. Probably Guillermo del Toro, with Pans labyrnth being my favorite of his
2. Not sure, There are a few like the A-Team i liked, but i can’t think of one i voe at the moment.
3. Looks better, but still skeptical.
4. I’m with you on this. I can’t stand when entertainers can’t take criticism. As long as it doesn’t get personal i think all criticism good or bad is valid, and more importantly i don’t get why someone who can’t stand criticism would be part o the entertainment industry. it kind of comes with the territory. I remember reading a interview with Diablo Cody where the interviewer asked about the negative reception to jennifers body, and unlike what a lot of directors would do she didn’t lash out at the people who hated it. My respect for her went way up after reading that. Unfortunately i can’t find this interview, but when i tried to search for it i found another one where she is asked why didn’t more people see it, and she says “I don’t like to lay blame, though. I own it, I own my failure.” In case you’re interested here is the link I don’t like to lay blame, though. I own it, I own my failure
5. Not really important to me. I mean the idea that somehow glasses prevented people from recognizing kent in the Superman costume was always kind of silly imo
ops accidentally pasted the quote twice. Here is the link i meant to put http://www.vulture.com/2010/03/diablo_cody_on_united_states_o.html
Also i just thought of one for the second question(voe was supposed to be “love” btw). Tinker tailor Solider Spy. I have no familiarity with the miniseries its based on, which is why it didn’t come to mind at first.
Hi Julian, ah yes I remember you like Pan’s Labyrinth. I thought it was good but way too violent for my taste.
Thanks for the link to Cody’s interview. Yeah I think it takes some humility and self-reflection for a star to take criticism. In the case of Cody especially, as she wrote the series, the criticism is more directed at her.
Btw, about Tinker Tailor, it’s more of a miniseries, not a regular series and I don’t think the film was based on that necessarily, as the miniseries was from Le Carre’s book.
1. Cauron and Del Toro are my two favorites, probably I’ve seen most if not all of their films. The others I’ve only seen maybe one or two of their films.
2. Would love to see Spooks or MI-5 turns into a film, we don’t need a TV show version though. There’s already similar show that came around the same time Spooks did here in the States. It was called The Agency, great show but unfortunately it lasted for only 2 seasons.
Mission: Impossible and The Fugitive are my favorite TV shows to films.
3. Expendables 2 is not a must see but I’ll check it out in theater anyway, just to see Van Damme do a round house kick to Stallone’s face.
4. Not sure why Sam Jackson took A.O. Scott’s review so personally, I mean he’s been in the business for years and he should know that Scott’s a pretentious prick of a critic. I used to like reading A.O.’s reviews but the last few years he’s just kind of annoying, so I stopped reading his movie reviews.
5. I agree with Dirty on this one, it’s always silly to me that a dude put on a glasses and act goofy will make people believe he’s not Superman. But since it’s set in a fantasy world, I just went a long with it.
Check out this funny clip from SNL years ago when Terry Hatcher, who played Lois in the TV version of Superman, hosts. When Will Ferrell put on his glasses, she thought he was a different person. It’s pretty funny.
http://www.break.com/tv-shows/saturday-night-live/teri-hatcher-monologue-2139015.html
Yay Ted, I knew you’d be on board about Spooks movie. Yes I definitely don’t think we need an American version of the series at all. The reason I like the show is the writing and the cast so without Peter Firth, Hermione Norris, Armitage, etc. I’m just not interested.
Ahah, that part when Van Damme did the high kick made me laugh so hard, I’m sure he’d do his trademark split as well 😀
As for Scott, whether or not I agree w/ him I still think actors/filmmakers should be more of a good sport if someone criticize them.
The clip didn’t play for me but I’ll try it again, I’m sure it’s hilarious. I personally think it’d be interesting to see Clark w/out his glasses, as I’m sure he’ll find another way to keep himself ‘incognito’ somehow 🙂
1. Cuarón…Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite HP movie and one of my favorite movies generally.
2. I don’t watch Spooks and I can’t think of any really excellent movies made from TV shows. I’ve heard great things about 21 Jump Street but have not had a chance to see it yet. The X-Files is the one that comes to mind but I wasn’t a big fan of the movies.
3. The Expendables 2 = yes. I hope it will have that ’80s spirit of “we know this is ridiculous so we’re going to have fun with it.” I think that’s what I’m getting in the trailer.
4. re: A.O. Scott, I agree with Ted’s assessment above. I think a lot of people consider the NYT “the paper of record” and set great store by what the reviewers & other writers say. Not saying I agree or do this myself, just saying that attitude is out there. On the other hand, I doubt a critic’s opinion will affect Samuel L. Jackson, this film, or any other film he ever does, at all, so why should he care? He’s Samuel L. Jackson! Seriously? All that said, good ol’ AO was watching a different movie from the one I saw.
5. Glasses or not doesn’t matter to me honestly. Clark Kent is supposed to have them & Cavill looks great in them but he looks great without them too 😉
Yeah, I quite like ‘Azkaban’ as well, lots of scenes w/ Gary Oldman is always a good thing 🙂
I think you’d like Spooks if you like a bit of espionage and excellent writing, I find it very addictive!
I do think the second trailer looks like fun, but I think I’ll wait for the dvd.
Yeah, that’s what I thought about SLJ’s reaction, I mean it’s just one guy’s opinion, sheesh, lighten up! I think if he has a good sense of humor about it, I’d respect him more.
Yep, Cavill would look gorgeous with and without his glasses, I probably will like him as Clark Kent as they won’t put too much gel on hair! 🙂
re: SLJ…i actually lost a fair amount of respect for him…i looked at his tweets since & he seems to be 100% seriously mad about it…ay yi yi
I HOPE they don’t overgel Henry LOL
I saw the early seasons of Spooks (called MI5 over here). If they made a movie, I would probably see it.
As for TV shows which became movies, my favourites would be The X-Files, Mission Impossible, and probably Star Trek.
Hi Ian, glad to hear you’re a fan of Spooks! Oh yeah the latest Star Trek movie rocks, looking fwd to seeing the sequel.
Hi Ruth! I just saw The Avengers yesterday, and it was fun! Thank God I can watch it, health is now good and almost worried, my friends couldn’t get the tickets because they ran out of it. About Samuel Jackson’s reaction, maybe it’s a bit over the top. Doesn’t matter what one critic say, the movie has now made it in top 250 imdb and everybody seem to love it.
Have a nice weekend, Ruth!
Glad to hear you’re feeling better Andina! Yeah we had to buy the tickets the day before to make sure it’s not sold out. Sure enough when we got there the time slot we wanted had been sold out.
Yes, over-the-top is what I thought about Sam Jackson’s reaction.
1. the exact same director and film for me, Ruth
2. I’ve not seen Spooks, but it’d be Mission: Impossible (if we’re staying in the same genre); Star Trek, if outside of that
3. I’ll watch it, but it isn’t a must see like Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, etc.
4. I thought SLJ hit just the right tone with The Avengers — I’m a fan, alright
5. The new Superman reboot has potential, but some risk, too. Zack Snyder has not proven himself to be in Christopher Nolan’s class, IMO.
As usual, some great questions. Thanks, Ruth.
Hi Michael, I think you’d enjoy Spooks if you give it a chance. Both my hubby and I are so hooked on ’em now 🙂
As for Man of Steel, no I don’t think Snyder’s at Nolan’s level yet but the fact that Nolan is collaborating with him makes me think this will be an improvement over Superman Returns, and perhaps a bit darker as well which suits me just fine.
I am really curious to see how “Man of Steel” is going to turn out. Unlike most of the Internet, it seems, I actually enjoy Zack Snyder films. With Chris Nolan acting as the “godfather” over this movie, it should have a lot of substance as well as style.
I like ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’ but no interest in seeing ‘Sucker Punch’ so yeah I’m optimistic about Man of Steel. At least we can expect that it would be visually/stylistically different than what we’ve seen in the past. I do like having a bit more focus on Clark’s struggle, should be more interesting to see how that works out.
I caught a little of “Sucker Punch” on cable and it didn’t “sucker” me in. It was a noble experiment, but unfortunately one that failed. I give him credit for trying something different and original, however. His “Dawn of the Dead” was exceptional, and I’m a fan of the original. It was one remake that was actually better than its source material.
Excellent post! This is the first “Five for the Fifth” I’m reading and I love it! Just out of curiosity, which Mexican actor did you feature last year?
Now for the questions:
1. Alejandro González Iñárritu (who I shook hands with last year!) and his “Biutiful”, which I think is a perfect, harrowing drama. Javier Bardem is stellar in it, too.
2. I haven’t seen Spooks but I guess my favorite movies based on TV shows are Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol and the first Charlie’s Angels. I’m looking forward to the eventual Arrested Development movie and my head would explode if they ever made a Friends or Pushing Daisies movie, as it’s been rumored.
3. No, it most certainly is not.
4. I think that it must hurt for the talent involved when someone talks badly about a project, but I think Samuel L. Jackson took it personally and overreacted. As for his role as Nick Fury, I think he was OK, but got overshadowed by the major acting talent in that film.
5. I think it’s good to experiment with the characters and the story and explore new directions but Clark Kent should have glasses.
Hi Fernando! Welcome to the first Five for the Fifth, hope you’ll join the future ones 🙂
Oooh you shook hands w/ Mr. Iñárritu? How awesome! I’ve only seen 21 Grams and Babel, both are good but really hard to watch.
You like Pushing Daisies? I haven’t seen it but if they make a movie of it w/ Lee Pace I definitely would watch it!
Yeah, I think it’s weird that SLJ took it so personally, I mean even Whedon probably just let it roll off his sleeves, y’know.
Ahah, I’m sure a lot of people are in your camp about Clark w/ his glasses, it’s become such a trademark for Supes’ alter ego.
Oh I forgot to answer your question about the Mexican actor I featured last year. It was Edward James Olmos as I love him in Battlestar Galactica series.
Oh OK 🙂 I think the only EJO film I’ve ever seen is Blade Runner and bits of Selena.
Not so sure about Man Of Steel… Superman is one superhero that is hard to make a good movie about, the presence of Christopher Nolan as producer and writer is obviously good, but Zack Snyder is kind of hit and miss with me. More likely passable hits and terrible misses.
Supes is indeed a hard character to tackle but I think Donner did an amazing job so it’s possible we’d get another good Superman film once again.
All are difficult questions for me. I can only answer one..no The Expendables most definitely NOT in my to watch list 😉
Ahah, it’s not in mine either, Nov 🙂
1. I have to go with Cuaron as Children of Men is my favourite movie dystopia!
2. Haven’t seen Spooks but loved the recent films MI4 and 21 Jump Street. Not sure if they are the best but they were both a hell of a lot of fun!
3. I’ll wait for a rental.
4. I think it’s lovely that Sam Jackson is getting all defensive about his silly little movie. I enjoyed the movie but I can understand how people could think it’s pretty average comic book hero stuff. Let SJ throw his toys out the pram. It’s nice to see stars bite back at critics!
5. That’s crazy! Seriously no glasses? I shouldn’t care but that’s like having Superman without his pants over his tights!
Hi Pete, so you prefer Clark w/ his glasses eh? Well we shall see how it goes, so far it’s just speculation that he won’t be wearing them based on the on-set photos. No worries though, for sure the red underpants will still be over his tights 😀
you forgot to mention that Serbia’s own and World’s Tennis Player Number One Novak Djokovic also stars in EXPENDABLES 2 and destroys some bad guys with his racket 🙂
And it seems our dear Rodrigo Santoro is also coming to my country together with Australian hunk Sullivan Stapleton, since 300 prequel will be shot in Serbia 🙂
Hi Dez! I didn’t know about the shoot in Serbia, that’s cool! Ahah, destroying bad guys with his racket? That reminds me of the tennis player in Octopussy who played Bond’s sidekick, he did use his racket during a fight scene 🙂
Hope you get to run into the hunky Rodrigo! 😉
me hopes so to 🙂
Elizabeth Olsen, Oscar Isaac, Tom Felton and Jessica Langue are currently shooting THERESE RAQUIN here and then the 300 cast takes over 😉
1. Cuaron, most definitely.
2. HMMM Not sure about a Spooks movie, I think that it ended quite well. Can’t think of any TV show turned film that I absolutely loved.
3. As I have not seen the first Expendables, I think I will probably miss out on the second installment. I will just wait to watch the clip that has Nole (Novak) in it.
4. The issue with twitter and most electronic communication (especially when truncated) is that tone and context are often lost. Did SLJ have tongue planted in cheek? Did Scott really take the comment seriously? We will never know. I do think at some point it spiralled out of control and reached a point that it should never have gotten to.
In the end for me it was much ado about nothing …
5. I think the glasses should stay; there are certain consistencies to characters that we are familiar with. Clarke’s glasses are just one of them. The glasses are part of the disguise after all, right?
Hi Iba, I can’t wait to finally get to the final episode of Spooks but I’m sure if they can find a good storyline for the film version it’d be a good one.
Good point about the context thing but it does sound like Jackson wasn’t just joking in his comment, he seemed ticked off by the critic’s assessment. In any case yeah, much ado about nothing!
Well I think in the comics, the glasses might have certain powers in ‘hypnotizing’ people into thinking Clark is NOT Superman. If that’s the case, I’m sure Supes can find another method for doing so. I’m not opposed to forgoing the glasses though I think Henry would look so dreamy wearing ’em just as he is without ’em 😉
True Cavill’s loveliness will not be hindered either way 🙂
BTW I watched Sherlock again last night on PBS.
I am so on the Cumberbatch bandwagon!
Initially I was not so into him primarily because he creeped the heck out of me in Atonement. But that proves what and awesome actor he is and again the hair is GREAT!
1. My favorite would have to be Guillermo del Toro at this point. I loved Pan’s Labyrinth so much! I can’t wait to see what he does with Pacific Rim 😀
2. I haven’t watched an episode of Spooks. My favorite TV to film adaptation… hard to tell since there is so many of them. I love The Fugitive but haven’t seen it as a TV show.
3. The trailer for the second one makes it look like it’s the movie the first one wanted to be but couldn’t because of budget constraints. But the first one was ridiculously bad so I will probably sit this one out.
4. Everyone is up to his opinion so it’s kind of sad that Jackson had to be venomous about it. That said, I will take AO Scott’s job 😉
5. The glasses are kind of iconic because they have been a staple of basically every incarnation of Superman. But yea, it’s really trivial to me as long as the issue is addressed somehow.
Hi Castor, glad that you share my view on Expendables 🙂 Just atrocious in every possible way, and I doubt this sequel will be much of an improvement, ahah. But who cares, I’m sure people will go see it because of the cast.
Ahah, yeah Scott does have an awesome job which I’m sure he won’t give it up easily.
I hear ya about Clark’s glasses, they better have a good reason if they decided to forgo them.
Expendables 2. Sold.
Ahah, well good for you Rodney!
1. del Toro is ok by me.
2. Animated Batman series to Animated Batman Movies, A-Team, and 21 Jump Street all come to mind
3. I will be looking forward to enjoying Expendables 2 and all the action it promises.
4. I liked Jackson’s response actually. I read Scott’s review and it went on to be just a big rant instead of talking about the movie’s intent and delivery. what did Scott expect from the movie before watching it? Had he not seen any of the material? But that was Scott’s “unfounded” opinion (that’s my opinion), and Jackson’s opinion was that he didn’t do a good job.
We’re all entitled to have our opinions I suppose.
5. Don’t really care about the glasses. Keep ’em, ditch ’em. I’m just glad that this Superman movie is shaping up to be pretty good.
Hi T, oh I’m not saying Jackson shouldn’t disagree w/ Scott or any critic for that matter, but he seems to take it so personally and tweeting to people about him needing a new job is a bit much I think. I mean he could be the bigger man so to speak and just make a joke about it. I feel like that response shows what a fragile ego he has and that makes me lose respect on him even if I disagree w/ the reviewer.
Xfiles was a great film not sure about Avengers as it isn’t what I watch very much of more like the real one http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118661/ or the series http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074031/
I don’t do comic book films as I think it has been well overdone.
Spooks the film I am unsure how that would work but I suppose as some others like In the Loop from the Thick of It which was very funny I suppose it could.
I completely forgot about THAT version of Avengers, ahah. I saw that a while ago, not terrible but not a good movie either.
I do hope if they make a movie of Spooks it won’t be as foul-mouthed as The Loop. I almost turned that thing off.
I was just about done with superhero films around the time The Dark Knight came out so I have yet to get excited about The Avengers. Maybe I will find my way to the theaters or maybe I won’t, I haven’t decided yet.
As for my favorite Mexican director, I’m also most familiar with Alfonso Cuaron even though there was an impressive amount of work that was released during the so-called Golden Age of Mexican film, some of which I’ve had the pleasure to watch.
The Expendables looks like the ultimate B-movie for nostalgic action-film fans that grew up with some of the actors that are featured in the long list of has-been A-listers. I have yet to see the first installment but I don’t discount seeing both back-to-back in the future. The trailer for Part 2 does look promising.
Great work Ruth!
Hi Niels! When was the Golden Age of Mexican film? What film(s) would you recommend?
Yep, nostalgia is gonna play a big factor in Expendables, but I wish they’d spend just five minutes crafting a good narrative.
I wouldn’t say The Expendables 2 is a must-see but it one of those films I will have to check out eventually but rather wait for the DVD than spend money on a cinema ticket.
Happy belated Cinco de Mayo! Nice batch of questions, here are my answers:
1) I need to revisit Children of Men, so right now I am going to go with del Toro.
2) I can’t really think of any TV-turned-film titles off the top of my head. Maybe South Park? I did like that movie.
3) Nope. I have no interest at all in seeing this, especially after the disappointment that was the first one.
4) You know what they say about arguing on the internet…
5) I am indifferent. Curious about the reboot, though.
1) Alejandro Jodorowsky – Surreal films like El Topo and The Holy Mountain cemented his place as a cult director. Probably the closest thing to Salvador Dali ever captured on screen. Even more so than Buñuel if that’s possible.
2) Favorite series turned film? What else Firefly >>> Serenity.
Spooks, MI-5 over here, first two seasons have some of my favorite TV ever. Own the box sets. The cliffhanger in season one is a doozy. I stopped watching midway through season 4. Macfayden, Oyelowo, Hawes, Agutter, Shauna Macdonald and of cource Peter Firth were my favorite lineup so I’d want to see some of them back. Rupert Penry-Jones just didn’t do it for me. If you think Whedon does surprising things with his characters just watch season 3. That said… Penry-Jones was quite good in the excellent Whitechapel series. The 3 episodes of series 1 was a kind of a much, much darker Sherlock about a Jack The Ripper copycat in modren day England. Highly recommended. Also starring Phil Davis (Season1 Ep.1 of Sherlock) and Steve Pemberton (the cult British series The League of Gentlemen)/ The trailer gave too much away so here’s the opening credits:
3) Netflix probably on The Expendables 2.
4) A.O. Scott’s an ass. I could go on a rant about critics but I’ll save my breath.
5) In the first Superman movies I thought Reeve’s glasses were a bit much but I have no opinion on this one. I just hope it’s good!
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