The Hot Blog

"dumping Carnahan was a mistake last time"

Losing Fincher was a mistake (bit if it means we wouldn't have gotten Zodiac then I'm all for losing him), but Carnahan? Because really, what this franchise needed was something like Smokin' Aces. I liked Narc but after that turd I doubt I'd pay money to see anything of his in a theater again. Regardless of box office, I thought Abrams's MI:3 was the best of the bunch.

Didn't Carnahan make that piece of @#$% Smokin' Aces? Narc was good, but hardly a show that he could make a summer action movie. And his choices since then haven't shown he has what it takes. So, I'm not sure how dumping him was a mistake.

That said, they do have to find the right director to kickstart the franchise.

If Nikki has been good for anything, it was exposing just how much of a dunderhead Carney really is. The problem with MI:3 was most certainly NOT the director, but instead the Cruise branding, which finally hit a true backlash. Surprised they want to bring him back. Expect even less from MI:4.

I think part of the problem is that the M:I franchise really doesn't have an identity beyond Cruise. M:I was a Bourne-type thriller. M:I2 was an Asian gunfight. M:I3 was an episode of Alias. Maybe they should do a reboot and go back to the Bourne-style espionage thriller.

Tofu, what exactly do you THINK Nikki exposed about Carnahan?

You realize that picking and choosing what you think is true in a gossip column is a dangerous game, right?

The "problem" on M:I3 for Paramount was not Cruise or the director... it was their deal with Cruise, which paid him so much while they lost money. Everything else is bullshit.

And no, I don't think M:I3 needed to be Smokin' Aces. I would not have been Smokin' Aces. But is the directing really your problem with that film... or is it the basic idea? Someone like Richard Donner would have, perhaps, controlled a script like that into a more efficient machine of a movie. But that is not the only speed Carnahan can work in, as Narc showed. A tougher, tighter, smaller M:I3 where the drama worked would have been a better movie... and the same issues with Cruise's payday may have been in play, though the budget would likely have been smaller too.

Hire Cuaron or Meirelles to do M:I4.

She simply highlighted one of his own entries, and threw a giant spotlight on his own blog. Which if ever given a read, reveals him to be a Sub-Neanderthal.

A smaller Mission Impossible 3? Maybe only to the tune of $25 million, tops. Cruise wanted to show he was as big as anyone, and brought on J.J. since he worked cheap.

The rumors of Paramount approaching Pitt for the franchise further on was a more appealing prospect then going back to Cruise.

Hardly a sub-neanderthal.

But don't listen to me... I've actually left my home and spent time with the filmmaker.

I am pretty sure that one of the dirty little secrets on the M:I franchise moving on for Par is that they would have to keep paying Cruise if they made movies without him. Not nearly as much. But not an insubstantial amount.

SMOKIN' ACES OWNS YOUR ASS.

And CRUISE IS SUPERIOR TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.

Still riding, Lex?

ALICIA KEYS IS THE HOTNESS IN ACES.

KNOW IT.

I would not have been Smokin' Aces. But is the directing really your problem with that film... or is it the basic idea?

Definitely the directing. I even liked Domino a lot better, and it was a similar kind of movie (and not a great one, but better than Aces).

ALICIA KEYS IS THE HOTNESS IN ACES.

KNOW IT.

true, but that's more of an indictment of "smokin aces"

Dear sweet Jesus Domino is a wretched, worthless, totally awful movie. Of course LYT likes it.

DOMINO is a MASTERPIECE and the most accurate depiction of Los Angeles and millennial ennui in the history of cinema. The production design is INCREDIBLE... there is a scene where Rourke, Ramirez and Keira are going to serve a warrant in East LA, and crispness of cinematography and the verisimilute of location is breathtaking.

It is fucking AWESOME. Only someone with no INTENSITY could not like a movie as pummeling, loud, crazy, funny, colorful and go-for-broke as DOMINO.

IT OWNS YOU AND EVERYTHING ELSE.

BEST OF THE DECADE.

KNOW IT.

Thanks for the laugh Lex. I'd take the opinion of a blind/deaf/mute before I'd take your's. The fact that you like Domino only proves that it is terrible.

You misspelled "yours."

DOMINO COMMANDS YOUR EVERY MOVE.

The problem with the whole M:I franchise is that there is no character there for Cruise to play. When i look at Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, i know who that character is. Or Bruce Willis as John Mclane. Or Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs. Who is Ethan Hunt anyway and why do we give a damn?

You should inherently care because it's CRUISE, who should be your idol, your ideal to aspire to in life. Cruise is power. Cruise is the best we have to offer.

CRUISE POWER.

Domino is a glorious awful mess of a movie that i would love is someone remade compentently in ten years. There were some great ideas buried under the flash and bangs.
I agree that the problem with the franchise is that ethan hunt changes from movie to movie. Determined in the first, cocky in the second, mother hen in the third. Then saddling him with a wife in the third one painted the entire franchise in a corner.

On Domino, Beat the Devil, Carnahan, Ticker, and trying to be hip...

Domino had a near perfect, inventive, and clever script. The problem was in the execution and Keira Knightley's insecurities in the role. She was too afarid of seeming frail and innefective so she spent half the movie screaming and cut her hair into some sort of disaster the day before shooting without running it by the filmmakers.

And Scott deserves all the shit he's gotten for it. Beat the Devil was super insane and fresh. Scott used his new bag of tricks in Man on Fire as much as a single movie will allow. It's funny how that movie seemed like an exercise in moderation in hindsight, but you can't do an entire movie with that style. You lose any semblance of tone, have no pacing etc.

But speaking of BMW films, they style of Carnahan's Ticker SHOULD have been stretched to feature length and that would have been a M:I film that would have destroyed the first two. The goal was to Bourne it up and make it gritty as hell. I would have loved that. The problem with Smokin' Aces wasn't the action, all thirty seconds of it. Seriously, what was that all about?

The problem is Carnahan has wanted to write "hip and funny" dialogue since his 7,000 dollar feature (not Narc) and it's not his thing. Not everyone is funny. Not everyone is hip. If he sticks to a brutally serious tone with a little fun here and there he could become one of the top action/thriller directors.

I really wish we had got to see his version of M:I-3. Killing Pablo will prove a lot, even if it's being financed by Bob Yari. In other words, the trailers and marketing campaign will be non-existent and more amateur hour than anything out there.

Rothchild, that was well thought out and somewhat persuasive, but the fact remains, and you all must KNOW IT:

DOMINO OWNS YOUR ASS.

KEIRA OWNS YOUR ASS.

ROURKE OWNS YOUR ASS.

ALICIA KEYS OWNS YOUR ASS.

Scott and Carnahan should do a GRINDHOUSE-type movie where the two halves are awesome, hardcore, feverishly cut, purple-and-green sheened, smoke-filled, sunglasses-laden crime movies with good-looking people firing off 12-gauge shotguns at each other while METAL plays and all the women wear midriff shirts and give lapdances.

Just admit that's what movies are all about.

Shooting and hotness.

Why spend so much money making that movie when we could just do a bunch of coke and acid and not leave our own pizza-box-ridden bedrooms?

LEXHOUSE.

OWNING YOUR ASS AT A THEATER NEAR YOU.

JANUARY 2010.

Come on, all agents, take a chance and sign me. I'm a genius.

There just doesn't seem to be that many filmmakers that can pull that off. The Bourne franchise seems to be doing it, the late Frankenheimer did a good job in Ronin, and James Cameron did a great job as always with True Lies. Speaking of which, wasn't there supposed to be a True Lies sequel? Or is Avatar going to be some sort of Heinleinesque action-adventure in the same sort of vein?

"But don't listen to me... I've actually left my home and spent time with the filmmaker."

Sure enough, before I made my first reply, I went to check if you had done an interview.

Whatever the case being for who he is in person for an hour is likely at odds with what he feels he writes in "private".

"what movies are all about... Shooting and hotness"

LexG a 21st Century Godard.

I think it's awesome that no talents like Ashton Kutcher have thriving careers in the field of comedy, while Lex remains an unemployed loser.

I'm not unemployed, son.

Yeah, how else could Lex afford his lifestyle and (cough) habits?

Jeff's quick on the draw ("like a horse named McGraw, BOOM SHA-LOCK LOCK BOOOOOOOOOOM," SON!)

TM HOUSE OF PAIN.

What I mean Lex is, unemployed in a job that you'd want to have.

How's the standup going? Still shitty? I'd imagine so.

It didn't really take long for LexG to revert back to the vile old version of himself, did it.

"I think part of the problem is that the M:I franchise really doesn't have an identity beyond Cruise. M:I was a Bourne-type thriller. M:I2 was an Asian gunfight. M:I3 was an episode of Alias. Maybe they should do a reboot and go back to the Bourne-style espionage thriller."

Here's an idea: why not go back to the original TV series and do a feature version of THAT??

Cadavra, they tried that at the beginning of the first movie. It made too much money.

Maybe M:I4 should be done by someone like Tom Tykwer or Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (that's as close as I can get without looking it up). Or, hell, just throw caution to the wind and go with Andrew Bujalski or the guys who did The Puffy Chair - the notion is so ridiculous, it just might produce something that's great (or terrible in a new and different way).

MI3 was the best one of the lot!

MI3 was the best one of the lot!

Tykwer I can see working. He has the same vibe as Greengrass when he jumped into the Bourne frey.

Donnersmarck? No way. I think his strengths lie elsewhere. BTW your spelling was spot on, Yancy.

Lex, you know there's a lot of bad blow moving through LA right now, don't you?

Uh, well, clearly you do...

You know whom I'd like to see do MI:4? Walter Hill. A good old-fashioned action ace who pisses all over CGI and does it the way it used to be done. I'd even put up with Tommy Boy to see that one.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: