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benj clews 
"...."
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 Posted - 12/05/2006 : 21:26:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Rovark
ok, we've established Bond's hair colour.
Now.
What gender is M
What race is Felix Leiter
 
I thought M was a title (until CR anyway) like Q, so it could potentially be anyone.
Felix is clearly, er... Afro-American-White-Guy-Bloke. |
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Downtown 
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 12/05/2006 : 22:05:16
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quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
quote:
Originally posted by Rovark
ok, we've established Bond's hair colour.
Now.
What gender is M
What race is Felix Leiter
I thought M was a title (until CR anyway) like Q, so it could potentially be anyone.
Felix is clearly, er... Afro-American-White-Guy-Bloke.
M is definitely a codename, not a person. I think that according to the books, Fleming's M (I guess we could say he was played by Bernard Lee) might have also had a name that started with the letter, and it seems they maintained that for Casino Royale, but it definitely refers to the office. In Goldeneye, Dench was refered to as "the new M." |
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 12/06/2006 : 01:54:32
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| All of this has me just dying for the new Get Smart reboot |
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 12/06/2006 : 07:42:02
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quote:
Originally posted by silly
All of this has me just dying for the new Get Smart reboot
You mean this? Oy Vey! It looks horrible. Anne Hathaway as Agent 99? That's just WRONG! She's too wide-eyed, dumb. You need someone who can play quietly highly intelligent, and bemused. No, sorry - Anne is just not a good replacement for Barbra Feldon.
And Carell doing the Don Adams part? No, that won't work either. To tell you the truth, I don't find Carell to be that funny, and I can just seem him over-doing this one. I didn't think he was even half as good as Ricky Gervais in the original of "The Office", and cannot figure out what the Americans see in that version. He just seems... pitiful.
This looks like a complete and total BOMB to me.
(A true candidate for the Razzies.)
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Edited by - ChocolateLady on 12/06/2006 07:46:37 |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/06/2006 : 08:56:26
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| I dunno - Hathaway is excellent in Brokeback Mountain, and so is Carell in Little Miss Sunshine. I've never heard of Get Smart, so I don't know how they would be in that, but they can definitely act. |
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 12/07/2006 : 02:25:32
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Of the current crop of young ladies, I think Anne will make a better 99 than just about any of the rest.
Of course, there is a huge list of talent out there, but most films seem to choose from a pool of about a dozen performers for a while, which is why we see the likes of Jessica Biel and Alba in every "hot chick for a sidekick" role for a while.
As Smart is supposed to be a sendup of Bond (and long, LONG before the Austin Powers nonsense), it's hard to take the choice of characters too seriously. I'll see it, but whether I see it at the movies or on video, I can't say just yet. |
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 12/07/2006 : 15:33:31
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
And Carell doing the Don Adams part? No, that won't work either. To tell you the truth, I don't find Carell to be that funny
That's where you lost me. Not only do I find him to be an absolutely hilarious comic, but I can't think of a single person alive today that would be better suited for the part of Maxwell Smart than him. This is a slam dunk, like Jack as the Joker and Carrey as the Riddler in the Batman films. It couldn't possibly be anyone else. That doesn't mean it will be a good film, but they definitely got the casting right. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/07/2006 : 15:51:33
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| The American Office is definitely much worse than the original, but it's also a lot better than I expected, and Carrell is very good in it. |
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 12/07/2006 : 16:07:04
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That's really interesting because I tend to describe the original The Office as "it's basically the exact same show just without Steve Carrell, so it's almost as funny but not quite." What's more, the original really seems like more of an American-style comedy, and being Americans, I think we're still better at it.
David Brent and Michael Scott are basically the same character, but Gervais's David just has so much less depth...he's just as dense and insensitive as Michael, but without the outrageousness and pathetic aura (of which he's blissfully unaware, of course). I'm trying to imagine David carrying the episode where Michael accidentally "outs" someone in the office then just makes the situation worse and worse, and I don't see how it could possibly be funny. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/07/2006 : 16:30:29
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I'd never thought of it as American-style at all. The moments of awkward silence fit very much into British comedy.
I haven't seen loads of episodes of the American one, but David Brent definitely has a lot of depth. Throughout all the awful cases of his attempts to be politically correct/funny/popular, there is real pathos and vulnerability to him. Thus when in the end he finds love, the audience is happy for him. If he just had his awful side, that would not work at all. As for making a situation worse and worse, that is his central theme. I haven't seen that particular American scene, but I am virtually certain that he would have fitted very well into such a scenario. |
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Downtown
"Welcome back, Billy Buck"
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Posted - 12/07/2006 : 16:37:33
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| I'll tell you one thing: when they're at the pub together and David pushes Brenda's wheelchair aside so he can get in and out of his seat, without asking her or even acknowledging there's a person sitting in the chair...I almost fell off my own chair laughing. It's a very subtle gesture that tells you more about the character than a whole biography ever could. |
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shoon 
"Five(ish?) years as a fwiffer"
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Posted - 12/08/2006 : 06:44:18
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Two words for this film; fuck yes.
Craig was far better than I expected. Loved it. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 12/08/2006 : 08:29:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
The American Office is definitely much worse than the original, but it's also a lot better than I expected, and Carrell is very good in it.
See, I agree that neither of these versions are very good, but I wasn't at all impressed with Carell. I didn't find much of the original Office terribly funny to tell the truth - although I really liked Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman. But the American one was just sad. You see, Gervais played it with enough balls to let you believe he could have made it to be a manager. There's something underneath in his interpretation that's harder, more competative and manulipative. Carell plays it far too mealymouthed {sp?} to have ever been promoted to that position - I just can't believe that anyone in authority would look at him twice for a position in charge.
As for someone else who could have played Maxwell Smart better than Carell - I'm not sure why they didn't go to Matthew Broderick, despite the failure of Inspector Gadget - which I really don't think was his fault, since Broderick was perfect for that part. I mean, we know that Gadget was take-off on Maxwell Smart, since the animated TV series character was voiced by Don Adams and he used his Maxwell Smart voice for it. Broderick has the ability to do the slapstick without over-doing it, he can look like he thinks he's intelligent and confident, even when he's always stumbling and messing up. Carell can't do that unshakable confidence.
(Now let's talk about how horribly the Americans butchered the wonderful British comedy "Coupling".) |
Edited by - ChocolateLady on 12/08/2006 08:34:00 |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/08/2006 : 09:07:01
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Now let's talk about how horribly the Americans butchered the wonderful British comedy "Coupling".
What did they do to it? Coupling is an odd one - I do like it, but it's the sort of thing that initially comes across as rubbish and one has to sort of tune into.
I can't agree though, C.L. - I love The Office.
Downtown, by the way, could you tell me some series that you would consider to be typical British comedy? I was wondering about this last night. I am worried that you may say Are You Being Served?, which I believe is for some reason sometimes shown in the United States. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 12/08/2006 : 09:19:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Now let's talk about how horribly the Americans butchered the wonderful British comedy "Coupling".
What did they do to it? Coupling is an odd one - I do like it, but it's the sort of thing that initially comes across as rubbish and one has to sort of tune into.
You mean, aside from making Susan Walker into Susan Freedman by casting the dark-haired Rena Sofer, and including her being Jewish in the series? Well, the biggest problem was that they decided the American audience couldn't pick up on the jokes as quickly as the British audience. So they took a few of the episodes and planted them exactly into the USA version, and then screwed up the punch lines by adding explanitory extra dialogue. Yes, you do have to tune into Coupling, because what makes it so funny is that the jokes aren't 100% obvious, and you have to make that mental leap.
quote:
I can't agree though, C.L. - I love The Office.
I was able to watch the British version, but I just can't tolerate the American one.
quote:
Downtown, by the way, could you tell me some series that you would consider to be typical British comedy? I was wondering about this last night. I am worried that you may say Are You Being Served?, which I believe is for some reason sometimes shown in the United States.
What would be a worse answer would be "Benny Hill" or "Mr. Bean".
If you ask me... "Blackadder", "Coupling", "Green Wing".
(Monty Python isn't typical, but they were funny.)
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Casino Royale
