|  IP: Logged

Let me make a couple of points here;

1. There are only so many original ideas. To prevent anyone from ever using that idea again is ludicris, and to harass a film maker for doing so is silly. We would only have a few hundred movies, if that. To say that only one submarine movie can ever be made because all others would eventually be a copy, is just silly. A good idea should be explored over and over again, in different ways.

2. The replacement killers is not that original, but very good. I am sure that it stole from some other picture. Every good director learns the craft by watching films of other directors. The first early directors had nothing to go on, and if they succeeded, it was by pure moxy alone. They created the craft, and we are to this day copying what they did. Case in point, Metropolis. Try and make a film like that, and you just might succeed.

3. Even when you think you have found an original idea, think again. There is almost always a predecessor that inspired it. Great films come from good ideas, and not always do they come from the people that made the great film. Some inventions were great only because someone else toyed with it aftermarket. You think the inventor of the light bulb created what we have now? Of course not. You ask any person these days and most of them will not know who invented the bulb, but they will be able to identify who makes them "GE, WE BRING GOOD THINGS TO LIFE!". Great film comes from a try and try again effort. Some films just suck until the idea hits a high note in another film. Watch some Kirosawa (sic?) films and you may just find a huge influence in GL's early work.

Someday, even Starship Troopers could be made into a watchable film, minus the doogie howser element. And why didn't he die? I WANTED THAT SO MUCH!

Dave

I'm not as well-versed in the Hong Kong action sub-genre as I should be, but from what I've seen, THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS, THE MATRIX, and pretty much every other action picture which is made today (with exceptions, of course) seems to have directly or indirectly ripped off Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW. But like you were saying, that picture has been improved upon by others, none more so than Fuqua with THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS. It is, without a doubt, the best action film to be made in the past five years. It may be the best action film since DIE HARD.

Preview audiences give it a good rating, with great action sequences, with the standard Luc Besson story.

"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."

--Salvador Dali

Director McG who walked out of production, still thinks he is directing the film.

HOWEVER..

The studio has hired Brett Ratner to direct. For those unfamiliar, he just released RED DRAGON. The script by JJ Abrams, of Alias fame, will cronicle superman from his early days to current. Jor El, while not yet cast, may be filled by Anthony Hopkins if Mr. Ratner has his way.

What happened to the "other" guy who played jor el? Oh yeah, hes fat now.

...and then he sued for compensation when footage (originally filmed for Superman: The Movie) was used in the prologue of Superman II so I'm guessing that they're "soooo OVER him."

Besides, would using him sell any tickets?

They oughta just scrap this troubled project and do a great "Smallville" movie.

 |  IP: Logged

I learned last week that they managed to hire someone worse than Nic Cage to play Superman... Yes, they have signed KEANU REEVES...
Hopefully this is just a rumor... Say it isnt so...

The apocalypse must be near...

-Aaron

Speaking of "The Matrix" and which movies borrow from it or rip it off, I would say "The Matrix" actually steals a number of themes and ideas from "Dark City" (which I consider a superior film to "The Matrix").

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged