Download this episode here. (71.6 MB)
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Also discussed this episode: The Purge (2013), Cheap Thrills (2014), They Came Together (2014), Snowpiercer (2014), R.I.P.D. (2013), Disconnect (2013), Gambit (2012)
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
F This Movie! - Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Download this episode here. (71.6 MB)
Subscribe to F This Movie! in iTunes
Also discussed this episode: The Purge (2013), Cheap Thrills (2014), They Came Together (2014), Snowpiercer (2014), R.I.P.D. (2013), Disconnect (2013), Gambit (2012)
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Ah Willy Wonka, the memories of rushing home after swim class to watch the "special event family movie". I was a big fan of Roald Dahl as a kid. He made me want to be a writer (which I'm not) and this movie along with The Witches were some of my favourites (which they aren't any more). ah, forgotten youth.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Burton made Charlie and Apes in the same way, based on his memory of the movie he saw a a kid,like he never warched it again before he did his version. So he remembers Wonka as a crazy guy who was a little bit scary so he just makes a movie about a crazy guy who is scary but he misses all the subtlety that Erich mentioned. Just like all he remembered of apes was guy-space-guys dressed as apes -it's earth.
Saw They Came Together too. Thanks for the recommendation. Me and the lady friend loved it.
I didn't even get into how Burton turned Mike Teavee into Mike Xbox. Taking aim at violent video games is fine, but he was actually really smart. Probably too smart to jump in front of a magic TV camera, and now Burton is saying that kids...shouldn't be too smart?
DeleteMy daughter has been asking to watch Willy Wonka lately, and this morning I heard her singing "Pure Imagination." So yeah...Father of the Year here I come.
Great episode. So many memorable lines… "Grandpa Jar Jar" and "It's better 'cause it's newer".
ReplyDeleteI liked how you all talked about both versions and your points were spot on. I agree, Patrick about the Mike TeeVee scene towards the end. It almost feels like a deleted scene that was incorporated back into the movie to give it an extra beat, but obviously that wasn't the case. Maybe Mike should have turned to his mom after Veruca fell and said, "My favorite show is on. Let's leave."
One thing I like about the original is that we never see the other four kids leave, like we do in the Burton version. We have to take Gene Wilder at his word that they're fine and that has always made me smile.
A few years ago I was visiting a friend in L.A. who was working on a play. After one of the performances, I found myself sitting with both Mel Stuart and Jill Schoelen (from 1987's The Stepfather) at an after party having a conversation. Stuart said he was working on a documentary about the actor's process. Not sure whatever came of that.
As for Burton's Planet of the Apes, I remember seeing that movie on DVD when it first came out and thinking, "This film is about nothing." Literally. The nature of doing nothing on screen but appearing as if it is something. In the opening minutes we see scientists on a ship working on things, but if you look at their hands, they're doing nothing. Merely giving the illusion they are performing some task, working their hands this and that way so that the camera (when it passes them) photographs movement, giving us the audience the feeling that something is indeed being developed. UGH! I the lazy filmmaking.
As for film being used to sell product, perhaps the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film would fit on this list?