Friday, August 7, 2009
R.I.P. John Hughes
Next is the first trailer for The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s acclaimed novel, and Jackson’s first film as director since King Kong (which I didn’t hate, but it’s nothing close to what he achieved with The Lord of the Rings). It’s about a murdered teenage girl looking down from some sort of afterlife as her family tries to solve her murder. When I first heard about it, it seemed like a bit of an odd choice for Jackson, but after seeing this I can understand what drew him to it. It seems sort of similar to his 1994 movie, Heavenly Creatures, about a pair of murderous teen girls with vivid imaginations. I’m a pretty big sucker for striking visual imagery, and the glimpses of “heaven” seen in this trailer have me eagerly awaiting The Lovely Bones when it’s released December 11.
I’ve been writing about nostalgia a lot recently (mostly in the context of beloved ‘80
s and ‘90s TV shows that have received new DVD releases that I’ve reviewed), so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the past. So it seemed oddly coincidental (like, one of those bummer coincidences) that John Hughes just died. Hughes, of course, directed several of the most seminal teen films of the 1980s, like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. As much as I never personally was a huge admirer of his better-known teen movies (I always preferred his John Candy movies, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Uncle Buck, though I haven’t seen either in many years), their impact on the culture of the time can’t be overstated. I’m actually one of the few people I know who didn’t grow up watching The Breakfast Club religiously, but when I was a kid I must have watched Home Alone (which Hughes wrote) like 25 times.
Hughes was a bit of a recluse (at least by modern standards) in recent years, and he hadn’t directed a film since 1991’s Curly Sue. He only directed eight films in his career in about a seven-year window, but just about every one of them was culturally important, and there aren’t very many filmmakers at all, living or dead, who can say that.
s and ‘90s TV shows that have received new DVD releases that I’ve reviewed), so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the past. So it seemed oddly coincidental (like, one of those bummer coincidences) that John Hughes just died. Hughes, of course, directed several of the most seminal teen films of the 1980s, like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. As much as I never personally was a huge admirer of his better-known teen movies (I always preferred his John Candy movies, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Uncle Buck, though I haven’t seen either in many years), their impact on the culture of the time can’t be overstated. I’m actually one of the few people I know who didn’t grow up watching The Breakfast Club religiously, but when I was a kid I must have watched Home Alone (which Hughes wrote) like 25 times.Hughes was a bit of a recluse (at least by modern standards) in recent years, and he hadn’t directed a film since 1991’s Curly Sue. He only directed eight films in his career in about a seven-year window, but just about every one of them was culturally important, and there aren’t very many filmmakers at all, living or dead, who can say that.
* * *
A couple of new trailers caught my attention this week. One is the full-length trailer for Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, which I’m very excited about. This new one features a lot more footage of the “monsters,” which were only hinted at in the teaser. I gotta say…this looks pretty damn amazing. Can’t wait for October 16, when this comes out.
Check out the new Where the Wild Things Are trailer courtesy of Yahoo.
Check out the new Where the Wild Things Are trailer courtesy of Yahoo.
Next is the first trailer for The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s acclaimed novel, and Jackson’s first film as director since King Kong (which I didn’t hate, but it’s nothing close to what he achieved with The Lord of the Rings). It’s about a murdered teenage girl looking down from some sort of afterlife as her family tries to solve her murder. When I first heard about it, it seemed like a bit of an odd choice for Jackson, but after seeing this I can understand what drew him to it. It seems sort of similar to his 1994 movie, Heavenly Creatures, about a pair of murderous teen girls with vivid imaginations. I’m a pretty big sucker for striking visual imagery, and the glimpses of “heaven” seen in this trailer have me eagerly awaiting The Lovely Bones when it’s released December 11.
Labels: Movie news, trailers
¶ 10:18 AM
