By Lots of good pop-culture bits to talk about this week, like is Karl Urban’s face stuck in a permanent frown after working on Dredd? Sorry, “Dredd 3D.” If 3D wasn’t in the title how would I know to put plastic sunglasses on while I watch the movie? I may be watching the film at half the brightness and a third the contrast, but boy howdy if it doesn’t look like Olivia Thirlby is coming right at me!
Are we good for sarcasm in this post? Excellent. Moving on.
Dredding the Theater
The problem with all these remakes and reboots of popular franchises is that audiences aren’t always interested in watching them, even if the reboot is actually quite good.
Such is the case with Dredd, who’s box office numbers are positively dreadful (sorry) despite its excellent execution. Director Pete Travis’ interpretation of Dredd’s callous, unapologetically violent city, Mega City One, is thoroughly entertaining from the opening scene to the end credits.
It’s honestly refreshing to see gore in a Hollywood film these days, with most studios cowering from the dreaded (sorry again) “R” rating. Unfortunately, Dredd’s performance at the box office will likely only reinforce the stereotype studios need that all important 13-17 age group to make a dollar.
Speaking of age groups, Jeremy and I saw an 8-year-old in the theater. What? I believe Jay Runham, from Jay n’ J’s Entertainment Podcast, also witnessed a child in the audience while watching Dredd. What’s going on, parents? I don’t have kids and even I know you’re doing it wrong.
Seems suitable for kids to me.
But as I was saying, the violence was fun and refreshing, as Travis treated us to many Slo-Mo deaths (you’ll need to see the movie to appreciate that pun) and interesting bullet time puncture wounds. Travis possibly over did it with the slow motion stuff, but I’ll give it a pass because I was too busy enjoying the ride.
Dredd isn’t a perfect movie, it’s certainly light on plot. But Dredd is a great pure action movie, something we haven’t seen in a while.
Alfonzo Calling
Here’s a excellent marriage of contemporary genre film makers, Alfonso Cuaron and J. J. Abrams are teaming up to form the Wonder Twins – I mean, create a TV pilot for NBC.
Cuaron (Children of Men) is one of my favourite directors and J. J. Abrams, well, he gets things done when it comes to science fiction. The show, according to Slashfilm is about “a girl with special powers that won’t fully blossom for seven years and [a] man who is broken out of prison to protect her until then.”
I might be more excited for this project if it were on cable rather than a network with a recently poor track record, but I’m still looking forward to how this plays out. It could be awesome.
Looping up Nerds
My final Top Culture nod this week goes to the science fiction film Looper. Not because I believe it will be a great film, but rather its ability to gather the nerd circles here in Edmonton for a big night out this Saturday. The aforementioned Jay Runham spearheaded a get together this weekend which features local nerds Edmontonians might now like Brittany LeBlanc and Jessica Holt from 5k365.com.
A time travel movie will be watched, drinks will be drank, and good times will be had. Have a good weekend everyone!