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At the Movies: The Eddie Murphys Visit Fantasy Island
Eddie Murphy is set to star in a family-oriented big-screen adaptation of TV's Fantasy Island, filling (much to SAG's consternation, I always imagine) multiple roles.... Also per the Hollywood Reporter, Tim Roth is in talks to play Emil Blonsky/The Abomination to Edward Norton's Incredible Hulk.... Matthew Perry and Hilary Swank star in the indie comedy Laws of Motion, playing a harried husband and his all-too-perfect neighbor.... Luke Wilson will star in Henry Poole Is Here, a dramedy about a man who learns he has only six weeks to live.
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May 10, 2007 11:28 AM
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Eddie Murphy is set to star in a family-oriented big-screen adaptation of Fantasy Island, filling (much to SAG's consternation, I always imagine) multiple roles...
Stop! Enough already!
Enough with taking classic TV shows and movies and dumbing them down into modern lowbrow "comedies" (a la Father of the Bride, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, Guess Who, The Honeymooners)!
And enough with the obligatory multiple-role Eddie Murphy movies!
Two of the greatest comedy stars of the '80s were Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy. Now, however, it seems like 90% of their output is inferior remakes of old classics.
I'm not opposed to remakes in general -- just when formerly successful stars use them as crutches for hobbled careers.
Enough with the retreads! Come up with something new, you guys. I used to expect more from you.
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May 10, 2007 11:58 AM
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Oh, Chappy, it's SO nice to see you again, ESPECIALLY to see your response to see THIS topic! I can't possibly agree more.
We may differ in this next point, but for me, nothing could top Malcolm McDowell in ABC's 1998 remake of the original! It was THE BEST! (I think Barry Sonnenfeld was the Executive Producer.) It made me realize even a pointless celebri-hasbeen-fest like the original FI could actually be done RIGHT!
But yes, stop with The Jetsons. No more TV shows on the big screen. Only The Brady Bunch Movies actually worked. Everything else is a pale copycat. I also hope the rumors of the Dallas implosion/demise are NOT exaggerated. Only Larry Hagman is JR. Only James Garner is Rockford. Only Drew Carey is, well, Drew Carey. Stop with the pointless remakes already!
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May 10, 2007 1:25 PM
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Hi Gord!
Yes, as I think you suspect, I liked the original Fantasy Island, even though it was a "pointless celebri-hasbeen-fest." It was the '80s! We liked our pizzas cheesy and our shows even cheesier!
Cheesiness can be done well, and no one knew how to do it better than Aaron Spelling, God bless him.
I also liked the Malcolm McDowell version, though. It was a valid alternate take on the concept.
But so many of those shows had a particular vibe and were of a particular era. They just can't be transplanted to the current day with a cast of hot-at-the-moment quasi-actors.
I agree that The Brady Bunch movies worked.
I, too, am dreading the Dallas movie. I was a huge Dallas fan, and this thing just sounds wrong every which way it can be, particularly in the casting. John Travolta is a mind-numbingly bad choice for J.R.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I do believe a good (even excellent) Dallas movie could be made, theoretically -- but the casting would have to be just perfect.
Finally, about that Jetsons movie -- who would have ever believed that a guy who started out as a film-making maverick would end up doing The Jetsons and possibly Land of the Lost?
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May 10, 2007 2:22 PM
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Well, there is that (in reference to your last paragraph).
In your second-last paragraph, let me say...the only face that springs to mind who could do JR right these days is (NOT JT, but) Matthew McConaghy. That's with my limited knowledge of the movie-going public, mind you.
I'm glad to know you remember the McDowell version. I loved the darker "take" on the show. I watched the original, but only because the other troglodytes in my house back then (siblings) had the final say.
Finally, let me say I know cheese has its place, but as a lactose-indifferent (not medically intolerent, but a vegan by choice) viewer, Aaron Spelling was way too far off my radar. I liked Spelling's earlier, lower-key efforts (The Rookies, Family, the original Friends), but his splashier work was too LCD for my snobby tastes (at the time, as well as now).
If there's anything positive I could say about him, it's this: at least he wasn't as bad as Sherwood Schwartz, the patron saint of Gilligan's Wasteland!
God, I'm a dork, aren't I?
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May 10, 2007 3:10 PM
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Wow! And I thought I was a TV snob!
I agree about McConaughey. I could see him having a field day with that part.
I had forgotten about that original Friends series (and I don't think I knew that it was an Aaron Spelling show). Wasn't Jill Whelan (later in The Love Boat and Airplane) on that? That was a good show.
And I loved Family. One of my all-time favorites. I'm hoping that they release more than just Season 1 on DVD.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that as a kid I watched the Schwartz shows (Gilligan and Brady Bunch).
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May 10, 2007 4:01 PM
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