Scorsese and DeNiro to remake “Taxi Driver”?!?!?
February 15th, 2010 by Scott Marks
All the Danish animals come out at night. While he’s no Bertrand Russell, Lars Von Trier has got some bad ideas.
No sooner does word arrive that there is talk of Scorsese and DeNiro reuniting on a new gangster film, than this bit of violent insanity crosses my desk.
Danish director Lars Von Trier has challenged Marty and Bob to do a remake of “Taxi Driver” with DeNiro once again starring as Travis Bickle. Where do you get your balls big enough to challenge Marty to one of your pissing contests? If Von Trier has his way Bjork will play Iris.
Sick. Venal.
After spending far too much time researching this story, Earth Times reports that the news first broke in the Copenhagen film magazine Ekko. It’s hard to take a site seriously when they misspell His name, but I won’t kill the messenger. It’s Von Trier’s motives that I question.
Von Tirer is no stranger to this form of cinematic masturbation. According to Variety, “The idea behind the project is similar to the film ‘The Five Obstructions’ that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003. In that film, von Trier challenged his colleague Leth to do a remake of his own 1967 film ‘The Perfect Human.’ Von Trier gave Leth the task of remaking five times, each time with a different obstacle, such as making the film animated, given by von Trier.”
Hey, Lars, suck on this: While I was able to get some shits and giggles out of “Antichrist,” you haven’t made a good film since “Breaking the Waves.” And whatever happened your Dogme 95 manifesto in which the director is not to take credit? Going before the press at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival to proclaim himself the “greatest director in the world” is more pretentious than anything on display in your last four films. You’re a greedy, exploitative whore like the rest of them. Can’t wait for “Eden,” the upcoming video game based on “Antichrist.”
Stay away from him, Marty. He’s the type of man who would do violence in his grandmother’s neighborhood.
As John Schultz pointed out, this is the only officially sanctioned remake of “Taxi Driver”:
Tags: antichrist, Antichrist video game, Bob Hope, Dogme 95, Eden video game, lars von trier, Martin Scorcese, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, SCTV, TAXI DRIVER, TAXI DRIVER remakeFiled Under Rants
Review: 2012 / Roland Emmerich (2009)
November 14th, 2009 by Scott Marks
2012 (2009)
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Written by Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, George Segal, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Michael Buffer, etc.
Photographed by Dean Semler in 
Running Time: 158 min.
Rating: 
In the words of the late, great Nipsey Russell, poet laureate of the American game show, “It doesn’t matter if the movie sucks, it’s bound to make $500 million bucks!”
Why are so many critics up in arms over “2012?” What did they expect? “Grand Illusion?” “Mouchette?” It’s a freaking disaster film; “Earthquake” with a bigger effects budget.
I will admit to being legitimately entertained for at least one third of the film’s elephantine 158 minute running time. The CGI work truly is a sight to behold. Watching John Cusack commandeer a limo through a crumbling Los Angeles is a worth the price of admission. Unfortunately he comes to a stop while the plot continues to careen along until it hits a wall in the endless third act. Borrowing a page from Irwin Allen’s Calamity College, we are asked to care more about the fate of a little dog than we are any of the human characters.
John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor manage to maintain their dignity while Oliver Platt rejoices in the most amount of screen time he’s had since “Funny Bones.” The normally indispensable Patrick Bauchau is dispensed with after only three minutes of screen time while a mad Russian (Zlatko Buric) and his prostitute girlfriend (Beatrice Rosen) provide most of the film’s unintentional hilarity. Where is Leon Askin and Sensurround when you need them?
The only admissible performance is handed in by Woody Harrelson as a slightly deranged Yellowstone hermit/radio talk show host. (I’m not just saying that because the guy gave me a terrific interview that will run on Monday!) He’s the only one in the bunch that appears to be having any fun.
This is not to say that there’s no art to be found amidst the rubble of disaster films. Both Andrew L. Stone’s “The Last Voyage” and Richard Lester’s “Juggernaut” are both intelligent, crackerjack examples of how to do it right. If only Emmerich and co-screenwriter Harald Kloser had spent 1/100th the amount of time on the script as they did the effects. As is, the story is dumber than Helen Keller and the plot has more holes than Dillinger’s corpse.
Take the time to watch SCTV’s “The Irwin Allen Show” starring Chuck Heston and Red Buttons. There is more to be learned from five minutes of SCTV than there is the combined running times of Emmerich’s features.
Tags: 2012, 2012 review, disaster film, disaster movie, Film Review, Movie Review, roland emmerich, SCTV, the irwin allen show, Video, woody harrelsonFiled Under Reviews, Theatrical
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