Anyone planning on seeing the new Italian Job movie when it’s released in late June? I’m actually pretty excited to see it. Not because I think Mark Wahlberg and Ed Norton are bad ass (they are), but because I’ll be getting my Mini Cooper about a month after the movie comes out. I ordered it around the first of this month and July 3rd is apparently my day to pick my british racing green with white stripes bundle of joy up from the dealer. I’m sure getting this car makes me gay in some circles, but it’s hella sweet.
Anyway, the trailer for the movie looks ok (ok, I like licking the screen when the cars come on), but it makes me want to see the original.
I’m getting the regular for a couple reasons. The S was a fairly big spike in insurance cost, and there were a couple features that I wanted in the standard that weren’t available in the S (can’t remember what they are). Interestingly enough the JCW wasn’t even being talked about at the dealership when I went. I still don’t think it would have convinced me to go with the S though.
And I hear what you’re saying about the backseat, it almost doesn’t exist. But I figured that for as long as I had my last car I only had people in the back seat two or three times, and I didn’t want them there anyways :)
Above average summer movie. Despite a preview trailer that basically showed you the entire movie there was enough that they didn’t show to make things interesting.
This might sound weird but I think that the audience had seen the trailer just as much as I did so the “funny” moments in the movie didn’t get near the reaction that they should have.
Charlize Theron didn’t seen to be anything spectacular as an actress in the movie. Hopefully there’s something better out there that someone can recommend her in. Ed Norton seemed to be collecting a paycheck.
From what I’ve heard about the new version you really should stick with the classic original. 'You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,'etc. Also Vegasrobb, apparently Norton was made to do the film due to sko contractual obligation which is why he boycotted the premier.
Stick with the original. This, along with Negotiator and A Man Apart (Gray’s other two “big” flicks), could only be said to be held up by the acting, and Norton was the only one who could be said to have even attempted to act.
Mark is at his shoddy best, as usual. Boogie Nights must’ve been a natural act for him, because sex on screen he is for women, actor on screen for men he is not. He should really stick to doing movies like Rockstar — at least there Jennifer really makes him seem like a good actor.
The Italian Job wasn’t a pure action movie when it originally came out. This is a useless Hollywood remake. Again.
Apparently Norton was forced into being in the movie (not sure if it was something like Keanu Reeves’ being forced into The Watcher, which was a pretty odd situation).
I can’t think of a better example of a trailer that ruined the movie, by giving away each and every plot development. I’m never seeing a movie again that is marketed through such a ridiculous trailer, which shows (spoilers, for those that haven’t seen the trailer):
that they successufully pull off the Italian job, by blowing a hole in the floor above the safe;
that Ed Norton betrays them;
that Donald Sutherland is killed by him;
that they follow him back to the U.S. (and therefore are not killed by them);
that they are forced to reveal themselves to Norton, and Marky Mark surprises him with a punch;
that they control the traffic signals in order to pull the job on Norton;
that the payback involves an armored car, and that they get the armored car by blowing a hole in the street, just like the Italian job;
that they get the money back from Norton, and Charlize Theron gets to punch him as another big surprise.
The end.
There isn’t a single plot development that isn’t completely revealed by the trailer. Tom Chick’s “NA_NA_NA” mumbling, head-in-sand approach when a trailer appears almost has some appeal.
For anyone disappointed by this movie, I can only recommend that you see the original. It’s vastly superior, for reasons including, but not limited to, the following:
It has one of the best cliffhanger endings of all time.
Noel Coward is in it.
The Mini Cooper car chase at the end is immeasurably superior, lasts about 15 minutes longer, and has the Minis being chased by the majority of the Turin police force, as opposed to two guys on motorbikes and a helicopter.
Seth Green’s character is played by Benny Hill.
Good luck finding it, though - unlike with a lot of remakes, they seem not to have re-issued the original as part of the marketing push.
As for Ed Norton: he was indeed forced to do this movie. Paramount had an outstanding option for one movie on him from when he was a young actor, and after he passed on several projects they eventually made him do this one. You’ll notice that he didn’t do any publicity for the film, and you’ll never see him in another Paramount movie.
In response to Messrs. Lock and Whitta, and with some credit due to Mr. Wolpaw, I would like to point out that the scene in which the huge Samoan was practicing his putting whilst his girlfriend, who was approximately one tenth his size, repeated “this time, baby” over and over again was both A) better than anything in the original film and 2) not included in the trailer.
Apart from that, however, the movie was largely boring and infinitely inferior to the original, for all the reasons Gary supplied above.
That was pretty amusing… although it’s reminded me of one of the other elements of this movie that irritated me. The naming of characters like “Handsome Rob”, “Left Ear”, “Napster” and “Skinny Eddie” (or whatever his name was) was, along with the pasted-on origin/flashback sequences, a pretty transparent, shameless and unsuccessful attempt to crib some of the stylistic verve and quirkiness of Guy Ritchie’s crime capers. You can’t just sprinkle a little of that stuff here and there over the top of the movie to give it “10% more attitude” - it’s either in the DNA of the film or it’s not.
Ocean’s Eleven pulled all this off a lot better because it had a broad streak of fun running all the way through it. It was a lark, a fun piece in the same knockabout spirit as the original. The Italian Job, by contrast, took itself too seriously.
Sorry for the digression, I haven’t seen the Italian Job because I have two kids and getting out to the theater is more difficult than … sigh. But I wonder how much I would enjoy Ocean’s 11 without the soundtrack. I think a lot of that “broad streak of fun” comes from those bouncy/cool tracks. [size=2]Of course now Wumpus is probably going to come in here and claim Ocean’s 11 is a musical. [/size] Though I still think Julia Roberts was horrifically miscast.
Wow! That is, bar none, the best Mini Cooper commercial I have ever seen!
Desslock is SO right on this one. If you’ve seen the trailer, well, that’s the whole film right there. Save yourself eight bucks. But it didn’t help that the movie was totally predictable even if you had not seen the trailer. This is a double-cross action thriller by numbers all the way. They telegraph every single thing that should be a surprise and if you’ve seen any movie of this type you can predict the outcome of every scene. I especially liked that they had to work in the old cliche whereby Charlitze Theron accidentally gives away who she really is by using a quirky phrase that Donald Sutherland (her dad) used to use all the time.
It’s not horrible or unwatchable, mainly becuase it moves along pretty quickly and the supporting roles of Handsome Rob, Left Ear, and “The Napster” are likeable. But if you’re expecting an Ocean’s Eleven caper full of wit and style, you’ll be sorely dissapointed.
I’ve already seen “The Heist”, with a very similar plot line that I’m sure was immeasurably better than a movie with MarkyMark in it. Wasn’t Wahlberg just in another remake of Charade, the audry hepburn, Cary Grant thriller-romantic-espionage-comedy? And Planet of the Apes? Doesn’t Holywood have any good NEW ideas for movies? Or TV shows for that matter (i.e., Battlestar Galactica, another Star Trek,etc.)? It seems videogame franchises aren’t the only ones being milked for mediocrity
