PAN - Taking on Water? Moved to October

[Monterey Jack]

Watched Hook again recently for the first time since VHS way back when, and while it's not as terrible as its reputation, it's not very good...shrill, overbearing, and wildly overproduced. John Williams' score sparkles, there are some lovely images and ideas (the montage of baby Peter being rescued by Tinkebell and revisiting a rapidly-aging Wendy -- played as a teen by Gwyneth Paltrow -- is sublime) and I enjoy Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins, but it pretty much marked a turning point in Spielberg's career, from the loose, improvisatory naturalism in his early films to a stagebound, more leaden approach in his later, more infrequent "fun" movies. Last Crusade actually anticipated it somewhat (there's a world of difference between that and the far more wild, adolescent energy of Raiders and Temple Of Doom...Crusade feels bland and "safe" in comparison, the work of a man who had a few children in-between sequels), but Hook cemented it.

[AndyDursin]

There's also the "movie star" angle which HOOK cemented as well. Spielberg moved from using the likes of Richard Dreyfuss and a lot of "character" leads to the likes of Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise...a markedly different approach from the two phases of his career. HOOK was a turning point in that regard with Hoffman and Williams' casting (to say nothing of Julia Roberts also).

As for PAN, Variety just called it a "joyless...busy, bungled bust." Sounds like every bit the bomb we've been expecting. It also notes HOOK had a better understanding of the original story.

http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/fi ... 201596436/

The director displays his typical formal virtuosity and keen eye for young talent here (Aussie newcomer Levi Miller is assured in the title role), but it’s not enough to enliven the depressing dourness of the film’s worldview. Positioned as a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan stories, “Pan” swaps puckish mischief and innocence for doses of Steampunk design, anachronistic music, a stock “chosen one” narrative and themes of child labor, warfare and unsustainable mineral mining. Worldwide box office will likely be strong, especially overseas, but the bubble for these joyless fairy-tale revisions cannot pop quickly enough.

At no point in the entire film is any character allowed to have any fun at all, which is a rather devastating flaw for a movie that’s supposed to be set in an eternal wonderland of play and arrested childhood innocence. (Though it tends to be remembered more fondly than it deserves, Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” at least understood the core appeal of the Peter Pan story.)

[Monterey Jack]

2.5/10

Wow...this is Wachowski Sibling-level bad.

[AndyDursin]

Honestly I watched about 10 minutes and the rest on fast-forward. Missed nothing that I could tell.

A bomb of extreme proportions

[Monterey Jack]

So many inexplicable creative choices...why is Hugh Jackman's Blackbeard introduced singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit"(!) in a movie set during WWII? Why is there not a single musical number after that? Why do the pirates shoot weapons that turn people into brightly-colored clouds of smoke? Why did they cast an actress as pale as Casper the friendly ghost (a vaguely embarrassed-looking Rooney Mara) as the queen of a bizarrely multi-cultural tribe of "natives"? Why is Captain James Hook (a typically charisma-deficient Garrett Hedlund) American, and why the hell is he called "Hook" if he doesn't have a hook yet?

Why.

What?

WHY?!