I loved this book when I was 15, but I doubt it would hold up well now. (Especially since Helprin's political activities have made me retroactively suspicious of anything he's involved in.) And even if it did hold up, I can't see how the movie's going to be anything but terrible. Written/directed by Akiva Goldsman? Cast seems OK, but the book is exactly the kind of grandiose magic-realist mishmash that tends to turn into incoherent glop onscreen.
Anyway, for now we can enjoy Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe on horses in front of giant green screens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPYttDSgKk
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 5 January 2013 03:52 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah ... this looks about as expected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBSj1MKwx6A
The good things I remember about the book are all the funny bits. I have a feeling those are not in the script.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 10 November 2013 16:29 (ten years ago) link
I wasn't crazy about the book, though it occasionally hits on some really vivid scenes with the snow and starlight. You'd need a stylist like Guy Maddin to do it justice.
― jmm, Sunday, 10 November 2013 16:47 (ten years ago) link
Even Joe Wright could have some fun with it. Instead it will probably be leaden mush.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 10 November 2013 16:55 (ten years ago) link
russell crowe's performance in this was bewildering, and sometimes his irish accent got away from him and made him sound like a pirate.
― reddening, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 11:14 (ten years ago) link
like, this wasn't the happening bad, but it was basically three different movies with entirely different tones smooshed together into one awkward whole. i assumed it was over about 3/4ths of the way through, and then a brand new plotline with jennifer connelly and her daughter started up, and they were positioned as Very Meaningful even though they were brand new characters that we had no stake in. also akiva goldsman kept making choices in the script that rendered the plot incoherent and implausible when it really didn't have to be. colin farrell wanders new york with amnesia for a hundred years without aging, which, okay, magical realism, but then we see his manhattan apartment? raising all these questions about how he's clothing and feeding and sheltering himself while also claiming not to remember his own name and not having any forms of ID?
― reddening, Wednesday, 26 February 2014 11:47 (ten years ago) link