The Golden Spinnything trailers
While Cinematical are worrying about the god-bothering dollar in relation to The Golden Compass all we really care about at Solace is if it’s going to be any good or not. If we had our own alethiometer one needle would be pointing to a small pair of bollocks while the other would be quivering over the STABBY position, as the crab-lice shaped daemons in Hollywood’s collective facial hair threw up a little.
The title, The Golden Compass, is shit. I know that’s what the first part of the His Dark Materials trilogy was renamed in the backwaters of the new world, but to me and anyone who gives a damn about the books it will always be called Northern Lights.
The script has already diluted the source material down to avoid upsetting the overly religious. This of course beggars the question why go near these books at all if you have to fuck them up so badly just to appease people who’d rather watch a tractor-pull anyway? Dumbing down the religious aspect in these books is akin to green-lighting a new version of the Nativity Story only to open with an abortion scene. And of course the god mob are far from appeased, preparing more wholesome fare like a dead man being fingered in his stabports by a doubting cult member. So we’re given a half-pint concept for no good reason at all. Wonderful.
I’ve read the Dark Materials novels a few times now and it’s fair to say that Philip Pullman does a wonderful job of creating worlds slightly out of step with our own, yet still makes them utterly believable. You wouldn’t guess this from the trailers as Lyra (don’t start me on the casting) now lives in a world that looks better suited to Star Trek: The Search for Glossy Meaningless Shitty CGI.
Goddamnit. And the word juggling over ‘compass‘ and ‘alethiometer‘ has lead to a clash of trailer exposition. Both those Youtube links show off a lot more of the film than the earlier teasers. Somehow the production even manages to make armoured bears look dumb. They would have been better off throwing both Ians (McKellen and McShane), naked except for bearskins, at a startled cameraman and hoped for the best.
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November 8th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
On top of the name change, I love how the first trailer was all like “hey we’re new line, we brought you lord of the rings, and now we’ve got another fantasy for you.” Piggy backing off another film doesn’t say much. But anyways the trailers still amaze me even with all the glossy cgi (the film is animated by 3 different studios, so we’ll see how it comes together) I’m always in the mood for a solid fantasy movie especially during the holiday season and even more so with talking polar bears. That scene where Eva Green flys down and hits that guy in a really slow manner, really bothers me though, like he could of just side stepped and avoided it, then she smiles all trying to be badass.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
If you want trying to be badass check out the TV spots:
http://tinyurl.com/2e3v25
Wow - it’s just like 300… but with snow and shit.
November 9th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Sad to say, but we’re in for a Walt Disney version of Pullman’s work. The idea of it being a “stealth atheism campaign” cracks me up.
I’ll settle for rereading the books.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Haha woah that TV spot can’t be real, it’s definatly going for the NIN vibe from 300, but I give them credit for the music choice even if it doesn’t fit.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Want I want to know is if this movie isn’t a complete flop and they greenlight the next two, how the hell are they going to pull off the third one without making any reference to religion at all. Anyone who has read the books will know that it will be pretty much impossible without essentially re writing the entire plot line.