The Hack - October | 4Q Magazine

The Hack - October

by The Hack on 1.10.08

Helping you chop through the Hype with reasonably well-educated guesswork…

How To Lose Friends And Alienate People
Dir: Robert B Weide
Starring: Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst
Released: 3rd October

Who doesn’t love Simon Pegg? It’s actually true that women want him and men want to be him. Hugh Grant only managed the first part and let’s be honest; the women who wanted Hugh weren’t the kind of women normal guys would have much to do with anyway.

Pegg, however, has an honest-to-God normalcy about him that makes him a right sexy little package. So here he is headlining a Hollywood romcom, based on a bestselling book, rubbing shoulders with the kind of co-stars more established actors only dare dream of (Jeff Bridges! Come on!), in what could be a real shot at the US big time. Pegg takes on the central role in this adap of Toby Young’s supposedly true account of his (mis)adventures working for Vanity Fair.

Apparently a social clod, Young offended and blundered his way through this leg of his career to such an extent he was lucky not to be killed by a Jimmy Choo to the head. This may set a stall for a chuckle or two but, let’s be frank, doesn’t this look a bit dull? Can you really see yourself going out to the cinema for this?

Don’t get me wrong I don’t always need naked aliens in exploding helicopters to get me to the movies. I like a good romcom. They have their place. But having seen Pegg astound us in the instant classics he wrote himself, I have to admit that this smacks of the old Hollywood adage: You do one for you, and one for the studio.

With his turn as Scotty in JJ Abrams’ revamped Star Trek soon to follow this flaccid-looking number, one would be forgiven for thinking Paramount (The studio behind both films) found a hoop to make him jump through to land the role. This is, I would bet, that very hoop.

Pegg deserves better. So do we.

Eagle Eye
Dir: DJ Caruso
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton
Released: 24th October

This could be good.

LaBeouf and Director Caruso already made a crackling little thriller together called Disturbia and, sidekick-misstep Indiana Jones and the Lost Two Hours Of Your Life aside, Shia is yet to screw up.

Always much more than just a movie brat and now well on his way to stardom, this is LaBeouf’s first real pop at being a Leading Man. Judging by their previous effort, Caruso knows how to use him to our full advantage and the fact that they have recently committed to a third collaboration, the adap of Brian Vaughan’s apocolypto-comic Y: The Last Man, bodes well.

Monaghan was so very, damn good in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that she nearly stole the show from under a never-better Robert Downey Jr. Add the stupidly sexy Rosario Dawson and the ever-watchable Thornton, and you have a potentially nail-decimating, if perhaps predictable, little cracker.

Shia plays Jerry Shaw, framed as a terrorist and forced to team with single mum Rachel Holloman (Monagahan) to clear their names. Will Homeland Security officer Thomas Morgan (Thornton) help or hinder their attempts to find the truth? And how is the whole affair connected to the recent mysterious death of Jerry’s twin brother?

Like I said, a touch predictable, but with Producer Steven Spielberg’s money oiling the wheels and Caruso’s documented determination to give the affair a “gritty, 70’s feel” with as little CGI as possible, I’m going to recommend you give it a pop.

Also in October:

High School Musical 3 (10th Oct) – Own up right now! Whose fault is this?

Burn After Reading (17th Oct) – The Coen Brothers’ latest attempt to convince us they can still do funny.

He’s Just Not That Into You (24th Oct) – Looks like standard romcom fare on the surface, but perhaps more worthy of your attention.

Ticker Tape:

Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire both confirmed (!) for Spider-Man 4 & 5, to be shot back to back … Mark Wahlberg videogame adap Max Payne slapped with the dreaded R rating by the MPAA, prompting Director John Moore to brilliantly blurt out that the ratings board is “sucking Warner Brothers’ cock” … Screenwriters of The US Office onboard to write Ghostbusters 3 … Matt Damon almost locked for Elliot Ness in comic adap Torso … Tom Cruise “considering” voicing the villain in Shrek 4 … Spike Lee confirms The Inside Man 2 is underway …

I make my predictions, based on what I know, what I like, and what I know you know of what you like. If you disagree, do what I do. Take a deep breath. Have a banana.

Cheers,

The Hack