Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Entertainment Round Up


A couple amusements:

If you can get BBC America (Or BBC UK, I suppose), check out the TV show Copper.
Set in New York City in 1864, the stories center around Corcoran, an Irish cop who was wounded in the war, and who uses a shillelagh to gimp around as he solves crimes.

Also to beat the everliving crap out of people, too ...

If you are a fan of Deadwood, I expect you find something to like about this one. It's gritty, dark, no-holds-barred, and even the good guys are seriously flawed, while the bad guys are flat-out the scum of the Earth. Stories go places you won't see in most cop shows. I mean, really.



For the readers, the latest Reacher novel is just out, A Wanted Man. These book are fluffy, unrealistic, and one of my guilty pleasures. Fans know that there is a movie version, starring Tom Cruise. Fans also know that, Cruise's action movie abilities notwithstanding, he's the wrong guy for this role. Reacher is a big guy, tall, muscular, and this is an integral part of his make-up. No matter how good a five-eight actor is, he can't sell six-five, even wearing Karloff's Frankenstein's monster boots ...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see I wasn't the only one groaning when i found out Cruise was cast as Reacher. The huge bad ass Ex MP is now itty bitty :(

Langdon

steve-vh said...

Been waiting for this one.
Not really waiting for the movie with an egotistical smurf in it, could ruin the series for me.
Now I do know a former 5'6" marine who could sell the role even at his height but not Cruise.

Steve Perry said...

All the personal stuff and Scientology aside, the movie star hoopla, Cruise is a good actor. He did Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, Last Samurai, and I think he's been solid in the MI series.

He's got the chops onscreen. He's good at it.

He's just the wrong guy to play Reacher.

Lee Child is thrilled, at least in public, that Cruise is doing the movie. I can't even imagine how much money that will put into Child's pocket, but I'd be surprised if it didn't zip past seven figures like a rocket. A new action franchise like that could make everybody connected to it richer than Croesus.

Reacher's size is a major part of how he functions.

I expect the movie will be fine. Cruise can play an action hero with one hand tied behind him. It just won't be Reacher.

steve-vh said...

kinda like when Clive Cussler was brought to the screen and Al Giordino was turned into a buffoon?
yeah, it'll likely be a good movie, just not Reacher.