Reel Facts & Opinions

FACT: On June 14th of this year, an Academy committee will meet to once again decide if a new Oscar category will be created for Best Stunt Coordinator. The Academy has been lobbied by stuntmen, stunt-coordinators, and actors for years for the creation of the category.

OPINION: The Academy gives awards for the behind-the-scenes folk who do makeup, create costumes, and mix and create sound. Their hands-on work behind the curtain is always seen up-front-and-center on the movie screen, so why not the stunt coordinators? Their work is often overlooked and underappreciated (even the mo-cap CGI AVATAR had one ), and the coordinators have the heavy job of making sure their stuntmen and women don’t get killed driving cars or jumping off of cliffs.
The downside of adding another category is that the televised ceremony would obviously be longer. Cry me a river. One more category isn’t going to sink the ship, and they could always cut back on the 8,763 commercials to save time.

FACT: Several properties are being lined up for a (goddamn) reboot: KONG, POLTERGEIST, and THE WOLFMAN. Fox Animation is planning an animated KONG tale; told from the perspective of the ape. MGM, now freed from its debt, is putting together POLTERGEIST, and Universal Pictures has scrapped plans for a WOLFMAN sequel and has decided to start all over. All three films are in the scripting stages.

OPINION: If it wasn’t for (goddamn) 3D, this would be the worst trend in Hollywood; starting a franchise over. Most moviegoers aren’t aware of the concept of a reboot, and often go into one of them thinking they are paying to see a sequel or a continuation. The end result is a confused and disgruntled general public. For the movie lovers, it is equally frustrating. If you’re a product of the 1980’s, chances are you have a sentimental soft-spot for the original POLTERGEIST. If you go back even further and still love the original KONG, then you have to wonder why they won’t leave the big guy alone already. While Peter Jackson’s KONG was faithful, it was the 3rd time we’ve seen the tale, and the new “ape perspective” feels like a gimmick. As for THE WOLFMAN, the original was a classic, although dated film. The remake was a diarrhea-like mess, so maybe, just maybe they can improve on it.

What say you?