i-heart-art Blog

So, I took some time out from studying for finals to go see Borat the other night, even though I broke my own rule of not seeing overly hyped films for a very long time if I don't see them within the first 2 weeks of release (I must admit that I kinda wish that I had waited because I have read so much about the film that there were few surprises, but I think that Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius - actually, he literally is a genius - and I have loved his work for the past several years). I had every intention of seeing this film during the opening weekend, but battling a nasty cold and keeping up/catching up with school prevented me from doing so. I own nearly every Ali G release (UK & US versions; the movie Indahouse & the TV series), so I am very familiar with Borat. I cannot wait for the feature film of his other character, Bruno - the gay fashion correspondent - he's not entirely unlike Borat, so I hope that film doesn't suffer because of all of the Borat controversies. Seeing an entire 90 minutes of Borat's cringe-inducing behavior was intense, though. I watched more of this film through my fingers than any scary movie, but I tend to respect comedians that hold a mirror up to their audiences and make them think about serious social issues while still making them laugh, so I have to say I liked it. I can't really say much about this film that hasn't already been said - it's certainly not for everyone - like Kid Rock, for instance. I really couldn't care less about Pamela Anderson or Kid Rock, but useless celebrity gossip is pretty hard to escape in our society and I absorb all kinds of useless trivia in case I find myself on a game show or something someday (I do pretty well at trivia-based board games too). [In case anyone reading this hasn't heard the rumor, this movie is allegedly what sparked the imminent divorce between Pamela & Kid Rock; supposedly, he called her a slut while watching a private screening of this film.], so I did find myself waiting to see what was so scandalous about Pamela's involvement in the film and I couldn't figure it out - I even sat through the credits to see if there was something incriminating afterwards, but no. Maybe their divorce really has nothing to do with Borat and the rumor is just a ruse - everyone else is getting their 15 minutes of fame by being mad at the producers of Borat, so why not Kid Rock? [You can argue that he has already experienced some fame, but not in my world...]

I happen to live in the town that premiered the stage musical version of Hairspray before it went on to Broadyway and won lots of Tonys. I used to be a theatre major and I do enjoy a more than a fair amount of musical theatre (some of it can be quite grating also). I don't begrudge the success of the stage version of this show - it was great - but I do protest the fact that they are now making a movie version of the stage version of this classic film. This also recently happened with The Producers and as much as I like Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane (I would have eagerly seen them perform the stage version if I'd had the opportunity), I just could not bring myself to see their movie version. Perhaps it's because I feel that Hollywood relies too heavily on remakes as it is that I feel this way, but it really does seem extra absurd to do a movie adaptation of a theatrical production which was an adaptation of a film (and a great one, at that).

I have wracked my brain to think of any other films that I feel that the Director's Cut was actually worse than the original release and I'm sure that there are some, but this is the only one that comes to mind quickly. I first saw Donnie Darko on DVD and my friend that rented it and I wound up watching it twice in a row because it was so weird and especially twisted at the end that we decided to give it a second viewing to see if it made any more sense and to make up our minds as to whether or not we really liked it. Overall, I decided that I liked it well enough - it does have a great soundtrack - but that the end was a bit weak, however, the Director's Cut edited out my very favorite part of the original - the best lines from Patrick Swayze's motivational speaker character (it's been too long since I've seen the original to remember the exact line that I am thinking of, but I know that it was part of the "Contolling Fear" video). There are lots of other strange changes - like changing the soundtrack around (songs places in different scenes and such) - so I strongly advise anyone who has not seen this movie at all to see the original and not bother with the Director's Cut and for anyone who has only seen the Director's Cut to make a point of watching the original to see if you might enjoy it more.