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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Michael Crichton, 1942-2008
I was sorry to read of the unexpected death of Michael Crichton, the best-selling author who had a great many of his books made into movies.
One of the reasons I’m sorry is that, unfortunately, not very many good movies were made out of Crichton’s work. His writing was so technical and detail-oriented, it was difficult to adapt it to the screen.
The past 15 years saw a spate of mediocre or worse movies made from Crichton titles: Rising Sun, DIsclosure, Sphere, Timeline, and the lamentable The 13th Warrior.
But there were some good pictures made from his work: Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain and Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park leap to mind. The Lost World was not quite as bad as people remember; it had its moments. Twister, which he co-wrote is dumb fun, and I also liked the first theatrical film he directed, the evil robot thriller Westworld.
And then there was Congo, a movie that exists in some weird sort of limbo. It’s not a good movie, exactly, but it was made with such a goofball zeal that I can’t help but smile when I see it.
Crichton will be missed - and I hope Hollywood doesn’t miss an opportunity to make more good movies from his work.
What do you think of the films made from Crichton’s novels? Are there any yet unfilmed that would make good movies?
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Anyone notice McCain/Obama’s movie music?
Did anyone notice the music that Obama and McCain played after their respective speeches last night? Both picked very telling movie music.
As film writer Erik Childress pointed out in his comments on Hollywood Elsewhere:
“Anyone else catch the music played when McCain took the stage for his concession speech and then when he left?
“Taking the stage - Days of Thunder
“Leaving it - Crimson Tide
“One an anthem for red state NASCAR fans and the other from a film about an old school maverick who is stripped of his command by a younger black guy.”
As for the other side:
“And Obama just ended his speech with music from Remember the Titans - the story of a team of white and black coming together and putting all their differences aside to win a championship.”
And here’s something Childress didn’t point out: All three of those movies were produced or co-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
I’ll let that sink in for a minute.
Yes, Jerry Bruckheimer, the man who backed everything from Top Gun to the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to Kangaroo Jack. A man who has produced films as great as Black Hawk Down, and as odious as my favorite object of scorn, Bad Boys 2.
Wow. I bet even ol’ Jerry never saw himself as that kind of equalizer. Says a lot, doesn’t it?
Addendum: This story has started to pop up around the net. This blog notes there’s some debate about the music Obama used. Some think he used John Williams’ score from The Patriot, but some think both The Patriot and Titan’s music were used. Any way you score it, interesting stuff.
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