Trailer: STREET KINGS
To be honest, I haven't really been tracking the progress of the upcoming Keanu Reeves-starring police drama Street Kings for one simple reason- Keanu Reeves. Outside of his work in the two Bill & Ted movies and his role in Parenthood, Reeves has never really engaged me as an actor.
What does excite me now about the film, and which I can't believe I overlooked, is that the screenplay is co-written by James Ellroy, the great novelist behind L. A . Confidential (which also made a pretty good film), White Jazz, The Black Dahlia and other gritty noir tales. Of course, one could point out that he also is credited with the sctory for the 2002 cop thriller Dark Blue, though his original screenplay The Plague Season was rewtitten and softened to what eventually made it to theaters. Here, he shares a screenwriting credit with Kurt Wimmer, who wrote the 1999 version of The Thomas Crowne Affair.
Street Kings opens on April 11.
What does excite me now about the film, and which I can't believe I overlooked, is that the screenplay is co-written by James Ellroy, the great novelist behind L. A . Confidential (which also made a pretty good film), White Jazz, The Black Dahlia and other gritty noir tales. Of course, one could point out that he also is credited with the sctory for the 2002 cop thriller Dark Blue, though his original screenplay The Plague Season was rewtitten and softened to what eventually made it to theaters. Here, he shares a screenwriting credit with Kurt Wimmer, who wrote the 1999 version of The Thomas Crowne Affair.
Street Kings opens on April 11.
Labels: Coming Soon, Trailer
posted by Rich D at
2/12/2008
5 Comments:
Wow, you're so original, bashing Keanu Reeves. How on earth did you ever come up with that?!
Name me the Keanu Reeves movies you've actually seen that aren't Bill and Ted and Parenthood, genius, and I'll point you in the right direction. Maybe then you'll learn to give someone a chance instead of saying the same preconceived shit every narrow-minded jerk this side of 1989 can come up with.
Amanda
Wow, jumped right on me there, didn't you Amanda?
Actually, I've seen a fair share of Reeves' filmography. Off the top of my head I can think of Permanent Record, Point Break, My Own Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Speed, A Walk In The Cloud, The Devil's Advocate, The Gift, The Matrix Trilogy, Something's Gotta Give, Constantine and A Scanner Darkly.
That's 18 films that he's been in, three of which, I like his performances. I'd say I've more than given him a chance. His work just doesn't connect with me. I'd apologize, but there's no reason to.
I like asparagus and other people don't. You don't see me yelling at them over their personal taste in vegitables, do you?
Hey Rich it's okay that you don't care for Keanu. I've never understood why anyone would eat miracle whip, which I find the most disgusting food on the planet. Personally, I find that Keanu's detractors are usually shallow snobs. Out of the films you listed, I like all of his performances, even Dracula. Why? Because to me, he is the single most interesting actor in Hollywood today. The Brads and the Cruises and even the Crowes and the Day-Lewises can't give me what Keanu gives me, and that's uniqueness. He takes chances, he's smart, he's uninterested in the glitz. He likes a good story with a moral people will remember. He's the coolest guy I see from every angle. Plus he's an underdog of sorts, even though his movies have made over 3 billion dollars worldwide. It's a real head-scratcher and that's another thing that keeps us coming back. Oh and his gorgeous eyes. I appreciate that Keanu is not hyperactive; I like that style personally. It's more real to me and I connect with it. I feel his emotions are more realistic than many of his grandiose peers. You saw the scene in Devil's Advocate when Maryann died? He was horrifyingly convincing. His pervy Harry in The Last Time I committed Suicide *made* the film. The Matrix would never have been the phenomenon it was without his presence and his belief in the role. He has an innocence that comes across. He's virtually alone with that trait.
So. If his work doesn't connect with you, I'd say you're just missing the elements that make his fans go gahgah. Nothing personal against you. We feel pretty proud.
"I like asparagus and other people don't. You don't see me yelling at them over their personal taste in vegitables, do you?"
You don't see people jumping to bash asparagus as if their lives depended on it because it's a cool thing to do, especially on a blog! don't you know.
I love how Keanu Reeves detractors all apparently have one thing in common- they are all very QUALIFIED to trash him because they really know their stuff! You've seen 18 movies from an actor you just said you're AVOIDING in you original post because you don't like him. Wow.
Maybe you should ACTUALLY watch all those movies you listed instead of assuming it's okay to just say you did because ol' Keanu Reeves is probably the same in all of them anyway.
Amanda
Amanda-
In the course of my professional careeer as a writer, both online and in print, I have had to cover many performers (actors and musicians) whose work may not have been my personal favorite. That's bound to happen to any writer. I try to put my feelings aside and evaluate their performance on the merits of their work.
As to Keanu, I just never really connected with his work in a way that excites me the way that I get about new projects with such diverse actors like Ellen Page, Johnny Depp, Steve Buschemi, William H Macy, Bruce Campbell and others. I even like Jack Black, though I feel that he needs a strong director to reign in his energy at times. (Side note: If you want to see a great and creepy Jack Black performance, check out his small supporting role in Tim Robbin's political satire Bob Roberts.)
While Keanu Reeves doesn't excite me as a moviegoer, I have still written nice things about him in my reviews of both Constantine and Matrix: Revolutions. In Constantine he had an exceptionally hard job, as he is the entire physical opposite of the comics character and many fans weren't happy with that, myself included. However, I still think he did well with the material and I stated that.
In your first post you direct me to see more of his movies, but when I point out that I have seen a majority of his filmography (I forgot to mention one of my favorite guilty pleasures Freaked)and that has helped shaped my opinion, you accuse me of trying to be know-it-all. What would have been the exact right amount of his films to have seen?
And what's so bad about not being particularly enthused by a specific actor but still having seen many of their films? There are a lot of reasons to go to a specific movie and it strikes me as rediculous to avoid a film just because of one actor. I saw many of his films for many different reasons. And I always went into them hoping to like the film and everyone's work in it.
But as I said before, art, much like one's taste in food or anything else for that matter, is entirely subjective. That Keanu keeps getting highly paid work indicates that there's a lotof people out there who do like him which hopefully translates into the big box office numbers that producers like so much.
So let's agree to disagree on Keanu Reeves. I didn't set out to bash him, just stated that he wasn't my cup of tea. On April 11, I'm sure we'll both be in cinemas somewhere to see Street Kings.
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