A Winter's Tale (Akiva Goldsman, 2014)

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FrauBlucher · #1 Post by **FrauBlucher** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:35 pm

I'm looking forward to A Winter's Tale, but I'm not sure I'll feel the same after.

#2 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:43 pm

I can't remember the last movie I wanted to see less than that one after seeing the trailer

#3 Post by **cdnchris** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:24 am

domino harvey wrote:I can't remember the last movie I wanted to see less than that one after seeing the trailer

Ended up taking the wife to see it for Valentine's Day. I actually thought Farrell was fine but the movie's a huge mess. It's like they forgot to film the stuff that actually explained what was going on. I wasn't shocked to find out it's based on a 700+ page book since it's obvious a lot of stuff was cut.

The only reason to see it may be for what is possibly the biggest case of miscasting I've seen recently:

Spoiler

Will Smith as Satan (or at least I think it was Satan, who the fuck knows.)

#4 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:46 am

Spoiler

I feel like the only reason anyone's talked about the last three Will Smith movies is because they're so bad in such weird ways that people feel compelled to lay it on. I don't think I'll ever see Seven Pounds because nothing could ever top my reaction to hearing how it ended. It may be a secret masterpiece, but I'm okay not knowing for sure.

knives · #5 Post by **knives** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:54 am

Spoiler

Is the ending the opposite of his role here? That said his cameo in Anchorman 2 was some good minor fun.

#6 Post by **cdnchris** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 5:51 am

Spoiler

Smith could have been amazing in Winter's Tale for all I know, but it's such an odd and distracting piece of casting I would never have noticed. First you spend most of his initial scene trying to figure out "is that really Will Smith?" and then once you accept it you can't get past the fact someone decided Will Smith was the perfect choice to play this character (who I'm still pretty sure is Satan.) And that's just one of the examples as to how inept Goldsman is as a director, how unsubtle he is. I mean, why oh why would you cast Smith, who, despite some dismal films in the past few years, is still a big star unless you're just trying to get your audience to go "oh look! Will Smith!" You could here a few "wait, is that...?" comments from the audience, and the whole scene comes off cartoonish because of it, with Russell Crowe's comic "they're all after me Lucky Charms" accent not helping matters. I actually think it's good of Smith to be willing to do cameos after I figured his ego wouldn't let him do such a thing, making this two in a row after Anchor Man 2 (which was actually a more suitable cameo) but it's so fucking bizarre.

In all fairness to the film there's some good things. Farrell is actually, I felt, genuinely good and he and Findlay had great chemistry, way too good for this flick. Also, I liked the set design and look of the 1915 sequences, and the photography is actually very good, other than some CGI'd lens flare (the fuck?) My wife bought the book and skimming through it I think it could make a rather charming film but Goldsman was not the one to pull it off. It's his first film and he was way out of his element, and its tone is far too serious for a story like this. It's a fantasy with some great mystical elements but there's no sense of magic. It's a shame because I'm sure he's trying to wash the stink of the Schumacher Batman movies off of him, since he's the poor sap they gave writing credit to.

Movie-Brat · #7 Post by **Movie-Brat** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:06 pm

Neil Gaiman explains why you should see Winter's Tale. Yes really.

#8 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:10 pm

Why would anyone be in disbelief of Gaiman recommending a fantasy movie?

med · #9 Post by **med** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:26 pm

The novel really is good, though!

colinr0380 · #10 Post by **colinr0380** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:02 pm

Interesting that this film was renamed with the unwieldy "A New York Winter's Tale" for the UK. I presume so it wouldn't cause confusion with the Shakespeare play?

Movie-Brat · #11 Post by **Movie-Brat** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:08 am

domino harvey wrote:Why would anyone be in disbelief of Gaiman recommending a fantasy movie?

Just that this one in particular is what I didn't expect.

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