Caffeinated Clint
So I’ve just walked out of “Scream 4”. What can I say? Well, I don’t want to say anything… really.. yet. It’s not that I need time for it to settle in my system before I can poop a verdict or that there’s an embargo (if there is, it’s only until Thursday or so), but mainly because I’m tired, feeling very old (which doesn’t help with a film like “Scream 4”) and itching for some sleep. What I will say is that it’s the “Scream 3” that should’ve been – does that mean it’s a masterpiece? no, it just means it fits in more nicely with the first two films in the Kevin Williamson created series than that dire Frankensteinien effort.
Having said that, I feel that “Scream 4” still encompasses a fair whack of the elements that helped “Scream 3” become an out-and-out suck-a-thon (the goofy gags, the ‘throw it all in’ approach) but this one makes up for its lull by pouring a large cup of original, Williamson-penned gravy atop of it. It’s “Scream” and “Scream 3” meeting somewhere in the middle – which, if you’ve heard about the whole Kruger replaces Williamson/Craven vs. Weinstein brouhaha on this film makes complete sense.
Until I can get my ass into gear and whip up a review, I’ll just say this : “Scream 4” has been made on the fly, with dollar signs and career & studio resurrections it’s reason for existence – you’ll see what I mean come end of the week. It’s fun but like the characters in this one keep reemphasizing, ‘you can’t beat the original’.
Talking of career resurrections (which “Scream 4” may do hope for Neve Campbell and co), Tom Cruise got one when he played slobbish movie-mogul Les Grossman in the terrific “Tropic Thunder” a couple of years ago. He was terrific in the small part because, quite frankly, it’s a part he – in healthier career days -would never have been game enough to take on. It worked a treat too, so much so that Paramount and Cruise quickly agreed to reunite on a spin-off fixing on the butt-wiggling maniac.
Bill Hader tells MTV that writer pal Michael Bacall has finished the script for the Grossman movie and that it’s going to make for a “great” movie.
“Tropic Thunder” came along at a time when Cruise was a bit of a laughing stock (remember the whole couch jumping incident on Oprah!?) but these days, what with Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson hogging the headlines, Cruise’s nuttso behaviour is all but forgotten. More so, he’s back doing big-time blockbuster movies – like the fourth “Mission : Impossible” and all-star musical “Rock of Ages” – that will probably do quite a bit of damage at the box office. So it’s not just a question of when Cruise will be able to do the Les Grossman movie, but does he want to? He might be quite happy being Mr. Blockbuster again?
Tom Cruise as Les Grossman though? Yeah, I’d like to see that.
