Unexpected Creative Collaborations - Both (Un)Fortunately Real and Those Hoped For

[Lumenskir]

Just got back from seeing the Green Hornet movie (which is a little too slight to make a whole thread for*) and I got to thinking about how kind of strange the whole endeavor was from a creative standpoint.

I'm a bit of an apologist for both Gondry and Rogen, but I never really envisioned them joining forces. Not that their sensibilities are polar opposites or uncombinable, but it's not the sort of thing that immediately pops to mind (as opposed to, say, how right the fusion of Scott Pilgrim and Edgar Wright was).

And as I was thinking about this I realized that there a bunch of these weird team ups happening recently. Like what, you might ask?

Opie + The Dark Tower: This is pretty much the reason I included the Unfortunate part. Not that I have anything against Howard personally (and indeed, a lot of Arrested Development's existence has to be attributed to his name staving off death for however long) but there is nothing in his directing filmography that suggests that this will be anything good in regards to the source material. I like that he's got a movie + TV show structure in mind, but I was a lot more excited when the Lost guys had the rights to the story.

Shane Black + Death Note: This is sort of the mirror image of the above; I love Black's current renaissance (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is in my top ten films of all time, and the Doc Savage stuff that's been teased looks great), but...Death Note? Really? I'll admit to bowing out of the series around the time that Light joined forces with L and it became DBZ except with 'plans' instead of 'spirit balls', but I don't really see the source material engendering a lot of opportunities for the smart ass dialog I love in a Shane Black movie.

Spiderman: Turn off the Dark - I mean, what?

So yeah, just a thread for noticing weird creative collaborations and your thoughts on them.

*UNASKED FOR REVIEWEnjoyable with some ingenious bits, especially the fights, but a little too flabby pacing-wise, with most of the funnest Gondry-isms restricted to flashes of brilliance, and I can see the Kato-actor being a make or break factor (I thought he did ok, since he appears to have been reading his English lines phonetically from somewhere offscreen). From what I've heard the 3-D was an afterthought, so just get the cheaper 2D ticket. Or just wait for the DVD, it's not a must-see in the theater, but will probably make a decent cheap night in. 4 and 1/2 Lumenskir bulbs out of 7.