The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
Message
Author
User avatar
bdsweeney
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:09 pm

#51 Post by bdsweeney » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:04 am

Antoine Doinel wrote:The film may not be done in time for a 2008 release.
The film has officially been pushed back to 2009.

Anyway, apparently there was a preview screening in NYC and a few reviews have appeared. Fan boy or not, here's one of them.

Either this review or the other mentions that it is apparently very faithful to the book, excepting that the character of the Wife is slightly fleshed out and
SpoilerShow
you don't see the BBQ baby.
There are slight spoilers in the review.

BTW, if you haven't read the book, I can personally recommend it. Yeah, it has faults, but is so beautifully descriptive and yet so sparse in its structure. I loved it.

User avatar
Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2008)

#52 Post by Antoine Doinel » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:56 am

A sneak peek at Nick Cave's score. It starts around the 3:30 mark.

User avatar
Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#53 Post by Antoine Doinel » Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:56 pm

A massive gallery of concept art.

User avatar
John Cope
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
Location: where the simulacrum is true

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#54 Post by John Cope » Tue May 12, 2009 7:50 pm

Esquire's seen it.

Actually a friend of mine saw it as well in unfinished form a couple months back and told me that what he was most surprised by was how little it had moved him and he had been a great fan of the book. According to him anyway most all the actual events of the text are represented, they just lack impact. We'll see.

User avatar
Cosmic Bus
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:12 pm
Location: Seattle, WA
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#55 Post by Cosmic Bus » Thu May 14, 2009 5:57 pm

Horribly misleading and often amusing trailer is up.

User avatar
Forrest Taft
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:34 pm
Location: Stavanger, Norway

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#56 Post by Forrest Taft » Thu May 14, 2009 6:22 pm

Awful trailer. Had no idea the Weintsteins were releasing this through their "Dimension" label, usually reserved for generic genre films.

User avatar
kaujot
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 6:28 pm
Location: Austin
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#57 Post by kaujot » Thu May 14, 2009 6:44 pm

The action spectacle of the year.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#58 Post by domino harvey » Thu May 14, 2009 6:47 pm

Ideal audience response is, what, "I can't wait to see him explode that house" ?

User avatar
reno dakota
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:30 am

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#59 Post by reno dakota » Thu May 14, 2009 8:01 pm

What happened here? Did the studio fire John Hillcoat and replace him with Michael Bay?

User avatar
kaujot
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 6:28 pm
Location: Austin
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#60 Post by kaujot » Thu May 14, 2009 8:03 pm

I doubt Hillcoat had anything to do with the trailer.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#61 Post by domino harvey » Thu May 14, 2009 8:11 pm

You guys will find the answer to all of your trailer questions in the Esquire article posted earlier

Nothing
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:04 am

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#62 Post by Nothing » Thu May 14, 2009 11:20 pm

reno dakota wrote:What happened here? Did the studio fire John Hillcoat and replace him with Michael Bay?
There's a difference?

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Indiana
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#63 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu May 14, 2009 11:26 pm

domino harvey wrote:You guys will find the answer to all of your trailer questions in the Esquire article posted earlier
Thanks for pointing that out. Reading the article has me more pumped for the movie than the trailer did. I'm just hoping this gets some decent distribution, instead of the botch job they did with Killshot. Whether it deserved it or not, a handful of theaters in Arizona is pretty pathetic.

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#64 Post by Perkins Cobb » Fri May 15, 2009 2:00 pm

Good grief, that Esquire piece is terribly (over)written. And factually inaccurate (Hillcoat was directing movies long before The Proposition). And what's with the gratuitous potshot at 42nd Street?!

User avatar
Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#65 Post by Finch » Fri May 15, 2009 5:17 pm

Even taking into account that this pic was never going to be an easy sell, I still say shame on the Weinsteins for not even trying and doing the film such a disservice: this embarrassment of a trailer just reeks of desperation on their part to at least get some decent BO numbers for the opening weekend. You don't even have to have seen the film to know that this shit isn't anywhere close to representing the style, tone and intent of the film accurately. Whether the film as a whole is any good, we'll know soon, but even if it turns out as an honourable/intriguing failure, surely it's got to be better than this cretinous trailer. If only directors (those who care anyhow) had a greater say in how their work is marketed... certainly some would have the clout to get involved or am I off-base here? Thoughts?

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#66 Post by knives » Fri May 15, 2009 6:11 pm

Kubrick had an iron fist for Clockworks marketing and Del Toro cuts his own trailers usually.

User avatar
Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#67 Post by Antoine Doinel » Fri May 15, 2009 10:01 pm

It is very rare for directors to have control of every aspect of the marketing of their film. Additionally, this is not the first or last time a studio will misrepresent a film in a trailer to ensure they have a decent opening weekend.
Last edited by Antoine Doinel on Thu May 28, 2009 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Cde.
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:56 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#68 Post by Cde. » Sat May 16, 2009 4:34 am

knives wrote:Kubrick had an iron fist for Clockworks marketing and Del Toro cuts his own trailers usually.
Paul Thomas Anderson often does as well.

And of course, Godard, though he doesn't really exist in the same commercial sphere as the other guys listed.

User avatar
Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Contact:

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#69 Post by Antoine Doinel » Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:23 pm


User avatar
Marcel Gioberti
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:55 pm
Location: Torino, Italy

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#70 Post by Marcel Gioberti » Thu Sep 03, 2009 5:15 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:Variety doesn't like it.
Such a shame, but if I had my druthers, I would have liked a filmmaker like Andrew Dominik at the helm. One thing The Road did not call for was an action/suspense film, but the trailers (which I realize might be misleading) give me the impression that it's an attempt to make money instead of an attempt to make a good film. If the chemistry is as bad as McCarthy describes, then the film will be a total bust for me. The relationship and chemistry of the man and boy, through Cormac McCarthy's delicious pen, was heartbreaking and beautiful. If the film indeed falls way short of rendering that, then it will be a massive disappointment. I think this was always going to be a long shot and I can't say I had my hopes up.

P.S. - Fortunately, we get to see what Dominik can do with a McCarthy novel when Cities of the Plain comes out.

Phil
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:51 pm
Location: NYC

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#71 Post by Phil » Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Todd McCarthy not liking it only furthers my hopes that this is going to be really good.

ivuernis
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 2:35 pm

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#72 Post by ivuernis » Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:51 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:Variety doesn't like it.
Guardian does

User avatar
puxzkkx
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:33 am

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#73 Post by puxzkkx » Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:58 pm

ScreenDaily loves it

My problem with the Variety review is that, with Todd McCarthy's constant Cormac and "The Road" name-dropping, he simply comes across as a huge fan of the novel who had problems with the veracity/clarity of the adaptation - and wrote off the entire film as a result. I'll wait and see how many other negative reviews it got before writing off its BO & award chances...

User avatar
Marcel Gioberti
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:55 pm
Location: Torino, Italy

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#74 Post by Marcel Gioberti » Fri Sep 04, 2009 6:55 pm

Fascinating. Typically, I consider Todd McCarthy a pretty softball critic.

*crosses fingers*

stwrt
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:24 pm

Re: The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009)

#75 Post by stwrt » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:32 am

I read The Road in a day and although I was mesmerised by the story it was the bleakest, most grimly unpleasant thing imaginable. If the event in the book which reduced the US to charcoal actually happend, then no doubt those left alive (when not eating parts of people they'd kept in a living larder) would envy the dead. Don't think people would carry on liking me if I recommended they read it.

I can imagine the PR guys being told they were getting a gritty SF epic by an award-winning author and finding they were being asked to sell a terminal disease to the American public, even the literati might flinch at dressing up to see that one.

Post Reply