"Tin Man" on Sci Fi channel- Page 3

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 11:30am

Mr. McDonough has raised my blood a few times in his career. Ahem.

And he looks like the studly jock offspring of Liv Ullman and Edward G. Robinson. Meow-ska!

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:00pm

"Perhaps she's a robot? That would be a fascinating plot twist."

Not a very GOOD plot twist, considering it was already established that her parents were robots.

I was being sarcastic, how else could I possiby explain Zooey D's fantastic acting abilities.

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:08pm

Don't worry, PM, we got it!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:20pm

WHYYY?

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:22pm

MONEY...

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:23pm

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:29pm

Yeah, that hack L. Frank Baum didn't know what the hell he was doing. You call that a story?

We can make it BETTER, so people will actually think it's "cool."

...and we can sell action figures, and lunch boxes...

...and maybe that Schwartz guy will write a musical about OUR stuff, and...

Updated On: 12/3/07 at 12:29 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:32pm

Seriously, once I read that her name was DG...UGH!

I truly don't understand this Zooey's career, or name. Where did she come from? She was SO HORRIBLE as Lady Larkin, I couldnt believe it. I thought she was channeling Selma Blair.

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:33pm

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:49pm

Is it possible to make a movie or a musical with the Oz characters without making corny jokes or references to the MGM film? That's the only thing I didn't like though I'm not really interested in seeing the rest of it.

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:54pm

"I thought she was channeling Selma Blair."

Speaking of channeling, did you catch that ridiculous scene where they had Richard Dreyfuss channeling one of those Buddists?

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:56pm

Was it the scene that took place in the cabaret lounge/theatre?

During that part I was thinking of how ironic it was for Alan Cumming to be in a club setting like that and half expected him to break out into "Willkommen".

Updated On: 12/3/07 at 12:56 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 12:59pm

It would have been nice if they told the story without the overt references to the Wizard of Oz. Imagine how much better it would have been if the audience, during the miniseries, suddenly realized that it was a take on the classic tale. The nudge, nudge, wink, wink, ain't we the coolest, shove it down your throat references are insulting, to the original and to the audience.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:00pm

I agree, CATS.

The real risk here would be to do as Maguire did with Wicked: don't be so embarrassed as to "crack wise" or roll your eyes, trying in a lame way to show us you're better than the source material.

You're not, and you never will be.

So, if you want to go down that yellow-bricked, Public Domain path, you'd better come with your brains, heart and courage already in that little basket of tricks.

Not sarcasm OR condescension. That's the coward's way out... Or the ill-equipped.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:01pm

Borstal pulls a Chris Crocker:


LEAVE HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE ALO-HOOONE!!!!!!!!

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:06pm

SNAFU: You should see the 1939 film "Midnight" sometime (if you haven't already). It stars Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore.

I walked into that one blind the first time, having (thankfully) never seen the vintage trailer for it in advance, which gives it away. I didn't realize this (Billy Wilder) movie was an updating of a classic story until about a half hour into it. It was such a wonderful feeling of discovery! There are no obvious puns or character names, etc. to give it away. But when you finally understand who these people are, and what's being set up in the plot, it's fairly brilliant. Plus the movie is hilarious.

Updated On: 12/3/07 at 01:06 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:10pm

Best, I haven't seen it but will definitely check it out! I love Wilder's fils!

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:17pm

Hopefully you can find it on VHS still. It's not out on DVD yet. It shows up on TCM every now and then (not as often as it should), but you will LOVE it.

It's one of those "why the hell isn't this celebrated as a mega-classic?" movies.

It's witty, romantic, and has some of the best bitchy dialog outside of "The Women."


Sample: (in a high class hat store, spoken to a rival of hers)

CLAUDETTE: That hat really does something for you... It gives you a chin.


And it's arguably John Barrymore's best performance ever in a "sound" movie.

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:20pm

PM, I think that scene took place in the castle, but I'm not sure. However, that bar/cabaret scene seemed to me to be a reference to the Star Wars bar.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:28pm

This thing was so god-awful, I couldn't watch it for more than a few minutes at a time. I never did see Richard Dreyfuss, although apparently I didn't miss anything. Blech!

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:32pm

To be perfectly honest, the only thing I remember about the castle was that lullaby (or whatever it was, it was horribly recited), and the "flying tattoos".

Now that you mentioned it, Jane2, that bar scene was an awful lot like the one in Star Wars.

Coincidence? ... I think not.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 1:41pm

Perfectly Marvelous, I knew you were kidding. I was too.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 2:17pm

Ah, well, I can never be too sure here on BWW. But knowing that makes me glad.


I may not watch Tuesday's installment (Steven Webber is guest starring on SVU), but I'll see how I fair after tonight. Thank God for Alan Cumming, that's all I can say.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 3:04pm

The real risk here would be to do as Maguire did with Wicked: don't be so embarrassed as to "crack wise" or roll your eyes, trying in a lame way to show us you're better than the source material.

Best, do you think Maguire was really trying to show himself to be better than the source material? I never got that. The stage version eventually veers from any semblance of companionship to the original book, but Maguire's version pretty much fits right in, save for the fact that the wicked witch is green and there are only three witches total ruling over Oz.

Or are you using "Wicked" for the book and the musical version interchangeably?
Updated On: 12/3/07 at 03:04 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/3/07 at 4:04pm

No, Phyllis. I wasn't clear with that, I guess...

"The real risk here would be to do as Maguire did with Wicked."

He did it right!

"Don't be so embarrassed as to "crack wise" or roll your eyes, trying in a lame way to show us you're better than the source material."

That's what Tin Man and so many other Oz derivations do.


Wicked is a successful take on the Oz material. Maguire did his research, down to the history of the "land" itself and many peripheral Oz characters. He was faithful enough, yet created his own work... and he didn't "apologize" with hokey laughs and overly obvious puns.

"Was" is another novel that was successful in using this source material.

Updated On: 12/3/07 at 04:04 PM