Queen Of The Damned

[Kathleen]

No, not me.. The movie.

I have met a few on the board here that are very like minded with myself. For example, I was surprised at how many like myself anticipated the coming of " Lord of the Rings", and anxiously await then next one in that trilogy. Or those that like fantasy like Dragon Lance or D&D..

Well, another like of mine is the Vampire Chronicles. I fell in love with the first in the collection "Interview with a Vampire". It was an excellent screenplay, with a perfect cast of Pitt, and Cruise. I was so excited when I saw the first previews.

Last night, I took in Vanilla Sky, and during the opening previews - you guessed it, Queen Of The Damned. I had no Idea this movie was even in the works, and it appears there is a release date of Feb/2002
It's a shame they jumped a book, and went right to this one. I also see Tom Cruise is not playing Lestat again. However, the previews did look exciting to say the least. More info here...
Queen of the Damned (http://www.upcomingmovies.com/queenofthedamned.html)

Oh, and please don't ask why I was at the show during a snowstorm :)
Home alone, nothing to do, thought - why not? Caught the 10:30, and was pleased to see only four others in the seat. Sad movie though.

Well, hope there is other Vampire fans
Kathleen

[Average Joe]

I first heard about this project after the tragic death of Aaliyah. She plays the part of Queen Akasha. I found the following update on the Sci-Fi Channel's website:


Queen of the Damned director Michael Rymer told SCI FI Wire that the only thing star Aaliyah didn't complete before her tragic death in August 2001 was some looping of dialogue for her character, the vampire Akasha. "All that really meant was that we were forced to use the production dialogue," Rymer said in an interview. "The track is a little noisier--with crashing waves in one scene, for instance--than we would have had if we could have had her come in and re-record the dialogue." Rymer is an Australian who makes his big-budget debut with Queen after In Too Deep and the art-house films Angel Baby and Perfume.

Rymer confirmed earlier reports that he tapped Aaliyah's brother, Rashad, to finish the looping process. "Rashad [did] a very subtle whisper track that's in complete sync with Aaliyah's voice, so that it would punch through any consonants and the words that were hard to hear," Rymer said. "It just added a bit of clarity. It's a strong stylistic device that works well, because Akasha is a 4,000-year-old, very powerful vampire. So it was appropriate to have this extra effect of her voice, and we tried to do it in a way that was organic and not electronic processing. We wanted to keep the humor and the sensuality and the fun of her voice and her performance intact. Rashad and Aaliyah's mother, Diane, were there for the casting, the auditions, the rehearsals, and they were there in Australia [where Queen was filmed] every day. [So] it was, emotionally, a very nice feeling to have Rashad there to complete Aaliyah's work." Queen of the Damned opens nationwide on Feb. 22.

[Spiker]

It would be nice to have a movie review section here on TERB. I often check out the section on ER. Possible Fred?

[Jay_toronto]

I'm sorry Kathleen:

This is one topic that we'll have to agree to disagree. Tom Cruise as Lestat was about as menacing as Elijah Wood would be as Nosferatu. Cruise is a lightweight and after years of waiting for him to improve, I've come to the conclusion that that's all he'll ever be. I thought that Kirsten Dunst upstaged both Cruise and Pitt in IWAV.

Kathleen, I was asked what are the best films of the 80's and this was my list.

1) The Stunt Man
2) The Quiet Earth
3) Raiders of the Lost Ark
4) Runaway Train
5) Atlantic City
6) Les Repoux
7) Cinema Paradiso
8) Amadeus
9) The Empire Strikes Back
10) The Fourth Man

Aldo - The Roman Celt who's always wanted to do movie reviews with Roger Ebert.

[Average Joe]

Aldo,

Like you, I've never been a big Tom Cruise fan. He usually plays a certain type of character and does it well. His worst performances seem to be when he deviates from that.

However, I did think he was suprisingly convincing as Lestat. I think that was partly because I went into the movie expecting him to bomb. He certainly exceeded my low expectations. I actually found Brad Pitt's performance to be the weakest. I agree that Kirsten Dunst stole every scene she was in.

For me, the big surprise was Antonio Banderas as Armand. I thought he did a great job that stood out considering it was a rather small supporting role.

[vidi vici veni]

Originally posted by Average Joe
Aldo,

Like you, I've never been a big Tom Cruise fan. He usually plays a certain type of character and does it well. His worst performances seem to be when he deviates from that.

I too, am not a Tom Cruise fan. However, his performance in Magnolia, when he acted against type, was a revelation. Given the right script and director, he...or maybe it was just a chance occurence.

vvv

[Cloud]

Lord of the Rings is an excellent movie, the best fantasy movie I've ever seen (okay, I haven't seen them all)

2nd best fantasy movie: "Willow" This movie stars Val Kilmer, who used to be able to act (and was my fav. male actor) but now has gotten into a rut -- he hasn't done anything noteworthy in a while. I haven't seen any of Val's latest movies, though.

Vampire Movies: I loved interview with a Vampire. I thought Tom Cruise did an excellent job as l'estat. I didn't realize Antonio Banderas was Armand.........but now that I do then I say he did an excellent job as well. I don't like vampire stuff because I can't handle the blood.

Vampire TV show: I love Angel, can't get enough of it. It took a little time, but the cast and director have finally found the right groove for this show.

Tom Cruise was also in a fantasy movie called "Legend". I caught the last 20 (30 ?) minutes of this movie a long long time ago and it seems he did it before he was famous.

WORST MOVIE EVER: And unfortunately it's a fantasy movie: "Dungeons and Dragons" (2001, I think). That movie sucks so badly you don't want to know the details. Avoid at all
costs.

Can Tom Cruise act ? I think so, but as one poster already said, he usually plays the same type of role over and over again.

Take care,
Cloud

[james t kirk]

tom cruise as lestat.

Worked for me.

In fact, Ann Rice wanted Jeromy Irons to play the role but was really pissed off when it was anounced that cruise would be playing the part.

However,

After seeing the movie old ann grudgingly admited that cruise did a suprisingly good job.

He's a pretty boy, yes, but he can act.

Though i always wondered how he scored risky business way back when he had never done a thing before that. The role that launched his careers.

Hey wait a minute, that was a david geffen production right?

Hmmmm.

Nudge nudge wink wink :p

[Kathleen]

Aldo McDuff, Average Joe, vidi vici veni.
Will you three please stop the Tom Cruise bashing? Talk about taking a girl to tears.
Ok, you three have your opinions, and In all fairness I won't take that away from you.

To me, Cruise is much more then good looks. I thought his part in Magnolia was excellent,as are many of his movies. Some like MI2 were a little weak, but I disliked the whole movie anyway. Other films like the new one Vanilla Sky shows just how well he can shine. I won't crusade for Tom, one either likes him, or they don't.


Aldo McDuff, You seemed to feel that Tom Cruise playing the Charecter Lestat was not menacing. The charecter Lestat was never written that way. Few of Anne Rice's Vampires are. Lestat, if one reads book #2 of the series, I feel was quite arrogant, lonely, passionate, manipulative & loves to be "a brat" - as quoted by another vampire. I felt Tom played this charecter just excellent. A massive shame he is not in Queen of the Damned.

Thanks
Kathleen

[Average Joe]

Originally posted by Kathleen
Aldo McDuff, Average Joe, vidi vici veni.
Will you three please stop the Tom Cruise bashing? Talk about taking a girl to tears.


Sorry Kathleen. The last thing I would want to do is bring you to tears. I should clarify that I do like some of Tom Cruise's movies, the ones where he stays within his limits. I really liked Risky Business, especially the soundtrack. One of my favourites. Other movies of his I like are Days of Thunder (partly because of Nicole), Mission Impossible, Top Gun and Jerry Maguire. And as I said before I did like him as Lestat.

Cloud. Actually, Legend was released after Risky Business and All The Right Moves when he was already relatively famous.

[Kathleen]

Average Joe I was just having fun with you. :)
I am surprised at Legend though. I thought that was his debut movie. Hmm, who says people don't gain knowledge on the TERB?

Kathleen

[Average Joe]

Don't give me too much credit about knowing when Legend came out. I'm sure you know about it but others might not, the best source of movie/TV information is the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).

If only I could find a music site that was as good as IMDB. Anyone know one.

[xarir]

For anyone with the latest version of Apple's QuickTime installed, you can check out the trailer on their website.

http://www.apple.com/trailers


As for Tom Cruise, I personally thought he did a surprisingly good job of Lestat. I'll agree that his acting standards are weak by any normal standard, but I think Lestat is the one character he actually did OK.

IMHO of course. YMMV.

[buffarg]

Dont' suppose you're a James Marsters fan, by any chance?

I'm curious about Queen of the Damned because I'm a fan of Claudia Black (wow-major babe!)

[maverick]

Originally posted by Kathleen
Average Joe I was just having fun with you. :)
I am surprised at Legend though. I thought that was his debut movie...

Kathleen

actually i think tom cruise's first major movie was "Taps", with George C. Scott and Timothy Hutton. i can't remember when it was released but, tom played the military school cadet. tim and george had the headline role. tom's character was a supporting role. who would have known thet tom would have gone on to superstardom...

mav

[pool]

It's lucky Rosie isn't here ;)

Was anyone else devastated when they canceled 'Dark Shadows' ?

________________
I never drink wine ...

[Rearviewer]

Tom Cruise's first movie was the abysmal Endless Love.

[maverick]

after looking thru several sites, it seems that tom cruise had two movies in '81, "taps" and "endless love". they didn't say which movie was released first and i can't remember which was released first. i saw "taps" but i didn't see "el".

http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/actors/tomcruise.html


so after more searching, i found a bio, the winner is "endless love"...

http://www.biography.com/magazine/reviews/tcruise.html

mav

[Groucho]

Kathleen
I loved the LOTR movie, as well. The Harry Potter movie was also fun, but a lighweight. Did you ever read any of the Robert Jordan series or any Guy Gaveriel Kay books? They're excellent reads.

Aldo
Interesting list. I confess I've only seen about half the movies you mentioned. Didn't like Cinema Paradiso all that much. Did you ever see Fellini's Amarcord? Another nostalgic look at childhood wonder and a very funny movie. I'm not sure about dates, but, if they were in the 80's, I'd add Chariots of Fire and Henry and June to the list. Two of my all time favorites. Ran, the Japanese version of King Lear was also excellent.


Groucho

[Kathleen]

Hello Groucho,

I have read the Robert Jordan - wheel of time series - however I believe read book #8 or 9, whichever was the last that came out in Nov. I'm losing interest honestly as it seems to be dragging on forever with way too many characters. My fav. series is by far Terry Goodkind's - Sword of Truth novels. I haven't read Guy's books yet, too many books out there, lol.

Thanks,
Kathleen

[Groucho]

Kathleen
I think the first book of the Wheel of Time series was one of the greatest fantasy books ever. The series gradually went downhill from there. Jordan seemed to fall in love with his words and the books were, to quote my favorite critic--PFC Wintergreen--too prolix. But, still--what a world! Can't wait till the next one comes out.

G.G. Kay was authorised by the Tolkien estate to organize Tolkien's papers. He helped with the Silmarillion. He then started to write on his own. His first attempt--the Summer Tree series--started out okay, but wasn't very good. He regrouped and turned out some of the best books I've read. I'd particularly recommend A Song For Arbonne, and Tigana. High Fantasy, well written, good stories and great characters. He's from Toronto originally, so he's a bit of a homeboy for you guys.

First paragraph of the prologue to A Song for Arbonne--One morning in the springtime of the year, when the snows of the mountains were melting and the rivers swift in their running, Aelis de Miraval watched her husband ride out at dawn to hunt in the forest west of their castle, and shortly after that she took horse herself, travelling north and east along the shores of the lake towards the begetting of her son.

Groucho