Cats (Tom Hooper, 2019)

[zedz]

Tom Hooper did just direct the first couple of episodes of the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials though, which is nowhere near the utter trainwreck that Cats appears to be, and that features lots of CGI of every actor being combined with their 'spirit animal' companion. Perhaps the difference really is material too (even if Hooper was silly enough to attempt doing it), as I doubt Cats could ever have been shaped into something acceptable whatever director had been at the helm.

In short: shitty musical becomes shitty film. Stop the presses!

[Never Cursed]

I could see a non-CGI version (in other words, a "stupid costumes" version rather than a "nightmarish visual effects" version) of this same source material being an entirely average and only slightly vomitous film. The source material isn't good, but the problems with this film are predominantly problems of incompetent adaptation rather the results of trying to film the unfilmable.

[domino harvey]

Universal removed this film entirely from their FYC

Also, some dredged up anti-Hooper sentiment from the Sony leaks

[domino harvey]

Sorry, I’m still catching up, but Hooper, the director of a movie about cats, didn’t know what catnip was til Taylor Swift’s dad told him

[Never Cursed]

Universal removed this film entirely from their FYC

That's insane - has a mid-push removal like this ever happened?

[Nasir007]

Judi Dench says the cat she plays is transgender

[Roger Ryan]

Tom Hooper did just direct the first couple of episodes of the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials though, which is nowhere near the utter trainwreck that Cats appears to be, and that features lots of CGI of every actor being combined with their 'spirit animal' companion. Perhaps the difference really is material too (even if Hooper was silly enough to attempt doing it), as I doubt Cats could ever have been shaped into something acceptable whatever director had been at the helm.

In short: shitty musical becomes shitty film. Stop the presses!

Personally (sorry "colinr0380"), I found Hooper's direction of the first couple of His Dark Materials episodes to be pretty poor. The writing throughout the first season never got above middling, but it took until the final three episodes (directed by Euros Lynn and Jamie Childs - although a second unit director took over significant portions of each episodes) before the direction felt sure-handed, resulting in at least a little suspense and the ability for scenes to actually build on one another.

[domino harvey]

First member of the cast to publicly distance themself from the film is... James Corden

[Luke M]

Very interesting to see one of the actors most responsible for help making it a terrible movie say the movie is terrible.

[The Curious Sofa]

I haven’t read any reviews, singling out Corden for being a main culprit in making Cats the train wreck which it is considered to be.

[Luke M]

It was more or less my opinion after seeing the film. I thought him and Rebel Wilson were insufferable.

[domino harvey]

On the one hand, you can’t blame anyone involved with this from distancing themselves ASAP. On the other hand, why would anyone hire Corden again if he’s shown himself willing to throw his movie under the bus while it’s still in theaters?

[swo17]

Every time you post in this thread domino I hope it's a real review from you. Meow much longer are you going to keep us waiting?

[domino harvey]

Holding out for the French remake, Les chats

[CSM126]

I hardly know where to start with this other to call it an appalling delight, whatever that means. This is an insultingly terrible film but it's existence and failure amuse me to no end. From the get-go, when the Cats logo appears in the night sky clouds, I knew I was in for something beyond any possible belief. I was right. Rather than try to write a coherent review (what a herculean task that would be), I'd like to offer some highlights of my thoughts, if I may:

-Idris Elba and Jennifer Hudson are woefully miscast. Like, this might be the worst miscasting ever. Elba can't sing, so they drown him out by mixing Taylor Swift way louder during his big number. Hudson, apart from being way too young for the role of Grizabella, is unable to sing in anything other than all-out bombast, which doesn't fit her song at all (as discussed earlier in the thread). It's also hilarious to me that they went with the take they did because she spends the whole song with rivers of snot streaming from her nose directly into her mouth and it's disgusting. This part would have been better suited to someone like Barbra Streisand or maybe Meryl Streep.

-Why is there a Cat-sized barge on the river thames with a Cat-sized plank for cats to walk? Hello?

-Rebel WIlson can unzip her flesh to reveal a dress...and more flesh? She does this twice.

-Ms. WIlson also eats humanoid roaches with a sickening crunch and has a troupe of trained mice children. Every time the mice children appear, one of them takes a massive fall and goes splat and then just lies there dead for the rest of the scene. Is that meant to be funny?

-The digital makeup is so scattershot and unfinished that Ian McKellan undergoes a "costume change" by accident four times during his number and it's baffling.

-If Macavity's plan is to win by kidnapping all the other contestants, why does he stop at five? ALL the cats are contestants. Maybe he doesn't know his own tribe's rules and practices?

-At the end, Dame Judy Dench straight-up turns to the camera to explain proper care for and naming of cats to the audience. I thought she might pull a Bob Barker and remind us to spay and neuter them while we're at it.

-I howled when Grizabella's cat-sized hot air balloon flew into the sun and incinerated her. What the fuck were they thinking with that one.

Awful, awful, awful. Walk, don't run.

[therewillbeblus]

Every time the mice children appear, one of them takes a massive fall and goes splat and then just lies there dead for the rest of the scene. Is that meant to be funny?

That sounds hilarious, but probably not in the way intended

[felipe]

‘Cats’ VFX Artist Speaks Out on Editing Buttholes: https://www.indiewire.com/2020/04/cats- ... 202223407/

[domino harvey]

As The Daily Beast reports: “Some aspects of the production, the source alleges, became simply absurd — like when Hooper would demand to see videos of actual cats performing the same actions the cats would do in the film. ‘And as you know,’ the source said, ‘cats don‘t dance.'”

C’est vrai!