Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search
Forum Reorganization

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

starri

By starri
in Movies

Recommended Posts

Frost

Frost

I read the book as a child (many many moons ago!) and it's one of my all time favorites.  I was looking forward to this movie, but the trailer has derailed me.  I am NOT an Oprah Winfrey fan and she was all over the trailer.  Is she a producer of this movie or something?  She's too much "Oprah Winfrey" to ever lose herself in a character.  I will not be able to watch this movie and see Mrs Which.  I'm really bummed out.

  • Love 1
Zuleikha

Zuleikha

I had qualms about the concept of making this book into a movie, and my qualms are not allayed by the trailer. The scene with the suburban kids and the synchronized basketball was exactly how I imagined it (or close enough), but everything else felt off. Too much Chris Pine in a weird way and I HATED the makeup of the Mrs. Ws. But it's a trailer, so hopefully the reality of the movie will be closer to the story I want.

  • Love 1
dusang

dusang

I feel like the trailer is a bad cut -- although it frames the story as fundamentally about the children (as it is) it focuses too heavily on the adults and doesn't even name the actors playing the children.

Also, having read this in my childhood, literally nothing has ever made me feel so old as Chris Pine playing Mr. Murray.

I am, however, still on board for this.

  • Love 1
Constant Viewer

Constant Viewer

  On 7/17/2017 at 2:24 AM, Frost said:

She's too much "Oprah Winfrey" to ever lose herself in a character.  I will not be able to watch this movie and see Mrs Which.  I'm really bummed out.

Expand  

This will be the biggest problem for me, not necessarily because of Oprah, but because I always thought of Mrs. Which as a spirit as opposed to an physical being. Obviously this would be difficult to for a movie though, which makes me think they are going to skip over the two-dimensional planet section.

Ruby Gillis

Ruby Gillis

  On 7/17/2017 at 1:46 PM, dusang said:

I feel like the trailer is a bad cut -- although it frames the story as fundamentally about the children (as it is) it focuses too heavily on the adults and doesn't even name the actors playing the children.

Expand  

Yeah, I hope that's just the trailer.  It should be Meg's story.  The book is really about her dealing with her emotional life, especially her anger issues.

raven

raven

  On 7/17/2017 at 10:53 PM, Ruby Gillis said:

Yeah, I hope that's just the trailer.

Expand  

I hope so as well.  I would love a good movie about one of my favorite, most read books as a pre-teen so will give this a try but I'm a little concerned about the look of the adults and thinking oh hey there's OPRAH!

On the plus side, Meg looks good (thankfully they kept the glasses) and Camazotz was appropriately creepy. 

  • Love 2
starri

starri

  • Author

One thing that does bug me a bit:  They've relocated the Murrays from L'Engle's native Northeast to what appears to be LA.  It's hard to open on a "dark and stormy night" in Southern California.

OTOH, and this is a bigger deal that I thought it would be, but we've got a big-budget film where a woman is directing a screenplay written by a woman, based on a book written by a woman.  If that's not the first time this has happened with a movie positioned as a blockbuster, I'd be very surprised.

And Ava is the first woman of color to direct a movie of this scale.  AFAIK, the only other people of color in that club are Tim Story, who directed the first two Fantastic Four movies, Ryan Coogler, who directed Black Panther, and the one other woman was Patty Jenkins.

  • Love 9
raven

raven

  On 7/18/2017 at 12:59 AM, Constant Viewer said:

I wonder what Aunt Beast is going to look like. 

Expand  

I thought we might have seen a quick glimpse in the trailer but I watched it again and I'm not sure now.  I wonder if we'll get the Happy Medium - I like her but she's probably not necessary to a movie.  NM, IMDb says Zach Galifianakis is the Happy Medium; doesn't look like there'll be Sandy and Dennys but they're not crucial to this story.  I hope they're not left out and at least rate a mention.  Andre Holland is Mr. Jenkins; interesting choice since the actor is young and good looking.

  On 7/18/2017 at 12:14 AM, starri said:

One thing that does bug me a bit:  They've relocated the Murrays from L'Engle's native Northeast to what appears to be LA.  It's hard to open on a "dark and stormy night" in Southern California.

Expand  

We get a lot of dark and stormy nights in the NE, so maybe being in apparently LA will make this night stand out more to the characters.

  • Love 1
Dee

Dee

(edited)
  On 7/18/2017 at 12:14 AM, starri said:

 AFAIK, the only other people of color in that club are Tim Story, who directed the first two Fantastic Four movies, Ryan Coogler, who directed Black Panther, and the one other woman was Patty Jenkins.

Expand  

Don't forget F. Gary Gray who just helmed the latest billion dollar plus entry in the Fast & Furious franchise.

Edited by Dee
tennisgurl

tennisgurl

Chris Pine is certainly a DLIF, isn't he?

The only casting choice (in a VERY eclectic cast) that doesn't really work in my mind is Opera, just because she's...Oprah. She isn't a bad actress or anything, but she's always just Oprah is different outfits to me. I guess I get why they had lots of her in the trailer though. Oprah is Oprah I guess.

The rest of the cast looks good (the girl playing Meg looks very Meg), and our brief glimpse of Camazotz is just as creepy as I pictured it. I'm looking forward to seeing Aunt Beast, but I understand not wanting to show and her species in the trailer. They should be a surprise.

  • Love 2
Bruinsfan

Bruinsfan

(edited)

Huh, I always imagined Mr. Murray as more or less Richard Dreyfuss from Jaws; Pine comes closer to that than I'd have expected. (And I visualized Meg as Margaret from the Dennis the Menace comic. Yes, my mental image for her was an illustration rather than a live person; it's a novel with a rainbow winged centaur and a giant brain, I didn't feel constrained to be realistic.)

Edited by Bruinsfan
  • Love 1
Sandman

Sandman

(edited)

Aren't the Murrys both doctors? I know Meg is the daughter of two scientists. I find I'm a bit confused by the references to "Mr. Murry. " That's my only quibble so far. Except maybe the trailer does seem to focus on the Mrs. Ws more than on Meg or Charles Wallace, which strikes me as odd. (Also odd: Is Chris Pine officially in the Now Plays The Dad phase of his career? He's not forty yet; the shots of Meg's Dad make him seem at least 10 years older than his real age.)

I did not know this movie was being made. I would like to be persuaded that it will live up to my affection for the book, and that it will do right by the characters.

  On 7/17/2017 at 1:46 PM, dusang said:

Also, having read this in my childhood, literally nothing has ever made me feel so old as Chris Pine playing Mr. Murray.

Expand  

Right?!!? Ack.

Edited by Sandman
raven

raven

  On 7/19/2017 at 4:57 PM, Sandman said:

Aren't the Murrys both doctors? I know Meg is the daughter of two scientists. I find I'm a bit confused by the references to "Mr. Murry. "

Expand  

I remember in the book them only being referred to as ""Mr" or "Mrs", though I remember they're both scientists.  I looked and the book Wiki page states they are both doctors - Mr. Murry is a physicist and Mrs. Murry is a microbiologist.    I guess in the movie they don't use "Dr" because they weren't referred to that way in the book.  Maybe because they're both Dr. Murry and it would be confusing, or if for example Calvin is talking about Meg's mom or dad, he probably wouldn't say Dr., he would say Mr. or Mrs.

  • Love 1
paramitch

paramitch

I have found my people! ;-)

I read "A Wrinkle in Time" in the third grade and within a single page, I knew two things: that I would love this book, and that I would be a writer. I still get goosebumps rereading it, and I am transported back -- once again, I am a shy awkward third grader, I am deeply in love with the boy who sits in front of me in class (his name is Jonathan, he has curly hair; I dream of the day he might hold my hand. And one day he hands me the book and says, "You would like this."). And I still love him for that.

So I'm incredibly, incredibly excited about this movie and personally adored the new trailer. I may have shrieked out loud, especially as a badly needed corrective experience after that truly hideous TV movie like 8 years ago (OH MY GOD it was so bad -- I'm just glad Madeleine L'Engle admitted that she heard it was horrid so never ever watched it. The only thing I liked was Kyle Secor -- a wonderful actor along with the Mrs. W's but just so oddly cast.)

"Wrinkle" is incredibly important to me and I'll always love it, but for me, "A Wind in the Door" is so profound, complex, beautiful and moving that it's truly my personal favorite (although it's of course probably absolutely unfilmable). Add to that the incredibly powerful intrinsic story -- the idea of "naming" as magic, as reinforcement of life and love, and of the idea of "Xing" or of "unnaming" as a way of canceling out others, as an act of evil -- the Echthroi are to this day probably my one prevalent image of what evil really is at its core.

I like the rest in the series, but I found "Swiftly Tilting Planet" slightly stiff and mannered; Madeleine's style there was markedly different, I felt, as if writing Charles Wallace was awkward for her. And I had a hard time engaging with the characters -- the path through time was too diffused and remote for me; I couldn't connect with specific characters. And the ending felt like a retcon to me, just a bit (as far as Calvin's mother).

Onward: Yeah, I'm a little weirded out that the Mrs. Ws are so beautiful, but they all look so strong and gorgeous I don't care. I love the inclusive and multiracial casting across the boards. And kudos to the makeup department, by the way, for FINALLY figuring out how stunning Mindy Kaling is! She's so beautiful and here she just looks fantastic and strange and perfect, as do Reese and Oprah. (Aaand I'm still hoping we'll get a surprise glimpse of Reese in the guise of our darling Old-woman Mrs. Whatsit too.)

I don't think Chris Pine is overly featured in the trailers -- he's the lost father and the first voyager, he deserves a moment or two. And he's the driving force behind Mrs. Murry's sadness, the children's fears, and Meg's determination to find and save him. Also, shaggy unkempt Pine is ridiculously hot.  And the glimpses of him in his prison are eerily claustrophobic yet transparent and just what I pictured reading the book. Besides, we do get some great glimpses of Mrs. Murry and she appears appropriately solemn, brilliant, and gorgeous.  (I always thought the "Mr." and "Mrs." references were simply because they were both doctors, as others have noted.)

Also, of course, the children look wonderful, especially solemn little Meg with her curly hair and glasses! Although I do miss Calvin's red hair and freckles. And I like Charles Wallace -- he looks like an intense, solemn little guy, so I'm good with him. I do wonder about the casting of Mr. Jenkins as kind of a hottie (I think his ordinariness in the books, his dandruff and plainness, is so important, so I'm a little bummed he's not unattractive, but I'll reserve judgment). 

BUT: That first glimpse of Camazotz? Absolutely fricking perfect. Perfect. I got goosebumps. And Bellamy Young is just fantastic casting as the Camazotz mom -- she has this steely prettiness that's absolutely grand for the scene.

So far I love everything about the trailer -- it looks big and brave and scary, it's  diversely written, directed and cast, and I have faith that they'll do it justice (what we're seeing in this first trailer is after all fairly early in the editing/effects process).

Meanwhile, I do agree that Aunt Beast should be a surprise. I wonder how they'll handle her (I hope they do her justice, I love her so much in the books).

  • Love 9
Constant Viewer

Constant Viewer

(edited)

It would be interesting if they actually did a movie of all the Murry books although when I first read them, Wind in the Door was the hardest for me to visualize. 

I will be extremely disappointed if Aunt Beast is not handled well in the movie. I don't even think I completed watching the older tv movie because I don't remember Aunt Beast in that at all even though the role is listed on imdb.

Edited by Constant Viewer
  • Love 2
raven

raven

It's beautiful!  I am curious about "Be a Warrior", since the book themes are all about love.  Doesn't matter, I'm looking forward to it still!

Actually, I remember the stars fighting the darkness and collapsing/dying in the fight.  Maybe there is some of that.

I didn't realize Michael Peña was in this, playing "Red".  The Man with Red Eyes, I guess?

  • Love 1
Black Knight

Black Knight

Also, it's easily passed off as being alphabetical for Winfrey and Witherspoon. It's not uncommon, especially in TV, for the top-billed actors to be listed alphabetically and then the second-tier actors to be listed alphabetically in their turn.

As long as they're just pushing forward the well-known adult actors for the promotions while the actual movie remembers the lead character is Meg, this should be fine. I'm not too worried, since this is such a beloved book that naturally the adult actors would want to be attached to the project for nostalgic reasons, as opposed to making it a vehicle for themselves. I'll be interested in the overall feel of the film, because while I love the book - read it a billion times as a kid/teen and all that - I suspect it's increasingly dated. It already felt somewhat dated to me when I last read it a couple of years ago, and I decided I'd never read it again because it would probably feel even more dated as time passes and I don't want to do that to myself. I recently re-read Wind in the Door and didn't have the same issue with it. I have Many Waters somewhere and will try a re-read of that too when I find my copy of it. I'm not sure if I even have A Swiftly Tilting Planet - it was always my least favorite of the four books. I don't remember much of it at all, but I vaguely recall the issue for me was Charles Wallace as a POV character. He's such an unusual boy and I think L'Engle does better with more typical teens.

Couver

Couver

  On 11/19/2017 at 12:02 AM, Bruinsfan said:

Also, people probably aren't afraid of Witherspoon going ballistic if she doesn't get top billing.

Expand  

I don't know about that. Between the two Witherspoon is the one with a classic diva 'Do you know who I am' on her record after losing it over her husband getting busted for a DUI. 

Oprah's been in the game a lot longer too plus Mrs. Which is basically the leader of that group of 3 though Mrs. Whatsit has the larger role. 

angora

angora

I'm soooo excited!  I'm always a little apprehensive when it comes to adaptations of my childhood treasures, and I'm prepared for the inevitable added Blockbuster Action stuff, but it looks GORGEOUS, and I hope it's amazing and makes all the money.

My wish list is pretty basic.  1) Make the characters the characters.  We don't get too much of a sense of them from the trailers, especially the kids (has Charles Wallace even spoken yet?), but that's my deal-breaker.  I need Meg to be brilliant and awkward and angry and unaware of her potential, Charles Wallace to be a next-level genius who's sweet and caring but more than a little arrogant, Mrs. Whatsit to be a warm, glorious weirdo with awesome powers, etc.  As long as I get these characters, they can add whatever wild action sequences they want.  2)  They can add whatever bells and whistles they want to the final showdown, but let it end the same way.  I was so profoundly moved by that the first time I read it, and I'd love to see that moment on my screen.  3)  Not a must but, while I dig the otherworldly look of all the Mrs. W's, I hope we get at least a little bit of Mrs. Whatsit disguised as a tramp; that's so iconic to me, along with the line, "Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there IS such a thing as a tesseract."

  • Love 3
Black Knight

Black Knight

The aesthetic had to be changed. The source material, as I mentioned above, is too dated. The movie has to appeal to the younger generations, not just those of us who read the book for the first time as children. I loved the trailer. Yes, a bit jarring on first watch due to what you mentioned about the aesthetic, but then I could see it was the right call.

Meg already knew a lot in the book, so I don't think it's a big change to have her know a little more.

I'll be surprised if there's any real intention of them trying to make their way through all the books. It isn't a serialized series so much as a group of standalones set in the same universe. They all tell a complete story in themselves. Sure, if AWiT is a gigantic hit, they'll probably try to do the second, but the series has always been viewed as "A Wrinkle in Time" and "oh yeah, there were some others that weren't as good." It isn't like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

  • Love 7
Stuffy

Stuffy

  On 11/21/2017 at 5:58 PM, ChelseaNH said:

Does she do that on movie sets?  People behave differently in different contexts.

Expand  

I haven't heard of her ever acting like that on set.  She's always stuck up for herself, but I hadn't heard of her treating people on set like crap. Just not letting people walk all over her.  She's still friends with many of her costars even going back to Cruel Intentions.  It's why people were shocked when she had her car moment.  She was also drunk herself when she did that.

  • Love 3
starri

starri

  • Author

I don't know what Reese is like as a human being, but I do not stop being impressed by her, at least on screen.  I honestly thought she was going to just take the well-worn path of actresses aging out of playing babe parts and just settle into a comfortable life of playing moms, and then she pulled Wild seemingly out of nowhere.

Anyway, the clips in the latest trailer of her Mrs. Whatsit being giggly and childlike were quite endearing.  As is Mrs. Who's lorgnette.

  • Love 5
Dee

Dee

(edited)

Underprivileged Children Will Be Able To See ‘A Wrinkle In Time’ Free At AMC Theatres

  Quote

Similar to the crowd-funding #BlackPantherChallenge which raised thousands of dollars for children to see Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther for free, Color of Change and AMC Theatres are teaming for Give A Child The Universe initiative which will give underprivileged kids the opportunity to see Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time for free starting on March 9, the pic’s release date.

Starting today, Give A Child The Universe encourages individual and group benefactors to purchase and donate tickets to the movie, enabling children to see A Wrinkle in Time at a matinee showing at their local AMC Theatres location. Using the donations, Color of Change will distribute tickets to a network of local partners, schools and community-based organizations, allowing children to enjoy this highly anticipated title regardless of economic challenges.

Expand  
Edited by Dee
  • Love 8
HunterHunted

HunterHunted

There reviews I've seen so far can be summed up like this "The visually interesting 'A Wrinkle in Time' is ambitious, but falls far from its mark." 

http://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/a-wrinkle-in-time-review-disney-ava-duvernay-1202720497/

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2384022/a-wrinkle-in-time-reviews-are-in-heres-what-the-critics-think

https://www.thewrap.com/critics-call-wrinkle-in-time-noble-failure-despite-best-intentions/

proserpina65

proserpina65

  On 3/7/2018 at 9:28 PM, HunterHunted said:

There reviews I've seen so far can be summed up like this "The visually interesting 'A Wrinkle in Time' is ambitious, but falls far from its mark." 

http://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/a-wrinkle-in-time-review-disney-ava-duvernay-1202720497/

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2384022/a-wrinkle-in-time-reviews-are-in-heres-what-the-critics-think

https://www.thewrap.com/critics-call-wrinkle-in-time-noble-failure-despite-best-intentions/

Expand  

That's been my impression from the reviews I've read.  Not promising at all.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...