Unseen Movie Review: All The King’s Men

When you have a cast that includes Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, James Gandolfini and Jude Law the film pretty much speaks for itself. With a cast like that I could watch them performing Lady in the Water and find it entertaining.

Throw in an Oscar winning writer (for ‘Schindler’s List’ no less) who is directing, and base it on an Academy Award winning best film and you have the makings of a great movie. If that’s the case why is there no buzz or great advance word of mouth surrounding this picture? Paris Hilton gets more press when she gets behind the wheel after one margarita (to be fair I hear she was letting her Chihuahua drive the car). All I’ve heard about this film is how it was supposed to be released last year but has been pushed back by about nine months. This is never a good sign. Add on the fact that it’s being released in the dead zone of September and things do not bode well for ‘All the King’s Men.’Hell, Paris might actually have an easier time staying celibate for a whole year.The Steve Zaillian film is based on the 1949 Best Picture winner of the same name. I’ve said this before but I don’t really understand why filmmakers feel the need to remake classic movies. Steve has been saying that he based his film on the book (which was the source for the first film too) but they still have already made a movie with the same idea. Why not just come up with a new idea for a film, or choose another book? And oh, by the way, my kid likes those Clifford Puppy Days books if you really want to make a movie. With the same cast as King’s Men you could make any bad film watchable. I smell Oscar!While the above reasons make it sound like I will be skipping this movie, keep in mind Steve directed ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer’ which I consider to be one of the top 10 films of the 90’s. I’ve never seen another movie that captured the innocence of childhood from a kid’s perspective as well as that film. He made a film about kids and chess seem exciting and riveting. Also,all the King’s Men stars Sean Penn. This guy is awesome. Even Clint Eastwood has said he’s the best actor of his generation (Sean’s not Clint’s. Everyone in Clint’s generation has pretty much passed on except I think Mickey Rooney).I’m glad Sean finally got over his retirement and returned to acting (even winning a Best Actor Oscar). Now if only Vin Diesel will take Sean’s place and begin an early retirement we will all be better off. Since Sean has returned to acting in films, I’ve tried to see everything he’s done. I even watched ‘The Assassination of Richard Nixon’ which has a very misleading title since Dick only has a small supporting role. Sean can act, and in a time where there are more rappers in movies than in music, it’s great to see someone so good at their craft.So I’m torn between the talent involved and the fact that this really is a remake of an old Oscar winner. I think the deciding factor could be that Todd Philips is a producer on this film so there might be a “You’re my boy, Blue!” moment that I don’t know about.