Weekend of Deja-Vu

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LAist knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- but with what's coming out in theaters this weekend, well, someone has completely gone off the deep end.

Shark Tale: A CGI film about the underwater world of fish -- with Will Smith and Jack Black playing the title roles of a fish and shark, respectively. There's comedy, action, suspense (there's a little mob mentality thrown in here) and a little bit of sexual innuendo. That of course, is no thanks to Angelina Jolie whose characters these days can be narrowed down to this one fill-in phrase: In this movie, Angelina Jolie plays a sexy ___________(insert type of character here).

Insert Deja Vu Moment Here: Uh, how about Finding Nemo? Goodfellas, Jaws, Orca, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Abyss, Jaws 3-D and any other movie Will Smith has starred in over the last decade [read: "Fresh Prince of Bel Air"].

Ladder 49: Joaquin Phoenix joins a fire-house, gets trained by the boys and John Travolta. There are fires to be put out, pranks to deal with, and a bunch of "grab my hand if you want to live" moments while suspended high above deadly flames.

Insert Deja Vu Moment Here: Backdraft, The Towering Inferno and The Backdraft Experience at Universal Studios.

Ghost in the Shell 2: The anime follow-up to one of the most groundbreaking films ever.

Insert Deja Vu Moment Here: The original Ghost in the Shell, which some people have watched on DVD over and over and over again.

In the end, LAist knows that Hollywood is all about the regurgitation of ideas [Betwiched, anyone?] -- but if the product that's coming out surpasses its previous incarnations, then we can sleep sound knowing the powers-that-be are improving on the quality of entertainment.

Unfortunately for us, that probably isn't the case.

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Comments (2) [rss]

With all respect, if you've seen both Ghost in the Shell movies, you'd know how ridiculous it is to include them in this list...the two movies explore the same theme, but they do so from vastly different perspectives and come to very different conclusions about what it means to be human and how that differs from what it means to be conscious.

Actually, to be honest -- my reasoning for putting Ghost in the Shell 2 on this list was just because there's a sequel and it's out -- I'm even rushing to see it this afternoon at the Arclight. It is, far superior, to anything else on this list, and was only included because a sequel represents some kind of deja vu.

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