By: Ken Herman
Source: http://www.statesman.com
Category: Film School Online
Perhaps predictably, John Carter says "John Carter" is pretty good.
That would be John Carter, the GOP U.S. House member from Round Rock, commenting on "John Carter," the sci-fi movie from Disney. We should heed movie reviews by people with the same name as the movie.
"John Carter" opened last weekend to reviews skewing toward bad and worse. But Americans, starved for entertainment since football season ended, spent $31 million on the movie during its opening weekend. The epic film cost about $250 million to make, making the $31 million opening an epic failure.
John Carter, because congressmen are special, spent nothing to see "John Carter," which is about a different John Carter, at a screening last week at the Washington office of the Motion Picture Academy of America.
Some of you may not be aware there is a movie named "John Carter." It's about an ex-Confederate soldier who strikes gold in Arizona before being transported to Mars where he gets involved in battles with aliens.
No, really, it is.
Some of you may not be aware of the local congressman named John Carter. He was a judge before being transported to Washington, where he's involved in battles involving aliens.
No, really, he is.
"John Carter" is based on a character created in 1912 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Tarzan guy. The character is sometimes known as John Carter of Mars.
As a youth, John Carter of Round Rock (nee John Carter of Houston) was a Burroughs fan, but he was more tuned in to Tarzan than the homonymous character.
"I wasn't into space travel at the time," he told me.
John Carter is taking some grief as a result of "John Carter," especially because of the title role performance by Taylor Kitsch of "Friday Night Lights" fame that inspired this from one reviewer: "Picture sand-encrusted pecs and sweat-drenched biceps and you get the picture."
"I'm not in that good a shape any more, and stuff like that," John Carter, 70, told me, relaying the kind of jabs he's heard.
John Carter's review of "John Carter": "If you like action-adventure space characters like in ‘Star Wars' — and I still love those fantasies — I'd give it a good rating. I know some people are panning it, but I thought it was pretty good. It kept my attention. We got to watch it in 3-D, and it's a pretty good movie."
Fine, but what's it going to do for John Carter's political career?
"Politics is all about name ID and money, my friend," he told me. "I'll take some ribbing for it because I don't look like John Carter, but it's great to have your name out in the public. It's great to have free publicity."
Yes, there is something to be said for having your name thrown around, as John Carter's is in "John Carter." There's this from a trailer: "Fate has brought you here, John Carter. ... You may be the only one who can save us." And in the movie, somebody (or something) proclaims, "John Carter fights for us!" (Never mind that "us" is big green creatures with four arms and two facial horns.)
On the downside of the free publicity equation is the use of the congressman's name in film reviews. And herein I shall use the Tinseltown tradition of selective quoting from reviews:
CNN: "John Carter ... seems mildly perplexed."
Austin American-Statesman: "John Carter might be living in some other world. ... And Carter is bewildered."
Los Angeles Times: "John Carter flops!"
Variety: "John Carter ... turgid, visually unappealing."
Detroit Free Press: "John Carter is bloated."
I guess when you have a name as common as John Carter, stuff like this is going to happen. Other John Carters who are not John Carter of Round Rock or John Carter of sand-encrusted pecs include John Carter who was the New Vaudeville Band's lead singer (extra points if you're now humming "Winchester Cathedral"). That John Carter co-wrote "Little Bit O' Soul," the 1967 one hit of one-hit wonder band the Music Explosion. Great song.
More John Carter trivia: It was Charlton Heston's name at birth.
I saw "John Carter" the day after I talked to Rep. John Carter. I found it confusing — but remember, I found "Toy Story 2" confusing — and annoyingly loud.
Prior to my viewing of the movie, I asked Republican John Carter if the ugly four-armed green guys in "John Carter" represent Democrats. (Spoiler alert.)
"No," he said, "they turn out to be the good guys."
Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/john-carter-on-john-carter-2235959.html
