Word: weitz
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Richard W. Weitz ’83, who won a 1983 Hoopes Prize for his senior thesis on different theories as to why the Cold War arose, used the prize money to help fund his continued studies in International Relations. Weitz now works for the Hudson Institute, a public policy research center that focuses on international affairs...
...will provide $20 million over the next five years to support Harvard researchers in areas including the applied sciences, engineering, and chemical and systems biology. “As researchers, we are constantly looking for new, interesting problems to work on,” said physics professor David A. Weitz, who is co-directing the BASF Advanced Research Initiative. “The industry is a wonderful place to find and work on more problems that could make a difference for humanity.” Weitz said that Harvard faculty will retain the right to distribute and publish research conducted...
...Weitz's only previous solo directorial feature-film credit was the 2002 About a Boy, where he proved he was a confident shepherd of child actors. But he's not up to helming a superproduction like this. (At one point he dropped out of directing the film for that very reason.) Faithful to the novels' narrative if not their philosophy, his movie bustles through the plot twists and lightning characterizations as if it were its own Cliff Notes, rarely taking the time to acquaint the audience with Lyra's allies and enemies. Even a genre film has to relax...
...this for Weitz: he got the movie made, even in its current gelded form. But there's something missing, beyond the iconoclastic theology, in this perfectly OK, blandly underwhelming superproduction. The movie lacks an elevating passion, a cohesive vision, a soul. It's as if The Golden Compass has misplaced its artistic compass. Somebody stole its daemon...
...Will the sequels get made, by Weitz or someone more gifted? Strictly on profit-and-loss terms, I'd guess no. The Golden Compass is unlikely to reach the LOTR stratosphere, and a company doesn't keep making money-draining pictures just to complete a trilogy. Remember, too, it's in the second and third books that Pullman revs up the blasphemy. Those film adaptations would have to be either offensive or unrecognizable...