Archive for April, 2008
April 30th, 2008
The whole point of the summer movie season is to make money (and yes, I realize the point of any movie season is to make money, but during the summer we’re talking about a lot of money), so here – before the first summer movies have even hit screens — are the predictions from Entertainment Weekly regarding the top earners. Drum roll, please…
1. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL: $355.9 million. As long as the movie doesn’t disappoint audiences and the word of mouth is good, this sounds right. It could run all summer long if it has half the wit and excitement of RAIDERS.
2. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN: $310.8 million. Really? I guess the first one was a hit, but I haven’t heard any buzz about this sequel.
3. HANCOCK: $280.4 million. If not more. I mean, I’m not really a Will Smith fan, but this dark comic take on superhero action looks pretty damn great to me, and plus it re-teams the ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT couple of Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron.
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5. IRON MAN: $262.7 million. Heck, I’d go higher. Great buzz, solid reviews and the first would-be blockbuster out of the gate. I think this is more than a movie people want to see; it’s a movie they want to like. Guess we’ll known by Monday, eh?
The other five predictions – including THE DARK KNIGHT, a movie I can’t wait to see – can be found here.
April 28th, 2008
With SPEED RACER opening this weekend, IRON MAN out the next and INDIANA JONES following up on May 22, it’s obvious: Despite the snow in the skies of Rockford, the summer movie season is almost here.
With studios banking (literally) on making most of their profits during the next few months, it’s hard to believe that just a few short decades ago, the big movies came out in the spring (THE GODFATHER debuted in March) or near Christmas (TOWERING INFERNO arrived in December) with kid flicks and low-budget nonsense (as opposed to big budget nonsense) arriving while the kids were out of school. JAWS changed all that, of course, hitting theaters at the end of June 1975 and riding that summer wave of fear and excitement straight to the top of the all-time box office. It was a movie about a shark terrorizing the beach, which meant it was made for summer viewing, but the studios realized that young audiences with lots of free time would go see would-be blockbusters again and again, a theory proved two years later by a little art film called STAR WARS that knocked JAWS off the top of the box office stack and pretty much changed all the rules, including release dates.
STAR WARS, not so coincidentally, is the first movie on the Onion AV Club’s new list, “Part Hype, Part Art, All Movie: 18 Pretty Great Summer Blockbusters Not Directed by Steven Spielberg.” Also included are CON AIR, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, X-MEN 2, BATMAN BEGINS and a personal favorite, FACE/OFF (also the first movie I saw at Rockford’s ShowPlace 16, screened for a public preview of the then state-of-the-art stadium-style theater.) John Woo’s bravura direction, a big budget (that must’ve gone mostly toward ammunition, doves and slow-motion film stock and a pair of hilariously over-the-top performances by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage made it one of the craziest, biggest and strangely most personal action movies ever made. If you’ve never seen it, check it out — on the biggest screen you can find.
Another movie on the list proves how set-in-stone the summer release plan had become by 1984. GREMLINS, directed by Joe Dante, is actually set at Christmas, with snow, lights and the whole holiday bag (including Phoebe Cates’ dad getting stuck in a chimney dressed as Santa), but it was released in June. And it was a huge hit, too. Not even carols and candy canes could keep shorts-wearing moviegoers away.
Coming tomorrow: The big summer movies of this year, and my take. I expect all of you movie fans to toss in your two cents, too.
Bonus quiz: Can anyone tell me what movie (released during the summer, of course) had the title of this blog entry on its soundtrack?
April 18th, 2008
Just because it’s Friday and I’ve always liked it, here’s Fiona Apple’s cover of the Beatles’ “Across the Universe,” which was released along with the 1998 movie PLEASANTVILLE (which is where the whole “smashing the malt shop” motif comes from):
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I havent’ seen PLEASANTVILLE in a while, but I remember liking it quite a bit when I saw it in the theater. The story is intelligent and heartfelt, the special effects and cinematography are striking, and the cast — William H. Macy, Tobey Maguire, Joan Allen, Reese Witherspoon, the late great J.T. Walsh and even Don Knotts — is top notch. Check it out if you’ve never seen it.
Paul Thomas Anderson (BOOGIE NIGHTS, MAGNOLIA, THERE WILL BE BLOOD) directed the video, and it shows his pitch-perfect sense of pacing and drama. He didn’t direct the movie (Gary Ross did), but he was dating Apple at the time, which is probably why he got the gig. If you have the MAGNOLIA DVD, Apple shows up on the “Magnolia Diary” making of feature. There’s a fascinating — and weird — scene where she actually pretends to be the movie, and Anderson mockingly berates her for not being as loveable as BOOGIE NIGHTS.
Cameo alert: Keep an eye out for actor (and frequent P.T. Anderson collaborator) John C. Reilly as one of the malt-shop wreckers.
April 16th, 2008
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL is set to debut at the upcoming Cannes film festival, and the reported length of the movie is a whopping 2 hours and 20 minutes. Now I’m a big believer in Roger Ebert’s axiom that “no good movie is too long, and no bad movie is too short,” but even so, this seems a tad on the lengthy side. Let’s compare to the other three Indy films:
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: 1 hour, 55 minutes
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM: 1 hour, 58 minutes
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE: 2 hours, 7 minutes.
Sure, there’s not much difference between CRUSADE’s running time and CRYSTAL SKULL’s, but these movies should be as tightly-paced as possible, and CRUSADE definitely had its slow spots. RAIDERS, on the other hand, remains one of the most perfectly paced action films ever made, jumping from thrill to thrill with barely a moment to breathe — and yet, somehow avoiding the exhaustion and overkill of many modern action movies.
What do you think? Is CRYSTAL SKULL going to suffer from the same sort of bloat that the recent STAR WARS movies succumbed to?
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
April 16th, 2008
Apparently, they’re going to turn that popular IRON MAN trailer into a full-length movie. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Wildly Popular ‘Iron Man’ Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film
April 14th, 2008
In the comments section of last week’s post about THE INCREDIBLE HULK, reader Brian put the upcoming SPEED RACER movie way at the bottom of the summer movie list, saying it would only appeal to “young kids and masochistic viewers.” You might be right, Brian — some of that dialogue is beyond lame, and I question the use of Matthew “I’m acting as woodenly as I can” Fox in the pivotal role of the ultra-cool Racer X.
But as a boy who spent his formative years watching the high speed thrills and crashing carnage of the original SPEED RACER cartoon, I have to admit I’m looking forward to this one, and not just out of some warped sense of nostalgia (though that’s part of it). Looking at the trailers, I see a very real possibility that — at least on a purely visual level –this could be a groundbreaking movie. I can’t think of a time that the bright, pop-off-the-screen, candy-colored punch of cartoons has been brought to live-action with such zip and zing. Just check out this trailer…
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I think we’re looking at something new here, something that takes the comic book physics of THE MATRIX movies (the Wachowski brothers’ last cinematic effort) and throws it right out the window, replacing it with something even wilder (and a heck of a lot more colorful). The way those cars bounce around mirrors the original cartoon perfectly, and even the quiet scenes pop right off the screen. Personally, I can’t wait to see this one, and on the biggest screen possible.
It is interesting to see Emile Hirsch, who starred in the ultra-serious INTO THE WILD, take on the role of Speed, but he seems to have the right wide-eyed wonder to carry it off. (Something he had, in fact, during INTO THE WILD, too.) And speaking of wide-eyed, if there’s a better casting choice for Trixie (Speed’s girlfriend) than Christina Ricci, I can’t think of it. She’s practically an anime character come to life. Not since her early work as Wednesday Addams has a role fit her this well. Even Matthew Fox seems well-used, with a digital boost making his voice even more robotic — and more fitting for the mysterious Racer X.
And if you need one more reason to be hopeful, there’s this: With all the computer-generated imagery packed into every frame of this film, they used a real chimp to play Chim Chim. Now that’s entertainment.
April 10th, 2008
There’s trouble in Hulk-land, according to this article from the New York Times.
For one thing, the recently unveiled trailer got a decidedly mixed reaction from fans and critics. As the article says, “The look of the new Hulk — meaner and greener — won praise from some fans online, but several influential tastemakers held their noses. Entertainment Weekly pronounced the computer-generated effects ‘totally fake-looking,’ while obsessedwithfilm.com deemed the project ‘just hideous.’ ”
To add to the troubles, the movie stars Edward Norton — a very talented actor, but apparently not the easiest guy to work with when the movie isn’t what he wants it to be. (See also AMERICAN HISTORY X and THE ITALIAN JOB). Asked to respond to reports of friction between the studio and Norton (who is also working on the script), the Times article quotes Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel, then offers a helpful explanantion of Hollywood-ese:
“When you get to this point in the process, there are always lots of passionate discussions,” he said. “Edward is very passionate. He is as passionate about the Hulk as we are.” (For those unaccustomed to Hollywood speak, “very passionate” roughly translates to a seven on the “he’s a difficult person” scale.)
THE INCREDIBLE HULK is set to open on June 13, and it’s far from the only game in town. THE DARK KNIGHT (the new Batman movie), IRON MAN (also based on a Marvel Comics character), SPEED RACER (from the Matrix boys, the Wachowski brothers), HANCOCK (Will Smith’s movie about a down-and-out superhero) and, of course, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL will all be competing for the same audience, and bad word of mouth combined with the lackluster reception to Ang Lee’s 2003 HULK movie could spell Doom for this Marvel movie, and I’m not talking about Dr. Doom.
Here’s the trailer. What do you think?
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April 8th, 2008
This week’s Movie Man column (which can be found by clicking here) is a review of the new BONNIE AND CLYDE DVD. It’s a truly great movie, one that sparked a revolution of sorts in Hollywood, and I highly recommend giving this remastered disc a look.
My column mostly focuses on the movie itself, but here are a few bits of making-of trivia I picked up, both from the documentary included on the disc and from Mark Harris’ excellent new book about the 1967 Oscar nominees, PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION: FIVE MOVIES AND THE BIRTH OF THE NEW HOLLYWOOD:
1. Originally, Warren Beatty only planned to produce the movie, not star in it. He thought Bob Dylan (yes, the Bob Dylan) would be good as Clyde, and as for Bonnie, he thought about casting Shirley MacLaine. Once he decided to play Clyde himself, he wisely stopped considering Shirley for the Bonnie role. (She’s Beatty’s sister, if you didn’t know.)
2. It’s Gene Wilder’s first film.
3. When Warren Beatty was arguing with Warner Bros. chief Jack Warner about making the movie (Warner did not want to make it), Warner told Beatty to look out the window and see who’s name was painted on the studio’s giant water tower. Beatty says he went to the window and said “I don’t know — all I see are my initials.”
April 6th, 2008
When I posted that picture of Charlton Heston from SOYLENT GREEN a few days ago, I never would’ve thought I’d be writing about his death today. Heston was one of those actors who, love him or hate him, seemed like he’d be around forever. Even though he had Alzheimer’s and hadn’t appeared in a movie in half a decade, his death still doesn’t seem quite right.
I mean, if the total breakdown of society – in triplicate! — couldn’t bring him down, what could?
I realize Heston is best known for playing Moses in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, and that he won his Best Actor Oscar for BEN HUR, but I’ve always liked him best in what I call his World Gone Wrong Trilogy: SOYLENT GREEN, THE OMEGA MAN and PLANET OF THE APES. In each movie, Heston played the last real man in a world gone mad, either thanks to overcrowding, a disastrous pandemic or highly evolved apes. Whatever the calamity, Heston faced it the only way he knew how: Fists and jaw clenched tightly, bravely (and sometimes recklessly) facing the enemy.
Oscar or not, Heston wasn’t exactly the greatest actor in the history of cinema — but he was a heck of a screen presence. His politics aside (and with Heston, the politics were part of the package), I always enjoyed watching him onscreen. Even when things had collapsed around him, he seemed to be enjoying himself on some level, and in all three movies in the World Gone Wrong Trilogy, he brings a sly sense of humor to the role, no matter how humorless it might have been written. The glee with which his detective loots a rich guy’s apartment in SOYLENT GREEN brings added dimension to a character that, in the script, barely had one.
And, let’s give the guy credit for one more thing: Back in 1958, when he was a major movie star (having played Moses two years earlier), he was cast as the hero in TOUCH OF EVIL. He asked who was going to direct, and the producers said they didn’t know yet, but Orson Welles was playing the villain. Heston, an obvious master of understatement, said “You know, Orson Welles is a pretty good director.” So they hired Welles to direct and TOUCH OF EVIL turned out to be one of his masterpieces. And Heston was delighted to work with him, seeing a genius in Welles that the rest of Hollywood had ignored for years.
Now that, my friends, is a movie star.
April 3rd, 2008
Last night’s episode of TOP CHEF (See? I do watch more than movies!) involved contestants picking a movie then cooking up a dish based on the film. Though some of them were imaginative (The A CHRISTMAS STORY course was surprisingly clever), some were just plain lame (GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM? Really?). So, in the interest of adding a bit of spice to the mix, here are my suggestions. I don’t know much about cooking, but I do know these movies would have inspired more memorable dishes. In some cases, much more memorable…
THERE WILL BE BLOOD — A milkshake, of course. And, midway through the judge’s tasting of it, the cook could whip out a giant straw, extend it across the room and take a sip, proudly proclaiming “I drink your milkshake!” ala Daniel Plainview.
GOODFELLAS — A delicious pasta dish, just like the wiseguys make during their prison stay. Make sure you slice the garlic with a razor blade, like Paulie does. It really is a very good system.
BABE — Any pork dish would suffice.
FIGHT CLUB — Clean food, please.
RATATOUILLE — The title food, of course, with bonus points awarded for the number of live rats incorporated into the dish.
AIRPLANE! — Chicken or fish. Or lasagna.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, DAWN OF THE DEAD, DAY OF THE DEAD, RAVENOUS, ALIVE and CANNIBAL THE MUSICAL — I’m sure you can guess what the main ingredient in this course would be. Sure, the degree of difficulty would be high, but think how impressive the victory would be if the judges actually liked it. Trouble is, this ingredient isn’t exactly sitting on the shelf of your local Whole Foods store.
SOYLENT GREEN — Obviously.
I’m sure I’m missing a few obvious choices, so share your suggestions in the comment field.
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