Summer's true heavy hitters, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, arrive in July. They were the frontrunners from the outset, and, since no May or June release has yet to hit $250 million, they have retained that status. The five top-grossing months ever are the last five Julys, and July 2010 holds the record with $1.32 billion. With Harry Potter, Transformers, the big screen debut of Captain America and a handful of other broadly appealing movies, July 2011 has an excellent shot at breaking that record.
July 1
Though Transformers: Dark of the Moon hits theaters on June 29, it's classified as a July release based on its first weekend. The last Transformers movie earned $402.1 million two years ago, though it established a reputation as a lousy movie (even director Michael Bay has frequently acknowledged that it's lacking). In this way, at least, Dark of the Moon is facing an uphill battle. Additionally, audiences have so far rebelled against 3D sequels this year: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Kung Fu Panda 2 have dropped at least 23 percent from their predecessors' grosses (and much more in attendance).
Transformers 3, though, seems to have a much more effective marketing campaign than those movies. The trailers and commercials have mixed stunning visuals with a semblance of a story (as convoluted and revisionist as it may be). Also, the movie's being pushed as the first must-see 3D movie since Avatar, and the Tuesday night 3D-only previews could help that assertion. However, it's hard to imagine that the masses will gladly pay a premium this time around after being burned by the last movie, and so lower grosses still seem inevitable.
With all the Transformers hype, it may be hard to remember that there are two other nationwide releases scheduled for the July 4 weekend. Larry Crowne reunites Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts for a romantic comedy of sorts centered around a man who decides to attend community college after being laid off from his job. Hanks and Roberts' last collaboration, Charlie Wilson's War, made $66.7 million in 2007, and that was essentially an R-rated history lesson. Larry Crowne, on the other hand, appears to be a light comedy that serves as adult counter-programming to Transformers, and cash-flush distributor Universal Pictures has made sure that awareness is high.
The weekend's other release, Monte Carlo, has much more limited appeal, though it does have a lot going for it. The movie marries the European vacation aspects of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with the wish-fullfillment angle of A Cinderella Story, The Princess Diaries and more. It should be in line for modest business but will ultimately be inconsequential in a July full of much bigger movies.
Bottom Line: Transformers will burn off a lot of demand from Tuesday to Thursday, but it will still easily take the weekend.
July 8
The second weekend of July is admittedly one of the quieter ones, though both Zookeeper and Horrible Bosses seem well positioned. After going four-for-four at the start of his movie career, Kevin James had his first dud with The Dilemma in January. He's back in his wheelhouse, though, with Zookeeper, which is essentially a mix of two of his past movies (Hitch and Paul Blart: Mall Cop) with Doctor Dolittle. Those three movies average out to an incredible $156 million. If Zookeeper can get to that level, it will go down as one of summer's biggest hits.
Horrible Bosses is more of a wild card than Zookeeper. It has an edgy-yet-relatable premise (everyone has had an awful boss at some point), and it has likeable comic actors as the supposed heroes (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day) going up against well-known baddies (Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston). The movie even throws Jamie Foxx in to the mix as a crudely-named "murder consultant." However, the previews have yet to establish this as a must-see (like The Hangover was two years ago), and it's probably going to take strong word-of-mouth to turn this in to a true success.
Bottom Line: Both movies are poised for comparatively strong openings, though that still probably won't be enough to dethrone Transformers.
July 15
The most anticipated movie of the year (at least according to Box Office Mojo readers) arrives on July 15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 marks the final chapter in what will soon become the highest-grossing franchise ever. The series has been gradually losing audience over the past few entries, but series conclusions usually reverse this trend (Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are the best examples here). It shouldn't be any different for Harry Potter, as Deathly Hallows Part 2 appears to deliver the epic battle between the forces of good and evil that fans have been waiting years to see on the big screen. Part 2 will almost certainly earn more than Deathly Hallows Part 1 ($295 million) and should top the first Harry Potter's $317.5 million total as well.
The only movie brave enough to go up against Potter is the latest big-screen incarnation of Winnie the Pooh. Distributor Walt Disney Pictures is surely hoping to attract families with children too young for the violent Potter movie, which might actually be a substantial group. The movie has already opened in many international territories but has so-far made less than $7 million. Pooh's last big screen adventure was Pooh's Heffalump Movie, which earned a weak $18.1 million in 2005. The new movie is a broader nostalgia trip, though, and should do more business.
Bottom Line: Look for Deathly Hallows Part 2 to make a serious run at breaking The Dark Knight's $158.4 million opening weekend record.
July 22
After watching countless fellow comic book heroes have their chance at big screen glory, Captain America finally gets his origin story told in Captain America: The First Avenger. Four comic book adaptations have already come and gone this Summer, with none of them reaching true blockbuster levels. Captain America hopes to change that, featuring a well-known character and effective marketing. The newest trailer plays up the patriotic aspects of the movie with the tagline "Heroes Are Made in America," and the movie as a whole looks like an adventure worth taking. However, opening in the shadow of Harry Potter is a frightening prospect (though that didn't seem to affect Tangled), and comic book burnout seems to be in full effect after Green Lantern. Captain America's ability to out-draw Marvel stable mate Thor ($176.7 million) seems to be up in the air.
Friends with Benefits, the season's fifth R-rated comedy, stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis in a remake of No Strings Attached. Or so it would seem, based on their nearly identical "sex friends" premise. Kunis and Timberlake are probably not as popular as Portman and Kutcher, and being late to the game doesn't help. No Strings Attached earned a solid $70.7 million. If Friends with Benefits can hit that mark, it should be considered a mild success.
Bottom Line: Captain America will easily top Friends with Benefits, but it's going to take a truly heroic opening to beat Potter's second weekend.
July 29
July 2011 is one of those rare months that has five complete weekends, and it will definitely squeeze out some major cash on its last weekend. Cowboys & Aliens is the latest in a line of movies like True Grit ($171.1 million) and Rango ($122.9 million) that signal a potential comeback for the Western genre. Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, the comic book adaptation has been one of the summer's most hyped movies since the slick teaser trailer arrived last year, though its momentum has flagged a bit as more material has been released. Also, the alien invasion genre may have reached overkill status this year after Battle: Los Angeles and to a lesser extent Super 8. Finally, with both new and old competition, it's unclear if Cowboys & Aliens can gin up enough diverse interest to break out of its genre trappings.
Targeting family audiences, The Smurfs should not detract from Cowboys & Aliens. Movies featuring CGI stars that hew close to their source material tend to do very well, with Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby-Doo and even Yogi Bear serving as good examples. Smurfs looks unbearable for adult audiences, but the same could be said for any of the previously mentioned movies. G-Force made $119.4 million two years ago without an established brand, and that's as good a target as any for The Smurfs.
The real wild card this weekend is Crazy, Stupid, Love., which should siphon off date night audiences from Cowboys & Aliens in a major way. The cast is broadly appealing, and the movie so far looks like a more mature version of star Steve Carell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. A potential drawback is that the movie's divorce drama could become too pronounced and alienate summer moviegoers looking for fun, but the advertising so far has mostly pushed the movie as a romantic comedy with good-looking people.
Bottom Line: With a fanboy push Cowboys & Aliens has the edge for opening weekend, though any of these three movies could ultimately finish as the top earner.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Movies Opening 6-24-2011
Cars 2 Jun 24
Bad Teacher Jun 24
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop Jun 24
A Better Life Jun 24
Leap Year Jun 24
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front Jun 22
The Best and the Brightest Jun 24
Turtle: The Incredible Journey Jun 24
Bad Teacher Jun 24
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop Jun 24
A Better Life Jun 24
Leap Year Jun 24
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front Jun 22
The Best and the Brightest Jun 24
Turtle: The Incredible Journey Jun 24
DVD TOP RENTALS
DVD TOP RENTALS
1-The Green Hornet
2-True Grit
3-The Adjustment Bureau
4-The King's Speech
5-No Strings Attached
6-Red Riding Hood
7-Just Go With It
8-Unknown
9-I Am Number Four
10-Battle:Los Angeles
1-The Green Hornet
2-True Grit
3-The Adjustment Bureau
4-The King's Speech
5-No Strings Attached
6-Red Riding Hood
7-Just Go With It
8-Unknown
9-I Am Number Four
10-Battle:Los Angeles
NEW ON DVD THIS WEEK-6-21-2011
NEW ON DVD THIS WEEK:
The Adjustment Bureau
Unknown
The Eagle
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
Cedar Rapids
The Adjustment Bureau
Unknown
The Eagle
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules
Cedar Rapids
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Red Riding Hood
In a medieval village a beautiful young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much to her family's displeasure. When her sister is killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village, the people call on a famed werewolf hunter to help them kill the wolf. As the death toll rises with each moon, the girl begins to suspect that the werewolf could be someone she loves. Panic grips the town as she discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast--one that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect...and bait.
2 1/2 out of 5 stars...a lot of potential was wasted
2 1/2 out of 5 stars...a lot of potential was wasted
DVD Review – Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Thanks for checking out our Green Lantern: Emerald Knights DVD Review
Genre: Animated Action Adventure
Directed by: Chris Berkeley, Lauren Montgomery, Jay Oliva
Staring: Jason Isaacs, Nathan Fillion and Kelly Hu
Released: DVD June 7th, 2011
THE GENERAL IDEA
The story is told during a crysis that threatens the Lantern home planet itself and Hal is relating many of these vingettes while his trainee Laira is being thrown into battle without training. She doesn’t have the experience of this Lantern Lore, so her comrades enlighten her with stories and experiences they were told during their training.
THE GOOD
The individual stories are excelently told against the backdrop of a massive threat long thought gone from the Universe. And each of the stories has its tale to tell giving insight into just who and what the Green Lantern Corp represents.
The action is great, and most of the stories are worth their tales, but the best of them is one of Abin Sur (the Lantern who’s demise brings us Hal Jordan’s story) and Sinestro, still a Green Lantern. There is some good action dealing with an escaped terrorist, but it is not the action that makes this segment great. There is a great exchange between Abin Sur and Sinestro that deals with Sinestro’s views on destiny, which foreshadow his forming of the Yellow Lanterns. Great storytelling in this part.
The icing on the cake is the voice acting. But none better than Nathan Fillion. He embodies Hal Jordan so well that it solidifies that they should have chosen him to play Jordan in the live action film. He has a cocky edge that is made sharper with experience as a Green Lantern. I would much rather have seen him in the movie than Ryan Reynolds.
THE BAD
The only individual story I didn’t really care for was Bolphunga the Unrelenting. It wasn’t a particularily good story, however the character of Bolphunga was voiced by Roddy Piper – so there was a silver lining. It just wasn’t all that entertaining.
The ending is anticlimactic. I won’t spoil the details, but inbetween each of the segments the threat of this Antimatter creature intent on destroying the Lantern Homeworld is being built up as something that could very well be the end of millions of years of Green Lantern existance. And it is overturned in a somewhat simple act. Granted it’s a big act, but simple in its concept and seems to undermine the severity of the threat more than an exaughst port on a planet killing space station.
OVERALL
Great storytelling, great action and a well balanced view of the Green Lantern lore. A lot of fun to watch.
For those unfamiliar with Green Lantern, this would be an excellent view to prepare yourself for any of the lore and history of the character before going to see the movie, however this is not connected directly to the movie so its hardly a requirement. It just would give you a feel for it.
I give Green Lantern: Emerald Knights an 8 out of 10
Genre: Animated Action Adventure
Directed by: Chris Berkeley, Lauren Montgomery, Jay Oliva
Staring: Jason Isaacs, Nathan Fillion and Kelly Hu
Released: DVD June 7th, 2011
THE GENERAL IDEA
The story is told during a crysis that threatens the Lantern home planet itself and Hal is relating many of these vingettes while his trainee Laira is being thrown into battle without training. She doesn’t have the experience of this Lantern Lore, so her comrades enlighten her with stories and experiences they were told during their training.
THE GOOD
The individual stories are excelently told against the backdrop of a massive threat long thought gone from the Universe. And each of the stories has its tale to tell giving insight into just who and what the Green Lantern Corp represents.
The action is great, and most of the stories are worth their tales, but the best of them is one of Abin Sur (the Lantern who’s demise brings us Hal Jordan’s story) and Sinestro, still a Green Lantern. There is some good action dealing with an escaped terrorist, but it is not the action that makes this segment great. There is a great exchange between Abin Sur and Sinestro that deals with Sinestro’s views on destiny, which foreshadow his forming of the Yellow Lanterns. Great storytelling in this part.
The icing on the cake is the voice acting. But none better than Nathan Fillion. He embodies Hal Jordan so well that it solidifies that they should have chosen him to play Jordan in the live action film. He has a cocky edge that is made sharper with experience as a Green Lantern. I would much rather have seen him in the movie than Ryan Reynolds.
THE BAD
The only individual story I didn’t really care for was Bolphunga the Unrelenting. It wasn’t a particularily good story, however the character of Bolphunga was voiced by Roddy Piper – so there was a silver lining. It just wasn’t all that entertaining.
The ending is anticlimactic. I won’t spoil the details, but inbetween each of the segments the threat of this Antimatter creature intent on destroying the Lantern Homeworld is being built up as something that could very well be the end of millions of years of Green Lantern existance. And it is overturned in a somewhat simple act. Granted it’s a big act, but simple in its concept and seems to undermine the severity of the threat more than an exaughst port on a planet killing space station.
OVERALL
Great storytelling, great action and a well balanced view of the Green Lantern lore. A lot of fun to watch.
For those unfamiliar with Green Lantern, this would be an excellent view to prepare yourself for any of the lore and history of the character before going to see the movie, however this is not connected directly to the movie so its hardly a requirement. It just would give you a feel for it.
I give Green Lantern: Emerald Knights an 8 out of 10
'Green Lantern' Leads Modest Corps
Friday wasn't the brightest day for Green Lantern, but the comic book adaptation still drew an estimated $21.6 million on approximately 7,200 screens at 3,816 locations.
Green Lantern had a slightly higher first day gross than X-Men: First Class's $21.4 million, but it was less than Thor's $25.5 million. The gross was also comparable to The Incredible Hulk and the two Fantastic Four movies. In terms of estimated attendance, though, Green Lantern trailed all of those movies.
A precise 3D location count was unavailable for Green Lantern as of this writing, but it had at least 2,700. Those 3D sites accounted for an estimated 46 percent of the gross. The 3D share was close to Kung Fu Panda 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides but down from Thor's 60 percent.
If Green Lantern behaves like comparable June superhero movies, its weekend will come in close to $57 million.
Mr. Popper's Penguins slid in to second with an estimated $6.4 million on around 4,200 screens at 3,339 locations. That was tepid for a Jim Carrey comedy or family vehicle and was in the same range as Surf's Up.
Collapsing 51 percent, Super 8 made an estimated $6 million for a $57.5 million haul in eight days. While its Friday-to-Friday percentage drop was smaller than District 9, Battle: Los Angeles and Cloverfield among others, it was not a show of theatrical longevity, though it will likely move up to second place for the weekend.
X-Men: First Class ranked fourth with an estimated $3.35 million, which was the lowest-grossing third Friday yet for an X-Men movie. The reboot prequel's tally climbed to $111.8 million in 15 days, also the lowest of the series.
The Hangover Part II rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $3.2 million for a $226.2 million tally in 23 days. It was followed by Kung Fu Panda 2 with an estimated $2.5 million for a $137.2 million total, also in 23 days.
Midnight in Paris saw the smallest decline among nationwide releases after a slight expansion. The Woody Allen comedy eased four percent to an estimated $1.4 million, increasing its sum to $18 million in 29 days. Though usually the best holder on a given weekend, Bridesmaids was the bridesmaid this time, though the comedy was down only 24 percent to an estimated $2.3 million for a stellar $131.7 million total in 36 days.
Meanwhile, The Art of Getting By didn't get by, making a mere estimated $296,000 in its debut at 610 locations. The Tree of Life expanded to 114 locations and made more, coming in at an estimated $323,000 for a $3.06 million sum in 22 days, but it's no Midnight in Paris.
Green Lantern had a slightly higher first day gross than X-Men: First Class's $21.4 million, but it was less than Thor's $25.5 million. The gross was also comparable to The Incredible Hulk and the two Fantastic Four movies. In terms of estimated attendance, though, Green Lantern trailed all of those movies.
A precise 3D location count was unavailable for Green Lantern as of this writing, but it had at least 2,700. Those 3D sites accounted for an estimated 46 percent of the gross. The 3D share was close to Kung Fu Panda 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides but down from Thor's 60 percent.
If Green Lantern behaves like comparable June superhero movies, its weekend will come in close to $57 million.
Mr. Popper's Penguins slid in to second with an estimated $6.4 million on around 4,200 screens at 3,339 locations. That was tepid for a Jim Carrey comedy or family vehicle and was in the same range as Surf's Up.
Collapsing 51 percent, Super 8 made an estimated $6 million for a $57.5 million haul in eight days. While its Friday-to-Friday percentage drop was smaller than District 9, Battle: Los Angeles and Cloverfield among others, it was not a show of theatrical longevity, though it will likely move up to second place for the weekend.
X-Men: First Class ranked fourth with an estimated $3.35 million, which was the lowest-grossing third Friday yet for an X-Men movie. The reboot prequel's tally climbed to $111.8 million in 15 days, also the lowest of the series.
The Hangover Part II rounded out the Top Five with an estimated $3.2 million for a $226.2 million tally in 23 days. It was followed by Kung Fu Panda 2 with an estimated $2.5 million for a $137.2 million total, also in 23 days.
Midnight in Paris saw the smallest decline among nationwide releases after a slight expansion. The Woody Allen comedy eased four percent to an estimated $1.4 million, increasing its sum to $18 million in 29 days. Though usually the best holder on a given weekend, Bridesmaids was the bridesmaid this time, though the comedy was down only 24 percent to an estimated $2.3 million for a stellar $131.7 million total in 36 days.
Meanwhile, The Art of Getting By didn't get by, making a mere estimated $296,000 in its debut at 610 locations. The Tree of Life expanded to 114 locations and made more, coming in at an estimated $323,000 for a $3.06 million sum in 22 days, but it's no Midnight in Paris.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Total Recall: Best Summer Vacation Movies
Dirty Dancing
68%
Dirty Dancing director Emile Ardolino didn't use actual mountains of cheese to stand in for the Catskills, but he may as well have; this tale of a brooding dance instructor at a swanky resort (Patrick Swayze) who falls for a wealthy teenage guest (Jennifer Grey) during the summer of 1963 is filled to the brim with pungent dialogue and plot devices. But underneath the schmaltz beats an endearingly earnest heart -- and some pretty good dance moves, as noted by Steve Rhodes, who wrote that "the film's saving grace is that fully a third of the film has the actors dancing rather than talking."
The Endless Summer
100%
For a lot of us, summer loses its promise of fun and freedom as we get older and assume responsibilities that can't be set aside for three months at a time. What if you could not only recapture that youthful summer feeling, but keep it going all year long? That's the question posed by Bruce Brown's classic documentary, which follows a pair of surfers (Mike Hynson and Robert August) as they pursue the summer surfing season across the globe, from California to Africa, Australia, and beyond. The Endless Summer boasts a killer soundtrack and Brown's style was groundbreaking for the genre at the time, but -- and probably most importantly -- it's just a really entertaining film. As Christopher Null wrote for Filmcritic, "you can't help but laugh and feel good while watching their lighthearted antics."
Last Summer
86%
For teenagers, the summer is often seen as a time of reinvention -- an opportunity to try new experiences and adopt different behaviors away from the judgment of classmates who know who they "really" are. This kind of experimentation can produce unintended results, as demonstrated in Frank Perry's Last Summer, which follows four deceptively worldly teens (played by Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, and Catherine Burns, who earned an Oscar nomination) through a Fire Island vacation that tests their darkest and most selfish impulses. The film's explicit content originally cost it an X rating, but it was that brutal honesty that appealed to critics like Roger Ebert, who wrote, "There are good movies about other people's lives, but rarely a movie that recalls, if only for a scene or two, the sense and flavor of life the way you remember it."
Meatballs
71%
The summer camp comedy is pure formula, but it can be a winning one with the right ingredients. Case in point: Bill Murray and director Ivan Reitman, who kicked off their American film careers with this harmlessly raunchy look at a week in the life of Camp North Star, where lackadaisical counselor Tripper (Murray) helps a misfit camper (Chris Makepeace) come out of his shell just in time to give the rich kids over at Camp Mohawk a taste of their own medicine. "You don't mind the lack of structure," noted Filmcritic's Pete Croatto, "especially since it's delivered by a good-natured and good-humored young cast."
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
80%
Decades before Chevy Chase blundered his way across the country in National Lampoon's Vacation, Jimmy Stewart suffered through his own surprisingly stressful family getaway. Surrounded by a mismatched brood that includes four children (two of whom are married with kids of their own) and a wife whose well-meaning vacation rental turns out to be a dilapidated house of horrors, Stewart's Mr. Hobbs is forced to "relax" by warding off bats, fixing a water pump, and bribing a teenage boy (played by Fabian) to pay attention to his brace-faced daughter. Not exactly cutting-edge comedy, even in 1962, but as Reel's James Plath pointed out, "Stewart's performance alone makes this an entertaining film."
National Lampoon's Vacation
94%
For everyone who ever suffered through a hellish forced march through "quality time" gone wrong with the family, National Lampoon's Vacation is a soothing (and laugh-out-loud funny) reminder that you are not alone. Chevy Chase was never more squarely in his wheelhouse than when he played the arrogant, incompetent, but ultimately sweet-natured Clark Griswold, and many of his funniest moments (not to mention most quotable lines) come in the original Vacation. Even Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader had to laugh, noting, "Despite plenty of gross-out gags and dumb slapstick bits, the careful viewer can occasionally detect some acrid and original satire in this 1983 film."
One Crazy Summer
60%
Savage Steve Holland followed up his classic Better Off Dead by reuniting with John Cusack for this equally madcap -- albeit far more uneven -- tale of an aspiring cartoonist who spends the summer after high school in Nantucket, where he gets mixed up with a singer (Demi Moore) and her quest to save her grandfather's home from a wealthy local family. Sadly, One Crazy Summer failed to generate much heat at the box office, despite Holland's flair for the absurd, a charming cast (which also included Curtis Armstrong as the unforgettably named Ack Ack Raymond), and reviews from critics like Gregory Weinkauf of the New Times, who asked, "Remember fun? This movie does."
On Golden Pond
91%
In a marvelously successful example of art imitating life, Jane Fonda purchased the film rights to Ernest Thompson's novel about a fractured family's lakeside summer and used it to build an onscreen parallel to her relationship with her own father -- and the film's eventual star. On Golden Pond went on to gross over $100 million and earned 10 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Actor and Best Actress wins for Henry Fonda (in his final role) and Katharine Hepburn, and although its scenes of lovingly photographed wilderness and overdue familial bonding struck some critics as overly sentimental, most scribes couldn't deny the power of its expertly assembled cast. Sighed Time's Richard Schickel, "When it sometimes seems the whole society has spiritually decamped for Tinseltown, the movie offers the hope that people can come home again -- at least for a visit."
SpaceCamp
40%
A movie about kids spending their summer at a NASA space camp probably wouldn't have been very exciting, so this family-friendly 1986 actioner (adapted from the book by Patrick Bailey and Larry B. Williams) threw in a sentient robot who hears a camper (played by Joaquin Phoenix) daydreaming about going into space and decides to make his wish come true. Hobbled by poor reviews and an ill-timed release four months after the Challenger explosion, SpaceCamp nonetheless entertained critics like Nina Darnton of the New York Times, who wasn't looking for anything more than a "cheerful, optimistic space-age film" and "a wholesome and fun-filled summertime diversion."
68%
Dirty Dancing director Emile Ardolino didn't use actual mountains of cheese to stand in for the Catskills, but he may as well have; this tale of a brooding dance instructor at a swanky resort (Patrick Swayze) who falls for a wealthy teenage guest (Jennifer Grey) during the summer of 1963 is filled to the brim with pungent dialogue and plot devices. But underneath the schmaltz beats an endearingly earnest heart -- and some pretty good dance moves, as noted by Steve Rhodes, who wrote that "the film's saving grace is that fully a third of the film has the actors dancing rather than talking."
The Endless Summer
100%
For a lot of us, summer loses its promise of fun and freedom as we get older and assume responsibilities that can't be set aside for three months at a time. What if you could not only recapture that youthful summer feeling, but keep it going all year long? That's the question posed by Bruce Brown's classic documentary, which follows a pair of surfers (Mike Hynson and Robert August) as they pursue the summer surfing season across the globe, from California to Africa, Australia, and beyond. The Endless Summer boasts a killer soundtrack and Brown's style was groundbreaking for the genre at the time, but -- and probably most importantly -- it's just a really entertaining film. As Christopher Null wrote for Filmcritic, "you can't help but laugh and feel good while watching their lighthearted antics."
Last Summer
86%
For teenagers, the summer is often seen as a time of reinvention -- an opportunity to try new experiences and adopt different behaviors away from the judgment of classmates who know who they "really" are. This kind of experimentation can produce unintended results, as demonstrated in Frank Perry's Last Summer, which follows four deceptively worldly teens (played by Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Richard Thomas, and Catherine Burns, who earned an Oscar nomination) through a Fire Island vacation that tests their darkest and most selfish impulses. The film's explicit content originally cost it an X rating, but it was that brutal honesty that appealed to critics like Roger Ebert, who wrote, "There are good movies about other people's lives, but rarely a movie that recalls, if only for a scene or two, the sense and flavor of life the way you remember it."
Meatballs
71%
The summer camp comedy is pure formula, but it can be a winning one with the right ingredients. Case in point: Bill Murray and director Ivan Reitman, who kicked off their American film careers with this harmlessly raunchy look at a week in the life of Camp North Star, where lackadaisical counselor Tripper (Murray) helps a misfit camper (Chris Makepeace) come out of his shell just in time to give the rich kids over at Camp Mohawk a taste of their own medicine. "You don't mind the lack of structure," noted Filmcritic's Pete Croatto, "especially since it's delivered by a good-natured and good-humored young cast."
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
80%
Decades before Chevy Chase blundered his way across the country in National Lampoon's Vacation, Jimmy Stewart suffered through his own surprisingly stressful family getaway. Surrounded by a mismatched brood that includes four children (two of whom are married with kids of their own) and a wife whose well-meaning vacation rental turns out to be a dilapidated house of horrors, Stewart's Mr. Hobbs is forced to "relax" by warding off bats, fixing a water pump, and bribing a teenage boy (played by Fabian) to pay attention to his brace-faced daughter. Not exactly cutting-edge comedy, even in 1962, but as Reel's James Plath pointed out, "Stewart's performance alone makes this an entertaining film."
National Lampoon's Vacation
94%
For everyone who ever suffered through a hellish forced march through "quality time" gone wrong with the family, National Lampoon's Vacation is a soothing (and laugh-out-loud funny) reminder that you are not alone. Chevy Chase was never more squarely in his wheelhouse than when he played the arrogant, incompetent, but ultimately sweet-natured Clark Griswold, and many of his funniest moments (not to mention most quotable lines) come in the original Vacation. Even Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader had to laugh, noting, "Despite plenty of gross-out gags and dumb slapstick bits, the careful viewer can occasionally detect some acrid and original satire in this 1983 film."
One Crazy Summer
60%
Savage Steve Holland followed up his classic Better Off Dead by reuniting with John Cusack for this equally madcap -- albeit far more uneven -- tale of an aspiring cartoonist who spends the summer after high school in Nantucket, where he gets mixed up with a singer (Demi Moore) and her quest to save her grandfather's home from a wealthy local family. Sadly, One Crazy Summer failed to generate much heat at the box office, despite Holland's flair for the absurd, a charming cast (which also included Curtis Armstrong as the unforgettably named Ack Ack Raymond), and reviews from critics like Gregory Weinkauf of the New Times, who asked, "Remember fun? This movie does."
On Golden Pond
91%
In a marvelously successful example of art imitating life, Jane Fonda purchased the film rights to Ernest Thompson's novel about a fractured family's lakeside summer and used it to build an onscreen parallel to her relationship with her own father -- and the film's eventual star. On Golden Pond went on to gross over $100 million and earned 10 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Actor and Best Actress wins for Henry Fonda (in his final role) and Katharine Hepburn, and although its scenes of lovingly photographed wilderness and overdue familial bonding struck some critics as overly sentimental, most scribes couldn't deny the power of its expertly assembled cast. Sighed Time's Richard Schickel, "When it sometimes seems the whole society has spiritually decamped for Tinseltown, the movie offers the hope that people can come home again -- at least for a visit."
SpaceCamp
40%
A movie about kids spending their summer at a NASA space camp probably wouldn't have been very exciting, so this family-friendly 1986 actioner (adapted from the book by Patrick Bailey and Larry B. Williams) threw in a sentient robot who hears a camper (played by Joaquin Phoenix) daydreaming about going into space and decides to make his wish come true. Hobbled by poor reviews and an ill-timed release four months after the Challenger explosion, SpaceCamp nonetheless entertained critics like Nina Darnton of the New York Times, who wasn't looking for anything more than a "cheerful, optimistic space-age film" and "a wholesome and fun-filled summertime diversion."
Super 8 (2011)
MOVIE INFO
Writer/director J.J. Abrams teams with producer Steven Spielberg for this period sci-fi thriller set in the late '70s, and centering on a mysterious train crash in a small Ohio town. Summer, 1979: a group of young friends are filming a Super-8 movie when a pickup truck derails a speeding train. When the locals start to disappear and even the inquisitive deputy can't come up with answers, suspicions emerge that the incident was anything but an accident. As the truth finally begins emerge, no one is prepared to learn what now stalks the unsuspecting citizens of this once quiet community. Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
PG-13, 1 hr. 52 min.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Written By: J.J. Abrams
In Theaters: Jun 10, 2011 Wide
Box Office:$36.5M
Paramount Pictures
Writer/director J.J. Abrams teams with producer Steven Spielberg for this period sci-fi thriller set in the late '70s, and centering on a mysterious train crash in a small Ohio town. Summer, 1979: a group of young friends are filming a Super-8 movie when a pickup truck derails a speeding train. When the locals start to disappear and even the inquisitive deputy can't come up with answers, suspicions emerge that the incident was anything but an accident. As the truth finally begins emerge, no one is prepared to learn what now stalks the unsuspecting citizens of this once quiet community. Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
PG-13, 1 hr. 52 min.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Written By: J.J. Abrams
In Theaters: Jun 10, 2011 Wide
Box Office:$36.5M
Paramount Pictures
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Hall Pass (2011)
Anyone familiar with the work of writer-directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly, especially There's Something About Mary, will be neither surprised nor shocked by the raunchy, gross-out gags that permeate Hall Pass. But what Farrelly fans might not expect is what comes at the other end of the spectrum--namely, a tender, even sentimental point of view in which marriage is sanctified and even a couple of delusional doofuses end up on the right side of righteousness.
Buddies Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) have attractive, loving wives (Maggie and Grace, played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, respectively) and, in Rick's case, a couple of cute kids. But boys will be boys, and after catching their husbands eyeing other women's butts, making rude remarks in front of friends, and so on, the ladies decide to offer them "hall passes"--an entire week during which they can pretend they're not married and do whatever they want, no questions asked, while the wives head for Cape Cod. Rick, for one, is nonplussed; here is a decent guy who refuses to buy beer for his underage babysitter (not to mention resisting her flirtatious come-ons) and generally tries to do the right thing, and he suspects there's more than meets the ear to Maggie's offer (Fred, on the other hand, expects to spend the week scoring young hotties with lines like "You must be from Ireland, 'cos when I look at you my penis is Dublin").
But while Maggie and Grace find themselves courted by some studly minor-league baseball dudes, Rick and Fred mostly just strike out. Their shenanigans are accompanied by a parade of typically sophomoric Farrelly gags: penis jokes (and a couple of real penises), masturbation jokes, scatological jokes, "I'm so stoned" marijuana jokes, and sexual terms (like "eye banging" and "fake chow") that can't be explained on a family website. Some of this is funny, most merely dumb; some viewers will think the humor goes too far, others not far enough. But the overriding impression is that a decade or more past their biggest hits, the Farrellys, who are now in their 50s, have grown up--at least a little.
3 out of 5 stars
Buddies Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) have attractive, loving wives (Maggie and Grace, played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, respectively) and, in Rick's case, a couple of cute kids. But boys will be boys, and after catching their husbands eyeing other women's butts, making rude remarks in front of friends, and so on, the ladies decide to offer them "hall passes"--an entire week during which they can pretend they're not married and do whatever they want, no questions asked, while the wives head for Cape Cod. Rick, for one, is nonplussed; here is a decent guy who refuses to buy beer for his underage babysitter (not to mention resisting her flirtatious come-ons) and generally tries to do the right thing, and he suspects there's more than meets the ear to Maggie's offer (Fred, on the other hand, expects to spend the week scoring young hotties with lines like "You must be from Ireland, 'cos when I look at you my penis is Dublin").
But while Maggie and Grace find themselves courted by some studly minor-league baseball dudes, Rick and Fred mostly just strike out. Their shenanigans are accompanied by a parade of typically sophomoric Farrelly gags: penis jokes (and a couple of real penises), masturbation jokes, scatological jokes, "I'm so stoned" marijuana jokes, and sexual terms (like "eye banging" and "fake chow") that can't be explained on a family website. Some of this is funny, most merely dumb; some viewers will think the humor goes too far, others not far enough. But the overriding impression is that a decade or more past their biggest hits, the Farrellys, who are now in their 50s, have grown up--at least a little.
3 out of 5 stars
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Battle: Los Angeles is a war movie first, science fiction second. It's got it all: a burned-out retiring sergeant who gets drawn back in because, dammit, the Marines need him; the guy who's about to get married; the guy who's still a virgin; the guy suffering from shell shock and who just might crack; the newbie officer with a lot of book learning who you just know is going to freeze under pressure and have to be shepherded by that burned-out sergeant, who learned his lessons on the battlefield… and so much more.
There's not a moment in this movie you haven't seen before--the only twist is that the enemy is alien, so whatever shred of concern you might have for raining heavy artillery on a fellow human being can be cheerfully cast aside. But clichés are clichés because they are efficient and effective, and despite the profound familiarity of Battle: Los Angeles, there's no denying the movie rips along (though two-thirds of the way through you may have forgotten who was the virgin and who was the shell-shocked guy--but really, does it matter?).
The look owes a debt to District 9, a hand-held, vérité grittiness, with most of the CGI carefully given a dingy, dirty look so that it meshes with the urban landscape. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) does an impressive job of spitting out ham-fisted dialogue like he really, really means it, while the rest of the cast is suitably generic. This is an unrepentant love letter to the military; many viewers, faced with the unsettling chaos and moral ambiguities of real wars, will find this mythologizing not only soothing, but even moving.
3 out of 5 stars
There's not a moment in this movie you haven't seen before--the only twist is that the enemy is alien, so whatever shred of concern you might have for raining heavy artillery on a fellow human being can be cheerfully cast aside. But clichés are clichés because they are efficient and effective, and despite the profound familiarity of Battle: Los Angeles, there's no denying the movie rips along (though two-thirds of the way through you may have forgotten who was the virgin and who was the shell-shocked guy--but really, does it matter?).
The look owes a debt to District 9, a hand-held, vérité grittiness, with most of the CGI carefully given a dingy, dirty look so that it meshes with the urban landscape. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) does an impressive job of spitting out ham-fisted dialogue like he really, really means it, while the rest of the cast is suitably generic. This is an unrepentant love letter to the military; many viewers, faced with the unsettling chaos and moral ambiguities of real wars, will find this mythologizing not only soothing, but even moving.
3 out of 5 stars
Monday, June 13, 2011
DVD Tuesday__6-14-11
June 14th, 2011 from Family Video
36th Precinct
Not Rated
Battle: Los Angeles DVD Description
A Marine platoon fights to prevent the city of Los Angeles from being overtaken by a race of highly advanced alien invaders in this epic sci-fi action thriller from director Jonathan Liebesman (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING) and producer Neal H. Moritz (I AM LEGEND, FAST & FURIOUS). After decades of speculation about life on other planets, the people of Earth discover that extraterrestrials really do exist when destruction rains down from the stars on cities all across the globe. When the alien warships descend upon Los Angeles, however, the ferocious invaders discover that humankind won't go down without a fight as a gruff Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and his fearless troop of jarheads point their weapons skyward and make one last stand for the entire human race.
DVD Features
Region 1
Note: Behind the Battle
Aliens in L.A.
Preparing for Battle
Creating L.A. in LA
Widescreen - 2.39
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English, French, Spanish, Thai
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French, Spanish, Thai
Subtitles - English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son DVD Description
Martin Lawrence reprises the role of FBI agent Malcolm Turner -- aka, undercover grandma Big Momma -- in this installment in the BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE franchise, BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. Malcolm's latest assignment teams him up with his teenage stepson, Trent (Brandon T. Jackson), who unwittingly makes himself a target when he witnesses a murder. In order to keep Trent out of harm's way and solve the case behind the killing that Trent saw, the two have no choice but to go undercover at an all-girls performing arts school, with Malcolm posing as the titular rotund old lady, Big Momma, and Trent dressing up as a heavy female student named Charmaine.
Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet
Not Rated
Bob the Builder: The Big Dino Dig - The Movie
Not Rated
Chained
Not Rated
Chatroom
R
Cold Day in Hell
PG-13
Con Artist
Not Rated
Fall Down Dead
R
Hall Pass DVD Description
Owen Wilson stars as a married man who is granted one week to live a bachelor's life, but runs into a moral snag when his wife (Jenna Fischer) heads out on her own single-life fantasy while off on vacation in this comedy from Bobby and Peter Farrelly (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, DUMB AND DUMBER).
Kill the Irishman
R
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
Not Rated
Lord, All Men Can't Be Dogs
Not Rated
N-Secure
R
Piper Penguin and His Fantastic Flying Machines
Not Rated
Red Riding Hood DVD Description
TWILIGHT's Catherine Hardwicke makes her way from vamps to werewolves for this re-envisioning of the Red Riding Hood fairy tale with this Warner Bros. production. Amanda Seyfried stars as a young girl whose attraction to a young woodcutter (Shiloh Fernandez) heads into deadly territory when the moon becomes full. Julie Christie, Gary Oldman, and Lukas Haas co-star.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Heroes of Bikini Bottom
Not Rated
Sweet Karma
R
Triple Hit
Not Rated
36th Precinct
Not Rated
Battle: Los Angeles DVD Description
A Marine platoon fights to prevent the city of Los Angeles from being overtaken by a race of highly advanced alien invaders in this epic sci-fi action thriller from director Jonathan Liebesman (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING) and producer Neal H. Moritz (I AM LEGEND, FAST & FURIOUS). After decades of speculation about life on other planets, the people of Earth discover that extraterrestrials really do exist when destruction rains down from the stars on cities all across the globe. When the alien warships descend upon Los Angeles, however, the ferocious invaders discover that humankind won't go down without a fight as a gruff Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and his fearless troop of jarheads point their weapons skyward and make one last stand for the entire human race.
DVD Features
Region 1
Note: Behind the Battle
Aliens in L.A.
Preparing for Battle
Creating L.A. in LA
Widescreen - 2.39
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English, French, Spanish, Thai
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French, Spanish, Thai
Subtitles - English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son DVD Description
Martin Lawrence reprises the role of FBI agent Malcolm Turner -- aka, undercover grandma Big Momma -- in this installment in the BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE franchise, BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. Malcolm's latest assignment teams him up with his teenage stepson, Trent (Brandon T. Jackson), who unwittingly makes himself a target when he witnesses a murder. In order to keep Trent out of harm's way and solve the case behind the killing that Trent saw, the two have no choice but to go undercover at an all-girls performing arts school, with Malcolm posing as the titular rotund old lady, Big Momma, and Trent dressing up as a heavy female student named Charmaine.
Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet
Not Rated
Bob the Builder: The Big Dino Dig - The Movie
Not Rated
Chained
Not Rated
Chatroom
R
Cold Day in Hell
PG-13
Con Artist
Not Rated
Fall Down Dead
R
Hall Pass DVD Description
Owen Wilson stars as a married man who is granted one week to live a bachelor's life, but runs into a moral snag when his wife (Jenna Fischer) heads out on her own single-life fantasy while off on vacation in this comedy from Bobby and Peter Farrelly (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, DUMB AND DUMBER).
Kill the Irishman
R
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
Not Rated
Lord, All Men Can't Be Dogs
Not Rated
N-Secure
R
Piper Penguin and His Fantastic Flying Machines
Not Rated
Red Riding Hood DVD Description
TWILIGHT's Catherine Hardwicke makes her way from vamps to werewolves for this re-envisioning of the Red Riding Hood fairy tale with this Warner Bros. production. Amanda Seyfried stars as a young girl whose attraction to a young woodcutter (Shiloh Fernandez) heads into deadly territory when the moon becomes full. Julie Christie, Gary Oldman, and Lukas Haas co-star.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Heroes of Bikini Bottom
Not Rated
Sweet Karma
R
Triple Hit
Not Rated
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Bad Teacher (2011)
MOVIE INFO
A booze-swilling, pot-smoking, hard-swearing seventh-grade teacher rallies to get out of the classroom for good by wrangling a rich substitute teacher into marriage in this comedy from director Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story). Cynical teacher Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz) hates her job. She can't wait for the day she finds a man who makes enough cash to let her walk away from her life of middle-school misery, and when her fiancà (C) cancels their wedding plans, her frantic search intensifies. Just when it starts to look like Elizabeth will have to muscle her way through another semester of skull-crushing hangovers, however, handsome substitute Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) shows up at school sporting a fancy wristwatch and the promise of a care-free future. But in order to earn her meal ticket, Elizabeth will have to out-cute perky fellow teacher Amy (Lucy Punch). And it won't be easy, because Scott is crushing on Amy hard. Now, if Elizabeth can just motivate her students to study so that she can win a state contest to earn enough cash for some new breast implants, perhaps she can finally find a means of diverting Scott's gaze. Meanwhile, much to Elizabeth's chagrin, wisecracking, self-effacing gym teacher Russell (Jason Segel) refuses to admit defeat despite being turned down for a date by his gold-digging colleague time and again.
R, 1 hr. 29 min.
Comedy
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
Written By: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
In Theaters: Jun 24, 2011 Wide
Sony Pictures
A booze-swilling, pot-smoking, hard-swearing seventh-grade teacher rallies to get out of the classroom for good by wrangling a rich substitute teacher into marriage in this comedy from director Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story). Cynical teacher Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz) hates her job. She can't wait for the day she finds a man who makes enough cash to let her walk away from her life of middle-school misery, and when her fiancà (C) cancels their wedding plans, her frantic search intensifies. Just when it starts to look like Elizabeth will have to muscle her way through another semester of skull-crushing hangovers, however, handsome substitute Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake) shows up at school sporting a fancy wristwatch and the promise of a care-free future. But in order to earn her meal ticket, Elizabeth will have to out-cute perky fellow teacher Amy (Lucy Punch). And it won't be easy, because Scott is crushing on Amy hard. Now, if Elizabeth can just motivate her students to study so that she can win a state contest to earn enough cash for some new breast implants, perhaps she can finally find a means of diverting Scott's gaze. Meanwhile, much to Elizabeth's chagrin, wisecracking, self-effacing gym teacher Russell (Jason Segel) refuses to admit defeat despite being turned down for a date by his gold-digging colleague time and again.
R, 1 hr. 29 min.
Comedy
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
Written By: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
In Theaters: Jun 24, 2011 Wide
Sony Pictures
Cars 2 (2011)
MOVIE INFO
Star racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in Cars 2 when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world's fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Mater finds himself torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret mission orchestrated by master British super spy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and the stunning spy-in-training Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). -- (C) Disney
G, 1 hr. 53 min.
Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy
Directed By: John Lasseter , Brad Lewis
In Theaters: Jun 24, 2011 Wide
Walt Disney Pictures/PIXAR
Star racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in Cars 2 when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world's fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Mater finds himself torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret mission orchestrated by master British super spy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and the stunning spy-in-training Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). -- (C) Disney
G, 1 hr. 53 min.
Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy
Directed By: John Lasseter , Brad Lewis
In Theaters: Jun 24, 2011 Wide
Walt Disney Pictures/PIXAR
Mr. Popper's Penguins
MOVIE INFO
In this family comedy, Jim Carrey is Mr. Popper, a driven businessman who is clueless when it comes to the important things in life - until he inherits six penguins. Popper's penguins turn his swank New York apartment into a snowy winter wonderland - and the rest of his life upside-down. Filmed on a refrigerated soundstage with real Emperor Penguins, Mr. Popper's Penguins is a contemporary adaptation of the classic book. (c) Fox
PG, 1 hr. 35 min.
Comedy, Kids & Family
Directed By: Mark Waters (VIII)
Written By: Sean Anders, John Morris, Jared Stern
In Theaters: Jun 17, 2011 Wide
20th Century Fox
In this family comedy, Jim Carrey is Mr. Popper, a driven businessman who is clueless when it comes to the important things in life - until he inherits six penguins. Popper's penguins turn his swank New York apartment into a snowy winter wonderland - and the rest of his life upside-down. Filmed on a refrigerated soundstage with real Emperor Penguins, Mr. Popper's Penguins is a contemporary adaptation of the classic book. (c) Fox
PG, 1 hr. 35 min.
Comedy, Kids & Family
Directed By: Mark Waters (VIII)
Written By: Sean Anders, John Morris, Jared Stern
In Theaters: Jun 17, 2011 Wide
20th Century Fox
Thank You for Smoking DVD: Review By Dave Davis
THE GOOD
A terrific, smart comedy that knows how to throw the right punches.
THE BAD
It is hard to find a negative. However, I would have liked to hear from novelist Chris Buckley on the commentary track.
THE FEATURE
There are many ingredients that go into making a solid comedy. However, one of the strongest factors is taking a taboo topic and making it funny. Take for example cigarettes. The little sticks crammed with tobacco have caused controversy for decades. People left and right are afflicted with lung cancer leading to death, or throat cancer leading to the use of an electronic voice box. Their addictive appeal is causing the deaths of loved ones everywhere. Therefore cigarettes are not funny. Or are they?
Thank You For Smoking takes America's tobacco issues to a humorous level, and pulls it off successfully. In fact, the protagonist is even a pro-tobacco lobbyist that we the viewers are asked to sympathize. The film is flickering proof that almost any risqué topic can be strategically placed to evoke laughter.
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the chief spokesperson for the tobacco industry. With cigarettes causing nothing but loss and misery for many Americans, Nick is rearing to be one of the most unlikable men in America. In accepting the difficult position of defending tobacco use, Nick must be prepared everyday with the flawless ability to improvise BS arguments and spin questions from righteous anti-tobacco advocates. However, while clearly promoting something so deadly, Nick also faces the challenge of being the proper role model for his adolescent son (Cameron Bright).
While there is an underlying plot throughout Smoking, the film is basically the month-in-the-life of a cigarette spokesperson, and the consequences that could inevitably ensue. Nick's career places him in Washington where he is forced to publicly tango with a Virginia Senator (William H. Macy) hell-bent on labeling cigarettes as poison. The escapades of his job also take him to Hollywood where he collaborates with an Asia-obsessed Hollywood exec (Rob Lowe) about the profitability of cigarette placement in blockbuster films. As if there is not already enough on Nick's plate, he must also contend with a cancer-inflicted Marlboro Man (Sam Elliot) and a hot-to-trot reporter with a seductive side (Katie Holmes).
Unlike other comedies of recent years, Thank You For Smoking somehow manages to succeed. In fact, I would go so far to say this is one of the best films of 2006. One thing that the cinema lacks is smart comedy. By this I mean films that people actually collaborate on and put onto paper. Smoking is a comedy that works because it is slick in every move it makes. As opposed to other comedies that find a great gag that is overplayed the entire film, Smoking throws unexpected punches making for an array of well-developed jokes. Every minute, it presents a new, unique way to make us laugh.
As far as performances go, the film manages to showcase an ensemble of talent including Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Sam Elliot, Robert Duvall, and William H. Macy among others. However, it is Eckhart who really shines. The man better known for playing second fiddle in blockbusters or playing lead in Neil LaBute's art comedies finally gets the credit he deserves. While his line delivery is classic in its rat-a-tat-tat form, Eckhart primarily becomes Nick Naylor non-verbally. The man has the natural face of a smooth-talking jerk that loves his job. He essentially embodies a used car salesman with an arsenal of charisma. The rest of the cast does not carry the film as much as Eckhart, but instead appear in 5-10 minute doses of pure comedic bliss. Adam Brody is especially winning as an ass-kiss Hollywood intern, and Rob Lowe is unpredictably hilarious as an odd Hollywood agent.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary Tracks
This disc comes included with two commentary tracks. The first is by writer/director Jason Reitman by himself. Of course this track is intended to offer information on the filmmaking process, the comedy's conception, and casting choices. Reitman comes prepared with loads of trivia, but doing the track alone is rather different. If you are more interested in a populated track, Reitman returns on the second along with actors Aaron Eckhart and Dave Koechner. Poor Reitman even makes a comment about the exhaustion of coming up with information for two tracks. Luckily, he keeps a steady stream of insight with the actors backing him up. Koechner is unsurprisingly joking with his comic background.
Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary by Jason Reitman)
Most of the time, deleted scenes are completely worthless, but I actually found some value in these. There include some funny scenes left on the cutting room floor, extended sequences, an alternative ending, and the rough draft of the opening credit sequence. Frankly, I am impressed at this arrangement, and I suggest giving them a view.
The Charlie Rose Show
An interview segment from the popular series includes Jason Reitman, Aaron Eckhart, producer David Sacks and the novel's author Christopher Buckley. This is mostly the characters discussing the making of the film, and the characters. Much detail is revealed about the picture, so I highly recommend not watching this before actually seeing the film.
Unfiltered Comedy: The Making Of Thank You For Smoking
This is further discussion of the film. Some of it is already covered in the previous interview. However, there are more cast interviews discussing how specific characters were developed into the plot. I think this is unique enough from the other features to merit viewing.
America: Living in Spin
What I love is when DVD-makers think outside the box. This particular feature looks at the wide practice of spinning. Spinning is the practice of not answering a question directly, but re-working the truth so that the interviewee sounds credible. This featurette is brief, but a very necessary commentary on today's media that is potentially full of lies.
THE AUDIO
5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. This comedy of satirical nature isn't exactly fit for a surround sound experience. However, the film utilizes sound effects and a fitting soundtrack to heighten the viewing experience. Turn on the Dolby for this one.
THE PACKAGE
Standard DVD keep case. The case features a picture of Eckhart showcasing a Zippo lighter, with the ensemble cast listed above him.
THE FINAL WORD
Thank You For Smoking is definitely the best comedy this year, and one of the best films of 2006. Jason Reitman really knows how to hit the nail on the head with a flawless casting job and impeccable comic timing. In addition to the film, all of the special features are actually designed with the audience in mind. Even the deleted scenes work! If you like your comedy sharp, then you should take the chance of blind buying this title. Comedies like these are few and far between.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
A terrific, smart comedy that knows how to throw the right punches.
THE BAD
It is hard to find a negative. However, I would have liked to hear from novelist Chris Buckley on the commentary track.
THE FEATURE
There are many ingredients that go into making a solid comedy. However, one of the strongest factors is taking a taboo topic and making it funny. Take for example cigarettes. The little sticks crammed with tobacco have caused controversy for decades. People left and right are afflicted with lung cancer leading to death, or throat cancer leading to the use of an electronic voice box. Their addictive appeal is causing the deaths of loved ones everywhere. Therefore cigarettes are not funny. Or are they?
Thank You For Smoking takes America's tobacco issues to a humorous level, and pulls it off successfully. In fact, the protagonist is even a pro-tobacco lobbyist that we the viewers are asked to sympathize. The film is flickering proof that almost any risqué topic can be strategically placed to evoke laughter.
Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the chief spokesperson for the tobacco industry. With cigarettes causing nothing but loss and misery for many Americans, Nick is rearing to be one of the most unlikable men in America. In accepting the difficult position of defending tobacco use, Nick must be prepared everyday with the flawless ability to improvise BS arguments and spin questions from righteous anti-tobacco advocates. However, while clearly promoting something so deadly, Nick also faces the challenge of being the proper role model for his adolescent son (Cameron Bright).
While there is an underlying plot throughout Smoking, the film is basically the month-in-the-life of a cigarette spokesperson, and the consequences that could inevitably ensue. Nick's career places him in Washington where he is forced to publicly tango with a Virginia Senator (William H. Macy) hell-bent on labeling cigarettes as poison. The escapades of his job also take him to Hollywood where he collaborates with an Asia-obsessed Hollywood exec (Rob Lowe) about the profitability of cigarette placement in blockbuster films. As if there is not already enough on Nick's plate, he must also contend with a cancer-inflicted Marlboro Man (Sam Elliot) and a hot-to-trot reporter with a seductive side (Katie Holmes).
Unlike other comedies of recent years, Thank You For Smoking somehow manages to succeed. In fact, I would go so far to say this is one of the best films of 2006. One thing that the cinema lacks is smart comedy. By this I mean films that people actually collaborate on and put onto paper. Smoking is a comedy that works because it is slick in every move it makes. As opposed to other comedies that find a great gag that is overplayed the entire film, Smoking throws unexpected punches making for an array of well-developed jokes. Every minute, it presents a new, unique way to make us laugh.
As far as performances go, the film manages to showcase an ensemble of talent including Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Sam Elliot, Robert Duvall, and William H. Macy among others. However, it is Eckhart who really shines. The man better known for playing second fiddle in blockbusters or playing lead in Neil LaBute's art comedies finally gets the credit he deserves. While his line delivery is classic in its rat-a-tat-tat form, Eckhart primarily becomes Nick Naylor non-verbally. The man has the natural face of a smooth-talking jerk that loves his job. He essentially embodies a used car salesman with an arsenal of charisma. The rest of the cast does not carry the film as much as Eckhart, but instead appear in 5-10 minute doses of pure comedic bliss. Adam Brody is especially winning as an ass-kiss Hollywood intern, and Rob Lowe is unpredictably hilarious as an odd Hollywood agent.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary Tracks
This disc comes included with two commentary tracks. The first is by writer/director Jason Reitman by himself. Of course this track is intended to offer information on the filmmaking process, the comedy's conception, and casting choices. Reitman comes prepared with loads of trivia, but doing the track alone is rather different. If you are more interested in a populated track, Reitman returns on the second along with actors Aaron Eckhart and Dave Koechner. Poor Reitman even makes a comment about the exhaustion of coming up with information for two tracks. Luckily, he keeps a steady stream of insight with the actors backing him up. Koechner is unsurprisingly joking with his comic background.
Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary by Jason Reitman)
Most of the time, deleted scenes are completely worthless, but I actually found some value in these. There include some funny scenes left on the cutting room floor, extended sequences, an alternative ending, and the rough draft of the opening credit sequence. Frankly, I am impressed at this arrangement, and I suggest giving them a view.
The Charlie Rose Show
An interview segment from the popular series includes Jason Reitman, Aaron Eckhart, producer David Sacks and the novel's author Christopher Buckley. This is mostly the characters discussing the making of the film, and the characters. Much detail is revealed about the picture, so I highly recommend not watching this before actually seeing the film.
Unfiltered Comedy: The Making Of Thank You For Smoking
This is further discussion of the film. Some of it is already covered in the previous interview. However, there are more cast interviews discussing how specific characters were developed into the plot. I think this is unique enough from the other features to merit viewing.
America: Living in Spin
What I love is when DVD-makers think outside the box. This particular feature looks at the wide practice of spinning. Spinning is the practice of not answering a question directly, but re-working the truth so that the interviewee sounds credible. This featurette is brief, but a very necessary commentary on today's media that is potentially full of lies.
THE AUDIO
5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. This comedy of satirical nature isn't exactly fit for a surround sound experience. However, the film utilizes sound effects and a fitting soundtrack to heighten the viewing experience. Turn on the Dolby for this one.
THE PACKAGE
Standard DVD keep case. The case features a picture of Eckhart showcasing a Zippo lighter, with the ensemble cast listed above him.
THE FINAL WORD
Thank You For Smoking is definitely the best comedy this year, and one of the best films of 2006. Jason Reitman really knows how to hit the nail on the head with a flawless casting job and impeccable comic timing. In addition to the film, all of the special features are actually designed with the audience in mind. Even the deleted scenes work! If you like your comedy sharp, then you should take the chance of blind buying this title. Comedies like these are few and far between.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Total Recall: Best Steven Spielberg Productions
Much has been made of the fact that Steven Spielberg produced J.J. Abrams' Super 8 -- and rightly so, given how strongly it seems to evoke memories of Spielberg's classic past. But even though we think of Spielberg as a director first, he's also had a very busy (and fairly distinguished) career as a producer -- and to show you what we mean, we decided to dedicate this week's Total Recall to films he didn't direct. We ended up with a varied list that includes some huge hits, a handful of modern classics, and maybe even a few surprises. Read on!
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10. Gremlins
It earned nearly $150 million at the box office, marked Chris Columbus as a young screenwriter to watch, and resuscitated director Joe Dante's ailing career -- but Gremlins was also part of one of 1984's biggest Hollywood controversies, sparking concern that the MPAA was giving PG ratings to films that were too intense for a younger audience (such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). Spielberg suggested that an overhaul of the ratings system might be in order, and roughly a month after Gremlins' release, the PG-13 was born. Parental concerns over gremlin-related violence aside, the film was also a solid critical winner, earning praise from the likes of Roger Ebert, who wrote, "At the level of Serious Film Criticism, it's a meditation on the myths in our movies: Christmas, families, monsters, retail stores, movies, boogeymen. At the level of Pop Moviegoing, it's a sophisticated, witty B movie."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. The Mask of Zorro
As executive producer of Martin Campbell's swashbuckling Zorro reboot, Spielberg may not have had to take much of an active role in the day-to-day development of the film, but he was responsible for at least one key element: the casting of Catherine Zeta-Jones, who caught his eye with her performance in the CBS miniseries The Titanic. It proved a starmaking turn for Zeta-Jones, who upstaged Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins in the film that Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called "A lively, old-fashioned adventure yarn with just a twist of modern attitude" and "the kind of pleasant entertainment that allows the paying customers to have as much fun as the people on screen."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Somewhat appropriately for a film inspired by the Beatles' first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, this wacky 1978 comedy was a film of debuts -- for Robert Zemeckis, notching his first feature-length directorial credit, and for Spielberg, who produced for the first time (under the watchful eye of Universal, who made him promise he'd step in and direct if Zemeckis faltered). Despite the lack of experience, it was smooth sailing for I Wanna Hold Your Hand -- at least until the film reached audiences, who ignored it so completely that it couldn't even earn back its $2.8 million budget. As far as critics were concerned, however, it was the audience's loss: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand re-creates precisely the excitement the Beatles let loose 14 years ago," wrote Time's Frank Rich, adding that "it transports the audience back to the eye of a phenomenal social hurricane."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Poltergeist
Unlike a lot of the movies on this list, which benefited from his participation on a more or less ancillary level, Poltergeist was very much a Steven Spielberg production -- starting with the script, which he co-wrote, and ending with his almost daily presence on the set, which sparked a DGA investigation and years of rumors about whether the credited director, Tobe Hooper, was merely a stand-in to help Spielberg wriggle out of a contractual agreement that prevented him from helming a film that would end up in direct competition with E.T. Whatever really happened behind the cameras, the result was a huge hit that spawned a franchise and won the unqualified praise of critics like Moviehole's Clint Morris, who called it "One of the best horror flicks ever...bar none."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Arachnophobia
Spielberg's longtime production partner (and co-founder of Amblin Entertainment) Frank Marshall made his directorial debut with this affectionate, cheerfully creepy tribute to classic Hollywood creature features, in which a deadly breed of spider terrorizes a small town whose residents include a lunatic exterminator (John Goodman) and, of course, a doctor with the titular phobia (Jeff Daniels). "That sound you hear in the background is the 'ugh!' heard round the world," chuckled Janet Maslin of the New York Times, adding, "luckily, Arachnophobia will also be generating its share of boisterous, nervous laughter."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Men in Black
It seems laughable now, but Men in Black spent a fair amount of time in development hell -- until, that is, Spielberg hired writer-producer Walter F. Parkes and his wife, Laurie MacDonald, to head production at Amblin. Parkes, who had been struggling to gain traction with Men in Black at Columbia, saw his new gig as a golden opportunity to jump-start the picture -- and he was right. With Spielberg's name attached, Black found a clear path from the studio lot to the big screen, where the sci-fi buddy comedy racked up nearly $590 million in grosses and raves from critics like David Edelstein, who called it "The smartest, funniest, and best-looking sci-fi comedy since the movies learned to morph."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
When Spielberg decided not to direct Flags of Our Fathers and handed the reins to Clint Eastwood, he wasn't just altering the course of one World War II drama -- he was setting in motion the chain of events that would produce its companion piece. Inspired by his pre-production research, Eastwood came up with the idea to make a film that would present the Japanese side of the battle, and decided to shoot the two projects back-to-back. Letters from Iwo Jima ultimately suffered roughly the same middling commercial fate that befell Flags of Our Fathers, but was far and away the greater critical success, notching three Academy Award nominations and earning the admiration of writers like Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post, who called it "a work of whetted craft and judgment, tempered by Eastwood's years of life, moviemaking and the potent tango of the two. It is the work of a mature filmmaker willing to entertain the true power of the cinema."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. True Grit
When the marriage between DreamWorks and Paramount ended in 2008, the studios had to divvy up hundreds of projects in development -- and when the dust settled, the Coen brothers' True Grit remake stayed at Paramount, with Spielberg retaining an executive producer credit. A few Coens fans raised their eyebrows (or freaked out on their favorite Internet film forum) when they spotted Spielberg's name in the IMDb credits, but ultimately True Grit remained, as cinematographer Roger Deakins promised one concerned commenter, "very much the Coens' film and nothing else" -- in other words, the 10-time Academy Award nominee that MSN's Glenn Kenny called a "visually and sonically beautiful movie that uses space, distance and time to immerse you in a very particular world of mystery, awe and brutality."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Back to the Future
Even before they worked together on the Back to the Future trilogy, Spielberg had a long history with the writing duo of Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale -- but until they put Marty McFly behind the wheel of that fateful DeLorean, their partnership was a study in box office futility, producing the commercial duds I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 1941, and Used Cars. Not wanting to sully their association with Spielberg, Zemeckis and Gale resisted bringing him a serious pitch for Back to the Future -- until they finally hit paydirt with Romancing the Stone. Suddenly, executives who'd rejected Future were eager to be a part of it, but Zemeckis and Gale gave first dibs to their old friend, and thus was a franchise born -- as well as the film that Slant's Eric Henderson called "one of the rare big-budget entertainments that's improved with time."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
In the early 1980s, when Spielberg and George Lucas were looking for someone to write them a big check for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Paramount chief Michael Eisner didn't blink -- so when Eisner moved to Disney later in the decade and needed help getting a long-gestating live-action/animated noir project off the ground, Spielberg was happy to return the favor. The result was one of the decade's defining films, a smash hit that blended cutting-edge technology with a well-written script and old-school slapstick -- not to mention blink-and-you-missed-'em cameos from dozens of cartoon celebrities. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is, in the words of the Washington Post's Rita Kempley, "as cunning as Wile E. Coyote and chipper as a flock of cartoon bluebirds."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Gremlins
It earned nearly $150 million at the box office, marked Chris Columbus as a young screenwriter to watch, and resuscitated director Joe Dante's ailing career -- but Gremlins was also part of one of 1984's biggest Hollywood controversies, sparking concern that the MPAA was giving PG ratings to films that were too intense for a younger audience (such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). Spielberg suggested that an overhaul of the ratings system might be in order, and roughly a month after Gremlins' release, the PG-13 was born. Parental concerns over gremlin-related violence aside, the film was also a solid critical winner, earning praise from the likes of Roger Ebert, who wrote, "At the level of Serious Film Criticism, it's a meditation on the myths in our movies: Christmas, families, monsters, retail stores, movies, boogeymen. At the level of Pop Moviegoing, it's a sophisticated, witty B movie."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. The Mask of Zorro
As executive producer of Martin Campbell's swashbuckling Zorro reboot, Spielberg may not have had to take much of an active role in the day-to-day development of the film, but he was responsible for at least one key element: the casting of Catherine Zeta-Jones, who caught his eye with her performance in the CBS miniseries The Titanic. It proved a starmaking turn for Zeta-Jones, who upstaged Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins in the film that Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called "A lively, old-fashioned adventure yarn with just a twist of modern attitude" and "the kind of pleasant entertainment that allows the paying customers to have as much fun as the people on screen."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Somewhat appropriately for a film inspired by the Beatles' first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, this wacky 1978 comedy was a film of debuts -- for Robert Zemeckis, notching his first feature-length directorial credit, and for Spielberg, who produced for the first time (under the watchful eye of Universal, who made him promise he'd step in and direct if Zemeckis faltered). Despite the lack of experience, it was smooth sailing for I Wanna Hold Your Hand -- at least until the film reached audiences, who ignored it so completely that it couldn't even earn back its $2.8 million budget. As far as critics were concerned, however, it was the audience's loss: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand re-creates precisely the excitement the Beatles let loose 14 years ago," wrote Time's Frank Rich, adding that "it transports the audience back to the eye of a phenomenal social hurricane."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Poltergeist
Unlike a lot of the movies on this list, which benefited from his participation on a more or less ancillary level, Poltergeist was very much a Steven Spielberg production -- starting with the script, which he co-wrote, and ending with his almost daily presence on the set, which sparked a DGA investigation and years of rumors about whether the credited director, Tobe Hooper, was merely a stand-in to help Spielberg wriggle out of a contractual agreement that prevented him from helming a film that would end up in direct competition with E.T. Whatever really happened behind the cameras, the result was a huge hit that spawned a franchise and won the unqualified praise of critics like Moviehole's Clint Morris, who called it "One of the best horror flicks ever...bar none."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Arachnophobia
Spielberg's longtime production partner (and co-founder of Amblin Entertainment) Frank Marshall made his directorial debut with this affectionate, cheerfully creepy tribute to classic Hollywood creature features, in which a deadly breed of spider terrorizes a small town whose residents include a lunatic exterminator (John Goodman) and, of course, a doctor with the titular phobia (Jeff Daniels). "That sound you hear in the background is the 'ugh!' heard round the world," chuckled Janet Maslin of the New York Times, adding, "luckily, Arachnophobia will also be generating its share of boisterous, nervous laughter."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Men in Black
It seems laughable now, but Men in Black spent a fair amount of time in development hell -- until, that is, Spielberg hired writer-producer Walter F. Parkes and his wife, Laurie MacDonald, to head production at Amblin. Parkes, who had been struggling to gain traction with Men in Black at Columbia, saw his new gig as a golden opportunity to jump-start the picture -- and he was right. With Spielberg's name attached, Black found a clear path from the studio lot to the big screen, where the sci-fi buddy comedy racked up nearly $590 million in grosses and raves from critics like David Edelstein, who called it "The smartest, funniest, and best-looking sci-fi comedy since the movies learned to morph."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
When Spielberg decided not to direct Flags of Our Fathers and handed the reins to Clint Eastwood, he wasn't just altering the course of one World War II drama -- he was setting in motion the chain of events that would produce its companion piece. Inspired by his pre-production research, Eastwood came up with the idea to make a film that would present the Japanese side of the battle, and decided to shoot the two projects back-to-back. Letters from Iwo Jima ultimately suffered roughly the same middling commercial fate that befell Flags of Our Fathers, but was far and away the greater critical success, notching three Academy Award nominations and earning the admiration of writers like Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post, who called it "a work of whetted craft and judgment, tempered by Eastwood's years of life, moviemaking and the potent tango of the two. It is the work of a mature filmmaker willing to entertain the true power of the cinema."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. True Grit
When the marriage between DreamWorks and Paramount ended in 2008, the studios had to divvy up hundreds of projects in development -- and when the dust settled, the Coen brothers' True Grit remake stayed at Paramount, with Spielberg retaining an executive producer credit. A few Coens fans raised their eyebrows (or freaked out on their favorite Internet film forum) when they spotted Spielberg's name in the IMDb credits, but ultimately True Grit remained, as cinematographer Roger Deakins promised one concerned commenter, "very much the Coens' film and nothing else" -- in other words, the 10-time Academy Award nominee that MSN's Glenn Kenny called a "visually and sonically beautiful movie that uses space, distance and time to immerse you in a very particular world of mystery, awe and brutality."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Back to the Future
Even before they worked together on the Back to the Future trilogy, Spielberg had a long history with the writing duo of Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale -- but until they put Marty McFly behind the wheel of that fateful DeLorean, their partnership was a study in box office futility, producing the commercial duds I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 1941, and Used Cars. Not wanting to sully their association with Spielberg, Zemeckis and Gale resisted bringing him a serious pitch for Back to the Future -- until they finally hit paydirt with Romancing the Stone. Suddenly, executives who'd rejected Future were eager to be a part of it, but Zemeckis and Gale gave first dibs to their old friend, and thus was a franchise born -- as well as the film that Slant's Eric Henderson called "one of the rare big-budget entertainments that's improved with time."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
In the early 1980s, when Spielberg and George Lucas were looking for someone to write them a big check for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Paramount chief Michael Eisner didn't blink -- so when Eisner moved to Disney later in the decade and needed help getting a long-gestating live-action/animated noir project off the ground, Spielberg was happy to return the favor. The result was one of the decade's defining films, a smash hit that blended cutting-edge technology with a well-written script and old-school slapstick -- not to mention blink-and-you-missed-'em cameos from dozens of cartoon celebrities. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is, in the words of the Washington Post's Rita Kempley, "as cunning as Wile E. Coyote and chipper as a flock of cartoon bluebirds."
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Super 8 (2011)
Writer/director J.J. Abrams teams with producer Steven Spielberg for this period sci-fi thriller set in the late '70s, and centering on a mysterious train crash in a small Ohio town. Summer, 1979: a group of young friends are filming a Super-8 movie when a pickup truck derails a speeding train. When the locals start to disappear and even the inquisitive deputy can't come up with answers, suspicions emerge that the incident was anything but an accident. As the truth finally begins emerge, no one is prepared to learn what now stalks the unsuspecting citizens of this once quiet community. Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
PG-13, 1 hr. 52 min.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Written By: J.J. Abrams
In Theaters: Jun 10, 2011 Wide
Paramount Pictures
PG-13, 1 hr. 52 min.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Written By: J.J. Abrams
In Theaters: Jun 10, 2011 Wide
Paramount Pictures
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. When a mysterious event from Earth's past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us. -- (C) Paramount
PG-13, 1 hr. 39 min.
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Michael Bay
Written By: Ehren Kruger
In Theaters: Jul 1, 2011 Wide
Paramount Studios
PG-13, 1 hr. 39 min.
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Michael Bay
Written By: Ehren Kruger
In Theaters: Jul 1, 2011 Wide
Paramount Studios
Green Lantern (2011)
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. -- (C) Warner Bros
PG-13, 1 hr. 45 min.
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Written By: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green (VII), Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg
PG-13, 1 hr. 45 min.
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Written By: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green (VII), Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg
May Posts Record Gross
After the box office hit record levels in April, the good times continued to roll in May. At $1.04 billion, it was the highest-grossing May ever, jumping over 14 percent from May 2010 and marking only the second $1 billion May ever after May 2009.
Attendance, as usual, was a different story: At around 125 million, May 2011 ranked towards the lower end of this century, surpassing only 2010, 2006, 2001 and 2000.
Though it wasn't the top grosser of the month, April holdover Fast Five made all of the difference. Opening April 29 in a bid to jumpstart the summer movie season, the action sequel drew $133.5 million from May 1-31, and, without that movie, it would have been the least-attended May of the century.
Other than Fast Five, May featured only two exceptional performers, the R-rated comedies The Hangover Part II and Bridesmaids. The rest of the movies failed to create much excitement: Thor was solid in its own right but soft for a summer kick-off, both Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Kung Fu Panda 2 fell far short of their predecessors, and the long-delayed Priest flopped.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was the top grosser of the month with $166.8 million, edging out Thor's $163.3 million. The Hangover Part II ranked third with $142.6 million in just six days of play, followed by Fast Five. Bridesmaids landed in fifth with $91.3 million, and Kung Fu Panda 2 was sixth with $70.1 million.
The 3D format had four at-bats in May: Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Kung Fu Panda 2 with record-level 2,700-plus 3D location counts apiece and Priest at around 2,000. Only Thor was relatively successful, boasting a 60 percent 3D share its first weekend (and 55 percent for the month overall). Priest also had a 60 percent 3D share of its opening, but it only made $27.9 million for the entire month. Alarms were set off, though, with the mid-40 percent 3D shares of On Stranger Tides and Panda 2, two movies that were expected to come in closer to 60 percent.
Total 2011 box office through May rang in at $3.9 billion, which trailed 2010 by nine percent and 2009 by five percent but was higher than any previous year through the same point. May's record gross improved 2011's standing versus 2010: at the end of April, 2011 was off 15 percent from 2010. On the attendance front, 2011's still a serious laggard. Estimated at just over 490 million, 2011 had the least-attended January-to-May period since 1996.
Attendance, as usual, was a different story: At around 125 million, May 2011 ranked towards the lower end of this century, surpassing only 2010, 2006, 2001 and 2000.
Though it wasn't the top grosser of the month, April holdover Fast Five made all of the difference. Opening April 29 in a bid to jumpstart the summer movie season, the action sequel drew $133.5 million from May 1-31, and, without that movie, it would have been the least-attended May of the century.
Other than Fast Five, May featured only two exceptional performers, the R-rated comedies The Hangover Part II and Bridesmaids. The rest of the movies failed to create much excitement: Thor was solid in its own right but soft for a summer kick-off, both Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Kung Fu Panda 2 fell far short of their predecessors, and the long-delayed Priest flopped.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was the top grosser of the month with $166.8 million, edging out Thor's $163.3 million. The Hangover Part II ranked third with $142.6 million in just six days of play, followed by Fast Five. Bridesmaids landed in fifth with $91.3 million, and Kung Fu Panda 2 was sixth with $70.1 million.
The 3D format had four at-bats in May: Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Kung Fu Panda 2 with record-level 2,700-plus 3D location counts apiece and Priest at around 2,000. Only Thor was relatively successful, boasting a 60 percent 3D share its first weekend (and 55 percent for the month overall). Priest also had a 60 percent 3D share of its opening, but it only made $27.9 million for the entire month. Alarms were set off, though, with the mid-40 percent 3D shares of On Stranger Tides and Panda 2, two movies that were expected to come in closer to 60 percent.
Total 2011 box office through May rang in at $3.9 billion, which trailed 2010 by nine percent and 2009 by five percent but was higher than any previous year through the same point. May's record gross improved 2011's standing versus 2010: at the end of April, 2011 was off 15 percent from 2010. On the attendance front, 2011's still a serious laggard. Estimated at just over 490 million, 2011 had the least-attended January-to-May period since 1996.
The Hangover Part II May Digitally Alter Ed Helms' Facial Tattoo
Back in April, we reported that Mike Tyson's tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill sued Warner Bros. for unlawful use of his tattoo design in The Hangover Part II. While he was trying to stop the movie from being released, a judge dropped the injunction, allowing for the sequel to debut as scheduled, while still keeping the case open.
The case has taken a new turn, with the studio saying they will digitally alter the tattoo before the DVD release in December, if things aren't settled by then.
Today, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry set a trial date for February 21, 2012, although it is unlikely this case will go to trial. S. Victor Whitmill's lawyers argued for a trial date in August, although Warner Bros. countered, saying they will replace Whitmill's design with another tattoo after The Hangover Part II's theatrical run. Here's an excerpt from one of the court documents submitted today.
"If the parties are unable to resolve their dispute, Warner Bros. does not intend to make any use of the allegedly infringing tattoo after the film ends its run in theaters because Warner Bros. will digitally alter the film to substitute a different tattoo on Ed Helms' face. The home video release is currently scheduled for early December 2011, which would allow Warner Bros. sufficient time to make the change if it becomes necessary."
Judge Catherine Perry has scheduled a private mediation session for June 16, for both sides to work out their issues, which could lead to a settlement agreement. As of today, The Hangover Part II has taken in nearly $350 million worldwide, after just two and a half weeks in theaters.
The Hangover Part II was released May 26th, 2011 and stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Jamie Chung, Paul Giamatti, Nick Cassavetes. The film is directed by Todd Phillips.
The case has taken a new turn, with the studio saying they will digitally alter the tattoo before the DVD release in December, if things aren't settled by then.
Today, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry set a trial date for February 21, 2012, although it is unlikely this case will go to trial. S. Victor Whitmill's lawyers argued for a trial date in August, although Warner Bros. countered, saying they will replace Whitmill's design with another tattoo after The Hangover Part II's theatrical run. Here's an excerpt from one of the court documents submitted today.
"If the parties are unable to resolve their dispute, Warner Bros. does not intend to make any use of the allegedly infringing tattoo after the film ends its run in theaters because Warner Bros. will digitally alter the film to substitute a different tattoo on Ed Helms' face. The home video release is currently scheduled for early December 2011, which would allow Warner Bros. sufficient time to make the change if it becomes necessary."
Judge Catherine Perry has scheduled a private mediation session for June 16, for both sides to work out their issues, which could lead to a settlement agreement. As of today, The Hangover Part II has taken in nearly $350 million worldwide, after just two and a half weeks in theaters.
The Hangover Part II was released May 26th, 2011 and stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Jamie Chung, Paul Giamatti, Nick Cassavetes. The film is directed by Todd Phillips.
The Wolfman Reboot Coming from Universal
Universal had previously considered making a sequel to 2010's The Wolfman, which starred Benicio Del Toro, however, now it looks like Michael Tabb's script is being rewritten and reworked as an original film, reports Moviehole.
The title has yet to be decided, but Werewolf is a possibility. The studio is said to be talking to prospective directors over the next couple of weeks and casting will begin shortly thereafter.
The film will be more in line with the original 1941 The Wolf Man, directed by George Waggner.
Production will most likely begin in the Fall.
copyright by: MovieWeb.com
The title has yet to be decided, but Werewolf is a possibility. The studio is said to be talking to prospective directors over the next couple of weeks and casting will begin shortly thereafter.
The film will be more in line with the original 1941 The Wolf Man, directed by George Waggner.
Production will most likely begin in the Fall.
copyright by: MovieWeb.com
Iron Man 2
It is really tough for the 2nd one to be as good as the first one and this one follows in that direction. Now, this in NO means says it is not any good, I just think it could have been a little bit better. It sort of slows down some in the middle but overall, the acting was great, story was great, special effects were awesome, sound was a little off in some scenes. Awesome fight scenes. Robert Downey Jr. has come a LONG way since his "bad" days and I for one am glad to see that happen. Tony Stark is his usual self in this one but learns a valuable lesson too. Also, as usual, stay after the end credits for a little "teaser" scene. I expected this to happen, just wasn't expecting "who" it was about. Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars, highly recommend it and will go see it again, just like I did with Iron Man.
Nobody's Fool DVD
to me, this is probably Paul Newman;s BEST film. I just love this movie because it has everything in it...humor, love, anger, bitterness, nudity(1st film that I saw where Melanie Griffith showed her t*ts-NICE!). tis is a film I would refer to anyone..it was also, I believe, Jessica Tandy's last role before she died...I saw this film for the first time the day before my grandmother was buried and ever since then, this film just tugs at my heart.
X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class unveils the epic beginning of the X-Men saga - and a secret history of the Cold War and our world at the brink of nuclear Armageddon. As the first class discovers, harnesses, and comes to terms with their formidable powers, alliances are formed that will shape the eternal war between the heroes and villains of the X-Men universe.
8 out of 10 stars
8 out of 10 stars
The Hangover Part II
In The Hangover Part II, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to exotic Thailand for Stu's wedding. After the unforgettable bachelor party in Las Vegas, Stu is taking no chances and has opted for a safe, subdued pre-wedding brunch. However, things don't always go as planned. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Bangkok can't even be imagined.
6 out of 10 stars
6 out of 10 stars
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