Author: Bob Westal (Page 263 of 265)

Writer guy Bob Westal was literally born in Hollywood and has commented on the worlds of movies, popular culture, politics, and food ever since. His interest in cocktails is more recent, but he made up for lost time with hundreds of “Drink of the Week” blog posts for Bullz-Eye. In addition to writing and editing, Bob also talks a lot.

Multiplex Mayhem: The Origin Story

May 2, 2008 / Bob Westal

Even with my lousy record, I feel no compunction in calling the winner of this week. For once, we’ve got a sure thing.

*If “Iron Man” is not the #1 movie at the U.S. boxoffice this weekend, then there’s also an excellent chance that Mike Gravel and Ron Paul will be duking it out for the Presidency this fall as the Republican and Democratic nominees. With solid buzz, astonishingly good reviews, and little or no real competition for the young to middle-aged male movie dollar there is no bigger sure thing. The only question now is how much of a blockbuster we’re talking about. Both Carl DiOrio and Nikki Finke are talking about figures of $75, $80, $85 million or more, apparently based on “Iron Man” “tracking” better than the “The Hulk” back in ’03, which made $62 million its own opening weekend, and, well, lots of people actually seem to like this movie.

But, as always, there’s a possible fly or two in the ointment, because a lot of those people are critics and some folks are actually worried that in the wake of megasuccess of 100% character-and-plot free “Transformers” this could actually be a bad sign for the the first feature film solely produced by Marvel Entertainment. Among others, TV’s own Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips, after administering hearty thumbs-ups, worried that the film might be a bit, you know, un-stupid to make the monster dollars it needs. With a Pixar like score of 95% on the Tomatometer, the bar is definitely set high — if it only makes, say, $74,999,999.99, you can expect the schadenfreude to flow from Nikki Finke’s next column and elsewhere. Whoever wrote the line “This place is full of vultures, vultures everywhere!” wasn’t really talking about Casablanca.

Also, there is some concern about women given that it’s a superhero/action flick and that there’s lots of estrogen-fare on tap at the nation’s theaters, like last week’s winner, “Baby Mama.” On the other hand, as with the “Spider-Man” franchise, this film has more female appeal than usual with a stronger than usual character orientation and a bit of romance courtesy of well cast stars Robert Downey, Jr., playing a more troubled than usual superguy, and the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow as his woman Friday. Also, the light touch of director Jon Favreau (“Elf“) reminds us that the once young writer-star of “Swingers” has shown some real chops when it comes to fashioning solid, mainstream entertainment. Frankly, if this movie doesn’t pack ’em in, I’m not sure there’s hope for any of us.

* Oh, there actually is one other major studio with the temerity to open this week — though few heterosexual males (and not many discerning folks of any gender or sexual preference) will be likely to willingly attend the horribly reviewed Patrick Dempsey-Michelle Monaghan standard issue high-concept rom-com “Made of Honor.” This film is continuing a recent trend of major films with single digit RT scores. Though “Made” might benefit from the obvious counter-programming and the legitimate goodwill generated by its two stars, it will be lucky to come in an exceedingly poor second and could be defeated by the less patronizingly fem-friendly “Baby Mama.” We’ll see.

Meanwhile, in Indiewood.…They’re just starting to be rolled out in a very small number of theaters, but this week has two fairly major, nominally indie, films with some actual potential for mass appeal. Specifically, we’re talking about the latest from supermacho playwright-turned writer-director David Mamet, “Redbelt.” Though I’ve blogged about my issues with Mr. Mamet’s announced political conversion, I’m still looking forward to this one.

It could prove to be a low-key hit in the long run with the inherent male-centric interest of its subject matter, Mamet’s undoubted story-telling chops, and the appeal of mixed martial arts subject matter of its charismatic star, the outstanding, extremely busy, yet still underrated Chewitel Ejiorfor (Talk to Me, American Gangster, Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity, Inside Man, etc., etc., etc.) On the other hand the reviews this one is getting, including from our own David Medsker, are just slightly below par for Mamet. I wonder how long before someone claims it’s a case of anti-conservative bias.

On the other hand, the reviews are consistently kind, if muted, for the festival hit, “Son of Rambow,” reportedly inspired by the now legendary case of three middle-school boys making a homemade shot-by-shot remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but switching locales to England and the source flick to a much darker action movie. This PG-13 entry one also has my favorite MPAA rating explanation in a while. “For some violence and reckless behavior.” Could be fun.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, News

Multiplex Mayhem: Slapstick Battle of the Sexes Postgame

April 27, 2008 / Bob Westal

It was a good weekend for the power of the PG-13 rating and the eternal drawing power of the promise of belly laughs.

* As predicted correctly by me (and everyone else who dared) two days back, the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler opus “Baby Mama” won a relatively healthy box-office weekend with $18,271,000. In a weekend with three fairly strong comedies cramming the U.S.A.’s multiplexes, the obvious advantage here is the PG-13 rating — at the risk of stereotyping grossly, one imagines cool unmarried aunts (preferably with glasses) taking their young teen nieces in droves to this one, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to follow. There was a time many decades ago when TV stars were considered questionable box-office material but, with the distinction between home and theatrical entertainment breaking down in just about every way possible, I think we can agree that that is well and truly dead now.

* Also, youngish male audiences, at least, for the most part don’t seem to mind a little very broad political satire mixed in with their sophomoric giggles, “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” scored a solid, if not quite boffo, $14,570.00. Considering that the film’s $12 million budget was less than half of the $30 million that “Baby Mama” cost, this film could well turn out to be the more profitable, at least for the time being. Anyone up for remake of the Marx Brothers’ anti-authoritarian classic, “Duck Soup“?

* A true photo-finish in third place between last week’s two top grosser, with the martial arts fantasy, “The Forbidden Kingdom” netting $11,230,00 and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” netting $11,014,000. What makes it so close is that “Sarah Marshall” actually beat the wirefu/chop socky summit meeting in terms of per screen numbers, with an average of $3,934.00. Once again, a Judd Apatow comedy is showing some real staying power. Amazing what non-braindead laughs, and an attention to story and characterization, can do.

* The weekend’s other major opener, “Deception” did a predictably rotten $2,225,000. (According to entertainment news gadfly Nikki Finke, the film was only released in theatres as a favor to Hugh Jackman. She also has “Sarah Marshall” coming in at #3.) And the barely released 0% RT rater, “Deal” got a $31,000 in 50 theaters, with a per screen average of $620.00 in its first week.

Meanwhile in Indiewood….Errol Morris’s “war on terror” documentary, “Standard Operating Procedure,” which I discussed on Friday a bit, opened strongly in its two theaters with a per screen of $7,450 — beating out the per-screen of “Baby Mama” by $266. However, the real per-screen winner this week was a film I failed to mention. “Roman de Gare” is the latest from 71-year-old French hitmaker Claude Lelouch. For an internationally renowned French auteur, Lelouch’s slick style is not quite the catnip the film critics that some of his contemporaries can claim, but this one got mostly good-to-okay reviews and such is the appetite out there among older and more educated filmgoers for a decent, diverting thriller with actual characters and a story, that it’s spectacular $12,750 per screen should be no surprise at all.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Documentaries, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas

Multiplex Mayhem: Boys vs. Girls Comedy Tagteam Weekend (Updated)

April 25, 2008 / Bob Westal

As if the gender battles of the current Democratic primaries weren’t enough, this weekend seems to be promising a bit of defacto sexual segregation in our nation’s theaters, with two separate films featuring strong not-quite-superstar comedy duos, one male and R-rated and one female and PG-13, and both getting mixed reviews.

Now, the old me might think this weekend would be a close call. Indeed, Variety failed to even hazard a guess this week. However, Carl DiOrio of the Hollywood Reporter did, and I have learned to respect the might of PG-13 girl power, and so this weekend’s probable winner (though probably not by very much) is…..

* “Baby Mama.” This high-concept comedy features Tina Fey, carrying over some of her romantically frustrated, tightly wound career woman shtick from “30 Rock” and SNL’s Amy Poehler as a trailer park refugee surrogate who is bearing her child, with Oscar and Felix style hijinks ensuing. There’s really no doubt about this one, as it appears to be “tracking” well with teenage girls. Also, with Tina Fey’s well deserved television fame, expect some crossover business from adult women and from the large secret society of men who find Tina Fey ridiculously attractive, which includes me. (It’s the glasses!) Moreover, though it gets a fairly ho-hum 58% on ye old Tomatometer, even at our very male-oriented site, this estrogen-heavy farce got a significantly better review than this week’s more manly-skewing comedy team entry….

*”Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanomo Bay” got me all excited (platonically, I mean) at my other blog home a few months back, but this sequel to the rib-tickling, ethnic-barrier breaking 2004 DVD hit, “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” mainly gets some backhanded, vaguely disappointed, critical respect, with a slightly worse than ho-hum 49% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. (The first film did considerably better, breaking 70%.) In any case, the R-rating and the strong, but slightly niche-y, appeal here pretty much makes this a shoe-in for a healthy second place.

*Considering that last weekend’s second-place comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is not only hanging in at the box office but was actually yesterday’s #1 film, proving that good reviews and word of mouth actually count for something, and that last week’s winner, “The Forbidden Kingdom” is nevertheless going to stay strong for awhile, it’ll be interesting to see how low on the list the apparently dead-in-the-water not so sexy mega-turkey “Deception” actually comes in. With a cast led by Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams, the fact that this film has received next to no promotion should be one clue. Another clue, as more than one critic, including good ol’ Dave Medsker, have pointed out, is the cookie-cutter “erotic thriller” title. Might as well call it “Kind of Lame Movie.” And, with a pathetic 8% RT rating, this makes it the second critically stomped star-driven thriller in two weeks, after “88 Minutes” spurred talk from several critics, including TV’s Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips, of it being both the worst ever Al Pacino film and his worst movie performance. No, Al, this time you really are out of order, it seems.

*Still, no new studio film will do worse this weekend than the poker drama “Deal.” It has done the near impossible for a professional film production with a reasonably strong cast (Burt Reynolds, “Reaper” boy Bret Harrison, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly, and character actor par excellance Charles Durning) ~~and a veteran director in Gil Cates~~ and gotten a 0% percent RT rating, which I can’t remember even seeing before. One presumes its token 50-theater release is being done only to avoid the “direct to DVD” stigma that, together with the trailer, makes it feel like a retread of a retread of a retread. Sad. [Update/correction: Obviously, “Deal” is not directed by 74-year old producer-director Gil Cates, best known these days for executive producing the Academy Awards telecast each year, but his son, Gil Cates, Jr. Compare their careers at IMDb. Also, Jason Z. pointed out in comments that “One Missed Call” also managed a 0% rating. Interestingly for film geeks, that film was not only a J-horror remake, but as far as I know the only English-language remake of a flick by hyper-busy Japanese bad-boy Takashi Miike — a director usually, though not always, noted for extreme violence, gore, and overall weirdness. Personally, I’d like to see a remake of the only one of his films I’ve had the guts to sit through so far, the relatively tame but hilarious and touching horror/musical/dramedy, “The Happiness of the Katakuris.” Now that would be a bold move.]

Meanwhile in Indiewood…. Fans of ultra-extreme horror might be dissapointed to find that “Rogue,” the new horror opus from the Australian creators of “Wolf Creek” (which deeply appalled and depressed the usually horror-friendly Roger Ebert) is, from the few reviews available, apparently an enjoyable, old fashioned creature flick without excess gore or sadism, and with a solid lead performer in Radha Mitchell. This one really looks like just my horror speed and a good time at the movies…so, of course, it’s only going to ten theaters. Can non-PTSD-inducing thrills-and-chills really be dead? Of course not, but some would disagree.

And, though it’s only showing up on two screens, by far the most important film to open this week has to be “Standard Operating Procedure,” a documentary exploring the court martials resulting from the Abu Ghraib torture/murder/photography scandals. It’s from Errol Morris (“The Fog of War,” “The Thin Blue Line,” etc.), who many (myself included) believe is by far the best living American documentarian, and one of the most thoughtful people to ever pick up a motion picture camera. All of his films are notable, but this one might be even more so, as the predictably strong reviews indicate (though 78% percent seems almost low, considering). We’ll be keeping tabs.

Actors, Actresses, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas

Multiplex Mayhem

Multiplex Mayhem: “My PG-13 Kung-Fu Defeats All R-Rated Comedy!”

April 20, 2008 / Bob Westal

Oof! Once again, my sorry prognostication skills are naked before the world. Fortunately for me, it’s not like anyone really expects me to eat William Shatner’s toupee. I mean, it’s not like I could actually obtain the thing — he still needs it for “Boston Legal.” (I’m damn glad I didn’t suggest Tony Curtis’s apparently retired piece.)

So, quickly forgetting my ignoble defeat, let us move to the cold, hard numbers from the number crunchers of Box Office Mojo….

* “The Forbidden Kingdom” earned a healthy $20,870,000 at some 3,151 cinema dojos, more than doubling both Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s most recent vehicles, with the exception of the still powerful (for some reason) “Rush Hour” franchise. Considering the international appeal of the its stars and subject matter, this one seems on-track to make a healthy profit for its relatively modest rumored budget of $55 million. (Considering Chan and Li’s fame, one has to imagine they’re taking a lot of their compensation on “the back end.” $55 million would barely pay for the vegan lunch of two similarly powerful Hollywood heavyweights.)

*”Forgetting Sarah Marshall” was remembered by enough filmgoers to net $17, 348,000 on just under 2,800 screens. (And, no, it didn’t beat “Kingdom” on per screen averages either, earning $6,200 to the fight-fest’s $6,623.) Relative to it’s $30 million budget — which is low by current studio movie standards but still strikes me as somewhat inflated for a non star-driven, non-effects-laden comedy — it’s doing just fine, but nowhere near the bonanza of “Superbad,” which had about six months of buzz, an odd sort of star power from its three unknown leads, and the world’s most relatable premise for the prime moviegoing demographic of hormonally-challenged males and the hormonally-challenged of heart.

* “88 Minutes,” this weekend’s critically reviled, geriatricly pitched, Al Pacino starrer, did badly and failed to make it into third place. (That honor went to last weekend’s top film, the PG-13 slasher remake “Prom Night“). Still, it did better than you might think, netting some $6,800,000 from unsuspecting adults easily lulled by a familiar name and a premise that dates back to 1950. Whoo-ha.

* “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” was booked into 1,052 theaters — as far as I know, a post-“Fahrenheit 9/11” record for any documentary. Despite some controversy, the buzz on this doc — which only got two Tomatometer-adjudged “fresh” reviews, including a mild endorsement from Mark Moring of Christianity Today — was basically non-existent, though it was able get positive blurbs from Christian far-right heavyweights James Dobson and Pat Robertson, as well as lousy film critic turned annoying rightwing radio host Michael Medved. Presumably a mostly conservative evangelical audience was able to put $3,153,000 in the collection plate, and a not horrible per screen average of just under $3,000. Nevertheless, it looks like the Beast (aka Michael Moore) remains by far the king of the documentary box-office.

*This is especially true as the liberal heir apparent to the Beast’s throne of first-person filmmaking, Morgan Spurlock, failed to make much of a dent in arthouses with “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden” which had a pretty dismal opening weekend with a per-screen average of only $1,401 in 102 theaters and a grand total of $143,000. It did, however, manage to beat a truly low profile — so low it can’t be found on Rotten Tomatoes — but possibly not horrible horror flick called “Pathology” which did find it’s way into fifty theaters this week, but perhaps not for long. Mr. Disgusting likes the film, but smells a rat at MGM….

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Documentaries, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, News

Multiplex Mayhem: Romantic Shtick vs. Middle-Aged Martial Arts

April 18, 2008 / Bob Westal

I know I may live to regret this, but….

* If “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is not the #1 movie this weekend, I’ll eat William Shatner’s toupee. This latest, strongly reviewed, entry from the Judd Apatow hit factory is pretty much made for a weekend like this. It’s got what appears to be more than enough raunch to entice males as well as sufficient romantic appeal to lure female moviegoers — and everyone likes to laugh. With great buzz and a some very funny trailers, I don’t see how this one loses.

Even if its star and screenwriter, Jason Segel, isn’t the most well known or charismatic member of the Apatow clan, he’s a familiar face from his popular sitcom, “How I Met Your Mother.” It’s also got “Superbad” boy Jonah Hill, “That 70’s Show” star and frequent “Robot Chicken” voice Mila Kunis, and, most of all, Kristin Bell, of “Heroes” and “Veronica Mars.” Bell is both enormously versatile, extremely funny, and one of the most talented young actresses working. She is also enormously hot in a bikini. Having her in the title role can’t be a bad thing.

On the other hand, Variety indicates I’d better start figuring out what brand of beer best washes down a thirty year old toupee, because apparently “Marshall” isn’t “tracking” all that amazingly well, which would scare me if I understood what “tracking” actually meant. (Blogger Jedboy tried to explain it awhile back, which basically comes down to a way to quantify the unquantifiable thing we call “buzz” — it frankly sounds like a lot of overpriced hocus pocus to me, but then I’m sort of genetically predisposed to hate this stuff.)

Maybe straight males are scared of having to look out at Jason Segel’s genitalia for an entire scene. It’s funny how guys who don’t mind watching people being hideously tortured for an hour at a time run screaming from the thought of looking at a penis, but there you go. Also, of course, the fact that this film is ranking as the most well-reviewed Apatow flick since “Superbad” means absolutely nothing because, you know, quality means absolutely nothing. And, of course, the R-rated comedy will have some strong, PG-13 competition from our next intriguing entry. I’m starting to worry.

*”The Forbidden Kingdom” is, in international terms, the biggest cinematic summit meeting since Pacino and De Niro had the ultimate filmic power lunch in “Heat.” Martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li are both getting older and therefore, like all athletes, less capable than before of the sort of stunning feats of astonishing grace and agility that they both exhibited back when they were mostly making their best Cantonese language extravaganzas. Teaming them is a canny means of compensating for that problem commercially and should work well enough to make the film very profitable internationally. Though it’s getting somewhat mixed reviews, the fight scenes are reportedly strong and the scenes around it at least somewhat engaging — which is all the fans really demand. “The Forbidden Kingdom” is certain to do very well, but I still think that R-rated laughs still have a broader appeal than even PG-13 martial arts, but then I’m not paying attention to the mighty power of tracking.

*Whatever happens, I think we can safely assume that the new Al Pacino thriller, “88 Minutes” will be enormously lucky to come in a poor third and will likely land much lower down in the top ten. Pacino’s fans are largely the kind of old fogies who might actually pay attention to reviews, and with a dismal 11% “Fresh” rating and word that it was apparently held back for some time, this one really smells like a giant size turkey and is providing fodder for critics’ quipping skills, never a good sign. On the other hand, one of the very few critics to like it, and especially Pacino’s performance, is the venerable Andrew Sarris, so that should be a salve to the egos of Mr. Pacino and director Jon Avnet, if not to the nerves of studio accountants.

Meanwhile in Indiewood….Several pictures that almost define the term “off kilter” open in limited release this weekend, including two poorly reviewed comedy docs coming from different ends of the political spectrum. “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” featuring conservative op-ed writer turned dead-pan movie comic Ben Stein making an argument that there is an academic conspiracy against so-called intelligent design, has so far scored only scored one positive review on the RT Meter. Where are those titans of right-leaning movie criticism, Michael Medved, Kyle Smith, and Box-Office MoJo’s egregious Scott Holleran, when you need them? No doubt hoping to get at least some of the dollars that fundies have been holding back since the release of “The Passion of the Christ,” this comedy documentary is opening in over a thousand theaters, apparently hoping for Michael Moore numbers on its first weekend. Stein can be funny, but I don’t see this making “Sicko” money.

Meanwhile, Morgan “Super Size Me” Spurlock’s new film made a thud on the festival circuit and with most critics. There’s no reason to expect much at the 102 theaters it’s opening in, but the title “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” has some innate interest and our own Jason Zingale had a few nice things to say about it.

And finally, just because we are who we are here at Premium Hollywood, I must mention “Zombie Strippers” which at least has gotten some decent reviews and stars Robert “Freddy Kruger” Englund and Jenna “Porn Star” Jameson. Guys like zombies; guys like strippers; guys like Freddy; guys like porn stars. There would seem to be a market.