Category: External Movies (Page 151 of 336)

Two thumbs up for Roger Ebert

March 3, 2010 /

I was really mad at myself for allowing myself to miss today’s “Oprah” segment with Roger Ebert, the first time he’s been interviewed for television since a series of extremely difficult surgeries following his successful cancer treatment left him unable to eat, drink, or talk. It’s also where he debuted — only briefly — his new computerized voice based on recordings of his voice taken from DVD commentaries.

Fortunately, I’ve been able to piece together a lot of via the excerpts at sites like the Huffington Post and this somewhat out of synch, undoubtedly sketchy video on YouTube where, at least for the time being, you can see a good chunk of the interview with Ebert and his obviously beyond devoted wife, Chazz.  There, my friends, is a real love story.

However, in all the talk about Ebert, his wisdom and good humor in the face of a fate none of us would want, the man who thinks more clearly than almost any of us about what movies really are, might get a little bit lost. Below, as time started to run out for his days of ordinary speech, he discusses his approach to criticism, “two thumbs up” and why he and Gene Siskel trademarked the phrase, and the ultimate futility of having to assign numeric ratings to movies.

External Entertainment, External Movies, Movies, News, TV

Monday night and Tuesday morning at the movies

March 2, 2010 /

* The Playlist informs us that Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass have pitched a way to keep the “Bourne” options as open as possible. Personally, I think the idea sounds far weaker than I’d expect from either of them. On the other hand, “The Bourne Open Option” sounds like as good a title as any for the proposed reboot.

* A Disney-style title change for Zack Snyder’s upcoming animated family film. Some stories just don’t have good titles.

* After the fiscal success and critical bashing of “Cop Out” and the Southwest Airlines mishegas, Kevin Smith shows his sensitive side to Steven  Zeitchik. But is he really trying to tell us he did a big studio movie to make less money? Really, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a filmmaker making a “one for them” movie for career or fiscal reasons. Many a great movie or book have basically been made for quick cash — though never only for that — and I think he perceived more of a dig from the A.O. Scott review than was really meant, accuracy aside.

* Bill Murray goes on Letterman and spills a little cold ectoplasm over “Ghostbusters 3.”

* Writer Dustin Lance Black took on the first openly gay politician to make his mark with “Milk,” and now he’s apparently about to do a film about without a doubt the most powerful closeted gay man in American political history, J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI. Pajiba has the scoop. The Playlist has some good background, but I didn’t find the humor in Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold’s radio-musical, “J. Edgar” all that “cheap,” well, maybe in a good way.

On an unrelated note, I’m  still trying to figure out a way to claim that I somehow imparted the Westal-bump to Black’s career with this interview back in 2003, but, nah.

* It’s just days until the Oscars, and here’s a look back at one broadcast that didn’t go so well.

* I’ve had more than one person ask me if, as a Jew — and a quite learned one for a Hebrew school drop-out — I had any special clues into just what the Coens had in mind with A Serious Man. I really don’t, not in a literal way, anyhow, though I loved the film. Writer Michael Tolkin, a far more observant and knowledgeable member of the Tribe than I, has an interesting theory about just what’s going on that turns my relatively realist reading of it completely tuchas backward, via Anne Thompson.

Action Movies, Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

The tragic implications of orange mocha frappucinos

March 1, 2010 /

I missed the big “Zoolander 2” story last week. And, so, in penance I offer everyone’s favorite scene from the goofy 2001 comedy.

I know lots of people who didn’t think the first film was any good, and it certainly had some dull patches, but few scenes have made me laugh as hard as this one the first time I saw it. The conventional wisdom might be that 9/11 harmed the film’s box office, but all I know is that by the time I saw this, I was definitely ready to laugh.

And here’ s a bit with Ben Stiller himself from Steve “Frosty” Weintraub of Collider. Remember what the spawn of Stiller & Meara says: If it’s on the Internet, it’s real.

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Humor, Movie Comedies, Movies, New Media, News

Passing Strange

March 1, 2010 /

If you frequented the better L.A. rock clubs during the 90s and early 2000s, you were likely acquainted with the work of Stew. First with his band, The Negro Problem, and later as a solo act, the talented singer-songwriter’s between-song patter was half the thoughtful fun. Still, it’s a pleasant surprise to find Stew headlining his own Broadway show, a clever combination of traditional musical theater and a wordy musical performance. This version of “Passing Strange” is not so much a movie in a traditional sense but a very well done video documentation by Spike Lee of the show staged by director Annie Dorsen. As narrated both in spoken word and song by the volubly imposing Stew, it’s a presumably autobiographical coming-of-age tale dealing with the travels of an artistically inclined young man (Daniel Breaker), first through the tail end of his middle-class upbringing in South Central L.A. and conflicts with his religious mother (Eisa Davis), and then on to the sex-and-drug positive bohemian enclaves of Amsterdam and Berlin. As you can imagine, it’s a heady journey and Stew’s narrative and Dorsen’s witty staging keep things hopping. At times, “Passing Strange” falls prey to the same artistic pretensions it skewers, and I remember liking Stew’s older music a bit better than the songs he and his life/songwriter partner, Heidi Rodewald, created for the show. Nevertheless, as preserved for posterity by Lee, this is a consistently thought-provoking, funny, and moving theatrical look at growing up creative and ethnic in an ever changing world.

Click to buy “Passing Strange”

External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Movie Dramas, Movie DVD Quicktakes, Movie DVDs, Movies, Video

“Shutter Island,” “Cop Out,” and “The Crazies” mine money from mayhem for an R-rated weekend

February 28, 2010 /

Pretty much everything happened this weekend the way it was supposed to. As discussed here late Thursday (or very early Friday if you’re on the East Coast), Martin Scorsese‘s cop-psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, “Shutter Island,” was expected to come in at the #1 spot after having a drop of something in the 50% range. Meanwhile, the new Kevin Smith-directed Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan buddy-cop comedy, “Cop Out,” and the quasi-zombie horror remake, “The Crazies,” were supposed to fight it out for the #2 spot and do reasonably well. That’s precisely what happened.

As per the filmic bean coutners of Box Office Mojo,  “Shutter Island” suffered only a lower-than-usual 45.9% drop. It therefore stayed on-top with a healthy estimated $22.2 million for Paramount, which won’t hurt the Scorsese/DiCaprio brand any.

Tracey Morgan and Bruce Willis I thought “Cop Out” was, at heart, a moderately lousy movie but also had to admit to almost kind of enjoying a lot of it. That was a rave compared to most critics. Still, as I suspected, the movie delivered the cop comedy goods just enough to keep audiences coming  and it netted Warners a perfectly acceptable estimated $18.5 million in the #2 spot for a modestly budgeted ($30 miillion) comedy.

“The Crazies,” which actually got its share of decent reviews, scored a solid estimate of $16.5 for the weekend for Overture. That’s actually a bit better than it sounds for the George A. Romero remake, because it was in nearly 500 fewer theaters than “Cop Out” and its per screen was average was nearly $700 higher than the comedy. Also, with stars Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell presumably asking less upfront than Morgan and Willis, it’s budget was $10 million cheaper.

The highest per screen average this week was, as usual, for a limited release film. Still, considering that it expanded this week from four to 43 theaters this weekend and managed a really good $20,233 per screen, Roman Polanski’s political thiller, “The Ghost Writer” did very well for itself.

As for poor little “Avatar” it made only a measly $14 million estimated this week in the #4 spot. But do not cry for the Na’vi, it’s still on top in the international box office sweepstakes. Nor should you shed tears for Hollywood overall. As Nikki Finke points out, revenue is up, even if attendance is just a tad down.

http://www.bullz-eye.com/mguide/reviews_2009/avatar.htm

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑