Category: Movie Comedies (Page 128 of 195)

Zombies, Ondie, Polanski, and a neglected cell phone

September 29, 2009 /

Movieland abides.

* Anne Thompson thinks “Zombieland” just may break the horror comedy curse — given the success of “Shaun of the Dead,” there may be something about zombies that just somehow outweigh today’s horror fans’ fear of anything remotely humorous. Anyhow, the short clip and others (Ms. Thompson has some more) looks good. Still, as Mr. Squeamish guy who had to get dead drunk to watch the original “Dawn of the Dead,” every time a movie with a certain amount of gore gets good enough word-of-mouth/reviews, I get conflicted. Not easy being me. Right now, though, I’m thinking this one might be worth sneaking the contents of my bar into the theater for, even if I’m already concerned the “nut up or shut up” catchphrase could get very old very quick.

* Ondie Timoner’s terrific and ominous new documentary, “We Live in Public,” opened in L.A. last week. I wrote a mammoth interview post on it, it did good business this weekend according to Box Office Mojo and, dang it, I’m claiming I gave it the PH bump! (If it’s good enough for Colbert….) Anyhow, you still have time to check it out before the run ends Thursday.  With some decent luck, many more engagements all over the country may follow.

* If you’re a member of the “lock ’em up now and show no quarter” side of the Roman Polanski debate, you’ll be happy to know that the 76 year-old director is likely to be in a Swiss jail for a period of weeks as he fights extradition.

* The video of Hugh Jackman skillfully dealing with the incessant ringing of some fool’s cell phone during a live performance as co-star Daniel Craig waits patiently has been everywhere. Since “here” is part of “everywhere,” here it is, via Cinematical.

Actors, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Your high holiday Hollywood update

September 28, 2009 /

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It’s Yom Kippur in Los Angeles today and that means a few people will be fasting (no water, either!) and going to temples and synagogues, some will be using the day as an excuse to play hooky, and even more will be enjoying the smaller amount of traffic. Still, it’s not the kind of town that ever takes a complete day off. Intriguingly, for a day of atonement, issues of crime and punishment are definitely on the table.

* Parts of the ‘net are already in hyperdrive about the suddenly revivified Roman Polanski case and even I’ve been drawn into a couple of ‘net flame wars already at other sites. There does seem to be definite split between Europeans and Americans and also between those connected with show business and not. The short version is that a lot of people still want Polanski’s head on a platter. Never mind the only crimes that were proven was the Californian equivalent of statutory rape, “unlawful sex,” and giving drugs to a minor.  Anyhow, Polanski is reported to be resisting extradition. Apparently I’m not the only one in a “fighting mood.”

* This legal morass probably won’t get people’s blood boiling nearly as much, but Anne Thompson points us in the direction of a New York Post story stating that peripatetic celebrity film critic Elvis Mitchell has a $500,000 IRS lien put on him. This follows a 2008 incident in which he was caught at the Canadian border with $12,000 in undeclared cash and some contraband Cuban cigars. Nice to know someone in this movie critic business has made enough to justify that level of IRS interest.

* Kim Masters wonders if John Travolta’s admission that his late son had autism could signal his impending departure from Scientology.

* In the wake of a second strong #1 week for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” Steven Zeitchik comments on a fiscal milestone for animation.

* Amy Kaufman has more on the fiscal problems and solutions of the group that owns the rights to the “Terminator” franchise, which is seemingly as hard to kill as an actual Terminator. As Nikki Finke reminds us, they also have a “first look” deal on the works of science fiction great Phillip K. Dick. What I don’t get is why you need a “first look” at the works of a writer who’s been dead for 27 years.

* Because I’m a few episodes behind (life in the DVR age), I’m also deliberately behind on Jason Zingale’s blogs on “Entourage,” lest I be spoiled. However, the aforementioned Nikki Finke couldn’t resist turning the gag about her in last night’s show into a headline.

Entourage, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

“Cloudy” with a certainty of poor news for new releases

September 27, 2009 /

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Never bet against family entertainment, especially when it’s in 3-D and generating strong word of mouth. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” declined a very small 19% and collected an estimated $24.6 million over the weekend, which puts it at a $60 million “cume” or thereabouts according to Bruce McNary of Variety. Not bad.

I’m not one one bit surprised that the new Bruce Willis science-fiction tale, “Surrogates,” didn’t get the over-fluffed $20+ million that was expected, despite the help of costar Radha Mitchell. The movie hasn’t generated much excitement, is getting “meh” to bad reviews, and the appeal of older stars like Willis just doesn’t seem to be that powerful at the box office these days.  Does Bruce Willis even register that much with people under thirty? If it wasn’t for the success of the last “Die Hard” flick, I think this would have done significantly less than the non-terrible estimated $15 million it actually netted for the #2 slot. On the other hand, the film cost $80 million. How much of that was Willis’s salary?

Fame

The remake of Alan Parker’s “Fame” got mostly bad reviews, and the box office wasn’t too exciting either with a mere $10 million estimated. Though the film apparently attracted a youngish audience — a possible reflection of the film being perceived as not very good since it’s a well known property to we mid-lifers — apparently most of them were taken up with other films. The week’s other major new release, the Dennis Quaid sci-fi horror entry, “Pandorum,” did a predictably awful estimated $4.4 million.

In more positive news, “The Informant!” held better than expected with roughly $6.9 million in the #4 spot and a mere 33% decline according to the Box Office Mojo chart. An interesting real life story, a funny trailer, an imaginative director, and more youngish star power may still count for something.

The week’s highest per screen average was documentary superstar Michael Moore’s latest, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” earning about $60,000 each in four theaters before going wide next week. The French language biopic, “Coco Before Chanel” starring Audrey Tautou (“Amelie”), earned a stylish estimated $35,000 average on five screens.

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

Movie Moments for Me #2

September 26, 2009 /

Another self-indulgent clip. This one is from 1944’s “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. Preston Sturges was arguably the first really well-known writer-director in Hollywood, and he was in the position of writing a film that almost certainly influenced “Juno” — only the self-imposed censorship of the time meant you couldn’t openly discuss sex in any way in an American film, nor could you say the word “pregnant” and the shame attached to premarital pregnancies was exponentially greater than today.

“Miracle” stars Betty Hutton as an irrepressible young woman who takes the matter of raising wartime morale among America’s troops a bit too personally and, with the help of some spiked punch, winds up married to a man who name and face she can’t quite remember. Her ensuing pregnancy makes matters a bit worse, especially for her long-suffering, long-time friend, Norville Jones (Eddie Bracken), whose entirely unrequited love for Trudy Kockenlocker is suddenly assumed to be highly requited by everyone, especially her father, Police Constable Edmund Kockenlocker (the utterly awesome William Demerest).

And here’s our first introduction to Ms. Kockenlocker. No wonder poor Norville’s so in love.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies

Friday film news dump

September 25, 2009 /

mgm-logo

Howdy folks, I’ve been a bit distracted by a couple of big pieces I did earlier, but the movie world moves on and, in the tradition of the White House emitting unpleasant stories late on Fridays to avoid too much notice, we have a couple of new bummer items and some more typical stuff from before that I missed.

* Nikki Finke is breaking the news of some possibly very serious fiscal problems at MGM, though I have to admit that these sorts of details are about as clear as mud to this innumerate fiscal ignoramus. In any case, the once-dominant studio has long been a shadow of its former self and isn’t even really a studio anymore (though it owns UA, and boy is that a complicated story for a tired guy to follow/remember right now). It sold off its historic lot in 2004 — where I actually spent a few hours on Tuesday, as it happens — to Sony, which is a change I’ve yet to get used to. Still, they have their fingers in a few pies. As Finke reports, if the not-studio really does go bankrupt, it could affect both the upcoming adaptations of “The Hobbit” and the ever-present James Bond series through its ownership of the also much-smaller-than-it-used-to-be United Artists.

* In news that is worse because it’s certain, the popular Cinevegas Film Festival is taking a break next year and, it sounds like, the year after that and who knows for how long if the overall economy doesn’t pick up. Of course, Las Vegas is probably one of the most shell-shocked places in the U.S. by the real estate bubble and general over-development. During the boom times, I would go to Vegas, look at all the ultra-high end restaurants, spas, and especially the stores and wonder when they’d run out of rich people.

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Action Movies, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, New Media, News, Sci-Fi Movies

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