Category: Movie Comedies (Page 98 of 195)

Blu Tuesday: The Hurt Locker, Moon and 8 1/2

January 12, 2010 / Jason Zingale

After the craziness of the holiday shopping season, the home video market tends to slow down considerably for a few weeks. Now that we’re all back in the swing of things, however, the studios have commenced their usual release schedule, and with the holidays leading to a significant increase in Blu-ray ownership, it’s going to get really crazy. This week’s selection features two of the year’s best films, an old favorite, and much more.

“The Hurt Locker” (Lionsgate)

Director Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq war thriller is one of the most suspenseful movies I’ve ever seen, piling on the tension so high that you’ll literally spend the entire film on the edge of your seat. It also happens to be one of my favorite movies of the year and is a highly considered favorite to take home this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. Jeremy Renner is a marvel to watch as the bomb squad thrill junkie at the center of the story, but the real star is Bigelow, who takes an otherwise barebones script and transforms it into a series of memorable set pieces that continually upstage the one before it. The included special features aren’t as great as they probably could be, but the audio commentary by Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boals (not to mention the Q&A track that plays over a 23-minute photo gallery slideshow) is definitely worth a listen.

“Moon” (Sony)

It wasn’t that long ago that Sam Rockwell was being hyped as the next big actor of his generation, and although his career never really reached the level that many expected, the guy has been turning out great performance after great performance for years. However, in Duncan Jones’ directorial debut, “Moon,” Rockwell delivers the performance of a lifetime as a contract astronaut working on a moon-based space station where he monitors the mining of a green-energy source called Helium-3. The indie sci-fi flick takes a trippy but exciting turn when Rockwell’s character discovers a doppelganger tasked with the same mission. With no one else to play off but himself (and Kevin Spacey’s voice as a HAL-like computer called Gerty), Rockwell takes an already good story and makes it that much better. Yet another great sci-fi film to add to 2009’s ever-growing list.

Action Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, Sci-Fi Movies

8 1/2 Blu-ray Blu Tuesday Blu-ray new releases Blu-ray reviews Fame Blu-ray Halloween 2 Blu-ray In the Loop Blu-ray Moon Blu-ray Post Grad Blu-ray The Brothers Bloom Blu-ray The Hurt Locker Blu-ray

Raimi & Spidey part company; Hanks to direct again with Roberts in tow; history repeats on “Thor”; an auteur departs; ASC, WGA, and ACE noms; Nikki Finke makes a friend

January 12, 2010 / Bob Westal

My highly esteemed colleague Will Harris has been right on top of the huge small screen stories that seem to be breaking right and left at the TCA conference this week. Still, it’s not like there hasn’t been any news in movieland. It’s almost hard to know where to start.

* The Hollywood Reporter as well as Nikki Finke and new stablemate Mike Fleming (more on that below) are carrying the news that, in the wake of ongoing script problems, the kibosh has been put on Sam Raimi’s “Spiderman IV” with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and a 2012 reboot, written by James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac“) announced. The new film will feature a once-again teenage Peter Parker, so Taylor Lautner is no doubt already in touch with his agent.

THR says the script problems had something to do with a disagreement over supervillains between Raimi and Sony and/or Marvel Studios. Finke also notes that the fourth installment would probably not have been in 3-D and it seems reasonable that that might have been a factor, given the current mania for the process.

* In another apparent scoop for new Deadline team member Mike Fleming, Tom Hanks is returning as a writer-director for the second time since making his 1996 charmer, “That Thing You Do!” A comedy, “Larry Crowne” will reteam him with his “Charlie Wilson’s War” co-star, Julia Roberts. Like “Up in the Air,” according to Fleming it’s somewhat topical in that’s it’s about a middle-aged guy forced to reinvent his career at a time when past generations where just starting to settle down.

While he’s at it, Fleming also has the word on Shia LaBeouf not going agentless after all and signing with CAA. Agents around the world can all breathe easier now.

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

A Serious Man Alex Kurtzman Alvin Sargent Anne Thompson Aragorn Avatar Barry Ackroyd Charlie Wilson's War Chris Rock Christian Berger Coen Brothers Dione Beebe Erich Rohmer Gambit Headlines Inglourious Basterds James Vanderbilt Joshua Dallas Julia Roberts Kenneth Branagh Kirsten Dunst Larry Crowne Mario Fiore Marvel Studios Michael Caine Mike Fleming Nikki Finke Nine Pete Best Peter Jackson Ringo Starr Robert Orci Robert Richardson Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman Roger Ebert Sam Raimi Shia LaBeouf Shirley MacLaine Sidney Carrol Sony Spiderman Spiderman 4 Star Trek Stuart Townsend That Thing You Do!The Fellowship of the Ring The Hangover The Hurt Locker The Queen of the Damned The White Ribbon Thor Tobey Maguire Tom Hanks Transformers True Grit Up in the Air Warriors 3 Warriors Three WGA Whit Stillman Writer's Guild Zodiac

“The Reign of the Na’vi IV”

January 10, 2010 / Bob Westal

Yes, if this weekend at the box office were a movie, it would be a less than super-imaginative sequel. Once again, “Avatar” ruled at the U.S. box office. As seen on the mighty weekly chart of Box Office Mojo, James Cameron‘s mythic, politically pointed, science fiction adventure once again took the crown with an estimated $48.5 million for Fox. That’s a drop of only 29.2% in its fourth box office weekend, following a huge and long prior holiday weekend. No doubt helped out by those premium 3-D and Imax ticket prices, it also enjoyed the nation’s highest per screen average at about $14,173. In the relatively short time I’ve been doing this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen on a movie’s fourth week.

As reckoned by the Mojo, “Avatar” is the now the #1 domestic moneymaker for 2009 and the #7 cinematic cash cow of all time, with a very definite bullet considering its signs of considerable ongoing strength. In others words, this is a movie people actually enjoy, not merely tolerate because it offers enough explosions to distract them for a couple of hours.

On the other hand, just to keep things in perspective, adjusted for inflation, “Avatar” is still a 56 steps down from the all-time ticket seller, “Gone With the Wind.” On the other hand, lest James Cameron should be threatened by any momentary bouts of untoward humility, at least in terms of raw cash he really is box office king of the world right now. “Avatar” is already the #2 grosser of all time at $1.331 billion, $500 million and change behind “Titanic” — written and directed by you-know-who. Can I still wish Cameron had brought in a competent wordsmith/dramaturg to smooth out the very rough edges on both films?

As for the second and third place positions, we had another photo-finish in which Warner’s “Sherlock Holmes” narrowly edged out Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” by a rodent hair. The world’s greatest literary detective brought in just a hair more than an estimated $16.6 million and the musically inclined woodland creatures managed an estimated $16.3 million. With the holiday weekends at an end, they both exhibited more typical drops for typical Hollywood product, with “Holmes” dropping by 54.6% and “Chipmunks” by 53.7%.

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

3-D A Single Man Adrien Veidt Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Amy Adams Avatar Colin Firth Daybreakers Fox Gone with the Wind Harvey and Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein Headlines Imax It's Complicated James Cameron Leap Year Lionsgate Matthew Goode Michael Cera Sherlock Holmes Titanic Warner Brothers Watchmen Youth in Revolt

Happy birthday, Dick

January 9, 2010 / Bob Westal

So, yesterday was Elvis Presley’s birthday and today is the birthday of his old partner in the war against drugs, President Richard Milhous Nixon.

Because of Watergate and Vietnam, and possibly also because in so many respects he still can seem like a central casting villain, Nixon gets depicted in movies a lot more than presidents you’d think we’d like to see on screen more often. Want to see a movie about George Washington? Well, there was David Gordon Green’s “George Washington,” but our nation’s first president wasn’t exactly a character. Nixon, on the other hand, has been depicted in starring roles in numerous theatrical and TV movies by, among other, Frank Langella, Anthony Hopkins, Philip Baker Hall, and even Beau Bridges. Nixon was even portrayed by comedian Chuck McCann as Oliver Hardy to Vice President Spiro Agnew’s Stan Laurel in a 1972 ultra-ultra-obscure comedy called “Another Nice Mess.” (You may know writer-director Bob Einstein as TV’s Marty Funkhouser and/or Super Dave Osborne. ) If I could find a clip, I’d definitely feature it here but the film has apparently been secreted somewhere, perhaps in Dick Cheney’s man-sized safe.

In any case, my favorite portrayal of Nixon is by the great Dan Hedaya in the title role of Andrew Fleming’s underrated little 1999 comedy, “Dick.” One thing the film gets right is the innate humor of Nixon’s situation — a man with almost no sense of humor whatsoever (always hilarious) who was also the least hip man in America, president at a time when hipness was at a kind of premium.

Nice supporting cast in this one, huh?

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Andrew Fleming Another Nice Mess Anthony Hopkins Beau Bridges Bob Einstein Chuck McCann Dan Hedaya David Gordon Green Dick Dick Cheney's man-sized safe Elvis Presley Frank Langella George Washington Marty Funkhouser Philip Baker Hall Richard Milhous Nixon Richard Nixon Super Dave Osborne Vietnam Watergate

Viva Elvis and Ann

January 9, 2010 / Bob Westal

Yesterday was Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday. It’s a matter of agreement that most of his films weren’t very good on the whole, largely due to Col. Tom Parker’s insistence on sticking to tame vehicles that wouldn’t risk offending fans. Still, not all the films are bad and many have fine moments.

“King Creole” and “Jailhouse Rock” have their devotees, but my favorite is “Viva Las Vegas.” Directed by the somewhat underrated George Sidney (“Bye Bye Birdie,” “Scaramouche“), it has a great deal of style and some decent humor on its side. More important, it’s got Ann Margaret, a performer who was every bit Elvis’s match and then some in every department except singing, though she wasn’t bad there either. Guys don’t usually squeal when they see a sexy female performer, but if they were ever going to do that, it would have been for Ms. Margaret in the early-to-mid sixites. (“Mad Men” viewers will know about this.)

Moreover, Elvis and Ann Margaret had real screen chemistry together and, in a probably not unrelated fact, had a real life romance that prompted rumors of marriage. Here, they exchange pleasantries around the pool of what I’m guessing is either the Flamingo or the Tropicana.