The Hangover Part II

And yes, they’re going roman numeral style. This is some classy stuff right here. I saw this on Monday, and while there are a lot of funny moments with the same gang (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis), you will be shocked at how incredibly similar it is to the first. Way beyond the even standard “same premise, different locale” set-up you would expect. It robs it of some of the insanity the first, which I loved, had in spades. Rotten Tomatoes has it at a 32% fresh rating. Nevertheless, it opened to a whopping $10 million on midnight showings alone last night. With a five-day weekend in which to run rampant (Monday’s a holiday!), this is going to do some serious damage at the box office.

Kung-Fu Panda 2

Once known with the much sillier subtitle “The Kaboom of Doom,” this one seems to do what a good sequel should – offer the same delights as the original in a new package. It boasts a 75% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and while some critics fault it for hewing too closely to the original, many were too swept up by its charms to care. Kung Fu Panda became unexpectedly beloved upon its release, and many cite it as one of Dreamworks’ few great films. It’s hard to imagine those fans, and their kids, won’t come to see this in droves.

The Tree of Life

While the latest film from Terrence Malick certainly won’t make the same imprint at the box office as the previously-mentioned films, this is the film event for cinephiles this weekend. That is, if you live in New York or Los Angeles. I have my ticket to the midnight show tonight, and could not possibly be more excited. If you live elsewhere, don’t fret – you’ll be able to see the Palme d’Or winner within the next few weeks, as Fox Searchlight rolls it out across the country. Click here to see when your city is getting it. And although this doesn’t have the mass appeal of your kung-fu pandas or your 30-something frat boys, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of that Cannes buzz fuel it to a respectable hit for Fox Searchlight.

Beyond that, New York gets two art house release – Tuesday, After Christmas, a sparse study of infidelity that received solid reviews when it premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, and United Red Army, an epic about a revolutionary group in Japan in the 1970s.

Next week, it’s all about the X-Men back on the screen again, while at least a couple of cities will get one of my favorite movies of the year so far. Stay tuned!

He might look down in the pic above, but Ben Affleck — whose taken his share of sometimes deserved and sometimes not so deserved lumps as an actor over the years — has something to celebrate today. To be specific, the cowriter-director-star’s heist drama, “The Town,” swiped an estimated $23.8 million for Warner Brothers according to Box Office Mojo’s weekend chart. I’m guessing that the film got a boost from pent up demand for a the kind of plot-centric thriller we adult males seem to crave, as well as the budding  potential superstar presences of Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, and Blake Lively, not to mention female lead Rebecca Miller. Since older people usually pay a bit more attention to critics, it’s actually possible that the unusually good reviews helped here.

If Cinemascore means anything — and I’m not all that sure that it means all that much — “The Town” might have also gotten a boost from word of mouth, since Anne Thompson tell us it got a better than average B+ all around. Thompson also quotes Warner’s distribution chief Dan Fellman, saying that the studio is looking ahead to award season for the thriller. Moreover, Fellman also reminds us that the film is the largest September opening in Warner’s history (that is to say, September kind of sucks for box office). Though it’s not the kind of movie that usually wins Oscars, the loosened up Best Picture category certainly helps a well-reviewed and reasonably popular film’s chances.

The PG-13 not-having-sex high school comedy with promising youngster Emma Stone, “Easy A,” which was supposed to be #1 as of Thursday night, didn’t quite get there. However, seeing as its budget is reportedly $31 million less than the actually rather modestly budgeted “The Town,” it is by far the most profitable film of this frame with  respectable estimated receipts of $18.2  and an extremely respectable $8 million budget. It’s another fiscal win for Sony/Screen Gems, which has been on a sort of hot streak of late.

The M. Night Shymalan-produced “Devil” took the hindmost of the top 3 with a less than spectacular $12.58 million for Universal, which by now is used to disappointments. Though not directed by Shymalan, the PG-13 film was promoted as if it was and Uni and the man they call “Night” may finally be paying the price for all the almost universally disliked but oddly successful films that bore the once hugely promising filmmaker’s name. Anne Thompson wonders if the two other scheduled films drawn from stories by Shymalan to be directed by up-and-comers on low budgets, “The Night Chronicles,” will happen now. Mr. S., I grew up watching Rod Serling productions, I know Rod Serling’s work. You’re no Rod Serling.

The weekend’s other new release proved that audiences can spot a cheaply made 3D animated family film rather easily for something that is likely a far, far cry from Pixar or Dreamworks Animation. “Alpha and Omega” came in below the predictably sinking-like-a-stone-in-week #2 “Resident Evil: Afterlife” with an anemic $9.2 million.

A number of new films came out in limited release this week. The most impressive per-screen average of the week was $30,000 for the Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation, “Never Let Me Go.” The British science-fiction romantic drama earned $120,000 on four screens for Fox Searchlight, though it’s muted reviews may dim its Oscar hopes, which is really the only root to major success for a film like this at present. The highly buzzed, probable documentary (there are doubters, though everyone agrees it’s no “I’m Still Here“), “Catfish,” may have better Oscar hopes if it reassures the Academy that it really and truly is a documentary. It did well this weekend for Rogue with a $255,000 in only 12 theaters.

For starters, we have “A Nightmare on Elm Street” which brings us Jackie Earle Haley in the role made famous by Robert Englund — the child-murderer of everyone’s dreams with the specially augmented fingers, Freddy Kruger. Now, as someone who is such a wuss that he was unable to get past the first twenty minutes or so of the original on VHS — that Wes Craven guy really knows how to scare people — I’m not really one to judge. However, the critics are thoroughly unimpressed with the new version directed by another music video alum, Samuel Bayer, granting it a dismal 11% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing.

Still, even if the original version is regarded as something of a classic today by critics, this movie has “critic proof” written all over it. Indeed, jolly Carl DiOrio, assures us that it’s “tracking” very well and will top the box office with “as much as” $30 million for Warner Brothers. He also gets a bit less jolly in his video this week and actually complains about the use of the word “reboot” to describe films like “Nightmare.” Well, considering that you’re starting over an existing franchise as if the original had never happened, I’m not sure what you’re supposed to call it. It’s not only a remake.

The other new release is “Furry Vengeance.” Aimed at the wee ones, this PG-rated comedy from Summit Entertainment actually borrows a premise from a long-forgotten horror film that I actually did sit through. Nevertheless, from the couldn’t-be-worse reviews that generated a mighty 0% from the Rotten Tomatoes critics, I have strong reason to believe that  William Girdler’s “The Day of the Animals” was a lot funnier and less disgusting. In any case, the outstanding legs of “How to Train Your Dragon” and the weak tracking of “Furry” will combine to put the Paramount/Dreamworks Animation fest in the #2 spot for another weekend.

There’s a lot going on in the limited release realm this week. First, opening in just one theater, we have a movie I will not even name because I don’t want you to hate me. It’s a German Danish “torture porn” flick that is truly dividing the relatively few critics gutsy enough to take on its premise. I’m being coy and vague about it because that premise is such that I personally kind of wish I could unknow it and kind of slightly prefer the universe that existed before director Tom Six devised it. If you Google Herr Mr. Six, don’t say I didn’t warn you. On the other hand, what happens to the victims in this film is only by a matter of large degree worse than what a raccoon does to Brandon Fraser in “Furry Vengeance.” Once again, the line between NC-17 ultra-horror and PG-rated kiddie comedy slowly dissolves.

It’s not being mentioned in this week’s Box Office Mojo Theater counts, but also the (by me) long awaited “Harry Brown” opens in a number of theaters here in California this weekend. Starring the great Michael Caine as a geezer who goes “Death Wish” on his London tenement neighborhood, it’s getting its share of good, but mildly creeped out reviews with the usual political divide brought on by the vigilante genre. As a true bleeding heart liberal who thinks the original “Dirty Harry” is something of a work of genius, I can understand the mixed feelings.

Finally, on a far nicer note, the comedy-drama “City Island” appears to have been doing quite well in it’s very limited release and is adding 192 screens this week.  Starring Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer and Alan Arkin, this PG-13 family-centric tale from writer-director Raymond de Felitta is also the first I can think of to be released made by a filmmaker-cum-blogger who I have have actually communicated with via comments.

Another character-centric tale, critically admired comedy drama, also ignored by the Mojo, “Please Give,” from Nicole Holofcener of “Lovely and Amazing,”  has the kind of indie pedigree that may make it’s five-city debut worth noting. It’s also got Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet leading the cast. I’m sure you could do worse. (See above.)

* Captain America has got his girlfriend, and I’ve never heard of her! However, those of you who keep up with your TV may know Hayley Atwell, who’ll be playing Peggy Carter, Cap’s WWII era love interest. Among other shows, she was featured on the not-so well received AMC redo of “The Prisoner.”

* The folks over at Dreamworks have been busy beavers. First, they began the roll out of their “Kung Fu Panda” “virtual theme park” — basically a collection of Panda-based games for kids. Also, their gearing up for the May release “Shrek Forever After.” Today, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg spoke at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) confab about, naturally, 3-D conversions on the first three “Shrek” productions and how they won’t suck like certain live-action 3-D conversions.

Still, there was a fly in the family-friendly ointment, and that was a photo spread that’s coming out in the glossy Vman Magazine that apparently caused some unhappiness at Dreamworks Animation. I could explain why, and you may definitely read the Paul Bond’s THR article about it. On the other hand, I don’t have to tell you how many words a picture is worth.

* If one is to believe the reviews so far at Rotten Tomatoes, “I Love You, Phillip Morris” is probably fairly good. It’s a factually inspired black comedy from John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the writers of “Bad Santa” who also directed the film. Starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as prison lovers desperate to be reunited, it’s definitely somewhat bold. It’s also caught up in a rather complex business hell, which is why we might not get the chance to see it for awhile, even though it was sold post-Sundance back in early ’09.

* Zac Efron’s first serious attempt at filmic adulthood appears to be as the lead in a remake of a Swedish thriller where he’ll be playing a  drug runner.

* I’ve got to admire director Darren Aronofsky’s sense of eclecticism. I suppose they would both be considered portraits of remarkable people, but it’s still a very long run from “The Wrestler” to a biopic about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The director’s wife, Rachel Weisz, will star as the glamorous and tragic first lady.

* I’m sure this won’t stop some people, but all signs point to the probability that it’s a little bit early to be deciding that writer-star Seth Rogen and director Michel Gondry’s “The Green Hornet” will suck. It is, however, not too early to be fairly sure it won’t be your usual masked-hero flick. As for the next “Twilight” film, I think most people have already made up their minds one way or the other on that. Anne Thompson has the scoop on both.

* The late, great Stanley Kubrick was, of course, noted for taking years to complete a film, but this is ridiculous.

* I don’t know about you, but I’d stay at the proposed Hollywood sign hotel in a heartbeat. It’s an idea that sounds terrible but actually looks pretty nifty when you read the piece I linked to. And it’s not like the present sign is exactly the Taj Mahal.