Tag: The Hangover (Page 4 of 6)

TCA Tour, Day 3: “Bored to Death”

August 3, 2009 /

HBO’s “Bored to Death” panel wins the award for Most Likely To Make Me Want To Watch My Advance Screener When I Get Home, but, then again, it’s already a testimony to how freaking busy I was before I left for California that I couldn’t find the time to check out a series that features a triple-threat cast of Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, and Zach Galifianakis. When the panel kicked off with this trailer, however, I knew that, even though much of my pre-TCA time was spent trying to help my wife put together our daughter’s 4th birthday, I’d clearly spent that time poorly.

By the way, that was obviously a joke about spending my time poorly (the party was a huge success), but I’m completely serious about wanting to watch the screener as soon as I get home. In addition to the trailer, though, every single person on the panel was hilarious…even Schwartzman, who appeared via satellite due to filming commitments on “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”

HBO’s nutshell synopsis of the series…or, at least, the opening paragraph of the press release for the show, which generally tends to be about the same thing…reads as follows: “Jonathan Ames, a young Brooklyn writer, is feeling lost. Heʼs just gone through a painful break-up, thanks in part to his drinking, canʼt write his second novel, and carouses too much with his magazine editor. Rather than face reality, Jonathan turns instead to his fantasies – moonlighting as a private detective – because he wants to be a hero and a man of action.” The idea of Schwartzman as a man of action is funny enough in and of itself, but then you’ve got Danson as the aforementioned magazine editor, Galifianakis as Ames’s eccentric best friend, and a premise (and cast) which lends itself to high-profile guest stars. Basically, if this show isn’t a hit, then it’s at least destined to be remembered as one of the greatest cult sitcoms of all time.

Oh, and did I mention that Jonathan Ames is actually a real person? True story. He’s apparently a rather prolific author, in fact. (My apologies: I wasn’t familiar with him before this.) Having listened to him chat during the panel for “Bored to Death,” I think it’s fair to say that the stars of the shows are going to be in good comedic hands. Personally, I was convinced of this when he was asked to explain why the show – which would appear on the surface to be anything but boring – was given a name which so readily offers journalists a chance to fire back with snarky punchlines.

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External Entertainment, External TV, Interviews, News, TCA Blog 2009, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Comedies, Video

Box office wrap-up: “Transformers” sequel blows up real good

June 28, 2009 /

The news this week is about as simple and unsurprising as you can get: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” has done some pretty spectacular business, netting an estimate of $201.2 million, just shy of the all-time record $203.8 million “The Dark Knight” earned on its initial five-day release. Could that $2.6 million difference be the difference between outstanding reviews and really bad ones? Nah, but I still wouldn’t be surprised to see a big drop off here, or maybe that’s wishful thinking based on my oft-repeated feelings about this particular franchise.

As per Variety, “The Proposal” came in at the #2 spot, dropping 45% from its opening for $18.5 million in its second week. And this summer’s ongoing audience and critical favorites continue to do outstanding business. “The Hangover” is thought to have taken in $17.2 million in its third week, while “Up” continues to exercise the astonishing power of the Pixar touch in the #4 spot with about $13 million in its fifth week.

This week’s only non-“Transformers” wide release, “My Sister’s Keeper” (referred to by newly rich superblogger Nikki Finke as “simpering,” but which our own Jason Zingale actually kind of liked), came in at the #5 spot with an estimated $12 million. As we mentioned last time, that’s actually a couple million more than some expected.

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, It also wasn’t a bad weekend on the indie side. The critically acclaimed Iraq war action-suspense drama, “The Hurt Locker,” performed well in its four theaters on the coasts, netting about $3600 per screen. In wider release, the high pedigree prestige comedy, “Away We Go,” perhaps benefited from the TV appeal of stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, and got into the #10 spot with $1.7 million in just under 500 theaters.

Back tomorrow with more on the about to be concluded LAFF…

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

Sunday box office update — “The Proposal” makes it to the altar

June 21, 2009 /

It’s a gorgeous and breezy afternoon as I type this from the relatively bare business center of the otherwise swanky W hotel which abides in the shadow of UCLA and, during the Los Angeles Film Festival, a small but select chunk of the film industry. That may include some of those who could be effected by the news, apparently first reported by the redoubtable Nikki Finke, that perceived poor management skills and excessively neurotic behavior have led studio chief Brad Grey to commit to a major management shakeup at Paramount. (The Hollywood Reporter has a considerably more staid version of the story up.)

I’ll finally start writing about some of what I’m seeing and hearing at the festival later tonight, but first it’s time for the numbers. Those were especially good for Ms. Sandra Bullock who, with the help of Ryan Reynolds and what Variety sees as “pent-up demand” for rom-coms, scored an estimated $34.1 million with “The Proposal.” That would be Bullock’s biggest opening ever.

Following with a really outstanding estimated $26.9 million in its third weekend, “The Hangover” dismissed it’s newer male-appeal comedy competition, “Year One,” which came in only at the #4 spot, but nevertheless managed $20.2 million in its first week. Ms. Finke described the hunter-gatherers-go-biblical film’s performance as “disappointing,” but The Hollywood Reporter deemed it “solid,” perhaps reflecting the  budget. In any case, it surely reflects that a perception of poor quality caused by bad reviews (as discussed on Thursday’s pre-weekend post) and perhaps more or less matching word-of-mouth might actually have some impact on a film’s performance.

“Up” did its bit for the power of family entertainment, remaining aloft at the #3 spot for yet another week with $21.3 million, say the estimators, and is within a hair’s breadth of the $225 million mark for its entire run.

Happy Father’s Day.

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

Box office preview: The comedy calm before the “Transformers” storm?

June 18, 2009 /

Awaiting the coming midweek arrival of the next big fanboy franchise entry, “Transformers: Revenge of the Carniverous Unicorns” or whatever it’s called, a couple of high concept comedies with theoretically strong potential sail into the nation’s multiplexes this weekend. While both should do okay business, the “meh” to “Cathy”-style “ack!” reactions from critics (I know we don’t really count but, hey, if you tickle us, do we not chuckle?) might indicate somewhat limited potential against the ongoing one-two punch of “The Hangover” and “Up.” I expect a close one. But then, I’m always wrong.

Of the two new comedies, “The Proposal,” starring Ryan Reynolds as a put-upon assistant cajoled into a sham marriage with his you-know-what-on-wheels boss played by Sandra Bullock, appears to be the somewhat stronger contender. This initially struck me as something of a gender-reversed redo of Mike Nichols’ similarly high-concept 1988 Melanie Griffith vehicle, “Working Girl,” with the executives originally played by Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver mushed into Bullock’s publishing bigwig. However, the reviews indicate something darker at times, but probably less entertaining for a mass audience. With a 44% “fresh” at Rotten Tomatoes, mirrored by our own David Medsker’s split critical decision, critics are turning no cartwheels. The Hollywood Reporter however suggests that the film has some pretty serious date-movie appeal and that might be enough for $20 million or so, which might be enough to hit the #1 spot. Certainly many women may feel that, to paraphrase Griffith 21 years back, Reynolds has a mind for comedy and a body for sin. It’s therefore a good bet they subtly encourage their significant others to attend with them, who themselves might not mind looking at the adorable, if now fully adult, Ms. Bullock for a couple of hours themselves. We shall see.

Jack Black and Michael Cera react to reviews of If critics were unconvinced by “The Proposal,” they were hurling ancient curses at what sure seemed to me like a promising comedy concept but, then, there’s the me-always-being-wrong thing. I speaketh of the hunter-gatherers-go-biblical “Year One,” directed by comedy veteran multi-hyphenate Harold “Egon Spengler” Ramis. The critics seem to agree that this vehicle for two of the best known names in youth-targeted comedy, Jack Black and the gifted savior of dry humor among the young, Michael Cera, is a million miles away from being Ramis’s best work. (That would include probably one of the beloved films of the last twenty years, “Groundhog Day” as well as the frat-boy touchstone, “Caddyshack.”) On the other hand, Variety offers the thought that it’s “tracking” is improving. I’m still trying to figure out what “tracking” actually means, but I guess that’s supposed to be a good thing.

Nevertheless, our own Jason Zingale heaps some pretty serious 1.5 star scorn on a film which mixes some fairly extreme-sounding scatological humor with some pretty big comic prey in taking on some of the best known characters from the ever-popular first half of Jehovah’s bestselling two-part epic. He’s hardly alone, as only 19% of the RT gang saw much of worth in it and some saw the opportunity to hurl a few would-be comic zingers of their own. CHUD’s Devin Faraci commenteth:

Year One is so dedicated to being historically accurate that it only uses jokes that are at least two thousand years old.

Entertainment Weekly‘s Owen Glieberman went the contrarian root and actually awarded the film a relative rave with a B- rating, and appears to be one of the few (only?) critics to heap praise on Jack Black’s performance while attacking the dryness of Cera. He also offers what the film’s many detractors will take as a terrifying thought:

Every era gets the prehistoric comedy it deserves.

Meanwhile in arthouse land: The would-be prestige comedy “Away We Go” widens to 132 screens this weekend. Also, the week’s new limited release is yet another promising sounding attempt at America’s funnybone, the latest from Woody Allen (though apparently the original script dates back to the seventies), “Whatever Works” starring HBO’s own Larry David. Allen’s films are almost the definition of review-driven hits-or-misses and this one has engendered what is at best a split decision with 53% (only 9% among “top critics”!) at RT. That’s low enough to (forgive me, Lord, for what I’m about to say) curb filmgoer enthusiasm.

Actors, Actresses, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Reviews, TV Action, TV Comedies

Break out the Bloody Marys, “The Hangover” Lingers at #1

June 14, 2009 /

As I was too chicken to more than implicitly predict last time, “The Hangover” held on to its #1 spot with a cool $33.4 million. Variety reminds us that this is only a 26% drop, very rare in today’s opening-weekend-centric turn-’em-and-burn-’em movie world. The star-free ensemble farce is clearly benefiting from excellent word of mouth so that folks who might ordinarily avoid an R-rated comedy about a Vegas bachelor party gone off the rails are being attracted. Good work.

Also Pixar/Disney did fabulously with its unbeatable, yet rare, principle that if you work really hard and imaginatively to provide quality family entertainment with a heart and soul as well as a bit of show-biz razzle-dazzle, people will actually show — you should pardon the express — “Up.” The CGI 3-D animation-fest with a cranky elderly protagonist that no sane executive would ever have greenlit were it not for Pixar’s unprecedented track record, earned $30.5 million and dropped a low 31%.

Denzel Washington, Meanwhile, in star-driven product land, “The Taking of Pelham 123” met the rather modest expectations for a lavish, all-star, action-remake and hit $25 million, while the Eddie Murphy family flick, “Imagine That,” netted a sad $5.7 million for the #6 spot on its opening weekend at over 3000 screens.

Now, I want to add that, while trashing movies I haven’t personally seen is against my religion (for all I know, I’ll end up sorta liking Tony Scott’s “Pelham” — stranger things have happened, I’m the guy who liked “Domino”), even more against my religion is trashing the concept of remakes, though on the whole they tend to be less good than earlier successful versions.  True, it doesn’t exactly scream “originality” to take on a property that’s been previously successful, but no one says, “Oh God, not another remake of ‘Romeo and Juliet.'” There is absolutely nothing wrong with restaging an old concept, as long as you have something of your own to say with that property and are not simply going with something that looks likes a safe bet in a business where safe bets don’t exist. Lack of “originality” is not the problem; abject creative cowardice is.

Movie remakes go back to Hollywood’s youth. Probably my single favorite little-known Hollywood factoid is that the 1941 “The Maltese Falcon” starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Huston was actually the third adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s great detective novel made over a period of about ten years. I also happen to think that Philip Kaufman’s 1978 version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is arguably even better than the rather great original version directed by Don Siegel in 1956. And, moving to TV land for just a second, is there any human being on the planet who thinks the recently concluded “Battlestar Gallactica” (don’t tell me how it ends!) isn’t a million times better than the unbelievably awful original? As Roger Ebert likes to say, movies are not what they are about but how they are about it. If you have something fresh to say by revisiting an old story, by all means say it, just make sure you’re not kidding yourself.

Anyhow, returning to this weekend’s b.o., what I think harmed both “Pelham” and “Imagine That” was that, as far as was visible from either the marketing or the response to it, these were movies that offered not one thing fresh or exciting or in any way of a great deal of interest other than the services of its stars. That’s good for something — big stars are the closest thing on the planet to a certain level of guarantee of public interest and sometimes that’s all you really need. But if you really want to hit it big, you’ve got to gamble a little bit that the audience is more interested in being genuinely entertained than lulled by the presence of name entertainment brands.

On the other hand, “Terminator Salvation,” which nobody seems to like too much, is actually doing very well abroad and the very honestly entertaining “Drag Me to Hell” isn’t exactly burning up the U.S. box office. So, who knows?

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

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