A dark-ish drama, headlining Jodie Foster, undoubtly one of the best actresses around, but feeling a bit miscast anyway. So too is the whole cast. Script follows a bit of a traditional victim to revenge line, thought the slow transition within Foster’s character is probably the most redeeming quality of this movie. There are a few slower boring scenes too, but mostly it’s average enough to be satisfied for a one time showing.7.
Milla Jovovich scares up enough zombies to reach the top spot, as Resident Evil: Extinction earns a modest 23.7 million. While seemingly okay, movies of this series proven to fall hard the following weeks, earning just above the break-even point (domestically).
Romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck, starring Jessica Alba and Dane Cook, opens at number 2 with $13.7 million. Dropping to the third place is The Brave One, earning $7.3 million. Also dropping two spots is 3:10 to Yuma, doing it with $6.2 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Eastern Promises, earning $5.6 million, probably due to its Toronto Film Festival winner status.
Somehow I didn’t have faith in the Bourne franchise anymore. The rave critical and user reviews lightened things up a bit, and now I’m convinced it’s the best in the series. Of course, it’s still not that story driven, and it has to have everything in the thrills and high pace. Matt Damon is well-suited in his character keeping the drama high onscreen, while the other actors do well with their characters (mostly non characteristic and no back story). Flashbacks and speedy spy/secret agent like conduct propels the action, hard against hard (evenly matched agents). Throw in some high speed car chases where special effects are blended to unseen subtleties, and you have a big old style action movie. I’m not sure if this formula would hold up with a fourth movie (since the end was in sight in this one), but for now, if they spin it in a new direction, I wouldn’t mind it at all.8-.
The Brave One hits the top spot on a weak box office weekend. For Jodie Foster, the $14 million opening for this drama thriller is a dip compared to her previous headlined movies. Dropping one spot is 3:10 to Yuma, $9.2 million in its second week. Following are two new releases, Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott and Susan Sarandon starrer Mr. Woodcock earns $9.1 million, in a badly reviewed comedy. At 4, slaughtered by critics, is D-War (or Dragon War in full), already slain before it could rise with just $5.4 million (on a est. budget of $75 million). Rounding out the top 5 is Superbad with $5.2 million in its fifth week.
Biopic of Petey Greene, a 60-70-ties radio and TV star, depicted well by Don Cheadle. It’s a drama, but light hearted and soulful. His life seems interesting enough, but there are no real extremes. As a biopic, it’s not boring and it’s even lightly inspiring (though if biopics are your cup of tea, I’d recommend Ray or Walk the Line over this one).7-.
3:10 to Yuma, a western no less, earns the top spot this week. James Mangold directed, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale starring movie earns rave critical reviews and fares well with the general public, riding together some $14 million in a slow post-labor day week.
In its second week, and still several weeks away from the real deal, Halloween scares up $9.5 million (a heavy 65% drop).
Meanwhile at number 3, Superbad crosses the $100 million mark by adding $7.6 million in its fourth week. And at 4, heavy action flick Shoot’em Up almost doesn’t register with only $5.7 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Bourne Ultimatum with $5.67 million in its 6th week (only the sixth movie this year to stay in the top 5 after 6 weeks).
Doing a long worldwide run (already opened a year ago in the States) is a hint it might be direct-to-video (or direct-to-dvd, nowadays) quality. With no real big stars attached, headlined only by Jason Statham (and Amy Smart, the main reason why I went to see it anyway), my instinct was correct.
It’s a banal story, mainly trying to create a certain rush and non-stop action sequences, but even then, it barely holds on to your attention. Directed with an MTV videoclip style, it tries a few psychedelic effects and segues, but that’s just not good enough.
That said, it’s good for a one time showing, and I actually laughed at a few jokes.6-.
There aren’t an awful lot of movies solely focusing on a bad guy, and there are even less with a bigger star playing the antagonist. This one is a fine balance between drama and thriller, with a only a dash of dry humor. Story actually has a handful of branches, all worked out quite well, but we are basically in Kevin Costner’s head most of the time (though there’s also a pretty strong role for Demi Moore).
Being balanced, there are no extremes on the drama side, and the same goes for the thrills. All the story lines will keep you awake for the duration, while there are a few revelations, it’s not overly shocking or dark (a la Zodiac).
So, all in all, mild, but entertaining.7½.
Ever since his obnoxious character in 3rd Rock From the Sun (a comedy series I totally didn’t like), Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been hammering on his indie picture career. And quite impressively so, as I’ve seen most of them (while some could be seen as boring, it was never the acting that let down).
Here’s another independent flick, and it takes time to focus it all on Joseph’s troubled character (again). Even if they do everything wrong, at least that’s done right. Luckily, story seems to progress well, and other characters, while not overly developed, are a nice throw-in. Story is a bit predictable, but it still builds up nicely.
So all in all, this could be seen as his best and most memorable indie effort yet.7½.
For a while, horror flicks were in a dip after a few years of riding high scary waves (During the days of The Ring and Saw), but it seems that dip is shortlived (only this year). Now a re-imagined (a la Batman Begins) Halloween slashes its way onto the screens with no less than $31 million. Relative new comer Rob Zombie (former heavy metal rock star) directs an even bigger Michael Myers (Tyler Mane, X-men’s Sabretooth).
Meanwhile, high school low budget comedy Superbad is heading for the $100 million mark, adding $15.6 million to a $92.4 million cume in its third week.
A new entry at 3, Balls of Fire, a spoof featuring ping pong duels inspired by Bruce Lee movies earns $14.3 million.
Rounding out the top 5 are left-overs The Bourne Ultimatum (crossing the $200 million mark in its 5th week) and Rush Hour 3 resp. with $13.2 million and $10.4 million.
One of the biggest failures this year, and I would say comedic failure in full, if only I laughed once or twice during the showing. It’s an utterly long sit through all the lame “jokes”, and it gives you time to think how such a movie would ever get approved. Will Ferrell and Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live) are producers, and they must gotten this project greenlighted when they were both drunk along with a bunch of high Paramount suits. Anyone with an IQ higher than 10 could’ve read the script and thrown it away, but no. Let’s take an SNL star along, and let’s take one who isn’t even that overly funny to begin with (Andy Samberg).
This one really has to be avoided at all cost. If you ever get into a hostage situation, and this one shows up on TV, kill yourself and your fellow hostages, because your situation couldn’t get worse, and you’d help everyone out that way.2.
A simple thriller-ish psychotic breakdown movie, that gets on your nerves in a good way. All about one hotel room, the 90 minute ride is just about as long as it should be. Applying the no holds barred imagination rule (as in, everything goes), the hotel room has a lot to offer, going through all the possible scary stuff the elements have to bring. Though using rule based story telling would’ve heightened the atmosphere and thriller element (see for instance The Butterfly Effect).
That said, direction is imaginitive, acting is on par (though it’s mostly a one man show, that of John Cusack), and while not all too memorable, it’s a quick rush.7+.
This movie looks like an indie picture targeted at the youth demographics. So it’s low budget simple shots and scenery, a generally slow pace and lotsa chit-chat. Though no deeply thought-out dialogue is in play here, simple drama hits the marks here and there, throughout otherwise noisy and pretentious foulmouthed gangster-style story.
Problem must be the usually low profile director Nick Cassavetes, because too often, you will see excellent performances (for instance Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Anton Yelchin) but degraded to too cheesy and corny within minutes. Even Justin Timberlake has his moments (albeit those are counted in microseconds). Some stricter editing might have solved a lot of problems (though using the interview standpoint didn’t work out either), but still several acts just don’t glue well together. Basically, you’re left with the only consistent role, untarnished by the lacking editing skills, a quite remarkable and brutally fierce Ben Foster, who doesn’t even appear in the final 2 acts. As a whole, this movie is shaky at best.5½.
Ever since Christian Bale’s role in American Psycho, I couldn’t stand him. Train wreckages like Reign of Fire and Equilibrium followed, making it even worse. The only one film changed everything, and that was 1994’s The Machinist. Ever since then, I thought he was the most dependable actor, with every role so different and well-acted, he’s probably the most under-rated actor ever. Obviously, since then I have seen most of his movies, and while not all are hits, acting is always superb.
So it is also in this movie, a true tale of imprisonment and survival. Slow and moody, while his character seems to be able to keep the spirits up, slowly declining to the end. The story itself is pretty basic, like most of these movies are, but direction is pretty powerful. Most surprising though, is Steve Zahn in a dramatic role, and pulling it off very well too.
For such a low budget movie, the visuals and atmosphere made every dollar worth its while tenfold, though it’s not a movie recommended for everyone.7+.
Not bad at all, as Superbad hangs on a second week to the top spot, with $18 million. At 2, actually climbing one spot, is Bourne resurfacing with a respectable $12.4 million and a massive $185 million cume.
Dropping steadily is Rush Hour 3 with $12.3 million, just enough to hang on at number 3.
At 4 is Mr. Bean’s Holiday, already ending it’s worldwide run fairly successfully, opening with a moderate $10.1 million. Its $45 million run of the first movie might still be on target if retention holds.
Jet Li/Jason Statham starrer War earns a lowly $10 million. Actioner gains only bad critical reviews but general public rates it fair.