Pretty solid family dramedy featuring a strong undefined character played Nicolas Cage. Great supporting cast makes the family ordeals feel a bit uncomfortable yet laughable. As a one man journey, it accomplishes its goals on some, but certainly not all occasions. Cage’s character is also fleshed out by his inner voice narration, just how only he can deliver it. Sometimes a bit slow, but at no time boring.7+.
Reaching the top spot this week wasn’t the impossible mission for the second sequel of the series, it was topping the previous opening that seemed impossible (John Woo’s part raised $57.8 million in its first week). Most predictions went higher, and the studio expected somewhere in the $70 million region, but it has to do with $48 million.
A distand second place is last week’s number one, RV makes a $11.1 million roundtrip. Third is for low budget horror flick (supposedly based on true events) An American Haunting with $6.3 million.
Rounding out the top 5 are last week’s Stick It and United 93, resp. $5.5 and $5.2 million.
Like any war movie these days, it’s focused on a smaller mission, while expanding the story from there. For this story, based on true facts, quite a few unkown facts are used. Japan invaded the Philipines while US soldiers were stationed there, after which they had a lot to endure. It was only during the end of the war a US Army Rangers division was sent on a POW rescue mission. Build a love story around it, and throw in a building underground movement, and you have yourself one heck of an inspirational movie.
Enterntainment value lies somewhere between the popcorn ready Pearl Harbor, and the utterly boring The Thin Red Line. The screenplay isn’t as sharp as it could be, but it’s still a nice effort.7-.
Rule of thumb is, what J.J. Abrams touches, turns gold. Look at the Alias and Lost franchise. A unique style of character depth and mystery.
For MI:3 however, he just hooked up an IV, and let it drip a 100% adrenaline solution. From the start till the end, it never stops. Even though we never go in depth with the characters (or even the story line) Abrams is able to highten the sense of drama.
Also, acting is a part Abrams always keeps an sharp eye on, and there’s not much you can dispute here (not even Tom Cruise’s performance). For the Scarlett Johansson lovers (rumored to have dropped out after Tom’s freaky proposal (the one with which he succeeded to get Katie Holmes), and maybe a of bit some Scientology craziness. Then again, a scheduling conflict sounds so boring) , I can assure you Michelle Monaghan is an able replacement (both acting and hotness factor).
Action wise, it all seems very old-school, and that really helps to create an authentic atmosphere. If you dig action flicks, this will probably be IT for this year.8+.
During a somewhat slow week, family comedy R.V., toplined by Robin Williams, drives its way to the top this week, with a $16.4 million opener. Second place was for the first 9/11 movie to be released, the Paul Greengrass helmed United 93. With a virtually unknown cast, it takes in $11.6 million. This summer will also see another 9/11 movie released, namely the Oliver Stone directed World Trade Center (starring Nicolas Cage).
Third place is for another new release, Stick It, a teen gymnast drama from Disney delivers $11.3 million, thanks to young girls massing together for this inspirational tale.
Rounding out the top 5 are the leftovers Silent Hill with $9.3 million, and Scary Movie 4 with $7.8 million.
Combine one of the most bad ass actor (Samuel L. Jackson) with a die-hard comedy actor (Eugene Levy) and you could have a smashing box office hit. And that’s with the emphasis on _could_. Because it’s not. On all levels, it doesn’t reach above mediocrity.
The script is pretty thin, characters stiff, standard and predictable. There’s the occasional funny scene, but even those are from the lower quality fart department.
All in all, it’s doable if you didn’t have anything else to do, but definitely not a scheduling priority.6-.
Typical indie movie with a road trip as the main thread of the story. The story is, while not spectacular, not boring either. It’s filled with reasonable dialogue and acting is up to par. If you like last year’s Sideways, you’ll probably like this one too, though it’s a bit milder in many ways.7+.
Another easy win for a horror movie, as Silent Hill rides to the top with $20.2 million. As profitable as usual for these movies, this one will break even by next week.
Less scary is Scary Movie 4, and it has to do with runner-up spot this week, with $17 million. Another new entry at 3, thriller The Sentinel, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Douglas, opens with $14.7 million.
Ice Age: The Meltdown is really feeling the heat of the newcomers, but it’s still strong at number 4 with $12.8 million. The Wild drops one spot, rounding out the top 5 with $8.1 million, keeping a lot of retention (83%) from last week, though what starts low, stays low.
You know what they say about movies that collect dust for some two years. Add to that a director with a drowning career (after the Waterworld fiasco), and you have a recipe for disaster.
Still, any seasoned director, disregarding failures or successes, should know you can’t bring an old story to the screen without reinventing or adding something new. And even then, people who happen to not knowing the story, will see every single plot twist in the trailer.
More failures come in the directing style, leaving too many so-called romantic moments drive the movie, instead of a solid story or dialogue. This movie is an empty shell, and hence, tragedy is not the theme, it’s the movie itself.5.
One of those movies where the excitement doesn’t exceed that one created by the trailer, which is always a shame. Most obviously, the writing is far below par. Combine the most generic thriller elements with a nerdy title, and it’s bound to fail. The nerds won’t see any bit of action (Harrison Ford utters he hacked into someone’s account in the trailer, while he definitely did no such thing), and other people won’t even go to see it, afraid they’ll be put off with all those technical terms (only one line is technical, and I’m not even sure it was accurate). To top it off (and kinda violating my non-spoiler policy, but since I’m not recommending this movie, what the heck), it’s not even about a firewall, since any observant viewer knows the firewall was breached from the beginning.
With writing this bad and contrived, I wonder why anyone would sign on for this project.5-.
Sometimes, a trailer can send out a wrong signal. This one for instance, makes it out to be a light comedy. But in fact, while it is light in the beginning, it goes much deeper and darker, driven by an unfolding story. And luckily, the story is pretty solid. And so is the acting. The script however, has everyone saying these darn sharp smart lines, and it’s a bit too coincidental to have every single person that eloquent.
When you’re inside the movie, the pace seems to be constantly at the right speed, but somehow from the outside, it’s a bit too slow. But as I said, the story is the main attraction here, that makes up for a lot.7½.
Bee Season: Seemingly ordinary drama strangely morphs into a psychological and spiritual frenzy, making it an uncomfortable head-scratcher.6-.
Transporter 2: Mindless actioner, with typical direct-to-DVD behaviour.5+.
March of the Penguins: Quite an intriguing documentary, though it relies a bit too much on visuals over long periods than on really new amazing facts.7+.
18 Fingers of Death: It’s so bad, I don’t even want to spend half a sentence on it (oops I guess I already did).1-.
No surprise to see Scary Movie 4 rake up $41.0 million this Easter weekend, making it the topper of the box office. Meanwhile Ice Age: The Meltdown stays strong at number 2 with no less than $20 million, making up for a strong $147 million cume. The Benchwarmers drops one spot, now at number 3 with $10 million.
At 4, The Wild opens with a mediocre $9.6 million, which might point out the obvious reason, as being to similar to last year’s rival Madagascar. Rounding out the top 5 is Antonia Banderas dancing his movie, Take the Lead, two spots down, with $6.7 million.
I’ve seen the franchise from the beginning, and while mostly aiming for cheap laughs, it was never horribly bad. Mostly reaching the slight entertainment value, this one is about the same. The story, while nothing really extraordinary, does manage to knit a few movies together, this time making room besides the scary movie types, so more general box office names can be spoofed. Inbetween, we have loads of the usual tripping, punches and object throwing.
Definitely worth going if you’re in a giddy mood. Otherwise, I suggest you wait till you feel giddy, as the impact might be too blunt.6½.
Last week generated enough heat to continue (Ice Age 2:) The Meltdown, finishing again at the top spot with $34.5 (leaving the original behind, and making it the first this year to cross the $100 million mark). That leaves The Benchwarmers, a comedy with Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder as a baseball team, the runner up spot with $20 million. Third is another new release, Take the Lead, starring Antonia Banderas as a dance teacher, earns $12.7 million.
Meanwhile Inside Man drops 2 places, with $9.2 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Lucky Number Slevin, but the $7.1 million it brought in, indicates that luck wasn’t very much involved.