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A typical indie release, focusing on a small family, where the drama unfolds. Main attraction is of course Sigourney Weaver, but the rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either. Dark themes seem to be the motive throughout the movie, and while you feel the pressing matters, it’s hard to identify and feel along. Besides that, you have some four minds to keep track of, while there’s no real story to guide you from the beginning to the end. Only in the end you can feel some satisfaction, but it’s not enough to make you feel good about this movie.6½.

So, we have a bomb at the US box office, coupled with a seemingly exciting trailer. A perfect case to check for trailer sickness. Could this be one of those undiscovered gems, or is it the ever existent illness this movie deserves.
Well, while the movie’s tagline says “Out of the ashes, hope will rise”, the truth is somewhat different. It’s just a smoking pile of rubbish. Nothing rises from it, I can assure you.
From the first five minutes of the movie you can find out many things. Acting is not important. Dialogue is not important. Characters are not important. A couple of more minutes, and you see two writers cramming every cliche available in the two long hours. It feels like a contest, and a small notepad to keep track of them would not suffice. In the end, all you can do is laugh along with this total failure.
The trailer suggested some action here and there, but predictably, the exact amount in the trailer is in the movie. Nothing more, nothing less. With nothing on the screen to focus on, the final mistake is a hard one to swallow. The only female in the movie is the highly unattractive Miranda Otto, and for that, dropping the producers in the middle of the Sahara with no food and water would be the only fitting punishment.3-.

In a zoo far far away, it’s animal power at the box office as Madagascar takes over the reigns from Star Wars. Last week’s number two ups one with $28.7 million. The Longest Yard does the same trick, ending up at number 2 with $26.1 million.
Third is Star Wars, relinquishing the top spot after two weeks. With 26.0 million, it passed the $300 million mark after a record 17 days, well on its way to end up in the $400 million region after its run.
Fourth was Ron Howard helmed Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe as a boxer, earns a lower than expected $18.6 million (with an $88 million budget).
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants finished the top five. The female driven drama earns a $10.3 million opening.

Basically, this movie is about 3 stories taking place in Sin City, and bear no real connection with each other. Strange at first, the stories slowly unfold, and with the writer co-directing, you have a distinct type of dialogue and narrative to get used to. Shot totally in green/blue screen, luckily, this time it’s not as distracting as it was in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Then you have to monochrome filming style, which means no rich textured scenes, but lends well to focus on particular things. The characters also don’t have enough screen time to fully develop, so only the raw features are to be expected (also very apparent to the acting style, with the slight overacting always present). This means the whole movie, while having a weird film noir feeling to it, has only a bit of everything (humor, screen magic, drama). It’s certainly not spectacular enough to buy the DVD (which will be far longer than the current 2 hours) or start a franchise (what am I saying ? Part 2 and 3 are scheduled for 2007 and 2008).7½.

No surprise again, a tale from a galaxy far far away ends up at the top spot again, still running at hyperspace speed. With $70.8 million, SWIII stands at a pretty stellar $271.2 million after 12 days.
Second was the premiere of Madagascar, the first 3D animated comedy since Dreamworks went public. Opening at $61 million, I’d say, you’d better bought some stock. Third was another opener, Adam Sandler starrer The Longest Yard, with $60 million.
Left-overs finish the top 5, with Monster-in-Law ($11.1 million) at four, followed by Kicking & Screaming ($6.6 million).

Bruce Willis’ carreer has been pretty much non-stop since the early nineties, so he can be forgiven for a few missteps along the way. This movie belongs to this category, especially since he’s headlining it almost all by himself. The movie starts out like it’s gonna be some kind of The Negotiator, but soon falls into a mix of convenient mishaps, predictable action sequences and there are even horror elements . The lack of character depth means you’ll have to put up with some heave over-acting here and there, but there are some surprises and tense moments to be found. With Star Wars still running, I’d say it’s an easy choice to just skip this one and see Star Wars, even if it’s for the third time already.6.

Inspired by a true story (to my knowledge, a pretty unknown one), it actually just a character piece. And who’s your go-to guy if you want a real character actor ? No doubt most critics will point out Sean Penn (who deservedly has 4 Oscar noms under his belt). You could say with the handful of movies he has made in the past years (21 Grams, Mystic River, I am Sam), it’s a real come-back (from the eighties) with a vengeance.
So, even the most clueless will understand this whole movie is pretty much a one man show, focusing on his character, and what drives him to his final act (though you will understand a little bit more, some things are still unclear). Even if the subject isn’t interesting for everyone, the acting alone is enough not to fast forward any bit of this movie.7½.

No surprise as a certain Dark Side dominated the box office this week. Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith took in $108.5 million in the weekend (right under Spidey’s $110 million record). The four day total stands at a record-breaking $158.5 million though, and it also holds the one day opening record of $50 million.
The rest of the theatres seemed almost empty (and no other film company dared open a new movie this week), as a distant second is last week’s number one, Monster-in-Law takes in $14.3 million. A lacklustre performance rounds the top five: at three Kicking & Screaming, with $10.5 million, at four, Crash, with $5.5 million and at five, Unleashed, with $3.8 million.

We know the ordinary thief movies, there have been quite a few lately (Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve, The Italian Job), but most of them have nothing much to offer, story-wise. This one is a Pierce Brosnan starrer, and has even less to offer. Most notably, he played one before (The Thomas Crown Affair), and that was quite boring. This one is evenly boring, with a predictable storyline (retired thief can’t resist another job. Oh and throw in a personal vendetta, why don’t you), and uninteresting characters. Cheesy dialogue finishes it off, with no spectacle to be seen on screen, unlike the bigger budget caper movies. It’s a continuing genre (with a Thomas Crown sequel and The Italian Job II on the way), but for me, it’s all the same.5½.

With any conclusion of a prequel, expectations rise exponentially, and goals get hard to meet (even single movies have a hard time, think of disasters like Blair Witch Project, Twin Peaks, The Exorcist, and in lesser extent Hannibal). George Lucas however, nails this one, finishing his life work almost flawlessly (especially if you forget Episode I).
Right from the start we drop into the story with the same fast pace we’ve grown accustomed to with all the previous SW movies. More obvious is how much looser all the characters are and acted, giving them more heart and soul. Around them are more grand and spectacular special effects than your eyes can feast on for countless re-views to come. Difference with the overabundant special effects from the first (and slightly regarding the second) episode is, it’s more realistic and fluid. It also doesn’t serve as the main attraction, but it’s more a backdrop for the main story to develop, hence a greater effectiveness.
Then there’s the story, which might not come as a surprise if you’ve seen the old movies, but it still has enough surprises left, while tying the knots to Episode IV: A New Hope. Packed in nicely compacted chapters, as before, the 140 minutes actually feels too short. But that’s probably because you can’t keep track of the time between the oooh’s and aaah’s that comes with the excellent scenery on-screen, the ferocious light-sabre fights and the agony and tragedy that comes along with the descent to the Dark Side.
So, what has George accomplished with all this ? Well, the excellent conclusion of this tri-quel, which fits like a glove, is a feat that’s hard to beat for decades, if not centuries, to come. The Force is very strong in this movie. Trust me.9.

Jane Fonda’s return to the big screen was enough to push J. Lo’s ass up to the top spot, as Monster-in-Law takes in $24 million. Second place was another comedy, starring Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall, Kicking & Screaming takes in $20.9 million.
At three, not a really big opening for Jet Li starrer Unleashed. All his previous movies (Hero, Cradle 2 the Grave, The One, Kiss of the Dragon, Romeo Must Die) have opened better.
At 4, we have something that might be a Kingdom of Financial disaster, as the second week for this Heaven takes in only $9.6 million. Rounding off the top 5 is Crash with $7.2 million.

A Kingdom of Heaven could not prevent a further slump at the box office, taunting it for several weeks already. With $20 million though, it does end up at the top spot, but on a $150+ million budget, it’s just not on par.
Second place is House of Wax, also doing worse than the previous horror flicks opening this year. The happy prospect of seeing Paris Hilton slashed into a bloody mash still couldn’t lift it above $12.2 million (I for one, would definitely pay double for that).
A tie at three for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Crash, a new drama from Million Dollar Baby writer Paul Haggis, with $9.1 million.
Rounding off the top five, is third week-er The Interpreter, with $7.5 million.

The first of the big budget summer movie lineup, it’s supposed to be a Kingdom of Heaven, a kingdom of conscience. That may all be so, but it’s certainly not a kingdom of excitement. From the same director that gave us a pretty glorious Gladiator, this movie seems a bit unfocused. Ridley Scott himself called it finding a balance, but in the end, I missed depth, character, drama, exciting battles and all the other things that made Troy a good movie. We only get glimpses of those facets, and that’s just not enough.
There’s another problem with this movie, as most movie-goers probably can’t really relate to the Holy Wars, Jerusalem, the crusades, counsels of barons and all. You’ll get the bigger picture, of course, but you still can’t figure out what makes these people tick.
While not a total disaster (in quality, it’s between Alexander and Troy), I certainly hope the rest of the summer lineup will do a better job at live up to the expectations.7+.

People didn’t need a guide to the movie theatre, but they still wanted to learn something. Hence The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ends up on top, with $21.7 million.
Second was last week’s number 1, The Interpreter, with $14.2 million. At three, people were not that interested in Ice Cube as the new xXx, as xXx: State of the Union opened with a mere $13.7 million, about a third of Vin Diesel’s opening.
Rounding out the top five were left-overs, The Amityville Horror with $8.1 million and Sahara $6.0 million.

One down, how many more to go ? That’s the question. Well, it doesn’t really matter, actually, as dropping Vin Diesel was a major improvement on its own. So how does Ice Cube handle his tough act role ? Well, that doesn’t seem to really matter either. Thanks to Lee Tamahori, who follows the action packed Die Another Day (remember the fake ice cap scene ?) with an even more explosive version of it. More bang, more glitter and more shiny things and to top it off, a CGI end sequence right out of the server farm with no time to apply realistic surface bumping and textures. Acting wasn’t a requirement either on Lee’s shortlist. Then again, the script wasn’t that demanding. But then again, even the punchlines (pretty much the whole script) come out as if they’re already on a deadline with no film to spare. But hey, at least the eye candy (lots of old fashioned explosions combined with lots of blue screens) was there. No matter what the official title of the movie is, it’s definitely not one you’d want on your resume.6½.