Entertainment Today and Beyond

Never Met a Zombi I Didn’t Like…

Get Smart

Get SmartWarner Bros got a solid 39 mill opening for their big screen version of the classic TV show GET SMART over the weekend.  I must say I’m curious how moviegoers will react to this film but, for my money, it’s somewhat of a disappointment. First, let me say I loved the 60’s show and I remember watching it in reruns almost everyday after school on WPIX when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn NY.

Creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, alongside comic actor Don Adams, created a program that was both funny and highly inventive. The show featured a whole host of memorable characters that were played to perfection by the entire cast and the series holds up beautifully, standing the test of time.

With that said, I think the casting in this new version is just fine. Steve Carell is likeable as always playing agent 86, Anne Hathaway is both sexy and energetic as Agent 99 and Alan Arkin does a nice job filling the shoes of the late Edward Platt as the Chief of CONTROL. So what’s the problem? Well, the script and overall plot are thinner than Calista Flockhart turned sideways, and most of the jokes just fall flat. The direction by Peter Segel (Anger Management) is pretty uninspired and the entire production has a mediocre feel throughout its 2 hour running time. It’s never really bad, but it’s never really good either.
Get Smart 99-86

From a creative standpoint, it appears both director Segel and star Carell made a choice not to ape the Don Adams interpretation of the character and he’s played in this version as a bit smarter and not as clumsy. This, in my opinion, was a mistake, although his chemistry with Hathaway is solid. On the flip side, actor Terence Stamp (Superman 2) is wasted in the totally underwritten role of Siegfried, the head of KAOS. A new character, Agent 23, was created to put Dwayne Johnson in the film but I would have liked to see the classic Hymie character used in a sizable way, and not just as a thrown in at the stories conclusion. 

I have no doubt that a much better installment can be made using the same cast. I would change the director and get a screenwriter who really understands what made the source material work so well. Bottom line – despite a few decent moments and the potential for better things to come in a possible sequel, it just isn’t good enough to recommend going to the theater to see.  Watch Get Smart Preview

June 23, 2008 Posted by | Reviews | , , | 1 Comment

The Dark Knight

Despite a relatively down economy, people are still finding their way to the multiplexes in droves as overall box-office is up 5% this summer, year over year. IRON MAN has become the first film to pass the 300 million dollar mark in ticket sales this summer and it appears that the latest INDIANA JONES film will be the second – it just passed the 280 million dollar mark this week. The only real clunker in terms of box office so far is Warner Bros SPEED RACER which ran out of gas at the 42 million dollar mark. Painful since its budget was in excess of 120 million.

Marvels THE INCREDIBLE HULK is on pace to have a 60% + drop-off in ticket sales in its 2nd weekend in release. Somewhat surprising since this new Hulk has been better received in exit surveys than Ang Lee’s 2003 version. It apperas evident the big green comic book hero has a very front loaded audience. Its fan base just isn’t as big as Marvel had hoped, and another installment seems dicey at best. That’s a bummer, as I wanted to see a long running franchise with Edward Norton in the Banner role. Let’s see how this plays out.

The Dark Knight
Watch The Dark Knight Preview

Reports have it that Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated new Batman film THE DARK KNIGHT clocks in with a running time of 152 minutes. That’s 12 minutes longer than his BATMAN BEGINS. There’s little doubt in my mind, that this will be the absolute must see movie this summer for a variety of reasons. First, it’s the follow up to perhaps the best superhero film ever made. Second, it features the most intriguing villain in comics – The Joker, with the part being played by the late Heath Ledger, whose tragic unnecessary death is still very fresh in our minds. Hopefully his performance will become part of pop culture legend the same way Jack Nicholson’s take on the character did in Tim Burton’s 1989 version of Batman. I really think THE DARK KNIGHT will get sizeable repeat viewers for multiple reasons; first and foremost the opportunity to build on the domestic take of Begins 200 million dollar box office. It hits theaters July 18th.
Tropic Thunder

 

Have to say I really like the coming attraction trailer to the Ben Stiller comedy TROPIC THUNDER which hits theaters Aug 15th. This looks like a high concept project that has some real originality to it. Stiller (who also directs) stars alongside Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. in the film, where three actors get involved in a real life war when doing location shooting in a 3rd world country. This looks to have a real edge to it. Check out the site and see the trailer.

June 22, 2008 Posted by | Reviews | , , , , | 1 Comment

And Beyond… Robert Downey Jr & Army of the Dead

Robert Downey Jr., now red hot off the success of “Iron Man” this summer is in negotiations to star in a very interesting project entitled “Cowboys vs. Aliens”, a story that will cross the western and Sci-fi genres into one storyline. Based on a graphic novel, the story reportedly centers on a battle between the Apache and western settlers that takes a big twist when a alien spaceship crash lands on a nearby Territory, causing the two enemies to join together to fight off their new found foe. This actually sounds like a very original high concept project that might turn out to be something fresh and exciting. Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard will be two of the producers involved – expect it in theaters for the 2010 summer season.

I know that the zombie genre has gotten a bit saturated over the last few years but I’m pretty excited about the fact that “Dawn of the Dead” 2004 director, Zack Snyder’s, new zombie film titled “Army of The Dead” is now on the fast track over at Warner Bros. Snyder will produce, and a commercial helmer named Matthjis Van Heijningen will direct, the film which will center on a The Diary of the Deadfather who desperately tries to save his daughter from a zombie plagued Las Vegas. The movie will reportedly be very large in scope. Snyder’s Dawn was a terrific re-imagining of George Romero’s classic original so this is one project to look forward to.

Speaking of Romero I just got a chance to watch his “Diary of the Dead” on DVD last week and I liked it. The film barely got a theatrical release which was not really a surprise since it was independently financed for around two million bucks. It’s small in scope but is involving in its story which works as a nice companion piece to his original “Night of the Living Dead”, as long as you keep your expectations in check considering the money he had to work with. In other horror news of interest, there’s been some talk about a possible sequel to “30 Days of Night”, last year’s vampire film with its story line set in Alaska. I hope it happens as I really thought that movie was super cool and one of the best in its genre in years.

June 19, 2008 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

…and Beyond 2012, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Friday the 13th & 24

Actress Amanda Peet (Studio 60) has been tapped to co-star alongside John Cusack in director Roland Emmerich’s disaster film “2012″, a project being described as an end-of-the-world epic.
          
Emmerich certainly has an over the top style but he has a clear love of the genre. I feel his “Independence Day” is one of the best popcorn entertainments produced in the last few decades. I can still remember seeing it at the 1400 seat Ziegfield Theater in NYC and having the Manhattan moviegoers roar with applause throughout. There have been very few summer movies that have given me that type of thrill since.

Remakes continue to be the hot trend in the business as a slew of them are in or going into production. The Taking of Pelham One Two ThreeTony Scott (Crimson Tide) currently shooting a redo on the terrific 1973 thriller “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” which was one of the great NYC based films of all-time. Denzel Washington and John Travolta will take on the Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw parts.

A remake of the 1980 horror classic “Friday The 13th” is also filming which is being produced by Michael Bay’s production wing, Platinum Dunes. The also have a redo of “The Birds” in the works which will star actress Naomi Watts. From my side of the fence, remakes are always an interesting challenge and some directors tackling the challenge put a pretty cool spin on the material but really memorable films are almost always a product of their time and place in history and trying to recapture that is a tough task indeed.  
  
Jon Voight will go the TV route for the first time in 40 yrs when he plays the villain in the new season of Fox’s 24. The popular show looks to have a bounce back season
creatively when it returns in Jan 2009. The network will first air a 2 hr TV movie this fall with the Jack Bauer storyline set in Africa which will set up the 2009 season.

June 17, 2008 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

The Hulk vs The Happening

The HappeningWhile I knew that the advance buzz was pretty weak on M. Night Shaylaman’s newest film “The Happening”, I was still stunned at how truly bad it is. First I’ll point out that I loved his early work. His Oscar nominated first feature “The Sixth Sense” was a bonafide sleeper with perhaps the most talked about twist ending in movie history. His second effort “Unbreakable” was a truly clever spin on the super hero origin story that was absorbing throughout and clamored for trilogy treatment. It’s one of my all time favorite movies.
 
“Signs” was a pretty entertaining Twilight Zone episode for the big screen that featured the first signals of silliness in storytelling to slip into the Shaylaman world but still I liked it. “The Village” was a disappointing failure with even more silliness than ever in his storytelling but its twist ending almost redeemed it. His last film, the critically lambasted “Lady in the Water”, a mermaid bedtime story fantasy was watchable for the performance of the always interesting Paul Giamotti but the silliness bug started to plague the director now more than ever and audiences and critics rejected it big-time.

Overall I think audience reaction to “The Happening” will be absolutely toxic as it  s storyline about a wind carried toxin that makes people suicidal is laughable.  Its scenes of characters running from the wind are as ridiculous as anything I’ve ever seen in a movie and shows that Shaylaman’s totally lost touch with his credibility as a good storyteller, plus the acting by Mark Walberg and Zoey Deschanel are as wooden as the tree in your backyard, and the dialogue between them at times is just plain strange. “The Happening” borders on Student filmmaker quality at times and will be on many a critics top ten worst of 2008.      

As a big-time movie fan I hate to take a shot at anyone’s work this hard but the fall of quality in this producer, writer and director’s work is baffling.  I truly hope M. Night will get his creative mojo back in full force because he is, or was, one of the more interesting storytelling talents in the business but I really believe Hollywood will be very gun shy about financing his next idea no matter how good or bad it  might be. Only time will tell.

Universal got a solid but not a blowout 55 million dollar opening weekend out of their new “Incredible Hulk” movie. While probably not the definitive interpretation of the big
green comic book hero we might eventually see, it does have enough solid action set pieces to give the viewer their money’s worth.
The Hulk
While Edward Norton makes for a solid Banner, I wish they made a creative choice not to somewhat redo the 2003 Ang Lee version with a story line of the military pursuit of the Hulk and the character of General Thunderbolt Ross being so heavily involved. My best moment came when the Big Green Guy says “Hulk Smash” in the climatic battle with Abomination towards the end. I must admit my adrenaline started to pump and my 2 and a half year old daughter, Sydney, started hulking out as well in only her second movie going experience! LOL!  
 
Personally I wish they would realize bigger isn’t always better and that’s why the classic CBS TV Series starring the late great Bill Bixby is the best hulk  put on any screen. Still, I think this new Hulk movie is good enough to launch a series of films with Norton and I
certainly look forward to them.  Oh, by the way, Stan Lee’s cameos in all these  Marvel superhero films just keep getting better and better and the one in this film and in “Iron Man” have been a real treat!

June 17, 2008 Posted by | Reviews | , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

I Am Legend to Rambo…

I AM LEGENDRiding on the heels of the half billion dollar world wide box office success of Warner Bros “I Am Legend”, “Disturbia” director DJ Caruso is prepping a big screen movie version of the acclaimed comic book series “Y the Last Man”, yet another story about Earths last male survivor. Caruso’s “Disturbia” star and Hollywood “It” boy of the moment, Shia LaBeouf, is rumored to be the favorite to play the film’s lead. New Line Cinema hopes to turn the property into a trilogy.

As for “I am Legend”, it certainly was a solid piece of work, and a well done effort for a majority of its running time but many moviegoers, including myself, feel director Francis Lawrence really botched the story’s last third, with a rushed unsatisfying climax. Look for an extra alternative ending option when WB releases a special edition DVD on March 18th. I just got a chance to watch the different ending and it is much better paced and superior to the one in the theatrical version. The studio also is reportedly very interested in coming up with a sequel.

Despite a big 2nd weekend drop off in ticket sales, Paramountpictures and director Matt Reeves are discussing a follow up to his monster movie “Cloverfield”. While the highly hyped film had one of the best internet marketing campaigns ever and was reviewed favorably by more than 75% of the nation’s top critics, the general public very much had a love it or hate it reaction, mostly due to the creative choice of telling the story from the point of view of a shaky hand held video camera. Personally I really liked the film and thought it was unique, featuring some of the most eerie images of destruction ever projected up on the big screen. To date, no movie has captured the 911 type fear as this film has.

Sylvester Stallone has signed a lucrative two picture deal with “Millennium Films” to star and direct two action movies. The production company is the same one that financed Stallone latest “Rambo” comeback. Like last years very successful “Rocky Balboa”, Rambo” is a fitting conclusion to the long running franchise although be forewarned it is extremely violent. Stallone is also reportedly very interested in remaking Charles Bronson’s 1974 fan favorite “Death Wish” for MGM. At 61 yrs of age Sly still has a lot to offer, and I believe he has more talent behind the camera than the majority of hack directors working in the business today.

Paramount Pictures has changed the release date of its JJ Abrams produced new “Star Trek” movie from Christmas day till June of 2009. The film, which tells the story of the very beginnings of the star fleet academy, features an all new cast of young relatively unknown actors, except for “Leonard Nimoy” who will be seen as the older Spock in the movie’s storyline. Sorry fans, no William Shatner!

Actor Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder, Blade 3) has been added to the cast of the, now in production, comic book film Wolverine. The X-Men spin off film which stars Hugh Jackman will hit theaters for the summer 2009 season.

After watching ABC’s “Lost” this season, I am now convinced that this is one of the five greatest television programs ever produced. Not since the Twilight Zone in the 60′s has a show worked on so many levels of pure imagination and just brilliant writing. Rod Serling would be proud! Kudos to all involved!

June 8, 2008 Posted by | Reviews | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

    Next Entries »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.