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« May 2007 | Main | July 2007 »
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 12:15:40
What the hell? I did not expect reviews for "Live Free or Die Hard," the fourth film in the "Die Hard" series starring Bruce Willis, to be any good. But Dana Stevens at Slate.com writes, "Though the movie's at least 20 minutes too long, it's deeply satisfying, full of old-school buddy banter and the kind of action sequences that make you burst out laughing at their sheer audacity." Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times agrees, "Yet despite considerable odds, not only does McClane stay alive, his movie does too. Inevitable lapses in plausibility and an inflated two-hour, nine-minute running time aside, "Live Free or Die Hard" is a slick and efficient piece of action entertainment, fast moving with energetic stunt work and nice thriller moves." Lou Lemenick of The New York Post writes that the film is "energetically directed by Len Wiseman (“Underworld”), from being a lot of fun and one of the season’s better sequels." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times admits that while John McClane "has lost his hair, his foul mouth and apparently his nicotine itch, but he still has the same knack for trouble, the adrenaline-pumping, cheerfully anarchic kind that causes cars to ignite, bodies to fly, eardrums to pop and hearts to race and gladden."
Monday, June 25, 2007 - 08:14:57
It's official. "Evan Almighty," the Steve Carell follow up to "Bruce Almighty" is a flop. With a production budget estimated at well over $200 million, making it the most expensive comedy in history, "Almighty" managed to generate a mere $32.1 million at the box office despite being in over 3,602 theatres nationwide. The per theatre average was $8,910, putting it ahead of everyone else (except "Sicko" which opened in 1 theatre in New York and still made $70K) in a probably the weakest weekend of the blockbuster summer. I don't see much hope for "Evan Almighty." Next week, kids film "Ratatouille" and "Live Free or Die Hard" both open in wide release. I reviewed the box office numbers for the first time in a few weeks. "Shrek the Third" crossed the $300 million mark this weekend. "Spider-Man 3" is still making a little money and stands at $332.5 million, comfortably above it's $250 million price tag. "Pirates 3" is at $287 million, creeping towards it's $300 million price tag. "Knocked Up," the Judd Apatow hit has $108 million in the bank, well above it's $30 million price tag. More credit goes to Matt Smith at Little Rock's Market Street Theater. He still has "Away from Her" the brilliant Sarah Polley film that has only been released in 121 theaters nationwide. It's made a little over $4 million this summer.
In his review of "Evening," New York Magazine critic David Edelstein writes, "The film is based on a novel by Susan Minot—one of those books where the author doesn’t deign to put dialogue in quotation marks for fear of dispelling the dreamlike mood. It works on paper, but Minot, who shares credit for the adaptation with fellow novelist Michael Cunningham, doesn’t understand that screenwriting is the art of taking away. People here don’t just talk too much; they say, “There’s something I have to tell you” first. Evening only bestirs itself when Meryl Streep in old-lady makeup pays Redgrave a visit: The way these two great actresses breathe the same air and adjust their rhythms to each other seems almost holy."
David Denby of The New Yorker notes, "Minot’s prose, which is dreamy and taut at the same time, has a distinctive rhythm that probably can’t be transferred to film. In truth, this sort of mood-memory material would have been done better fifty years ago, when it would have starred Lana Turner, Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee, and John Gavin, and been directed by Douglas Sirk. The resulting movie—let’s call it “There’s Always Yesterday”—would have been obvious and floridly emotional, but it would have had greater energy and theatrical flair than “Evening,” which isn’t much fun."
"Movie reviewing is the solitary evaluation of a communal medium. Critics watch films in small screening rooms, or alone on DVD players, then retire in solitude to write up their opinions and insights, to recollect passion in tranquility. Roger does all that; but more than any critic I know, he brings the informed discussion of film out from under the lamp, into daylight. He has used his fame to elevate the conversation, challenging audiences to attend not just to the dramatic and ethical aspects of films but to their visual strategies. (Roger is one of the few film critics who actually, and knowledgeably, looks at movies.) And unlike a lot of people in the public eye, he's amazingly comfortable with his celebrity. I've never seen Roger rush past a fan who tugged his sleeve and asked about a movie. He actually listens to people." - - Richard Corliss writing about Roger Ebert in TIME.
LAist takes a look at upcoming book-to-film projects. "The Lovely Bones," "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," "A Confederacy of Dunces," and more are discussed.
Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 09:38:49
Morgan Freeman will play Nelson Mandela in the upcoming film "The Human Factor" based on the book "The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed the World" by John Carlin. The film is set after the fall of apartheid, when South Africa was host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela was in his first term as South African president, and he used the event as a way to end decades of mistrust and hatred between whites and blacks.
I was off "The Treatment," Elvis Mitchell's outstanding radio program based out of Los Angeles that airs on Sunday's on KUAR in Little Rock, for a few months because of the guest list. But I took another look at the line-up and my absence has been undeserved for the past month or so. Mr. Mitchell sat down with Sarah Polley ("Away from Her"), Judd Apatow ("Knocked Up"), Eli Roth ("Hostel"), Adrian Grenier ("Entourage") and Brad Bird ("Ratatouille").
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