If you wanna see the dumbest movie of 2010, go and waste your ten buck on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Cheesy dialogs, amateur acting, poor visual effects, weird love triangle, predictable situations. Previously, I gave an award for a stupidest movie of the year to Sex City 2. But watching this allegedly supernatural film changed my mind – the prize goes to it. The romantic vampire movie and its script repeats the same formula as previous Twilight Saga movies: most of it will bore you to death and then last 5 minutes is spent on chaotic supernatural fighting.
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner reprise their roles as Bella Swan,Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black with the same dull performance. So called vampire Pattinson hangs around with a constipated facial expression ready to cry at any moment. While werewolf Lautner behaves like a young thug and goes naked at an instant. Probably his character Jacob Black has to go through a lot of clothing, if you ask me.
Having said that, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse set a new record for biggest midnight opening in domestic box office history. Overall, it gathered an estimated $30 million in over 4,000 movie theaters. So, I guess, this is a new formula for commercial success. Speaking figuratively, studio Summit Entertainment will keep on milking this franchise until it gets the last drop of the milk. So, tighten your belts, because more sequels are on their way. Studio already approved The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and intends to split it in two films. Seems, like the world is going to hell.
I still remember how in 1999 film critics were hailing M. Night Shyamalan. They just watched the suspense movie Sixth Sense and out of excitement they were predicting a great future for a young director putting him somewhere between Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. Well, that did not happen. In fact, somewhere around 2006 Shyamalan’s career took a huge nose-dive, when his moronic fantasy film Lady in the Water and idiotic thriller film The Happening flopped. To make the things worse, Lady in the Water received 4 Golden Raspberry Award nominations, and won 2 infamous movie awards – Worst Director (Shyamalan) and Worst Supporting Actor (also Shyamalan).
And now Shyamalan presents us with another stinking masterpiece The Last Airbender dubbed as an action-adventure fantasy film. It cost 150 million but, probably some name a total budget figures around 280 million dollars. No more Hitchcock for you, my intelligent moviegoer – this stinker is based on an average cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender. And, this is just the first film from the planned trilogy. Too bad, it won’t be the last so we will have to suffer more.
The film has a unique feature – none of the actors can act. And although, most of the characters of the cartoon are Asians, the cast of the film is all white, except for the poor Dev Patel who got sucked into this venture after wonderful performance in Slumdog Millionaire.
If you have children and take them to that movie, they will be happy with all those cool CGI effects. You will probably like them too. But even the best computer effects can’t make a stupid film better. Especially, this one with convoluted and confusing plot, amateurish acting, and disappointing directing.
About 11 years passed since animated fantasy film Toy Story 2. So, naturally, Andy had to grow up and go to college. As a result all his plastic toys are dumped in a day-care center where they have to fight for survival. The minimalistic plot of the movie got universal acclaim. Even on its second weekend Toy Story 3 was still number one movie in the US and Canada. managed to sell more movie tickets than Grown Ups and Knight and Day combined.
11 years is a lot of time even for a new installment of a big blockbuster franchise as Toy Story. It is risky because a new generation has already grown up and these youngsters could easily reject the sequel. Luckily, nothing of the kind happened as a great screenwriter Michael Arndt won moviegoers again with his sentimentality and calls to re-visit our childhood. For those who does not know Michael, he is the guy who created a script of Little Miss Sunshine.
Leading voice actors and the director also added to the success of this new movie. Tom Hanks was Woody and Tim Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear again. Director Lee Unkrich was a co-director on Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo that got Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003.
I like Adam Sandler. And although I don’t know him personally, I feel that he is good to his not so successful actor friends who tend to appear in various film roles from one of his film to another. So I had some sort of anticipation when I was watching comedy film Grown Ups. After all, many comedy veterans were in it too. Comedy vets did not let Adam Sandler down but he did as he was one of the producers and script writers of that film. In fact, the movie script was terrible.
Gone were smart comedy dialogs – they were replaced by lots of low-brow cheap skits and fart jokes. Some movie episodes that could shine and just did not work that way – instead, they were heavily full of stunts. The result product turned out to be a not-so-funny movie. Surprisingly, Grown Ups was saved from a complete commercial disaster, it will even makes some money. However, SNL cast and the rest of the comedian cast are getting older, thus, turning into expendable victims of the cruel Tinseltown. And getting easy laughs from the crowd is not that easy anymore.
Recently I several media sources introduced a peculiar phrase. They say that Tom Cruise lost his mojo. Can’t agree with that. I think that Tom Cruise was at his best in the action movie Knight and Day that seemed to flop on its first weekend. The guy is over fifty and gets the role of an exceptionally energetic and agile ex-spy. The leading actress Camerone Diaz showed us before and again in this action movie that she just can’t act and should not get hired anymore. The whole movie was built on an old a formula but with added CGI effects. Yet, despite all that, Tom Cruise played his part well. As they say now, he delivered.
Problems started during the development and production period of the film. Something in the air already spelled disaster. Suffice to say that the first director left, the film changed names like Wichita and Troubled Man. The leading male role was offered consecutively to Adam Sandler, Chris Tucker, and Gerard Butler and they all declined. The female leading role was initially offered to Eva Mendes who also turned it down. Movie also changed production studios and its budget exceeded 125 million dollars in the end. Marketing campaign sucked.
Big opening weekend numbers are usually driven by young moviegoers. I don’t think that Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are extremely popular among this age group of audience. Given time, there is a chance that this action movie will fare better with adult audience or maybe not. However, it is just not right to call the film a box office bomb. Not yet.
We can state that Amanda’s Seyfried’ breakthrough in her movie career began somewhere in 2006. Biographers say that she started acting at the age nine. Yes, she was a child model who presented some designers clothing when she was nine. Yes she played some insignificant roles in Nine Lives and Alpha Dog movies. And she recorded a couple of songs that nobody really heard of. Yet, Big Love TV series success became a starting point to her rising to the top.
She played her role of a rebellious Mormon daughter well and people remembered that short girl with Betty Davis’ eyes. And, obviously, directors too as they started to offer her roles in the upcoming movies.
She made a splash in most romantic comedy or drama movies like Mamma Mia!, Dear John, Letters to Juliet. However, the horror movie Jennifer’s Body that expected to become a blockbuster practically flopped. It did not help that Megan Fox along with Amanda played 2 major roles in this flick. Erotic thriller Chloe praised by critics was not a commercial success either.
These drawbacks probably led to Amanda’s decision to stick around Big Love for the fourth season before finally leaving the TV show. Riding on its success for one more year is really a smart decision.
Audience still did not make up its mind about her because she has been slightly type casted as a a coming of age character. But she is definitely one of the hottest young film stars in Hollywood. So time will show if Amanda will have a long lasting career or will fade away as many other movie starlets before her.
I don’t care how much money sci fi movie Splice will bring. It is intelligent and totally worth watching. Recently we are left with only two sci fi choices: either they show us a B movie with low grade effects and bad actors or they present us thoughtless expensive film completely built on CGI effects . Well, films like Splice represent the golden middle movies that are hard to find. Sometimes it feels like directors don’t want to experiment anymore and want to avoid risks at all cost.
However, Vincenzo Natali is a different type of director . Intelligent movie goers (that are always in the minority) appreciated his cult movies like Cube, Cypher and now Splice. This Canadian director made Cube with only $365,000 bucks , or in other words, almost for free. And he hired a real professor was hired to do the math for Cube, and that one could actually build the structure as it is described in the film. For Splice Vincenzo Natali got 30 million dollar budget – it is like an all-you-can-eat buffet!
Those who closely follow the career of Adrian Brody already know that this brilliant actor makes decent efforts not to participate in crappy movies. He makes a mistake sometimes, but, hey, who am I to judge him for that? If he decided to play the main character in Splice, that can be a second major reason to watch the film. The third reason is, of course, Sarah Polley – who played the leading role in the Dawn of the Dead – one of the few zombie films to make over $100 million at international box-office.
I am always wondering whether anybody in Hollywood read books, as the sci fi books from its golden age still remain the untapped monumental cinema resource for script writers and directors alike. Instead they tend to pursue an easy road to commercial success thinking of us as dumb asses who are only worthy of primitive superhero and cartoonish save-the-planet films. If they start reading the books, they will find the sci fi treasures that are not hidden but lie on the surface waiting for us to see.
Ashton Kutcher is not a bankable star anymore. Gone are the days of his claim to faim in Dude, Where Is My Car? and That ’70s Show. Now most people know him as Mr Demi Moore, or “that guy from Punk’d”. No cinema masterpieces are coming from his movie production company Katalyst Films that he co-owns with Jason Goldberg. Ashton’s last attempts to regain the celebrity status by means of acting failed miserably.
On the contrary, Katherine Heigl is quite bankable. Without going into discussion about the quality, it is a fact that her recent movies Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth turned out to be quite profitable. Simply said, movie audience likes her, although this is probably changing since she became a part of the duo with Kutcher in the supposedly funny film Killers.
Despite serious budget of 75 million dollars, Killers smelled so bad that it was not even screened for critics before its initial release. I went to watch it with a group of friends for laughs, but the movie stank so badly that nobody even giggled once. This film was not dumb – it was dull with a capital letter. After several years of a happy marriage Jennifer Kornfeldt played by Katherine Heigl discover that her husband is a contract killer. And she joins him. Hm, pretty fresh plot, isn’t it?
My only hope is that we won’t see Kutcher on a movie screen for a while after this disaster film. However, I know it’s futile to have big dreams, and there is also TV which is more merciful to failed actors with connections.
There was a noisy and silly TV series The A-Team that ran for 5 seasons and ended in 1986. It was not created for deep thinkers or exquisite comedy lovers. It reminded more of Tom & Jerry cartoon. In the center of the plot was a story about mercenaries who were constantly on the run from the military. Main heroes looked pretty cartoonish: there were lots of explosions and gun shooting, fist fights without injuries and a catchy theme tune. In spite of lots of violence nobody bleed or bruise, after helicopter crashes heroes would get easily up and walk away. On its fourth season ratings seriously dropped and pretty formulaic TV series were losing heavily to famous The Cosby Show. In November 1986, NBC cancelled the series. The end.
Not really. A bunch of movie producers, who were probably lost in their search for original idea, decided to dig up the corpse of The A-Team and make a feature film. Not just any film, but a 110 million dollar budget film. Whoever told them that people experience deep nostalgia for resting in piece TV series was definitely wrong. After many efforts and a convoluted script, a Phoenix was born out of the old A-Team ashes. We don’t post a movie spoiler in this post. New The A-Team repeats the story of the old one. It also has lots of noises, auto and helicopter crashes, explosions, gun shooting, combat fights and no sense at all.
Whenever a new remake movie appears on the screen film critics are usually cautious with their prognosis. Not in the case of The Karate Kid, though, as it was destined to bring a rainfall of money. After all, Will Smith and his wife were producers of this remake and the main hero Dre Parker is played by their son young actor Jaden Smith. Will Smith is famous for his strategical calculations of a success formula in movie projects, and he just could not go wrong this time. No father would want to ruin his baby’s cinematic career.
The strategical way of thinking shows everywhere, especially with the new replacement of Mr Myagi by Mr Han played by an international movie star Jackie Chan. The name of the film was strategically changed for release in several countries because their audience may not be familiar with the original film circa 1984. For example in China it was renamed as The Kung Fu Kid and in Japan and South Korea it was presented as Best Kid.
Another sign of modern times: new Karate Kid takes place not in the US but in China where Dre movies with his mother. Authors probably took into consideration the fact that America became too politically correct and some kick ass actions would look too unrealistic. Another problem that makes this movie look a little fake is that kids who did not even hit puberty act too vicious and angry for their age. They all are younger than in the original but behave as if they are overwhelmed by a real teenage hormone attacks.
Do you like talking-animal live-action films? Sure, you do. Do you enjoy seeing talking animals in the movie? Yes, they are so cute. This would probably be the answer of the majority of movie goers who are into family movies. Well, somehow this majority avoided at all costs PG movie Marmaduke directed by Tom Dey. 50 million dollar budget and voice actors – celebrities like Owen Wilson, Fergie, Wayans brothers, Kiefer Sutherland and others could not save this primitive film about the Winslow family and their pets, including a Great Dane named Marmaduke. Only two movie celebrities Amanda Seyfried and Ron Perlman lucked out only because they turned down an offer to provide their voices. Possibly, they have great agents who care about them.
Marmaduke was released nationwide. This didn’t help either Even on its first weekend, Marmaduke landed in sixth place, right behind Sex and the City 2. In film finale all dogs are dancing and singing the song What I like about you. Well, there is really nothing to like about the movie for sure.
Get Him to the Greek is somewhat of a spinoff. It is sequel movie of hilarious comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshalland it is even funnier than the original. Naturally, the movie is full of raunchy humor, physical comedy and stereotypes of a hard life of a rocker on his way down the hill. But the most pleasant surprise comes from realization that a duo of actors Russel Brand and Jonah Hill works so well. Deeply depressed British rocker Aldous played by Brand gets unexpected help from a talent scout Aaron played by Hill. The latter is ready to do anything to please the rocker and bring him to the concert in Los Angeles.
Did I emphasize the word “anything? Yes, this is what Aaron does. He drinks and pops pills with Aldous and smuggle drugs in his ass. He gets raped by a groupie Destiny and participates in a threesome with Aldous and his own girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss). Aaron even jumps with Aldous from the roof of the building.
It seems that some people turned away from this movie in hypocritical disgust, but those with an open mind should definitely watch it. It will also appeal to people with a darker sense of humor. Under the facade of a gazillion jokes you will find a real movie. I also envision a mass renting of film’s DVDs in the near future.
After the countless train wrecks that have been produced throughout the first decade of the 21st century, I hope you’re still looking for a good action movie. They might be hard to come by, but luckily we’ve come across one here. “Prince of Persia” is a refreshing summer action flick, filled with a vibrant environment, engaging characters, and of course a unique spin: a dagger that harbors the power to back step the course of time.
Interestingly enough, the film would’ve still been entertaining without the gimmick of the dagger. The action is very tight and masterfully shot by director Newell, and the glimpse of classic Persia is stunningly beautiful. Watching Jake Gyllenhaal jump and fly around the obstacle course of a Persian city keeps the theater audience on edge through a rollercoaster of flips, wall-jumps, and spins. Then, of course, add the dimension of changing back time and suddenly you have a blockbuster hit. And the plot remains simple, with oftentimes too much exposition, but it prevents the movie from losing any unnecessary footing. The audience instead is mesmerized by the visuals and absorbed into the intrigue.
However, it is a silly and forgettable summer blockbuster with bizarre monologues about the evil of taxes and curious mixture of Zoroastrian and Mogul clothing and architecture. All the jumps that somehow bond with the computer game of the 80s can not change the fact that PoP is more or less just an Ali Baba for modern generations of movie goers. My advice: just pick up original One Thousand and One Nights and read it.
There are a few interesting things going on in this movie. Luckily for you, I can outline them all here so that you can save your two and a half hours. The reason I can tell you the good parts of a movie is that these good elements don’t necessarily appear on screen. Instead, this movie gives insight into the strong relationship between a director and star actor.
“Robin Hood”, which is accepted amongst most snide film buffs as the sequel “Gladiator 2”, is the repeat performance of director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe’s dynamic creative genius, a duo that clicks so well in the midst of a great adventure film. We’ve seen them work together before, and the five Oscar-wining “Gladiator” is a testament to their genius. But nothing shines for that long, and certainly not for ten years. It seemed as if Scott and Crowe decided to film another movie under the same guise of Gladiator, hoping to be successful not by virtue of the film itself but instead by the awesome power of their collaboration. Oh man, was that an oversight.
So yes, you do see a Ridley Scott movie. The large scale wars are carefully shot and perhaps the most engaging parts of the movie, and close-combat is usually entertaining, except for his reliance on a very retro looking slow-motion shot which overwhelms the film. The attention to detail is there, especially when it comes to the archers and the trajectory of their arrows. But the storyline, which follows the beginning of Robin Hood’s rebellion, is weak and overly complicated.
And yes, you do see academy award winner Russell Crowe. And he’s not bad, I mean, the guy knows how to act. But still, it’s as if the movie doesn’t really care much about him, as if the role could have been filled by any number of A-list actors. So, has the duo lost their mojo? I certainly hope not. But in seeing “Robin Hood” I begin to question their ability as teammates.