Results tagged “kristenstewart”

                     

Is it just me or do the weird, little Mormon books by Stephanie Meyer not exactly qualify as a "saga"? And why does no one discuss the awful examples of social behavior (e.g. how awesome it is to date violent, distant men) that the books promote? Nevertheless, here comes Twilight Saga: New Moon. It will make close to a hundred million dollars this weekend, and in a few years people will barely remember it. I'm much more excited about Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Werner Herzog + a fully-caffeinated Nic Cage + a sleepwalking Eva Mendes = awesome. Yes, I am dead serious. Michael Oher has a great story which I'm sure will be watered-down and simplified in The Blind Side. Hey Hollywood -- less accents, more story!

                            

When I think of my favorite movies of the last twenty years, the most curious inclusion is probably Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco. Now that it's been given the Criterion treatment (it's been out of print on DVD for years), I can't recommend it highly enough. If only Stillman would actually write and direct another film (Disco was his last and that was eleven years ago!). I enjoyed Adventureland so much at Sundance that I watched it again when it landed in theaters. Equally sad and sweet and funny, it was poorly marketed as a straight comedy and never really found an audience. I imagine that it will on DVD, though. Sunshine Cleaning was okay, but had that "deliberately quirky" vibe coursing through it. Duplicity was one of several failures earlier this year that probably marked the beginning of the end of the big-budget, adult-targeted film. Shame that.

Defying all expectations (and good common sense), Fast and Furious roared to the top of the weekend box office chart with an April-record haul of $72.5M. Last week's champ, Monsters vs. Aliens, came in a very distant second ($33.5M/$105.7M), but easily outdistanced A Haunting in Connecticut ($9.5M/$37.2M), the awful Knowing ($8.1M/$58.2M) and the hilarious I Love You, Man ($7.8M/$49.2M). In the latest indictment of America's cultural decline, the wonderful Adventureland limped to a weak, sixth-place finish ($6M).

There is one movie that everyone should see this weekend and that movie is Adventureland. Alternately funny and touching, it is another rousing success from director Greg Mottola (LAist review here). That said, there is another movie that probably everyone will actually see and that is Fast & Furious. I admit it -- I liked the first title in this series. It had a Point Break-ish quality to it. But is this latest reboot really necessary? Pass.

After more than a decade in the wilderness following his fine 1996 debut, The Daytrippers, director Greg Mottola roared back into public consciousness in 2007 with the wonderfully foul Superbad. His follow-up to that, Adventureland, is a much gentler work that should cement his position as a sought-after director for years to come. Based on Motttola's teenage experiences working at an amusement park in the 80s, the film is a wonderful conflation of two disparate genres: daffy comedy and genuinely affecting coming of age flick.

Who would have ever thought that overlaying a Mormon template over standard teen angst fare and vampire mythology would have proven to be as successful as the Twilight series has been? And more importantly, where are the "porn" versions of this movie (e.g. Shaving Ryan's Privates). Bolt returns John Travolta to an unwelcome state of prominence and further bolsters the career of the rancid Miley Cyrus. Elegy was depressing as hell but damn if it wasn't a fine movie. Did anyone have a better two-fer last year than Penelope Cruz (Elegy and the fantastic Vicky Cristina Barcelona)? Maybe Ben Kingsley (Elegy and The Wackness)?

The first time I attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, I stayed until the festival's conclusion on Sunday. Never will I make that mistake again. While it did allow for a more leisurely pace, all the excitement (and most of the people) had left Park City by mid-week. So this year I once again planned an early Friday morning arrival and a late Tuesday night departure. I was able to see thirteen films, party three nights out of four and sit five feet away from Damien Rice during his amazingly casual concert at the ASCAP Music Cafe.

Similarly to last year (and probably owing to the largely liberal bent of the festival's programmers), there were a significant amount of films about the Iraq War at Sundance this year. Perhaps the most despairing (both in content and execution) was first-time director Oren Moverman's The Messenger. The film stars Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson as a pair of psychologically damaged Army soldiers who are tasked with the grim responsibility of informing families that their son or daughter has been killed in action.

Despite sucking and being overwhelmingly patronizing, is looking more and more like a big flop ($4.2M/$37.8M).

Since the weekend following Thanksgiving is an historically slow one for business, the major studios were hesitant to release anything on Friday. As a result, the witless ($5.1M/$165.6M) which are both certified hits.

As little as a week ago, forecasters were estimating that ($7.2M/$48M) rounded out the top 5.

No one is really sure what's going to happen at the box office with Twilight this weekend. My personal take is that it will radically over-perform the early guesses of ~$45M. America, never underestimate the desire and resolve of teenage girls. Didn't you learn anything from ?! Bolt is worth seeing just to hear the grating but hilarious voice of Susie Essman. The addition of Miley Cyrus to the cast, however, is pure Hollywood marketing evil! I Can't Think Straight = forbidden and hot Middle Eastern lesbianism.

It's difficult to review a film that is so purposefully intended for an audience other than myself. With its focus on chaste and forbidden love, is about a love that can neither be resisted nor explained.

The folks behind the upcoming movie, Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's book series, have finally stopped torturing fans with teaser-length trailers and premiered a new one yesterday on MySpace. You can watch it more easily here though, on the ecard or embedded below the jump.