MovieZen Blog

Wanted Explodes in a Surprising Summer

Wanted scored a larger-than-expected opening this weekend with a whopping $51 million. While Wall-E took the top spot with $63 million like everyone thought it would, Wanted actually had a higher per-theater average because it's playing in about 800 fewer theaters.

Particularly interesting in Wanted's case is that it was originally scheduled to be a spring release. Universal had planned on giving Forgetting Sarah Marshall a spot on their summer schedule, mimicking the successful release of Knocked Up in 2007, but when they decided that the comedy would work better in the Spring, that left a hole in their schedule. Plugging it with an action thriller, based on an unknown comic book, starring a skinny Scottish guy most people don't know was risky, and now they get to reap the rewards.

It's been a strange summer for business. No sooner had my "5 Predicted Flops This Summer" arrived that Speed Racer -- not on my list -- crashed and burned. Okay, if I was better at this, I might have been able to predict that. But then even Narnia disappointed: while The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe made $290 million, Prince Caspian only stands at $138 million to date. You can pull out the very valid reasons -- the book was less popular than the first, it opened too far before kids were out of school -- but even taking those into account, it was "supposed" to do much better.

Only two movies on my top five list have been released so far, and my track record is 50%, give or take.  Thwarting my prediction, Sex and the City was a success by all accounts, but The Incredible Hulk trails even Ang Lee's scorned 2003 version. That's a particularly strange case, since the reactions on the whole have been significantly better. Despite his legendary status as a comic book character, perhaps the Hulk can just never tap into widespread appeal.

Other surprises: The Love Guru crashes and burns -- and at least part of the blame has to go to the execs who didn't move it away from the release of Get Smart. The Happening kicks off with a much-stronger-than-expected $30 million opening, only to plummet in subsequent weekends thanks to a horrific response from critics and audiences alike.

Even You Don't Mess with the Zohan, which opened exactly in line with Adam Sandler's past movies, hasn't followed the formula: while his films usually hit $125 million each summer like clockwork, Zohan is currently struggling to reach $100 million.

Lessons to be learned? Who knows? Last summer was the Summer of Threequels (or the Summer of Apatow, take your pick); the year before that was the Summer of Pirates 2 (it made double its nearest competitor); the year before that was the depressing Summer of Remakes. This year? We've got a little bit of everything. It might be harder for us bloggers to categorize, but that just makes it all the more exciting, right?

Michael Dance
StrandedinManhattan.com

**Read more articles by Michael Dance**

Julie Pinson

When you think of Julie Pinson you probably remember her as “Billie Reed” on NBC daytime soap, Days of our Lives. Julie is quite an actress and she is bringing to life a new character on CBS, As the World Turns Janet Ciccone. Julie has also played on The Young & the Restless.

Her recent character Janet Ciccone is a woman who has arrived in Oakdale after her daughter, Freedom, make her arrival to announce that Brad Snyder is her father. Brad and Janet were high school lovers and eventually broke up. Janet became pregnant and raised her daughter on her own.  Brad moved on with his life and recently married Katie Hughes. To their surprise, Freedom arrived at their door to introduce her self. Brad and Katie took Freedom immediately over to the hospital to perform a DNA test to verify Freedom’s claim. Meanwhile, Janet arrives to be there for her daughter and to also find out what Brad was into.

Katie and Brad help Freedom start school, buy clothes, and meet new friends. When Janet arrives she demands a lot of Brad’s attention which makes Katie really mad. As Janet starts to make herself a part of Brad, Katie, and Freedom’s life Katie does her best to win back Brad’s complete attention.

Julie has played in the following movies:
1992: The Mambo Kings – Girlfriend #2
1995: Unstrung Heroes – Nurse Franklin
1997: Starship Troopers – Female Trooper

Julie has also guest starred on:
Hollywood Squares in 2000
The Tim Pipher Show in 1998
Soap Talk on several occasions from 2003 to 2006
I Wanna Be a Soap Star in 2007
Port Charles in 1997
The Drew Carey Show in 2002
Dharma & Greg in 2002

She has been nominated for three awards which include:
Outstanding Young Lead Actress in 1997 for Port Charles
Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1997 for Port Charles
Outstanding Heroine in 1997 for Port Charles

JFrye
SoapFan

**Read more articles by JFrye**

Warm Springs

I discovered a fascinating HBO movie called Warm Springs starring Kenneth Branagh of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets fame and Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City: The Movie.

The title Warm Springs doesn’t tell you much if you aren’t familiar with the story about Franklin D. Roosevelt spending time at a rundown health spa in rural 1920s Georgia, hoping to walk again after being stricken with polio at the age of 39. Cynthia Nixon performed brilliantly as his wife, Eleanor, revealing a side of Eleanor attempting to cope with Franklin’s infidelities before the polio and the presidency. The movie also showed her political development alongside her husband.

The movie showcased a fabulous cast highlighting a superb character study, revealing how Franklin became better suited for the Presidency for having suffered polio. Known for being a ruthless politician from a privileged background, he was humbled by this experience, enabling him to show compassion for others.

The tagline for this film is “The greatest challenge FDR faced was the one we never saw,” which aptly describes the meaning of this movie. It was a painful but understandable depiction of one man struggling with his inner demons as he strove to overcome what he felt to be such a large handicap that he could never run for President.

One person remembered his fifth grade teacher telling the class, “If Franklin Delano Roosevelt were still alive, people would come out in droves to reelect him to a fifth term as President.” And to think that he nearly succumbed to his own fears aided by his domineering mother to give up on life and hide out in the family home.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

**Read more articles by Kathy Holmes**

New Gigs for Old Favorites

It’s not official, but there is a strong buzz in Hollywood that claims George Clooney just snagged what may be a role of a lifetime.

Warner Bros. announced last week that Anthony Peckham will take "The Tourist," (the best-selling Olen Steinhauer novel) to the big screen and use it as a potential star vehicle for mega-hunk Clooney.

Smokehouse's Grant Heslov, Nina Wolarsky and Clooney have already signed on to produce the adaptation. 

For those of you who have yet to read the popular page-turner, "The Tourist" is a contemporary international thriller about a spy who risks everything to reveal a conspiracy after he's accused of a murder he didn't commit.

Before Clooney hits the silver screen in “The Tourist” you can catch him heating up theaters in the Joel and Ethan Coen-directed "Burn After Reading."

Clooney may be one of her best friend’s, but Angelina Jolie has Jon Voight’s blood running through her veins.

And Angie’s daddy has reason to celebrate right now. Besides the fact that he is about to be a grandfather to twins (not that he will likely be allowed to go anywhere near Brangelina’s double blessing) the actor has just been cast as the villain on the upcoming season of the Fox drama "24."

The series’ seventh season debuts in January, but fans won’t have to wait that long to see Voight on the small screen. He will make his first appearance during a two-hour "prequel" episode to air this November. The 69-year-old actor's character will then resurface during the second half of the regular season, according to show producers.

Voight fans might remember the actor’s last stint as a regular in primetime—he appeared in the classic Western "Gunsmoke," during the 1960s. And while the media harps on the fact that he is Angelina Jolie’s father, Voight has an impressive resume as a serious actor. He won an Academy Award for best actor for the 1978 film "Coming Home," and has been nominated three other times for "Midnight Cowboy,""Runaway Train" and "Ali." He has also starred in a number of hit films, including "Deliverance," "Mission: Impossible," "Transformers" and the "National Treasure" movies.

Lucia Kim
Families Pop Culture Blog

**Read more articles by Lucia Kim**

Oh well, hello “WALL-E!”

“WALL-E” – obviously the year’s most fascinating animated 29^th century love story -- sings!

Yep, after searching for months for some music to hang his inspiration on, Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) found it in an old movie whose major stars are nowhere to be seen.

“I stumbled across ‘Hello, Dolly!’” Stanton said during a recent Toronto-based interview. “Like a lot of people, I had done some musical theater as a kid in high school and one of the standards was ‘Hello, Dolly!’ I remember hearing that phrase ‘out there’ from (the song) ‘Put on Your Sunday Clothes,’ and it was a complete guttural and aesthetic choice."

‘Wow! Out there and then you cut to stars.’ It just worked. I couldn’t explain it, but I kept it alive for the longest time and then I realized why it was working for me. This song is about two young guys that are stuck in a small town and just want to sneak away for a day, have a life and maybe kiss a girl. And I thought, ‘That’s WALL-E.’ So, in a weird way, you’re going to meet WALL-E’s hopes, dreams, soul – in Frame One – before you even see him on screen.

“Hello, Dolly!” -- somehow a 1969 Best Picture nominee which actually carted away three other Oscars -- stars Walter Matthau and Barbra Streisand, but it’s British entertainer Michael Crawford (and love interest Marianne McAndrew) mostly seen and heard in Disney-Pixar’s “WALL-E.”

‘When I started looking at other ‘Dolly’ songs, I found ‘It Only Takes a Moment’ and, when I started to watch the movie and saw the two lovers holding hands, it was a big ‘A-ha’ moment for me," Stanton explained.

“It was like, ‘Wow! I have a character that can’t say I love you, but that’s how he can – with the visual of holding hands. When you get a gift like that, from an initial inspiration, you take it as fate like, ‘I should be using it. This is helping me a lot.’"

“As odd as it is, I ran with it. My theme in all my choices was ‘irrational love defeats life’s programming’ and, to me, that’s what happened to these two robots. I thought it was a great metaphor for real life. We’re starting to be in a society where you can distract yourself so quickly and so easily with a million things and not do the tougher but more satisfying thing of making contact with the person next to you and pushing relationships, which are messy and don’t always go the way you planned them. But, that’s the real reason you’re on this planet.”

All that said, Stanton added that “Hello, Dolly!” almost didn’t make the cut, either. “As sort of an early stand-in, I had French ‘30s swing music,” he said.

"I knew I wanted old versus new, and I loved that juxtaposition. It had sort of a Woody Allen-feel right when the movie started."

“Then the (animated) ‘Triplets of Belleville’ came out and it’s all in pantomime, ‘30s, all-French, swing style and I didn’t want to look like I was copying. I’m now kind of glad it happened because it forced me to look harder. I broadened the scope to anything old and moved my search into Broadway musicals and stuff.”

“WALL-E” and “Dolly” couldn’t be happier.

John M. Urbancich

JMuvies

Cleveland Sun -- Intermission

Blowing Smoke: Broderick's Awkward Confession

"The message Hollywood needs to send out is 'Smoking Is Cool!'"
~Nick Naylor, Thank You For Smoking

I'm not sure when the smoking habits of the rich and famous became the stuff of headlines, but recently, Matthew Broderick felt the need to share with the world that he's probably raising a smoker. His son is 5.

Broderick says, "I used to smoke cigarettes, and I still do, lately. I gave that up a long time ago, but every now and then I will fall off for a week.

"(Sarah Jessica) is worse than me on that. James Wilkie is already curious.

"He'll see a cigarette butt and say, 'What is that? Why do people smoke?' I can just see the little budding gene of a smoker in there."

source

I'm not exactly sure why any parent would expose their young one's interest in inhaling poison to the press, nor why they would want to publicly admit to such a parenting faux pas as making cigarettes appealing to little ones. But I suppose it's better than outright lying to the public about having an impossibly perfect life void of all vices or not having an insatiably curious child like the rest of us mere mortals.

Perhaps upon reading the press coverage of Matthew's revelations, the Brodericks will recognize that some patterns should be broken. For little James Wilkie, I hope he can learn to discern the difference between admiring his parents and emulating their bad habits.

Maybe it's time for Sarah Jessica Parker to take a cue from her alter ego and give up the smokes. If Carrie Bradshaw could do it for love, why can't she?

Smoking is cool. As satire. The end.

Child: My Mommy say smoking is bad for you.
Nick Naylor: Oh, is your Mommy a doctor?
Child: No.
Nick Naylor: A scientific researcher of some kind?
Child: No.
Nick Naylor: Well, then she's hardly a credible expert, is she?

Nadine Bells
on her toes

**Read more articles by Nadine Bells**

The Top 5 Stoner Movies

In honor of the upcoming -- and awesome-looking -- Pineapple Express, it's time to look into the past and count down the top five stoner movies. Ever.

This is of course my own opinion, so feel free to argue. But just for clarification purposes, my definition of a stoner film is a movie that (a) contains at least one instance of pot-smoking, and (b) is widely known to be beloved by actual stoners.

It goes without saying that merely labeling these "stoner movies" is a bit shortsighted -- indeed, the reason they're all classic is because they're so much more. Well, at least the top three. #5 and #4 are pretty straightforward.

5. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
I had the privilege of interviewing Kal Penn -- a.k.a. Kumar -- a while back, and he insisted that this movie isn't a stoner movie because the heroes are actually pursuing hamburgers, not weed. Sure, Kal. Except that the reason they're pursuing hamburgers is because they're so high. It doesn't matter -- Harold & Kumar is a relentlessly hilarious one-night-long road trip that single-handedly brought Neil Patrick Harris back into the national consciousness.

4. Up in Smoke
You cannot create a list of stoner movies without paying homage to this film, which is the stoner-movie-ist stoner movie of all stoner movies. Cheech and Chong at their best: playing two guys who smuggle a van, made entirely of marijuana, from Mexico to the U.S.

3. The Big Lebowski
For quotes alone, this is one of the best movies of all time. "You're out of your element, Donnie." "She kidnapped herself!" "The royal 'we.'" "This is what happens when you f--- a stranger in the a--!" "They're nihilists, dude." "The rug really tied the room together." Shall I go on? The Big Lebowski also has the rare honor of paradoxically being a highbrow stoner movie, in that it comes from Joel and Ethan Coen, the writer-directors of No Country for Old Men and tons of other terrific movies. Get involved in the super-complicated story, stay for the pitch-perfect dialogue, and remember the Saddam Hussein/Viking costume/bowling dream sequence forever.

2. Dazed and Confused
Recall your high school days with warm nostalgia in Richard Linklater's ode to teenagers, which follows a group of 13- and 17-year-olds over the course of about fifteen hours following the last day of school in Texas in 1976. The plot is (by design) not cohesive and the pace is leisurely, but the characters will all have a hold of you by the end. Plus there's that immortal line: "That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age."

1. Super Troopers
"That little guy? I wouldn't worry about that little guy." One of the best comedies of all time, watching this movie for the ninth time is like hanging out with your closest friends -- if your closest friends were a hundred times funnier than they actually are. I can't even describe the simple pleasures of Super Troopers, except that they involve plenty of shenanigans.

Michael Dance
StrandedinManhattan.com

**Read more articles by Michael Dance**

Why Big Name Actors Are Not Always Worth Their Price Tag

There is nothing more appealing to some movie fans than an all-star lineup of A-list actors. Movies like the Ocean’s trilogy, Heat and The Departed all caused quite the commotion when they were first introduced. But are big name actors, the ones with huge market power, always worth the effort and the sky high price tag that inevitably joins them?

The most obvious reason to have a large ensemble cast of stars is the draw power. The public will often be drawn to a movie simply because their favorite actor or actress will be gracing the big screen. Yet the most successful movies to date have relied more on title notoriety than popular stars. Did the original Star Wars or Lord of the Rings have any major stars? Not a one. Perhaps the movies themselves managed to create a Hollywood star or two along the way, but actor stardom was not a key ingredient. Could another actor have made Spider-Man just as successful as Tobey McGuire? Probably so and there are some who believe that others would have been more suited for the role of Peter Parker.

That’s not to say that all star studded casts out there should be burned alive and run over with a Buick. The fantastic ‘96 drama Sleepers was one of the better movies ever produced by the tyrannical war machine known as Hollywood. Sleepers remains an exception to a rule (which I just made up, but it should be a rule) that more than two stars is a sinking ship. Let us not kid ourselves by thinking that too many super actors in a movie doesn’t mean serious ego wars. As if a movie director needs more headaches.

On many movie sets, it is often the superstar that has more overall power than the director who technically should be the supreme overlord of movie production. There aren’t too many businesses today where the employee has more power then his boss. Imagine an accounting firm where a department head must literally treat his underlings with professional equality because they hold more power than him/her in both the company and maybe even the entire industry. Pretty hard to work under these kind of conditions wouldn’t you say?

Producers' movie star addiction has lead to many surprising choices in casting over the last two decades. One classic example of casting gone wrong is I Robot. Sure Will Smith did a good job playing the role of Detective Del Spooner, but it was not true to the classic Issac Asimov book that the movie was based on. Spooner wasn’t a 6′4, 250 black Goliath, but rather a small white guy who couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag. There can be no doubt that the producers wanted a big star and Will Smith was their first choice. Didn’t matter to them one shallow and egotistical lick that the casting was off by a few light years. As important as name recognition and image are, sacrificing the integrity of a script or book, especially of such a classic like I Robot, should not be done.

The use of multiple stars in one movie production is entirely a marketing ploy that almost always carries very little professional merit. It is the fans who unfortunately suffer the most however, when they are continuously misled into believing that an all-star movie line-up translates into a quality product. Why the fans repeatedly allow their naivety to get the better of them remains a mystery, but why the movers and shakers in Hollywood continue to invest lavish sums in their leading talent is not.  It is an advertising tool and nothing more.

Ozzy Neav
De Novo Magazine

**Read more articles by Ozzy Neav**

Magic Realism

Magic Realism in movies

Magic realism is perhaps one of the most beautiful tools used in films to get a point across. It is a touch of a fantastical element which gives a particular message to a film.

There are movies that are so bizarre they toy with your puny little brain, take it for a walk, and then put it in the blender to watch it explode. These acid trip movies are absurd and make little sense to anyone. The truth is, they aren't supposed to.  It is an abstract realism, a way which becomes real only through watching our perceptions of it.

In order to enjoy these absurd and bizarre demonstrations, we must suspend our belief that the natural order of things don't apply. We must believe that there is a door which leads to John Malkovich's brain as with Being John Malkovich  . We would realize that there is a way to erase the memories of our lover from our brains as in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It can also take acid trip proportions like the head twisting baby in Trainspotting .

The key here is not to go too far off the edge. A Clockwork Orange is brilliant because it combines real life happenings with absurdity. Everything else in the movie makes sense, so it can afford these fantastical elements.

We also empathize with the characters, we wish them well.  This is the difference between science fiction and fantasy movies. Behind all the absurdity there is a realism, which is further told by placing these fantastical elements.

When it goes really wrong is when things are absurd and idiotic, for stupidities sake. Take Jennifer Lopez in The Cell which was more about special effects and design than true notions in absurdity. Another example is Vanilla Sky and it's strange turn of events at the film's climax.

The important thing to remember about magic realism is not to overuse it or to become too literal, it is of the upmost importance to maintain the integrity of the film and have the magical elements become part of the film and not a distraction.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

**Read more articles by Maryam DiMauro**

Love Guru Smackdown

Mike Myers just got a verbal smackdown from a Hindu leader in the United States.

The actor and Hindu leader Rajan Zed have been involved in a war of words ever since Zed kicked off a public rally urging moviegoers to boycott Myers’ latest comedy, "The Love Guru."

The movie follows Myers’ character—an oddball spiritual guru named Guru Pitka —as he tries to make a love connection between an unlikely couple.

While some see the movie’s premise as hilarious, Zed feels Myers’ portrayal mocks his religion and is offensive to all Hindus.

"It appears the film lampoons Hinduism and Hindus and uses Hindu terms frivolously," Zed told news reporters last week.

The "Shrek" star didn’t take Zed’s hit lightly and shot back, "This guy has not seen the film. What he will find is that this is a mythical and completely made up system of teachings in the tradition of The Force in Star Wars and Fredonia in the Marx Brothers movies."

The comedic actor added: "The system of teachings in the film are completely made up, and therefore it's a non-controversial movie."

According to Zed, he wanted to see the film, but claims that promises made to him by studio bosses at Paramount Pictures to pre-screen the movie failed to materialize. Still, that’s not stopping Zed from making vigorous attempts to get people to boycott “The Love Guru.” The real-life spiritual leader says everything from the title of the film to tagline about karma (the film’s tagline is: “His Karma is huge,”) and jokes about yoga in the film are "repugnant" to Hindus.

According to Zed, "A guru is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master in Hinduism who helps remove the ignorance of the seeker and who leads one from darkness to light. The antics of Mike Myers' Guru Pitka in The Love Guru are a mockery of the esteemed institution of guru."

For the record the movie’s official website describes Myers’ character as a "Guru/life guide/bikini inspector."

Still, Zed doesn’t find anything humorous about the film’s title or content.

"Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world... and it should not be taken lightly,” Zed maintains adding, "Cinema is a powerful medium and it can create stereotypes in the minds of some audiences."

Is “The Love Guru” as offensive as Zed makes it out to be?

You can judge for yourself—the movie opened on June 20^th and can be seen in theaters across the country.

Lucia Kim
Families Pop Culture Blog

**Read more articles by Lucia Kim**