The Rock (1996)

Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure/Thriller

Starring: Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, John Spencer

Boasting of a very strong star-cast, The Rock was a very promising movie. Brigadier General Francis X Hummel (Harris) is a Vietnam war hero and is disappointed with the fact that several US Marines have lost their lives in battle but have not received any form of respect from the US government. Taking the law in his own hands, he takes control of 'The Rock', a prison island off the coast of San Francisco and prepares to launch deadly bio-weapons at the city if his demands are not met. John Mason (Connery) is a British spy who was once held up in that very prison and knows it like the back of his hand. He is aware of a passage which would allow the Navy Seals to gain access into the island and take control of it. Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) is an FBI chemical weapons expert and knows how to diffuse the bio-weapon. The two are sent inside the island in order to perform their tasks and bring the situation back to order. The movie is very action-packed and if insane stunts and gun-wielding army men is what your looking for then it is definitely something you would want to watch. The trio put on an amazing show which is why this movie is very appealing. Although old, it still holds its charm.

Thumbs up: Gripping and entertaining
Thumbs down: The general hostage situation and good vs bad story

Rating: 7.2/10

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Leftovers Anyone?

Happy Thanksgiving to all you American Black Sheeper's out there! Let's take a look at what you served yourselves up for dinner this week. From the looks of it, you really liked what was on the menu last weekend as the Top 3 are unchanged despite Hollywood's hearty holiday helpings. TWILIGHT: NEW MOON dropped off by 70% but when you've scored $230 million domestically in two weeks, who is going to say anything? Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock vehicle, THE BLINDSIDE, actually improved on last weekend's numbers, showing that people still like that warm fuzzy feeling with their turkey. And for a disaster pic, 2012 continues to avoid its own disaster with a slight 31% decline.


Apparently OLD DOGS is no WILD HOGS. The follow up from the director of the 2008 blockbuster was not able to deliver again as OLD DOGS didn't even break the $20 million mark. With intense competition coming up, word of mouth will not be able to save this one. I guess it's time for some new tricks after all. Then again, new tricks aren't necessarily interesting to anyone either. James McTeigue's follow-up to V FOR VENDETTA, NINJA ASSASSINS, barely got any notice. Maybe the ninjas were too stealth for their own good.


FANTASTIC MR. FOX expanded to mild results, finishing in ninth place. It will need serious word of mouth to get anywhere at this point. And even though PRECIOUS dropped off a little amidst all the competition and the likely need to avoid its harshness during the holiday, it has still still taken in over $32 million without screening on more than 700 screens. And awards season hasn't even started yet!


Outside of the Top 10, the post-apocalyptic Oscar hopeful, THE ROAD scored a solid $13K per screen average on 111 screens to finish in 11th place. After the official numbers come in, it might overtake THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, as their total takes are only $10K apart, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE, directed by Rebecca Miller, features an Oscar contending performance by Robin Wright (she has dropped the Penn) but she will have to work the circuit hard after the tepid $8K per screen average it scored this weekend. Zac Efron should be happy with the solid $16K per screen debut of his first serious role in ME AND ORSON WELLES, where he plays a young Orson. But it is Disney who should be leaping like frogs this weekend as their first 2D animated film in over a decade, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, debuted to record grosses in platform release, pulling in $356K per screen average on just 2 screens. The film goes wide on December 11.


NEXT WEEK: Jim Sheridan's drama, BROTHERS, and the Robert Deniro family holiday film, EVERYBODY'S FINE open on 2200 screens. Something I've never heard (bad critic!), ARMORED, opens on 1900 screens. And indie flicks, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT and UP IN THE AIR, from JUNO director, Jason Reitman, start their limited runs.

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Adventure

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford

In ancient China, there lived an Emperor Han (Li) who had conquered all his desires and wishes except for death itself. He summoned a witch, Zi Juan (Yeoh) to grant him immortality, instead she cursed him and confessed her love for his General. The emperor along with his massive army was forever turned to stone. The year is 1947, Rick o'Connell (Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Bello) are requested by the government to go to China and hand over a rare artifact to the Shanghai museum. They meet their son Alex (Ford) their who has uncovered Emperor Han's tomb. Alex gets double-crossed by his excavation companion and the emperor is reserructed. The mighty king now wants his army back and will reclaim what was once his. The movie story dosent really continue from the previous versions. Although the story has taken a new perspective of the term 'mummy' it still maintains the charm that the previous movies had. Action packed and thrilling moments is what you will get. What you dont get, however, is the mystery which the earlier versions had. You somehow know what is going to happen in the end and it is the inevitable victory of good over evil.

Thumbs up: Equally gripping as its predeccessors
Thumbs down: A slightly predictable story-line

Rating: 6.8/10

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THE ROAD

Written by Joe Penhall
Directed by John Hillcoat
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and Kodi Smit-McPhee


Man: I think it’s October but I can’t be sure.

We all walk it. At times, we might think we know where it’s headed but we would be lying to ourselves if we said we knew that with utter certainty. The fact is that the world outside your window is constantly changing and one day, it may not even be there. It is the manner in which you handle that fact that defines a significant part of who you are. You could not bother with any of it seeing as how it is all essentially meaningless anyway. On the other hand, you could see the time before you as precious and infuse it with everything you have in order to create your own meaning in this great, big world. There is no right or wrong way to do it but your shot is now and you’re walking down that road whether you want to or not. Do yourself a favour though and see John Hillcoat’s post-apocalyptic reflection on the human spirit, THE ROAD, while you’re out there.


Just as it is in the Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy that the film is based upon, there is no confirmation as to what halted life as we knew it. It could have been a nuclear disaster or a solar explosion but how it happened hardly matters. What does matter is what is done after it happens. Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron are a seemingly happy couple before and tragically divided after. All he can see is how fortunate they are for having survived and how they must persevere given this particular fortune. All she can see is how everything worth living for before is now gone. Caught between them is the young boy (fresh face, Kodi Smit-McPhee) that was conceived before and born after the world ended. There isn’t much plot to speak of, just a journey to find hope in the form of food or comfort or warmth and security. Luckily, Mortensen leads with a strong command and a determined sense of purpose that both impresses and inspires a similar determination in the viewer.


The road for the movie itself was a lengthy one. THE ROAD was due to be released last fall but the studio felt that the marketplace was crowded and that the film could benefit from a stronger post-production period. I can’t say how the film stood up a year ago but it certainly stands up straight and tall now. Cinematographer, Javier Aguirresarobe (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, NEW MOON) paints bleakness with so many shades of gray that the absence of colour becomes a colour all unto itself. Of course the canvas he has to fill is inspired by an incredibly detailed and realistic production design. This is a world covered in ash and littered with abandoned vehicles and discarded belongings. Barren trees crash to the ground without warning and empty basements might be filled with much sought after canned food or people simply wasting away and waiting to be eaten by other people. It isn’t an easy world but it is still the only one they've got.


You know what they say, right? It isn’t at all about the destination. As Mortensen and Smit-McPhee make their way south, they teeter back and forth between belief and defeat. They don’t know what’s waiting for them; they just know they have to keep heading there. Just like the road underneath your own feet, THE ROAD is not an easy experience. It is however one of unconventional beauty that is rich with meaning and that leads to a place of deeper understanding. You just have to walk it.

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Constantine (2005)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Horror/Fantasy/Action

Starring: Keanu Reaves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBeouf, Djimon Hounsou

Angels and demons still exist in this world with humanity in between. Neither angel nor demon can cross over in their pure form and come on earth. They must come in the form of a half-breed which is part human and part devil/angel. An equal balance between good and bad is maintained on earth, however, increasing demon activity has recently tipped the scales. John Constantine (Reaves) is an exorcist who has been sending demons back to hell regularly. He knows his time is about to come and wishes that he ends up in heaven for the good deeds he is doing in spite of knowing that god does not agree with what he is doing. Angela and Isabel (Weisz) are twin sisters. Isabel is a mental patient who one night jumps off the roof and dies. Her death appears to be suicidal, however, her detective twin sister, Angela refuses to buy that story. Angela meets John in a chance encounter and learns about the existence of angels and demons. John offers the explanation that her sister might have been caught in the battle between good and evil which has landed her a place in hell. As the duo start uncovering the secrets of Isabel's past, they stumble across many horrifying facts which might just put humanity as a whole to the brink of extinction. The movie is loosely made and is extremely slow. Don't be surprised if you have to stifle a yawn or two. Except for a few startling moments, there isn't too much in the movie to actually horrify you into getting sleepless nights. The acting wasn't anything great either. In short, its quite a boring watch.

Thumbs up: *thinks hard* the little suspense that the movie had
Thumbs down: Not too thrilling for a movie of its kind

Rating: 4.4/10

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Best of Black Sheep: THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE

Pippa Lee is a people pleaser. I get that; I do it all the time too. Still, while there is nothing wrong with considering the feelings of others, it does open the door to prioritize those feelings more than you would your own. Writer/Director, Rebecca Miller, has decided though that it is high time that her heroine take center stage in her own life and reveal the complicated, the repressed and yes even, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE.


Robin Wright Penn plays the particularly enigmatic Pippa Lee and she does so with such a tender regard for her plight. Pippa is middle-aged but yet she finds herself calling a retirement village her new home so that the needs of her aging husband (Alan Arkin) can be met with more ease. She allows her daughter (Zoe Kazan) to treat her like garbage. She even lets her friends completely abuse her trust and compassion. For no obviously apparent reason, as seems to be the most common reason in cases like these, her mind can take her inadvertent abuse no more and a younger Pippa Lee (played in flashbacks by the surprisingly focused, Blake Lively) fights furiously to take back control of her life.


Miller, who last directed her husband, Daniel Day-Lewis, in THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE, has crafted a picture that is both poised and poignant. Thanks to her sensitive and delicate direction, the ensemble (rounded out by Keanu Reeves, Maria Bello, Winona Ryder and Julianne Moore) is able to create a circle around Wright Penn that is so strong and supportive, it allows for an actress who usually just fills out the circle to shine instead for a change. Subsequently, Pippa Lee gets the spotlight she has deserved all along.

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Best of Black Sheep: BROKEN EMBRACES

Pedro Almodovar is arguably the most celebrated Spanish film director of all time and it is easy to see why with his latest, BROKEN EMBRACES. It opens on actors being prepared for a shoot while a camera frames them and watches them candidly before cutting directly to an extreme close up of an actual eye. The act of watching and the subsequent act of being watched will go on to shape the entire film and under Almodovar’s delicate and respectful eye, the shape it creates proves that his vision is only getting better with age.


While Almodovar may be directing the picture, it is Harry Caine (Lluis Homar) who is the director on screen. Only this director has lost his sight in an accident and now only writes, as if that is some lesser function. He plays narrator to the film we are watching and, like the man who invented him on page, he is one heck of a storyteller. BROKEN EMBRACES is a twisted thriller that ties a torrid love affair, a tormenting husband and a tortured son together and places it all behind the scenes of a film set. To further blur the lines between art and reality, Almodovar casts longtime muse, Penelope Cruz, as Caine’s source of inspiration. Like the man who propelled her into the international spotlight, Cruz is only getting better and more beautiful with time.


With BROKEN EMBRACES, Almodovar has created a richly layered work that requires a steady hand to be done right and, while his command is controlled and impressive, he comes off as playful and cool. Heightened by first time collaborator, Rodrigo Pietro’s deliberate and stunning cinematography, Almodovar has made another contemporary classic that will certainly earn him many more accolades and admirers by honouring his roots and the fans that have gotten him this far to begin with.

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The Untouchables (1987)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography/History/Thriller

Starring: Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia

Al Capone (De Niro) was an infamous bootlegger that operated from Chicago in the 1930's. He dirtied the hands of almost every city official, law enforcement agency and politician in order to get his work done. Treasury department agent Eliot Ness (Costner) takes up the task of putting Al Capone behind bars for good. On his team is beat cop Jimmy Malone (Connery) sharp shooter George Stone (Garcia) and a treasury accountant Oscar Wallace (Smith). Repeated at getting Capone fail miserably and the team gets a bad name in the media. The team also suffers the loss of two team members but the rest diligently move on and finally manage to nab the mafia don and put him behind bars. The movie is well narrated considering the era in which it was made, but there are a lot of areas in which it could have improved in. The story was a little too simple and not as dramatic as one would have liked it. A bit of more drama and thrills would have taken things to a different level. Sean Connery's presence, however, didn't do too much of good as Robert De Niro's did.

Thumbs up: Robert De Niro in any avatar is always stunning
Thumbs down: A little more chills and thrills

Rating: 7.3/10

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2012 (2009)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Drama/Thriller

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Zlatco Buric

A lot of movies, books and theories have come to light citing the inevitable destruction of the world, but most of them either don't hold water, have come and gone or are not expected in the near future. 2012 is perhaps one of the first such theory which does have a scientific explanation backing it up and has also a fixed date of occurrence. Jackson Curtis (Cusack) a little-known novelist, part-time limo driver for a Russian business tycoon and a divorcee, has taken his kids out camping. He sees a lot of strange things and meets a semi-demented radio jockey Charlie Frost, who explains him about a disaster waiting to happen. He also learns that the governments of various countries are building huge ships in China to seek refuge and survive this impact. He collects his family and along with his employer Yuri (Buric) they all head to China. Meanwhile, American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) with the help of an Indian astro-physicist had predicted the disaster but did not expect to occur so early. All top US officials have been killed and the White House Head of Staff Carl Anheuser (Platt) is now head of the US govt. He only wants people with big pay-checks and influence to be on-board. The movie has got poor detailing and graphics and could have been much better. Comparing it to The Day After Tomorrow, the movie fails to have the visual impact that its predecessor did. All that said and done, it gives out a very vital message. If such a calamity should befall human-kind, rather than being a racist we should all live as humans and not as attitude-laden animals trying to outdo each other. Peace-out!

Thumbs up: Teaches you a thing or two about being more human
Thumbs down: Poor graphics and detailing

Rating: 7.1/10

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office: A Very Full Moon

You will have to excuse me; I was away on business. Now that I am back, I am exhausted so I will be doing nothing for the rest of that day. That said, I could not overlook what amounted to the third best opening of all time. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON opened to the best opening day of all time on Friday with over $70 million and finished the weekend with roughly double that. Everyone knew it would be huge but who could have predicted this? The true test will be next weekend. Most fans caught it right away so next weekend will show how far past its fanbase the film will play.


In other box office news, Sandra Bullock has a great year with THE BLIND SIDE opening over $34 million, following her summer hit, THE PROPOSAL. PRECIOUS continues to expand to incredible numbers, almost increasing by 100% over last week after adding approximately 450 screens. There was nothing out of this world about PLANET 51's fourth place opening. Below the TOP 10, FANTASTIC MR. FOX took in another per screen average of nearly $50K before expanding to over 2000 screens next week. Werner Herzog's update of BAD LIEUTENANT starring Nicolas Cage brought in a mild per screen of just under $10K but good word of mouth could turn that around as it expands. And this week's biggest per screen average went to Pedro Almodovar's latest, BROKEN EMBRACES, pulling $54K on just 2 screens.


NEXT WEEK: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! John Travolta and Robin Williams are looking for WILD HOGS numbers with OLD DOGS opening on 3300 screens. James McTeigue, director of V FOR VENDETTA returns with NINJA ASSASSIN on 2500 screens. The critically acclaimed THE ROAD with Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron opens wide. And on the smaller end, character films like THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE and ME AND ORSON WELLES open on a handful of screens and Disney platforms THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG on just two screens before going wide in December.

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

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FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach
Directed by Wes Anderson
Voices by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray


Mr Fox: This is going to be a total cluster-cuss for everybody.

Let me just get this out of the way; Wes Anderson’s FANTASTIC MR. FOX is certainly aptly titled as the perfect word to describe it is simply, fantastic. This stop-motion Roald Dahl adaptation about man versus animal honours its roots and broadens its ideas into a contemporary family classic that is both insightful and yet still playful. In his first foray into animation, Anderson does not bend to the style but rather turns the style itself inside out to become the perfect compliment to his quirky and expressive nature.


Despite being fantastic, Mr. Fox (voiced by a spry George Clooney), has gotten himself and his neighbours into a hole they can’t get out of. After promising his wife, Mrs. Fox (a sly Meryl Streep), that he will never steal again once she announces that she is pregnant, Mr. Fox deliberately breaks that promise and angers the biggest farmers in town, Boggis, Bunce and Bean. The farmers drive the animals underground and they must come together to dig their way out. The battle is on and the delight with which Anderson seems to be having with it all, draws the viewer as deep into the depths of the film as the tunnels being dug on the screen.


While Anderson, along with THE SQUID AND THE WHALE writer, Noah Baumbach, infuse the screenplay with adult themes a plenty, from resisting your natural instincts to rising above the hand that feeds you, they create a pace that is delicate and quiet but never so much so that younger viewers will lose interest. Under Anderson’s always mindful and always expansive eye, FANTASTIC MR. FOX is as cunning and as sharp as one would expect a fox to be. It is its unexpected charm though that will make it Anderson’s most endearing work.

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The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Drama

Starring: N!xau, Lena Farugia, Hans Strydom, Eiros, Nadies

Xi (N!xau) is back within an even crazier version of his adventures. Xi goes hunting for some food in the jungle along with his kids Xiri (Eiros) and Xisa (Nadies). A truck belonging to poachers is parked in the jungle with a compartment filled with water. Xiri and Xisa have never seen so much water in all their life and decide to have some fun. However, when the truck starts, the two cant seem to get out of it and are trapped inside. A desperate Xi starts pursuing them on foot to rescue his children from 'the strange beast'. Meanwhile, a wildlife expert Dr. Stephen Marshall (Strydom) is taking Ann (Farugia) a New York lawyer, out for an aerial safari in his mini-plane when they suddenly realise that they are badly out of fuel and have to crash land. Stuck in the middle of the Kalahari desert, there is very little that they can do. On the other hand, a lost Cuban and Angolan soldier are trying to get the better of each other by holding the other one prisoner. All three stories come together at one central point which simply makes this movie an even more entertaining watch. Scenes from this movie just seem to stick in your head and are simply unforgettable.

Thumbs up: Everything is just LOL
Thumbs down: Not in the mood to think this one out

Rating: 7.9/10

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The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure

Starring: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey

Comedy movies are even more appealing when the humour in them does not seem to be picked from somewhere or over-used. This movie provided a fresh taste of comedy and is still one of the very fondly loved movies. Xi (N!xau) is a Sho tribesman living in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. He and his tribe members are very content with their simple life and have no worries. Their peaceful livelihood goes for a toss when an empty Coke bottle, thrown out of a low-flying plane falls on the ground and is discovered by Xi. The tribesman takes it as a gift from god and starts finding many uses for it. This eventually leads to fights, enmity and squabbling between the tribe members, emotions they were earlier unaware of. In order to set things straight, Xi decides to walk to the edge of the earth and throw the bottle away. Another side-story consists of a shy biologist Andrew Steyn (Weyers) and a journalist Kate (Prinsloo) and their blossoming love story within the jungle. Initially you might feel the movie is a whole load of trash, but give it some time and it would show you its true colours.

Thumbs up: N!xau all the way
Thumbs down: People throwing Coke bottles from the sky.

Rating: 7.7/10

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Best of Black Sheep: TWILIGHT

Written by Melissa Rosenberg
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson


Edward Cullen: I wanted to kill you. I never wanted a human being’s blood so much.

It may occasionally sound like a vampire movie but TWILIGHT certainly doesn’t look like any vampire movie I’ve ever seen. For starters, some of these particular vampires are vegetarians. It is much less a movie about vampires as it a movie that just happens to have vampires. You might even say it is the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN of vampire movies. This is not to say it is anywhere near as good; just that director Catherine Hardwicke cleared the path so that you could see the love and not just the blood lust one would expect. That love is shared between Bella and Edward (played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson). She just moved back to this tiny town to spend some time with her estranged father and he too just moved back to this same town after being away for a few decades. She is 17 and he looks like he’s 17 (he also looks like he’s ready for an all vampire cabaret revue with all that face makeup but that’s besides the point) but really he was born way back near the turn of the century, the last century. Doesn’t anyone else see something wrong with this picture? He could realistically be her great grandfather, people.


This is Bella’s story really and her perspective is what brings both sensitivity and assertive confidence to TWILIGHT. Bella’s relationship with her father is understandably tricky. Her newfound friends from school take some definite getting used to. And as if her life weren’t complicated enough already, what with the big move and the inevitable adjustment period, she just had to go and fall “hang upside down from the rafters” in love with a vampire. The best part about the somewhat ridiculous premise (I say somewhat because maybe vampires really do exist, even vegetarian ones), is that Hardwicke has grounded it firmly. Imagine a teenage movie where none of the “youngins” utter inspired brilliance every time they open their mouths. No, these folks are actually awkward; they actually don’t know what to say sometimes. And they actually live in a place where not everything they wear is right off the runway. All of this realism helps make the supernatural element all the more plausible but it also brings to light a couple of points of concern about the teenage girl.


TWILIGHT reinforces one of the most unfortunate clichés around these days. Every girl out there just really wants a bad boy. They don’t even care if they have admittedly drained innocent bodies of all their blood before. We should definitely make sure that the legions of young girls who see this film, or read the Stephanie Meyers book it is based upon, believe that love can resolve any obstacle, be that a difference of opinion, a disagreement or the distinct possibility that your boyfriend may one day wake in the middle of the night to find he can no longer resist the urge to drink your blood. It is easy to get sucked in to TWILIGHT’s lore (Get it? Sucked?) because we all have these distorted ideas of love ingrained inside of us but last I checked, a guy who sneaks into your room to watch you sleep is called a stalker, not a romantic. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from TWILIGHT though, it is that a teenage girl’s love is infinitely stronger than a vampire’s lust for blood. Oh, and that girls love all things that sparkle.


My apologies to the technical geeks and true fans out there. I had too much to say about this film to go into detail about all the blu-ray special features. I will just say that if you are a fan of this film, you will not be disappointed with which your admiration has been rewarded. There is feature commentary with the director and two leads; the behind the scenes featurettes go through most of the production stages and can be seen picture in picture on blu-ray (which, if you're like me and didn't know what that was before, means that you can watch the film and a separate screen will appear in the corner to give you information about the scene that is playing). On the whole, all the special features point towards the care with which this production came to life and how much it has meant to legions of fans. There are even music videos by Linkin Park and Paramore. You tell me, what more could a bloodthirsty teenage girl want?

FILM

BD

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BLU-REVIEW: NORTH BY NORTHWEST

Written by Ernest Lehman
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason


In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock, considered by many in the industry to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest filmmaker of all time, released what many would also consider to be one of his greatest films off all time, VERTIGO. In 1960, Hitchcock released PSYCHO, perhaps his most infamous work. In between these two films, Hitchcock released one of his most stylish and ambitious projects, NORTH BY NORTHWEST. And with that, you have a period considered to be the most creative of his entire career.


While Hitchcock is often seen as larger than life, he is but a man, just like the man at the center of NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant). Thornhill, a fast-talking ad man in Manhattan thinks he’s flying high on life until the most mundane of events causes him to be mistaken for a man named Kaplan. From that moment on, he might as well be Kaplan as no one will believe him when he says he isn’t. As Thornhill suffers, ever so dashingly thanks to the debonair Mr. Grant, Hitchcock delights in every moment of it. In turn, his delight becomes ours.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and Warner Bros. has released a newly restored version to commemorate not just this occasion but also Hitchcock’s HD debut. It has been packaged as one of their distinguished Blu-Ray books and the special features will please fans of the film while educating newcomers. There are two brand new behind the scenes features, one about the making of the film and one about the man behind the camera. Screenwriter, Ernest Lehman provides an insightful commentary track and Eva Marie Saint, Grant’s love interest in the film, gives you a first hand account of what it was like on the set. All of these special features and the handful of others I didn’t mention, are nothing in comparison though to the crisp restoration that ensures that NORTH BY NORTHWEST will go on to be appreciated for years to come.


Whether you’re on the edge of your seat during the airplane chase in the cornfield, completely taken with Grant And Saint’s playful exchange on the train or just plain floored by the magnitude of the climax on Mount Rushmore, there is no denying the place NORTH BY NORTHWEST holds in film history. It is iconic; it is memorable; and thanks to the genius that is Alfred Hitchcock, it is both a fine piece of cinema and also one heck of a good chase.

FILM AND BLU-RAY

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office: 2012 Flattens the Planet

The end of the world is a popular topic in film and television these days but no picture deals with it more directly or exploits our fear surrounding the subject more than 2012. I don't know what our fascination is with wanting to see potential scenarios for our demise but we are definitely fixed on it - 2012's $225 million global take is the 9th biggest in history. $65 million of that came from its domestic tickets, including my own. I caught the Roland Emmerich hit on Saturday morning and the theatre was packed. Did I mention it was morning? It must be bittersweet for Sony though. They have a huge hit on their hands but no possibility for a sequel.


If I were Oprah, I would be doin' a little dance right now. Her pet project, PRECIOUS, continued to devour everything in its indie path this weekend. After debuting to record breaking figures last week on just 18 screens, it managed to make the Top 5 on just 174 screens this weekend. Maintaining an excellent per screen average of $35K, PRECIOUS is redefining the traditional expectations of art house releases. As its wide release isn't even expected for another couple of weeks, it looks like PRECIOUS is going to be around for a while. Look out, Oscar!


The rest of the Top 10 saw a much needed strong hold for Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL, a significant loss of interest in MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT and both PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and COUPLES RETREAT crossed the $100 million mark. The week's biggest per screen average went to a title outside the Top 10, despite the strong numbers posted by PRECIOUS and 2012. No, this week's highest per screen average was $65K and that was had by the wonderful, the tremendous, the FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Wes Anderson's first animated feature showed strong legs on four screens in NYC and L.A. and will try to steal away the rest of the country on Thanksgiving when it goes wide. Other indie successes this week include Oscar contender, THE MESSENGER ($12.5K on 4 screens) and AN EDUCATION continued to expand gracefully (a 24% increase on 37 new screens).


NEXT WEEK: Sandra Bullock shows off her southern side in THE BLIND SIDE (3100 screens) and PLANET 51 tries to pretend its a Pixar feature on 2600 screens but it doesn't matter. How could it when TWILIGHT: NEW MOON attacks over 4000 screens?

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

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A PRECIOUS JOURNEY (part two)

An interview with director, Lee Daniels and star, Gabby Sidibe


Now that PRECIOUS has started playing in limited release, I will finally get an answer to something I’ve been wondering since I saw it last September. Will audiences choose to see a film in theatres knowing that it will likely kick them in the gut repeatedly, leaving them bloody and bruised on the floor? It broke records on 18 screens last weekend and unrolls onto another 174 screens this weekend. Lionsgate plans to push it to 600 screens in time for Thanksgiving, a holiday that Precious herself would never have had the opportunity to experience.

It has been selling out screenings all week so the future looks bright. I am both pleased and relieved by this. The biggest impact PRECIOUS has on its viewer is to bring a mirror to the viewer’s face, exposing a layer of ignorance so deep that the viewer may not even be aware of it prior. Precious is the kind of girl one walks right past in the street while casually judging her weight and making presumptions about who she is as a person. PRECIOUS forces you to think about how every person has a story that brought them to precisely where they are. The film has the potential wake people up, to make them more open but we cannot see how closed we are if we never walk past her to begin with.

When asked how he did it, director, Lee Daniels, attributes this effect to one specific approach in his direction. “I just tried to capture moments of truth.” And the truth subsequently follows through on its promise to set things free.


These moments of truth depended on Daniels getting his cast to understand their characters’ truths and with a cast that consists of an unknown, a comedienne and a diva, that could not have been easy.

“I knew exactly what I wanted from every one,” Daniels answers when asked about the eclectic cast. “I knew when I hired them what I was going to get.”

I’m glad he knew because I would never have suspected that any of these actors were capable of pulling the sincerity from their souls that they did. In fact, I would never have necessarily referred to a couple of them as actual actors. Again though, it is about opening your mind and that is clearly what Daniels got them to do.

“Mr. Daniels and I had so many conversations about who this character was and that helped me get it,” Precious herself, Gabby Sidibe, admits when asked how she found this character. Her trust in her director was so strong she even refused to talk to the author of the original book, Sapphire, prior to filming. “I didn’t want any different direction about who this character was. The creator of this character, she really could have thrown me off.”

With that much trust in the captain, how exactly does he run his ship? “When I am doing a film, it is very much like a theatre piece,” Lee begins. “There are no egos except mine.” Having worked in theatre, I can attest that this is pretty much the only way it comes together but does Daniels seriously expect me to believe that Mariah or Mo’Nique left their egos at home?


“Mariah came with zero – no posse, no makeup – and she remained that way. She was putting makeup on Gabby. Mo’Nique was feeding people at the service table.” Daniels beams with pride as he tells me this. “It was a union nightmare but I believed that we were one. I think that’s the magic of the film.”

With material as difficult as this, I cannot imagine the cast not bonding. If anything, they would need to in order to just get through it all. Still, it could not have been an easy set to be on.

“The air was stale and shady sometimes,” admits Sidibe. “Most of the time, Mr. Daniels would call cut and we would laugh. With other scenes though, between takes we would just sit there and avoid eye contact.”

Daniels remembers it the same way but he seems as if part of him is still there. “I get transported back into just being there,” Daniels confides but not before getting choked up and noticeably emotional. “It was a very powerful thing, to just let the material speak for itself.”

So what is the secret formula to make something as tricky as this work so beautifully? “Anything to get the performance!” Daniels proclaims before getting specific about his technique. “I didn’t want tears at all. By not wanting tears, we got the truth. So by not directing them, I did direct them. I knew that if we were just in the moment, then it would happen.”

I will point out at this stage that there are plenty of tears in PRECIOUS. Daniels may not have asked for them but he still got them.


Mariah and Mo’Nique aside, Sidibe, the only actor coming in with zero experience, is perhaps his greatest achievement. The performance he pulled from her is so transformative that when I met her in person, I was myself floored by her outgoing personality. I never saw that coming.

“I don’t know if I can yet say that I am proud of myself because I can’t really see that yet,” Sidibe earnestly confides. “It feels like such a conceited notion to be proud of yourself. It is a completely different girl up there though.”

This whole other girl is changing the lives of everyone she comes in contact with. But has Precious and the subsequent whirlwind the film has been picked up into changed the girl who brought her to life?

“No,” Sidibe asserts by tacking on at least ten more O’s on the end of that word. “There are maybe ten days out of the year where I’m a big deal so this is still something big for me.”

Wait until you hear your name called out for an Oscar nomination, Gabby. Talk to me then.

It was a pleasure meeting both of these talented, appreciative people. I urge anyone who reads this to see PRECIOUS when it plays in your city. We all need to be set free.

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