Black Sheep's Blu-Tuesday

As it turns out, I'm a little blue this Tuesday.  It should be fitting considering but it's really just distracting.  Fortunately, there aren't too many films coming out today to get excited about.  And perhaps even more importantly, what is coming out is pretty funny stuff.  First off though, the following films have been announced on Blu-ray this week: SEX AND THE CITY 2 comes home on October 26 ... The incredibly gorgeous, I AM LOVE, will wow you on October 12 ... If you like French film and fashion, be sure to see COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY on September 28 ... WINTER'S BONE, one of the most understated films of 2010, will impress on October 26 ... And one of my favorite films from my childhood, TREMORS, comes out from the underground on November 9.  Now, let's get back to the present ...

DATE NIGHT

20th Century Fox and director, Shawn Levy (NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM) have discovered a new comedy pairing that is certain to give everyone who watches a laugh, whether they have a date with them or not.  The premise is silly - suburban couple get mistaken for thieves while on a date and spend the rest of the night in NYC running for their lives - but Steve Carrell and Tina Fey bring depth and urgency to it regardless.  We've seen the perils of a stale marriage plenty of times before but Carrell and Fey fight just as hard to save their marriage as they do their lives on this particular night because it truly feels as though it is hanging by a thread.  More importantly, they bring the laughs and the couple that laughs together, stays together.  Click here to read the original Black Sheep review of DATE NIGHT.

DEATH AT A FUNERAL

Three years after the original Frank Oz film of the same name became a cult hit,  Sony Pictures and once promising director, Neil LaBute have decided that a remake for American audiences is a matter of life and death.    Having seen both versions, I can certainly say that this 2010 version is nowhere near as funny or poignant but it still does the trick mostly, thanks to a strong  cast, including Chris Rock, James Marsden, Zoe Saldana, Martin Lawrence , Tracy Morgan and Luke Wilson.  It doesn't deviate much from the original - even the opening credit sequence is pretty similar - so, aside from making some more dough stateside, I can't really see a need for the film.  At least it doesn't kill the life the original honoured so well.

ALSO NEW THIS WEEK: If you aren't through laughing after these two films, both NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION and EUROPEAN VACATION are available through Warner Bros.  Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal yuck it up in WHAT'S UP DOC?  And Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documentary about Robert Crumb, CRUMB, gets the Criterion treatment.

Source: Blu-ray.com

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Gangs of New York (2002)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/History

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reily

New York, the city of fantasies and the headquarters of huge corporates. 1864, New York was not even close to what we now know it to be. It's streets were run by gangsters and the city was divided into tribes and territories. One such gang, headed by Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting (Day-Lewis) spearheaded the rights of the natives, white people born and brought up in America. They rallied against all immigrants, especially the Irish, who swarmed into New York by the thousands. 'Priest' Vallon, the leader of the Irish immigrants was slayed by Bill while fighting for his people. 16 years later, Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) returns to those very same streets and swore revenge against Bill. A lot of things had changed in the streets and a lot of people's loyalties had shifted. Amsterdam plotted to gain the trust and loyalty of Bill and eventually avenge the death of his father. The movie is plagued with fantabulous performances. Leonardo puts on his usual stunning performance but Daniel Day-Lewis went over the top and put on a show worthy to the character and to his reputation. The movie gives a very raw feel about what New York was ages ago and how different it is today. A movie with stellar performances and would have been much better only if it were slightly shorter.

Thumbs up: Great performances

Thumbs down: A bit too long

Rating: 7.8/10

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office

It's August, people.  This makes the $35 million debut of THE OTHER GUYS commendable given it's solid size but what other choice did people have really?  STEP UP 3D! Is that even a choice?  This summer continues on its uneven path with a glut this weekend followed by overcrowding next weekend (more on that below).  Still, Will Ferrell should be pleased with THE OTHER GUYS opening, pulling in a near $10K per screen average and earning the honours of dethroning INCEPTION after three weeks at number one.  STEP UP 3D opened somewhat on par with the last film in the series but given that ticket prices for 3D pics are more expensive, the numbers would have had to have been higher to be considered a success.  Large second week declines for DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS and CHARLIE ST. CLOUD indicate very little good word of mouth circulating for the disappointments.  Outside the Top 10, the corruption drama, MIDDLE MEN sank to the bottom of a lake with a reported $300K on 252 screens for an average of $1200.  And even though it dropped off some in overall earnings this weekend, the delightful adult summer indie, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, finally cracked the Top 10 at number 10 this week, with a grand total of $14 million so far.

They don't get how this happened either.

NEXT WEEK: Hollywood goes wide with three major releases that play to three very different demographics.  The hotly anticipated return from director, Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ), SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD opens on 2600+ screens. Next up on 2800+ screens, Julia Roberts and director, Ryan Murphy ("Glee") take on the massive literary success, EAT PRAY LOVE.  And the action heroes of yore - from Sylverster Stallone to Black Sheep interviewee, Dolph Lundgren - explode big time on to 3000+ screens in THE EXPENDABLES. (The interview is coming this week.)

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

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The Emergence of Gemma Arterton

An Interview with Gemma Arterton

from THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED

There is something particularly surreal about the first half hour of J Blakeson’s indie genre pic, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED.  Not only do we get to see an incredibly lean and plainly put preparatory period for the brutal abduction that is about to take place, but we also get to see something else entirely unexpected.  We get to see a blockbuster darling in the making explode as a serious actress.  Gemma Arterton may disappear as Alice Creed but by doing so, she emerges as herself.

Arterton, a 24-year-old actress from England is a natural beauty and a genuinely pleasant person to sit across a table from.  She was thrust on to the scene after appearing as Strawberry Fields in the most recent (and hopefully not last) James Bond film, QUANTUM OF SOLACE.  Prominent parts in CLASH OF THE TITANS and PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME followed.  All of these roles would be considered prime exposure for a fresh face but all of these films have one other thing in common.  Critics and fans alike have also almost universally dismissed them.  If not careful, Arterton could find herself banished to the land of bad movies for eternity.

“I was worried I was getting typecast, always being in these big, fantasy movies.  It was really important at this time in my career to do this.  I actually jumped on this movie.”

Typecasting is death for an actor so it is no wonder that Arterton wanted the part of Alice Creed, the daughter of a successful businessman who is kidnapped and held for ransom.  That said, what exactly was Arterton jumping on here?  The role of Alice Creed required Arterton to be forcefully handcuffed and tied to a bed with a bag over her head and a gag in her mouth and having her clothes cut off of her body, leaving her naked and vulnerable on camera.  She even had to urinate into a bottle while she was still bound and gagged and with other people in the room watching her.  I don’t know about you but this doesn’t sound to me like something anyone in their right mind would jump at.

“I didn’t feel like I had flexed my acting muscles in that way in a long time.  I wanted something that was kinda raw and scary.  I wanted to scare myself.”

And what about those pesky restraints?  They had to hurt.

“The physical restraint was kinda the easy bit.  It actually formed the basis of the acting for me.  We filmed in sequence and did all the brutal stuff in the first week.  It was horrid but it kinda set me up for the rest of the movie.  I remembered it all in my body.”

Whatever her motivation, her mission was certainly accomplished.  THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED is a bare bones depiction of a plight we have seen on film countless times before.  The best thing about though it is that, despite this, it actually feels fresh and inspires some very real fear in the viewer.  That fear stems not only from the tense confinement created by Blakeson but also very much from the chemistry from the three-piece ensemble.  Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston join Arterton on screen as her inexperienced but determined captors.  Despite the tension on screen, everything was decidedly less so when the cameras weren’t rolling.

“That’s such a wanky thing to do,” Arterton says in regards to the methodology in which actors do not speak in between takes to maintain the tension.  “As soon as ‘Cut!’ was yelled, everyone was making jokes and being silly.  It was necessary to do that.  I mean, it was too much already.”

Meanwhile, that’s not what everyone has heard.  Arterton, naturally fidgety it would seem from the amount of times she played with her face during our brief interview, has already had to dispute charges to the contrary.

“Someone said to me the other day that they heard that I wanted to be tied up for the whole movie.  Yeah, but just so I could fall asleep on the bed in between takes without having to waste so much time untying me.”

You’ve got to love a girl who so innocently wants to stay bound to a bed just so she can catch a quick catnap.  And after people see her in THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED, there is no question that many more will be loving this girl for a number of other reasons.  And, given that Arterton has had enough nap time to figure out where to go from here, we should have plenty more opportunities to enjoy her.

“At the beginning of my career, I just jumped on everything, thinking I’d never work again. A couple of years on, I understand a little bit more about what I do want out of it and that I can make choices.  I feel like I’m just opening the door to the rest of my career because of this movie.”

The door is definitely open and now all Arterton has to do is walk through it.

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Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)

Genre: Crime/Comedy/Drama/Action

Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Michael Winslow, Marion Ramsey, Leslie Easterbrook, Brian Tochi, Art Metrano, Bobcat Goldthwait, Tim Kazurinsky, George Gaynes, Bruce Mahler

Captain Lassard's (Gaynes) fine academy is in trouble when the police commisioner announces that the city cannot afford two academy's and one of them will have to shut shop. Which one is it going to be, will be decided by an evaluation committee. Comdt. Mauser (Metrano) who runs the second academy, is determined not to be the loser and pledges to apply every sneaky trick in the book to emerge winner. Comdt. Lassard, calls in some of his fine cadets from the past, to train the new men and hopes to be victorious. Both sides try everything possible to outdo the other and shine in front of the evaluation committee. The movie is the third installation of a seven part series and sadly does not live up to the high expectations its plot hopes to give. The humour is negligible and does not bring more than a tiny grin on your face. Action sequences look like a joke and performances are just about average. Even though the movie has a very cliched outline, if the other above aspects were executed with more finesse, the movie would have been much more appealing.

Thumbs up: Decent movie to kill time

Thumbs down: Bad humour, action and performance

Rating: 5.9/10

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STEP UP 3D

Written by Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer

Directed by Jon Chu

Starring Rick Malambri, Adam G. Sevani, Sharni Vinson and Alyson Stoner

“Maybe we’re all plugged in to the same song”

I am not a dancer but I know enough of them and I’ve seen enough episodes of “So You Think You Can Dance” at this point to know that they are some of the hardest working and most passionate artists out there.  Like one of the greatest dancers in history once sang jubilantly while he kicked his heels in the air, dancers just gotta dance.  (That would be Gene Kelly in case you weren’t aware.)  The street kids of Jon Chu’s STEP UP 3D start their journey with us by expressing this passion in testimonials to the camera and I thought for a moment that this might be that something unique that captures that particular passion perfectly.  It only took about two minutes though to see that this was going to be nothing more than just another dance movie after all.

I have also seen enough dance movies to know that they don’t change that much from one to the next.  Before a single move is busted, we meet Moose (Adam G. Sevani), a scrawny engineering geek who is just starting college and has to leave his passion for dance behind him.  It’s time to be a man and get with the real world of course.  He ends up in some NYC park dance-off, as I’m sure those happen daily, when Luke (Rick Malambri), the leader of a group of mismatched dancers called The Pirates, plucks him up as if he is his own personal fairy god-dancer, and makes him the newest member of his troupe.  Moose doesn’t really have a say in the matter either.  He does have school but this is the dance capital of the world; this is New York City! (Naturally, I know this because Alicia Keys is singing “Empire State of Mind” as we montage over the city.)  Luke and company now have to win some major dance contest in order to keep the house they call home from being repossessed, forcing them on to the street.  You knew that already though; that’s how they always go.

Having seen enough dance movies, I also know that ultimately, it is about the dancing.  With routines ranging from breaking and hip-hop to tango and parkour, STEP UP 3 definitely steps up the dance factor.  (I’ve not caught the first two films in the series so I cannot say if it is any better this time out.)  It is also the first film to be originally shot in 3D since all those blue people ran amok last year.  Some of the dancing pops a little harder but today’s dance films need to be so choppy in order for the intended audience to grab on to them, that the dancing itself sometimes gets lost in the editing.  The “Mickey Mouse” 3D here barely seems able to keep up with the dancer’s movements and could be be ringing in a new wave of extremely commercialized 3D films.  Sloppy college kids walking off the screen and toward me in packs is not cool; it’s just a frightening sign of things to come.  But damn those new Nikes look good on all those pretty young people’s feet.

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Black Sheep's Blu-Tuesday

It is an extremely busy day for film releases and most of them are actually pretty good too.  What are the odds?! Maple Pictures releases KICK-ASS, the critically acclaimed R-rated anti-superhero movie failed to connect in theatres but will surely find its audience on Blu-ray.  If it doesn't though, that sequel is pretty much done for.  20th Century Fox puts out medium sized family hit, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID as well as Kevin Costner/Susan Sarandon baseball hit, BULL DURHAM.  I've not seen either but BULL DURHAM should be arriving shortly so I will know soon enough. And the 25th anniversary edition of THE BREAKFAST CLUB finds its way to Blu-ray, courtesy of Universal.  Here are a few more highlighted titles ...

THE GHOST WRITER

Roman Polanski's latest thriller is fairly devoid of thrills I'm afraid.  This is mostly because he can't seem to decide whether his intention is to make a point about pushing the boundaries of torture in the name of preventing terror or whether it is simply to tell a strong story.  His complete lack of focus makes for a fairly disjointed mystery and a mediocre experience.  Ewan McGregor takes on an assignment to ghost write the memoirs of a past British Prime Minister but gets himself into way more than the paycheck is worth when the PM (Pierce Brosnan) finds himself at the center of an international war crimes scandal at the same time.  THE GHOST WRITER is a functional piece of film but ironically, it feels as though someone other than Polanski actually called the shots.  (E1 Entertainment)

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

Like many other people, I did not catch this film upon its initial 1996 release.  It was Henry Selick's follow-up to one of my all time favorite films, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, but yet it could not grab my attention.  I've grown now, as has my palette and I think it is time to take a great big bite of this big old peach.  JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH tells the story of young orphan James trying to find his way in the world.  It features voice work by  David Thewlis and Susan Sarandon and is based on a Raold Dahl book (FANTASTIC MR. FOX) so all the elements are in place for it to be real juicy.    Perhaps it was just ahead of its time or perhaps we were all just behind on our own time. (Walt Disney) 

BLOOD SIMPLE

I'm very excited about this title.  BLOOD SIMPLE is the debut feature from Joel and Ethan Coen.  You likely know them better as the Coen Brothers and they began their tradition of complication and quirk long before they made contemporary classics like FARGO and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.  This one is about a guy who hires another guy to kill his cheating wife and her boyfriend; only the guy he hires to kill them has got some plans of his own.  I am thrilled to have this title on Blu-ray as I have not seen the 1985 film in quite some time. (I only first saw it about ten years ago; I won't pretend to have been on the Coen Bros. band wagon since the beginning.) I do remember though that you can see their genius being born and knowing where their careers go, it is a delight to see where they began. (MGM)

ALSO AVAILABLE NOW: As if there weren't enough titles already listed, right?  I reviewed the brilliant Franch film, A PROPHET (click the link for review) last week and you can buy it now. Uh, and you should ... buy it now.  I personally found ROAD TO PERDITION and NATURAL BORN KILLERS to be lackluster films from reputed directors but their loyal followings will be happy to get their newly remastered incarnations, I'm sure.  And nearly 30 years after its initial release, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, starring a young, strapping Kurt Russell - or at least, an eye-patch wearing Kurt Russell anyway - gets its day on blu-ray.

Source: Blu-ray.com

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