Black Sheep @ The Box Office

For the second week in a row, the Will Ferrell led animated film, MEGAMIND, leads the box office. And for the second year in a row, Denzel Washington makes a train movie that misses out on coming in on the first track.

UNSTOPPABLE is apparently a bit of an exaggeration. The Tony Scott film pulled in a solid $23.5 million, pretty much on par with the first weekend take of last summer's THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, also directed by Scott. Washington however saw a much stronger debut with Janurary's THE BOOK OF ELI, which opened with about $10 million more in a month known for low grosses. UNSTOPPABLE opened at number one on Friday but with the built-in family audience waiting for the actual weekend, MEGAMIND was easily able to pull ahead to take the crown.

The week's two other wide releases both opened to disappointing results. The Rachel McAdams vehicle, MORNING GLORY, was clearly hoping to capture some of the same love that was bestowed on similar demo skewed picture, IT'S COMPLICATED. A $12 million five-day start is about $14 million shy there. Still, a tepid reaction to a romantic comedy is not as tragic as a heavily uninterested reaction to a sci-fi thriller with high hopes. SKYLINE was unable to tap into the geek market that makes so many a film successful these days with it's $11.7 million start. Fortunately, its reported budget is just about $10 million so everything from here is space gravy, assuming such a thing exists.

Two well received platform releases continued strong expansions. Naomi Watts and Sean Penn reteam to see FAIR GAME increase over 65%, hitting $1.1 million on 175 screens. Danny Boyle could be poised to see another hit, as 127 HOURS added 18 screens for a grand total of 22 and saw a 77% increase and a $20K+ per screen average. I don't see the film finding as much Oscar love as his Best Picture winner, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, but James Franco's personal buzz and the intrigue created by more people requiring medical attention at intense screenings should guarantee continued interest for some time to come.

NEXT WEEK: Russell Crowe hopes recent attention in adult fare will spoil over to his latest excursion, THE NEXT THREE DAYS on 2500+ screens. Look for the Black Sheep interview with director, Paul Haggis, to follow next weekend as well. Crowe might get lucky considering all the kids will be elsewhere, with HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (PART ONE) opening on over 4000+ screens.

Source: Box Office Mojo

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Due Date (2010)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Drama

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan

Bad days will always be bad, no matter how hard you try to make them good. Peter Highman (Downey Jr.) got shot with a rubber bullet by an Air Marshall, was put on the no-flying list, had no baggage or money and had to travel from the east coast to the west coast with a certain Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) an aspiring Hollywood actor, whose mannerisms suggest he is gay who also turns out to be the very man responsible for putting Peter in this situation. Two end up having a disastrous road trip not to mention crashing the car, breaking an arm, some ribs and getting high on pot. The movie comes from the director of The Hangover and seems like a bad attempt at trying to generate the same popularity. Galifianakis also plays a very similar role to what he did in The Hangover which doesn't really help the movie in any way. The movie looks and sounds very promising but sadly doesn't deliver. The movie lacked any kind of good laughable humour although there was some good scope for the same. It's definitely a DVD movie.

Thumbs up: Performances

Thumbs down: Bad humour, not a very exciting plot

Rating: 6.2/10

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Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama

Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow, Billie Bird, David Graf, Bobcat Goldthwait, George Gaynes, G.W. Bailey, Leslie Easterbrook, Lance Kinsey, Sharon Stone

Commandant Eric Lasssard (Gaynes) has a brilliant new idea called Citizens on Patrol (COP). He aims to train and develop ordinary citizens which would help the police in fighting crime. COP gains a lot of acclaim from senior police officials and the idea is put into use. Whilst Commandant Lassard is away on a conference to England, Captain Harris (Bailey) is put temporarily in charge of the academy. Harris despises COP and all of Lassard's officers, especially Sgt. Carey Mahoney (Guttenberg). Mahoney along with the other officers, try to execute the COP programme whereas Harris tries every trick in the book to put it down. The movie has a very unoriginal plot and after having three movies before it, there should have been something new for the audience. The movie is low on the humour aspect too and lacks the punch that it should have had. It is entertaining, but not entertaining enough.

Thumbs up: Good attempt, could be better

Thumbs down: Lack of humour, cliched plot

Rating: 5.4/10

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Black Sheep interviews Damien Chazelle

GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH

Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle

Starring Jason Palmer, Desiree Garcia and Sandra Khin

I am reminded of Sheryl Crow lyric - “What ever happened to modern jazz?” - after watching first time filmmaker, Damien Chazelle’s GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH. The answer is certainly not that simple but there are a number of possible theories to be found in the textured grain of this experimental musical that captured the hearts of the Tribeca Film Festival patrons when it premiered there in 2009. It has now captured the heart of actor, Stanley Tucci, who presents it to you in a limited theatrical release.

Now, there is no need to be frightened of the word, “experimental” – or “jazz” for that matter – in this case, as some tend to run when they hear these words. In fact, the reason the film has been so well received is because it captures the beauty of these sometimes intimidating concepts so naturally that you wonder why you were ever hesitant to begin with.


What began as an undergraduate thesis at Harvard, GUY AND MADELINE (as it is affectionately shortened to for convenience purposes), grew into what Chazelle describes as his personal take on the musicals of the 1930’s and 40’s, which he had been obsessing over at the time. Citing specific influences like THE BAND WAGON and MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, Chazelle pitched his thesis as a real life musical; people would still break out into song and dance but it would be grounded in a context that could be universally understood. The classic Hollywood musical is not the only genre being played up here though; Chazelle was also fascinated with the French new wave cinema of the 1960’s and 70’s, from Jean-Luc Godard to Jean Eustace. The combination of the two drastically different approaches is what makes GUY AND MADELINE so distinctly unique and according to Chazelle, balancing between the two was certainly tricky.

“The new wave films don’t really follow strict plots and find themselves as they go along and I tried to find a way to reconcile that with the very strict code of these old musicals that I loved. They have very familiar plots and archetypal characters and follow a strict pacing of musical numbers. It was important to me to not cop out from making a musical, to make an actual musical, but in my own way.”


Guy and Madeline (fresh faces, Jason Palmer and Desiree Garcia) have it rough from the start. Heralding from Boston, these two lovers of both music and each other are introduced to the viewer as happy and then torn apart before we can even get a chance to be happy for them. Still, as they both proceed to stumble around somewhat aimlessly in the wake of their brief but powerful time together, your heart goes out to them and you can’t help but wonder what went wrong. And what better way to explore the complicated nature of emotional turmoil than through song? Without a Hollywood sized budget, the musical numbers in GUY AND MADELINE have to rely on plain old fashioned talent, which, after scouring Boston’s music scene, Chazelle found in Palmer in Garcia. Garcia was pursuing her PhD on musicals at the time and was already entrenched in the tap dance scene so she was a natural fit but Palmer doesn’t actually sing. His musical contribution is a beautiful and delicate trumpet.

“I have to admit that wasn’t the original conception. It was originally going to be a singing and dancing male. The movie just changed when I saw Jason play. He just hit us out of nowhere as I went to this club to see someone else play really. It wasn’t the film that I envisioned in my head but it was immediately the film that I wanted to make.”


The musical is inherently out of step with reality but yet it continues to be made and it continues to honour the same values it did when it was originally conceived. Back in the day, when a character needed to deal with a love that is lost, they would saunter through a park and lament to the moon; when that love is reaffirmed, the whole cast breaks out into dance. In GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH, the aesthetic is decidedly different but the sentiment is the same. This is perhaps why the musical has survived all this time despite its detractors; perhaps beneath all of our meandering cynicism, we are all still romantics at heart.

“I believe the musical is so well suited to expressing romance because songs begin and end and are completely separate from the larger movie world. It is this kind of momentary perfection of existence that the characters are able to reach but they always know that it is inherently an illusion. So for me, there is something very beautiful but yet very sad about the great musicals but that’s part of the point.”

Damian Chazelle is already at work on his next screenplay and GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH is playing in select cities right now. If it's playing in your city, treat yourself.

For your enjoyment, here is the trailer ...

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MORNING GLORY

Written by Aline Brosh McKenna

Directed by Roger Michell

Starring Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson and Harrison Ford

Mike Pomeroy: Half the people who watch your show lost the remote. The other half is just waiting for their nurse to turn them over.

In MORNING GLORY, the darling Rachel McAdams plays Becky. We all know Becky. We don’t necessarily know her in real life because I’m not convinced she actually exists anywhere other than in Hollywood films. Becky is married to her job as the executive producer of fourth place network morning show, “Daybreak”. As queen worker bee, she has no time for a life, let alone any time for love. We all know from the moment we meet her that she will inevitably find the balance in her life to live happily ever after, simultaneously providing a ripple effect of equilibrium to the people that surround her. In real life, Becky works around the clock, has meaningless sex if she’s lucky, and probably has to take a multitude of medications to keep up the pace necessary to maintain her “life”. That would be way too depressing for a romantic comedy though.

MORNING GLORY may not be grounded in anything other than a clichéd perspective on life, but director, Roger Michell (NOTTING HILL) still manages to pull enough genuine emotion from his cast to make the experience pretty pleasant and often pretty funny. McAdams is the center, a 28-year-old who must choose between her dreams and reality (28 is apparently the cut off age for chasing dreams). Her effortless charm propels her through countless difficult situations but you can tell she can feel the sting of failure catching up behind her and pushing her forward at the same time. Her morning show anchors are played by legends, Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. Keaton is sadly underused but looks to be having a blast whenever on screen. As for Ford, it was refreshing to see him look like he’s trying for a change. As former trusted news anchor and current unemployed curmudgeon, Mike Pomeroy, Ford’s cold exterior and antagonizing delivery could not be better suited. By the time he has to show a little heart (c’mon, you knew he would!), it practically feels like it could change the world.

I would like someone to answer this question for me. When is Patrick Wilson going to just waltz into my empty elevator on one of the worst days of my life like he does for Becky on hers? I would settle for someone who isn’t Wilson but is as equally attractive. The truth is though that, while life doesn’t work this way necessarily, people do still find happiness by searching, hoping and never giving up. It’s just a lot easier for them to find it when there is a director behind a camera making sure that all the missing pieces are waiting to be found in plain sight.

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127 HOURS

Written by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy

Directed by Danny Boyle

Starring James Franco

Aron Ralston: This rock has been waiting for me my whole life.

I thought that winning an Oscar might mellow SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE director, Danny Boyle, but it only seems to have fueled his fire. Before anything has a chance to happen in his latest, 127 HOURS, the screen is split into three and images of people going to work or running marathons are inundating the screen at rapid speeds. I understand that he has his own style but I want to see Boyle just let the action unfold for a change, instead of just chopping it up and rearranging it visually to simply make it look cooler. At times in Boyle’s career, it has felt like the images needed the overt style to become relevant or meaningful but this time is different. Boyle has finally found a story that begs for his personal yet simultaneously impersonal touch.

127 HOURS is the story of an adrenaline junkie, a nature nut, a loner. Forcing an image to wake the heck up and jump off the screen itself is akin to what protagonist Aron Ralston (James Franco) does whenever he can. And when he can’t make that happen, he would almost rather be alone. He seeks out thrills to elevate himself above the mundane just like Boyle tries to enhance his image. When Ralston gets away from the city though and into the peaks and valleys of Blue John Canyon, Boyle slows his pace and allows the sheer grandness and beauty of the landscape to speak for itself. And speak it does. It asserts itself and its immovable brilliance by reminding man just who’s in charge here after all when it almost swallows young Ralston whole.

Ralston is a real person and in 2003, he spent a sum total of, you guessed it, 127 hours literally stuck between a rock and hard place when a rock fell with him into a cavernous gap and crushed his arm against the wall. Franco’s journey as Ralston is rarely easy to bear and sometimes just as difficult for us to take as well. His spirit goes from exuberant to painfully sober to near delirium and he carries it off with a strength I’m not the least bit surprised to see. Boyle was sure to lighten the tension with flashbacks that inform us of exactly everything Ralston still has to live for, which in turn teaches him a thing or two about how to actually live for it. The point may be somewhat plain but the experience that is 127 HOURS is a testament to an amazing feat of human endurance and perseverance, as well as an adventure that won’t soon be forgotten.

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The Infidel (2010)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Archie Panjabi, Omid Djalili, Richard Schiff, Yigal Naor, Amit Shah

A British-Muslim man, Mahmud Nasir (Djalili) is about to get one of the rudest shocks of his life. He is Jewish. His birth parents are Jewish and he was adopted by a Muslim family. This secret was kept hidden from him until he found his adoption certificate after his mother died. Meanwhile, Mahmud's son Rashid (Shah) wants to marry a Muslim girl he loves, the only problem being that her step-father is a Arshad El Masri (Naor) a hard-line Muslim leader who stubs the western culture at any given chance. He must prove to Arshad that he is a good and pure Muslim and at the same time prove to the Rabbi that he knows enough about being a Jew so that he may meet his dying birth-father. The former may not be very hard but for the latter he seeks the help of Lenny Goldberg (Schiff) a Jewish, drunk cab-driver whose very sight used to make his blood boil. The movie doesn't have the kind of humour to make you roll over in splits, but has enough to keep your interest alive. There are those one or two funny moments but that's about it. An interesting multi-cultural movie that is very relevant in today's society where each one of us are trying to carve our own identity with respect to religion.

Thumbs up: Interesting plot

Thumbs down: Nothing exemplary

Rating: 7.2/10

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