All signs lead to yes.

Posted on February 3rd, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Politics, WGA Strike | No Comments »

Update: Looks like I was way off on Hannah Montana. Estimates point to almost $30-fucking-million opening weekend. I was a lot closer on The Eye, which has an estimatd $13mil.

I was actually floored when I saw the Friday box office estimates. Coming completely out of nowhere, the concert movie Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds took in an estimated $8.6million on Friday, which puts the whole weekend at around $20million (and that’s accounting for Super Bowl fallout).

The surprise (for me at least) is that it beat out Jessica Alba-starrer The Eye, which took in a pathetic (by ANY standards) $4.9mil on Friday (for a weekend estimate of $11mil). For a movie, especially a concert movie, that has had little to no mainstream media advertising (I didn’t know about this movie until 5 days ago… I haven’t seen any commercials, posters, billboards, ANYTHING) to beat out a Jessica Alba movie, regardless of how good it is, by almost twice as much earnings is astounding.

Check this out, I’m going to take this level of astonishment one level higher… you ready? Hannah Montana made twice as much on Friday even though it only released in ONE-FOURTH as many theatres as The Eye! That’s right, it made 6 times as much money per theatre! If that ain’t a bitch slap to Jessica Alba’s face, I don’t know what is.

A peak over at RottenTomatoes.com shows that… *gasp!* … Hannah Montana might even be a better movie than The Eye (87% vs. 26% freshness rating, respectively)!

Maybe this will be the wake up call that Jessica Alba sorely needs. She’s been harping on and on about being taken serious, about wanting to be a better actress, and yet she keeps taking shit roles. I honestly can’t say if she’s a good actress or not because she’s yet to come through. I saw glimpses of talent in some of her unknown movies, but those were done years ago. Like Ari Gold told her in Entourage, “Let’s get you out of those leotards.”

Posted on February 3rd, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Bad Movies, Box Office, Opinion | No Comments »

Just got word that Wesley Snipes has been acquitted of tax evasion and conspiracy!! I have to admit I thought he’d get nailed for sure. His lawyer’s better than Johnny Cochran, even WITH the Chewbacca defense!

Posted on February 1st, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »

The title perhaps tasteless in light of recent events, but quite frankly, that’s the bottom line.

If you don’t know who Mark Romanek is, you’re not alone. He’s the guy who wrote and directed One Hour Photo, one of Robin Williams’ most serious and creepiest movies to date. He was the talk of the town for creating such a dark and captivating story, and for such a low budget ($12 mil).

Today word exploded that Romanek, who was handed Universal’s remake of The Wolfman on a golden plate with a side order of $100 million, QUIT, just all of a sudden, with less than 3 weeks before filming was supposed to begin. All the regular  sources are quoting Variety, which claims he left over “creative differences”, but good ol’ Nikki Finke seems to know the dirt: Mark Romanek, who until now has only been a player in commercials and music videos, quit The Wolfman because he couldn’t find a way to make the movie for less than $100 million.

One. Hundred. Million. Dollars. American. You hear that? That’s the death rattle from Mark Romanek’s career’s throat.

Okay, now look at this photo of Benicio Del Toro (who is starring and producing) in a Wolfman test shot. He looks pretty fucking wicked, right? THAT’S ALL HIM! No make-up, not even hair-extensions, they just ruffled his hair and he made this exaggerated face and boom, he’s halfway to becoming the Wolfman.

My point is, he won’t be needing that much special make-up most of the time. Which is a major cost savings, right?

If they’re going to base it on the original Universal movie instead of creating an all-new story, I don’t see much of a need for overly-complex CG (for fuck’s sake, I better not see any CG wolves!), so there’s another major savings in cost, right?

PLUS, the movie was going to be shot in the UK, which has mad tax rebates for movies… it actually would’ve cost Universal $85 million instead of $100 million.

Tent-pole movie, $100 million budget, Oscar-winning Benicio Del Toro, Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) writing the script, and Mark Romanek, who has only made one feature-length (but good) movie, quits. Fuck me!
Now Universal is scrambling to find a new director to keep their February 18th shoot start in place. Highly unlikely. If they DO manage to make this happen, I guarantee the final outcome won’t be good. It’s really in everyone’s best interest to take their time to find the right director. Give me a call, Universal, I made a short movie last year that I’m sure qualifies me for the job

Posted on January 29th, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »

No, I’m not talking about the Oscars. Fuck the Oscars. I’m talking about the Razzies! The Golden Raspberry Foundation has just released their nominees for the Golden Raspberry… aka the Razzie.

Striking a chord among blogs is the fact that Lindsay Lohan, despite playing a stripper in I Know Who Killed Me and thus satisfying the urges of millions of males who crave some “I was a lot hotter in Mean Girls but now I’m wearing less clothes” action, has snatched not one but TWO nominations for Worst Actress, ironically for playing twins in IKWKM. And also ironically, she had her first sex scene (site NSFW) in it, which I guess went unnoticed because hardly anyone saw the movie!

Also an interesting outcome, Eddie Murphy’s nominations for Worst Actor AND Worst Supporting Actress (first time I think it’s happened?), as well as for Worst Screen Couple (with himself… twice), all coming from his work on Norbit.

Overall I think this year’s Razzies will be one to watch. If memory serves me, the last few Razzies have had too many clear winners (like when Basic Instinct 2 had 12 nominations). This year, it looks pretty spread out.

Oh, and one last sidenote, the Fred Savage nominated for Worst Director (Daddy Day Camp) is indeed the same Fred Savage who was the youngest nominee ever for the Best Actor Emmy back in the late 80s for playing Kevin Arnold in The Wonder Years. My, how the mighty have fallen!

And the nominees are…

Worst Picture
Bratz
Daddy Day Camp
I Know Who Killed Me
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
Norbit
Worst Actor
Nicolas Cage in GHOST RIDER, NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS and NEXT
Jim Carrey in THE NUMBER 23
Cuba Gooding, Jr. in DADDY DAY CAMP and NORBIT
Eddie Murphy (as Norbit) in NORBIT
Adam Sandler in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY
Worst Actress
Jessica Alba in AWAKE, FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER and GOOD LUCK CHUCK
Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos & Skyler Shaye (A Four-for-One Deal!) in BRATZ
Elisha Cuthbert in CAPTIVITY
Diane Keaton in BECAUSE I SAID SO
Lindsay Lohan (as Aubrey) in I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
Lindsay Lohan (as Dakota) in I KNOW WHO KILLED ME

Worst Supporting Actor
Orlando Bloom in PIRATES OF THE CAROB-BEAN: AT WIT’S END
Kevin James in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY
Eddie Murphy (as Mr. Wong) in NORBIT
Rob Schneider in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY
Jon Voight in BRATZ, NATIONAL TREASURE 2, SEPTEMBER DAWN and TRANSFORMERS

Worst Supporting Actress
Jessica Biel in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY and NEXT
Carmen Electra in EPIC MOVIE
Eddie Murphy (as Rasputia) in NORBIT
Julia Ormond in I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
Nicolette Sheridan in CODE NAME: THE CLEANER

Worst Screen Couple
Jessica Alba & EITHER Hayden Christensen (AWAKE) OR Dane Cook (GOOD LUCK CHUCK) OR Ioan Gruffudd (FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER)
Any Combination of Two Totally Air-Headed Characters in BRATZ
Lindsay Lohan & Lindsay Lohan (as The Yang to Her Own Yin) in I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
Eddie Murphy (as Norbit) & EITHER Eddie Murphy (as Mr. Wong) OR Eddie Murphy (as Rasputia) in NORBIT
Adam Sandler & EITHER Kevin James OR Jessica Biel in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY
Worst Remake or Rip-Off
Are We Done Yet? (Remake/Rip-Off of MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE)
Bratz (A Rip-Off If Ever There Was One!)
Epic Movie (Rip-Off of Every Movie it Rips Off)
I Know Who Killed Me (Rip-Off of HOSTEL, SAW and THE PATTY DUKE SHOW)
Who’s Your Caddy (Rip-Off of Caddy Shack)
Worst Prequel or Sequel
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Daddy Day Camp
Evan Almighty
Hannibal Rising
Hostel: Part II
Worst Director
Dennis Dugan for I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY
Roland Joffe for CAPTIVITY
Brian Robbins for NORBIT
Fred Savage for DADDY DAY CAMP
Chris Siverston for I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
Worst Screenplay
Daddy Day Camp, Screenplay by Geoff Rodkey and David J. Stem & David N. Weiss
Epic Movie, Written by Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer
I Know Who Killed Me, Written by Jeffrey Hammond
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Screenplay by Barry Fanaro and Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
Norbit, Screenplay by Eddie Murphy & Charles Murphy and Jay Sherick & David Ronn
Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Captivity
Hannibal Rising
Hostel: Part II
I Know Who Killed Me

Posted on January 21st, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Bad Movies, Oscars | No Comments »

I’ve been sharing this video all over the place because it’s so funny. Sorry, I don’t know what movie it’s from, and I don’t know who made it. I wish I had!

Posted on January 17th, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Technology | No Comments »

Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily

I was surprised this morning to discover that the Writer’s Guild struck a deal with United Artists (the studio headed by Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner) that will allow the studio to develop screenplays during the writer’s strike.

This is all part of the WGA’s new “divide and conquer” strategy (as explained by Nikki Finke), which resulted in David Letterman and Craig Ferguson getting to use writers on their talk shows, while others like Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel have to improvise everything. The WGA is hoping that by making deals with individual companies, the AMPTP will be forced to concede to the WGA’s demands.

Although the UA deal is only the 2nd of its kind (and UA is technically a very tiny studio… the actual impact is questionable), it’s clear that the WGA’s negotiations with individual companies are working. What makes it a blow for AMPTP’s cause is that United Artists agreed to the exact demands that the WGA put on the table for AMPTP, which amounts to a “if UA can do it, AMPTP can” scenario. Plus, it’s a win-win for United Artists, because if the WGA and AMPTP resolve their issues and end up with lesser demands, the UA can (and will) cancel their interim agreement and take part in the lesser deal.

However, the question now is, what was the motivation behind the deals? Is it an honest desire to agree with the WGA’s demands, or is it a desperate need to resume work? While Letterman’s Worldwide Pants is a pretty successful company, I don’t believe it’s big; aside from producing Letterman and Ferguson’s shows, it makes one, maybe two, other television shows each year (it used to produce Everybody Loves Raymond).

United Artist may in fact be smaller than Worldwide Pants. Since its rebirth in 2006, its only output so far was the financial and critical bomb Lions for Lambs, and its next release, the Bryan Singer-helmed Valkyrie, has been getting some negative press and has in fact just been pushed from a summer release to winter, which is never a good sign. According to IMDB, it only has 2 other projects lined up, neither of which are on anyone’s radar.

Is the WGA trying to hit the smaller companies first? Did UA go to WGA first, or vice-versa? These and so many other questions need to be answered before we can understand whether WGA’s divide-and-conquer strategy is actually working, before it’s too late.

Posted on January 5th, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion, WGA Strike | No Comments »

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here, and while there are quite a few things I want to touch upon, this one article just caught my attention and hit a nerve…

Technically two articles. The original being someone on Hollywood Elsewhere who had posted a portion of a Stanley Kubrick interview from 1987 in which he voices his concern for the quality of projection in the nation’s theatres. Kubrick mentions a special report put together by none other than George Lucas’ Lucasfilms, the Theatre Alignment Program, which found that projection systems and the film reels themselves were poorly maintained. The thoughts from that article were added onto by Alex Billington over at First Showing.

Which is really no surprise. We’ve all seen it at one time or another: little hairs waving at you from the edge of the screen, what sounds like an old Dodge pickup driving over gravel coming over the speakers at the very beginning of the movie, shmutz all over the screen randomly appearing, etc. And this is all because theatres have to pay teenagers minimum wage to do the job of what should be someone with at least some training in film editing.

Being a former film school student, I’m aware of the steps necessary in properly handling film, as well as the need for clean white gloves, the proper wiping material, and clean instruments, such as film splicers. I’ve actually had the chance to see a few different projectionists do their job and was downright distraught at the complete lack of care: never wiping the film nor the splicer, even handling the film with their bare hands after having just downed their free soda and popcorn. That’s what you’re seeing up on the screen, folks, soda and popcorn and Raisinets residue.

But again, it’s because theatres have to look at the bottom line. Most people don’t realize that the reason why it costs $3.50 for a small popcorn is because the theatres aren’t really making that much from the movies themselves. Theatres take in only like 30-40% of the movie’s gross ticket sales. Let me break it down to you like a fraction, as Bernie Mac says. If a movie makes $30 million, that means the theatres are only actually keeping, at best, $12 million. Divide that by the number of theatres showing the movie, let’s say 3,000, and each movie theatre gets… you may want to sit down for this… $4,000.

Four-fucking-thousand dollars for showing a blockbuster movie that made $30,000,000 nationwide in 3 days. $4,000 for a movie that made the studio $18,000,000. Now, $4,000 sounds good for a 3-day job, and times however many movies the theatre shows, that’s mega-buckos. But you’re forgetting operation costs. Theatres spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars per day in electricity and whatnot, and tens of thousands just for renting the building.

If the theatres made enough money, I’m sure they would hire a qualified, knowledgeable projectionist.

See, I agree with Kubrick and Lucas in that the quality of the projection is terrible and needs to improve. And I’m sure this is yet another reason why the movie watching experience has moved from the palace-like theatres of yore to your couch and HDTV. And I’m not writing this as a counter to the arguments made by Hollywood Elsewhere and First Showing, I agree and sympathize. This is meant more as a reminder for everyone, the next time you get mad at that zit-ridden teenager for selling you a $12 ticket and a small soda for $4, or you see shmutz garbling up the movie, that he’s just the poor guy making $7 an hour who doesn’t really care. It’s the studios (who also don’t care) making the movies you should be mad at.

For another reason to hate the studios, check out this other post I wrote.

Posted on December 15th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »

An article at FirstShowing brought this to my attention. It seems that studios are no longer interested in Ed Burns’ little indie movies (he wrote and directed movies such as The Groomsmen, The Brothers McMullen, and She’s the One) as no distributor has picked up his eighth movie, Purple Violets, made for only $4 million. According to IMDB, the movie is about a woman’s pressures to become the next great American writer.

The exact reason why his movie hasn’t been bought isn’t explained anywhere, although an article on MTV.com suggests people nowadays just don’t dig his style of movies anymore. But that’s not stopping Burns from releasing his movie. Although he’s been picked up for foreign distribution in 3 countries, the lack of U.S. distributors (not even straight to video) has prompted Burns to “premiere” Purple Violets on… iTunes. Which in fact is a major plus for hardcore Burns fans, as they can now own the movie for a tiny $12.99 (some sources say $14.99), instead of having to sit in a theatre for $12+snacks or buying the DVD in stores for $25.

In the same MTV article, Burns himself offers up a reason for his lack of distribution: “This is the year that art house cinema died.” He claims the culture of the movie audience has changed since the mid-90s. Citing specifically two movies out in theatres right now, Rendition and Lions for Lambs, Burns said, “If they’re not going to see Reese Witherspoon or Tom Cruise, they’re not going to come out and see me and (Purple Violets co-star) Patrick Wilson.”

Burns is definitely disheartened by his new movie’s demise, so much so that he’s “not going to make another small dialogue movie for a while.” (he’s averaged about one every 18 months).

Now, I’m not exactly an Edward Burns fan (in fact, for the some of same reasons cited above), but I think this is an interesting point in movie history. Not because no one bought Burns’ movie, or because he claims “art films are dead”, but because now Apple (via iTunes) is being featured as a legit distributor of indie movies (as a matter of fact, the trailer for Purple Violets prominently features the iTunes logo in the beginning, where distributor logos are usually featured). Granted, many indies have been sold thru iTunes (some exclusively), but a moderately-big name like Burns bringing it to light gives Apple some cache in the movie field. Where this could lead, however, is anyone’s guess.

Posted on November 21st, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Indies, Opinion, Technology | No Comments »

Okay, so I embellished the quote a bit, but not by much. If you check out this cleverly-titled article, you’ll see that while individual members of IATSE (the crew members’ union) support the WGA strike, IATSE itself might not. At least not completely.

It seems that the head of IATSE, Tom Short, is not only telling Patric Verrone (WGA’s prez) that he made a bad choice by going on strike, but that he warned him of the implications over a year ago. Short actually told Verrone that the studios would stockpile scripts and speed production up to counteract the effects of the strike. Verrone’s response, “Nonsense.”

Short further goes on to tell Verrone that one of his right-hand men, negotiator Dave Young, is “incompetent and inexperienced” in dealing with Hollywood contracts (which is true, Young’s previous experience was as a union organizer for the garment industry) and that Young is causing “irreparable damage  to this industry at a time when we can ill afford [it].”

Wow… simply wow. I had initially said elsewhere that sometimes I wondered if the WGA, after months of negotiations with the AMPTP (the producers’ guild), went on strike just to save face. Now I’m starting to believe it’s true.

Posted on November 15th, 2007 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »