Cranked!

Check this poster out - It's for a movie called CRANK, which sounds like a sorta update of an underrated Dennis Quaid movie from a ways back called DOA. In this, a man (Jason Stratham) has been injected with a poison that will kill him in 1 hour unless he's constantly stimulated by adrenaline (think kick ass action stuff, yeah!) as he tried to track down the bad guys. Nice!

Well, Superman is kicking butt. Not kicking ass, but I'd say more of a butt. It did 21 million on Weds (Spidey 2 made 40.4 million on its opening day) and Supes did 11 million on Thursday (down a larger percentage that War Of the Worlds) and is estimated to hit about 90 million for 5 days. The main thing will be how it holds up, espcially with the juggernaut of Pirates of the Johnny Deppster approaching, although I'm wondering if some people will be turned off since Pirates 2 ends with a sorta cliffhanger (Pirates 3 is next summer). I doubt it, I think Pirates will still rake it in.

3 !

Can't wait until May, 2007!

My Box Office Estimates - An update!

Back in March, I posted about what the summer box office might look like. Let's see how I'm doing thus far.......

I've got Superman at 480 million. (chuckles). Well, maybe that's high, although the movie looks great and like I said then, if it turns out to be great, and something the kids can get into also, then maybe I'm NOT so crazy.

Pirates 2 - I guessed 375 million. I stand by that 100%. People love the Depp as Cap'n Jack, and rightly so, he owns it, makes people laugh, and so on. This is the only movie that could put a beat down on Supes. If I'm wrong it'll be because I didn't estimate enough.

Cars - Cool movie, I liked it a lot. Some amazing animation here. But it ain't gonna hit 350 million, which was my guess, it might be more like 240-250 million. I thought it might a few months back, but now I realize that although kids will flock to it, not too so many GIRLS will flock to it, mostly boys who think race cars are cool (and their Dad's who KNOW race cars are cool). It's actually a great family movie.

DaVinci - I'm sorry, I assumed it was actually going to be a good movie. I was so bored I couldn't even fall asleep. It just barely squeaked by 200 million so my 275 estimate ain't gonna happen. And it doesn't deserve it either.....on a Ron Howard side note, just (finally) caught Cinderella Man - Great movie, Crowe was awesome, loved everything about it. By the way, maybe I'm too tough on DaVinci, it had some good moments, like when the rear view mirror broke!

MI:3 - I said 240, it's hovering around 130 and will stop around there. Why? It deserves at least 250, and it's a shame. Well, it's Cruiseball's fault for shoving his dopey opinions in the world's face, but he still made a KICK ASS movie.

X-3 - I was damn close - I estimated 230, it's now at 225 after making 4.4 million this weekend, so I'll be a little off, but pretty close!

Poseiden - I estimated 200 million - Oops!

Over Da Hedge - I guessed 180-190, which as it turns out will be a little high, it's now a bit over 140 and pretty much done.

Click - I've got it at 175, it just made 40 million as it's opening, it should kick ass through the 4th weekend. Depends how it'll hold up. Too early to tell.

The Break-Up - I pegged it at 150. It just went by 100 mil, but it's losing steam so my guess will be too high.

The Fast and REALY Furious 3 - I thought 80. It won't make 80.

Nacho - I said 80 million, and it appears that I was dead-on. Experts are guessing it'll end around 75-80.

The Omen - I guessed 80, it's at 60 and dropping like Julia Styles career, so that estimate will be high.

Everything else on the list has yet to open, so I'll have to throw down an update in about a month.

Cricket Hill & Food Fight!

Pic is from Pretty Persuasion, directed by Marcos Siega, produced by Prospect Pictures.

I'm in the process of "locking down" act 1 of the Cricket Hill TV series pilot. Once I finish this post, I plan on wrapping it up and e-mailing it over to Prospect Pictures. I've got all the notes I need from them, they are really awesome regarding making notes, etc, about everything.Every change I've made has made the project 1000% better. Then we'll write Acts 2 & 3 into stone and we'll be good to go. It's been going very smoothly and I've loved every moment of this experience.

Also just finished my Food Fight! draft (feature). It went over very well, just a bit of tweaking of Act 3 and we're going to send it on out into the world. My manager has been kicking ass with this one; he's already talked about it with a ton of people in the indusrty and they are eagerly awaiting it. The plan is to take it out and attach a few actors/a director. He's aiming at a Jack Black/Luke or Owen Wilson/Ryan Reynolds/Vince Vaughn/Will Ferrell - you get the point, it's got two male leads, so some sort of cool, fun combo will really make it kick ass. Jason Bateman (not a huge name, but a great actor with a kick-ass sarcastic/paranoid/neurotic/hilarious demeanor would also be perfect for one of the roles.

Song of the day - Mason Jennings - BE HERE NOW.

Updates, Etc....

That's the poster for the upcoming Gondry movie, the Science Of Sleep. I wish all posters at least TRIED to do something creative and different like this one. Great poster.

Here's an update.

Working on the final touches of the Cricket Hill script. We're in the "locking down scenes" phase now. It's looking good.


Caught up with some movies:

X-Men - Eh. Liked the concept, but way too short to have that many characters. Why the hell is Angel on ANY posters? He's in it for 2 minutes! He doesn't even warrant his own flashback! And how do you kill off a major character, off-screen no less, and have pretty much NO reaction to it from any of the characters?? I like Beast, and Grammer was good.

DaVinci - Eh. It was long, it felt long, and for such a fascinating subject/plot, was very uneventful. I felt every minute of it.

MI:3 - Easily the best of the summer thus far, best of the year so far is United 93.

Over The Hedge/Cars - Both are fun, smart, and damn cute, and both create excellent visuals in their worlds. Great stuff all around. The end credits of Cars was especially well done.

On DVD:
Underwhelmed 2. Oh, I mean Underworld 2. Boring as shit. Took 2 nights to watch it. It sucked. 1st was was pretty tedius, and redundant, as well as redundant, but I actually liked the 1st one better. Not much, mind you. These movies are a WASTE of an excellent idea (werewolf/vampire war? How freakin' cool is that?!). Yet, for most of their battles, they just shoot at each other.

Fun With Dick & Jane - I loved the hell out of this, and that surprised me. Jim Carrey owned it, and Tea Leoni rocked hard as well. I just liked it's fun, lightweight feel, and there were some terrific set-pieces. The whole immigrant/Mexico/busted mouth/"Hola" sequence was amazing. Alec Baldwin was good as usual.

Date Movie - Had some good laughs but ran out of steam pretty fast.

On TV:
Big Love finale kicked ass. Entourage is back and it looks like it'll be a great season. Also, looking forward to Psyche and I'm also digging The 4400.

Music - Snow Patrol's album is great. Also, check out Gnarles Barkley, Editors, and Mason Jennings.

Batman, Lois & Supes!

How's Routh gonna do as Superman?

An Auteur Walks Into A Bar And Says.........

Hearing some of the news coming out of Cannes regarding Richard Kelly's SOUTHLAND TALES inspired this post. It's about directors (and writer/directors) who really need someone over their shoulder, helping guide them sometimes.

Because sometimes, well, many times, they'd make a much better movie if only they listened to other opinions.

Look, I don't know if Southland sucks or not, who knows, it might blow me away. But EVERY review has been horrible, so it doesn't look good for it. Even Richard Kelly was quoted to say something like "I'm not sure what we're going to do........" Not a good sign.

You see, these guys are given too much rope, and often hang themselves with it. Here's some good and bad examples:

Richard Kelly - He did Donnie Darko, which I liked. Not loved. Mainly because of his music choices, when you think about it, that movie loses a ton of power at the end if you take away the cover of Tears For Fears "Mad World." But regardless, it's a great debut. Apparently, he's dropped the ball on Southland. We'll see.

Terrence Malick - Didn't see the New World yet, but I'm mainly referring to Thin Red Line. It was a good movie, but wildly overrated by some. If you take out 40 minutes of gibberish you'd have a kick-ass movie. And I'm not talking about action scenes. Jarhead didn't have much "action" but I was enthralled by it. No, I'm talking about the gibberish while we see a 10 minute shot of morning dew....and then a lady bug walks by! Dude, this is a war movie, and the grunts you are portraying aren't staring off into the dense foilage thinking "Where's the light within." No, they're thinking "I hope I get out of these fucking woods alive without an assful of malaria."

Quentin Tarantino - Did we really need two movies (3+ hours) of Kill Bill? Hell, no. He's pissing away his talent on that crap. Did it have some cool sequences and kick-ass fights? Sure, but c'mon. We didn't need two movies. Saw Jackie Brown the other night on HBO again, good damn movie. Somebody should've pulled him aside and said "Dude, make one kick-ass 2 hour movie and move on."

Peter Jackson - I loved King Kong. But it was too damn long. There was no reason to make that movie 3 hours long. Again, Kong as a 2 hour flick would kick major ass, we simply didn't need to know that much about old NY and who really cares that her play is shutting down. Snooze, bring on the monkey!

Georgie Lucas - I've ranted about this one too many times, so I won't get into it too much. He's a master of production & F/X, I just wish he had let someone else write and direct the prequels. They're your babies George? Sure, ok, crackhead mothers have babies, too, and they aren't the best mothers in the world.

Cameron Crowe - Elizabethtown - nice idea for a movie, but it seems like something some low-budget indie kid from Mumblefuck USA might make. Nothing wrong with making a personal story, but at least make it interesting.

Some good examples:

PT Anderson - Magnolia walks the line, but I was blown away by it, and with Hard 8 & Boogie Nights also under his belt, this dude knows what he's doing. Punch-Drunk Love is terrific in my book.

Wes Anderson - his Amex commercial reminds me of why I like him. He could have made The Life Aquatic 3 hours long I'm sure. But he didn't. And while it was no Royal Tennenbaums or Rushmore or even Bottle Rocket, well, his other movies are Royal Tennebaums, Rushmore & Bottle Rocket, and The Life Aquatic makes a fine addition.

Marty - Gangs of NY walks the line, too, but it's got a lot of story to tell. Unfortunately, most of that story is a pretty lame revenge tale, but it's still a fascinating film, and Daniel Day-Lewis absolutely blows my mind in that one. The Aviator wasn't my cup of tea, but it seems like he's back on track with The Departed.

Jimmy Cameron - Yeah, Titanic was long, but at least it didn't take 2 hours to get onto it, you were on it from the beginning. Plus much of it is brilliant filmmaking. He's sure taking his time with his next feature film follow-up though, hopefully it'll be worth the wait.


Look, all of these guys are great filmmakers, don't get me wrong. But sometimes, they're not right, and maybe during the writing phase (like Richard Kelly or QT) someone should have torn apart their scripts instead of just nodding their heads screaming "brilliant!"

Any other examples?