The Hot Blog Archive for October, 2006
Variety & The Hollywood Reporter Rave Flags
Lots of story detail in both…
“The film’s themes are so thoroughly embodied in the drama as it’s told that there is no need for explicit statement of them.”
The full Todd McCarthy review
“Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” does a most difficult and brave thing and does it brilliantly. It is a movie about a concept. Not just any concept but the shop-worn and often wrong-headed idea of “heroism.” “
The full Kirk Honeycutt review
Flags Of Our Fathers – 2 Slow 2 Unfurious
Part One – On Eastwood
Even though the flag raising on Iwo Jima seems like perfect Eastwood material, it is not. Not because he can’t handle a war film or that it is too complex. His strength is working from simplicity and then turning it upside down and inside out. The problem is that there is no villain in the story. There is no standard from which hypocrisy can rise and, ultimately, fail under the weight of good, flawed men. The story of Iwo Jima and the flag raising – at least as Eastwood and Haggis tell it – is not that interesting and, more importantly, the life and death of soldiers was as random as the flip of a coin. In the specific of the flag raisers, three survived the island and three did not. And for all the “he was the best soldier ever” crying, it could have easily been the three who died that survived and vice versa.
This is not an Eastwoodism.
The Rest at The Hot Button
And Part Two – Flaws Of Our Movie
If you are looking for a war movie, you will be sadly disappointed. There is plenty of sepia-toned beach landing/gun fire/machine gun/grenade/flame throwing/body splitting stuff here. These battle sequences are episodic and uninspiring. It’s almost like they went through books and found all the cool ways people died and placed them end to end. For about 20 minutes, it seems like we are watching a poor man’s Saving Private Ryan.
The Rest of the MCN review
Lunch With David 13 – A Fine Whine
It’s hard out there for a pimp…
A New Low
Zorianna Kit sat in the guest seat on The Absent Legend & Roeper this week… never a critic and not even a credible journalist anymore and offered her primary assets for the spot, blonde hair and exposed cleavage. (And this is with due respect for Zorianna
34 Comments »Sunday Estimates by Klady
Weekend (estimates) October 6 – 8, 2006
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change | Theaters | Cume
The Departed | WB | 26.5 (8,790) | new | 3017 | 26.5
Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning | New Line | 19.1 (6,780) | new | 2820 | 19.1
Open Season | Sony | 15.9 (4,140) | -33% | 3833 | 44
Employee of the Month | Lions Gate | 11.7 (4,550) | new | 2579 | 11.7
The Guardian | BV | 9.7 (3,000) | -46% | 3241 | 32.5
Jackass: Number Two | Par | 6.4 (2,120) | -56% | 3007 | 62.7
School for Scoundrels | MGM | 3.5 (1,170) | -59% | 3007 | 14.1
The Gridiron Gang | Sony | 2.4 (1,060) | -48% | 2228 | 36.7
Fearless | Focus | 2.3 (1,400) | -55% | 1617 | 21.7
The Illusionist | YF/FS/Odeon | 1.8 (1,600) | -33% | 1149 | 34.1
Little Miss Sunshine | Fox Searchlight | 1.3 (1,540) | -36% | 824 | 55
Trailer Park Boys | Alliance | 1.2 (6,680) | new | 181 | 1.2
Flyboys | MGM | 1.1 (730) | -55% | 1471 | 11.9
Facing the Giants | IDP | 1.0 (2,250) | -27% | 435 | 2.7
The Science of Sleep | WIP/Seville | .74 (3,290) | -34% | 225 | 2.8
The Black Dahlia | Uni | .56 (600) | -74% | 931 | 22
Also debuting/expanding
The Queen | Miramax | .39 (35,270) | 132% | 11 | 0.62
The Last King of Scotland | Fox Searchlight | .29 (9,770) | 105% | 30 | 0.53
Love’s Abiding Joy | Bigger Pics | .13 (720) | new | 185 | 0.13
Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker | Alliance | .10 (900) | new | 115 | 0.1
Little Children | New Line | .10 (20,640) | new | 5 | 0.1
ShortBus | Thinkfilm | 77,300 (19,330) | new | 4 | 0.08
Not a lot more to say.
Does This Mean I Have To Be Nice To Peter Travers?
The Departed: A Thread Of Its Own
Have at it…
67 Comments »Klady's Friday Estimates – 10/7
The Departed opened on more than 1000 screens more than any Scorsese movie has opened on before. (Bringing Out The Dead, 1936 screens) It
29 Comments »
Just Sayin'…
“No one cares about the secret
26 Comments »Do You Care?
As reported in NY early today, Dennis Lim is out at the Village Voice, leaving only J Hoberman as a flagship critic.
LA Weekly, also part of the New Times empire, has kept Scott Foundas and Ella Taylor busy, as their bylines turn up not only in NY, but across the New Times/Voice chain of papers.
I would and have argued that a similar concept be used by the Tribune Company papers… but without all the thinning of the herd. Power comes from popular, powerful critics, not from “we just review every movie and God knows who it will be this time.” Tribune Company paper readers should get perspective from their quality critics from all over the country.
Oddly, the Tribune Company is using this principle in their Oscar coverage push, as the only legit film journalists in their version of Gurus o
