The Campaign - DVD Review

Starring Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Katherine LaNasa, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox.
Directed by Jay Roach.

★★

Sure, there's a couple laughs. It's impossible for Will Ferrell to make a movie without some.  It takes the exaggerated nastiness typical in election campaigns and has fun with it.  But its main target is so thinly disguised, it loses its edge.

Will Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a North Carolina congressman in a safe, safe district.  But after getting caught having an affair, his puppermaster donors decide they want someone else in his place.  They handpick Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to challenge him.

Hijinks ensue.

This movie is a giant commercial against Citizens United and the Koch brothers.  In the movie, they're the Motch brothers, two rich guys in smoke-filled rooms who plot how to control government.  A smarter satire might have made them a little more subtle, made them more reminiscent of Randolph & Mortimer Duke from Trading Places.  Here they're a parody of an MSNBC caricature of capitalistic evil.  And if you're going to do that, please be smart about it.

Breaking Dawn still #1, Skyfall #2

1.  Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $43.07 million ($226.95) - 2 wks (Sum) -69.5%
 . . . 4070 screens / $10,582 per screen
2.  Skyfall - $36 ($221.72) - 3 wks (Sony) -12.4%
 . . . 3526 / $10,210
3.  Lincoln - $25.02 ($62.18) - 3 wks (BV) +18.9%
 . . . 2018 / $12,398
4.  Rise of the Guardians - $24.03 ($32.61) - 1 wk (DW)
 . . . 3653 / $6577
5.  Life of Pi - $22 ($30.15) - 1 wk (Fox)
 . . . 2902 / $7581
6.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $16.76 ($149.51) - 4 wks (BV) -9.8%
 . . . 3259 / $5143
7.  Red Dawn - $14.6 ($22) - 1 wk (FD)
 . . . 2724 / $5360
8.  Flight - $8.6 ($74.88) - 4 wks (Par) -2.3%
 . . . 2638 / $3260
9.  Silver Linings Playbook - $4.62 ($6.45) - 2 wks (Wein) +943.6%
 . . . 367 / $12,597
10. Argo - $3.88 ($98.11) - 7 wks (WB) -4.2%
 . . . 1255 / $3088

Hollywood had a great weekend to make up for the sluggish fall.  Twilight and James Bond are both delivering, Steven Spielberg's back in $100+ million grossing territory after competing against himself last year with Tintin and War Horse, and movies like Wreck-It-Ralph, Flight and Argo are stretching their long legs.

Of the new releases, DreamWorks may actually be a bit disappointed in the opening for Rise of the Guardians. They'll be hoping for strong word-of-mouth and they'll be glad there's no more animated competition until the December 21 re-release of Monsters Inc. (in 3D!!!)  Life of Pi had good reviews, and it seems geared toward making its profits overseas.  Red Dawn did well for a movie that's been sitting on a shelf for three years.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Movie Review

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellen Lutz, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Maggie Grace, Lee Pace, Joe Anderson and Christopher Heyerdahl.

Directed by Bill Condon.

★★½

At the very least, this movie is a nice apology for Breaking Dawn Part 1, the low-point in the series.  Bella is now a vampire, and so we see her go through the discovery process, learning her abilities, and seeing this world from her new sparkling point of view.

Ah, but the Volteri are still the ruling vamps, and when they get word of Bella's daughter, it ignites a showdown between them and the Cullens.

This movie has several problems, from the CGI baby, to Bella's ability to feed without getting a drop of blood on her, to her Dad not noticing her eyes are yellow now.  I could go on.  These are problems you can't blame on the book; they could have been caught and cleaned up.

The book has some gifts to the screenwriter, namely an action climax that's actually pretty good.

I've always taken the Twilight movies at the level they are, and so I can enjoy them.  Except for Breaking Dawn Part 1.  This one may well be the best one in the series, for what that's worth.

Wreck-It-Ralph - Movie Review

Starring the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling and Dennis Haysbert.
Directed by Rich Moore.

★★★½

Wreck-It-Ralph is the villain in a video game, a game programmed somewhere between Burger Time and Rampage.  Fix-It-Felix Jr. is the name of the game, and when it's over, the townspeople throw Ralph off the building.  But after 30 years, Ralph's tired of his role as the bad guy.  He wants to be the good guy.

This provides continued evidence of the Pixar influence on Disney animation.  The movie has real heart, with Ralph just trying to know what it's like to do good.  He bounces from game to game, trying to find a way to be the hero.

One of the highlights for me was Alan Tudyk as King Candy, the Ed Wynn-like ruler of a racer game in a CandyLand-esque world.

DVD Reviews: Bernie, The Innkeepers, Lockout

These are all 2012 releases now available on Netflix.

BERNIE (★★★) Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey. Directed by Richard Linklater.  Black does his best acting job in years as Bernie, a mild-mannered mortician who befriends all the old ladies of his small town, but finds himself the object of affection of one rich spinster (MacLaine).  The Texas humor is gentle, and it's another great turn by Linklater alum McConaughey, doing a new twist on his Southern lawman character.

THE INNKEEPERS (★★½) Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis.  Directed by Ti West.  I'm enjoying West's continuing contribution to old-school style horror movies.  This one suffers from being just a little too slow and a little too willing to get its heroine out of danger as soon as she's put in it.  But it is a great lesson how much more effective a thriller can be when we get to know and care about the characters.

LOCKOUT (★★) Starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace and Peter Stormare.  Directed by James Mather & Stephen St. Leger.  Here's an example of an old-school style action movie but it feels more like a retread than a revisiting.  Pearce's wiseguy antihero deserves a better movie than this Escape from New York ripoff, where he must rescue the President's daughter, being held hostage in the world's first supermax prison in outer space. Most of it takes place in hallways and corridors, and it kept making me wish a xenomorph would show up and start picking off everyone.

Weekend Box Office - 11/18/12

1.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $141.3 million - 1 wk (Sum)
 . . . 4070 screens / $34,717 per screen
2.  Skyfall - $41.5 ($161.34) - 2 wks (Sony) -53%
 . . . 3505 / $11,840
3.  Lincoln - $21 ($22.42) - 2 wks (BV) +2124%
 . . . .1775 / $11,831
4.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $18.31 ($121.48) - 3 wks (BV) -44.5%
 . . . 3622 / $5056
5.  Flight - $8.62 ($61.34) - 3 wks (Par) -41.7%
 . . . 2612 / $3298
6.  Argo - $4.07 ($92.02) - 6 wks (WB) -38.5%
 . . . 2210 / $1842
7.  Taken 2 - $2.1 ($134.62) - 7 wks (Fox) -47.7%
 . . . 2063 / $1018
8.  Pitch Perfect - $1.26 ($62) - 8 wks (U) -51%
 . . . 1122 / $1123
9.  Here Comes the Boom - $1.21 ($41.02) - 6 wks (Sony) -52.4%
 . . . 1350 / $889
10. Jab Tak Hai Jaan - $1.2 ($1.9) - 1 wk (Yash)
 . . . 161 / $7580

The Twilight Saga is going to end as one of the most profitable in history.  It is to Summit what Lord of the Rings was to New Line.  Skyfall is also on pace to be the highest-grossing Bond movie yet.  Wreck-It-Ralph should do well over the Thanksgiving weekend, even with Rise of the Guardians opening.  Lincoln did well in its expansion.  Everyone's doing great in November!

Cloud Atlas - Movie Review

Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Susan Sarandon, James D'Arcy, Keith David, Xun Zhou and David Gyasi.
Directed by Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski & Andy Wachowski.

★★★½

Six stories are loosely connected, spanning from the 1800's to the distant future.  The ensemble shows up in each one. They may be the star in one storyline but a cameo in the next.  They interchange age, race, gender in weaving the tapestry of their tales.

There's nothing particularly profound here, and each story on its own might just seem okay, but the way these six intertwine, the pacing at which it jumps from one to the next, this is cinema that is alive, that moves.  I admire not only its ambition, but that a studio had enough faith to give it a budget.  It's tragic, really, that this didn't do better at the box office.

I hope this film isn't forgotten come Academy time, at least for some of the technical awards.  Make-Up, Costume, Art Direction, Sound should all get mentions.

It's also worth seeing on the big screen.  The effects are on par with the Matrix trilogy or Tron Legacy.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - DVD Review

Starring Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup.
Directed by John Madden.

★★½

It's predictable as all get out, but it's also one of those movies where I cut it some slack because it's so nice to see these actors bouncing off each other.  I've gained a new love for every sentence Dame Maggie Smith speaks, and Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy tend to be terrific with how much or how little they're given.

A group of British seniors have decided to outsource their retirement and go to the cheaper "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the Elderly and Beautiful" in India.  When they arrive they find the brochure was misleading and it's rather a run-down place, run by a young enthusiastic man (Dev Patel) who dreams of building it up to be like his brochure.

They could have trimmed about 15 minutes without losing anything.  At two hours running time, the pacing can be slow.  But as the relationships develop and the situations unfold, I was rooting for these characters to achieve their hopes and dreams.

Skyfall - Movie Review

Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Ben Whishaw and Albert Finney.
Directed by Sam Mendes.

★★★½

I've seen every Bond film, and I can say this one makes my top five.  While there have been decent directors of the franchise, Sam Mendes adds that extra artistry that makes this more than a mindless action movie.  It also has more emotional depth than most, as well as a restored sense of humor now that 007 has been grounded in a more "realistic" fashion.

I use realistic in the loosest sense of the word, since there are no invisible cars.

The traditional tropes are there.  A secret mission, exotic locations, beautiful women, a colorful villain, nods to Bond past, and I'm thrilled they finally brought back Q.  This time he's young Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas), so I imagine he can try to break Desmond Llewelyn's record if he so desired.

M (Judi Dench) is more entangled in the plot this time, as someone has hacked into MI6's system and stolen vital information, then releasing it a little at a time to specifically embarrass her.  The villain is eventually revealed to be a Mr. Silva (Javier Bardem), and it helps to have an Academy-Award winner as the villain.  Bardem's Silva is one of the creepier entries into Bond's rogue gallery, with a strong, personal motive.

Bring on the next one!

Tabitha

For my readers who might wonder why I haven't done much on the blog lately, my youngest daughter Tabitha passed away on October 27.  She was 5.  Our blog dedicated to her is here.

Skyfall has best Bond opening ever

1.  Skyfall - $87.8 million - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3505 screens / $25,050 per screen
2.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $33.06 ($93.69) - 2 wks (BV) -32.6%
 . . . 3752 / $8810
3.  Flight - $15.1 ($47.77) - 2 wks (Par) -39.4%
 . . . 2047 / $7377
4.  Argo - $6.75 ($85.71) - 5 wks (WB) -33.9%
 . . . 2763 / $2441
5.  Taken 2 - $4 ($131.29) - 6 wks (Fox) -32.4%
 . . . 2487 / $1608
6.  Here Comes the Boom - $2.55 ($39.06) - 5 wks (Sony) -27.7%
 . . . 2044 / $1248
7.  Cloud Atlas - $2.53 ($22.71) - 3 wks (WB) -53.1%
 . . . 2023 / $1248
8.  Pitch Perfect - $2.5 ($59.03) - 7 wks (U) -18.3%
 . . . 1391 / $1800
9.  The Man with the Iron Fists - $2.49 ($12.72) - 2 wks (U) -68.5%
 . . . 1872 / $1330
10. Hotel Transylvania - $2.35 ($140.9) - 7 wks (Sony) -46.7%
 . . . 2566 / $916

Skyfall was the highest opener yet for a James Bond film, and it's already grossed over $400 million overseas.

Wreck-It-Ralph had a strong holdover for its second week, and it should be able to keep going strong until its next competition arrives on November 21 in Rise of the Guardians.

Wreck-It-Ralph is #1

For the weekend of Oct 2-4.


1.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $49.1 million - 1 wk (BV)
 . . . 3752 screens / $13,086 per screen
2.  Flight - $25.01 - 1 wk (Par)
 . . . 1884 / $13,275
3.  Argo - $10.25 ($75.9) - 4 wks (WB) -15.2%
 . . . 2774 / $3693
4.  The Man with the Iron Fists - $8.22 - 1 wk (U)
 . . . 1868 / $4400
5.  Taken 2 - $6 ($125.67) - 5 wks (Fox) -22.2%
 . . . 2639 / $2274
6.  Cloud Atlas - $5.25 ($18.26) - 2 wks (WB) -45.4%
 . . . 2013 / $2608
7.  Hotel Transylvania - $4.5 ($137.57) - 6 wks (Sony) -52.4%
 . . . 2922 / $1540
8.  Paranormal Activity 4 - $4.3 ($49.58) - 3 wks (Par) -49.5%
 . . . 3006 / $1430
9.  Here Comes the Boom - $3.6 ($35.57) - 4 wks (Sony) -30.9%
 . . . 2314 / $1556
10. Silent Hill: Revelation - $3.3 ($13.9) - 2 wks (OR) -58.9%
 . . . 2933 / $1125

Wreck-It-Ralph and Flight both did great in the per-screen average, and they kick off nicely the winter season.  The November-December release time has become as important as the May-June corridor.