« November 2007 | Main | January 2008 »
I'm surprised he wasn't even harsher with her.
I interviewed John Cusack way back during the junket for Serendipity, a movie I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about investigating the morale depths of, and I didn't want to come off as one of these idiot junket whores. So we dug into basketball and Michael Jordan's impending comeback - John's a Chicago Bulls fan.
Small tip: It actually helps to know something about the actor you're going to interview.
Caught Juno today. Pretty darn perfect if you ask me... or Roger Ebert:
Conspicuously Missing: Sweeney Todd, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, American Gangster, Zodiac, Once, etc...
I've been working on bringing my annual award tracker from my old website over to the blog, and while there are some small issues that I'm trying to work out, I think I'm at a good place where I can publish it now.
Let me know if you have issues, and check back often to see who's got all the momentum heading into this year's Oscars. (Just wondering, how is Jon Stewart going to host this show without WGA writers?)
Alvin and the Chipmunks made $45 million this weekend. This tells me two things:
I'm re-reading that last sentence, and I'm having a hard time comprehending that someone actually decided to spend SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS making an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, and even more astoundingly, that investment is going to pay off. I'm going to eat some shards of broken glass...
I Watch Stuff says, "With a $45 million weekend, it's finally the definitive proof that there is no God."
I just want to say two things about this new trailer for The Dark Knight.
First, let's just call it a genius casting move by giving Heath Ledger the role of The Joker. I love that he and director Chris Nolan have decided not to play it for laughs, but going the "dangerously deranged" route. I'm including my favorite pics below.
Secondly, why is no one talking about the fact that Katie Holmes literally got fired from this enormous franchise? Is it because she stunk and we're so relieved to have Maggie Gyllenhaal there instead? Because we're not allowed to speak ill of Mrs. Tom Cruise? Because we're still in love with her from her Dawson's Creek days?
I'm going to do something now that I have yet to do in the 930 previous posts from Craig's MovieBlog.
I'm going to pimp a friend's product.
It has nothing to do with movies, but well, I've got these two kids, right? And the crap that they listen to is scientifically proven to melt your brain... and all they do is ask for the same songs over and over again, so I'm screwed. I am literally dumber now than I was before having children, and I blame the music. I missed my shot at teaching them to like Dave Matthews and U2, so it's Radio Disney for me... forever. (Why are Hannah Montana and Miley Ray Cyrus the same person? I'm baffled...)
But my friend Rob over at www.thatbabydvd.com decided to do something about it. Not only do I have RIDICULOUS respect for him for having the stones to leave corporate America behind and follow his passion, but he created an awesome CD and DVD that kids will actually like, and it's music that we adults know and appreciate (Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, 10,000 Maniacs, etc.) You can see the song list here. I'm telling you, if you have kids, and you don't laugh at the video for "Brass in Pocket," well, you're just dead inside.
Or, if you have friends with young children, please... think of them on a Saturday in the car, listening to The Wiggles over and over and over again... until the father decides to park his "Big Red Car," get out, and stab a Starbucks barista in the eye.
Do everyone involved a favor, and grab a copy of That Baby DVD or CD for them.
Happy Holidays.
Classic. To me, this just defines the state of the entertainment blogosphere circa late-2007:
Forbes Magazine just posted an article where they mathematically determined a way to figure out which celebrities really were the most overpaid. It's super interesting, but they forgot to stick the landing.
Most magazines just print salaries and back end deals, which makes us say things like "Holy Crap! Tom Hanks got 170 bajillion dollars for The Da Vinci Code? That movie was so boring!" There's no context, no taking into account how much the movie made overall, etc.
Forbes, however, did something much more interesting. They derived a formula to figure out how much a movie made for every dollar that was spent on a star's salary. They looked at the last three films from "the biggest stars in the industry," added up their worldwide box office plus DVD revenue, and subtracted out the budgets (which includes star salaries). This number was called the "net revenue." I did wonder where they got their data for budgets (especially marketing), but I ignored that ambiguity for the time being.
Then Forbes divided that "net revenue" by the stars' salaries. That gave them information such as, "for every dollar spent on Nicole Kidman's salary, her movies return just $8 on average to the studios" or "Angelina Jolie (who makes less than Kidman) gives her studios $15 back on average for her last three films.
I found this to be a fantastic way to derive star value, because it naturally lessens the impact of low budget or independent films, which pay their stars less, have smaller budgets, and (in a sane world) lower box office expectations. When most people just average the box office take of a star's filmography, it never takes those differences into account.
So, why did I say that they dropped the ball? It's because THEY DIDN'T PUBLISH THE FREAKING LIST!
Sure, they call out Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman as stars that aren't worth their salary, and they have this annoying picture gallery that makes me click through pages (and up their eyeball count for advertisers) which lists more people (Will Ferrell, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, etc.) but they don't show their work. Who are the worst 20? More interestingly, who are the top 20? Who brings in the audiences, but commands a low paycheck?
Maybe it's in the printed version of the magazine, but I can't tell you how disappointed I was to not be able to see the whole list.
Mitt Romney's favorite novel is Battlefield Earth? And he's running for President of the United States, right? Just checking...
Here's what ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback had to say about it:
This summer, Romney said his favorite novel is the Battlefield Earth series by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. If you saw the really awful John Travolta movie Battlefield Earth and assumed it was another example of a movie not as good as the book -- actually, the movie was much better than the books, which number among the worst dreck ever to leave a printing plant.
How long before the main requirement for being President is that you "enjoy playing Deal or No Deal at home along with the contestants... just to see what would happen"?
While this has NOTHING to do with movies, I had to call this out and give massive props to Amazon.com. It's a little long, but read it. It's so worth it to see Amazon's response.
Just based on this alone (if it's true), I am now and forever an Amazon.com customer for life.
PS - I don't work for Amazon.
Is the tank running low on Will Ferrell sports comedies yet? I hope not, but this trailer for Semi-Pro doesn't seem promising...
Didn't he just wrestle a cougar in Talledega Nights? Now it's a bear in this one, so... genius. I guess.
I have no comment here. I'm just astounded they all somehow found time in their busy schedules to put this film together.
Leave it to the Wachowski's to change the rules again. I don't care what you say - I think Speed Racer looks intriguing. Just the color palate alone from the trailer is fascinating.
Wow - I am so ready for this. Doug Liman, a cool premise, and even Rachel Bilson. Alarms are going off in my head because they're releasing it in February (always a studio dumping zone), but still...
On a side note, how does an actor like Hayden Christensen get to work with Rachel Bilson, Natalie Portman, and Jessica Alba on back to back to back projects? Seriously. I'm just sayin'.
Lots going on out there while I was traveling, so I thought I'd just throw them onto the pile for you:
