Craig's MovieBlog

Meet Dave Trailer

I don't know how to say this... but from all I've seen in the past, I know that deep down, the Internet is a warm, caring, loving place.  This is a safe haven for me to admit something, right?  Of course it is.  Here goes...

I laughed at this trailer for Meet Dave.

Multiple times.

I don't know why it happened.  Instinct, I guess, more than anything else.  I think I need an intervention.  Is there a place I can go to rehab my sense of humor?  My sense of taste and class?  Does anyone have any advice for me?  A 12 step program perhaps?

Please know that I do hate myself for this, but out of respect for you, my faithful readers, I had to be honest.  I trust that you'll understand.

The Strangest Interview You'll Ever See

Craig Bierko was literally on a rerun of Sex and the City last night, including his naked ADD banjo playing, and yet this morning, I get this:

I don't have words...

How Great Has Lost Been This Year?

I'm going to keep this short, and maybe it's because the lack of quality, scripted television due to the writers strike has left me a desperate man in the desert grasping for drops of water, but...

What a phenomenal television show.

My only clue that something was up last night, was when Jin's phone got run over by the car.  I thought to myself, "huh... that's a crappy cell phone," but then that was it.  I didn't see it coming until the big reveal.

The other nice part was that the writers all knew that their audience expected to see Michael again, so they pulled a different rug out from beneath us. 

Kudos.  So good.

My Final Funny Games Post

I've ranted enough about Funny Games, and I feel wrong giving it any more attention, but I saw an interview with Michael Pitt over at New York Magazine's Vulture blog, and this section jumped out at me, probably because it's precisely how I feel when reading about the film or seeing the trailers:

When we saw [Funny Games], we have to admit that we felt like we were going to throw up the entire time.
Yeah. It’s a really hard film to watch. I find that parents in particular have a really difficult time to watch it, which is understandable. For Tim [Roth], especially, making the film was really difficult. He’s got a little boy about that age.

Also, over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeff Wells is very conflicted.  He says:

Michael Haneke's Funny Games is simultaneously the ugliest and most repulsive violent melodrama I've ever seen (including the thoroughly disgusting I Spit On Your Grave) and the smartest and nerviest critique of sexy-violent movies in the bang-flash vein of Quentin Tarantino, Tony Scott, Oliver Stone, Eli Roth and other purveyors and marketers of homicidal style.

A fair percentage of those brave enough to see this Warner Independent release this weekend are going to walk out on it -- trust me. It's a hateful and infuriating film, no question, and yet it has a worthwhile point. And you can't not respect Haneke for this.

It's certainly one of the ballsiest movies ever released by Warner Bros. (technically Warner Independent) in its 90 year history. I mean this in a sense that average people might come out of showings feeling enormous hate for Warner Bros. for having done so. Seriously. If the final effect wasn't so stunning and dispiriting I could imagine people beating up ushers on the way out.

I actually commented on his site (something I almost never do... what is this film doing to me?!?!) with, "I have no desire to watch a young boy tortured for two hours, and I have no desire to see that boy watch his parents get tortured either.  Maybe it's because I have two young sons, but if that makes me a film wuss, so be it."

Disney Update: Wall-E Trailer

Bob Iger spoke yesterday about a range of topics, including Disney's purchase of Pixar in January 2006... that $7.2 billion purchase.

"No, we didn't overpay," he said, in response to a question. "It was clearly fully priced," he added, jokingly. "Maybe that's a euphemism.

Can we all agree that buying Pixar for the innovation-less Disney was completely, totally, unambiguously worth it?  It put Steve Jobs on their board, made gabillions in merchandising from Cars alone, (he even announced rolling out a MMO video game environment based on the Cars universe), and the stock is up 9 points since he took over. 

Oh, and Pixar happens to make incredible movies.  Not only do they have a deal for Toy Story 3, but here's the newest Wall-E trailer.  Can't wait.

He also discussed something else that caught a few eyes around the industry.

Iger said that since hooking up with Apple's iTunes a year and a half ago, consumers have downloaded 40 million-50 million episodes of Disney-generated TV shows and 4 million movies.

Now, most journalists just say, "whoa... those are big numbers," and leave it at that.  I like to call that lazy journalism.  Silicon Alley Insider, however, decided to do some homework... and I quote:

• Pali Research's Rich Greenfield estimates that Disney (DIS) is getting about $14.50 for each movie sold through Apple (AAPL). 4 million x $14.50 = $58 million.
• We estimate that Disney gets about $1.44 for each video it sells. 45 million x $1.44 = $64.8 million
• Grand total: $122.8 million: In other words, a little less than 10% of the $1 billion digital revenue goal Iger has laid out for his company this year -- and a rounding error for a company that generated $35 billion in sales last year.

Now... $123 million is truly nothing for a company of Disney's size, but it is all incremental revenue, as SAI reports.  The net is that digital sales of TV and movies aren't going to be moneymakers anytime soon.  I am curious though... how much does a Comcast make from VOD sales?  Is it dramatically more than this... or generally on par?

New Speed Racer and The Incredible Hulk Trailers

Yesterday, the internets brought us the new trailers for two potential franchises, Speed Racer and The Incredible Hulk.

I don't know what to think about the Hulk.  Ed Norton always, always does powerful work, and as you know I'm a big fan of putting "real" actors into superhero roles (Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr.).  But this trailer really didn't bring anything terribly interesting to the table.  There are lots of reports of trouble in the editing suite on this one, and anyone who is surprised by this hasn't been reading about Norton's involvement on past films.  I'm gonna wait for the next trailer before raising my expectations.

As for Speed Racer, I just think it looks unbelievable.  Yes, it's cartoony and video gamish, but that's exactly what they're going for, albeit in an incredibly fresh, creative way.  Just awesome stuff.

David Simon Says Thank You

I don't watch The Wire.  I hate myself for that, as everyone who has ever seen it says it's hands down the best thing ever put on television.  I need to go back and rent the DVDs for Season 1 and just start from the beginning... sounds like a project for when the family is out of town.

I noted that the series creator, David Simon, wrote a thank you note to its viewers, and there were some portions that struck me:

"This year, our drama asked its last thematic question: Why, if there is any truth to anything presented in The Wire over the last four seasons, does that truth go unaddressed by our political culture, by most of our mass media, and by our society in general?"

"We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end, bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first step to solving any of them."

"If you followed us for sixty hours, and you find yourself caring about these issues more than you thought you would, then perhaps the next step is to engage and to demand, where possible, a more sophisticated and meaningful response from authority when it comes to such things as the drug war, educational reform or responsible political leadership. The Wire is about the America we pay for and tolerate. Perhaps it is possible to pay for, and demand, something more."

He goes on eloquently, but I'll let you read it for yourself. 

It's times like these, when I see that no one watched this series (myself included), and yet Dancing With The Stars is on for its 6th freaking season, Deal or No Deal counts in most homes as doing math homework, Don't Forget the Lyrics was watched by 14.4 million people this week, the top 7 shows this week were all reality-based crap, 10,000 BC made $35.9 million this weekend, and Alvin and the Chipmunks grossed almost $350 million worldwide ... well, I get a little cranky. 

US Box Office is Less Relevant Than Ever

While many have finally come to the realization that the DVD/Rental market is where most films end up finally turning a profit (and not in theaters), this revelation from Variety and Warner Bros. is a brand new step:

"After its strong start in Japan last week, The Golden Compass is on course to make box office history as the first film to gross $300 million in foreign while failing to reach $100 million in North America."

I tracked box office data for almost 10 years before claiming statistic fatigue, and I have never seen anything like this.

However, the news isn't all "glass half full" for the Hollywood studio.  In fact, they're probably slapping their foreheads pretty darn hard with a "Doh!":

"As with all its films, New Line sold off the international rights to Golden Compass to a patchwork of foreign indies plus a couple of local Warner arms, in order to pay for the $180 million official budget. So it will reap little reward from the international success, while retaining maximum downside from the pic's paltry $70 million domestic gross."

Technical Difficulties and Sincere Apologies

First, for those of you who were expecting to see the two year stale site of Craig's Flick Picks at www.craigbe.com, well, I'm sorry.  I just had to shelve it.  It was fun while it lasted, posting all my movie reviews, tracking box office data, and keeping an Academy Award database, but it became so much work that it had fallen hopelessly, helplessly behind.  There's much more activity here on the blog though (and much more traffic), so please... enjoy.

Secondly, I apologize to those of you who got flooded with random posts from my feed.  I posted once yesterday (about the new Wanted trailer) but everyone who subscribes to my feed got all sorts of items from someone else's blog.  Ironically, it was also entertainment-focused, so I hope it wasn't too distracting... but it wasn't me.  I'm not yet sure how or why it happened, and I don't even know if I should be yelling at Typepad or Feedburner, but please let me know if it happens again.

Thanks...

New Wanted Trailer

Angelina Jolie is very bendy. 

Wanted just looks incredible.  I have nothing else to add.  Enjoy the new trailer in HD here.

Soul Man

When you look at this picture, what are the first 2000 things that pop into your head?

I'm willing to bet that nowhere on the list is, "Hey, that African American gentleman looks just like Robert Downey Jr.!"

Entertainment Weekly has the details on Tropic Thunder.

If Saul Bass Did the Star Wars Titles

When genius happens, you have to acknowledge it.  Sit back and enjoy the perfect.