Black Sheep's Blu-Tuesday

I apologize in advance if I come across as some what scattered today.  There is a lot to get to and, to my detriment, I can't seem to find my focus.  I can however find my enthusiasm for the now tentative September release of Sam Mendes's 1999 Best Picture winner, AMERICAN BEAUTY, on Blu-ray.  This is one of my all-time favorite films and I cannot wait to see it restored to its original magnificence.  With it's 10-year anniversary behind us, I thought I was going to have to wait until 2014 for a 15-year release.  Other Blu-ray announcements this past week include the movie that kept me up for two nights straight when I saw it ... in college!  THE EXORCIST spiderwalks on to Blu-ray on October 5.  And another huge release for me - the movie that got me initially interested in the French Nouvelle Vague, BREATHLESS (AU BOUT DE SOUFFLE) has been restored and is being released by Criterion on September 14.  And for all you geeks out there, the BACK TO THE FUTURE series is circling on October 27 release.

There are also a lot of releases this week and I will start by warning you ...

GREEN ZONE

Matt Damon and director, Paul Greengrass, worked so well together on the latter two Bourne movies, Damon has said that he won't return to the series without Greengrass.  After watching their latest collaboration, GREEN ZONE, I wish he would seriously reconsider this statement.  Ordinarily, my esteem for these two individuals is pretty high but this project is a disaster.  Greengrass's now trademark hand held camera is pushed to to the point where the action is practically impossible to follow.  When you can follow, you realize that you're watching a bunch of soldiers rebel against the controlling American government to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when there aren't any to be found.  GREEN ZONE takes itself so seriously but doesn't realize how ridiculous it comes across.

A STAR IS BORN

I had never seen any of the three different incarnations this rags to riches tale has seen in its day.  This one dates back to 1954 and since that time, some of the footage has gone missing or been destroyed.  This restored version dates back to 1983 when film historian, Ronald Haver, reconstructed the film to its original length.  The Blu-ray quality is sometimes unbelievable, which makes it all the more jarring when the picture drops out and still images sub for the missing footage.  The soundtrack is entirely intact, which is great as it allows us to devour Judy Garland's impeccable vocals.  When she sings "The Man that Got Away" in the first act, I marveled at both how powerful and frail she comes across on screen.  This Gershwin musical is perfect for a rainy afternoon like the one I'm having now.

THE LAST STATION

This last 2009 entry garnered two Academy Award nominations by sneaking in with a limited two-week qualifying run on a couple of screens in December.  It was then pulled from theatres and rereleased in January to capitalize on what it hoped would be the two nominations it actually received.  Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren both earned nods for their work as Russian author, Leo Tolstoy and his high strung wife, Sofya.  The film itself did not receive any other recognition, primarily because it plays out exactly as you would expect it to and there are very little surprises.  Still, the lead performances are so strong and their story itself so moving that it makes for a light but yes still effective experience.  Plus, I will pretty much watch anything to get the chance to stare into James McAvoy's beautiful, blue eyes.

ALSO AVAILABLE: Music fans rejoice as both U2 and Bruce Springsteen release their latest concerts for all those who could not afford their hefty ticket prices and for everyone else who actually wants to lay down a little more to relive the experience.  Minor spring titles, REMEMBER ME (with the pasty Robert Pattinson) and SHE'S OUTTA MY LEAGUE (with the plucky Jay Baruchel) look for more forgiving home audiences.  And Criterion releases Michelangelo Antonioni's 1965 film, RED DESERT.

Source: Blu-ray.com

Black Sheep @ The Box Office

And Black Sheep returns to the box office after a long and arduous awards season. Arduous might be a bit of a stretch but I'm in a bit of a dramatic mood today so just roll with it. It would have been great to come back last weekend to celebrate the phenomenal success of ALICE IN WONDERLAND but there were those pesky Oscars last weekend. Instead, we're here to see the Tim Burton film cross the $200 million mark in only its second weekend. In fact, at ten days to cross, it is the 11th fastest film in history to accomplish the feat, just a few million shy of AVATAR's same pace. I'm not suggesting that we should expect AVATAR size business here but it's only about $40 million shy of surpassing BATMAN as Burton's most successful film.


Four other films debuted in the Top 10 this weekend but none made any sort of significant dent. Leading the charge was the Paul Greengrass / Matt Damon pairing, GREEN ZONE. Pulling in an average of less than $5K per screen means it will be a big stretch for this one to make back any of its reported $100 million budget. Stealing third place from Robert Pattinson is Canadian boy, Jay Baruchel's headlining act, SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE. The lighter fare brought in a light gross but one that improved over teen romance, REMEMBER ME as the weekend went on. Subsequently, the Pattinson vehicle had to settle for fourth, proving lack of interest in the star past his turn in the "Twilight" movies. Opening in sixth place was the Fox Searchlight title, OUR FAMILY WEDDING. Essentially, with ALICE IN WONDERLAND monopolizing the global business these past two weekends, little interest is being generated for anything else.


Speaking of little interest, although the Oscar telecast last Sunday was the highest rated since 2005, most of the films that took home awards were no longer playing in theatres. Best Picture winner, THE HURT LOCKER, was rereleased in 75 new theatres and took in about $825K, allowing the film to actually make back its reported budget. DVD/BD sales saw great increases but this is the lowest grossing Best Picture winner in Oscar history and that is not about to change. Meanwhile, if it had won, AVATAR would have been the highest grossing Best Picture winner and it suffered another scant 18% decline this week. CRAZY HEART, starring Best Actor winner, Jeff Bridges, slipped just 6% and THE BLIND SIDE, starring Best Actress winner, Sandra Bullock, saw a bum of 24% seventeen weeks into its run for a grand total of $252 million.

NEXT WEEK: Big week people ... THE BOUNTY HUNTER, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, hits 3000 screens. On 3100 screens, family hopeful, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID opens. Jude Law and Forest Whitaker are REPO MEN on 2400 screens. Sundance film, THE RUNAWAYS, with Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett hits 225 screens. And the latest film by one of my favorite directors, Noah Baumbach, GREENBERG, starts its limited run on 3 screens.

SOURCE: BOX OFFICE MOJO

GREEN ZONE

Written by Brian Helgeland
Directed Paul Greengrass
Starring Matt Damon, Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear


Freddy: It is not up to you to decide what happens here.

GREEN ZONE marks the third time actor, Matt Damon, has worked with director, Paul Greengrass. Their previous work on the second and third “Bourne” films must have been pretty mind blowing because Damon has since vowed never to reprise the role that brought him international fame unless Greengrass is at the helm. This action pairing is a new Hollywood powerhouse or at least that’s what Damon and Greengrass would like to think and what the studio is selling. Just like the weapons of mass destruction that are being sought out in the movie though, these claims are based on false intelligence.


Perhaps if Greengrass had not kept Damon running up and down dark alleys all the time, he might have been able to see that the premise of GREEN ZONE had already been brought to light years ago. Damon plays Miller, an army chief on mission to locate WMD’s in the weeks following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Shockingly enough, he does not find any and Miller, being the super soldier that he is, figures out that there must be something wrong with the intelligence if he keeps coming up empty handed. He then decides to take matters, and by matters I mean the entire Iraq war, into his own hands and figure out why the U.S. is there to begin with. You may not believe this but the conspiracy involves the C.I.A., the press and the American government.


Maybe if Greengrass hadn’t given instruction to the entire cast to yell at the top of their lungs most of the way through the film, he would have heard how dated the script was. How is accusing the American government on film of fabricating reasons to invade Iraq innovative at all? I almost wanted to laugh at how serious GREEN ZONE takes itself, as if it truly believes it is making a brave point. The laughter stopped pretty quick though and then turned to anger. This is not a brave point. This is exploitation of a now mainstream acceptance of how America duped the world. Brave would have been saying this years ago. Pretending to be brave is just plain cowardly.