You can withdraw the claws, Hugh Jackman; X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE has done what it was supposed to do despite its widely publicized leak online that has been reportedly downloaded over a million times since last month. You’ll be able to don those muttonchops for years to come.
The first X-Man prequel carved out $87 million. It may not have made IRON MAN numbers ($98 million opening weekend) but it certainly did better than Fox thought it would ($70 million). Of course, Fox was downplaying the numbers so as not to come in below expectations (as if $70 million is some sort of paltry number). They knew the success of WOLVERINE was pivotal. Each previous X-movie had bested the one before and launching into an origins series ensured possibilities for years to come. Not to mention, WOLVERINE is the official launch to the 2009 summer season. No one wants to muck that up. And with the STAR TREK reboot coming next weekend, Fox had to get in big now because there is no room to go any further.
Working the talk show circuit hard this weekend didn’t pay off for Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. (I swear I saw Garner on Regis & Kelly twice!) The ridiculous romantic comedy treatment of the classic Dickens tale, GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST tried for the same counter-programming angle MADE OF HONOR went with last year with similar results. An average of under $5K per screen and a ravishing by the critics pretty much ensures a disappearance as quick as a ghost in the night next weekend.
Debuting with a per screen average nearly matching that of WOLVERINE, the latest Jim Jarmusch film, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL brought in an average of over $18K on just three screens. Michael Keaton’s cinematic return, THE MERRY GENTLEMAN was not so fortunate. On 24 screens, the film brought in just over $3K per screen for a grand total of $54K. Still, that is nothing compared to the 12th place finish of the two year old North American release of BATTLE FOR TERRA. Having premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Lionsgate released the eco-friendly film on over 1000 screens and pulled less than $1000 on average.
NEXT WEEK: As previously mentioned, WOLVERINE takes on Captain Kirk et al in STAR TREK (3,500 screens). NEXT DAY AIR, a movie about a package being wrongly delivered comes out on the wrong weekend (1,000 screens). TWILIGHT vampire hottie, Robert Pattinson gives us LITTLE ASHES - a little gay indie he made when he thought his career was going nowhere (which explains the mustache). And Atom Egoyan releases his Cannes 2008 darling, ADORATION … be sure to look for the Black Sheep interview with Egoyan coming next weekend.
Today I bring you an undies-moistening look at the upcoming Ghostbusters video game, easily the most hotly anticipated new game of the year. Terminal Reality has been busting ass to make this fanboy dream a reality for some time now, and now it's almost here. Take a gander at this exclusive feature from the boys over at The Game Heroes, including a sneak peek at an actual cinematic from the game:
Things have sure come along way since the days I rocked out to Activision's Ghostbusters game on my Commodore 64. We can only hope that the buzz surrounding the game will carry over into the theatrical realm, and help speed up the molasses-like process of getting an actual Ghostbusters 3 film made!
I know vinyl sales have been on the decrease for a long while now, but it's when I see little "space-saving' gadgets like this that make me want to cry. It's a portable DJ system, packing a 60/120GB HDD, that simplifies the DJing process in a pocket-sized package.
The new User Interface UI promises to be more user-friendly than its predecessor, along with some nice beat-matching features to make it easier to keep the flow going. A one-click "auto beat match" function and a visual beat graph takes the guesswork out of matching BPI, and the new version will also let you bend pitch without changing tempo, and vice versa. R.I.P. vinyl....it seems that the new generation of 'music-lovers' don't need you...
Original Fake haven't said when exactly they are gonna release this behemoth toy, but I'm sure it'll be snapped up straight away. This time, the 4 Foot Companion has been dissected in crazy detail and will be worth much more than the original design.
(Especially if they get her to model for it again!)
With streetwear stores all over the UK closing, and the scene slowly crumbling, the Young Guns and independents have come together to create a weekend long pop up exhibition and sale of Old, New and completely one off pieces. Brands will stand together in one space showing the unity that will keep the UK at the forefront of up and coming contemporary fashion.
Oh, and Kanye West is releasing a ridiculously low number of his Air Yeezy creations at the venue too. Apparently the queues started on Fri night for the Saturday morning opening....
BREATHLESS (A BOUT DE SOUFFLE) Written and Directed by Jean-Luc Godard Story by Francois Truffaut Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg
In 1960, the film world was taken by surprise and swept off its feet and away to Paris in Jean-Luc Godard’s BREATHLESS. I was not alive in 1960 so I would not have been a part of this particular film world. No, Godard’s feature film debut came into my film world some time during my time at film school. And I also wouldn’t say that it swept off my feet so much as it kicked me in the shins and tripped me onto my ass. In my limited film experience at the time, I had never seen anything like this film. I most certainly had never heard of the period known as the “nouvelle vague”, and neither had the film world of 1960, as BREATHLESS was one of the pioneers in that movement. Based on a treatment written by the official father of the nouvelle vague period, Francois Truffaut, BREATHLESS admires American cinema and iconography while it simultaneously makes every effort to break down its conventions and leaves its audience exactly as the title suggests it should.
Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is one of the greatest enigmas I have ever encountered in film history. He is deeply fascinating while remaining essentially vacant. He kills a police officer in one of the film’s first scenes while en route to Paris. Once he has arrived, he needs to get some money that is owed to him from an acquaintance and he wants to bed the beautiful, American journalist, Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg). Aside from these two items of business, as they are both treated that way, he has little interest in anything else. He doesn’t talk much except to get what he wants. He has no issue with using violence when he must. In actuality, he is self-obsessed and finitely focused in a film that is just as obsessed with him but alternately frames him in scattered jump cuts and long takes. In fact, Michel is only distracted from his goals by the one thing that Godard is most passionate about – the movies.
One could argue that it is almost certainly useless to attempt attaching meaning to BREATHLESS but one could also argue that is just as ridiculous not to try. Regardless, any meaning the film does have to offer outside of its distinct film language comes from one of Godard’s favorite and most famous devices, the long conversation. Godard revels in spending time with his characters, as though he, and subsequently we, were right there with them just simply hanging out. At one point, we find ourself in Patricia’s bedroom in the middle of the day, where Michel has already let himself in. The two talk about whether it is better to be in grief or to have nothing at all, where she should hang her Renoir print, the possibility that she might be carrying his baby and, at one point even, Michel just wants to know about her toes. No part of the conversation is taken any more seriously than any other and though it isn’t going anywhere specific, the two actors are so beautiful to look at and so we admire right along with Godard. In this regard, the meaning can be found in the beauty and the act of spending time with another human being.
BREATHLESS stands out as a nouvelle vague classic because of its contradictions and how it both honours the craft and art of filmmaking while it laughs in the face of the suspension of disbelief. At no point in time does Godard allow you to sink into complacency when watching this film. He is constantly at play with the viewer by jarring our expectations. One moment, he is sending up a very clichéd idea of a cops and robbers caper and the next he is allowing scenes to prattle on long after any furthering of the story has taken place. Godard is fascinated with the texture of his imagery and just as bent on slicing it up into jump cuts that are sometimes functional and at other times, completely frivolous. While it may seem as though Godard is often thumbing his Scandinavian nose at the naturally excessive American approach to filmmaking, he is actually calling our attention to the artistry behind it and reminding the viewer that a good time can be had whether you call it art or a movie. The best part about BREATHLESS and Godard’s self-described anarchist filmmaking style is that nearly 50 years later, the film is just as challenging, if not more so, and, for me, still takes my breath away.
Because I'm still in a musical mood, and because Bloody-Disgusting can't have all the B-Sol "best of" lists, tonight I've recruited BJ-C of Day of the Woman, and together we've whipped up a special look at the most memorable tunes ever included in a horror film.
Now, for the purposes of clarification, let us explain what we mean. These would be pre-existing recordings that were included in the soundtracks of horror movies. In other words, we're not talking about scores. And we're not talking about recordings specifically made for a particular film. This list is for songs that were already known long before they appeared on the soundtrack in question.
So without further ado, let's count down the top 15 coolest songs ever to be featured in a horror movie...
15. "Anything, Anything" by Dramarama A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) Call us crazy, but there's just something so Reagan-era bad-ass about the scene in NOES 4 when Alice is embracing her power as the Dream Master and prepping to do battle with Freddy as this power-pop gem blares out defiantly. Alice herself said it best: Effing Ay.
14. "Shadows of the Night" by Layton Dance of the Dead (2008) Who knew that a high school garage band covering Pat Benatar was the way to put brain-hungry zombies in a calm state? Hundreds of zombies are about to eat the main kids, but the second that guitar riff hits, they're entranced. The kids in Dance of the Dead clearly knew something we don't--because when we think of taming voracious ghouls, we don't think 80's female vocalists.
13. "The Midnight Special" by Creedence Clearwater Revival The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) "Wanna see something really scary?" Who knew Dan Akroyd could inspire such terror? The opening scene of the cinematic adaptation of Rod Serling's classic TV series starts with two motorists bonding over the down-home splendor of this CCR classic. It's the perfect song to set the complete opposite mood for what comes next...
12. "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House The Stand (1994) Most people would point to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", but that's rather the obvious choice, don't you think? We prefer to go with this mellow adult contemporary fave, played to such excellent effect in this epic King mini-series adaptation, as an accompaniment to a post-apocalyptic world wiped out by epidemic. Finally--some peace and quiet!
11. "The Banana Boat Song" by Harry Belafonte Beetlejuice (1987) Watching Catherine O'Hara play Delia Deetz is amazing enough; watching Catherine O'Hara possessed by Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice and dancing around a dinner table while lip-synching calypso is nearly beyond words. A song written in no way for a horror film lends itself to its most memorable scene. It's still almost impossible for us to hear "Day-O" without thinking of Dick Cavett.
10. "Summer Breeze" by Type O-Negative I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) This brooding, sinister cover of the laid-back 1970s Seals and Croft hit seemed perfectly tailored for a horror movie soundtrack, and lo and behold, it soon turned up in the opening credits of this derivative '90s slasher. Who knew AM Gold could be so evil-sounding? Too bad, the movie was all downhill from here...
9. "Put a Lid On It" by The Squirrel Nut Zippers Fido (2007) Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the world's first dancing zombie. And when it comes time to do a little cha-cha-cha with her undead manservant, Carrie-Anne Moss chooses this nu-swing confection from mid-'90s hot jazzers SNZ--which ironically, wouldn't be recorded for another 40 years after the movie takes place.
8. "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd The Devil's Rejects (2005) Not only is it the song that one guy at every concert screams for (even if it's not a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert). It's also the song that signifies the end of Rob Zombie's Firefly family. This classic rock staple leads to one of the best endings in horror, as the ruthless family of killers you eventually root for in the end, are gunned down not to the sounds of bullets and screams...but feel-good Southern rock.
7. "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen Shaun of the Dead (2004) If you are in London, under zombie attack, and need a song with which to perfectly choreograph a killing scene... well, you could do far worse than this glam rock ditty. It not only has a slamming rhythm, but the irony of the lyrics just can't be beat.
6. "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazarus The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Buffalo Bill is like the love child of Leatherface and Dr. Frank N Furter, with hobbies that include kidnapping fat girls, keeping them in holes and forcing them to lotion their skin. His favorite pastime, however, is tucking his junk and dancing to Q Lazarus' Goodbye Horses. Thus making it the most memorable horror song-and-dance since the Monster Mash.
5. "Blue Moon" by The Marcels An American Werewolf in London (1981) They took a timeless Rodgers & Hart classic and butchered it beyond all recognition, but hey, Great American Songbook proclivities aside, this song fits perfectly in a film built completely around moon-themed devices. So well, in fact, that director John Landis saw fit to bookend the movie with it.
4. "Hip to Be Square" by Huey Lewis & The News American Psycho (2000) Huey Lewis and the News... are MUCH more than just okay. No one knows that better than Mr. Patrick Bateman, raincoat clad and axe in hand. And no one makes killing cooler than Christian Bale. This scene has given us one of the most sought-after animated gifs since the Rick Roll'd phenomenon, and "Hip to be Square" has become to upperclass apartments what "Duelling Banjos" was to the backwoods.
3. "Party Time" by 45 Grave The Return of the Living Dead (1985) The original version of this early '80s punk chestnut was a bit faster than the more mainstream-friendly one used to accompany the big pay-off cemetery resurrection scene in ROTLD. But in a soundtrack that is hands down one of the best ever produced for a horror film--if not the best--this is one established favorite that stands out and perfectly sums up the grim, madcap energy of the film.
2. "I Remember You" by Slim Whitman House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) This film has its detractors, but that aside, for our money there are few more effective scenes in recent horror cinema than the one in which the murderous deeds of the Firefly family are revealed for all to see as this haunting standard ballad is crooned forth by the yodeling country music wonder Whitman--in its entirety. Surreal. Disturbing. Classic.
1. "When the Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash Dawn of the Dead (2004) Anyone--including myself--doubting that Zack Snyder's remake of the George Romero masterpiece would be anything other than a disaster, found themselves inserting foot into mouth during this, one of the greatest opening title sequences horror fans have ever been treated to. Sounding as if it were practically written to accompany the zombie apocalypse, Cash's glorious recording assured us all that we were in for a treat.
Written by David Benioff and Skip Woods Directed by Gavin Hood Starring Hugh Jackman, Live Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Lynn Collins and Danny Huston
Kayla Silverfox: You’re not an animal, Logan. What you have is a gift? Logan/Wolverine: A gift? You can return a gift.
I guess I got caught up in wanting it all to get started. I was treated to an unseasonal bout of good weather after a particularly tepid spring at the movies and I wanted to watch things get blown up already. I can’t come up with any other reason why I would have been suddenly excited to see X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, the summer’s first major event picture. Well, I’m sure staring at Hugh Jackman’s arms had something to do with it too but I’m not usually that easily coaxed by rugged beauty into seeing potential schlock. Yet, there I was, popcorn in hand, for a big, bad popcorn movie. Pitched as a prequel to the X-Men films, director Gavin Hood, was set to show us how a little boy born in the North West Territories in 1845 turned out to be the Wolverine, arguably Marvel Comic’s most popular X-Man. Instead, what he did was put together a giant showcase for Jackman’s brawn and little else.
I’ve never quite understood why Wolverine is as loved as he is by so many men out there. Is it because he is rugged and brooding? Because he keeps to himself and doesn’t exhbit any emotions no matter what the situation is? Or is it because he is genetically designed to beat the crap out of people? Unfortunately, the story of his origins did little to make it all any clearer to me. If anything, I would think that this film would actually take away from some of the mystery behind the man-beast. To clarify, what the concept of the X-Men Origin series is designed to do is to show who these icons were before they joined the X-Men, not to show how they became to be mutants to begin with. Before he became Wolverine, James Logan was a lumberjack up in the Canadian Rockies. He set himself up there for a peaceful existence after spending decades of his life (he doesn’t age all that fast) fighting other people’s battles in war after war. Aside from chopping down trees and enjoying the scenery half naked in the morning, he also falls in love there, with a beautiful woman by the name of Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). I may be wrong here but why would a man who is revered for living by his animal instincts need to be shown searching for inner peace and sharing his heart with someone?
Of course, the honeymoon doesn’t last and Wolverine must take on an army man named, Stryker (Danny Huston), who is kidnapping mutants so that he can harness their power to make one great super mutant that will then, in turn, be able to kill all of the world’s actual mutants, while engaging in a long time death match with his brother, Victor (Liev Schreiber). Screenwriters, David Benioff and Skip Woods, must be confusing me with someone who gives a shit. No, I’m not being flippant; I am merely quoting some of the banalities they pass off as intense dialogue throughout the film. WOLVERINE’s weakest element is certainly its screenplay. Taking on Hood (TSOTSI, RENDITION) as director, was supposed to bring a darker tone to the film, which would have been brilliantly appropriate considering the inherently dark nature of the character. Unfortunately, the script Hood had to work with never allowed for an exploration of the scary corners of Wolverine’s mind; it was always torn between potentially going there and making certain the tone stays summertime light.
Jackman has a lot at stake with X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. Not only is he the face of the film but he is also a producer on the project. Success here, which is essentially inevitable no matter what is said about it, will determine just how many more films in the origin series get made. More importantly, Jackman needs to demonstrate that he can carry a major action film all by himself. Fortunately for him, he has no problems doing that whatsoever. Unfortunately for the film though, focusing on Jackman alone left very little else of note to cut through to the surface.
(ps. I would have graded slightly lower but any film that allows Jackman to run around naked for ten minutes has to get bonus points.)
