Couch Time with Sheldon

By no means is this a complaint but movies show up at my door constantly. I am rarely without something to screen when I look for something to watch. Why then did I find myself at the video store this weekend renting a bunch of movies when I already had a bunch at home? I guess I'm insatiable that way.

It isn't going to get any better either with releases like what I'm about to divulge to you coming soon. The hilarious comedy that is hip enough for teens but smart for adults, EASY A, drops right in time for Christmas on December 21. One of 2010's most celebrated adult dramas, THE TOWN, just a few days before that on December 17. James Franco plays Allen Ginsberg in the obscenity obsessed docudrama, HOWL, hitting stores on January 4. And looking a little further to the spring, Disney will be bringing BAMBI to blu-ray on March 1. (Click any film title above, save for BAMBI, for a full review.)

And now, back to the couch ...

SEX AND THE CITY 2

The girls are back where they belong, in my living room. It is so much easier to forgive writer/director, Michael Patrick King's ridiculously outlandish production and nonsensical plot when I'm lazying around in my jammies in the couch. At least watching it this way means I don't have to get dressed all pretty and trek myself over to the theatre to sit there for 2 1/2 hours. No, this way I can drink as many cosmos as I like during the film to make it even more plausible. In all honesty, the second "Sex and the City" movie has its moments. They are not particularly deep or insightful and they certainly don't hold any of the gravitas that they would have years ago when the series was running but they are amusing. If you miss the girls, check them out. You will laugh plenty and the regret will be minimal. Click here for the full Black Sheep review. (Warner Brothers)

LEAVES OF GRASS

How could a movie starring well liked thespian, Edward Norton, go straight to home video? This Tim Blake Nelson film played at TIFF in 2009 and was intended for a theatrical release this fall so what went wrong? Allow me to tell you, pretty much everything. Norton plays twin brother, one is professor of philosophy and the other is a pot dealer. The professor goes home to the middle of nowhere for the first time in ages to play a little identical twin trickery, as if this were a television sitcom or something. As competent as the players are (rounded out by Susan Sarandon and Keri Russell), something always feels off and amateurish in this film. It could have been interesting but never quite gets there. (First Look)

THE SECRET OF KELLS

I'm so happy to have finally gotten around to seeing THE SECRET OF KELLS, the surprise Oscar nominee in the Animated Feature category last year. A young lad named Brandon, who has never been outside the walls that surround Kells, must challenge himself to be the best he can be in order to bring order to a chaotic world. It plays out like a fantasy quest film where the meek must triumph over tragedy and all things evil. This will likely play better to adults fans of the fantasy genre than to attention deficient children but this fable will certainly enchant anyone with an appreciation for breathtaking and imaginative animation style. Give in to Kells and it will show you all the secrets it has to offer.

(New Video Group)

If you're stopping by the video store, there are a ton of brand new first run titles available for rental or purchase this week. Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, etc. get together for the reunion comedy, GROWN UPS ... Jim Carrey's holiday leftovers from 2009, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, are now available for your consumption ... Lars Von Trier's latest, ANTICHRIST, gets the Criterion treatment ... Cutie, Zach Efron's big dramatic turn as CHARLIE ST. CLOUD is now available for slumber parties and drinking games ... It's supposed to be great family fun for RAMONA AND BEEZUS ... Or how about a supposedly dreadful prostitute drama with Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci running the LOVE RANCH ... And finally, most of you missed this in theatres but you had better get out there and watch one of the most exciting and hilarious films on the year, SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD. Don't make Michael Cera come after you. (Click here for the Black Sheep SCOTT PILGRIM review.)

See you on the other end of the couch ...

Source: Blu-ray.com

Couch Time with Sheldon

Welcome to COUCH TIME WITH SHELDON, a brand new feature on Black Sheep Reviews. Well, it's mostly brand new. Essentially, this feature will replace BLU-TUESDAY. Rather than simply focus on the releases of the day, Black Sheep will take a look at a handful of titles each week, ranging from brand new releases to catalog titles, based on what Sheldon has actually watched recently. In case you don't know it, Sheldon is that little sheep you see everywhere on the site. He would also be my alter-ego I guess but that's not something I'm ready to deal with just yet.

We will continue to highlight what has come out on DVD and Blu-ray each week, as well as continue to look at what has been announced but the focus will be more on what Sheldon has seen rather than what he intends to.

Speaking of announcements, check these out ... Warner Bros. brings out two 1970's classics, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and NETWORK on February 15, 2011. Alliance will release the George Clooney film, THE AMERICAN, on December 28th of this year. 20th Century Fox has THE A-TEAM cashing in on the holidays on December 14th and the indie comedy, CYRUS (click for review) hits the week before. And here's the exciting news ... Disney will be releasing their superhero hit, THE INCREDIBLES, in the spring of 2011.

And now, I invite you to spend a little couch time with Sheldon ... Here's what everybody's favorite sheep saw in the last little bit.

FROZEN

I love indie films like this one, that get picked up (in this case by Anchor Bay Films) and manage to find an audience they would never have found, and actually deserve it. Horror director, Adam Green, has created a truly horrifying experience with FROZEN. Three college-aged skiers decide that they need to get one last run in before the end of their day. There is a lesson to be learned about being greedy though because the chair lift stops on their way up and before it gets going again, all the lights go out and everyone else goes home. There are no scary monsters or psycho killers with hooks for hands here. No, the only enemy here is nature itself and that level of reality is what had me freaking out for about a good hour straight. If you're looking for something offbeat to both scare and impress your Halloween guests, check out FROZEN. Be warned though, you might not go skiing for a little while afterward.

PLEASE GIVE

Don't let this atrocious cover art fool you. PLEASE GIVE is an excellent indie comedy that Sony Pictures is now just trying to push to as wide an audience as possible by capitalizing on the film's stars. This Nicole Holofcener film features Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt as a married New York City couple who run a trendy Soho furniture store. Keener's character has some issues with how they run their show though, as the majority of their pieces come from the misfortune of others. They buy pieces from people who have recently passed away and then resell them for exorbitant prices. They are also waiting for the elderly lady next door to pass away so they can take over her place and expand on their own. This fascinating exploration of white upper-class guilt is refreshingly honest and surprisingly funny. With the cast rounded out by Amanda Peet and Rebecca Hall, you can't go wrong.

LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES (HEARTBEATS)

There has been a lot of talk recently on Black Sheep for Xavier Dolan's second feature, LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES. After having the chance to interview him at TIFF (click here for interview), I feel like I have an all new approach to his work. Just from sitting across from him for 20 minutes, you can tell that Dolan is an insightful person who feels a great deal. Those personality traits are abundant in LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES, now available to rent or own on DVD only from Alliance Films (with English subtitles). Fans of the French new wave and Wong Kar-Wai will love Dolan's latest work. Two great friends, Marie and Francis (Monia Chokri and Dolan) both fall for the same guy (Niels Schneider) and Dolan the director explores the highs and lows of falling in love, or more specifically, of falling in love with the idea of being in love. The results are honest, enlightening and will be understood by anyone who has ever chased after someone without really knowing why. (Click title in body for original review.)

Thank you for checking out the first COUCH TIME WITH SHELDON feature. The feature will run regularly on Tuesday's from here on in. In the meantime, here is a list of other titles available this week to rent or own ...

BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY (Blu-ray)

ALIEN ANTHOLOGY (Blu-ray)

SEX AND THE CITY 2

(click title for review)

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE

(click title for review)

WINTER'S BONE

(click title for review)

Source: blu-ray.com

Black Sheep @ The Box Office

Box office analysts everywhere are freaking out because of how this summer's tentpoles have been underperforming.  I've gotta say I'm not sure how they didn't see it coming.  What movie has come out in the last month that actually incited any summer worthy excitement amongst audiences?  IRON MAN 2 roared but it is hardly doing any better than the first.  SHREK FOREVER AFTER has managed three straight weeks at number one, the only Shrek film to accomplish that feat, but it is still not going to match the grosses of its green giant predecessors.  Last week's disappointments continued to do just that, as PRINCE OF PERSIA and SEX AND THE CITY 2 both dropped off steeply, certainly due to poor word of mouth for both.  I actually saw them both last weekend and have been spreading most of that bad word of mouth myself.

And this week's batch of wide releases, no less than four, did absolutely nothing to inspire anyone.  GET HIM TO THE GREEK was the biggest "success" of the bunch, coming in second place with a total of $17 million.  It opened slightly lower than director, Nicolas Stoller's first film, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, but that one came out in April.  Still, it managed to narrowly beat the first major Katherine Heigl flop.  KILLERS, also starring Ashton Kutcher, in which a woman unknowingly marries a spy, opened to approximately $16 million and abysmal reviews should make sure it does not linger. Speaking of lingering, that smell in sixth place is the CGI extravaganza, MARMADUKE.  I'm glad at least to see that people are not just buying every piece of dog poop being forced on them this summer.  Audiences also did not buy the Adrien Brody-Sarah Polley thriller, SPLICE.  Bombing in eighth place means that even great reviews could not get people to see this one.  It just looked too scary for little old me.

NEXT WEEK: The summer continues with another two massive releases.  On the art house side of things, which, contrary to popular belief, does not just shut down during the summer months, handfuls of theatres will begin screening the Sundance favourite, WINTER'S BONE, as well as the documentary, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, and the stylish COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY.  Opening on an arguably much larger handful of screens, 3000+ as it turns out, is the remake of THE KARATE KID.  I will be taking my chances on THE A-TEAM.  If it sucks, at least I will get to see those gratuitous shots of Bradley Cooper's chest.

Source: Box Office Mojo

SEX AND THE CITY 2

Written and Directed by Michael Patrick King

Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon

Carrie Bradshaw: That’s the thing about tradition; when you’re not looking, it just sneaks in.

When I first discovered the “Sex and the City” television series, I saw it as a tiny, little gift from heaven.  This series about adult women looking for love and refusing to settle for anything less in the big, beautiful city of New York was as insightful as it was titillating.  Being a young, single person myself at the time, I drew a lot of inspiration from the character of Carrie Bradhsaw.  I know she’s fictitious and that her entire life is scripted but her pursuit of happiness, whether single or not, helped empower me to find strength as a single person as well.  It’s been six years roughly since the series closed and I’m sad to say, the show that once inspired so many lost single souls to find their way has officially lost its own.

SEX AND THE CITY 2 picks up the lives of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha (Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall, respectively) two years after Mr. Big (Chris Noth) left Carrie at the alter only to have her channel her inner masochist and marry him anyway.  At the time, the four leading ladies had said that they would not have even considered the first movie unless the story was one that warranted being told.  I guess a “big” wedding is a natural progression of the story but I cannot see what exactly drew them back this time other than continued success in the only characters that have worked for them.  Carrie’s marriage is getting stale; Miranda’s job is stressing her out; Charlotte is having a hard time with motherhood; and Samantha struggles to remain sexual during menopause.  It seems to me that it isn’t her marriage going stale that Carrie should be worried about.

Writer/Director, Michael Patrick King directed some of the best episodes of the series but he needs the restrictions of television structure to control himself.  The first film ran way too long and this one is no different.  At a two and a half hour run time, even King knows that his old married people troubles are incredibly dull so he picks up the foursome and drops them in Abu Dhabi. Here, despite making respectful comments previously about the American economy, the ladies are immersed in extravagance.  They each have their own car, their own butler and three separate costume changes for one simple lunch in the desert.  Carrie runs into former lover, Aidan (John Corbett), in a market randomly (that may be the most understated usage of the word, “randomly” ever), and it isn’t long before she resorts back to being a 12-year-old.  Story, or at least a remotely believable one, is no longer a priority for King, it would seem. 

SEX AND THE CITY 2 is like getting together with friends you haven’t seen in a long time to catch up over brunch.  Sure, you’re happy to see them and sure you laugh some but when you leave, you know that your lives have grown apart and there is a reason you don’t see each other that often anymore.  I am still single, unlike three of the four characters in this film.  When I read on the screen that Carrie’s latest book was dedicated to all the former single girls out there, I couldn’t help but wonder if the show that once played like an anthem for modern singles everywhere had turned on its own and was now shunning those who hadn’t been lucky enough to fall in love.  What once made me feel like being single meant a world of possibility was now reminding me that time was running out.  And unfortunately, I had just wasted two and half hours of that time on this movie.

PS. Ladies, do not bring your men to see this movie.  You might have gotten away with it last time; this time, they may break up with you.

BOX OFFICE 2008

I'm not sure if you noticed but 2008 came to a close a few days ago. This means the box office is officially closed and we can tally up what were the biggest hits of the year. Overall, the 2008 North American box office pulled in a staggering $9.6 billion dollars, moving 1.4 billion tickets. Believe it or not, this is actually down from 2007. It is only down by 0.4% mind you. Apparently, no matter what the economic climate, we've always got money for the movies.


Let's see ... what was the biggest box office story of the year? Geez, that's a hard one. Alright, I'll knock it off. The biggest box office story of the year was easily the success of Eddie Murphy's MEET DAVE. OK, now I will seriously knock it off. So, again, the biggest box office story of 2008 was easily the colossal success of Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT. For the first time since its release, a film came within reach of sinking TITANIC to become the number one box office hit of all time. This did not come to pass but I'm sure no one really cares. THE DARK KNIGHT, be it because of the Heath Ledger fascination factor or just because it was so darn great, crossed over every single demographic it could to score the biggest opening weekend in history. I knew it was going to be big; I couldn't even get tickets for opening night. However, I didn't think it was going to be that big. You could feel it though. There was a very strong sense of urgency to see this film and it carried over for weeks. THE DARK KNIGHT also played well on IMAX theatres as well as internationally, where it almost topped $1 billion. It is sure to do so in a couple of weeks though when it is rereleased in theatres to push its Oscar chances. The best thing about THE DARK KNIGHT is that it brought people together. It isn't often that a film connects with so many people so congratulations to the whole cast and crew for all their success.


The second and third place films finished very tightly with less than $1 million difference between them. IRON MAN ultimately won out over INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL though. Well, at least domestically. Internationally, INDIANA JONES was the second biggest hit of the year, while IRON MAN finished fifth. These two films are funny to compare as they are both huge money makers but one could describe their domestic takes as both a huge success and a disappointment. IRON MAN opened to nearly $100 million to kick off the summer season. No one expected this one. I also don't think anyone expected to enjoy it as much as they probably did. Meanwhile, INDIANA JONES opened slightly higher but I think the industry was expecting bigger things. I certainly don't think they thought the bat would best them; that's for sure.


Not surprisingly, the Top 10 contains no less than four animated features. While, MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA is still tracking, I doubt it will move much higher on the chart and surpass the two biggest kid flicks. When WALL-E opened, it too surpassed expectations. The response was extremely positive as well so prognosticators expected WALL-E to go on to become one of Pixar's biggest triumphs. The public did not follow up though and WALL-E merely went on to just pass last year's RATATOUILLE. And while WALL-E is the animated king domestically, KUNG FU PANDA whooped WALL-E's metal butt internationally, earning over $120 million more to become the third biggest international hit of the year. This may just be because KUNG FU PANDA came first and got the jump on WALL-E. Personally, I did my part as I saw WALL-E in the theatre three times. Yup, I'm that geeky.


Hollywood learned a valuable lesson this year, the value of the female dollar. For so many years, it was assumed that the box office was primarily male driven but three films in particular this year made it very clear that women should never be ignored. The most successful female driven pic was TWILIGHT but that also has a huge book following so it may not be fair to discount that. The other two films have huge built-in followings as well but SEX AND THE CITY and MAMMA MIA! made people take notice. SEX AND THE CITY opened to just under $60 million and went on to pull in $152 million, just missing the Top 10. MAMMA MIA! (which opened opposite THE DARK KNIGHT) pulled in half of the SEX AND THE CITY gals in its opening weekend but showed some very strong legs throughout the summer. Both films are also huge international hits. In fact, MAMMA MIA! did in the UK what THE DARK KNIGHT was not able to do domestically; it surpassed TITANIC as the biggest box office in UK history. I would never have expected that ... ever. Now, all they have to do is start making these female skewed pics better as I didn't care for any of these movies. And yes, I know I'm not a girl.


Speaking of movies I didn't like all that much, two other Top 10 hits need singling out as they were also both huge hits internationally as well. HANCOCK is the fourth biggest international hit of the year, proving that Will Smith is still one of the biggest stars on the planet. He followed that one up with his weakest performer in years, mind you, SEVEN POUNDS. James Bond also returned this year with QUANTUM OF SOLACE. The sequel to CASINO ROYALE just squeaked past its predecessor domestically but still has a ways to go to beat CASINO ROYALE's $594 million international total.


In total, 24 films passed the century mark to gross over $100 million. That total will likely go up to 26 if MARLEY & ME and YES MAN stay on track. And while I hate to end on a negative note, I can't get away with not pointing out what seem to me like the three biggest box office disappointments of 2008. I believe you may know them better as flops. When you take international gross into account though, none of them seem that bad. I mean I wouldn't want to lose that kind of money but I just pay to see movies, not to make them. The first high profile flop of 2008 was the Wachowski's SPEED RACER. Audiences scoffed at this colorful explosion and this lead to an $18 million opening weekend. Given the reported $120 million price tag, the future looked grim. SPEED RACER crossed the finish line with $93 million internationally, losing just under $30 million. I never understood why rival studios decided to open THE LOVE GURU and GET SMART on the same weekend. The Steve Carrell pic easily killed Mike Myers' disaster. THE LOVE GURU opened to a mere $13 million and finished its international run at $40 million. That's $22 million less that what it reportedly cost to make. And finally, I mentioned it first so I guess it is fitting to wrap things up with it. MEET DAVE, a movie about I believe Eddie Murphy's multiple personality disorder, I can't be sure, opened to a horrific $5 million. Luckily for Murphy, his international fans were more forgiving and the film ended up pulling in $50 million total, only $10 million less than its budget.

So that is it for 2008, folks. My prediction for biggest film of 2009 ... BRIDE WARS. That's right. You read that right.

Alright, I'm kidding ... again.

DVD Review: SEX AND THE CITY

Written and Directed by Michael Patrick King
Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristen Davis, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Chris Noth


The days leading up to the premiere of the SEX AND THE CITY movie were very exciting for me. I was about to get this chance to catch up with four fictional girlfriends who changed my life and whom I hadn’t seen in years. The morning of the press screening finally came and, seeing as how it was a morning screening, I couldn’t sit there with a constant flow of cosmopolitans. To compensate, I got all dressed up and threw on my new shoes to boot. I was bubbling over with nostalgia and an energy shared amongst millions of fans who were also overcome with anticipation. And then it started. Soon afterward, my disappointment set in. Here they all were, up on the big screen, looking fabulous and doing just as good a job as they did for six years on HBO. Only something was missing. Intimacy. Subtlety. These are elements of the series that defined it, that elevated it from groundbreaking to timeless. Bringing the girls to the big screen and stretching their story over 2 ½ hours made those moments fewer and further apart. Unfortunately, now that they’ve come home to our living rooms on DVD (with an unbelievable 20-minute longer extended cut that elevates SEX AND THE CITY to unnecessarily epic proportions), the experience is no more satisfying.


Of course, now I can have that martini while I watch. And, to be clear, I didn’t hate the movie. I just had high expectations. Writer/Director Michael Patrick King and the rest of the gang certainly set the bar high for themselves so I can hardly be held accountable for wanting to live up to that standard. I even found writing about the film after its release to be pretty difficult. I could not resolve how to convey my disappointment without making it seem like the entire project should not have happened. On the big screen, the six years of these girls’ lives was reduced to a three minute opening montage on the off chance that a non-fan would actually end up in the auditorium. That was followed by over two hours of episodic (read, non-filmic) storytelling that furthered the characters in mostly interesting ways. Just like the series though, I appreciated the development of every character save for the central heroine, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). Her progress, on some bizarre level, reminds me of Frodo’s in the second LORD OF THE RINGS film – she starts out promising enough, goes through incredible trials and somehow at the end of a very long journey, ends up exactly where she started. (Bet you never imagined a SEX AND THE CITY/LORD OF THE RINGS comparison.) Growth is something I’ve come to expect and require from Carrie as she inspired so much of it in me and so many others. Watching her go backwards is just hard to accept.


Still, the film was an international success, finding some fans going back two and three times and the people behind the project clearly feel they did the series justice. They took four years between the series and the film because they wanted to ensure there was a strong story to be told so as not to disappoint the fans (this same explanation is being given for the potential of a sequel). The SEX AND THE CITY people know how tricky it is to stay in the public’s good graces and their appreciation of their audience is felt strongly on the 2-disc special edition DVD. MKP and SJP (King and Parker) share a 20-minute conversation about the experience that spans everything from performances to nuances and from fashion to fans. Costuming icon, Patricia Field, takes us on a tour of the unbelievable accessorized costume shop and overall design for the film that is elaborately daunting but well thought out in a surprising organic fashion. King returns for a commentary track that only further shows the sensitive side of the man behind the lens and how that sensibility finds its way into every frame. Before I knew it, my dismayed heart had turned, just a little. It just wasn’t enough for me to be completely carried away.

FILM


DVD

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Coens Burn 'Em All

So I didn’t bother with the box office report last weekend. It’s not like anyone bothered going to the movies last weekend either so no big deal. With four major wide releases all pulling in above $10 million to secure the top four spots, the fall box office is back and up and running. There were even a few surprises amongst the fall colours to keep people guessing and I’m not referring to Nicolas Cage’s BANGKOK DANGEROUS plummeting nearly 70% in its second week after barely making anything in first place last week. That wasn’t the least bit surprising.


First of all, the Coen brothers must most definitely be surprised as they find themselves debuting at number one for the first time with BURN AFTER READING. The Coens’s films do not ordinarily open wide. In fact, after THE BIG LEBOWSKI, THE LADYKILLERS and INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, BURN AFTER READING is only the fourth Coen brother film to open wide right away and it is certainly the first to debut on top with such robust numbers. Of all the major releases this week, this was the only picture to garner critical support. That, in combination with the immensely marketable cast and the buzz they earned with their Oscar win for last year’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, gave the Coens exactly what they needed to finally convince the masses that they can make movies for them too.


Although it wouldn’t be the first time, Tyler Perry might have been surprised to find his latest, TYLER PERRY’S THE FAMILY THAT PREYS settling for second. Almost all of Perry’s previous offerings have surpassed expectations at the box office to the point where racking up $18 million seems below standard practically. Still, the film generated the highest per screen average of any film in the Top 10 and only came up a couple of million shy of this spring’s MEET THE BROWNS.


The good people at Overture must be surprised. After all, how could a picture that boasts the two greatest actors of our generation for the first time together on screen – apparently the marketing folks have conveniently forgotten HEAT – open below a quirky comedy and a movie with a marginalized audience. RIGHTEOUS KILL, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, opened wider than any other film and only managed an average of $5K. It may be modest but it is by no means an embarrassing gross for an opening weekend – that is unless your film stars Pacino AND De Niro. Yes, I’m sure the folks at Overture are still shaking their heads.


Let’s not forget the ladies even though they conveniently forget the men. Diane English’s remake of the 30’s classic, THE WOMEN features Annette Bening, Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing and not a single man. That’s right. There are no men to be found in this picture – even if one of the women is walking down a busy New York street. Though the film battled scathing reviews to muster a $10 million dollar debut, I’m sure English was surprised the take was not bigger. After female-skewed hits like SEX AND THE CITY and MAMMA MIA! performed so well, PictureHouse was hoping to capitalize on the trend. Those films were hits because they reached past their core markets and brought in unexpected male audiences though. Maybe it’s because they actually had guys in them.


The final surprise this week is for Alan Ball. The Academy Award winning screenwriter of AMERICAN BEAUTY and creator of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” made his directorial debut this week to mixed reviews and polarized controversy with TOWELHEAD. The film, in which an Arab-American girl struggles with a sexual obsession, scored an impressive average of over $13K on just four screens and secured its expansion.

NEXT WEEK: It is another busy week for Hollywood next week, except with less high profile bows. Still another four wide releases will hit. GHOST TOWN finds Ricky Gervais seeing dead people. John Cusack gets animated in IGOR. Samuel L. Jackson makes trouble for neighbour, Patrick Wilson, in LAKEVIEW TERRACE. And Dane Cook steals Kate Hudson from Jason Biggs in MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL. This is the widest of the four releases. You’d think we cared or something.

SEX AND THE CITY

Written and Directed by Michael Patrick King
Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Chris Noth


Carrie Bradshaw: You know that this is a fairy tale, right sweetheart? Things don’t always work out like this in real life.

It’s important to state right away that I am a devout fan of the “Sex and the City” television series. I have seen the episodes countless times and they still tickle me almost as often as they touch me. Clearly, what you’re going to get out of the SEX AND THE CITY movie depends on what you’re going in with. For anyone who cares as much as I did, and there are more than enough in my boat to sink it, these girls have been sorely missed. It has been four years since the boy who called love, Mr. Big (Chris Noth) found a crumbling Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in Paris and told her finally that she was the one. Subsequently, it has been just as much time since Carrie foolishly believed him capable of feeling such things and forewent all her single sensibility for a crapshoot she called love. (It figures the one part of the series I would not like would be its conclusion). Who cares though? I still want more. When the lights went down and the sounds of that familiar theme began to rise (albeit just as a sample in some overwrought Fergie song), my romantic heart sped up just a little and an inevitable smile took over my face. But as the credits gave way to a recap of the characters’ arcs whittled down to their barest bones, I couldn’t help but wonder, who does director, Michael Patrick King think is seeing this movie that doesn’t already know all of this as well as the fit of their favorite shoes?


If you were not a fan of the series, this film will do nothing for you but remind you why. If you were a fan, you may feel some varying degree of disappointment but you’ll still likely see it and love it more than once. How could you not? I was mildly disappointed and I still cried at least three times. I missed these girls. They kept me company on so many restless nights. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) taught me how to let go of life long enough to let love in. Charlotte (Kristen Davis) taught me that you might not recognize love when it finally comes to you. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) taught me that old habits eventually need to be left behind if your life is ever to become what it could. And Carrie … oh, Carrie. Carrie taught me about the constant struggle to find happiness in yourself and your own life regardless of whether you’re fortunate enough to be sharing that with another person. So often did her poetic musings give me calm and resolve that the show became a necessary fix whenever I lost hope that love still knew where to find me.


Though the ladies may mean different things to different people, the need for the SEX AND THE CITY movie is palpable within its devoted fan base. The movie itself however creates none of its own urgency and does little to justify its own existence. Yes, I wanted the girls back but it would have been nice if they came back for a reason. Without divulging too much (as I believe the fate for spoiling this film is castration), the good times pick up again four years after we last left the streets of New York City. Miranda’s busy married life with Steve (David Eigenberg) has gotten stagnant; Charlotte lives in bliss with her husband Harry (Evan Handler) and their adopted girl, Lily; Samantha has made a life of monogamy and management with her young stud, Smith (Jason Lewis)in Los Angeles; and Carrie has somehow managed to domesticate Mr. Big, now known as John James Preston. It would even seem that they are headed toward wedded bliss. The big day comes though with expected big disasters and Carrie gets exactly what she should have seen coming all along.


As I was never happy that the quintessential single girl settled for a man who hurt her repeatedly and consistently, it was hard to feel satisfied watching her make the same mistakes on the big screen. On such a grand stage, I wanted to see Carrie blossom into the true state of confidence and individuality that her character was destined to, if only just to remind myself that I have that same capacity. Instead, her small screen magnificence only half fills the new digs and left me feeling rushed and unfinished instead of post-orgasm elation. And with the last round of cosmos now behind us, I got my much needed fix but I can’t tell whether SEX AND THE CITY (the movie) will keep the love flowing far into the future or finally put SEX AND THE CITY (the phenomenon) to rest.