Movie Muse

Side Note: Check out the next Julie Powell of Chicago cuisine, my friend Stephanie, and her  blog “Stephanie Eats Chicago.” She was featured on WGN Radio this morning, plus if you click you might find pictures of puppies amidst her food-pegs.

“Julie & Julia” is not about food so much as it is about setting goals and creating opportunities for personal achievement. In this way, famous television chef Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and foodie blogger Julie Powell (Amy Adams) have more in common than a passion for cooking. Acclaimed romantic comedy filmmaker Nora Ephron juxtaposes both womens’ stories to illustrate this in her film and though it’s a conclusion that doesn’t require two long hours to cook, the life-like ups and downs and feel good moments of “Julie & Julia” make it an affecting and personable film. Read the rest of this entry »

And we’re waiting … and waiting … who’s got the goods to dethrone Avatar? This is our what, fifth weekend of 2010 and no one has been able to generate enough buzz to make the cash that will finally snap the streak. And guess what: it won’t happen again this weekend. Yes, it will be the closest it has ever been, but unless Americans rally behind Mel Gibson, it will fall short. Read the rest of this entry »

R.I.P movie star Jean Simmons, who starred opposite Kirk Douglas in this film. She passed away last week just 9 days before her 81st birthday.

“Spartacus” (1960) and “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962) were the two great epic war films of the 1960s. That said, the latter is superior, but not for the former’s lack of trying. The backstory of “Spartacus” explains a lot: Executive producer and star Kirk Douglas fires director Anthony Mann and brings in his “Paths of Glory” (a phenomenal film) director Stanley Kubrick. Problem is, the eventually infamous Kubrick really had no experience working with anyone’s work but his own, even if the script was written by blacklisted two-time Oscar winner Dalton Trumbo. Basically, Douglas did his best to make the most of “Spartacus,” including the corralling of a distinguished cast, but it results in a very good — not great — film. Read the rest of this entry »

He hasn’t starred in a film in eight years but you’d never know it. In that span he directed the most controversial highest-grossing film of all time as well as one of the weirdest foreign-language films and in 2006 he got pulled over for a DUI that made him the hideous butt of late night comedy jokes. He is Mel Gibson, and he’s returning to the silver screen tomorrow after nearly a decade in Edge of Darkness. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t necessarily understand the phenomenon that “Paranormal Activity” became in the Fall of 2009, especially considering the success of “The Blair Witch Project” and “Cloverfield” bringing exposure to the documentary-style and low budget horror/thriller. Yet people demanded this film be shown in their cities and towns and this $15,000 movie grossed more than $100 million. We might never fully understand why, but my hunch is it’s partially because filmmaker Oren Peli is able to effectively do what bigger-budget horror filmmakers can with just a fraction of the resources. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are of the Net News generation or have any means by which to know anything when it happens via the Internet, than you’ve probably already heard about iPad, or at least saw a friend make a joke about iKotex on Twitter, were confused and then linked that to your knowledge that Apple had a tablet-style product in the works. Well, it was unveiled today and it’s beautiful – it’s the visual accessibility of a laptop with the intimacy and functionality of an iPod touch or iPhone.

But what does it mean for movies? Read the rest of this entry »

If one were taking a course on how to appropriately adapt a novel for the big screen, “Atonement’ would certainly need to be among the required materials. Though I personally have never read McEwan’s novel, the attention to detail that Joe Wright and his team bring to telling this story visually is superb. Read the rest of this entry »

Americans have long been ignorant of the comedic prowess of Ricky Gervais. The round- bellied Brit is the force behind “The Office” having played the Michael Scott equivalent, David Brent, on the original UK show and produced the American version. Yet to most of us he’s “the guy from the Night at the Museum movies.” His latest try to gain name recognition in the US after the failure of last year’s “Ghost Town” comes in the form of concept comedy “The Invention of Lying,” where he plays a lonely loser who in a world of truth and candidness, stumbles upon the first lie. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no newsworthy angle on Avatar being number one at the box office, but there is on how far it is from Titanic. James Cameron’s sci-fi epic is just $4 million away from being the highest grossing film the world has ever seen and less than $50 M away from the highest grossing film in United States history. It should pass the world mark this week and with another big weekend, we could be calling Avatar No. 1 in every sense of the word by this time next week.

No film pushed Avatar at all this week. No one even earned half of what it made and it was in its sixth week already. In terms of my predictions, I failed in predicting Legion would be a flop and not hit the Top 5, but I was proved completely wrong. The film’s target audience was not bogged down by The Book of Eli last weekend or Daybreakers the week before that. It earned $17.5 M, enough to beat “Eli” for No. 2 by a slim couple million.

Read the rest of this entry »

The problem with “Knowing” is that it goes too far. It’s a tough act to juggle so many overused story conventions such as decoding numbers, the apocalypse and the supernatural these days. Movies like “Knowing” have become almost a genre of their own thanks to Roland Emmerich and other disaster/end-of-the-world-predicting filmmakers. And with that comes expectations as well as a need for originality. What is supposed to set “Knowing” apart? Disaster shots? No; A protagonist trying to convince people he’s not crazy though he can see the future? No; Nicolas Cage? Ahaha. Read the rest of this entry »

“Trading Places” is a modern-day “Pygmalion”: a couple old codgers make a bet on whether or not they can turn a homeless con artist from a petty thief to a proper wealthy businessman and the opposite to a prim and proper wealthy young gentleman. More than an opportunity for comedy, this social experiment premise offers genuine insight into class prejudice. So even if the film doesn’t go entirely topsy-turvy, its poignancy — an accomplishment so rare of the comedy genre — warrants “Trading Places” a must-see of ’80s comedy. Read the rest of this entry »

“Changeling” reminds me a lot of 1997 thriller “L.A Confidential” in that it deals with police corruption and P.Ds’ frightening level of power. The problem with that is “Changeling” takes place about 25 years earlier — same police department, same problems, different era. It’s unfortunate how incompetent our criminal justice system was and in many ways still is and that’s what makes “Changeling” such a difficult film to stomach. It invokes rage, sadness, disgust and sympathy — and when you’ve had enough it keeps going. But it’s a beautifully realized period piece and a quality film from all aspects. Read the rest of this entry »

The ’60s was the decade of the movie musical with “West Side Story,” “The Sound of Music,” “My Fair Lady,” and “Oliver!” all taking home Best PIcture. It’s fair to say “Funny Girl” might’ve been on that list had it not came out the same year as “Oliver!” But the Academy had it right in giving this musical romantic comedy’s one Oscar to its best attribute and greatest asset: Barbara Streisand. Read the rest of this entry »

Just take a look at the movie posters above. Do any of those even remotely look like they can dethrone Avatar? Not a chance at the rate that it’s been decreasing. Here is the rough number of millions of dollars Avatar has made in its five weekends starting with its opening: $75, $77, $68, $50, $42. It’s poised to make more than $30 million this weekend and none of these films have that kind of pull.

I’ve yet to say this or endorse this, but if you haven’t seen Avatar yet, this is the weekend to finally go. Do it. You won’t be sorry. If you can go see some of the artsier films vying for Oscars, you can do that instead, but if you’re just looking for mainstream and haven’t seen Avatar, get a move on. Read the rest of this entry »

In an expected move, execs of Sony and Columbia Pictures and Spider-Man franchise producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin have contracted (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb to direct the next three Spider-Man movies. The news comes about a week after original trilogy director  Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire left the franchise for good after being unable to get Spider-Man 4 off the ground. The films will be based on writer James Vanderbilt’s scripts and will take Peter Parker back to high school. They figured who better to really flesh out the youthful dimension of Spider-Man than a young up-and-comer such as Webb. Read the rest of this entry »