Philip Seymour Hoffman has chosen familiar territory for his feature directorial debut -- the film adaptation of the 2007 off-Broadway play, Jack Goes Boating. Hoffman starred in Bob Glaudini's play -- an unconventional love story set in working-class New York City. On film, the Oscar-winner (for Capote) reprises his role as Jack, a limo driver unlucky in love.
Joining Hoffman is his Capote co-star, Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) -- who plays Connie. Like Jack, she's also loveless. They're two middle-aged misfits who were somewhat damaged by life's experiences -- enough so that they never properly navigated the romance game. To the rescue are couple Clyde and Lucy -- who set their friends/co-workers up on a blind date. What ensues is a mix of humor and drama -- as one couple begins to take shape while another may suffer from irreparable damage.
Also reprising their roles from the play are John Ortiz (Two Lovers) as Clyde and Daphne Rubin-Vega (Wild Things) as Lucy. And Glaudini wrote the screenplay based on his own original work. Only Beth Cole, who played Connie in the play, did not take part in the movie. Although a small independent film, it's a believable tale of love, betrayal and friendship. Strengthened by excellent acting by all and showcasing a convincing slice of New York life, it's an admirable start to Hoffman's directing career. Some may argue that Hoffman has pigeon-holed himself in sad-sack roles. But who else can do it so well? [Rated R; in select cities now; opens wider tomorrow]
Grade: B
Notes:
Click on the Film Reviews icon at left to read other recent reviews.
Coming soon: reviews of The Social Network, Catfish, RED and Conviction.
Amy Ryan attended my Jack Goes Boating screening last week -- and was especially gracious. The next day, she made many press rounds to promote the film. Here below is an interview with Philadelphia NBC10's "The 10! Show."
Notes:
Fox's Michael Douglas-starrer Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps topped the domestic box office with a good-but-not great debut of $19 million. Oliver Stone's sequel to his original 1987 financial thriller may have been a bit hampered by the unavailability of its ailing star for promotion stumping. Douglas is currently being treated for throat cancer.
Warner Bros.' 3D animated family film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole represented a more overt disappointment, earning just $16.3 million in second place. The adventure fantasy's uninspiring debut came despite premium ticket pricing in 2,479 3D locations. Are audiences getting fed up with the over-saturation of the genre?
The weekend's third wide opener -- Disney's You Again, starring Kristin Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White -- opened weakly with $8.3 million. It was good enough only for fifth place.
Last week's top-charter, Warner Bros.' The Town, earned another $16 million -- for a third place finish and only a 33% drop.
Collectively, the weekend's top 10 films rung up $89.3 million. That is 13% more than the top performers in an even more lackluster corresponding frame last year.
All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures will be released on Monday.
Reviews of The Town, Inception and other movies not in the top 10 can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
Sources: Hollywood.com, Hollywood Reporter
Wow -- time flies. Summer has wrapped up -- and before you know it, the holidays will be upon us! Ok, maybe I'm rushing things just a bit -- but do you have a plan in place to pay for gifts this year? One great way is to build an Amazon.com account completely on winnings from search and win sites such as Swagbucks and iRazoo. If you're not a member of these sites yet, consider joining -- winning is easy -- and before you know it, you'll have an Amazon.com account balance that will cover all or much of your holiday shopping needs! Free shopping, that is! Learn more about Swagbucks here and iRazoo here. Well, whether you already have an Amazon.com account or not, how about I help out? That's right, the exciting prize in this new EntertainmentBlogger Twitter contest is $50 in Amazon.com gift cards!
Each day through Tuesday, October 5 is an entry day for the contest.
October 6 Update:
THIS CONTEST HAS CLOSED. The winner will be selected and notified this week. Stay tuned for the announcement -- and for future EntertainmentBlogger contests!
Good luck!
Notes:
Only one main contest tweet entry AND one bonus tweet entry allowed per Twitter account per contest day.
Entries are only valid if you are following @Entertainment2u on Twitter from point of entry through duration of contest.
Contest ends on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM ET.
One winner will be randomly chosen from all qualified entries. He or she will be sent a direct message via Twitter -- and have 48 hours to respond.
Prize will be awarded as Amazon.com e-gift card codes distributed in $5 increments (ten quantity).
Read full detailed rules here or by clicking on the image above.
Please note that you do NOT need to comment below about your tweet entries. All tweets are tracked on Twitter -- and each tweet has an equal chance of being the random winner!
Original contest post date: Tuesday, August 31, 2010.
Contest update: On Tuesday, September 14, 2010, EntertainmentBlogger reached 1000+ followers on Twitter (@Entertainment2u) and the amount of the prize jumped from $40 to $50 in Amazon.com gift card value. The entry tweets above were revised to reflect that change.
Click here to return to the EntertainmentBlogger home page.
Never Let Me Go Directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), the incredibly slow-moving drama Never Let Me Go is a science-fiction tale -- but it's not set in the future. Instead, the action begins at an English boarding school in the 1980s where classmates Kathy (Isobel Meikle-Small), Tommy (Charlie Rowe) and Ruth (Ella Purnell) may seem like regular kids -- but they (and we) eventually learn that they are far from normal. Without giving much away, their lives are totally planned out -- from beginning to defined end.
The visually-stunning story jumps to the mid-1990s, with the lead characters now young adults. Picking up the roles are the excellent Carey Mulligan (An Education) as Kathy, Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, future Spider-Man) as Tommy and Keira Knightley (Atonement) as Ruth. The transition from Meikle-Small to Mulligan is a seamless achievement in great casting -- and it's a good thing since the Kathy role serves as the film's narrator. The other transitions are less believable -- something that always seems to bug me maybe more than it should.
Wrapped up in the dystopian world is a story of love, jealousy and betrayal. But the character development falls far short to really sympathize. There was such potential here -- but in the long run, not enough happens to make things interesting or truly moving. And believe me, there are things you expect should happen and don't -- and you're left frustrated as to why they're not even explored. The film also stars Charlotte Rampling (Swimming Pool) and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky). The screenplay is by Alex Garland (28 Days Later) -- and is based on the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote the novel "The Remains of the Day." [Rated R; in select cities now; opening wider tomorrow]
Grade: C+
Notes:
Click on the Film Reviews icon at left to read other recent reviews.
Coming soon: reviews of The Social Network, Catfish, Jack Goes Boating and RED.
Fall officially kicks in on Wednesday. So here is this week's round-up of free downloads -- the last of the summer of 2010:
SPIN Magazine has 18 tracks for free download here. Included are songs from Bad Religion, John Legend, The Posies and many more. Offer expires December 15.
From Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross comes a five-track sampler from the upcoming soundtrack of the movie, The Social Network. Click here for the download.
The Smashing Pumpkins are now onto their sixth free download. Visit the band's Website here to receive "Spangled" (and the past five songs, too!).
Download the entire 9-track jazz album, Chicago Trio 2010, from Mike Joneshere.
Finally -- check out mp3.com -- another daily source for free downloads. Click here for today's offering -- "Grown Unknown" from Lia Ices.
Want more free downloads? Well, don't forget to continually check the following sources -- new songs covering all genres are added frequently. Just click on the links below and enjoy some new tunes.
In a surprise for industry analysts, Warner Bros.' Ben Affleck-helmed heist thriller The Town earned $23.8 million for a #1 bow. Good reviews for Affleck's second directorial feature helped to push the film to the top.
Affleck marked a new helming high by topping his $5.5 million debut with 2007's Gone Baby Gone. But the bow by The Town -- the first pic Affleck both directed and starred -- was never going to approach his personal best as an actor, a $59.1 million opening with 2001's Pearl Harbor.
Sony's youth comedy Easy A -- which had been expected to easily top the weekend rankings -- settled for $18.2 million in second place on support from teen and tween females.
In other new releases, Universal's horror pic Devil rang up $12.6 million in third place -- the low end of projections. Lionsgate's 3D animated family comedy Alpha and Omega collected $9.2 million in fifth place.
Last weekend's chart-topper -- Screen Gems' Resident Evil: Afterlife -- fell a whopping 62% in its sophomore session to $10.1 million in fourth place, with $44 million in cumulative box office.
Summit Entertainment staged a limited re-release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in a bid to eclipse $300 million domestically. It did just that, as $205,000 in weekend grosses yielded a new cumulative total of $300.1 million.
The weekend's top 10 movies earned $85 million, or 3% more than top performers in a comparable session last year.
All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures will be released on Monday.
Reviews of The Town, Inception, The Other Guys and other movies not in the top 10 can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
Sources: Hollywood.com, Hollywood Reporter
The Town In his second directorial feature, Ben Affleck proves that his first -- 2007's taut crime thriller Gone Baby Gone -- was no beginner's luck. Affleck explores the same genre again -- but this time around, he's wearing even more hats -- as director, co-writer and star of The Town. And he excels at all tasks -- in this gripping tale of intense action (some quite violent) interwoven with romance.
Set within the tough streets of Charlestown, Massachusetts, the film's plot revolves around four friends who are team of expert bank thieves. Affleck is the crew's chief, Doug -- with Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as Jem, a bit of a loose cannon. Things get a bit complicated when the masked crew takes bank employee Claire (Vicky Cristina Barcelona's Rebecca Hall) as a hostage during one Boston heist. She's released unharmed, but the crew decides they must keep on eye on her -- just in case she starts talking to the Feds. Soon after, Doug and the unknowing Claire strike up a romance -- and he finally has just cause to turn his life around. But will Claire find out the truth, ending Doug's plans?
Based on Chuck Hogan's novel "Prince of Thieves," the film boasts strong performances by all the leads and supporting cast. Jon Hamm (TV's Mad Men) portrays the FBI agent pursuing a case against the criminals. Blake Lively plays troubled drug addict Krista, Jem's sister and Doug's ex-girlfriend. It's quite a departure for Lively -- who stars on TV's Gossip Girl. And although we don't see a lot of her, Lively is surprisingly believable in the gritty role. The drama also stars the consistently great Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father) and Chris Cooper (Adaptation). Now that the traditional summer fluff is behind us, it's time for movies to get serious again. Thankfully, The Town kicks off the fall season in fine fashion. [Rated R; opens today]
Grade: B+
Notes:
You may recall that Blake Lively was the guest host of the Saturday Night Live show I attended last year. Click here for more on that adventure.
Click on the Film Reviews icon at left to read other recent reviews.
Upcoming reviews include my thoughts on two October releases -- The Social Network (aka, the Facebook movie) and the Bruce Willis-starrer RED.
Here is this week's round-up of free downloads:
Josh Groban will release his new album, Illuminations, in November. You can now download the opening track "Hidden Away"at his site here.
Two exclusive soundtrack tracks from the hit movie Inception -- "Projections" and "Don't Think About Elephants"-- are available for download here.
From Kellee Maize comes the new song, "Revival of the 5th Sun." Download it here.
Want more free downloads? Well, don't forget to continually check the following sources -- new songs covering all genres are added frequently. Just click on the links below and enjoy some new tunes.
The lowest grossing weekend of the year thus far is led by Sony/Screen Gems’ Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D with a franchise high of $27.7 million -- thanks to 3D and IMAX powered screenings. It is the fourth installment in the action series that stars Milla Jovovich.
Screen Gems also claimed the #2 spot as the heist thriller Takers earned $6.1 million, rising one place; its total stands at $48.1 million after three weekends.
Last weekend's top film, Focus Features' George Clooney assassin drama The American, dropped to #3 with $5.9 million, for a 12-day haul of $28.3 million.
Reviews of Going the Distance, The Other Guys, Inception, Eat Pray Love and other movies not in the top 10, can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
The weekend after Labor Day is notoriously a slow weekend. With Resident Evil: Afterlife being the only big studio release, overall sales hit their lowest level in two years this weekend (lowest since the September 5-7 weekend of 2008).
All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures will be released on Monday.
Sources: Hollywood.com, Reuters
Notes:
The order of the top 10 movies did not change between the 3-day and 4-day weekend tallies.
George Clooney's hitman tale The American captured the top spot at the box office with a $16.4 million debut over the long 4-day Labor Day weekend. Since opening Wednesday, the Focus Features release has taken in $19.5 million.
Hollywood closed its busiest season with record revenue of $4.35 billion, about $100 million more than the previous high set last summer, according to Hollywood.com, which tracks box office. Yet because of higher ticket prices, movie attendance actually slipped -- to about 552 million, the lowest since summer 2005.
Reviews of Going the Distance, Eat Pray Love, The Other Guys, Inception and other movies not in the top 10, can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures will be released on Tuesday.
Sources: Hollywood.com, AP
Notes:
Even though the Labor Day holiday extends the weekend, the movie industry still tallies the traditional 3-day weekend from Friday through Sunday. After opening on Wednesday with $1.7 million, Focus Features’ The American starring George Clooney leads the weekend with $13 million. That translates to a $16.1 million total since its early opening on Wednesday.
In second place is last week's champ -- Takers -- with $11.5 million, a solid 44% second weekend hold and a domestic total to date of $37.9 million. Close behind in third place is Fox’s Machete with its $11.3 million debut.
Meanwhile, romantic comedies continue to struggle. Warner Bros.' Going the Distance had to settle for $6.9 million and fifth place in its debut.
Overall, sales were weak -- and are expected to remain so for the next few weeks as the studios release their projected under-performers so that they can focus on prestige pictures catering to awards voters later this fall.
Reviews of Going the Distance, Eat Pray Love, The Other Guys, Inception and other movies not in the top 10, can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
Sources: Hollywood.com, AP, Hollywood Reporter
Going the Distance It was just two weeks ago (here) that I complained that no one seemed to be able to make an enjoyable romantic comedy. Well, Going the Distance sure proves that it is possible. On-and-off real life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star as thirty-something New Yorkers Erin and Garret -- who meet in a bar and hit it off immediately. But after one must move to California, can the two maintain a long-distance relationship? In this troubled economy, is there even a chance that they can eventually find career-defining work in the same city?
Barrymore (Everybody's Fine, Whip It) and Long (Youth in Revolt) obviously bring great chemistry to the screen -- and both their comic and serious scenes are believable. Helping the believability factor is the stronger MPAA rating. So many rom-coms seem watered-down by their PG-13 rating. Here, Garret's buddies -- played by TV's Jason Sudeikes (Saturday Night Live) and Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) -- deliver plenty of adult laughs. So yeah, you'll hear some four-letter words and some minor raunchy humor. But that's real life. And ultimately, the film appeals to the male audience as well as the female crowd -- making for a great date movie.
Directed by Nanette Burstein, who is known for her documentaries such as American Teen and The Kid Stays in the Picture. It definitely could explain why this rom-com rings more honest and realistic than most. She manages to capture both the lively spirit of the Big Apple as well as the characters. Also stars Christina Applegate, Jim Gaffigan and Ron Livingston (Dinner for Schmucks). It's funny, it's surprisingly sweet and it's worth a night out to see. [Rated R; opens today]
