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Movie Reviews: Seven Pounds
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
Will Smith's Seven Pounds is taking a pounding from a good number of critics, who have been asked by the producers not to reveal any "spoilers." Consider A.O. Scott's comments in the New York Times: "I don't see how any review could really spoil what may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-m ore-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made. I would tell you to go out and see it for yourself, but you might take that as a recommendation rather than a plea for corroboration. Did I really see what I thought I saw?" Lou Lumenick in the New York Post describes it as "a Will Smith weepie that should include diabetes testing in the admission price, as a 'gripping mystery.'" He goes on: "The only mystery here is how many people are actually going to pay good money to watch this preposterous romantic melodrama, which uses a fractured narrative to cloud an absurd plot that would probably be laughed off the screen if it were presented in a straightforward manner." Tom Maurstad in the Dallas Morning News figures that the spoiler warning from producers represents a way to ward off any serious critique of the movie. "Seven Pounds is a bad, ridiculous movie, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be free to discover that yourself, unencumbered by a review's revelations," he concedes. "Still, it's almost ingenious how director Gabrielle Muccino and writer Grant Nieporte have concocted a movie that inoculates itself from advance criticism. A nonspoiler synopsis of the movie would be something like: Will Smith plays a guy who's alternately a vengeful bully and a wish-granting saint for reasons that aren't explained until just before the movie ends. It's as if Mr. Smith took this role to test the limits of his box-office-king likability." Writing in the Chicago Tribune, critic Michael Phillips says that the movie "has a heart as big as all outdoors. Unfortunately it's made out of high-fructose bull." Like many critics, Phillips absolves Smith of blame for the film's deficiencies. "He's not the problem, although if a major player green-lights a more grandiose and specious screenplay about redemption any time this century, it'll be a miracle."
Movie Reviews: Yes Man
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
The reviews of Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey, are positive to a point. The Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern, writes, for example, "Jim Carrey's new comedy is enjoyable enough for what it is, a clever idea developed by fits and starts." The movie is similar to the premise of Carrey's Liar, Liar about a man who must tell the unvarnished truth about everything. In this case, he must say yes to everything. "Jim Carrey works the premise for all it's worth, but it doesn't allow him to bust loose and fly," writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Carrey is back to elastic-faced form and zany physical humor. But his efforts feel more manic than comical," comments Claudia Puig in USA Today. "Mr. Carrey has some good moments," writes A.O. Scott in the New York Times, "but Yes Man rarely rises to genuine hilarity. It takes no risks, finds no inspiration and settles, like its hero, into a dull, noncommittal middle ground."
Mixed Bag At Awards Noms
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
Doubt received the most nominations for the annual SAG awards Thursday, scoring nods for Meryl Streep for best actress as well as a nomination for ensemble cast, SAG's equivalent of the best film award, plus nominations in the supporting actor/actress categories for Amy Adams, Viola Davis and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Also nominated in the ensemble cast category were Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire. Meanwhile Slumdog Millionaire picked up six nominations for the London Film Critics' Circle Awards, to be presented on February 4. Also competing for best film will be Milk, Frost/Nixon, Wall-E, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Wrestler. Finally, the Chicago Film Critics Association named Disney/Pixar's Wall-E best picture of 2008.
Berlinale Goes Digital
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
The Berlin Film Festival -- the Berlinale -- announced today (Friday) that it is taking "the next big step" into the digital age by equipping 29 of the 49 screens it will be using this year with digital cinema projection equipment. The festival said that it will also set up an encoding studio where film files will be encoded, transferred to hard drives and delivered to the theaters showing them. The encoding, the festival said, will protect the films from piracy. "These new screening systems are crucial for the Berlinale, for the future lies in digital cinema," festival director Dieter Kosslick said in a statement. The ten-day festival opens on February 5.
Will Smith Battles Jim Carey At Box Office
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
Ordinarily these days, Will Smith would be considered a far bigger box-office draw than Jim Carrey -- despite the fact that Carrey was the first actor to command $20 million per form. But Carrey's Yes Man, which opens today (Friday) against Smith's Seven Pounds, has been generating a lot of positive buzz, featuring what Carrey does best -- broad comedy. Seven Pounds, however, is a drama -- and downbeat and dead serious, not your typical holiday amusement. For that reason, box-office analysts are expressing Yes Man to take in $25-30 million and Pounds settle for about $22-27 million. Also opening is the animated feature The Tale of Despereaux, voiced by Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick, which should capture the family audience with about $10-14 million, analysts estimate. In limited release, The Wrestler, has drawn packed houses since its opening on Wednesday.
Redstone's D-Day Passes Uneventfully
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
Today (Friday) was to have been the day that Sumner Redstone's National Amusements was to have repaid $800 million to creditors. But the consortium of 15 institutions who had lent the money decided at the last moment to extend the deadline to repay the money indefinitely while they worked out a new refinancing agreement with Redstone. The arrangement staves off bankruptcy for National Amusements, Redstone's private holding company, but is likely to result in a new loan being negotiated with tougher conditions, according to analysts. Meanwhile, reports emerged today that while Redstone has told the lenders that he plans to sell off many of the movie theaters in the National Amusements chain, he faces intense opposition from his daughter Shari, who runs them. She is demanding that her father consider other asset sales -- presumably parts of CBS and/or Viacom. Today's Wall Street Journal reported that the dispute has reached the point where father and daughter are now communicating only by fax.
Summer Olympics: The Rerun
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
The major drawback of NBC's highest-rated programming this year -- the Beijing Summer Olympics -- is that there appeared to be little-to-no chance of repeating it, analysts observed at the time. But they apparently did not take into account the opening ceremony which set audience records when it aired from Beijing in August. On Thursday NBC announced that it will air an edited version of the ceremoy ("TV Event of the Year") as a two-hour special beginning at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 27, hosted by Bob Costas and Matt Lauer. The original telecast was directed by famed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. The special will also include the Games' "greatest moments," including, of course, the performance of Michael Phelps in the swimming competition.
Fired Producer Rehired
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
In an unusual turnabout, a producer who was fired from a series by network executives, is being rehired by new network executives who replaced the ones who fired him. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Tom Fontana will return as executive producer/showrunner for The Philanthropist, replacing David Eick. Fontana was fired after reportedly insisting that the show, about a wealthy do-gooder, focus on hot-topic social issues. Network programmers, the Reporter said, were "looking for a more escapist and fantastical approach." The decision to return Fontana to the series-- only a pilot has been filmed so far -- was reportedly made by Angela Bromsted, recently appointed NBC's president of scripted programing.
Fox Business Channel Sues Treasury Department
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
Claiming that the Treasury Department has been less than transparent in providing details about how it intends to bail out troubled financial institutions, Fox Business Network has sued Treasury in hopes of forcing it to release the information. The News Corp-owned cable network said that it had originally filed an expedited request for the information under the Freedom of Information Act last November 25, then again on December 1, but both requests were ignored, Kevin Magee, executive vice president of Fox Business Network, said in a statement. "In a critical time like this, amidst mounting corruptions and an economic crisis, we as a news organization feel it's more important than ever to hold the government accountable."
Telemundo Soars, Other Networks Retreat
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
While many broadcast and cable networks have experienced a significant audience exodus, NBC-owned Telemundo, the second-largest Spanish language network in the U.S., has seen its audience rise 13 percent from last year. Univision, the leading Spanish-language broadcaster saw a 2 percent rise. NBC itself saw a 10-percent increase this year, most of it due to its coverage of the Summer Olympics. Fox also saw a 2-percent gain. But ABC, CBS, The CW, and the Spanish-language Telefutura, owned by Univision, all registered declines in total viewers.
GE Short-Circuits
19 December 2008 1:39 AM, PST
Shares in General Electric dropped $1.43, or 8.2 percent, to $15.96 on Thursday as the company admitted facing numerous challenges in its GE Capital and NBC Universal units. The stock is down 57 percent year to date. On Tuesday, GE chief Jeffrey Immelt told investors in New York that in just three years -- from 2005 to 2008 -- NBC's earnings have plunged from $1.4 billion a year to just $400 million. At the same time, earnings from NBC's cable networks saw their income climb from $1.3 billion in 2005 to $2.1 billion this year.
Youtube Pirating Films, Says Malaysian Director
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
A Malaysian producer has accused YouTube of pirating his films. In an interview with the Malaysian edition of the Straits Times, producer David Teo said, "YouTube is eating into our profits." While the video website generally refuses to allow uploads of full-length American films, his movies, released under his Mig Film banner, have been uploaded on YouTube in 10-minute segments. (The newspaper confirmed Teo's claim.) Teo said that he expected the illegal uploading "will affect the sales of Vcd and DVD releases." He added pointedly, "The funny thing is that no Hollywood movies are uploaded on YouTube."
Delgo -- Biggest Flop Of The Year
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
The animated Delgo has turned out to be the biggest flop of the year, earning just $511,920 in its opening weekend, or $237 per screen, according to box-office trackers Media by Numbers. The film had cost about $40 million to make. Saying that he was "befuddled" about the poor showing, writer/director/producer Marc Adler told today's (Thursday) Wall Street Journal blamed the light marketing that was focused on cable outlets aimed at kids. "We thought we were doing everything right, focusing on kids," Adler told the newspaper, "but we missed the moms." The film also performed poorly with critics. "Too leaden for adults and too baffling for kids," Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in the New York Times. "Tedious, noisy and banal," said Claudia Puig in USA Today. And Mark Olsen in the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The end credits are probably the best thing in the film."
Disney Backer Sues Studio
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
A dispute between the Walt Disney Co. and its principal financing partner, Kingdom Films, could resolve the question, when is a sequel a sequel? According to today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times, Kingdom claims that Disney's High School Musical 3 was not a sequel at all, because it was the only one of the HSM movies to be released theatrically, and that it should therefore share in its profits. Disney, however, says that it is a sequel to the Disney Channel HSM movies and therefore exempt from profit-sharing payments to Kingdom under terms of its contract, which excludes theatrical sequels. Likewise, Kingdom also claims it should receive a share of Hannah Montana: The Movie, when it is released next year, while Disney insists it should be excluded. Both the HSM and Hannah Montana franchises are among Disney's most profitable properties. Disney's attempt to exclude them from the deal, Kingdom said, was "part of a concerted effort to eliminate from the slate those films that defendants believe may be profitable as a result of their association with the Disney Channel."
Dark Knight Sets Blu-ray Record
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
For the first time a movie has sold over one million high-definition discs in its first week on the shelves, Warner Bros.' Home Video said Monday as it reported that it had sold 1.7 million copies of The Dark Knight since its worldwide release last week. The movie also sold 11.8 million standard-definition DVDs representing a total of about $175 million in revenue, the company indicated. Meanwhile, in an interview with Collider.com, Warner Bros. President Alan Horn indicated that a Dark Knight sequel is not yet in the works. "We've been talking to [co-writer/director] Chris Nolan and what we have to do is get him in the right place and have him tell us what he thinks the notion might be for a great story, but Chris did a great job and we'd love to have him come back and do another one."
Crew Members Protest SAG Strike Plans
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
About a dozen film industry workers braved cold, rainy weather in front of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood Wednesday night to demonstrate against fellow workers, members of the Screen Actors Guild, who were holding an "educational" meeting regarding a strike authorization vote scheduled to take place on January 2. The demonstrators held signs reading, "Please No Strike Now -- The Crew." Members of the group said that they have already been hurt as production has slowed down as the stalemate between SAG and the studios has dragged on. "Since the last contract expired in June, it's basically killed the feature film business," Rob Frank, a location manager, told the Associated Press. "People are losing their homes. I just think the timing is off for a strike." Inside the theater, about 400 SAG members heard from some 40 speakers who supported the strike authorization and a handful who did not or had not made up their minds. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter observed that the major studios are likely to produce "many or all" future TV pilots with electronic cameras under AFTRA contracts.
Cowell Addresses Goodspeed Suicide
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
Acknowledging that the suicide of former American Idol contestant Paula Goodspeed hit him "like an express train" and that "it upset me a lot," AI judge Simon Cowell said he began thinking "long and hard" about his acerbic comments to hopeless performers on the show. In the end, he said, he concluded that it would be wise to "continue in the way we have always done. We have tried to have a sense of humor. The show is not an inherently mean show." Speaking during a conference call with reporters in advance of the show's new season, Cowell added, "What happened was awful. My regret is that we didn't know how troubled this person was. If I had gone back in time and known what she was going through, I wish we could have spent time trying to help her, but we genuinely didn't know." Cowell also indicated that he assumes that "everyone who enters American Idol kind of knows the score. If you're not great, you're going to get criticism." In the case of Goodspeed, the judges laughed at her performance and, referring to her braces, Cowell asked how she was able to sing "with that much metal."
Older Viewers Spend 19.2 Hours A Week Watching TV
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
Older viewers who often complain that young people spend too much time in front of their television sets may be brought up short by a new study indicating that they spend twice as much time watching TV as the younger set. According to the study by Deloitte Research titled "The State of the Media Democracy," younger viewers ages 14-25 watch 10.5 hours of TV a week versus 21.5 hours for viewers 62-75. In between are those 26-42 who watch TV 15.1 hours a week and those 43-61 (the so-called "baby boomers"), who watch 19.2 hours.
Baseball Channel To Debut On New Year's Day
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
New Year's Day usually features back-to-back college-football bowl games, but baseball fans will also be handed a treat this year when The MLB Network debuts on January 1 by rebroadcasting the 1956 World Series baseball game (including vintage commercials) in which Don Larsen pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The game, originally televised live on NBC, was announced by Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen, who died in 1996 at age 83, and Vin Scully, who remains the lead Dodgers announcer at age 81. A kinescope recording of the game (beginning in the second inning) was recently discovered, allowing the new channel to rebroadcast it for the first time in history beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Minority Actors Getting Fewer Jobs, Says NAACP Study
18 December 2008 1:37 AM, PST
Roles filled by minority actors on television continued to decline in 2008 and shows featuring them in leading roles remained virtually non-existent, according to a study released by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The study, titled "Out of Focus, Out of Sync, blamed a systemic condition that included both studio management and the industry's unions (which it accused of "nepotism and cronyism"). Non-scripted shows were a different matter, the NAACP study said, pointing out that shows like CBS's Survivor and Fox's American Idol "are likely to be more diverse in casting than their scripted counterparts.
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