If you say Rambo over and over it starts to sound really silly.

And I mean in the “Rambo? Are we supposed to be afraid of a guy named Rambo?” way.

You know what wee need less of? Stupid movie title puns in stories about actors. Take this for example:

It’s hardly a titanic struggle, but a dispute between Leonardo DiCaprio and his neighbors isn’t departing anytime soon.

You see, Di Caprio was in Titanic and The Departed. And he has titanic and departing in that description. Isn’t it funny.

Not to mention that this is a totally irrelevant story. Makes you wonder if they wrote it just so they could make those silly puns.

Balls of Fury

The Players: Christopher Walken does his trademark Christopher Walken cameo that is funnier than anything in the rest of the film.
The Story: It’s about a ping-pong competition. I could elaborate, but somehow I don’t think that a plot that centers around a ping-pong competition merits it.
Rotten Tomatoes: 27%
Trailer

Alternate tagline: “A comedy that is sure to suck balls!”

Death Sentence

The Players: Kevin Bacon stars. Director James Wan (the original SAW, Dead Silence) gets his second movie this year. Based on a book by Brian Garfield, who also wrote Death Wish.
The Story: Mild-mannered guy + gruesome incident = bloody revenge.
Rotten Tomatoes: 8% (only 12 reviews so far)
Trailer

It has some promise, but the negativity of the reviews has me worried.

Halloween

The Players: Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Samuel Loomis. Rob Zombie directs.
The Story: Like you don’t know it already. Crazy guy kills a bunch of people, the original version.
Rotten Tomatoes: Not enough reviews yet. But early reviews have been pretty negative.
Trailer

Did we need a remake of Halloween? No we didn’t. But we got one any way, so we might as well hope an pray that it doesn’t soil the memory of the original.

(source:boxofficemojo.com)

Oh yes, another week with way to many movies opening, another weekend with a bunch of movies under performing. Must be the end of August.

Among the new films Mr. beans took the top spot, with almost $10 million. Not all that great, but like I said, this movie has already made it’s money on international markets. Whatever it can make in the U.S. is pure gravy.

WAR was just slightly behind. However, the Jet Li starer was probably counting on meatier take in order to really make money, since it probably won’t do that well internationally. Well I guess there is always the chance it will do great on DVD.

The Nanny Diaries only managed a modest sixth place, earning around $7 million. Hopefully this very modest take won’t keep directors Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini from making more movies. Hopefully better ones.

With all the soft openings Superbad managed to remain at the top spot, adding another $18 million to its sizable winnings. However the film did drop a somewhat large 45% from it’s opening weekend, which is not bad, but it is worst than Knocked Up, which dropped 36% in its second weekend, and much worst than 40-Year-Old Virgin, which dropped a meager 24%. I’m sure that everyone involved with the film is still very happy tough.

And so August ends. May September come, bringing less movies, but a better average quality.

Judd Apatow and his motley crew of contributors are having a great year. And you know what? Apatow deserves it. The guy has been involved in a lot of great projects over the last few years. So, to celebrate his success, I decided to go to YouTube and hunt down some of my favorite moments from these projects.

And here they are, in chronological order.

Freaks and Geeks - You Have a Beautiful Body

This scene has so much of what makes the later projects Apatow has been involved with great. It’s hilariously funny, mindbogglingly embarrassing and surprisingly endearing. It’s an tough combination to do well, but it is also at the core of why films like Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin are so special.

One interesting tidbit about freaks and Geeks is that although Apatow was the executive producer and certainly had a lot of creative input, the series was actually created by Paul Feig. But while Apatow has been very successful since the end of the series, Feig hasn’t been so lucky. He directed the dreadful Unaccompanied Minors last year and has mostly kept himself busy by directing some TV. Too bad, he deserved better.

Freaks and Geeks - Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Can you imagine any other network television series having a scene like this? Any television series period? It’s such an odd little scene. Not funny, at least not in any typical way. Endearing, for some people. Sweet, in an offbeat way. But above all, it feels real in a way that not many scenes in television or movies ever feel. I just love it.

And the scene is supposedly taken directly from Apatow’s own childhood.

I could keep listing scenes from freaks and Geeks forever, but I’ll stop now. The show was consistently brilliant, and if you are looking for a DVD to add to to your library getting the first (and only) would be a very good choice.

Undeclared - Truth or Dare

You know, I don’t love this series. And yet, I have to admit that it had some very strong moments.

Anchorman - Fight!

People sometimes forget, because Ferrell is such a strong presence, but Anchorman was produced by Apatow. The film turned out to be Apatow’s first true hit. It was also one of the movies that helped to usher in a new (and awesome) generation of comedy actors, directors, writers and producers.

40-Year-Old Virgin - Bags of Sand

Again: Funny, embarrassing and endearing. I laughed, I cringed, I loved it.

40-Year-Old Virgin - Aquarius

Yes, it is kind of silly. Yes, it doesn’t make much sense. And yet, it does. How could you convey better just how great sex was for Andy without some off the wall scene like this? I don’t know. What I do know is that this scene, coming when it comes, was just pure joy to watch.

Talladega Nights - Baby Jesus Prayer

Same director, main actor and producer as Anchorman. Hey, if it worked once why not try again?

The most remarkable thing about Talladega Nights is that it managed to have fun with the Nascar culture without being offensive. People who like Nascar could also like Talladega, and have fun laughing at both themselves and at the sort exaggerated views that some people have of Nascar. Once again, a very hard line to walk. But walk it they did.

Mr. Bean’s Holiday

The Players: Rowan Atkinson reprises his most famous role.
The Story: Mr. Bean goes to France! Which is very similar to the storyline of Rush Hour 3 actually (Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker go to France!).
Rotten Tomatoes: 44%
Trailer

Here is a fun fact for you: Mr Bean’s Holiday has already earned $188 million from foreign markets, making the picture a hit before it even opens in the States. Which is probably a good thing since I don’t think it will make much money here.

The Nanny Diaries

The Players: Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation). Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor). Based on the famous book.
The Story: Young woman goes to work as a nanny for a wealthy family.
Rotten Tomatoes: 22%
Trailer

I didn’t realize this movie was coming out this weekend until I started to prepare this post. This is not a good sign.

But more importantly, I’m very disappointed that this movie is getting such dreadful reviews. I loved American Splendor, the previous film from Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, and the cast in this one is fabulous. So I was expecting something exciting. But apparently the film doesn’t work. At all. Too bad.

Resurrecting the Champ

The Players: Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett star. Rod Lurie (The Contender) directs.
The Story: Journalist encounters an old boxing champion living as a homeless man. Writes story about him. Turns out the man wasn’t who he said he was.
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Trailer

Out of all the films coming out this week, this is the one I’m most likely to see at some point. Interesting story, interesting actors and interesting director. But I still don’t expect it to be anything more than passable.

WAR

The Players: Midlevel action stars Jet Li and Jason Statham.
The Story: Jet Li and Jason Statham go against each other. Stuff blows up.
Rotten Tomatoes: No Reviews Yet. And really with a movie like this the reviews matter very little.
Trailer

Mindless fun or just plain mindless? Not sure, but hopefully it will be the former.

This weekend’s boxoffice brings some supergood news and some superbad news.

The good news come, of course, from Superbad’s opening. The AP put out this story, which is about how Superbad transformed from a possible sleeper hit that could go far based on good word of mouth into simply a hit which is making tons of money right of the gate. It’s interesting, although there isn’t a clear answer.

Superbad’s opening is slightly larger than that of Knocked Up, which managed to earn around $31 million in it’s opening weekend. That doesn’t mean that Superbad’s total gross will match that Knocked Up, which was is very leggy movie and which will end it’s run with just a little less than $150 million. However it seems to be poised to at least match 40 year Old Virgin’s $109 million.

And the bad news come from every other single other movie opening this weekend. The Invasion only managed to muster $5,951,409, which is really bad considering that the movie stared Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The poorly advertised The Last legion made $2,746,312 and Frank Oz’s Death at a Funeral earned $1,282,973. The numbers for Death at a Funeral aren’t all that bad considering that the film was only playing on 260 theaters, but they weren’t good either.

The holdovers (aka, the “old” films) all experienced modest drops, with the exception of Rush Hour 3, which was coming off the heights of it’s opening weekend. Hairspray once again had the smallest drop in the top 10, and it passed the $100 million mark to boot. And Stardust only lost about 40% of it’s opening weekend gross, which is very good by today’s standards, but doesn’t seem to point to some truly great word of mouth fueled run.

These brief article about Swedish movie ‘Ciao Bella’, which is finding it hard to get international distribution due to some graphic sex scenes, contains the following paragraph:

Pic, which opened on Aug.3 and notched up a respectable 30,000 admissions in 10 days, carries a G rating in Sweden where sex, even among young people, is not considered shocking. By comparison “Borat,” R-rated in the U.S., also received a G rating in Sweden.

Somehow, I was unaware of that, and it surprised me. I wonder if this is something very specific to that country or if it is also a view shared by other European nations.

The Invasion

The Players: Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in the main roles. Oliver Hirschbiege (Downfall), supposedly with a little  help from James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and from the Wachowskis.
The Story: Is there anybody who hasn’t seem some version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Well, some aliens invade earth and start replacing people with alien versions of them.
Rotten Tomatoes: 17%
Trailer

between the troubled production story (directors coming in to try to fix the film) and the bad reviews I have pretty much lost all interest in this film. For a while there it seemed like it could be something tough.

The Last Legion

The Players: Colin Firth as a Roman legionnaire, Ben Kingsley as Merlin and Aishwarya Rai as, hmm, a hot woman?
The Story: Honestly, I can’t tell for sure. But there is something involving the fall of the Roman empire and Excalibur (yes, the one you know from the King Arthur stories).
Rotten Tomatoes: No reviews yet.
Trailer

Colin Firth as a legionnaire? Really? Love the guy, but legionnaire?

Superbad

The Players: Michael Cera (Arrested Development), co-written by Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), produced by Judd Apatow.
The Story: Two friends on the verge of finishing high school have to deal with their upcoming separation. Somehow, hilarity ensues.
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Trailer

Superbad is supergood! I know, I know. But I had to do it. Honestly, I haven’t seen the film yet, but the potential appears to be immense.

Death at a Funeral

The Players: Director Frank Oz (Bowfinger)
The Story: Guy dies. Family comes together. Funny stuff happens because family is dysfunctional. The end.
Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Trailer

I sort of love this little weird family comes together comedies. This one probably won’t be anything exception, but should be worth the time.

So, Rush Hour 3 managed to grab the number one position this weekend, with about $49 million. Is that good or bad? Well, it’s kind of so-so.

The last Rush Hour 2 opened to a significantly bigger $67 million six years ago. Considering that movie’s nowadays tend to make even more of their total gross in the first weekend, this means that Rush Hour 3 will end up earning a lot less than it’s predecessor. However, it should still earn enough money to put it into the black. The good news is that we will probably not be seeing a Rush Hour 4.

Stardust opened ok, considering the very low expectations. The movie is supposedly good, but the marketing department never really figured out how to sell it. Perhaps the film will generate enough good word of mouth to carry it to a decent total, but I’m guessing it’s best chance of financial success really is a good showing on international markets and on the DVD.

Daddy Day Camp and Skinwalkers bombed. Hard. Which is probably a good thing.

Most holdovers had decent drops. Bourne Ultimatum lost half of it’s opening weekend business, which is now considered a good result. Hairspray surprised with a small 30% drop, showing that it still has some life in it. The Simpsons had another drop above 50%, but that doesn’t matter because the movie already earned more than it was expected and it’s cleaning up internationally. All of the other movies in the top ten had drops in the low or middle forties, which has become very normal.

And that’s it. Rush Hour 3 marks the last threequel and the last really high profile opening of the summer. It has been a good movie summer financially, even if the quality of the movies sometimes left something to be desired. Let’s hope next summer’s movies are equally successful in the box office but deliver more in the quality department.