The Hot Button by David Poland

Friday, 6 March 1998

WEEKEND PREVIEW
This weekend could be the ugliest yet of the new year. Titanic is likely to lead the pack yet again with about $17 million because the reviews of U.S. Marshals are incredibly bad. It's a big movie with a couple of big stars, but then again, so was Sphere and that barely opened. Personally, I think that Hush could rise up and take U.S. Marshals by surprise in the race for second spot. Hush just seems to me like a sleeper after months without a good thriller. We'll see. The Big Lebowski seems like a sure bet to generate at least $10 million from Coen Brothers freaks (like me) alone, which should put it in the top four for sure. And Twilight, which hits a relatively limited number of screens, could be the $2.5 million embarrassment of the weekend. Or worse, all four new releases could take a dive, much like last weekend, except that this weekend, you're looking at $150 million worth of product that could be hitting the wall in its first week out. Ouch.

THE GOOD: We should be able to say goodbye to Senseless and Krippendorf's Tribe after this weekend.

THE BAD: Both will turn up on video.

THE UGLY: Nothing really ugly this weekend (and as you can tell from the above, not much good or bad either). In the dictionary under the word mediocre, there is a link to this weekend. I suggest that you go to the Oscar contenders that you haven't seen yet and get ready for The Man In The Iron Mask, which hits theaters next weekend.

TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: Kissing A Fool + The Replacement Killers = Kissing A Killer. After being rebuffed by moviegoers, David Schwimmer goes back to the "Friends" set and mows down the entire cast with a machine gun after Rachel refuses to marry him. (She saw his movie.) The cast is replaced next season by the kids from "Dawson's Creek."

JUST WONDERING: Would anyone actually notice if My Giant went right to video?

BAD AD WATCH: I know that Harry Knowles is excited, but could there be any less valuable a critic than the pseudonymous Agent Apple Crisp, whose review is now quoted by Disney in ads for Burn Hollywood Burn? Perhaps. I am saddened that Twilight, a film loaded with incredibly talented people, has to stoop to quoting KMSB-TV, Rolling Stone, Sixty Second Preview, the L.A. Times Syndicate (not the paper), Larry King, KPRC-TV and non-network-level reviews attributed to Fox and NBC.

READER OF THE DAY: From RyanBP: "U.S. Marshals is going to BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB. First of all, if you look at the commercials, replace Wesley Snipes with Harrison Ford and you have the trailer to the Fugitive. The producers are doing nothing to distinguish the two films and not much to link the two of them. Said to be "From the producers of The Fugitive," then touted as being the remake it will probably end up being. I always liked Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes and wish them the best, but for the future of this film, it looks pretty dim."

E ME: Next Friday will be the last day of my daily coverage of ShoWest, but I'll be staying in Vegas for the weekend. Do I go to The Star Trek Experience or not?