Friday, 5 February 1999

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Ah, the return of the weekend preview. Let's see whether it's like riding a bicycle.

There is no doubt about what film will be in the top slot this weekend. (Though there is doubt about some of the theories in yesterday's column on the film, down in ROTD and even more in the Box Office Extra.) The movie is Payback, the star is Mel, the first weekend is money. Mel is SO money. Even without screen counts and the like, I am willing to figure that an action-oriented Mel is worth about $24 million this weekend.Also new on screens are superstars Jason Schwartzman and Peter Mullan. Huh? You don't know who these guys are? Well, you will.

Schwartzman is the young star of Rushmore. He's getting a little lost in the conversation as Bill Murray grabs nominations all over the place, but this kid is really great in a movie that's really great. Go see it. That is, if it's in your city. And Peter Mullan is a great UK actor who will likely become a regular in Hollywood movies once studio execs get an eyeful of his work here. (They will spend half the casting time trying to make sure that his accent is understandable. The idiocy of it all!) The movie is My Name is Joe and Mullan plays Joe with a glorious abandon. This one is most definitely not a comedy. Director Ken Loach tells the story of Joe and Sarah (Louise Goodall) and their struggle to find happiness together. It's a powerful movie and if you like dark drama, this one won't disappoint. And don't you worry about the accents. The film is subtitled here in the U.S. even though it's in English.

Returning to the fold (and likely to be No. 2 for the weekend) is She's All That. I still haven't had a chance to see the film, though I did get to see a lot of Rachael Leigh Cook up at Sundance last week. Well, not a lot. (Perverts!) There are not many changes in the Top 10 overall, though I suspect that with one new entry (I don't think these other two excellent releases will have enough screens to dent the Top 10, but check out Box Office Extra to be sure), someone has to go. My guess is that the someone will be At First Sight, which is dropping significantly faster than The Prince of Egypt, the film that was just $25,000 behind AFS last weekend.

In limited release, my "must-see" suggestions amongst the relatively new films (which precludes films like Gods and Monsters, Life is Beautiful and others) are: Rushmore, My Name is Joe, Elizabeth, Still Crazy, The General, Affliction and The Celebration. Be very careful if you choose Affliction or The Celebration. Expect great joy and laughter if you choose Rushmore or Still Crazy. Expect great directorial skill and mind-blowing performances if you choose My Name is Joe, Elizabeth or The General.

THE GOOD: The 1998 WGA Award nominations were announced this week. As usual, there were some variations on the expected awards drill. For Best Original Screenplay, Bulworth (Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser) has surprisingly become a standard choice among most groups. I won't argue, though I still feel that the third act continued the rap gag far too long for the film's own good. Other standard nominees were Saving Private Ryan (Robert Rodat) and Shakespeare in Love (Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard). A little out of the lines was The Truman Show (Andrew Niccol), a film that has gone out of fashion in Hollywood as summer became winter. (There is no fall in L.A., except from grace.) But the real leap was the nomination for The Opposite of Sex (Don Roos), the edgy sex comedy that was the hot indie of the summer. I was in like with the film (not love), but I love the ballsy nod for a screenplay that was damned good.

The expected nominations for screenplays based on previously produced or published material were for A Civil Action (Steve Zaillian from the Jonathan Harr book) -- anything with Zaillian's name on it seems a deserved lock these days -- and Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon based on the book "Father of Frankenstein" by Christopher Bram). Scott B. Smith's conversion of his own book, A Simple Plan, was a bit of a surprise, mostly because the buzz about the film as more than a traditional thriller seems linked not to the screenplay but to the performances of Billy Bob Thornton, Brent Briscoe, Bridget Fonda and Bill Paxton, which reached beyond the dialogue. Elaine May's work on Primary Colors (adapted from the book by Joe Klein) may be her most spectacular yet. But in today's political climate, honoring that is daring. I'll say now, with due respect to the other talented nominees, if this race is a fair one, May should win this award. Finally, the biggest surprise of them all may be Scott Frank's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Out of Sight," another great movie that got lost. If Frank wins for this film, he should saw the award in half and give the bigger part to Steven Soderbergh. Dialogue good, acting very good, directing great.

THE BAD: Sadly, it looks like Gene Siskel is still not healthy. He is taking an official six-month leave from his work at the Chicago Tribune and on Disney's Siskel & Ebert weekly show. I want to wish him well, regardless of how I feel about his thumb and I hope that this is not the end of an odd era in film criticism. I fear that if this tandem comes to an end that the studios will have to manufacture a new one (this one started organically at Chicago's PBS outlet) and that would be ugly indeed. As for Roger Ebert, I'm sure that whatever happens, his sincere love of the art will drive him to continue to muscle through his heavy work load. Good luck, Gene.

THE UGLY: On my return to Los Angeles, it took less than 24 hours to be slammed in the face with the L.A. Times doing a butt-smooching story on Disney, a virtual press release. The story was about how Disney, which "coincidentally" announced an 18 percent drop in the first quarter net income just five days earlier, was going to pull back on its spending on live features, an area that despite big dollars coming in, had relatively little profit last year. The specific claim is that the studio will spend just $900 million on overhead, development, production, marketing and distribution. Uh-huh. The piece then chooses to be pretty selective in what it uses as examples. For instance, it mentions the less than-$15 million Rushmore as an example of a cheap comedy, but neglects to mention that the film was ready for release last summer and was dragged into fiscal 1999. The story talks about co-productions on Bicentennial Man, Instinct and The Sixth Sense costing Disney about $120 million between them, but leaves out the big price tagged Inspector Gadget or their heavy investments (in exchange for foreign distribution) in Arnold Schwarzenegger's End of Days and the Julia Roberts/Richard Gere/Garry Marshall vehicle, Runaway Bride.

And while the article acknowledges the likely $50 million writedown on The 13th Warrior, there's no mention of the long-delayed Mumford (now aiming at fall 1999, at least 15 months after wrapping production). Add Tarzan and Toy Story 2 and I smell about $650 million in costs on just the films I've mentioned here. That's not to say that this is a bad slate or a money loser. And focusing on the Disney brand is smart. The margins are, indeed, better. But it is extreme spin to suggest that Disney is becoming a taut fiscal ship overnight. And the L.A. Times is taking an ally-oop pass from the studio, taking the easy dunk. In fairness, try the story at the L.A. Times Website by clicking here. It's mercifully on one page and should be accessible for free through Feb. 8, 1999.

THE CHAT: Nothing this week, but Sir Ian McKellen, who we expect will be nominated for an Oscar® for Gods and Monsters next week, will be joining us for his first-ever chat on February 17 at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. In the meantime, catch up on all the latest from Sir Ian at his official Website, which is operated and designed by Keith Stern.

JUST WONDERING: What happened to all the snow?

QUOTE WHORING USA: For Payback: "Mel Gibson's voice is really sexy in this one!" "I give it two thumbs... in your eyes, you &%(*&$^!" "Get ready to root for the ending!"

HAPPY TRAILERS TO YOU: Haven't seen one... still. My apologies and my personal sadness. I'd love to see a movie like a human sometime soon.

BAD AD WATCH: I'm giving this over to Scott, who expresses a concern that many have about the campaign for a movie many of us absolutely adore: "This isn't exactly a bad ad watch, but I'm a little bewildered by the scattershot ad campaign for Rushmore. It seems pretty clear that Disney has no idea how to market this movie. At least the new nondescript print ad is less offputting than the original clinched fist salute image. I admit that the wonderful originality of the movie makes it very difficult to pigeonhole. Still I would think the people at Disney could come up with an inventive campaign. I've been doing my bit with word of mouth ever since I saw the movie in December, but the people I've talked to who have even heard of the movie have the impression that it's Revenge of the Nerds. I guess Disney's counting on Oscar® nominations to do their job. It would be a shame if this movie meets the same fate as Out of Sight and Babe: Pig in the City.

READER OF THE DAY: From J.S.: "Dave, I loved your assessment of Payback. It agrees with what a friend of mine, who played a minor character in the Helgeland cut (He was the character that Mel talked about in his Premiere interview last year) and was eliminated after the re-shoots, has told me. One thing though... I am pretty sure Lucy Lui took part in the primary shooting of the movie, and wasn't just added later. The reason I think that is because in the original trailer (with Dean Martin's 'Ain't That a Kick in the Head' playing) she played a part, and the Asian gang trying to run over Porter was featured pretty heavily. This trailer was out in early spring, which should have been when the Helgeland cuts of the film were testing, and prior to reshoots... At least it seems that way when I put things together in my head. (Shrug.)"

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E ME: I'm back to my old cruel ways, so it seems. Is that good or bad? And are you going to rush to see Rushmore or Payback? Compare and contrast.