Monday, 23 August 1999

WEEKEND REVIEW

Another weekend of box office mold to report on. As I suggested on Friday, either Mickey Blue Eyes or Killing Mrs. Tingle (a.k.a. Teaching Mrs. Tingle) was likely to be the one new film to break the $10 million barrier by a fraction and to settle into third place. Of course, I guessed Tingle and in fact, it was Mickey Blue Eyes (est. $10.4 million). Likewise, Universal Soldier: The Return (or Part 4 as cable viewers know it) was the second biggest new release, with a $7.1 million estimate, also pushing down Mrs. Tingle and her band of pubescent kidnappers. Yes, Katie Holmes, two other beautiful kids, the great Helen Mirren and the massive Miramax and WB marketing machines together couldn't stir up more than $3.5 million at the box office.

Yes. There is a God.

Actually, I feel bad for Katie Holmes, who has suffered three straight weak box office performances. (Disturbing Behavior with $17 million total domestic, Go with $17 million total domestic and - are you spotting a trend here? - now Teaching Mrs. Tingle.) I am a huge fan of Go and Katie Holmes seems to be both a talented young woman and well intended, but this run has not been pretty, even if deserved two-thirds of the time.

The story of this late summer season has to be The Sixth Sense, which has come from virtually nowhere to become what looks to be one of the top three box office hits of the entire summer. Like Titanic in its time, I would have to suggest that the lack of significant competition for the film, which is obviously well liked by many, many people, is a big part of the strong hold that The Sixth Sense has kept on the box office. The estimated drop this weekend was just six percent after a three percent drop last week. And don't expect any competition from next week's new openers. (More on that below in Bad Ad Watch.)

Bowfinger reports a 41 percent second weekend drop which confirms what week one suggested: America doesn't care about how Hollywood works. Runaway Bride chugs along with a 32 percent estimated drop. The Thomas Crown Affair, Inspector Gadget, Deep Blue Sea, blah, blah, blah...who cares?

THE GOOD: I sat in for a friend at the Double Jeopardy junket this weekend. As you may have noticed, I don't do much junket coverage anymore. And for the most part, I'm pretty pleased not to. Junkets, it occurred to me as I drove away from The Four Seasons Hotel, are kind of like what I would assume sex with a really good prostitute is like. It can be fun and exciting and you can get really stimulated, but in the end there is no real hope of intimacy because no matter what you do in those five minutes, it's still work for both you and for the person who is sitting opposite you. (Please note: I not only have never engaged the services of a prostitute, good, bad or indifferent - I happen to like intimacy - but the five minute thing is just a horrifying effort to make an analogy. Ladies, please stop cringing. Guys, please stop identifying. Thank you for your attention.)

In any case, I did get a little dish from the folks. Leonard Goldberg told me that neither he, nor Sony, nor Drew Barrymore's company had sent out a single press release on Charlie's Angels: The Movie and that he and Drew have had the conversation that all this intense attention is a bit shocking and scary, raising expectations beyond anything reasonable. (I actually pitched Goldberg on the idea of Ashley Judd as the third angel. As I watched this film, it occurred to me without prompting that Ashley would be the perfect "smart brunette." She has always had a very, kind of, in control thing about her. I like the idea, though it had never occurred to me before Beresford and Co. glammed her up for this flick.) Bruce Beresford reminded me that the lead role in Double Jeopardy, played by Ashley Judd, was set with Jodie Foster until Jodie got pregnant. I talked to Bruce Greenwood, who is about to start work as John F. Kennedy, about "the suction" of playing JFK. We laughed at the dangerous presidential pun. And I got in one quick question to Ashley Judd about her first nude scene ever (I'm pretty sure), the process of which she charmingly described as "icky." And as if there were any doubt, she looks great in the scene (nudge nudge, wink wink). Then there was one more interview. And for that, you'll have to scroll down to The Ugly.

THE BAD: Forgive me for breaking up a good junket saga, but Mrs. Tingle was a film I expected to be able to skip out on. That is, until I read Kevin Thomas' open-mouth, tongue wriggling wet kiss of a review in Friday's L.A. Times. I mean, hey, I'm glad you liked the movie. But, Williamson's "knockout directorial debut?" A "shrewd and energetic dark comedy?" And "Teaching Mrs. Tingle reveals Williamson not only to be as accomplished a director as he is a writer but also his willingness to move beyond horror to psychological suspense?" Is that a publicist in your pants or are you just happy to see the movie? Good God! I thought I would force this movie on myself, but after the box office returns and the ongoing flood of negative comments about the film, I'm probably going to side step Kevin's kiss. OH! Maybe that's it! Same name equals great review! Quick! Get me to a David Cronenberg screening! (You can read Kevin Thomas' review here. ).

THE UGLY: Back to Double Jeopardy. The fifth interviewee was Tommy Lee Jones. Now I have to tell you, Tommy Lee Jones is an interview that makes interviewers nervous. Mention his name and you get an automatic, "tough interview." Now, I approached this whole day with no more preparation than a trip to the movies. It ain't exactly brain surgery. And I am a cocky guy (as if I have to tell a reader of this column that little fact.) So I go into Tommy Lee's room. There he sits, as stoic as a face on Mt. Rushmore. We shake hands. I put on my mike. No chit chat. Okay. Lights come up and we begin. And I embarrassed myself. Why? Because I can do a Tommy Lee Jones interview of value. But I can't do it off the cuff. And he smelled my cockiness and he shut me down. Was he tired of chasing people? No. Was he worried about the comparison of this character to the one in The Fugitive? You try to make every movie different, so yes. What about the press stuff...is it tiresome? No. It's just part of the job? Nothing. It must bug you to be on this treadmill after a while...If you're trying to get me to knock the press, I'm not going to.

I'm getting queasy about now. I recovered a little by getting him to expound on the joy of Bruce Beresford a little, but I was already a dead man interviewing. I thanked him at the end and exited in disgrace. He threw a little, "See you later, David" at me as I exited, but I heard, "Nice try, smart boy." And he was right. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted him to go, but he sure as hell wasn't going there on his own. This is a very smart man. And men like that must be paid respect. And I didn't show respect. In fact, I asked him about directing and he reminded me that he already had. Damn good thing that I wasn't there for TNT, because our parent network is where his directorial debut premiered. Ouch. I was disoriented as I walked back into the reporter's bullpen. But I couldn't find anyone to tell my tale to because what I experienced wasn't a tough interview, but a great interview that I failed to unlock. Surely, I was never going to do a great interview with anyone for this film, which I didn't much connect with (enough said until the release date arrives), but I should have prepared for Tommy Lee. And next time I will. It's like I can't wait to tussle with a real tussler again. I may get beat down again, but I'm not going into the room without my gun belt next time.

THE CHAT: Graham Verdon will be chatting with composer Don Davis this Thursday, August 26 at 9:30EDT/6:30 PDT. You don't know Don Davis? He scored a little film called...The Matrix. Yeah. Now you want to be his best friend, don't ya? Come on by for the chat. Only from roughcut.com. Only on Yahoo! Chat.

JUST WONDERING: Why did it feel so good to have my interviewing butt kicked by Tommy Lee Jones?

QUOTE WHORING USA: For Life Is Beautiful: The English Version: "Leave your glasses at home, but you'll need a hearing aid and a pigeon-English-to-English translator!" "Coming Soon: The English Language Version of Princess Mononoke...Miramax: Bringing English To America!" "Wouldn't You All like Muriel's Wedding better without those damned accents? It's Your Lucky Day!!!"

HAPPY TRAILERS TO YOU: I have to admit it. I really like the trailer for The Story of Us. True, the title probably should be When Harry Married Sally For 15 Years, but putting that and any concerns that I have over the potentially over-episodic nature of the film, it looks like a film I could really love. Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer are both, for me, grossly underrated actors. They haven't always made the best choices, but these two are real movie stars. And Alan Zweibel is one of the great little-known writers out there, much as Larry David was before "Seinfeld". High hopes often turn into deep disappointment and if this isn't Rob Reiner's best film, this may well be that for me. Have you seen the trailer? What do you think?

BAD AD WATCH: This weekend was one of the ugliest weekends I can remember in the ad department. First, New Line's ad for Detroit Rock City quotes some guy who goes by the name of the lead character from The Grapes of Wrath (Tom Joad). So, we have a pretty much anonymous fictional character being held up as a film critic. Harry and Moriarty have to be laughing their asses off and they deserve to. Desperation makes idiotic bedfellows.

Then there is the group of movies coming out next weekend. I will now allow my non-existent dog Spot to comment on the whole weekend. "Woof." Thank you, Spot. Good boy. Heel. Working from front to back of the L.A. Times Calendar section: Dudley Do-Right (no quotes), The 13th Warrior (no quotes), The Astronaut's Wife (no quotes), A Dog of Flanders (quotes from Film Advisory Board and Hollywood Bytes, which qualify as a tandem of "who the hell" and "why the hell?") and The Muse (quotes from Vogue, New Woman, Mirabella, Mademoiselle and Roger Ebert...apparently Roger is the only critic who reviewed the movie and not the clothes.)

But coming in highest on my, "Damn, this pisses me off" list is the English-language version of Life Is Beautiful. "See `Life' in a whole new way!" You see, non-English films should be in English if you really want to enjoy them. Not only will we try to suck some more cash out of this film, but we're going to demean the non-English distribution business while we are at it. "And this time," says the ad, "leave your reading glasses at home." I think I will be sick.

READER OF THE DAY: This note came in from T-Rex about the new "solution" to pan-n-scan created by the folks at Pixar: "I really don't understand this. On the back of the box for the DVD version of A Bug's Life, it notes that it includes both a widescreen version and what sounded like a glorified description of pan-and-scan. So... What's the deal? They're developing a better "conversion process" for hacking off the sides of the picture? As far as I'm concerned, if the original theatrical image isn't intact on a video, I'm simply not buying it. Am I missing something here?

E ME: Frankly, you guys may be better informed about this than I. Can we get some feedback for T-Rex?