WEEKEND PREVIEW

It was amusing to see internet journalist Andrew Hindes writing up the Wednesday box office story at Inside.com.  (If it’s still free, it’s here.)   The new incarnation of the site, which will give you two free stories a day and require a paid subscription or pay-per-view fee for the rest, needs more film content if it wants the industry to pay.  Regardless, it’s nice to have a strong voice looking at the box office on the site. 

That said however, there were plenty of us expecting big opening numbers for Jurassic Park III.  What most of us have written off is the idea that it will have unusually strong legs, having seen the film.  It is better than much of the CG-driven crap that’s arrived lately and will surely pass $150 million domestic and $350 million worldwide … which makes the reduced budget/reduced gross points film a sure success for Universal.  The unfortunate part is that a better movie – which wouldn’t require adding more CG or budget – could have easily done more total dollars than The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  To his credit, Hindes continues to report real numbers, as JP3 has 4,900 prints out there, playing in 3,434 complexes.  Thanks, old bean.

There’s more on the box office prospects for JP3 and America’s Sweethearts in Box Office Extra.

THE GOOD:  Good?  Good?  Can’t think of a thing.

THE TOO BAD:  When Hedwig and the Angry Inch premiered at Sundance, all kinds of people who didn’t expect to like the film came out (no pun intended) saying what a wonderful surprise it was.  I was dealing with an AOL/Time-Warner surprise of my own, so I didn’t manage to see the film, which went on to win multiple awards from the festival jury. 

And so, when I finally saw the film, I was looking forward to a pleasant surprise.  I guess I got a small one.  John Cameron Mitchell managed to take his stage musical “wide” without leaving me feeling like I had been stuck in a tiny room watching something that was never meant for film. 

However, there was still, for me, a sense of why this was a great stage experience and not really a great film experience.  The amount of energy and strength that Mitchell expends in the performance of this work is the kind of thing that makes a stage performance unforgettable and causes an audience to forgive all and any limitations in the dramatic narrative.  But on film, aware that anything is possible, some of those charms are lost.  I enjoyed my time with JCM, but in the end, I left feeling like our next meeting, in which he finally got around to telling me the real story, would be far more engaging.  It’s not so much that I felt that Hedwig wasn’t telling us his truth… but all the characters who come to life in the movie fail to be given the same opportunity.  All things considered, I think I would have preferred the one-man show, even on film.

Ironically, the work that Hedwig most reminds me of is The Rocky Horror Show, which I first knew only as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and which is currently enjoying a hugely successful stage revival on Broadway.  Hedwig is kind of like Frank-N-Furter, driving through the lives of everyone around him.   And the show’s music is very reminiscent of Richard Hartley and Richard O’Brien’s music.  It was easy to see Mitchell doing the skinny version of the closing sequence of Rocky Horror, wiping his make-up all over his face and singing, “Don’t dream it… be it.”  But again, what was missing for me was the depth of the rest of the characters.

But others love it… you may too.

THE UGLY:  In New York Magazine, there was a story about John Travolta, the latest poster boy for Hollywood weight loss, ordering the entire room service menu on both days on which he was stuck at the Bryant Park Hotel for the Swordfish junket. They report that the menu wasn’t wide ranging enough and that the junket team ordered up the entire menu from the Four Seasons as well.  Of course, he didn’t eat it all or even try to… it was about choice, not the amount of food involved.  But this story does kind of confirm reports I have heard over the years about Travolta’s culinary behaviors on sets.  Word has it that he regularly has his private chef make 3 or more meals for him and decides upon viewing which one he’ll eat.  And if you are lucky, he’ll throw you his untouched leftover or leftover number two or leftover number three…  I love show biz!

JUST WONDERING:  Have you read Jeff Wells first-anywhere-from-a-grown-up review of Planet of The Apes?  Maybe it’s not up yet, but it’s coming.  And it has to be a lot better than his recent bend-overs for directors of incompetence.  It certainly is more daring.

BAD AD WATCH:  Nothing really bad this week.  I was amused to hear a radio spot for Made that used a pull quote from Ain’t It Cool News before using “Two Thumbs Up.”  And Universal pulled Gene Shalit and Junior Gene Shalit, Joel Siegel for the Thursday Jurassic Park ad.  God, how Eugene Levy must be aching to do a biopic of one of those guys!

READER OF THE DAY:  Not THAT Alf writes:  “Hey Dave!  Saw JP3 last night in a packed theater--well since NOLA is now the sole possession of Gulf State Theater's Palace 20, it means even Kiss of the Dragon's 12:45 showing can be packed.  In any case, I found JP3, at least, more enjoyable than Lost World.  It's almost like everyone at Universal heard the grumblings over the Lost World and decided to cut down on almost every element that could be found in the previous two movies.  There are no corporate bad guys trying to get anything off the island, no big game hunters trying to test their mettle and no "save the dinos" sentimentality.  What you had was an hour and a half of dinos and people running.  Still, it could have been done better.

As for your views on film critique (and the apparent differences between critics and movie-goers), I began taking full notice of that back in '98 and Armageddon.  And yes, I said that critics were wrong and the movie wasn't that bad.  While I still find enjoyment in it, I also see many of the flaws and cliches in that movie and that has made me a better moviegoer.  Do I think that critics are right all the time? Absolutely not.  Do I think they are correct in pointing out flaws and mistakes? Yes.  Can movies work even with those flaws? No doubt about it. 

Film critics are not a "bastion" of good taste, nor are they the only ones who believe that cinema can be an art form.  They are also not over-dramatic jerks who can't appreciate a good B-movie masterpiece (like Evil Dead 2).  Ultimately, I believe that film critics can serve as the voice of reason when a summer season is packed with Tomb Raider, Swordfish, Doctor Dolittle 2, and on and so forth and so.  They should challenge not just the audience, but the filmmakers to make more Mementos and less M:I-2s, more Exorcists and less Screams.

PS.  I think that (like last year) the second half of the year will save our perception of 2001's movies.  You have Monsters, Inc, Fellowship of the Ring, Ali, The Majestic, and many others that could become the newer classics.  (Now, we cross our fingers and pray that (like X-Men last year) Planet of the Apes will save our summer).”

E ME:  Whaddya think of the movies?