WEEKEND PREVIEW

Rush Ninety Minutes.

What will they say about Rush Hour 2, man? Will they say it was a bad movie, an easy movie, a movie with two irresistible performers vamping their way through a storyline as truly meaningless as Rush Hour’s?  Who’s going to judge this movie?  Me?  Wrong!  It’s like a split infinitive divided by a fraction multiplied by a butterfly.  You… you… New Line has plans for you.

What’s the story of Rush Hour 2?   Someone’s daughter got kidnapped… I think.  Or is that Rush Hour?  And what does it matter?  We go to this one to see Chris Tucker shuck and jive… though nothing can ever quite match the jiving he’s been doing as “Hollywood’s newest $20 million star.”  Tucker hasn’t made a movie since the original Rush Hour and now, he’ll have the same problems with his next projects that he had with the projects he bailed out of after the original hit.  No one else will – or should – pay him “sequel money” for an original.  Now that he got his “F You Money” payday, he’s going to have to go out there and take his prodigious talent and risk it on something new.   (Meanwhile, one of the projects he claims wasn’t quite right, Black Knight, is being rushed into release because the studio, which made it with Martin Lawrence, sees it as a gold mine, troubles and all.)  We go to this one to see Jackie Chan be Jackie Chan.

Does it help that the best Jackie Chan gag in the movie takes place in the third act and that nothing else in the film comes close?  No.  Does it help that Chris Tucker’s funniest moment takes place in the outtakes that run over credits and not in the film?  No.  Does it help that the story is more complicated than teaching a deaf mute to sing an aria?  No. 

But is it fun and will you be glad you saw it if you liked the original?  Yeah. 

The truth is, there’s nothing really new here.  Even broad gags like Tucker & Chan running naked (with trash lids and newspaper as crotch cover) in the streets of Hong Kong is amusing, but not laugh out loud funny.  And not just because you’ve seen the gag from the film 20 times on TV already, but because we don’t have a big investment in the humility of these guys.  And the gag goes nowhere.  In a “normal” Jackie Chan movie, you might expect him to have to fight 10 guys while fighting to keep covered.  Here, it’s just two guys wisecracking as they run for cover.   Same thing with Tucker vs. Ziyi Zhang.  No real challenge.  One of the things that always works in Bond films is that Bond sleeps – or nearly sleeps - with the bad girl then has to deal with her murderous activities next.  That creates an investment in her for him.  Tucker getting kicked in the head by a girl is only funny one or two times.  After that, a bit more fleshing out would help.

However… so what?  If you care, you are in the wrong theater.

For my dollars and sense analysis, check out Box Office Extra. 

THE GOOD:  It’s nice to read that the lumps Winona Ryder has taken in her career lately have led her to be even more adventurous.  She’ll start shooting a $5 million Brit Flick in a couple of weeks for director  Hettie MacDonald.  Actor first, star second.  Cool.

Meanwhile, rising star Reese Witherspoon’s name seems to be attached to every comedy project in Hollywood involving a young woman.  But it seems that Disney will land her for Sweet Home Alabama by paying her ridiculously low asking price of between $4 million and $5 million, according to Variety’s Michael Fleming.  With Legally Blonde doing surprisingly strong business, Witherspoon may be the next Martin Lawrence… meaning that someone is getting a big discount on the next couple of pictures before the 8-figure deals become unavoidable.  The difference, however, is that on his ascendance, Martin Lawrence was being teamed up with people before proving his pure value with Blue Streak and then, Big Momma’s House.  Witherspoon is the only selling point of Legally Blonde and the fact that her agents can’t get $7 million or $8 million for the next project is amazing to me.  According to Fleming, there are a bunch of $5 million offers out there.  Maybe she’s actually deciding based on the screenplay and opting to do the project so long as it doesn’t lower her price.

THE BAD:  Even more amazing to me is that Witherspoon is attaching herself to a project with Andy Tennant, a very nice guy who is not a very good director.  It’s true, Ever After did business with Drew Barrymore in spite of Tennant’s ham-fisted work behind the camera.  But Witherspoon should be moving forward, not back to what Drew did.  Robert Luketic, director of Legally Blonde, was Withrspoon’s Tennant….  not very good, but they got away with it.  Maybe Tennant is Witherspoon’s Raja Gosnell and she’ll get away with this one.  But I pray that Reese will get back in business with someone of Alexander Payne’s aesthetic caliber or even better, a Soderbergh, before she ends up with a McG.  Please.

Speaking of hacks, Rob Cohen is getting his reward for making a moneymaker, teaming up with Vin Diesel on MGM’s XXX, a hip-hop spy flick.  But look at Diesel vs. Witherspoon.   She’s jumped to $5 million… he’s jumped to $7.5 million.  She carried her film on her own.  He was part of an ensemble in a picture driven by hardware.  Now I’m not dissing Vin, but do you see the inequity?

THE UGLY:  Another one seems ready to bite the dust.  Germany’s Kinowelt is looking for cash so it can stay out of bankruptcy.  One of the anchors dragging Kinowelt down is the German TV rights to Warner Bros. movies of recent years.  Who will fun Hollywood foolishly next?  (Read the whole wire story here.)

Meanwhile, in gay Paree’, the movie pass system that is currently being tested by AMC here in the US of A is being made available by leading exhibitor UGC and other... over 300,000 passes sold so far.   The Ugly part?  It’s being called “The Homeless Pass” because homeless people are buying the passes and making themselves at home in a theater near you (or vous).   And the beat goes on.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY:  I’m just going to re-print the press release in whole: 

Top Screenwriters and Producers Announced for 8th Annual Austin Film Festival and Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference 

Austin, Texas (July 9, 2001) -- The 8th Annual Austin Film Festival (AFF) and Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference announces a blue-ribbon list of Hollywood's top screenwriters and producers who will serve as panelists during this year's Festival and Conference.  This year's Austin Film Festival will be October 11-18 and the Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference will be October 11-14.

The confirmed list of distinguished panelists includes:

* Craig Baumgarten (producer, Baumgarten-Merims)
* John Lee Hancock (The Rookie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Perfect World)
* Brent Hanley (Frailty)
* Polly Platt (screenwriter, A Map of the World; producer, Bottle Rocket, Say Anything)
* Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Papillon, Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View)
* Joan Tewkesbury (A Night in Heaven, Nashville, Thieves Like Us)
* Randall Wallace (Pearl Harbor, Braveheart*, The Man in the Iron Mask)

They join previously announced confirmed screenwriters and directors including:

* Bill Broyles (Planet of the Apes, Cast Away, Apollo 13*)
* Joe Eszterhas (Showgirls, Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge)
* Anne Rapp (Dr. T and the Women, Cookie's Fortune)
* Jeb Stuart (The Fugitive, Die Hard, Just Cause)
* David S. Ward (Sleepless in Seattle*, Major League, The Sting**)
* Bill Wittliff (The Perfect Storm, Lonesome Dove, The Black Stallion)

*   denotes Academy Award nominee
** denotes Academy Award winner

Daily Variety calls the Austin Film Festival and Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference one of the most well-respected and prestigious events of its kind.  Registration forms and complete rules, regulations, and awards information for the Austin Film Festival's Film Competition can be downloaded at www.austinfilmfestival.com.

The Austin Film Festival is dedicated to the writer as the heart of the creative process of filmmaking.  The AFF uncovers outstanding, emerging writers; serves as a creative catalyst for legendary, contemporary, and student writers; and fosters their development through panels, workshops, and master classes conducted by industry professionals.  The AFF is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization.                                

Film Competition Deadline July 15, August 15 (late deadline)

For more information about the Film Competition:

Courtney Davis at 1-800-310-FEST or austinfilm@aol.com.

JUST WONDERING:  Will people who see Apocalypse Now Redux before seeing the original be disappointed?  I think there’s a good chance of that.  I loved seeing the stuff that we thought was long lost.  But it’s a different movie… not, in my opinion, a better movie.  This film may be the greatest teaching tool in the history of cinema about the genius of seeing your film clearly and cutting away the fat…. even if that fat is as spectacular as the “French Dinner” sequence.  You may not see a better sequence in a new film this year… but it didn’t belong in Apocalypse Now.  It changes the rhythm of the piece.  It turns Martin Sheen’s character into a man instead of a machine before he gets all the way down river… same, though not as impressively, for the Playboy Bunny sequence.  And don’t get me started on the extra footage of Robert Duvall’s character, which takes away our opportunity to judge the man’s action for ourselves, as adults.  This re-release is the greatest “DVD Extras” project ever.  But the original film is a true classic.  Redux is just not as sharp a picture.

READER OF THE DAY:  DK Not NY:  “In response to Spanish Sea:

Elvis Mitchell is, simply put, a critic that puts out reviews that are enjoyable to read- something that Harvey Karten and Mike D'Angelo will never be.  He infuses his reviews with a modern sensibility and constant pop culture references, which allow us to understand the standing of the movie in today's cultural landscape.  He was brave enough to mock the notion of whiteness in SAVE THE LAST DANCE, when other reviewers were afraid to venture into politically incorrect territory.  More importantly, his irreverent writing style isn't weighed down by the heavy consciousness that the sole duty of a critic is to express how he/she felt about the movie. Often, his review will be more fun than the very movie he is reviewing.”

And Lee Yes NY writes:  “Mike D'Angelo is WAY better than A.O. Scott or Elvis Mitchell. D'Angelo consistently manages to give an on-target review in half the space that either of the NY Times guys do, with virtually no blather. He reviews a film and doesn't take out his inner frustrations on it nor does he waste his space or my time whining about how awful it is to be a film critic. What a concept!
 
Interesting that D'Angelo was (AFAIK) been rejected by the NYFCC! His head's on too straight I guess ... not self-important enough.
 
If Scott (whom I admit I stopped reading in February or thereabouts) is supposed to be an improvement on
Janet Maslin then the NY Times really IS as lazy and obsolete as its detractors say. Maslin at least lived
on the same planet as me.”

Pocahontas sent this in by smoke signal:  “I just wanted to respond to Hava Neglilas view on NetFlix.  It is true that their service has changed since its inception.  It was so good at the beginning it that it probably was not profitable, like most dot coms were.  Their stock either has shrunk, or has not kept up with customer base, so renting a popular title requires patience.  Luckily, they allow you to setup a rental queue, so you just have to learn to accept what you get on your list.  They also wised up and send out box sets one disc at a time, which I can understand.  Will I cancel my membership?  No way, at $20 a month, it still is a steal.  They carry smaller films and older titles that I have never found at blockbuster or Hollywood video.  Their turn around is reasonable, you can have 3 dvds out, and 2 delayed in the mail under my service plan.  Its also cheaper, if I rented as much at the rental chains I would easily surpass $20 a month.  As for damaged discs, I have not experienced such a problem.  Out of a full years rentals only one has arrived unplayable.”

E ME:  What did you think of the weekend’s movies?