June 6, 2003

Three weekends since America got Reloaded…

There’s been a big comedy.  There’s been a big family movie.  Are America’s under-35s anxiously awaiting another hot action movie? 

When I ran into A.O. Scott’s dismissive, facetious review of 2 Fast 2 Furious last night, I thought to myself, “Geez, that was like the L.A. Times having Manohla review the film.  Ha!”  Sure enough… “The new movie arrives without its original star, director and writers, a triple whammy that is, loosely speaking, akin to a second "Godfather" movie minus Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, never mind Robert De Niro.”

Jesus H. Mariba. 

Four and a half paragraphs before Ms. Dargis passingly mentions “singer Tyrese,” and then goes almost three more full graphs before passingly mentioning him again, only in reference to Paul Walker.   How does one write a review of a movie that is all about the second banana who stole the movie from the lead the first time around and completely disregard the second banana who steals this movie from the lead?   

Shallow, thin, silly and boyish are all adjectives that are well deserved for 2 Fast 2 Furious.  But if you can’t see what Tyrese brings to the table… geez… 

Hasn’t anyone ever seen a B movie? 

ALL THE RAGE:  I finally caught 28 Days Later this week, but I really don’t think I am ready to write about it.  I am already scheduled to go to an outdoor screening of the film next Friday, presented as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival. 

The thing about 28 Days Later is that it breathes both the past and the future of film.  It is Night of The Living Dead meets Lord of the Flies meets Stanley Kubrick… which is not to say that it is quite as pure in form as any of these.  It is a film shot on tape, dealing with the sole survivors of a plague called “Rage,” challenged to answer not only the questions of how to survive, but how to retain their humanity.  There are “The Infected,” who appear as walking dead, ready to attack with few clear objectives.  But the questions of these doomed souls are secondary. 

Danny Boyle’s film is everything that movies like Cabin Fever and The Eye and the films of Guillermo del Toro seem to be chasing (del Toro being the most successful in the chase).  It is patient.  It is brutal.  It is dry.  It is emotional. 

The bottom line is, I think it is a truly extraordinary picture.  I think.  I need to see it again to be sure… even better, with an audience.

SPOT THE HULK:  Flipping through WWE Smackdown!, hoping to see my pal Ed and his son Darius in the stands, I caught a commercial for The Hulk that I had not seen before.  (I also caught Hulk Hogan in his stupid “Mr. America” mask.)

Wow.

It was the “Origin Of The Hulk” reconfigured as a 90 second spot.  The idea of the sell was what fascinated me.  It was an odd combination of being almost insultingly explanatory and rather remarkably daring in expecting a wrestling audience to pay attention to a rather esoteric discussion of the origins of this character, albeit only 90 seconds of esoterica. 

The flip side of this was the rather brilliant “Ass Wrangler” piece that Columbia did for the MTV Music Awards during the production of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.  Vince Vaughn plays “The Ass Wrangler” and he had to be on set for at least a day or two putting this piece together.  The short film made it clear that Columbia and The Gurls know exactly what they are selling this time out… a little more ass.  Maybe a lot more ass.  No esoterica needed.

As I rewatched the Origins 90 again on my Tivo, I caught one more thing that I had not noticed before about the Hulk.   There is a rage shot that is not in the on-line Origins piece.  In it, the Hulk’s eyes widen as he rages and this almost demonic look in his oversized eyes reminds me somehow of The Brothers Grimm.  Interesting…

FOLLOWING UP ON A WACHOWSKI:  Someone wrote yesterday, inquiring about whether I had been silenced after last week’s story on Laura/Larry Wachowski.  I have not.  I simply wanted to leave my opinion, as stated last week, as my first and last word on this normally very private subject. 

Without printing any letters, I will tell you that the e-mail has run 95% positive with a significant percentage of that mail coming from people who are “in the life.”  A few negative letters have come from journalists who felt I should have either have remained silent or been tougher.  It was a difficult rope to walk and I still have mixed feelings about the whole thing, although the expected tabloid story, which had a number of inaccuracies, did arrive a day or two after last Friday’s column.

Arriving earlier this week was Liz Smith’s inexcusable column, which led with a snide remark from the movie Flawless.  Perhaps Ms. Smith, who closeted her life as a lesbian from the public for decades, is trying to revive the stereotype of the man/gay-man hating lesbian.  She did, of course, go to the lame thought that L.W. decided to make this rather profound change in his life as a result of financial wealth, as though it were $30,000 in dentistry or some hair plugs. 

In any case, my deepest thanks to those of you who wrote in… even the ones who wrote hate mail.  I am going to include one e-mail on the subject below… the reasons will be self-explanatory.

WEEKEND PREVIEW:  One movie opens wide… easy.  The big question is just how big 2 Fast 2 Furious can open.  Are they riding on the fumes of the past film or is there a new and wider audience this time around? 

Warner Bros. and IMAX reload onto 39 screens with the new Matrix film.  And Columbia does “sneaks” of Hollywood Homicide, the first high-profile member of this summer’s “Remember When” run of movies.  (See: Harrison, Arnold, Demi, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sean Connery, Freaky Friday and S.W.A.T., among others.)

Joining the indie market are the much anticipated Whale Rider, the riding-on-Oscar’s-coattails Adrien Brody movie, Love the Hard Way and the Pang Brothers thriller, The Eye.

WEEKEND GUESSTIMATES

2 Fast 2 Furious - 3408 venues - new - $47.6 million
Finding Nemo - 3391 venues - off – 35 percent - $45.7 million
Bruce Almighty - 3544 venues - off 42 percent - $21.7 million
The Italian Job – 2877 venues - off 38 percent – $12.1 million
The Matrix Reloaded – 3186 venues – off 43 percent – $8.9 million
Daddy Day Care – 2713 venues – off 33 percent - $4.5 million
X2: X-Men United - 2530 venues – off 44 percent - $3.3 million
The In-Laws – 2047 venues – off 50 percent - $2.9 million
Wrong Turn – 1613 venues – off 53 percent - $2.4 million
Bend It Like Beckham - 494 venues – off 32 percent - $1.1 million

READER OF THE DAY:  THE CAT writes:  “I would encourage you to introduce more scientific data to support the decisions these people have to make.  I have friends who are TG (Transgendered) and most are brilliant, kind and compassionate people. 

I personally know a physician and other very talented professionals who have gone through the surgery, and now are living life fulltime as female.  Most are MTF (male to female), although a few are FTM (female to male).

The scientific story in a nutshell....

All babies start out as a female embryo.  Female hormones bathe the brain and autonomic nervous system so the baby's brain is female.  At a later date while still in the mother's womb, the baby may get bathed with male hormones (enough to create a penis, dominant hair growth, and physique, but not enough to affect the thought center in the brain).

All babies are a combination of female and male hormones, depending on where they land on the scale from pure female to pure male, they may be transgendered.  (I am sure you've known women who've had male type physiques and features?)   Therefore, what often occurs as an end result (the most recent statistics are one out of every 2000 babies) is that the individual has a brain enriched with hormones from the other sex, while owning sexual organs of both sexes or primarily the alternate.  These are also called intersexed (or hemaphrodites....) Imagine what it would be like to have a male brain and be in a female body...or a female brain in a male body.

Over time, unless the situation is addressed and they "come out" the end result is usually suicide or self-destruction.... due to their overwhelming feelings of not being able to "fit" into society....

Forty years ago, our society in general persecuted interracial marriages, twenty years ago, it was persecution of gays, now who is left to pick on, except people with legitimate conditions that most in society do not understand (the same for the interracials and the gays, most people did not understand,,, so they mocked them to keep it okay to feel uncomfortable instead of trying to relate or show compassion.)  I feel it is the same for the current situation of transgendered people doing what is only natural for them.”

E ME:  Are there films that some critics just shouldn’t bother reviewing?