FEBRUARY, 12

MOVIES RELEASED

1-HF

Action
Cast: Will Smith, Milla Jovovich, Ralph Fiennes, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Davies
Director and Producer: Michael Bay
Screenwriter Marcus Trax

Box Office: 193 mill.
Net Gains: 229 mill.

Stark’s Comment: Best expectations satisfied and even overcome. ‘HF’ becomes the new alltimes worldwide gross top 5!

2-DREAM OF A KING

Biography
Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Robert De Niro, Dylan Baker, Regina Hall, Edward Norton
Director: Spike Lee
Screenwriter and Producer: Josh Collins

Box Office: 55 mill.
Net Gains: 40 mill.

Stark’s Comment: It had it all to fail. A 125 minutes biopic in black and white… But fortunately all predictions failed. I would have felt great producing this movie even with net losses. Smells like an award winner.

3-GOTHS: A LOVE STORY

Teen Romance
Cast Haley Joel Osment, Emma Roberts, Bob Hoskins, Laura Dern, Timothy Hutton
Director: Norman Jewison
Screenwriter Matt Kubrick


Box Office: 19 mill.
Net Loss: 0.9 mill.

Stark’s Comment: Another challenging genre. My expectations were a bit higher but after all it has only made CMP losing a few coins…

THE CRITICS CORNER

1-HF

"Michael Bay and Will Smith have taken a step back in their CMP's career. Bay had assumed successfully risky projects in CMP. He has dared to get involved in the anime saga Robotech, the alternative saga Wild Cards and the peculiar sci-fi 'Westworld'. He was proving he could do more than just noisy action shows full of slow motion instants. And the same goes for Smith. Still an action hero but with a touch of class and quality in Robert Rodriguez's Last Lawman adventures, he also shined in a dramedy character in Lawrence Kasdan's 'Chevrolet'. Now, both have returned to an empty action show that does not contribute with anything to their CMP's careers."
-Charlie Kiggs

"Ralph Fiennes is beginning to deserve something more than just routine villains in CMP. He is the best of this movie together with the strong presence of Josh Brolin. The rest of the function is just an effective show of fireworks. Sadly, box office has responded well enough to even expect possible sequels."
-Isaiah Jones

"The formula: 'Speed' + 'Bad Boys' - 'Die Hard 3'. It works (it had to work considering the talents involved) but that's all. It gives you exactly what you are expecting to when paying a ticket to watch a movie like this. Marcus Trax has proved to manage well both little budget dramas and big blockbusters like this and has built the perfect popcorn show to fill up CMP's arks with fresh money."
-Bob Felton

2-DREAM OF A KING

"Brilliant. The risk for this pitch was making a regular tv movie just praising the legendary character of Dr. King. But fortunately Collins' screenplay and Spike Lee's directorial objectives were looking beyond that. In some way, this is the story of America itself during four decades of the 20th century. During more than tow hours, you just cannot avoid following each and every moment in the life of Dr. King, hypnotized by the strength of his personality, perfectly recreated by the immense performance from Laurence Fishburne. And, at the end, you feel so glad for having had the chance to watch and learn with this movie"
-Ray Benson

"Personally, I think Spike Lee failed with 'Malcolm X'. But the mistakes in that movie become virtues in this one. Or maybe it is just that Martin Luther King is a more appealing character than Mr. X. The truth is that I have felt moved and inspired by this epic biopic. More entertaining than Richard Attemborough's 'Gandhi', Lee has put King in the place he deserves and, by the way, he has directed a movie that, without doubt, will become a classic and a reference in the genre of biography movies. For once, the expression 'bigger than life' is plenty justified. A movie that should be shown in schools all over the world. A monument to tolerance. A masterpiece."
-Tim Reeve

"Whatever he has done or will do, Laurence Fishburne will be remembered in Movie History for his work in this movie. He does not seem to play King but to be King. Together with him, the whole cast makes a superb job. The temptation of overacting is always too high in a movie like this, but all of the talents involved seem to have founded the perfect level of acting to make their historical characters believable. The kind of movie that renew your faith in the industry."
-Vic Carter

3-GOTHS: A LOVE STORY

"It's ok... but it could have been better. You know, that's in short what can be said about this movie. Both Osment and Roberts are nice stars to watch. Maybe they are not ready yet to carry the weight of a whole movie on their shoulders, but at least they make believable their characters as two teenagers discovering love while discovering America too. Released in the same week than a blockbuster like 'HF' and an epic story like 'Dream Of A King', this one has to deal with the part of the poor little relative and it had a tough fight to succeed. But, anyway, here is a nice little movie perfect for a first date."
-Andrew Solomon

"Here is one of those movies that seem to stay one step before becoming a great one. And I feel sorry for that. Maybe the screenplay needed to be worked a bit more or maybe the story needed a more daring director than Norman Jewison, but the truth is that the movie is just good when it could have been excellent. Supporting characters, specially the eccentric hippy couple played by Laura Dern and Timothy Hutton, could have contributed more to the story if their presence in the movie would have been a bit more developed. And the same goes for Hoskins. Some good ideas just glimpsed in the movie could have made it shine if they would have been more elaborated."
-Jackie Williams

"The love genre is a risky one. It is like walking on quicksand. So easy to sink, to become too corny or to get lost in cheap sentimental cliches (and the best example of that is the terribly corny poster designed by CMP for the movie). Mixing the love story with a road movie across the States is one of the best choices made by Matt Kubrick in this pitch (yes, believe it or not, it's Kubrick: the man that created Darkman or the evil Peter Pan from 'Cursed Neverland' also has a romantic side). Although there is a certain lack of strength in the storyline that difficult moviegoers to completely dive in the story, the function saves from the risks of the genre with dignity. Anyway, I will still have to wait to see the definitive Love Story coming from CMP. Keep trying."
-Anne Roman