FEBRUARY, 10


THE FANTASTIC MANSION

Adventure / Fantasy
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Abigail Breslin, Jeff Goldblum, Brandon Routh, Dennis Quaid. Voice of Jennifer Garner.
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenwriter: Josh Collins

Box Office: 166 mill.
Net Gains: 282 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Wow! Sweet breakdown. Family and childs oriented movies are becoming lately a more than sure bet for the Studio. Great box office. And look at those absolutely amazing net gains!!! A curiosity: it has been a major success in Foreign Markets box office, much more than in America, but it has also been one of the best selling Dvds ever in the American Dvd market. So foreigners chose to watch it on theatres while Americans preferred to watch it at home. Anyway, it becomes the 4th best release of the Season. It also becomes the 2nd best release of the Season attending to net gains and the alltimes top 3 most profitable release!

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

Suspense / Drama
Cast: Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, Franka Potente, Liam Neesom, Adrien Brody, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tim Curry, Glenn Close, Peter Stormare.
Directors: Woody Allen, Ben Tyler, Darren Aronofsky
Screenwriter and Producer: Ben Tyler

Box Office: 108 mill.
Net Gains: 147 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Do you know why this movie is titled ‘Tales Of The Unexpected’? Because this wonderful box office’s breakdown has been absolutely unexpected. Ok, yes, I know: cheap and easy joke. But the truth is that never in my wildest dreams I would have expected that a movie defined as a ‘Suspense / Drama’ would work so extremely well in box office. A delicious surprise. And, besides money, it is a great anthology movie too!

SISTERS

Horror / Slasher
Cast: Deanna Russo, Willa Ford, Emanuelle Chriqui, Lindy Booth, Megan Boone, Jason Ritter, Liam Rhodes, Justin Long, Billy Aaron Brown.
Director: Tobe Hooper
Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
Producer: Midnight Movies

Box Office: 27 mill.
Net Losses: 7 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: As I said past week before its release, this slasher flicks usually are slight hits or slight flops. It has been the turn for the slight flop this time. My personal feeling is that Kubrick should try to redefine a bit the slasher formula if he wants his Production Company to keep developing his horror’s caprices.


THE FANTASTIC MANSION

‘Here is a nice, entertaining and well done movie enjoyable for all audiences. ‘The Fantastic Mansion’ brought me back memories of some live action Disney’s movies I used to watch back in my childhood days. They were modest productions, released without the hype of the Disney’s animated features, but so efficiently entertaining. I don’t even remember the titles or the plots of those but this one inspired me a nostalgic feeling about a lost way of making movies. I think Alfonso Cuaron has deliberately made the movie in a bit old fashioned way – and this time, that’s a praise – relegating special effects to a secondary role and putting the accent on a naïve adventure spirit, not looking to surprise with the sophisticated effects but to entertain the way entertainment was understood 20 or 30 years ago.’
-Anne Roman

‘The Dakota and Abigail reunion in a CMP’s production necessarily had to work as both are two of the most spoiled stars from the Studio. Although their childhood time is reaching its end – specially for Dakota, who already looks as a preteen -, they can still transmit the innocence and surprising capacity of children and that works so well for a movie so full of surprising characters, scenarios and events. In some way, I had the feeling that this movie could be the farewell for both actress to childlike roles. Brandon Routh has proved that there is still life besides Superman and Dennis Quaid and Jeff Goldblum upgrade the movie with two wonderful minor works that provide consistency to the movie’.
-Tim Reeve

‘Fantastic Mansion may be considered as the feminine version of The Land Of Nod. The two boys there, Hutcherson and Highmore, have been replaced by two girls here, Dakota and Abigail, but the primary concept of both productions – kids entering into a fantasy world – remains. Land Of Nod was a much more spectacular production, more ambitious in its objectives, and directly joined the ‘Kids + Fantasy World’ genre in the line of Narnia, Therabitia, Spiderwick and so. Fantastic Mansion shares many of those elements but it is more specifically oriented to children and does not pretend to be such a bigger-than-life show but the kind of fantasy tale that a grandpa could tell us before going to sleep. It made me feel like a little girl again having simple but thrilling fun at the movies. And I liked that rejuvenating feeling.’
-Jackie O’Callaghan

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

‘We all know by now the great writing talent of Ben Tyler. Some of his works, like ‘Schroedinger’s Litterbox’ or ‘Monolith’ – let’s forget about ‘Captain Planet’: everybody can have a bad day -, are good proofs of how easy it can be to make a good movie if the screenplay supporting it is talented built. These tales are as well written as the Roald Dahl’s originals and the three directors, one of them Tyler himself, have known how to take the best of the solid material to tell us three perfectly paced stories that keeps you wondering what’s going on until the very last minute. A great cinematic experience that nobody should miss.’
-Charlie Kiggs

‘Many years ago, when I was a kid, I saw on tv what now I think probably was a rerun of an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock presents' that I have never forgotten. It was the story of a bet between a young and an old man about a lighter and fingers cutting. I think it was in black and white and I am almost sure that movie director John Huston played the old man. After that, I have obviously seen hundreds of movies and tv series episodes. But, for some unexplainable reason, I have never forgotten that one. So I was absolutely shocked when I saw this movie. There it was! That strange and disturbing story I had never watched or heard about again! And it was as intriguing, engrossing and disturbing as I remembered it! I know I have seen or read somewhere too that third story about the birth of Hitler. And that reinforced the pleasant sensation that this movie was telling me stories I have always had somewhere in my subconscious. After that, I am not a trustable guy to review this movie. I just absolutely loved it.’
-Roy Winslow

‘Give Kate Winslet thirty minutes on screen and she will make an acting work to remember forever. Give Joaquin Phoenix thirty minutes on screen and he will make you feel something for sure with his work. And if you are not so familar with Franka Potente, watch her in this movie to appreciate all her potential as an actress. Praising the talent of Woody Allen or Darren Aronofsky is not necessary. Having two very different styles, both have shown us here how a suspense story has to be filmed to make you hold your breath, not forgetting Ben Tyler, who shows more directional talent with his short story here than with a full length work like ‘Captain Planet’. When the screenplay, the directors and the cast are perfectly put together, can anything go wrong? What a movie…’
-Vic Carter

SISTERS

‘There we go with another group of college-age boys and girls failing to survive to a killer… Oh, yeah, what a movie concept! These sisters are a bit – just a bit – better than the embarrassing ‘Blood Beach’. But it is a shame that after two more than decent horror productions like ‘Silent Night..’ and ‘Bedtime Stories’, Kubrick has returned again to the exhausted concept of the serial killer exterminating brainless youngsters. It doesn’t matter if the killing takes place in a beach, the London underground or a college dorm… we’ve seen this too many times before’
-Amy Ratched

‘Tales Of The Unexpected is not meant to be a horror movie at all. But I felt much more intrigued, my heart pumped more violently and my hands got much more sweaty watching ‘Tales’ than watching this one. What sense does it make to make another slasher movie not moving just a single centimetre from the invariable rules of these movies: college students partying, sexy girls, violent killing scenes and a murderer with a family trauma… Tobe Hooper was responsible of the brilliant ‘Damnation Road’ and took some risks there to introduce some new visual concepts. This time, he has just made a routine work for the fee without any special effort. So extremely predictable.’
-Alex Stampton

‘Put together the less talented bunch of young actors and actresses, give them stereotyped characters and shoot it all in the most predictable way – that music announcing each murder… oh, my God… yeah, so innovative… - and what do you have? ‘Blood Beach’. I mean, ‘Sisters’. I know some people like to have a hamburger for dinner every day. And some movie goers like to watch the same story once and again. But, please, don’t pretend me to write a serious review about this movie. My mum still thinks I am a brilliant and serious movie critic and I don’t want to disappoint her.’
-Chris Burgess


This week we jump through different worlds via some sort of hidden portal in a weird mansion in Fantastic Mansion, We expect the unexpected while watching three stories unfold before us in Tales from the Unexpected and lastly Kubrick returns to his slasher-flick roots in Sisters.

THE FANTASTIC MANSION

The idea to put two of the most bankable Hollywood young actresses in this film was a good move. It would be like putting DeNiro and Pacino in a film together, but giving them more screen time than Heat and a more quality film than Righteous Kill. I certainly hope this isn't the only meeting of Breslin and Fanning as they did excellent work together. As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it. There were moments when I teared up inside, and other moments when I felt like I was part of the adventure. I think it had a little too much adventure though with so many worlds and creatures and the ending didn't feel like it suited the entire film, but going into it expecting an appealing film for the preteen and up audience, it was enjoyable.
ACTING/CAST: Fanning and Breslin carried the film nicely, Goldblum offered a wonderful supporting role and the heroes and villain worked good enough for this type of film. 9/10
DIRECTING: Good choice in director. Talented in special effects and storytelling. 8/10
WRITING: I wouldn't go so far as to say it's not the best thing Collins has written but we've seen him write a helluva lot worse. 7/10
CONCEPT/PLOT: 7/10
REWATCH VALUE: 10/10
FINAL NOTES: Definitely don't avoid it, and it is pretty different from the kid fantasy films we get today. Compared to Land of Nod or Magic it would come in third. Better than most family fantasies, but not too groundbreaking enough to go down as a modern classic.
OVERALL: 7.5/10

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED

I wasn't sure what I was going to get out of this movie but it was much more than what I was expecting. Ben Tyler(oh how I hope he doesn't retire so soon) has many quality writing credits to his name, and this one is just as good as his debut hit, Shroedinger's Litterbox. We were expected Dare to Be Perfect to be the GMA shoo-in, but this incredible three story anthology may be getting DTBP to nibble nervously at its fingernails.
ACTING/CAST: 10/10
DIRECTION: Every director did outstanding work with their stories. 9/10
WRITING: 9/10 Like I said, every bit as good as Tyler's first award winning screenplay
CONCEPT/PLOT: 8.5/10
REWATCH VALUE: 9/10
FINAL NOTES: I can sit here and make so many bad puns about the word 'expect.' The stories are rather odd but funny(like the wife bludgeoning her husband to death with a lamb leg) So if you're not in the slasher or fantasy films of this week, this one is definitely right for you. Hey you might just be looking at the best picture nominee.
OVERALL: 9/10

SISTERS

Maybe I'm not the best critic because I tend to be too nice to movies, but I try to judge the films on what I know to expect. In this case in a sense of it being a horror film, it was attention grabbing to see the deaths and hot sex at the party but the rest of the film fell into the run-of-the-mill slasher horror, nothing entirely new brought to the table. But these simple typical flicks are usually most successful.
ACTING/CAST: Justin Long seems to be the recognizable name to me, though not strong enough to keep a very high score. 3/10
DIRECTION: 5/10
WRITING: 5/10
CONCEPT/PLOT: 5/10
REWATCH VALUE: 8/10
FINAL NOTES: If you're an avid fan of the slasher horror films who can stomach the cheesy acting, check it out. But if you spend your money on it knowing that it's not going to be Academy Award material, you have no right to complain.
OVERALL: 5.5/10

MR. THUMBS' CERTIFIED MUST SEE OF THE WEEK:
Hands down, Tales from the Unexpected