OCTOBER, 26


A FAREWELL TO ARMS

Romance / War
Cast: James Franco, Carey Mulligan, Emily Blunt, Nicole Kidman, Francesco Scianna, Gael Garcia Bernal.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: Chad Taylor

Box Office: 50 mill.
Net Gains: 6 mill.

Stark’s Reaction:
Box office’s success and cinematic quality often go separate ways in CMP. Latest acclaimed movies like ‘American Tabloid’, ‘Kavalier and Clay’, ‘A Jazz Tale’ or ‘Metropolis’ have not been particularly successful at box office and then they have become multi-awarded at the GMA. ‘A Farewell To Arms’ may follow that pattern and I have the feeling that we will hear about it at the next GMA edition.

FANTASY WORLD

Comedy / Adventure
Cast: Steve Carell, Jack Black, Charlize Theron, Bill Murray, Ron Perlman. Voice-only cameo by Eddie Murphy
Director: David Zucker
Screenwriter: Steve Connors

Box Office: 108 mill.
Net Gains: 60 mill.

Stark’s Reaction:
More than nice numbers. We are getting used again to spectacular box office’s turnouts lately but making 108 millions in box office still is a wonderful achievement. And 60 millions of net gains is such a sweet melody for my ears.

THE PLEDGES

Drama / Human Spirit
Cast: Brandon T. Jackson, Rob Brown, Derek Luke, Tyrese Gibson, Olivia Thirlby, Mehcad Brooks. Cameo by Jada Pinkett Smith
Director: Allen and Albert Hughes
Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

Box Office: 26 mill.
Net Losses: 1 mill.

Stark’s Reaction:
‘R’ rated movies are always very hard to save from box office’s flop. Anyway, losing only 1 million is something that the Studio can perfectly survive to.


A FAREWELL TO ARMS

‘Martin Scorsese has a double personality as moviemaker: he can make either the toughest movies or the most sensitive ones. Same that happens with his career out of CMP, his directional works in CMP have moved from the tough side (‘The Heirs’ trilogy, ‘American Tabloid’) to the sensitive one (‘Tender Is The Night’, this one). The good thing is that he is a wonderful artist no matter what side of him he is showing. ‘A Farewell To Arms’ is another superb cinematic piece called to become a CMP’s classic. Scorsese’s approach to this classic novel makes the story look as if it was the very first time it is told on screen. He has ignored any references to the previous big screen’s versions of Hemingway’s novel to offer his own vision of the story. In it, characters are not perfect nor heroic but only human beings with their fears and contradictions, trapped in bigger-than-life events, as war always is. We can share with them their desperate struggle to save their feelings and their lives from that cruel world falling apart that surrounds them. A big, very big movie that proves again that Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest moviemakers not just of our days but of movie history.’
-Anne Roman

‘An epic war drama like this needed two stars with a powerful screen presence to hold up the magnificence of this production. There are not many ‘Gary Coopers’ in Hollywood today. But I must say that Taylor and Scorsese’s casting choices have hit the target. James Franco grows up on screen playing a character only suitable for big movie stars. And Carey Mulligan puts herself on a par with him. They both provide their characters their needed epic dimension but also the humanity needed to make believable their love story. It wasn’t easy to make us forget the previous stars that played their respective characters but both, Franco and Mulligan, have known how to take the best of this opportunity. I have no doubt we’ll have them around at the next GMA Edition.’
-Tim Reeve

‘You can read Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel from two very different perspectives. You can consider it just a passionate love story. Or you can also read it as a denounciation of the senseless cruelty of war. The best thing of Scorsese’s approach to the novel is that he has taken into consideration both perspectives at the same level. He has perfectly balanced the intimate tone demanded by a love story with the sense of epic that a war movie demands. It is just wonderful how he has shot the war scenes, taking the best of the crowd sequences and the action moments (with clear references in the directional style to the hyper-realism of ‘Saving Private Ryan’). Also, he shows us amazing views of the beautiful locations of the movie always shot with a remarkable cinematography. It is that intelligent use of wide camera angles and open scenarios what provides the movie that epic look that makes even more dramatic and painful the intimate experience of those two main characters living their love story in a hostile world that will inevitably end up destroying their hopes and lives.’
-Roy Winslow

FANTASY WORLD

‘The reunion of two specialists in parodic movies like Steve Connors and David Zucker just could not go wrong. The writer of ‘The Revengers’ and the director of ‘Lieutenant USA and the Warm Steel Gang’, two classic parody movies in CMP, have applied a formula they both know very well to the fantasy worlds’ movies. And the result is exactly what could be expected of that reunion. ‘Fantasy World’ is a very funny movie with great comedic moments. CMP’s people have not doubted to spare no effort to make the movie look as a big production. The Studio has invested an obvious high budget in digital effects as if we were talking here of a serious ‘fantasy world’ movie. That makes this comedy shine as a big budget production, far away both in terms of comedy level and production design to all those cheap and lousy sub-products like ‘Epic Movie’ and similar insults to intelligence. Just don’t miss it if you like to laugh out loud at theatres.’
-Vic Carter

‘Steve Carell and Jack Black return as two of the main comedians of CMP’s world, always in a tough competence with Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell. Always close to the risk of falling into acting excesses, both stars adapt perfectly to their respective characters and show again the great comedic chemistry they already showed in the ‘Lit. USA’ movies. It is also remarkable the funny work of the always efficient Bill Murray, playing the funniest character of the story, that eccentric and expensive sorcerer, together with the hilarious self-parodic villain played by Perlman. And I have to mention Charlize Theron too, proving that she can be not only heroic as she recently proved with ‘Metroid’, but also funny. Great cast choices all of them that have upgraded the quality of this movie with their splendid and accurate acting works.’
-Jackie Callaghan

‘I am not sure if Steve Connors was conscious of it or it just happened unconsciously. But, more than a parody of fantasy worlds’ movies ala ‘Dragonlance’ or ‘Magic-The Gathering’, what we have here is a live action version of ‘Shrek’. The structure of the story and the characters run parallel to Adamson’s movie. Carell / Shrek, Black / Donkey and Theron / Fionna are obvious parallelisms in two stories that have a lot of things in common. Maybe, the final (and very funny) cameo of Donkey himself is also a subliminal confession of that influence. But, once said so, that does not take a piece of entertainment to this intelligent and hilarious parody. The only thing I hope is that, if there are ever sequels of this one, they won’t ruin the concept as it happened with Shrek’s sequels.’
-Andrew Stampton

THE PLEDGES

‘I admit I had some prejudices about this movie. I wasn’t too interested in the premise. I wasn’t interested in the stars involved either. I had liked so much ‘Rebel’ that I thought this one would not meet my expectations about another reunion of Dawson Edwards with the Hughes Brothers. But, once watched, I must admit too that the movie overcame my prejudices and went beyond my expectations. ‘The Pledges’ is one of those movies that you begin watching with a certain distance and end up trapped by its story. Tough, sharp and violent, you can’t help ending up feeling interest for what will happen with those characters as innocent as stupid to accept suffering all kind of humiliations and tortures just to be admitted in a fraternity. Albert and Allen Hughes have shot the movie with nerve and narrative tension enough to make you feel both attraction and rejection for what’s being told on screen. The best thing you can say about a movie like this is that you keep interested in knowing what will happen next until the end of it. And that happens with ‘The Pledges’.’
-Charlie Kiggs

‘The main problem I have with this movie is its premise itself. I just cannot feel any kind of empathy for those three students ready to sacrifice everything from their dignity to even their lives just to join a fraternity. My problem is that I feel the same rejection against the cruelty of the aggressors than against the stupidity of their victims. The problem with ‘The Pledges’ is not only that the movie is a show of gratuitous violence shot with a disturbing realism. Violence is always something gratuitous and rejectable. But it becomes more absurd and nasty when the victims of it accept it with their masochist attitude. This is a kind of story I simply cannot recommend anyone to watch.’
-Amy Ratched

‘Is there a ‘black cinema’ different or with its own personality besides mainstream Hollywood? Many Dawson Edwards’ movies are a very interesting effort to create that ‘black cinema’ without renouncing to reach wide and general audiences beyond racial, social or cultural limitations. In that sense, Edwards is a solid heir of what Spike Lee meant some years ago, before some poor movies lowered down his prestige as a committed ‘black moviemaker’ (in fact, Lee’s prestige has risen again lately thanks to his collaborations with Edwards). The only problem is that it is happening with Edwards the same thing that happened with Lee. Not all his movies about the black (or should I have to say ‘afro-american’ just to be political correct?) community share a same quality level. But once said so – and I think ‘The Pledges’ do not meet the quality of movies like ‘Fallen Kings’ or ‘Get Down’, two solid examples of that ‘black cinema’ – I think it is remarkable Edwards’ effort to create a kind of genre focused on stories made and starred by black / afro-american talents but oriented to wider audiences than just the afro-american market. Besides their different quality level, Edwards’s creative jobs deserve my recognition and applause.’
-Jake Cobb