MAY, 10


DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON 2

Action Adventure
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry, Paul Walker, Kiefer Sutherland, Ken Watanabe, Gerald Okamura, Michelle Yeoh, Koji Yakusho
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Screenwriter: Joey Stark

Box Office: 215 mill.
Net Gains: 111 mill.

Stark’s Reaction:
Second ‘200’ of the Season! Yes, the sequel has beaten the first movie making another extraordinary turnout! Net gains are not so spectacular because of the big production costs of the movie. Shooting in Shanghai, the stars’ salaries and the high budget for CGI made this a very expensive film to make. But I cannot be happier. I hope my brother Joey reconsiders and some day we will have ‘Daughters Of The Dragon 3’ because this has proven it to be a most successful and profitable franchise.

ALABAMA

Romance / Drama
Cast: Natalie Portman, Will Smith, Matt Dillon, Ed Harris, Kirsten Dunst, Forrest Whitaker
Director: Will Smith
Screenwriter: Chad Taylor


Box Office: 55 mill.
Net Gains: 22 mill.

Stark’s Reaction:
Very nice numbers. I knew Natalie and Will would not disappoint me!

JASON VS LEATHERFACE

Action / Horror / 3D
Cast: Derek Mears, Andrew Bryniarski, Jerry O’Connell, Corey Bowles, Sid Haig, Karen Black, Jamie Bamber, Patricia Arquette, Dina Meyer, Max Van Ville
Director: John Woo
Producer: Midnight Movies
Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick

Box Office: 45 mill.
Net Gains: 16 mill.

Stark’s Reaction:
I admit I expected higher numbers for a Jason / Leatherface’s reunion. Anyway, it has made net gains and we know not all slasher movies can say the same.


DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON 2

‘Us, movie critics, are pretty predictable. We always feel obliged to praise only author-esque movies with intellectual pretensions. We feel obliged to despise blockbuster oriented productions as if praising that kind of movies would go against our own prestige as reviewers. Yes, we are pretty snob people. But sometimes we forget that not every movie has the same objective. It is obvious that ‘Daughters of the Dragon 2’ does not pretend to enter with golden letters in Movie History. It is only an entertainment oriented film. And, in that sense, I must say that this is a more than efficient popcorn show. It absolutely meets any expectation about it. It’s very entertaining and that is exactly what it wants to be. So, in that sense, I must say that it is an excellent movie… unless you expect from it to reveal the meaning of life.’
-Charlie Kiggs

‘Jon Turteltaub has built up a solid action pack with professionalism. The movie is perfectly structured to keep the pace an action film needs. Each ten or fifteen minutes, the film has a spectacular action sequence taking the best of the exotic scenarios of Shanghai – the fight at the Flower Market is particularly remarkable here - to reach the final big show of that duel between the dragon Watanabe and the lioness Diaz. The plot behind the action is not too original but it mixes with skill a few appealing elements, with references to martial arts movies, the Yakuza world seen in CMP’s ‘Five Thunderbolts’ or in Ridley Scott’s ‘Black Rain’ and a bit of romance not fully developed. Enough to sustain and justify those action sequences perfectly paced by Turteltaub to build up a show that has fully satisfied audiences.’
-Roy Winslow

‘Now that his ‘Silver Sable’ saga is over, Joey Stark has decided to retake other two Marvel’s heroines looking to keep alive the world of female heroes in CMP besides Wonder Woman. Colleen Wing and Misty Knight are two minor characters of Marvel’s universe upgraded with this movie and its predecessor with the help of the powerful screen presence of Cameron Diaz and Halle Berry. Like Silver Sable, they are more skilled action heroines than strictly superheroes. And they work as well as Silver mixing their fighting skills with their sexy look. Stark has already proven his experience managing this kind of stories and he has hit the target again making an extraordinary box office with a luxurious production that has pleased a wide range of moviegoers.’
-Mark Anderson

ALABAMA

‘Will Smith and Chad Taylor show with ‘Alabama’ their big talent as moviemakers. ‘Alabama’ is one of those movies you have the feeling you have already watched. The characters are very much cliché: the sweet mistreated wife, the honest and noble black man, the mean husband, the racist father, the cheap local girl, the wise lawyer… Some situations have been seen before in many other movies: I will just mention here films like ‘Burning Mississippi’ or ‘A Time To Kill’. There’s nothing really original in the film. But Taylor’s screenplay and Smith’s directional job make it all look as new and different enough to keep you fully interested in the story, provoking exactly the feelings they want to provoke in the audience, from indignation to irritation to complicity with the starring couple’s feelings. It is needed a big talent to make look as something new something it is not. And Taylor and Smith have made it with their solid works.’
-Anne Roman

‘Natalie Portman confirms again she is right now the number one female star in CMP. During the last few Seasons, she has starred all kind of very different movies (‘Secret Sins’, ‘Metropolis’, ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’) and no matter the genre or the character, she always makes a wonderful acting work. She has also worked with very different starring couples like her first works in CMP with Jake Gyllenhaal and more recently with Jude Law, Johnny Depp or now Smith. And she always finds the way to show a perfect chemistry with her cast mates no matter how different they can be one from the other. ‘Alabama’ is another proof of her immeasurable acting talent. Besides box office’s success or awards, there’s no doubt that Natalie Portman is on top of the female stars regularly working for CMP in terms of acting talent.’
-Jackie O’Callaghan

‘Chad Taylor keeps growing as drama author with ‘Alabama’. After ‘Woman’, Taylor shows again here his growing skill developing stories based on strong feelings, romantic conflicts and maturation. And he is particularly developing his skill in creating solid female characters. Maybe, the intelligent choices he has made building the cast have saved him this time from making something more than just a routine antiracist movie. Everyone in the movie perfectly adapts to their characters and that upgrades the story. Taylor has not written yet the Big Drama he is looking for – at least, an original one, cause he is also the author of the wonderful adaptation of ‘A Farewell To Arms’, one of the best dramas released by CMP in years – but he proves with ‘Alabama’ he is on his way to do it soon.’
-Tim Reeve

JASON VS LEATHERFACE

‘Matt Kubrick has written quite a few horror slashers movies by now. But this one is by far the most gory show of them all. With the help of 3D, this movie literally splashes blood and viscera to the audience’s face. And I presume that’s exactly what the audience wants when they pay a ticket to watch a movie like this. The thrill and suspense of this movie is only based on waiting to see if the next crime will be bloodier and even more disgusting than the previous one. That’s what is all about. That’s what most moviegoers understand these days for a ‘horror movie’: a gore show. You won’t be scared with it. You will just shout and applaud when you feel that chainsaw waving close to your nose. That’s not horror. But people like it.’
-Vic Carter

‘If you put together in a movie two icons of the horror genre like Jason and Leatherface, it should be the chance to look for something more than their usual routine. It is a shame that Kubrick and Woo – a director more and more away from his best days as moviemaker – have not understood it that way. The movie has no plot. It is just a sequence of crimes from both characters put together with a very thin link without any real plot or any innovation or addition to what we already know from them. With that approach, the awaited meeting of both legends or the experiment of the two possible endings loses all interest. Watching the movie, you soon realize that it won’t offer you nothing more from Jason and Leatherface than what you have already seen them doing before in all their screen’s appearances.’
-Andrew Stampton

‘A movie only for fans. Fans of Jason Vorhees or Leatherface. Fans of gore. Fans of 3D. Fans of bloody ultra-violence. And nobody else. In the early days of CMP, Matt Kubrick made an interesting experiment with ‘Vorhees: The Early Years’ and ‘Vorhees: The Bloody Years’. In some way, he tried to ‘humanize’ the character providing him with a biography. With those movies, Vorhees became more than just the slasher killer of the ‘Friday, the 13th’ franchise. He had a past, a story and even some personal conflicts. Kubrick has forgotten that with ‘Jason and Leatherface’. Here, both characters are only what they are: two killers without any kind of human touch. The only new thing we learn about them that we didn’t already know is that Leatherface also lives in Crystal Lake, just a few blocks away from Jason. Besides that, the movie is a missed chance to have taken some kind of step forward in the picture of these two legends of the genre.’
-Amy Ratched