MAY, 13

MOVIES RELEASED

1-FIVE THUNDERBOLTS

Action / Drama
Cast: Jet Li, Ziyi Zhang, Chow-Yun Fat
Director: Ang Lee
Producer: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: Josh Collins


Box Office: 49 mill.
Net Gains: 25 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: I must admit I am a bit disappointed with this box office breakdown. This movie is good. But people keeps rejecting subtitled movies in the American market. And maybe there was a certain lack of cast appeal for wide audiences. Anyway, I think this is one of those movies that will get more recognition as time passes.

2-CELEBUTANTES

Comedy / Satire
Cast: Michelle Trachtenberg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sienna Miller, Jennifer Tilly, Randy Quaid. Cameos by Matt Damon, Paris Hilton, Matt Kubrick, Ted Froats, Harry Stark
Director and Screenwriter: James Bradley

Box Office: 49 mill.
Net Gains: 68 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Same box office than ‘Five Thunderbolts’ but much higher net gains. The main reason? First, its lower budget. But, most of all, it has been an amazing success in American DVD market. I feel satisfied.

3-TOGETHER APART

Love Story
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Jamie Bell, Rory Culkin, Helen Hunt
Director: Jason Reitman
Screenwriter: David Makalaster


Box Office: 50 mill.
Net Gains: 34 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Best box office of the week (although only 1 million better). A great result for a love story. I did not expect such a nice breakdown. Yes, another one of those little movies I always feel so proud of.

THE CRITICS CORNER

1-FIVE THUNDERBOLTS

"A masterpiece. And I do not use that term very often. But this one definitely is one of those movies that reach a point of excellence that not many others reach. Ang Lee has created a perfect portrait of the contemporary chinese society, a mobster making his way through a triad and the codes of silence, power, violence, respect and revenge directly rooted in the millenial chinese culture. And together with the depth of it all, Lee has also shot a beautiful film, taking the best of the mixture between exotism and modernism of the Far East, from Beijing to Shanghai and the rest of the cities where the action takes place. Once again it is a pity that movie theatres are filled up when other movies much less interesting and intelligent than this one are shown and then, when a movie both entertaining and a piece of art hits the screen, not many decide to bet for something new probably just because they have to read subtitles."
-Charlie Kiggs

"I have the feeling that Jet Li has been mistreated by Hollywood. Typecast as an action villain specialized in martial arts by Hollywood (CMP included, as we have also seen him playing that kind of character in 'The Guardians' or 'Yeoman'), he has not had chances enough to show all his talent. And this movie finally makes justice to this brilliant and talented actor, as he not only proves again his skills in fighting and action set pieces but also his talent for drama, capable of expressing his emotions without almost moving a single muscle of his face. Together with him, Ziyi Zhang also makes an impressive performance, as Chow Yun-Fat does. Ang Lee has shown us the best of all of them. Josh Collins has also written a good screenplay that Lee has known how to upgrade to an epic level close to Hollywood's mobsters movies classics."
-Chris Burguess

"Five Thunderbolts is much closer to 'Goodfellas' than to 'The Godfather'. The rising career of Jet Li in his triad reminds me very much Ray Liotta’s in 'Goodfellas'. That is probably the 'Scorsese's touch' in the movie. Ang Lee and Scorsese have proved to be the perfect team for this story. Lee knows what he's talking about when showing the insides of the triads and, subsequently, the insides of the peculiar chinese society. And Scorsese has probably contributed with his vision of the world of crime and mobsters. But the good thing is that this is not just a chinese version of an american's mobsters movie. Five Thunderbolts is genuinely chinese and avoids any temptation of 'americanization'. That was a risk - and the price has been paid looking at the low box office - but Lee can feel proud of having made the best movie about triads ever shot."
-Tim Reeve

2-CELEBUTANTES

"Watching this movie is like reading a gossips magazine. Entertaining, superficial and repetitive. Ok, we all want to know how celebrities live. And maybe the Hollywood's kids live a life closer to 'Too Low For Zero' than to 'Celebutantes'. But Bradley has decided to look at the bright side of life. The girls from 'Celebutantes' are alcoholic, take drugs, are promiscuous, can't establish serious relationships and suffer emotional problems... but Bradley has avoided to be tough on them. He just wanted to make us laugh. And he does - although situations and dialogues end up becoming a bit repetitive. That was Bradley's choice: no depth in the picture of Hollywood, just a parody based on clichés we have seen thousand of times on tv or magazines. Take it or leave but that's all you'll get from this movie."
-Anne Ratched

"A complacent and condescending look at Hollywood. Far away from 'Hollyweird' - and probably from the upcoming 'Life and Facts of a Dirty Mind' - this movie renounces to scratch the surface. It is just a succession of stereotypes about Hollywood that does not show us anything we can't imagine about celebrities. There are a couple of good comedy moments - Matt Damon being sexually attacked in a men's toilet by Michelle Trachtenberg, Froats and Stark discussing about how many death scenes there should be in a drama - but, most of the time, the mixture between an episode of 'Sex and the City' and any report from E! TV looks too familiar to keep us interested in what's going on in the screen."
-Anne Roman

"Bradley has proved to be a good writer of adult comedies - i.e., his movies with Wes Anderson or 'Paperback Story' - but this time he has stayed in no man's land. This one is not an adult comedy but it isn't a teen comedy neither. I would say this is a comedy with just one joke: celebrities are nuts. That's it. That's not only the premise but the whole thing. And it works only partially. Anyway, the whole cast seems to understand the parodic nature of it all and adapts to it laughing at their own characters, which provides the whole show a freshness to thank as you know nobody is taking too seriously what is shown on the screen."
-Roy Winslow

3-TOGETHER APART

"It was a hard task. Building up a movie from the limited premise of a love story through internet was not an easy thing to do. And making it entertaining and moving enough looked even harder. But Jason Reitman has made it and here is one of the very few profitable love stories coming from CMP. Reitman - Ivan's son and a talented young director - has 'used' the love story to show us the insides of american society in nowadays. Evan Rachel Woods' family - mum Hunt and brother Culkin - make a brilliant portrait - for the good and for the bad -of an american family with all its cultural clichés and influences. And the Wood / Christensen net relationship becomes a metaphor of today's lack of communication in a world where people prefers looking for love through the computer than in their ordinary life. Reitman has added all that to this love story and the result is an interesting reflection about the society we live in without forgetting the classic romantic elements of all love stories".
-Jackie O'Callaghan

"A love story about two characters that never meet... No interaction. No sex. Two parallel lives that only meet on a pc's screen. And a question: is it really possible to find true love in the net or net relationships only create imaginary feelings between unknowns to replace the loneliness of real life? That's what this sensitive movie is about. Maybe those are not questions that everybody is interested in. If you talk about net relationships many will answer something like: 'hey, and what if that supposed sweet soul I met in the chat is in fact a fat truck driver?' So the premise of this movie - and the inevitable limitations of the plot - will only attract certain moviegoers. But if you have ever felt something about someone you've only met in a chatroom, this is the movie for you."
-Ron Carter

"This movie is to 'LOL' what 'Celebutantes' is to 'Hollyweird'. I mean, CMP used this premise before in the succesful Ben Stiller and Marisa Tomei's romantic comedy. Now, the search of love through internet is treated from a more romantic and serious point of view. As it happened in CMP's 'Goths. A love story', two youngsters try to find their place in the world through the love they feel for each other. But, this time, they don't travel America together. They just type in front of their computer. Personally, I am surprised that this movie has worked better in box office than 'Goths'. But it seems like Makalaster and Reitman have found a subject that interest audiences more than I could expect. Maybe I'm getting old for this new kind of love stories. Anyway, my praises to the excellent work of Christensen and Wood, who have known to create chemistry even though they do not interact during the whole movie."
-Lily Stevens



FIVE THUNDERBOLTS

Does Jet Li, Ang Lee and Josh Collins have what it takes to tell a good mob story? We're always looking to see what can be this generation's 'Godfather' and which performance can compete with Pacino, DeNiro and most recently, Oscar nominee Viggo in Eastern Promises. For a subtitled film, I didn't find myself emotionally tangled into the story as I did for Passion of the Christ or Pan's Labyrinth, but take it for an artistic foreign film with a mobster look and you won't care if they're speaking Klingon. Each actor was perfect in their roles; honorable mention for Ziyi Zhang as the damsel prostitute in the triad looking to break free from the lifestyle while her love interest is looking to take it over.

CELEBUTANTES

It is true that we are fascinated with the world of celebrities and this particular satire pokes fun at the fact. I miss the old days of satires and spoofs that actually had a plot behind the film. Not like these crappy films that the '2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie' present with us every month that only take memorable scenes from movies that previous year and put a midget in it or a porno actress with big boobs, but a true honest satire that reminds me of the classics Airplane, Naked Gun, even those hilarious Monty Python movies. CMP fans, keep an eye out in the backgrounds as there are several 'mock posters' of past CMP movies. I think those '2 writers' should take lessons from this sort of film if they want to save the satire/spoof genre.

TOGETHER APART

A very honest look into the world of internet dating and how tough..yet rewarding it can be at the same time. An easy to relate to film if you've been under the spell of romancing over the net and you're angry that the one person you feel understands and loves you the most is hundreds of miles away. Very moving and you never stop rooting for these two young lovers to stay together and work it out no matter what the obstacle gets in the way. It gives those in their shoes hope that one day their true love will meet them face to face.