JANUARY, 13


THE FLASH

Action / Superhero
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Isla Fisher, Liam Neeson, Simon Baker, Derek Luke, Matthew Fox. Voice of Powers Booth.
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Screenwriter: Dawson Edwards

Box Office: 108 mill.
Net Gains: 87 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: The movie has met expectations. No surprises for the better nor for the worse. Superhero movies have a loyal audience and a ‘100’ is the less that can be expected from them. I feel satisfied enough and ready to start working on possible sequels.

DARE TO BE PERFECT

Comedy / Dark
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Laura Linney, Susan Sarandon, Emile Hirsh, Abigail Breslin, Chase Ellison, Dustin Hoffman, Lucas Black.
Director: Dayton and Faris
Screenwriter: Josh Collins
Producer: Grand Island Movies

Box Office: 33 mill.
Net Gains: 1 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Saved from net losses by the bell. Box office was ok. The problem has been that, surprisingly, the DVD market has not responded at all. Anyway, a different kind of comedy and one of the best Collins’ screenplays made this a worthy production.

BEDTIME STORIES

Horror / Supernatural
Cast: Ivana Baquero, Alan Arkin, Gillian Anderson, Taylor Dooley, William Moseley, Alan Rickman, Ryan Simpkins, Dakota Blue Richards, Saoirse Ronan, Mackenzie Vega
Director: Matt Kubrick, Alexander Aja, Eli Roth
Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
Producer: Midnight Movies

Box Office: 35 mill.
Net Gains: 0.5 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Phew! Another production saved by the bell. In this one, box office wasn’t enough to reach net gains and it was the Foreign DVD market what saved it from net losses. For some reason, American DVD market has ignored it. Anyway, a shame, as it has also been a worthy experience for the Studio, and I think this production deserved a bigger recognition. A tough week at box office…

THE FLASH

‘It is hard to say something original about a superhero movie. ‘The Flash’ respects all of the official rules of the superhero genre: it begins telling the origins of the character, the hero has a sweet girlfriend, there is a villain wanting to rule the world… Nothing new under the sun. But, ok, it is an entertaining movie that fans of the genre will enjoy. And that’s what these kind of movies look for: no surprises, but efficient entertainment. Just exactly what ‘The Flash’ offers.’
-Vic Carter

‘After the disaster of ‘Get Christie Love!’, Fuqua has returned to CMP proving he can be a major director of big productions. As it happened with the Christie Love movie – where Fuqua made homage to old black exploitation movies and 70’s tv cops series -, he has chosen here a kind of retro production design, trying to respect the looks of the original comic books instead of looking for realism in the production design and the cinematography. Nice choice. Although some times it may look a bit kitsch, the movie makes some differences from other superheroes movies with that visual conception that take us directly to the pages of the old DC comics. That’s probably the most interesting thing of this very mainstream production’.
-Alex Stampton

‘Not as epic as ‘The Avengers’ saga, ‘The Flash’ is closer to the CMP’s Captain America trilogy: a nice adventure sophisticated enough without aspiring to make a landmark in the History of Cinema. Fuqua is not as visionary and visually daring as Tim Burton and Joshua Jackson has not the screen presence Heath Ledger had. But, all in all, ‘The Flash’ is a correct comic adaptation – much better than ‘Ghost Ryder’, not as good as the first Sam Raimi’s ‘Spiderman’. It joins the list of CMP’s superheroes movies in a decent position, more than enough to expect some sequel in the future.’
-Jackie O’Callaghan

DARE TO BE PERFECT

‘Is ‘Dare To Be Perfect’ a comedy? Well… yes and no. The fun of this presumed comedy is to show us the most dysfunctional family ever. Dayton and Faris have no mercy with the characters. All of them ruin their life and there’s not a bit of hope for any of them. You may laugh at other people’s misfortunes, but at the end the spirit of the movie is so bitter, pessimistic and hopeless that you even feel a bit guilty for having enjoyed the fall of this family. I left the theatre with mixed feelings: I had had a good time with the brilliant dialogues and situations but, at the same time, I felt a bit cruel for enjoying this acid vision of a bunch of losers.’
-Charlie Kiggs

‘It is so sad that ‘Lying Wish’ is still the most profitable comedy coming from CMP this Season after the funny ‘Mary’s Dark Side’ and specially this brilliant ‘Dare To Be Perfect’. Collins – also responsible for ‘Lying Wish’ – has hit the target here with an adult comedy that confirms him as the talented writer he usually – but not always – is. ‘Dare To Be Perfect’ – closer to ‘American Beauty’ than to CMP’s ‘Paternal Nightmare’ – looks at the decadence of family values without concessions. Deliberately excessive at some moments, it pictures an exaggerated portrait of where we may be going if we don’t protect the importance of family bonds. Acid, very acid view that takes Dayton and Faris back to the quality level they reached with ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and abandoned with the more comfortable ‘Paternal Nightmare’. A movie to make us smile… but also think.’
-Roy Winslow

‘The main appeal of this disturbing dark comedy is its cast. All of the talents involved seem to have been born to play their characters. Greg Kinnear proves again how brilliant he can be when there’s a solid screenplay backing him. Laura Linney is just pure gold and I’ll kill anyone who does not think she deserves a GMA for her work. The kids – specially Emile Hirsh – perfectly adapt to their roles. And the minor work by Dustin Hoffman as the crazed, cruel and dying father surprisingly becomes a jewel to taste. Not to mention the solid supporting work of Susan Sarandon. See you all at the next GMA ceremony, guys.’
-Anne Roman

BEDTIME STORIES

‘This movie is like a breath of fresh air for the horror genre. Since the Wes Craven’s 80’s horror flicks, the genre had fallen into an empty show of flesh and blood where ‘Saw’ or ‘Hostel’ may be considered as main examples. Suspense, shivers, tension, heart beating moments… had been sacrificed for the benefit of empty gore sequences. These three episodes – surprising, considering the antecedents in slasher and gore shows of the three directors – recover the most classic concept of horror where fear and suspense mix in a perfect combination to keep us trapped at our seats holding the breath. Contemporary moviegoers may miss some more blood and feel disappointed, but Kubrick, Roth and Aja have showed us that they can scare us to death the way old masters of the genre used to.’
-Amy Ratched

‘A nice little treasure we have here. Three well built short stories that share a common appeal of horror and suspense. Kubrick and his good friends, Roth and Aja, must have enjoyed the experience of filming these episodes with the only intention of enjoying the chance of making unpretentious pieces of horror. I cannot choose which one I preferred. I can only say that I had a good time watching this kind of old Horror Theatre show. They can count on me if they keep making these stories that stay in your mind when you go to bed at night and turn the lights off.’
-Lilly Stevens

‘A minor product for horror fans, but still a quality one. Watching Alan Rickman as the mean orphanage fanatic principal was a pleasure itself. Also Alan Arkin and Ivana Baquero shine in their episode. ‘Bedtime Stories’ is a worthy caprice that confirms the talent shown by Alexander Aja in his previous works for CMP as much as the experience gained by Kubrick as movie director and it has also even reconciled me with Eli Roth after his failed ‘Vorhees: The Bloody Years’ and ‘Blood Beach’.
-Chris Burguess


Welcome back, fellow moviegoers. Happy new year and I hope we have an exciting year ahead of us! If you don't want to see crappy Hollywood movies that are out now, see CMP movies instead. If you plan on taking the kids to see Bedtime Stories, make sure it's the Adam Sandler one. How neat that two movies of completely different genres with the same titles are playing in the same theater! I smell a sitcom, quick hire the writers of You, Me and Dupree! And we get our weekly comic adaptation in a superhero who is long overdue for a feature film and I know one family who didn't have a good Christmas. The Bergers in Dare to be Perfect.

THE FLASH

After those awful films about less popular superheroes(until Iron Man came out), this one was rather iffy at first glance. But I actually enjoyed this one, but then again I've always liked The Flash comics. I think Fuqua made a clever move keeping to the colors and designs of the comic book. It may not be 'Dark Knight' or 'Iron Man' but it certainly isn't 'Daredevil'
ACTING/CAST: 8/10: the roles were fitted very well.
DIRECTION: 8/10: I liked what Fuqua did with the stylishness of it.
WRITING: 7.5/10: Points off for non originality, but points added for Dawson taking a superhero and making it his own however.
CONCEPT/PLOT: 7.5/10
RE-WATCH: 10/10
FINAL NOTES: I say go and see it, it's a holiday season blockbuster (or summer depending on which side of the world you live in). It's either this or you could go see (insert dumb recently released movie here)
OVERALL: 8.5/10

DARE TO BE PERFECT

Where has Josh been? He suffered a season full of films with better quantity than quality last season and I'm sure most of us were worried that we saw the best of the best of him and his best days were be gone. But he brings forth this film of family dysfunction and awkward togetherness. An honest look at how our family can drive us so crazy we just want to break away from them. But it's a little more than family troubles, each character has their perspectives of the way they adapt to society. A good movie that if it doesn't make a good box office, we can still be proud that it was made.
ACTING/CAST: 10/10 not one weak link in the cast. everyone did perfect.
DIRECTING: 10/10 The husband and wife directing team should be proud
WRITING: 9/10 we've seen a few of these kinds of characters before, but this really is one of the best Collins films since his acclaimed Season 7 films Lyra and Velcro.
CONCEPT/PLOT: 9/10
RE-WATCH VALUE: 8/10 ok so it's not an action flick or a straight up knee-slapping comedy but it doesn't get old to watch, in fact the more you see it, the more new things you'll catch. Plus the performances were stellar enough to keep you watching again.
FINAL NOTES: Who will get the GMA nods? Almost halfway through the season and we've hit one of the first 'big maybes' for the awards.
OVERALL: 9.5/10

BEDTIME STORIES

This is the kind of horror we don't get to see enough of. Spooky ghost stories that bring us back to the ever-so spooky 'Creepshow' franchise.(Leslie Nielson played a brilliant villain in the sequel) and I enjoyed it for that very fact that it steered away from modern horror to give us the reasons that made 'Creepshow' and Nickelodeon's 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' so cool. And didn't we all scare the crap out of our friends by telling them haunting stories about some guy's missing golden arm and scratching on a door?
ACTING/CAST: 6.5/10 the talent is there, but again, these films aren't known for in depth acting these days.
DIRECTING: 7/10 I liked the idea of having different directors for each story.
WRITING: 4/10: Again, not a genre best known for Hemingway style writing.
CONCEPT/PLOT: 8.5/10
RE-WATCH VALUE: 9/10
FINAL NOTES: I hope there's more and this could be an interesting franchise that not only Kubrick can do, but other writers as well.
Math equation: Bedtime Stories > modern mainstream horror
OVERALL: 7.5/10

CERTIFIED MUST SEE OF THE WEEK:
DARE TO BE PERFECT

MR. THUMB’S MIDSEASON REPORT

Are we already halfway to the end of season 9 already? As of the January 9th releases, yes we are. Though we've seen very successful box office receipts in most to all of the first half of the season, most lacked in original quality, which isn't an uncommon occurrence and the trend of superheroes, remakes, and adaptations will forever carry on. That's to be expected. And as the second half of the season comes in, we take a look at the films already released and see if any of them might have survived the curse many Hollywood and CMP movies get when they are released toward the beginning of the year (or season) when they'll be forgotten come GMA and Oscar time.

In my humble opinion, the best films that have been released this season so far: Drawing Dead, Silver Sable, The Land of Nod, Mary's Dark Side, Flashman's Travels, Haight-Ashbury, Dare to be Perfect, and The Flash. The other films weren't necessarily bad, but in my opinion lacked something to make them stand out. But the bottom of the barrel of the first half goes to: Lying Wish and Reform School Girls. Two movies that didn't go over well with critics and some movie-goers. From a critical standpoint I would give the films a chance but if you're looking for the cream of the crop of the season would you really consider Lying Wish that cream?

As we enter the second half, I take a look at what's to come. Some seem very interesting (Kubrick's adaptation of the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes, Sonja Blue (move over Twilight, there are far better vampire stories than your vampirey gossip girls soap opera shit), ain't it funny how we had a horror film with three stories now we're gonna have another film with three stories. That's like when we got two films featuring Jimmy Hendrix as a character. The Experience hopes to be Josh Collins' next big biopic since Dream of a King (whatever happened to Laurence?) let's just hope he doesn't try to push that idea of U2 frontman Bono again.

Metal Gear Solid and Magic: The Gathering movies along with the already released Flash, Silver Sable? Comic book and video game nerds are having orgasms right now. And how about this shaky hand-held camera that made Blair Witch and Cloverfield so appealing? At least this time we actually get to see the monsters the people are running away from. I like his choice to put low-profile stars in the film. How could you buy the believability if there was Tom Cruise in it (although it'd be another chance for Tom to run in his movie)

A Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake could very well be enjoyable. I can lower my expectations for it and forget the original one existed just for this though. You know what would be a cool remake next? Weekend At Bernies...but knowing Hollywood they'd jump on that but instead of making it a remake they'd make a sequel to it. It's been what like 20 years since the second one, it's time they revived the franchise. Oh and Mannequin also. I'm also liking this 'Things I forgot to Tell You' it's different from what we usually see and heck may very well be a big contender for some GMAs.

Speaking of which, any of these first half films I see 9th Season GMA worthy? Drawing Dead, Mary's Dark Side, Dare to Be Perfect all have that award feel to them. Looking at the up-comings as of now, The Experience(at least for the portrayal of Jimmy by the talented Chiwetel) and Things I Forgot To Tell You. As we draw nearer to the end of the season I'll compile my list again as to see who just might get those precious trophies this season.

THE MIDSEASON WORLWIDE GROSS TOP 5
(Box Office / Net Gains)

1.THE DARK TOWER: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE - 285 / 349
2.THE LAND OF NOD - 243 / 191
3.SILVER SABLE - 130 / 113
4.BIRD OF A FEATHER - 126 / 167
5.DRAWING DEAD - 118 / 104