JULY, 7
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STANLEY & LIVINGSTONE

Drama/Epic
Cast: Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Jeremy Davies, Liam Neeson, Leighton Meester, Pierce Brosnan, Gael Garcia Bernal
Director and Producer: James Cameron
Screenwriter: Chad Taylor

Box Office: 61 mill.
Net Gains: 28 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: As I expected, this movie would have a hard time to become a box office hit. But all in all it’s a nice turnout, although net gains are not too high as it was a high budget production. I have the feeling we’ll hear again about this movie when GMA times come.

HAWKEYE. THE PREY

Action / Superhero
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Claire Danes, Benjamin Bratt, Logan Lerman, Chase Ellison. Cameos by Kurt Russell, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Louis Leterrier
Screenwriter: David Makalaster

Box Office: 96 mill.
Net Gains: 74 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Superheroes movies always have a loyal clientele. This one didn’t reach the 100 but it has worked nicely. I know it won’t enter in Movie History but, hey, that wasn’t pretended neither.

L.A. WOLF

Action / Thriller
Cast: Gabriel Macht, Gerard Butler, Andy Garcia, Michelle Monaghan
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: Josh Collins


Box Office: 54 mill.
Net Gains: 65 mill.

Stark’s Reaction: Very nice net gains due to two reasons: first, it wasn’t a expensive movie to produce and second, as usual, thrillers work so well in DVD market. The Studio will go on with this new franchise if Collins decides it to. This release makes 14 CMP’s releases without net losses in a row (not a record yet, but close to it). Season 10 is going so well.


STANLEY & LIVINGSTONE

‘Here is a perfectly manufactured product. A solid cast with ‘serious’ talents. Beautiful cinematography taking the best of the African landscapes. A talented directional job. An intelligent screenplay with brilliant dialogues. It has everything that could be expected from a major production like this. But the movie also has a problem: after all, it’s boring.
-Vic Carter

‘James Cameron keeps insisting on his will to prove he is an Author, with capital letter, and not only a director of appealing sci-fi blockbusters. His previous CMP’s movies like ‘Deep Silence’ or ‘Planetside’ (let’s forget the horrendous ‘Minos’, only produced by him) followed the line of his older movies, like ‘Terminator’, ‘Abyss’ or ‘Aliens’. ‘Pompeii’ got closer to the epic show of ‘Titanic’. And now, with ‘Stanley & Livingstone’ he has tried to become an unquestionable mature moviemaker. And yes, ok, he is. He can make a brilliant epic movie full of pretentions. But I still think that Cameron moves more comfortably in the land of pure entertainment than when pretending to be a too serious movie master’.
-Roy Winslow

‘Here is a ‘movie without soul’, if you know what I mean. Watching it, you have the feeling everyone involved in it has made their work so well. But still it leaves you a bit cold. The legendary story of Stanley and Livingstone has been told before on screen and, after watching this Cameron’s version of it, I just wonder if it needed to be told again.’
-Lily Stevens

HAWKEYE. THE PREY

‘David Makalaster has proved to be a major creative talent. Movies like ‘MTG-Sinister Black’, the recent megahit ‘Devil Trigger’, the cult saga of ‘3’s and 7’s’ and ‘Drawing Dead’ or even his first stories, like ‘Little Tin Goddess’ and ‘The Metal’ had innovative elements and original material that have put Makalaster on top of CMP’s authors. So my question is: did he really need to waste his time – and talent - writing a routine superhero movie? ‘Hawkeye’ is a correct standard superhero movie. No challenge in it. Renouncing to take risks has always been the beginning of the end for many Hollywood’s talents. A shame’.
-Anne Roman

‘The formula is back. Origins of the character, love interest, villain, a few action set pieces… ‘Hawkeye.The Prey’ joins the list of the superhero formula movies. Close to ‘Ironman’, the first ‘Spiderman’, or CMP’s productions like ‘Captain America’, ‘Silver Sable’, ‘The Flash’… Nothing new under the sun. More money for CMP. That’s all. As predictable as dispensable.’
-Chris Burgess

‘I have never liked Orlando Bloom. I have never got to understand why he has reached the stardom level. And this movie confirms me again that he hasn’t got personality enough to fulfill the silver screen. In the ‘Pirates’ franchise, where he was originally supposed to be the major star, he ended up eaten alive by Johnny Depp. In this one, Claire Danes – although, to be honest, I have seen better works from her in CMP – ends up being more interesting than Bloom. A movie star needs to do something more than look cute even wearing the most horrible superhero’s costume to be considered a real movie star. Affleck learned that with ‘Daredevil’, Bloom should learn it with this one.’
-Amy Ratched

L.A. WOLF

‘Haven’t we seen this movie before? Oh, yeah. Hundreds of times. You can always count on me for a good thriller and I admit I enjoyed this one. But it felt like tasting again the same flavor of ice cream you have been choosing for years: you know you are going to enjoy it although there’ll be nothing surprising in it. ‘L.A.Wolf’ falls into all the clichés of the cop-against-serial-killer genre. As long as you are aware of that, it is an entertaining movie that won’t disappoint you as much as it won’t surprise you’.
-Charlie Kiggs

‘Gabriel Macht is not Humphrey Bogart. And Gerard Butler is not Hannibal Lecter – he is not even the most obvious reference of his character: Ralph Fiennes in ‘The Red Dragon’. Once said so, they both try to take the best of their stereotyped characters of tough investigator and crazed murderer. ‘L.A.Wolf’ is an entertaining and partially thrilling movie that can be perfectly appreciated watching it at home in DVD but not worthy enough to take the time to move to a movie theatre’
-Jackie O’Callaghan

‘David Fincher has directed two brilliant movies for CMP: the disturbing ‘Saving Samantha Moss’ and the solid ‘Chrysalis: Pennies From Hell’, maybe one of the best Wild Cards’ movies. And Josh Collins wrote past Season one of the most brilliant pictures of a serial killer I’ve seen for long, ‘Killer On The Road’. So it was reasonable to expect something really good from this Fincher / Collins collaboration. But, instead of exploring new territories, they have preferred to follow all the rules of the serial killer genre without a single novelty or risk. No doubt, a missed chance for both.’
-Tim Reeve


Happy Fourth of July for those who celebrate. Usually July 4th weekend is associated with the big budget superhero popcorn flick. The tradition continues with David Makalaster's Avenger Spin-off, Hawkeye. A pretentious historic epic, Stanley and Livingstone starring the long awaited return of Christian Bale and last edition's GMA Winner, Brad Pitt and written by CMP newcomer, Chad Taylor. This week Josh Collins returns to the thriller genre with L.A. Wolfe

STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE

CRITIQUE: We here at CMP like historic epic films, and they usually fair very well in box office and awards. Stanley and Livingstone is a perfect choice for screenwriting debutant Chad Taylor to start off with a bang. Everything about the film is fascinating. The cast, writing, direction, cinematography. Finding fault in this film is hard to do. It's interesting, entertaining and masks plenty of education for those unaware of the real story of Stanley and Livingstone. A surefire must-see!
ACTING/CAST: A
DIRECTION: B+
WRITING: A-
PRODUCTION VALUES: A+
CONCEPT/PLOT: B
REWATCH VALUE: C-
OVERALL: A

HAWKEYE: THE PREY

CRITIQUE: *Sigh* Another Avengers spin-off movie. Just like the real hollywood studios, these films make killings in box office and all of the sudden they need to make a hundred of them. I know David Makalaster has a lot of creativity left in him, he who brought us the recent megahit 'Devil Trigger' so why turn to the films we use when we run dry of ideas? The film was less Spiderman/Iron Man/Dark Knight and more Daredevil. I don't think Hawkeye has a whole lot of legs to stand on and would work better as a supporting hero in a leading hero's film series. Don't let the action fool you. The film itself is nothing new and the acting seems phoned in. A dud from me, and I usually try to find the good in most movies.
ACTING/CAST: D
DIRECTION: D
WRITING: D+
PRODUCTION VALUES: C+
CONCEPT/PLOT: D
REWATCH VALUE: D+ If you love superhero films and will add any of them to your collection, than I can't stop you from adding it to your shelf.
OVERALL: D

L.A. WOLFE

CRITIQUE: It's well acted, written and directed, but I can't help but feel like it's been done before. It play off like a detective superhero film like Batman, but with an antiheroic tough as nails cop and a psychotic supervillain. I found the villain in the story to be very interesting and I liked the film's cinematography(kind of plays off like a comic book Watchmen/Sin City style) so if you want something entertaining and more gritty, bloody and in your face than a PG-13 superhero kiddie show, it's right up your alley. But if you're looking for something new, don't look here. Of course nothing is ever really new these days.
ACTING/CAST: B+
DIRECTION: B+
WRITING: B+
PRODUCTION VALUES: A
CONCEPT/PLOT: C+
REWATCH VALUE: A-
OVERALL: B+

MR. THUMBS' CERTIFIED PICK OF THE WEEK

STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE