Friday, June 30, 2006

Random Thoughts: The Devil Wears Prada

Okay, so I love movies where people are repressed/want to die/feel like outsiders. I love movies that move slowly and absorb you into the life of someone you aren't. I love movies with acidic humor dealing with stuff you're not really supposed to laugh at. (I'm not referring to fucking pies, either.) I love movies where everyone ends up dead or miserable. I love movies that realize that characters don't actually begin and end with what's on screen, that there's more to the story then what's being shown. And that they will live on long after the film ends. I love movies that are cynical to society. I'd say a good 85% of what I love is stuff like that. Then, there's about 10% of that are hardcore genre pictures: Scream, Halloween, etc.

Then, there's this 5%:

Clueless
Mean Girls
Legally Blonde
Bridget Jones's Diary
Working Girl
Pretty Woman
13 Going on 30

You might call them chick flicks. Some of them fall into the other 95% of what I love, if only in a slight manner.

For everyone of these I see, however, I have to suffer through 5 Just My Luck's, 3 How to Deal's and 2 She's the Man's.

Yeah, you get it.

Which is why just about every year there's one major "chick flick"/"female empowerment" movie I look forward to. This year, it was The Devil Wears Prada.

So tonight, as I sat back to my exclusive screening of the film, I was excited. The reviews were good. It was Streep. It was Hathaway. It was a lot of Sex and the City's creative team. Did it live up to its promise and early buzz?

Well, watching it was like gently being brushed on the cheek by God.

While there are elements in the film having to do with the characters played by Simon Baker, Tracie Thoms and Adrian Grenier that were hella cliched and slowed the film down, you need to consider this:

There is a sequence of Anne Hathaway arriving to work in different fabulous outfits set to Madonna's "Vogue."

Yes, I don't how I could honestly sell someone on a film more than using that pitch.

Seriously.

Anne is simply to die for in this. Her lips, her eyebrows, her hair: stunning perfection. My woman-crush on her knows no bounds. And she can act. She's like that Julia Roberts/Meg Ryan/Sandra Bullock-ness, only unlike them, you don't feel you NEED to love her. You just do.

There's also terrific scene stealers in the form of Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt, each of whom get at least one of the film's many great one-liners. Though I think Blunt's Blimply's line was probably my favorite.

Here's something original for a comedy: it does not have any gross out humor. It does not feature a Wilson brother, an ex-Saturday Night Live cast member, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller or his Marcia Brady wife, or any of those people getting hit with a wrench. It actually relies on - GASP! - writing for humor. I know. Big shock.

(Quick sidenote: There's also someone named Muri....Marli....Meryl? Meryl Streep? in this. Yeah, she's pretty good. Maybe she'll get nominated for this? Maybe she'll easily make my personal ballot? I don't know.)

There's clothes. There's New York City. There's catchy pop tunes. There's Paris. There's catty, bitchy types. There's Anne. There's Meryl. There's cute Entourage boy. There's me. There's you.


And far, far away from all of this are the heteromales who will NEVER understand the fun they are missing. Their loss.


"That's all."

Thursday, June 29, 2006

In honor of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA opening tomorrow, the most stylish characters in film!

In no particular order...

The CAST of The Talented Mr. Ripley






The CAST of Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve




Scarlett Johansson in Match Point



Julianne Moore and Patricia Clarkson in Far From Heaven




Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line



Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums



Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde



Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!



Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct



Sharon Stone in Casino



Diane Keaton in Annie Hall



Courteney Cox in Scream and Scream 2



Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's - the best

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

SPIDER-MAN 3 TEASER TRAILER!!!

I really liked Spider-Man.

I really loved Spider-Man 2. (Suck it, haters!)

As much praise as being heaped upon this trailer, I'm actually not too fond of it. Nevertheless, goth spidey looks good.

EDIT: Mother fucker. The trailer I viewed was some shitty fan made version. This actual teaser trailer is very good. And Bryce is in it!

Go here.

Box Office Predix: June 30 - July 2 - Superman Wears Prada

1. Superman Returns - $75m / $117m / $240m
2. Click - $21m / $81m / $120m
3. The Devil Wears Prada - $18m / $18m / $80m
4. Cars - $15m / $182.5m / $225m
5. Nacho Libre - $5.5m / $64.5m / $75m
6. The Lake House - $5.5m / $39.5m / $50m
7. Fast and the Furious 3 - $4m / $51.5m / $58m
8. Waist Deep - $4m / $16.5m / $24m
9. The Break Up - $3.5m / $1105.m / $116m
10. Garfield 2 - $3m / $22m / $27m

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Sunshine Footage!

This was one of my most anticipated films of the year till it was bumped to March of 2007. Even though it looks cliched, it is directed by Danny Boyle who hopefully will bring the same kind of energy he brought to 28 Days Later. And it stars Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Cillian Murphy and Troy Garity. All of whom are hot.

Go here for some sneak peekage

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Box Office Predix: June 23 - 25

1. Click - $38m / $38m / $110m
2. Cars - $22m / $155m / $210m
3. Nacho Libre - $14.5m / $57m / $85m
4. Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - $9.5m / $44.5m / $64m
5. The Lake House - $9m / $30m / $52m
6. Waist Deep - $7m / $7m / $18m
7. The Break Up - $5m / $102.5m / $114m
8. Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties - $4.5m / $15.5m / $25m
9. X-Men: The Last Stand - $4m / $224m / $232m
10. The Da Vinci Code - $3m / $204m / $210m
The Omen - $3m / $53m / $58m


adam and his plastic toy...plus a remote

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Zombies + Brad Pitt = Me in line already.

Yes, you know I love the zombies.

I also like the Brad Pitt.

So now, we get this:

(From Variety)

In a high-six-figure deal, Paramount Pictures acquired screen rights to the Max Brooks novel "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War." Brad Pitt's Plan B will produce.
Written by the author of the satire "The Zombie Survival Guide," Barry's follow-up sparked a bidding battle between Par and Pitt, with Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way on the other side of the table.

Book is a sober telling of the aftermath of a war fought against a legion of humans who were inflicted with a virus, died and were reanimated into flesh-eating zombies.

"World War Z" will be published in the fall by Crown.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Box Office Predix: June 16 - 18

1. Cars - $39m / $124m / $235m
2. Nacho Libre - $25m / $25m / $92m
3. The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift - $20m / $20m / $50m
4. The Lake House - $14m / $14m / $54m
5. Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties - $13m / $13m / $40m
6. The Break Up - $10.5m / $93.5m / $115m
7. The Omen - $8m / $50.5m / $64m
8. X-Men: The Last Stand - $7.5m / $215.5m / $230m
9. Over the Hedge - $5.5m / $140m / $152m
10. The Da Vinci Code - $5.5m / $199m / $210m
11. A Prairie Home Companion - $3m / $9m / $18m
12. An Incovenient Truth - $2.5m / $7m / $24m


if this house drops below 50, we'll die!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

OMEN box office predix revised....

It made $12.5m yesterday.

I think it will be very frontloaded. I expect it to drop big today.

So...

For the 3-day weekend: $20m
Total by Sunday: $42m
Projected Final Gross: $68m

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Box Office Predix: June 9 - 11

1. Cars - $68m / $68m / $250m
2. The Break Up - $20m / $74m / $114m
3. X-Men 3 - $17m / $203m / $230m
4. The Omen - $15m / $26m / $50m
5. Over the Hedge - $10.5m / $129.5m / $152m
6. The Da Vinci Code - $10m / $188m / $206m
7. A Prairie Home Companion - $3m / $3m / $14m
8. An Inconvenient Truth - $2.5m / $5m / $25m
9. Mission Impossible 3 - $2.5m / $126.5m / $131m
10. Poseidon - $2m / $55m / $58m

Monday, June 05, 2006

THE WICKER MAN trailer...

As promised...

It's available here.

Friday, June 02, 2006

I SCOOP'd this trailer just for you....

Scarlett Johansson.

Hugh Jackman shirtless.

Woody Allen.

Hugh Jackman shirtless.

Go here for the Woodster's latest - due in July.

(Hugh Jackman shirtless.)

Heads up! The Wicker Man trailer should be online next week.

Hugh Jackman shirtless.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

'THE HOLIDAY' TRAILER!!!!

Cameron Diaz.


Kate Winslet.


December.


Go here.


One of my most anticipated films of 2006!


Box Office Predix: June 2 - 4

1. X-Men 3 - $35m / $178m / $238m
2. The Break Up - $28m / $28m / $82m
3. Over the Hedge - $17m / $108m / $145m
4. The Da Vinci Code - $15.5m / $168.5m / $200m
5. Mission Impossible 3 - $4m / $122m / $130m
6. Poseidon - $3m / $51m / $56m
7. RV - $3m / $61m / $68m
8. See No Evil - $1.5m / $12m / $14m
9. Just My Luck - $1m / $15.5m / $17m
10. An Inconvenient Truth - $1m / $1.5m / $22m