Despite the precedent of retarded ploys like this one, and another whispered, opt-in-only go-round of “courtesy screenings” on its day of release, the Saw franchise saw no signs of slowing this past week, topping the weekend box office with just over $32 million on 4,600 screens, better than 2005’s Saw II and just off the $33.6 million haul of last year’s Saw III, both of which released during the same pre-Halloween frame.
Steve Carell’s Dan in Real Life rang up just over $12 million, good for second place. 30 Days of Night, meanwhile, took a steep tumble in its second week of release, banking $6.7 million to pull its 10-day total to $27.3 million. The Rock’s The Game Plan actually added theaters in its fifth week of release, and now stands poised to crack the $80 million mark domestically in the next several days. George Clooney’s Michael Clayton, which my dad lost $11 on by dozing off during, added $5 million to its coffers; it now stands at $28.7 million domestically. Eschewing commas isn’t helping Gone Baby Gone at the box office; despite its literary pedigree, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, which I assay in talking head fashion here, slipped to seventh this week with $3.9 million, and has pulled in $11.3 million to date. We Own the Night, meanwhile, dropped 37 percent in its third week of release, adding $3.4 million to its $25 million cumulative gross.
In limited release, finally, Mr. Untouchable laid hands on $50,000 on 25 screens, while recently announced LAFCA Career Achievement honoree Sidney Lumet‘s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead rang up $73,500 on two screens. The big micro-release winner, though, was Toronto Film Festival winner Bella, which grossed $1.3 million at 165 theaters.
I wasn’t particularly hot on the trailer and television ads
for this animated film (the hip-hoppin’ frogs seemed much more of an
embarrassment to me, divorced from their context), but after first seeing Meet the Robinsons a friend and
colleague of mine described the movie as Back
to the Future meets The Incredibles,
which is an admittedly awesome and alluring hybrid pitch. And I can see the
comparison, honestly, even if the movie isn’t fully an out-of-the-park smash in
my opinion. Spinning a sweetly moralizing story around serial wackiness, Meet the Robinsons scores mondo points
courtesy of its bright and inviting character design and smart, fanciful
writing, which combine to render a movie straight down the middle in terms of
kid-appeal plot something that, truly, the entire family can enjoy.
A Day with Wilbur Robinson, the movie is set in the fantastical
world of 2037, where dogs that wear glasses are as common as talking dinosaurs
(which is to say quite common). Twelve-year-old orphan Lewis (voiced by Daniel
Hansen) is brilliant and positive-minded, and always coming up with new
inventions, even if some of them don’t quite work out exactly as he first
intended. After yet another adoption falls through, Lewis — working with a
“memory scanner” that conjures up fleeting thoughts of his pre-adolescence — sets
off on a journey to find the family he never knew, a journey that becomes a
trip through time.
Lewis is given a friendly push-and-pull in that direction by
Wilbur Robinson (voiced by Wesley Singerman), a teenager who bills himself as a
time cop from the future, (don’t worry, there’s no Jean-Claude Van Damme in
sight…), and says that Lewis is needed to help fix the space-time continuum. As
quirky as he is, Wilbur’s extended family is populated by even more oddballs,
hence the movie’s name. The film’s requisite villain? That would chiefly be
Bowler Hat Guy, a sort of combination of Snidely Whiplash’s moustache-twirling fatuousness
and Gargamel’s dimness. Along the way, Lewis discovers that the fate of the
future rests in his hands, but he can’t save it alone — he’ll need every bit of
help he can get from the wonderfully wacky Robinson family, who help him learn
to keep moving forward and, naturally, never stop believing in himself.
Longtime Disney fans will appreciate not only Meet the Robinsons’ richly detailed,
animated futuristic setting, but also get a hoot out of its many quirky
supporting characters, which are an ample platform for fun, inviting voice work from Laurie Metcalf, Angela
Bassett, Adam West and Tom Selleck, among others. Wilbur’s bubbly mother Franny,
for instance, has developed a method for teaching frogs, such as Mafia don Frankie
the Frog, to sing. And then there’s Tiny the Dinosaur, a T-Rex whose huge head
and big heart are offset by cartoonishly small arms, giving him a bit of a
complex.
Meet the Robinsons
is directed by Stephen J. Anderson, who also voices the villainous Bowler Hat
Guy. Anderson’s experience as an animator
and storyboard artist (he also worked on Disney’s Brother Bear, Emperor’s New
Groove and Tarzan) is readily
apparent, as he helps give the movie a real sense of visual coherence. The
writing is equally graceful; stream-of-consciousness asides that are a hallmark
of animated productions are a part of Meet
the Robinsons, yes, but here they don’t feel overly work-shopped or tacked
on. They feed the story a bit, and certainly bring the characterizations into
sharper focus. The writers also retain a few arrows of surprise in their quiver,
having fun with the narrative bends that time travel affords, but also tying
things together in the end an interesting, albeit still characteristically heartwarming
fashion.
Housed in a regular Amray case in turn stored in an
attractive cardboard slipcover, Meet the
Robinsons comes presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, enhanced for 16×9
televisions. Its picture is crisp and clear, with solid colors and no artifacts
or edge enhancement. Sound is presented in a superb Dolby digital 5.1 surround
sound mix, with English, Spanish and French audio tracks. DVD bonus features include
a solid array of material, kicking off with an audio commentary track from Anderson
in which he talks about his own love of animation and his attachment to the
material. A small collection of a half dozen deleted scenes is also included,
with on-camera introductions from Anderson
as to why the material was cut (time/story flow constraints, mostly).
The 18-minute making-of featurette Inventing the Robinsons follows the arc of the movie’s development,
from pre-production through animation rendering and beyond; it’s interesting to
note that the movie was at one point tabbed for live-action production, but
concerns over the cost of futuristic sets and effects work helped put the
kibosh on those plans. There’s also a six-minute talking-head piece on inventions
that shaped the real world and a pair of music videos — “Little Wonders” from
ex-Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas, and “Kids of the Future” from Jonas
Brothers — to keep toes tapping. Finally, as with many Disney titles, there’s a
set-top game, this one an amiable trivia-based distraction entitled Family Function 5000: Family Tree Game.
In it, Lewis’ newest invention organizes his enormous family tree so he can
keep track of his family-to-be. Unfortunately, as with most prototypes, there
are a few bugs to be worked out, requiring assistance in the form of testing viewers’
memories.
Overall, this is a solid and fun title, certainly a movie that parents can watch, shame-free, with their kids. To purchase the title via Amazon, click here. B+ (Movie) A- (Disc)
Luke Wilson is a puzzling Hollywood case study. Every significant box
office success of his career appears to have been more or less
incidental to his involvement (witness Blue Streak, the Legally Blonde films and Old School), and every movie in which he’s been touted as a topliner has drastically underperformed if not flopped (witness Alex and Emma, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Vacancy and You Kill Me).
Despite all this, Wilson continues to find work, with one film in the can (Blonde Ambition) and another on the way next summer (Henry Poole is Here). Not bad for a guy who, when he co-starred in a romantic comedy with Drew Barrymore, barely hit the $10 million box office mark.
In short, this guy has absolutely zero pull with an audience, and no lasting commercial footprint of consequence.
Like fellow officers of Blandsville Edward Burns and Jim Caviezel,
Wilson has found consistent work because he seems to have a certain
likeability. (Actually, strike Caviezel from that group; he obviously
has a Passion voucher from Jesus helping procure him steady
gigs.) Wilson just kind of looks the part and frequently, in
mid-level-budgeted pictures, that’s good enough. So if ever there were
a more shrug-worthy modern hop behind the camera than The Wendell Baker Story,
new this week to DVD, it’s hard to recall. It’s not that the words
“multi-hyphenate” attached to Luke Wilson’s name conjure up irrational
irritation or aversion; rather, it’s that they elicit no feelings at
all.
The Wendell Baker Story fancies itself a shaggy beguiler, able
to coast by on latent charms only partially or occasionally manifested.
Its tonal incongruities and barely concealed self-satisfaction, though,
render it a deluded mess. It’s not that it’s always lazy, per se, it’s
just that it seems to have an ambling tone born of too many false
compliments. That the story is somewhat arbitrary is forgivable, but as
an actor Luke Wilson doesn’t even craft an inviting lead. For a film
with a possessive title, that’s a problem indeed. For the full review, from FilmStew, click here.
The American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre kicks off three one-night events with in-person guests this Friday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m., with
director Murray Lerner.
First up is the West Coast premiere of The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at Newport (2007, MLF, 83 minutes). This brand new film from Academy Award-winning director
Lerner (1981’s Best Feature Documentary, From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China) documents the remarkably swift metamorphosis
of troubadour Dylan from scrawny, Guthrie-inspired protest singer to iconoclastic rock
icon. Drawing from hours of previously unseen footage he
shot over several years at the Newport Folk Festival in the early-to-mid-1960s, Lerner shows Dylan’s development from his first Newport appearance in
the summer of ’63, through his legendary ’64 performances to his historic and
controversial ’65 appearance unveiling his new electric incarnation. The
footage has been newly transferred from the original negative with matching
audio restoration.
Next on the same bill is a special 40th anniversary screening
of Festival (1967, MLF, 90 minutes),
Murray Lerner’s acclaimed film which chronicled all the major artists at the
Newport Folk Festival 1962-1966, and illustrates how the festival was one of
the crucibles in which the early ’60s folk and blues boom evolved into the
folk-rock, blues-rock and psychedelic counter-culture of the late ’60s. Hear and
see Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Peter, Paul & Mary, Howling Wolf,
Judy Collins, Buddy Sainte-Marie, Odetta, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and
more! A discussion with Lerner will take place between films.
It’s a happy birthday to Winona Ryder, who turns 36 today, and probably doesn’t celebrate with a shopping outing to Saks Fifth Avenue. That’d be great to get her a gift certificate there, though; I like to think she’s owned that situation with friends, and has one ballsy enough to pull that with her, but probably not.
A Scanner Darkly, is my own early birthday offering to a close friend, who nursed the smart-guy, literary crushes on Ryder and Claire Danes throughout high school. Ryder’s been on the down-low the last couple years, but gave a nice, fully invested, warped performance in the deliciously silly The Ten earlier this year. Even if a movie with Mickey Rourke and Ashley Olsen hardly seems the proper career tonic, here’s hoping her train comes round again…
Al Di Meola looks like a middle school science teacher, but has
talent to burn. After 30 years of a splendid career and exploring a variety of
styles, Di Meola still ranks among the most popular guitar-masters of jazz and
jazz-rock. Here, on his first “electric” DVD, Di Meola takes his Speak A Volcano tour to Leverkusen,
North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
Shot in November of 2006, the set runs about an hour and a
half, and finds Di Meola rediscovering his love of the electric guitar without
denying newer influences, surrounded by a band that includes his old companion
and superb percussionist Gumbo Ortiz. The result presents Di Meola totally at
the top of his game; it’s a balancing act between volcanic electronic ecstasy
and emotionally moving sound excursions, between fervent improvisations and
intimate conversations.
Well directed, seamlessly blending in fretboard close-ups
and aerial drum kit shots, the show is anchored by five Piazzolla tunes, as
well as a handful of compositions from Di Meola himself. While subtly working
his instrument in shamanistic fashion for much of the show (he doesn’t exactly give
Buckethead a run for his money in the showmanship department) a clad-in-black Di
Meola sits down for the affecting “Azzura,” which might be the highlight of the
DVD.
Released concurrently with the syncopated rhythm-heavy CD Diabolic Inventions and Seduction for Solo
Guitar, Volume 1, Di Meola’s first solo acoustic guitar album, Speak a Volcano comes housed in a
regular Amray case, and presented in widescreen enhanced for 16×9 televisions.
The disc’s transfer is super-crisp and free from grain, even if the contrast of
its picture is just a bit off, with the black borders showing up more as grey
on occasion. Viewers can select from three different audio options, meanwhile —
stereo PCM, Dolby digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 tracks.
By way of supplemental extras, in addition to offering up 11
minutes of guitar tips and showcasing different picking styles, Di Meola also
sits for an 18-minute, seven-part chat, covering his early years (including
time with Return to Forever), development and thoughts on music theory, scales
and harmony. Props go out from Di Meola to both his first teacher, for
instructing him in jazz as well as pop standards, and legendary pianist Chick
Corea, whom he cites as a big influence, particularly on his first solo work, Land of the Midnight Sun. Di Meola’s
thoughts on the differences in phrasing and expression between acoustic and
electric guitars are also quite fascinating, making this a solid pick-up for
music fans and aspirant guitarists as well.To purchase the movie via Amazon, click here. B (Concert) B+ (Disc)
A Day with Wilbur Robinson, the movie is set in the fantastical
The Wendell Baker Story