So, while we may not be getting a new gigantic release this week, that does not mean we will not have anything new to watch. /p p This weekend brings two new wide releases, both of which are R-rated and targeting the adult audience, if slightly different demographics. One is a raunchy comedy in the vein of i 40 Year Old Virgin /i and i Wedding Crashers /i , and the other is a thriller reminiscent of i A History of Violence.
/i Both seem to offer up intriguing premises and could prove to be box office hits. Time will tell how they stack up to the blockbusters already on the screens. br / br / img style="border: 1px solid gray; margin: 10px; float: right" src="http://img.
photobucket.com/albums/v290/draven99/movies/knockedupposter.jpg" alt="" / b i Knocked Up.
/i /b (2007, 132 minutes, R, comedy, a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/knockedup/" trailer /a ) If there is one comedy that I have been looking forward to this summer, this is it.
I have no idea if it will be good, but I like all those involved, and the trailer just struck me as very funny and seems to have hit written all over it. It is written and directed by Judd Apatow, the mind behind the hilarious i 40 Year Old Virgin /i and the shortlived series i Freaks Geeks /i and i Undeclared /i , and stars i Grey s Anatomy s /i Katherine Heigl as well as i Virgin /i co-star Seth Rogen. The story is about a one-night stand between an unlikely pair that results in a pregnancy that leads to a run at a real relationship.
It looks like it will have that mix of raunchy comedy and genuine heart that is box office gold, at least for me. br / br / b i Mr. Brooks.
/i /b (2007, 120 minutes, R, thriller, a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/mrbrooks/" trailer /a ) As hit or miss as Kevin Costner s films can be, this one looks to be rather intriguing in its Jekyll and Hyde setup.
Costner stars as Earl Brooks, a family man and top businessman, who happens to enjoy killing. He has a split personality, to the point where the other personality is played by a different person (William Hurt). Brooks decides to quit, but gets sloppy on the last kill and is seen by a reporter played by Dane Cook.
Meanwhile, he is also pursued by a police detective played by Demi Moore. It is directed and co-written by Bruce A. Evans, who last directed i Kuffs /i in 1992, and last wrote the Tim Allen flick i Jungle 2 Jungle /i .
I cannot say that is a great pedigree, but the concept is definitely interesting. br / br / b i Gracie. /i /b (2007, 128 minutes, PG-13, drama, a href="http://www.
apple.com/trailers/picturehouse/gracie/" trailer /a ) The plot reminds me of the Amanda Bynes comedy i She s the Man. /i I know I shouldn t even know that, but still.
.. Anyway, it is about a 15-year-old girl who s the only daughter among three sons in a soccer-obsessed family.
Tragedy strikes and the oldest is killed in an accident, Gracie petitions to join the boys varsity soccer team in his place. I ve seen the trailer and cannot say that it looks all that intriguing, or all that different from any number of inspirational sports-themed dramas. The story is inspired by true events in the life of Elisabeth Shue.
It is directed by Davis Guggenheim, who also helmed last year s Oscar winner i An Inconvenient Truth /i , as well as a whole string of television episodes. br / br / Also opening this week, but not near me: br / ul li b i Crazy Love /i /b br / /li li b i Day Watch /i /b br / /li li b i I m Reed Fish /i /b br / /li li b i Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman /i /b br / /li li b i Rise: Blood Hunter /i /b br / /li li b i The Trials of Daryl Hunt /i /b br / /li /ul /p p Last week, i Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man s Chest /i owned the box office, overtaking the previous winner i Shrek the Third /i , and the faltering i Spider-Man 3 /i to take the top spot. Will it be able to repeat?
I have no doubt that it will. The question is whether or not i Shrek /i will be able to fend off the advances of newcomers i Knocked Up /i and i Mr. Brooks.
/i I suspect that the ogre will be able to hold off Seth Rogen for the number two slot. Although, I believe that the raunchy comedy with heart will have a strong showing and will have a strong third place start. As for the other big movie, i Mr.
Brooks, /i it has a couple of stars in need of a hit, and a somewhat popular stand-up comedian trying his hand at a non-comedy pretty early in his big screen career, I think it will open decent if unspectacular. i Spider-Man 3 /i will likely round out the top five, the rest will be a crapshoot. /p
Then again, I liked i Hannibal /i . Extras include some featurettes and some deleted scenes. /p p Paul Giamatti cares for an ailing hawk (insert Dick Cheney joke here).
Got a start at Sundance 06, but never quite found a theatrical audience. Loads of extras including Scenes From On the Set of i The Hawk Is Dying /i . They couldn t get the whole thing?
br / /p p Before you just assume this is gay porn, let me remind you...
this has Mink Stole. Seems more like a wacky comedy. Apparently in the first one, the straight roommate pretends to be gay.
In this one, the gay roommate pretends to be straight. And you gotta love the title, huh? Did I mention it was a slow week?
/p p This might not seem like a slow week selection until you realize that you probably haven t heard of most of the six titles included. That s not to say they re obscure. i Morning Glory /i gave Hepburn her first Oscar nod.
i Without Love /i pairs her with Spencer Tracy (and Lucille Ball). In i Dragon Seed /i she s, you know, Chinese. i Undercurrent /i also stars Robert Mitchum.
i Sylvia Scarlett /i and i The Corn Is Green /i are both George Cukor films, and the former has Cary Grant. It s just not i The Philadelphia Story /i or i The Lion in Winter /i we re talking about here. /p p Kind of an interesting backstory here.
The original Lovecraft tale was written in 1926, in the silent film era. So, the H.P.
Lovecraft Historical Society has decided to render this adaptation in that style. Fans seem to love it. /p p No, not that one.
This is a Corey Yuen film from 86. /p p Didn t even know there was a sequel. Apparently in that one, students are sent after the survivors of the first.
/p p A David Carradine flick written by Bruce Lee? Sign me up. /p p i b Dvorak in Prague - A Celebration / Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Frederica von Stade, Boston Symphony, Seizi Ozawa /b /i /p p I m not going to start a tag line of the week feature, but if I were, this would win: Escrow just closed.
/p p Good reviews for this BBC flick in which a son (Angus MacFayden) comes out of the closet while his father (Brian Cox) stays inside. /p p i b Opera Highlights, Vol. 1 - Norma, La Gioconda, Il Trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Forza del Destino, La Cenerentola, L Elisir d Amore, Orlando Furioso /b /i /p p Last week, the networks all announced their initial schedules for next season.
Beginning September 2007, this is what the Sunday grid is going to look like, at least tentatively. There is always the chance of reshuffling and other various changes to be made before the schedules actually go live. /p p Now rather than take a look at each of the networks, I thought it would be better to take a look at the daily grids.
Better to see how the networks stack up against one another. Today is Sunday, so let s see how it looks. /p p Not much new on Sunday nights to report on.
br / br / CBS has one new series, i Viva Laughlin /i . It is a drama/thriller/musical that is being executive produced by Hugh Jackman, who will also be guesting in a recurring role. It is about a man who is struggling to open a casino in Laughlin, Nevada.
Sounds like an intriguing premise, although I am not sure how it will be received. br / br / The CW is the only other network with new offerings. First, at 7:00 is i CW Now /i , what looks like an i Entertainment Tonight /i -style magazine show.
It will be followed by i Online Nation; /i its synopsis reads like a YouTube for the TV. Lastly, they have i Life is Wild /i , a family drama about a blended family that moves to South Africa. br / br / Sundays are sure to be ruled by some combination of FOX comedies i The Simpsons /i and i Family Guy /i , and CBS s i Desperate Housewives /i .
CBS will also have the James Woods drama i Shark /i returning for its sophomore season on a new night and time. I am also quite interested in the Jackman series. /p div id="authorbio" img src="http://img.
photobucket.com/albums/v290/draven99/littleme-1.jpg" style="float:left; margin-right:10px;" border=0 Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about entertainment when he isn't sitting in a movie theater.
He is known around the office as the "Movie Guy" and is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Interests include science fiction, horror, and metal music. His writings can be found at a href="http://draven99.
blogspot.com" Draven99's Musings /a , as well as a href="http://filmschoolrejects.com" Film School Rejects /a .
/div br style="clear: both;"/
May is front-loaded with a good portion of the expected hits of the summer. The first two opened to mixed reviews, and that trend is not likely to change. /p p No matter what you think, the third outing for Johnny Depp and his rum-swilling gaggle will make a gaggle of money.
All I can hope for is that it is nearly as entertaining as the first two. It will have little competition in the way of other new releases, as only one will be joining it at the cineplex, and it is a bit of counter-programming that will pick up the horror-loving leftovers who don t make it in to see the swashbuckler. br / br / b i Pitates of the Caribbean: At World s End.
/i /b (2007, 168 minutes, PG-13, action, a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/piratesofthecaribbeanatworldsend/" trailer /a ) Less than a year after the second installment, we are now face to face with one of the most higly anticipated films of the summer.
Now we can learn the fate of good old Captatin Jack, last seen being swallowed by the Kraken, Davy Jones nasty beastie. Barbossa returned and will lead the ragtag group to the furthest oceans in an effort to get Jack while all manner of trouble bubbles up around them. Frankly, I cannot wait for this, and despite its potentially excessive runtime, I will be there at some point during the opening weekend.
I have really enjoyed both films so far, and from what I have seen in trailers, I do not think this will disappoint. Of course, I thought the same thing going into i Spider-Man 3 /i . br / br / b i Bug.
/i /b (2007, 102 minutes, R, horror, a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/bug/" trailer /a ) William Friedkin returns to the world of horror with this latest entry.
Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, and Harry Connick Jr. star in this film about little bodily invaders. I believe this was originally slated for release late last year, but was pushed back for some unknown reason.
Despite the awful title, this one does look pretty creepy. There is a strong feeling of paranoia throughout the clips I have seen thus far. Whether or not it actually succeeds in being a creepy movie will be seen this weekend.
I hope that it does. br / br / Also opening this week, but not near me: br / ul li b i Angel-A /i /b /li li b i Boss of it All /i /b /li li b i Paprika /i /b /li li b i Ten Canoes /i /b /li /ul /p p Last week, i Shrek the Third /i had the biggest opening ever for an animated film, the third biggest opening ever, and the second $100 million opener of the year and the month. This week sees the third of this summer s Big Three take a shot at the record books.
I think that the near three-hour length of i Pirates /i may hurt its chances, but that is countered by the sheer number of theaters that is opening in. If nothing else, these big hits are proving to be more front-loaded than in years past, and the bunching together of the major releases all but guarantees that they will drop quickly at first before reaching a level of stability. i Pirates /i will make a play for the top spot, i Shrek /i will see a drop in the neighborhood of 50-55%, and Spidey will slip down into the teens.
The only new competition, i Bug /i , will see a modest open before slipping down rather quickly. /p p Here rsquo;s the deal this morning, folks: I am not going to come out the box swinging (at least not at what you think). Sure, I rsquo;m upset that i Veronica Mars /i is no more (but seriously, Kristen, if you need consoling, tell me, I rsquo;m here), but sadly it is old news.
The numbers were not there for a fourth season and as much as I like good TV, I can absolutely accept a network canceling a show that isn rsquo;t financially viable. /p p What really, really bothers me are the ldquo;previously on rdquo; snippets that shows air (I know, i EW /i did a back page thing on it a couple of weeks ago, and this was neither inspired by that nor really connected). For some silly reason, for the first time in a long-time I watched a ldquo;previously on rdquo; last night (just so happened that it was for our i Veronica Mars /i ).
/p p In this ldquo;previously on, rdquo; there was a clip from far earlier in the season in which Weevil says that it rsquo;s hard to go straight and that he has considered going back to his illegal ways. Not five minutes into the actual episode, we are treated to students looking at a police lineup in which we rsquo;re not shown who exactly is lining up. Both students, separately, state that number 4 is the guy.
Because I rsquo;d watched the ldquo;previously on rdquo; there was neither awe, nor shock, nor surprise when the camera finally revealed, at the end of the scene, that Weevil was number 4. But, it was filmed so as to be a surprise, so clearly someone thought it should be a surprise. /p p You creative-types and network-folks, do you understand the problem here?
The scene is filmed so as to try and make it a surprise, or shock, that Weevil is the guy people are fingering. The audience knows that Veronica will get him off, that he didn rsquo;t do it, but we rsquo;re still so supposed to be surprised by this ldquo;reveal. rdquo; The problem is that because someone thought that the audience was stupid and would need to be reminded that Weevil has been tempted to going back into the life, the reveal is foolish.
We all know that Weevil rsquo;s the guy already, making not showing him immediately in the lineup just plain annoying. Why are you trying to surprise us with something you told us five minutes ago? /p p Let rsquo;s look at it another way: TV and Film Guy is going to have some delicious barbecue for lunch, only TV and Film Guy doesn rsquo;t know that he is going to have delicious barbecue for lunch.
TV and Film Guy only knows that lunch will be good today and that its exact makeup is a surprise. Then, the individual who ordered the lunch for TV and Film Guy and the whole staff looks at TV and Film Guy and says ldquo;man we haven rsquo;t had some delicious barbecue in a while, have we? Isn rsquo;t barbecue delicious?
Wow, some delicious barbecue would really hit the spot today, wouldn rsquo;t it? rdquo; TV and Film Guy will now not be surprised when lunch is in fact delicious barbecue. Five minutes later however, the food ordering individual keeps talking about the ldquo;surprise lunch rdquo; and trying to convince TV and Film Guy that the lunch is in fact a surprise.
Sure, TV and Film Guy won rsquo;t be disappointed with delicious barbecue, but it rsquo;s no longer a surprise. /p p The story is no less interesting for it not being a surprise that Weevil is the guy in the lineup, just as the delicious barbecue is no less delicious. However, it rsquo;s not a surprise and consequently shouldn rsquo;t be shown as such.
/p p Astute folks out there will realize that the show was shot first and the ldquo;previously on rdquo; edited later, so I shouldn rsquo;t rail against the show, but more the ldquo;previously on rdquo; people. I disagree, I blame everyone involved, mostly my TiVo for being foolish enough to record the ldquo;previously on rdquo; to begin with and my wife for serving me a dinner that required me to eat with my hands, not a fork, thereby forcing my remote control hand to be otherwise occupied (and quite dirty) during the crucial moments (one doesn rsquo;t touch the remote with sticky fingers). /p p Seriously though, it is both the ldquo;previously on rdquo; creator and the episode writers rsquo; fault.
There ought to be an open line of communication between these groups of people. A nice simple ldquo;hey, Weevil being in the lineup is a surprise, so don rsquo;t give it away in your lsquo;previously on rsquo; please, rdquo; would be enough on the writers part. And, as for the ldquo;previously on rdquo; people, they must rsquo;ve seen the episode or read a script to know that the Weevil thing was going to come up, so why would they knowingly screw up a potential surprise?
All I ask is for a little consideration for the audience -- we may be smarter than you give us credit for being. /p p I think it goes without saying, and thus I don rsquo;t feel like I rsquo;m ruining the biggest surprise of all, I rsquo;ll be having some delicious barbecue for lunch. /p div id="authorbio" TV and Film Guy (complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in such areas) gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general.
All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. He's also quite proud to say that he's the editor of the Blogcritics Magazine television section.
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