 |
|
Sam's Dope Sheet Diary
Last night (Wed.) at a mall on the west side of Milwaukee, I went to
a 10 pm showing of Superman Returns. It was opening day for the
movie, and despite the fact that it was pretty late at night in the
middle of the week, I bought my tickets in advance expecting a big
crowd.
Maybe I'm just used to seeing movies in Chicago where the threat
of sell-outs for even mildly popular movies is not uncommon, but I
was surprised to find that when I got to the theatre, not only wasn't
there a sell-out -- there was hardly anyone there at all. There was
no line at the box office, and when my fiance, Carrie, and I got into
the theatre it was maybe two-thirds full.
"How many people in Superman paraphernalia do you think we'll
see?", I asked Carrie as we approached the theatre. "None," she said.
"WHAT?!", I said. "It's opening night!" Carrie had a quizzical look
on her face. "Are people really excited about this movie?", she asked.
Are people excited about this movie? It's a good question. I
think some people are. (For the record, Carrie and I were able to
identify two people wearing Superman t-shirts in the theatre.)
According to the current Filmspotting poll, nearly 70% of listeners
are either "thrilled" or "curious" about the movie. And maybe I was
only in the "curious" camp, but there was a 10 year-old inside of me
that longed to catch Superman fever. And I thought I might catch
that fever when I got to the theatre.
"Where are the geeks and fan boys?", I asked Carrie when we
settled into our seats. "They went to the 10 o'clock preview showing
on Tuesday night," she said. "Oh," I said. (Do I really need to
point out that Carrie is much smarter than me?)
OK. So apparently you need to go to a sneak preview to watch
Superman Returns with the hard core fans. I was sitting in a room
(two-thirds) full of the merely curious. On opening day. In
Milwaukee. Does this make my "Superman Returns" experience more
typical or less?
Maybe I'm being nostalgic, but I remember lines 50-deep for
"Return of the Jedi" when I was 9, and later that same summer "Held
Over" signs printed across the ads for "Jedi" in the paper. Heck, I
remember barrelling down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago two summers ago,
dialing and re-dialing Moviefone trying to find five seats for
Spider-Man 2 on opening weekend. (We found the seats, the theatre
was packed, and my friends and I agreed at the time that it was the
best movie ever made. Now that's a memorable movie-going experience.
"Go get 'em, Tiger.")
But I digress... Superman Retuns. The lights went down and the
previews started:
"Lady In The Water"
I'm curious. Haven't seen a Shyamalan film since "Unbreakable."
Thanksgiving Day, 2000, with my mom. We walked out before the end
because we were running late for dinner at my aunt's house. Also, we
were both bored to tears. I've always meant to give it another try.
"Ant Bully"
Giamatti again. And Streep. Looks fun actually. But not very
original. "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" + "Antz." Kemps has kids. He'll
see it.
"Accepted."
That kid from the new "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" ads who was also very
funny as the art gallery receptionist in "The Break-Up." Even though
the premise doesn't look too inspired ("Old School"-lite), something
about the performances suggests that whoever's behind this thing has
a good sense of humor. A quick look on IMDb tells me that Steve Pink
directed it. He co-wrote the screenplays for "Grosse Point Blank"
and "High Fidelity" with John Cusack. Suddenly I'm curious.
"Invincible"
I like Mark Wahlberg and I like Greg Kinnear. It's "Rudy" + "The
Rookie." Carrie turns to me and says that all of the previews so far
seem to be geared toward 13 year-old boys. "Yes," I say. "I love it."
If "Invincible" is the least bit good, I'm telling you right now: we
get to the scene with Wahlberg playing his first big game in a
packed-to-the-gills Veteran's Stadium, Philadelphia, PA, circa 1976.
The place is going nuts for the blue collar, hometown boy made good.
He points to the crowd in appreciation. In the theatre: me, openly
weeping. Guaranteed.
And finally ... "John Tucker Must Die."
Never heard of it? Me neither. Until last night. A trio of high
school girls conspire to bring down the most popular boy in school.
And I mention it because it was the only time all night the theatre
really came alive. The crowd (mostly teenagers) was laughing during
the entire trailer, and when it ended the place literally buzzed. You
know the sound. The trailer is over ... there's a brief silence in
the room, and then suddenly the audience, collectively and in unison,
responds in appreciation. Like everyone at once turned to their date
or friend and said, "Yeah." BIZARRE.
The movie looks terrible.
And then Superman Returns started.
Review next week...
|
|
|
| |
|
Agreeing to Disagree
Adam here... Our review of "The Lake House" in Filmspotting #110 has
produced a lot of positive feedback so far, including this email from
Mark Trencher in West Hartford, CT: "Thank you for your conversation
... the funniest thing I have heard in a Podcast, perhaps ever. How
about a list of the 5 or 10 movies where you disagreed the most? Who
gave it a 1 and who gave it a 5? Is there a particular type of film
where you tend to disagree more than usual? Can you discern any type
of overall trend/pattern in your disagreements?"
Thanks for the suggestion, Mark. I think this would be a fun
topic to explore -- for us and our listeners. There are always
examples of movies that one of us likes more or less than the other
person did... For example, "12 Monkeys" and "The Ice Storm" are two
movies that come to mind that Sam really likes and I am kind of
lukewarm on... But you're looking for the BIG disagreements.
As most of you know, Sam consistently rips on three movies I
love: "The Usual Suspects," "Chinatown" and "The Natural." But he
doesn't really HATE these films.
For it to be fun, one of us has to be really excited about a
movie while the other is full of venom. Here are a few movies that
meet that criterion. Note that all are movies Sam is wrong about... I
mean, movies that Sam hates or at least strongly dislikes -- many of
which you've heard reviewed or discussed on Filmspotting:
Network
Sin City
Closer
The Wild Bunch
Garden State
Match Point
Scent of a Woman
25th Hour
Notice any trends or patterns there? Please share if you do.
You're probably wondering about the flipside -- are there ANY movies
I hate that Sam loves? Believe it or not, I'm having trouble coming
up with one. As Sam wrote to me in response to Mark's email: "Yeah,
this is a good idea. But for the most part it's going to be movies
you love that I hate, right?" Seems so.
A lot of you surely have friends you see movies with, friends who
share similar tastes? What are the one or two movies you just cannot
see eye to eye on? Email them to
feedback@filmspotting.net
|
|
|
| |
|
Marathon Reminder
After Friday's review of "Cobra Verde," we'll close out the
Herzog-Kinski Marathon with "My Best Fiend" followed by the
Herzog-Kinski awards. Up next is our Screwball Comedies Marathon.
Here is the lineup... Please feel free to play along at home!
The Thin Man ('34)
My Man Godfrey ('36)
The Awful Truth ('37) / Bringing Up Baby ('38)
Sullivan's Travels ('41)
The Lady Eve ('41)
Adam's Rib ('49)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dope Sheet |
|
|
n. Slang.
A list of scenes from the script that have already been filmed,
or a list of the contents of an exposed reel of film stock.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
