Case 39 trailer.

This supernatural chiller has already been released everywhere else in the world. The director's follow-up, Pandorum, has already been released in the states. This was obviously filmed well before Bradley Cooper hit it big with The Hangover. And Paramount is now releasing it on January 1st, 2010. Wow, if that doesn't scream confidence (or contractually-mandated release) I don't know what does. Still, I can't imagine why Paramount didn't attach this to Paranormal Activity back in October.

Scott Mendelson

Season of the Witch trailer 02

This looks like another case of Nicolas Cage surrendering to his inner-geek. Speaking of geek, Lionsgate knows full well what demo it's chasing, as only the nerdiest amongst us know Ron Perlman well enough to care whether or not he gets billing. And, unless I missed it, I didn't see a single shot of Christopher Lee in this trailer, so maybe his appearance as Cardinal D'Amboise was supposed to be a third-act surprise. Regardless, this Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish, Whiteout) flick looks like a guilty-pleasure piece of religious-horror. And kudos for actually showing Mr. Cage killing a dog in the trailer. That takes guts. Season of the Witch opens March 19th, 2010.

Scott Mendelson

Brooklyn's Finest gets a trailer.

I like a star-filled cop drama as much as the next guy, and this looks to fit the bill. Unless I missed it, this trailer gives not a single shot of Vincent D'Onofrio or Ellen Barkin. Antoine Fuqua can do this kind of material in his sleep, and I always wonder how much better American Gangster would have been if he had tackled it as originally intended, as opposed to the impersonal, contrived, and bloated Ridley Scott version we ended up with. Richard Gere rarely fails when he actually plays his own age, and Ethan Hawke has become the go-to actor for working-class men who make terrible life choices out of desperation. Come what may, this one opens on March 25th, 2010.

Scott Mendelson

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I gets a teaser.

This behind the scenes featurette concludes with a minute-long teaser trailer. Obviously this is a ripped copy, but even in this muted form we can see the usual confidence that exudes from these teasers. You can practically hear Harry Potter telling Edward Cullen to get the hell off of his lawn. And kudos to Warner for realizing that, if you're going to have John Hurt in your movie, you'd best just let John Hurt narrate your teaser. I suspect we'll see this one in theaters by years-end, probably attached to Warner Bros' Sherlock Holmes.

Scott Mendelson

Blind Side finally reaches number 01 in otherwise putrid post-Thanksgiving weekend. Box office weekend in review (12/06/09)

For years on end, the weekend after Thanksgiving has been an unusually ghastly one for box office. And this year was no exception. We had three wide-release openers, only one of which really made a mark, while the number one film was a word of mouth sensation that basically outlasted its competition. As expected, the top film of the weekend was The Blind Side. Following two weekends of playing second-fiddle to New Moon, the Sandra Bullock heartwarmer capitalized on weak openers and a steadily crashing Twilight sequel to earn $20 million in its third weekend. While it dropped by 49% from last weekend, that's by far the lowest drop in the top ten. It's also earned in its third weekend what most people thought it would earn in its opening sprint.

The Blind Side has now amassed $129 million, becoming Sandra Bullock's second-highest domestic performer, after this year's The Proposal. Expect this new entry to eclipse that film's $164 million total in the next couple weeks at worst. This one is surely playing the long game, as it will likely hover around the top five right into the new year. And if Sandra Bullock scores a (deserved) Best Actress nomination at this year's Academy Awards, then $200 million may just be the start for this one. And don't be too surprised if this one sneaks into the expanded Best Picture race, especially as critics are currently trashing Nine and relatively divided on The Lovely Bones. And although the field is already too crowded, it would be nice if Warner waged a Best Actor campaign for Quinton Aaron. The film works because it's every bit as much his story as Bullock's.

Coming in second place is Twilight Saga: New Moon, which plunged another 63% following last weekend's epic 70% dive. For the record, the first Twilight dropped 62% in its second weekend and 50% in its third, so this sequel is proving itself to be far more frontloaded. The sequel's $15 million third-weekend gross is just above the original's $13 million third-weekend take, despite doubling the opening weekend. And really, to go from $142 million to $15 million in three weekends is kind of staggering. Still, the film has amassed $254 million domestically and $570 million worldwide. In a bittersweet note, the film has officially knocked Tim Burton's Batman off the top-50 domestic grossers list, but I promise to be strong and shed no tears (besides, in today's numbers, Batman would have grossed $452 million). At this point, it will likely be an uphill struggle to get to $300 million, but I doubt Summit is going to allow themselves to lose that particular bragging right. The series has probably peaked with this second installment, which basically means that the only ones who will show up for the next two (or three?) installments will be actual fans. No harm in that, the Harry Potter series has been in that position since the fourth picture and they can still count on a $290 million domestic take, give or take a few bucks.

Third place went to our first opening, Lionsgate's Brothers. This remake of a Danish drama opened with $9.7 million, which actually gives it (I think...) the biggest opening for any recent Iraq/Afghanistan war film (The Kingdom took place in Saudi Arabia). The post-traumatic-stress potboiler has garnered okay reviews and solid notices for Toby Maguire, so it should stick around for a few weekends. A Christmas Carol lost 400 screens and plummeted 52%. At $119 million, it's still a bit ahead of The Polar Express but its day-to-day comparisons are starting to drop. Sadly, this one really only has one more weekend left, as it loses its 3D and IMAX screens to Avatar on the 18th. Fifth place went to Old Dogs, which plunged 59% for a new total of just $33 million. Still, the production budget was just $35 million so it's pretty much gravy from here on in. But this critically-reviled comedy has failed to become the general second-choice so it will be out of theaters just in time for the next likely-to-be-terrible kids flick, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

2012 has now grossed $148 million, as it loses sight of the $187 million final gross of The Day After Tomorrow. Still, this picture has been an international monster, grossing $666 million worldwide, so a $700-800 million total is in store depending on how much of the world it has already played in. May Avatar have the same good fortune. Seventh place goes to Armored, the refreshingly old-fashioned B-heist picture. While the $6.6 million opening weekend isn't exactly a big deal, I can't imagine this one cost more than $20 million, so a quick theatrical run and a long life on DVD and cable will put this one in the black. Oh, and for the record, let me take a second to admonish the countless critics who accused this film of being a rip-off of Reservoir Dogs. I've seen the film, and it's no more a rip-off of Quentin Tarantino's nearly eighteen-year-old crime melodrama than Brothers is a rip-off of the first act of Pearl Harbor. The only things the two films share is a heist-gone-wrong and the fact that there are no women in the picture. That kind of wrongheaded libel makes me wonder if critics actually watched the film or if they just glanced at the trailer and press materials. Besides, Reservoir Dogs was itself a remake of Ringo Lam's City on Fire.

Ninja Assassin dropped 62% on account of being pretty terrible and shockingly boring for the first half of the picture. It's a bunch of ninjas trying to kill each other and James McTeigue found a way to make that unexciting and tedious. If I may quote William Hurt for a moment, "How do you f&%k that up?" Anyway, it will crawl to $40 million and commit seppuku... and I hope the blade is rusty and dull. The last major opener, Everybody's Fine, tanked with just $4 million, basically killing Robert De Niro's Oscar chances (which, to judge its ad-campaign, was the only reason this picture was made). Tragically, the biggest plunge in the top-twenty was from Precious, which collapsed due to lack of media attention and direct competition from The Blind Side. A 67% plunge and a new total of $36 million means that the film absolutely needs year-end awards and Oscar nominations to get anywhere past $40 million. Since I rather like both films, I hope everybody gets what they need from the year-end derby.

Finally, there was an amazingly successful limited release and an epically-failed wide release. First, the good news. Capitalizing on rave reviews and its Best Picture honors from the National Board of Review, Up in the Air scored $1.1 million from just fifteen theaters for an astonishing $79,000 per screen. This is the 21st-best per screen average of all time, and the third-biggest for any film playing on more than six screens. The Jason Reitman-directed George Clooney vehicle will expand over the next two weeks before going wide on Christmas day. On the other hand, Transylmania, a movie that I didn't even know about, opened in 1,007 mostly-empty theaters for a whopping total of $274,000. That's a per-screen average of $272. While that's not the worst per-screen average of all time, when the best thing you can brag about is that you made $35 more per screen than Delgo, it's time to stop bragging. Congratulations Full Circle Films, in your Christmas stocking you now have a bulletproof tax write-off.

That's all that's fit to print this weekend. Join us next weekend when The Lovely Bones opens in three theaters (expect a review Tuesday night or Wednesday morning), while A Serious Man opens in limited release, and Me and Orson Welles expands to forty theaters. In new wide-releases, Clint Eastwood's Invictus (i.e.- see Morgan Freeman play Nelson Mandela) opens on 2,100 screens and Disney's The Princess and the Frog finally goes wide with a 3,300-screen expansion.

Scott Mendelson

Dumpster Diving: Deleted Scenes that should have stayed in the final film.

One of the common threads that has come out of the recent DVD/Blu Ray release of Star Trek, aside from the video/audio scores and the quantity of extras, is the unexpected quality of the deleted scenes. While most deleted scenes reels simply show how on-target the filmmakers were in terms of what to keep and what to cut, the deleted footage of Star Trek was obviously cut for time. First of all, aside from the extension of the Kobayashi Maru test that makes Kirk come off like even more of a prick, the scenes are all rock-solid bits that expand characterization. Second of all, at least one segment fills in major plot holes concerning the villainous Nero. Since his lack of development and the somewhat arbitrary time-line of his scheme was a major flaw in the picture, I'm baffled why at least that segment was not kept in the theatrical-release print. Still, let us take a moment to point out several deleted scenes that didn't deserve to end up on the cutting room floor. Scenes that became part of an official extended or director's cut need not apply.

The Sixth Sense (1999) - Toy Soldiers.

Since M. Night Shyamalan himself explains why this bit was trimmed, I won't rehash it here. I don't disagree with Night's reasons for cutting it: the scene would have risked revealing the supernatural angle much sooner than intended. But it's a beautiful character moment, as well as the kind of 'big scene' that might very well have won Haley Joel Osment a much-deserved Oscar ten years ago. Frankly, the film should darn-well have won every one of the seven Oscars it was up for that year. The three-hour network television cut of The Sixth Sense contains this and three other deleted scenes cut back in.

Dirty Dancing (1987) - The parents get fleshed out.

I never actually saw all of Dirty Dancing until just a few years ago. Truth be told, it's only in the final act that the film goes completely off the rails, but the picture is a definitive piece of female-escapist fantasy regardless. Ironically, one of the biggest problems I had with the picture was the lack of dimensionality given to Baby Houseman's mother (Kelly Bishop) and father (Jerry Orbach). Astoundingly, each had a terrific and revealing scene that ended up on the cutting-room floor. In Mrs. Houseman's big third-act moment, Bishop admits that she knows full well what her daughter has been up to. She admits that she had at least one torrid affair in her youth, and it's just something that Baby needs to get out of her system before settling down with a more proper husband. Orbach wrings sympathy in his big second-act scene, where he explains that the reason he has such issues with the lower-class kids like Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) is that they remind him of the punks who used to beat him up for being Jewish. It's a shame that these two revealing moments didn't make the final cut, as it would have gone a long way into preventing the parental units from coming off as cartoon characters.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) - Birth of the Rebel Alliance.

It would have been just five extra minutes in the already 140-minute Star Wars finale, but George Lucas cut this subplot involving the birth of what would eventually become the Rebel Alliance. These scenes would have accomplished three goals. First of all, it would have further connected the two trilogies. Second of all, the finale of this plot gave extra shadings to Anakin's eventual turn to the Dark Side, as it seemed that even his wife was theoretically out to betray him. Third of all, most importantly, it would have given Natalie Portman something to do other than sit around literally barefoot and pregnant, worrying and crying while the galaxy fell into dictatorial rule.

The Incredible Hulk (2008) - Banner gets his head examined.

I've complained at length about the butchered 110-minute cut of The Incredible Hulk. As I wrote back in November, the most grievous offense was done to the character of Dr. Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell), the boyfriend of Betsy Ross. Much of the forty-two minutes of deleted footage worked to flesh out his character. Even in the final film, Dr. Samson ended up being a smarter, warmer, and more sympathetic character than either Bruce Banner or Betsy Ross. Upstage the stars at your peril. Anyway, the scene above is a two-minute scene where Banner sits down with the lover of his ex-girlfriend and lets the psychiatrist do some armchair diagnosing. The quality of the dialogue and the naturalistic acting of both parties should have made this a keeper. Ironically Edward Norton (who wanted the longer, more character-driven cut) recently made a cameo on Burrell's new sitcom Modern Family. By the way, with Scrubs officially over (that mediocre revamp 2.0 is something else entirely); Modern Family is currently the funniest show on television).

Blade (1998) - When everyone is a vampire, what will vampires eat?

If you had a scene that explained away a massive plot hole, wouldn't you keep it in the final film? Stephen Norrington felt otherwise, leaving this breakthrough Marvel-adaptation with a major storytelling gap. Relatively late in the game, it's revealed that the evil Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) plans to turn the entire world's human population into vampires. So once the world is turned into vampires, what will vampires eat? Great question. Well, there is actually a deleted scene where Frost shows off a giant room filled with captive humans who are being harvested and slowly bled out. Ironically, Norrington's cut is the Spierg Brothers gain, as their upcoming Daybreakers uses this exact concept as the jumping-off point for its entire story.

Final Destination (2000) - Alternate Ending.

The flaw of the Final Destination series is that it's always tried to have it both ways. On one hand, it portends to be a serious mediation on mortality and predestination. On the other hand, it expects you to whoop and holler when characters get bumped off in over-the-top gore spectacles. Well, the first film in the series really tried to be a real movie, with thoughtful characters, a pall of tragedy, and a tragic but appropriate ending. But dumb test-screening audience members got in the way, more or less forcing New Line to shelve the original tonally-consistent finale in favor of an audience-pleasing 'gotcha' moment. And the die for this popular series was cast.

Iron Man (2008) - Stark and Obadiah get a final moment.

For those of us who felt that this comic-book adventure crapped out at the end, trading character and narrative for soulless robot-smashing, this extended version of Jeff Bridges's death scene is bittersweet. It's not much, but it allows the hero and villain to actually have a final scene together, which is the kind of thing that these pictures should thrive on. But for whatever reason Jon Favreau felt the need to omit this lone character moment amidst the high-tech mayhem. Oh well.

Galaxy Quest (1999) - Dr. Lazarus's Quarters.

By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, this is my favorite deleted scene of all-time. I can't imagine why this was trimmed from the final film. No spoilers, just enjoy this deleted gut-buster (about 2:14 in) from the very best Star Trek film ever made.

I'm sure I left off any number of your favorite deleted scenes. I'm also partial to the extended Ian Holm moments in the first act of Garden State, as well as a brief moment in Away From Her that explains the surprising connections between a few major characters ("Life is... complicated."). And considering that I'm not all that crazy about the movie, I was shocked at the bounty of riches in the thirty-five minute deleted scenes collection for Love Actually. Your turn to share. What are your favorite deleted scenes?

Scott Mendelson

About those deleted scenes...

For those who care, there is a live-community screening of Terminator: Salvation tonight at 6pm PST. Considering how verbose and chatty McG is on the Maximum Movie Mode, this will probably be a more engaging chit-chat than last year's snooze-a-thon with Chris Nolan. Just make sure SOMEONE asks about that fabled lost footage and make sure that not everyone asks dumb questions about Christian Bale's temper.

Scott Mendelson

Review: Up in the Air (2009)

Up in the Air
2009
109 minutes
rated R (language and sexual content)

by Scott Mendelson

On the surface, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air is another variation of an oft-told tale, that of a workaholic who must learn to stop and reevaluate what he really wants from life and why he's really so driven in his chosen career. But the picture has two things going for it. First of all, it ends up being just a little bit deeper than that, going beneath the surface level moralizing of 'everyone should want a spouse and 2.5 kids and a dog'. Second of all, even if we concede that it tells a relatively unoriginal story, this is an awfully good variation on said template. It's sharply written and superbly acted, so there is much to appreciate and enjoy even if we acknowledge that its wisdom is not entirely groundbreaking.

A token amount of plot - Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a corporate downsizer, flying cross-country in order to lay off employees when their supervisors are unwilling to do the deed. Although his job is relatively ghastly on the surface, Ryan relishes his ability to give those fired a measure of dignity at their lowest moment. Moreover, he cherishes his nonstop travel, living in airports, hotels, and airplanes. Alas, a new employee, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) has devised a system of employee termination via video conferencing, which would eliminate the need for Bingham to travel at all. A more positive development is an unexpected relationship with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), his apparent frequent-flier doppelganger. As Alex and Ryan hit it off during various stops in their respective business travels, Ryan brings along young Natalie for an up-close look at why the work he does cannot be replicated from a computer screen. As his two most defining traits - nonstop travel and personal isolation - are threatened, Ryan finds himself questioning the very tenets of his personal philosophy.

The idea of a somewhat cold executive realizing that he missed out on personal relationships isn't a new one. The difference is in the details, as Up in the Air is a refreshingly old-fashioned star vehicle that also works as a refreshingly old-fashioned character-driven comedy. It's simply the kind of movie that 'they just don't make anymore'. Clooney is in peak form, acting with silence as much as with witty wordplay. And Farmiga is the rare romantic interest who is more entertaining than the lead. Like the best romantic comedies, we actually get a true sense of why these characters like each other and why they might work together. Natalie Keener gets a star-making turn here. Even her somewhat contrived moments (such as a post-breakup meltdown) are handled with charm and wit. And while I'd prefer that so much of her arc not have involved (off-screen) romantic relationships, the character remains fully three-dimensional throughout. Plus, the scene after said breakup, where Natalie basically gets schooled by Ryan and Alex on the realities of 'settling', is one of my favorite moments in any movie this year.

To director Jason Reitman's credit, the film takes the world of corporate lay-offs as seriously as possible. With the exception of a few star cameos (J.K. Simmons, Zach Galifianakis), the masses of the fired are filled out by actual laid-off employees who were instructed to basically say to the camera what they never had the courage to say to their bosses upon their termination. The dreaded 'your position is no longer available' introduction becomes strikingly prescient, as Ryan wonders whether or not he is about to become a useless dinosaur in his own chosen profession. Jason Bateman plays the immediate supervisor, and he once again takes what could have been a stock cliche and makes him into a complete human being who completely understands Ryan's frustration but refuses to spend millions in wasted travel expenses just to assuage one employee's lifestyle choices. Over the last three years, Jason Bateman has become my absolute favorite character actor. Between this, Juno, Hancock, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and State of Play, there is no one better at making mediocre films into good ones and making good films great.

Up in the Air is not revolutionary and its thesis, however insightful, is not one-of-a-kind. It also makes an all-too common mistake as it reaches a natural conclusion but continues for another reel. But it is the kind of thing we used to take for granted in Hollywood. It is well-written and sharply observational about the terrain in which it exists. It has big stars delivering solid movie-star turns and noted character actors making themselves noticed. It is funny, sweet, moving, and occasionally thoughtful. It is by adults and for adults, refusing to talk down to any demographic group. Up in the Air is just a darn good movie.

Grade: B+

The Mask of Zorro finally arrives on Blu Ray today.

Nearly two years after the Blu Ray release of the less-successful (but still pretty darn good) sequel, The Legend of Zorro, Sony finally feels fit to release the original modern classic on Blu Ray today. It's no secret that I probably love this film more than anyone else on the planet. Heck, it's probably my favorite film of the 1990s and perhaps my all-time favorite superhero adventure. Before I got married, The Mask of Zorro used to be the litmus test. You didn't have to like Batman, Star Wars, Airplane!, or The Silence of the Lambs. But if you couldn't see the obvious quality at work in this Martin Campbell reinvention, then it just wasn't going to work out.

This film is why I'm such a hardcore Martin Campbell junkie. Everything about it just works. The action is full of real stunt work, and it's shot in long, fluid takes. The special effects are mainly practical and you can see the blood, dirt, and sweat on each and every actor. The swordplay is copious and varied. And while the film is pretty violent (especially in the first act), the body count is just low enough for it to be shocking whenever a life is lost (like all Martin Campbell action films, the violence stings and the dead are mourned).

Although there are four major action set pieces, the 135-minute film is long enough to have ample heapings of plot and character development. Even the villain (Stuart Wilson) is given shadings and moments of empathy, and his grand scheme is both brilliant and logical. Eleven-and-a-half years after its release, The Mask of Zorro remains Antonio Bandaras and Catherine Zeta Jones's finest hours, and it contains one of Anthony Hopkins's best performances. If by some fluke you haven't seen this one yet, you now have absolutely no excuse. If you value my opinion at all, you'll buy or rent The Mask of Zorro today.

Scott Mendelson

Iron Man 2 gets a teaser poster.

Neat. I'm presuming that the first theatrical teaser will debut either December 18th with Avatar or Christmas Day with Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. Amusingly, the reason we probably haven't seen a teaser earlier is because Paramount moved its two major holiday films (Shutter Island and The Lovely Bones) into 2010.

Scott Mendelson