Why Kristen Stewart's public apology is far more disturbing than her (and Rupert Sanders's) apparent transgression.

It could be argued that director Rupert Sanders and actress Kristen Stewart owe an apology to a handful of people.  Obviously they are in respective deep trouble with Robert Pattinson and Liberty Ross.  They certainly owe an apology to Saunders's two children, and perhaps some kind of apology to certain studio executives at Universal and Summit/Lionsgate, since their allegedly adulterous actions will certainly have some kind of impact on the respect fortunes of Snow White and the Huntsman (with a sequel now in doubt) and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part II (which may well increase in interest ala Mr. and Mrs. Smith).  But other than that, neither of these people owe any of us a damn thing.  I am less troubled by the apparent adultery (or attempted adultery?) than I am by Kristen Stewart's public apology, seemingly specifically intended for Mr. Pattinson but released out into the open for all to see as a kind of public mea culpa.  I don't blame Ms. Stewart for this instant press release so much as I blame a media/popular culture that demanded a public apology for an inherently private indiscretion.

How a severe lack of 'cause and effect' undoes all that is good about The Dark Knight Rises, and why its alleged political underpinnings are merely a smokescreen.

It's not the plot holes or periodically silly coincidences.  This will not be a list of 'things that don't work in The Dark Knight Rises' but rather an old-fashioned essay (shocker!) concerning what I feel are the overall screenwriting flaws that tear down and ultimately destroy what otherwise is a technically fine motion picture.  Obviously it's pure unapologetic spoilers after the jump, so tread no further if you don't want to know.  But the short version is that, aside from certain logic issues, almost nothing that occurs during the first 150 minutes of the film truly matters in regards to how the story ends.  And moreover, the unwillingness to focus on the people actually being affected by the (mostly off screen) chaos renders the film's token topicality not only politically irrelevant but dangerously close to exploitation.  To wit...

Weekend Box Office: Seemingly affected by frontloaded anticipation more than tragedy, The Dark Knight Rises opens with $160 million, good for third-best debut ever.

When a heavily-anticipated film debuts alongside a mass murder that takes place during a midnight showing of said film, it's difficult to know how to analyze the opening weekend figures.  Under normal circumstances, the fact that The Dark Knight Rises (trailer/review/spoiler thread) debuted with $160 million over the weekend would lend itself to the usual analysis, dealing with weekend multipliers, midnight-percentages, comparisons to The Dark Knight and other recent blockbusters, and a guesstimate in regards to final domestic outcome.  But it is impossible for now to know what the effect of the shooting had on the film's short term or long term box office performance. So for the sake of this calculation, we will basically presume that the shooting had little quantifiable effect on the numbers.  Quite frankly, looking over the data, I'm inclined to believe as much.  The film did about as well, give-or-take, as it would have been expected to do.  But the numbers, presuming little-to-no effect from Friday morning's tragedy, means that the third Chris Nolan Batman film was a slightly less anticipated affair than the last go-around, which will likely bode (comparatively) ill for long-term grosses.  Basically, horror of horrors, The Dark Knight Rises might just perform like a normal quick-kill mega-blockbuster.

The Dark Knight Rises spoiler discussion thread...

So it's midnight on the West Coast, which means the first midnight showings are just letting out on the East Coast.  Okay, you know the drill.  Here's hoping I have more comments here than I did for The Amazing Spider-Man.  Anyway, I'm actually going to be away from my keyboard for a couple days, but I'll *try* to do a weekend box office write-up on Sunday morning.  Until then, it's officially open season for anyone who saw the third and final Chris Nolan Batman film.  You've heard my thoughts, now time to share yours, in as much detail as you desire.

Scott Mendelson

Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is the least of the Nolan Bat-films, continuing the curse of the comic book threequels.

The Dark Knight Rises

2012
165 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson


First and foremost, I cannot decide at the moment if The Dark Knight Rises (trailer) is a 'better film' than Spider-Man 3, Batman Forever, and/or X-Men: The Last Stand.  The fact that I have to outright state as much should tell you what a comparative disappointment this film is.  Overall, its many storytelling flaws bring the picture down, offering only engaging acting, entertaining character interaction, and the kind of empty-headed (but oft impressive) action spectacle associated with more conventional blockbusters.  It is a hodgepodge of several classic Batman stories squished into one chaotic narrative that ends up resembling a mash-up of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Rocky III. There are moments of emotional engagement in the first third and the final moments pack an appropriate wallop.  But the film frankly drags for much of its middle 90 minutes on its way to a surprisingly unremarkable climax.  Save for mostly fine performances, including a terrific supporting turn by Anne Hathaway, and some wonderful character beats scattered throughout, this is sadly the very definition of an unnecessary sequel.

Growing Pains: In the wake of Finding Nemo 2, just what is phase two of Pixar animation, and is it something to fear?

Is Pixar as we know it finished?  Has a fifteen-year run of uniformly fine cartoons given way to an act two filled with half-hearted misses and needless sequels?  It's a somewhat sensationalistic argument, but the timing is not a little disconcerting.  Andrew Stanton, fresh off the epic financial failure that is John Carter (which in many ways can be considered a Pixar live-action venture), is now back at Pixar to helm the sequel to one of his animated hits, a sequel that arguably no one was asking for.  And Pixar, fresh off a critical disaster (Cars 2) and a somewhat middling original effort that was supposed to restore their luster (Brave), is now set to make a sequel to their most popular film, a sequel that arguably no one was asking for.  

23 years of Batman trailers, all in one spot...

Purely for fun, here is pretty much every single theatrical trailer for every single modern-day live-action Batman film, from Tim Burton's Batman way back in 1989 to the one I'm seeing tonight.  Do enjoy, and feel free to add your own qualitative rankings.

Scott Mendelson

M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth gets a 'viral video'. Plus, a brief look back at classic M. Night Shyamalan teasers...

Another bit of catch-up from Comic Con weekend, this 75-second alternative history of the Earth presumably provides a bit of background exposition for Sony's summer 2013 sci-fi spectacle After Earth.  The idea of Will Smith teaming with M. Night Shyamalan is incredibly exciting, as I've written before (long story short, they are both mega-star control freaks who will hopefully temper each other's bad impulses while embracing each others' good ideas).  While I won't paste the plot exposition here for those who don't want to know, I will say that Sony has not been shy about revealing the core story-line as if it were just another science-fiction adventure film.  It's a little disheartening frankly, as I fondly remember the days when M. Night Shyamalan's films went into theaters with barely a hint or two as to what it was actually about.  Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water all had bare-bones teasers that often hid the true premise of the respective film, leaving much unknown to the ticket-buyer walking in on opening day.  Yes The Happening didn't have any story twists per-se to reveal while The Last Airbender was based on an existing television show, but I do recall a certain thrill at the intentional withholding of information following The Sixth Sense's surprising success.  They were masterclasses for selling a movie without giving away much at all, and they all retain their impact no matter what how we feel about the finished films.  Anyway, M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth opens June 7th, 2013.  Click below the jump some classic N. Night Shyamalan teasers (thanks to Trailer Addict for keeping these around).  Which one is your favorite?  For me, it's a toss-up between Unbreakable and The Village.

Scott Mendelson

Comic Con catch-up - Tim Burton's Frankenweenie gets a charming 1950s-style trailer.

There was a surprising lack of trailers leaked out of Comic Con, with several of the big guns (The Lone Ranger, Iron Man 3, etc.) being shown exclusively to the Comic Con audience (no, I'm not posting any alleged Man of Steel bootlegs, we all can wait until Friday).  But the best spot of what was released has to be this charming and amusing 1950s-style trailer for Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.  After two genuine disappointments in a row, Tim Burton arguably has to prove that it was just a blip on the radar and not some kind of a late-career rut.  As is, it's no secret that animation is where Burton puts most of his original ideas anyway, since nearly all of his live action films, even his best ones (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd, Batman Returns, etc.) are variations on someone else's work.  With the exceptions of Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, all of Burton's live-action films have been adaptations of some kind, which makes this project somewhat of a conundrum.  Yes, it's a full-length animated remake of a 25-minute live-action short he directed back in 1984, but whatever ideas hes cribbing from were his own in the first place.  Odd.  As it is, the once novel idea of doing a somewhat scary animated film has long become accepted, with the successes of Monster House and Coraline as well as the upcoming ParaNorman.  On the plus side, it's the first Tim Burton project since Mars Attacks! way back in 1996 not to feature Johnny Depp and/or Helena Bonham Carter.  Anyway, Frankenweenie opens in 3D(!) on October 5th.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson

In an age of preordained marketing and spoilers, an ode to an age of not knowing and the thrill of unexpected discovery.

As another annual San Diego Comic Con ends with another week full of preordained previews, announcements, and sizzle reels, this seems as good a time as any to talk about something that has been lost in the saturation-level media coverage that surrounds each and every remotely major studio release these days.  I am talking of course about the element of surprise.  I'm not talking about plot spoilers regarding upcoming films, or even the obsessive need for news outlets to report on every plot detail of an upcoming film so that one has to literally live in a cave to avoid knowing too much.  Those are indeed issues, but I'm talking about something even more basic.  I'm talking about the idea of discovering the very existence of a film the old fashioned way.  Be it through a trailer that you didn't expect, or a poster that you didn't see coming, something very precious has been lost over the last fifteen years as the mainstream entertainment press has turned into a full-time, year-round Comic-Con.  We don't discover films we were hoping we might see via actual pre-movie trailers, or even through movie magazines like Premiere or Starlog.  Now they are preordained, with their posters and trailers given online *premieres* that are treated as actual news by film sites the world over.  Maybe it's the cranky old man in me talking, but there is something very special about discovering these films at the theater.  Which brings me to the question: When was the last time I was truly surprised by a piece of film marketing?