Dan Owen reviews

DAN'S   MOVIE   DIGEST

2 0 0 7   R e t r o s p e c t i v e

P a r t   O n e

2007 Retrospective: "The Year Of The Threequels"

Firstly, I apologize for the absence of Dan's Movie Digest editions since mid-2007. Other commitments have meant I'm not as able to provide weekly DMDs for DVDFever, in-between maintaining my own blog. But, I can stretch to doing the annual retrospective on the big cinema releases of 2007: the so-called "Year Of The Threequel".
Join me on a monthly trip down recent memory lane.

JANUARY

The year began with some big Oscar-contending films, like The Last King Of Scotland (which won Forest Whittaker an Oscar for his portrayal of Idi Amin).
Staying in Africa, Blood Diamond was also released, starring Leonard DiCaprio. This intelligent drama about diamond smuggling was nominated for two Oscars (Best Actor/Supporting Actor) but didn't win.
There was also the multi-narrative drama Babel, which won Best Original Score, but didn't really click with audiences, despite the presence of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the cast.
Apocalypto was more to cinemagoers' taste, with Mel Gibson's depiction of the ancient Maya civilization proving to be a palpable mix of exciting, violent, exotic action. Just don't prove too deeply into its shaky historical accuracy! The slick production earned the film some Oscar nominations (Best Makeup/Sound Editing/Sound Mixing)� but it didn't win any.
A more crowd-pleasing Oscar-nominated film was The Pursuit Of Happyness, probably because of Will Smith's charismatic performance alongside his real son Jaden, and a feel-good script based on the true story of Chris Gardner -- a man who became homeless with his son, but battled through to become a corporate highflier.
Nostalgia also helped Sylvester Stallone get his first big movie success in years, with the fifth sequel to his 1976 breakthrough Rocky. It was expected to be an embarrassing turkey, but Rocky Balboa showed considerable heart and audience affection for the character helped the film make over $70 million worldwide!
One filmmaker without such luck was Darren Aronofsky, whose stalled sci-fi epic The Fountain finally arrived, and was pretty much ignored by the masses. Originally conceived as a big-budget goliath in 2003, Aronofsky pared down his idea to a more manageable film, but good performances from Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz couldn't prevent this art-house style chin-stroker from flying over most peoples' heads.

FEBRUARY

Against all expectation, CGI/live-action hybrid Arthur & The Invisibles did strong business during half-term, despite lukewarm reviews.
On the flipside, Dreamgirls was hyped as a musical smash-hit with Oscar success written all over it in late-06, but the end product was only really memorable for the star quality of singer Jennifer Hudson (an American Idol contestant) . However, while the Broadway adaptation wasn't the phenomenon we were expecting, it still won two Oscars (Best Supporting Actress/Sound Mixing).
Its progenitor may have been an Academy Award darling, but Silence Of The Lambs prequel Hannibal Rising could only dream of such repeated success. This was a lazy cash-in on the Lecter brand-name, now devoid of a Anthony Hopkins iconic performance and essentially becoming a period serial-killer yarn that provided more snores than shocks.
Charlotte's Web was another underachiever, which was surprising given the novel's standing in the school-going consciousness. It received generally favourable reviews, particularly for Dakota Fanning's performance, but seemed to go unnoticed by parents.
The big UK hit of the year was undoubtedly Hot Fuzz, the follow-up from Shaun Of The Dead creators Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. It was a loving pastiche of Hollywood cop films, transposed to sleepy rural England, and drummed up big business in the UK � where it seemed to have crossover appeal to ordinary people unaware of Shaun Of The Dead and just after some home-grown laughs (without Hugh Grant). It also did well in the States� well, considering the limited number of screens it was shown on!
Visionary French director Michel Gondry disappointed many with his Eternal Sunshine follow-up, an indulgent mess called The Science Of Sleep. Beyond a few neat visual tricks, this played out like an extended 10-minute short and seemed to prove the Frenchman needs a decent script to work his magic on.
That same month, Gondry's Eternal Sunshine lead actor, Jim Carrey, starred in Number 23. Carrey was reunited with his Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher for this mystery suspense, about a man who begins to realize his life is full of 23's. The intriguing idea unfortunately couldn't be capitalized on, and Schumacher's film became one of the year's most derided films.

MARCH

With Spring looming, Ghost Rider was expected to give summer blockbuster fans an early treat. It didn't, because the entire project was an awful waste of time, with Nicolas Cage grinning his way through a tedious storyline, hindered by the charisma vacuum of Eva Mendes. Amazingly, millions were still suckered by the hype and Ghost Rider actually had the biggest opening weekend in the US of any 2007-released films so far�� until 300 arrived. Zack Snyder (who somehow managed to make a Dawn Of The Dead remake work), delivered a spectacle of machismo and CGI backgrounds, to translate Frank Miller's comic-book take on a real Spartan victory to gory life. It divided critics, but audiences lapped up the brutal, violent, eye-popping visuals.
The Illusionist became another casualty of the year, primarily because it was too close in spirit to The Prestige. Edward Norton starred in this Victorian mystery as an enigmatic magician, alongside Jessica Biel and Paul Giamatti. It was a perfectly good little story in its own right, but was unfortunately branded as a Prestige wannabe.
David Lynch returned to befuddle audiences with Inland Empire, which didn't really get a wide enough release to reach many people anyway. Personally, I didn't like it, but others consider it one of Lynch's better films. It's well-made and stylish, but I just wish Lynch would tackle different things post-Mulholland Drive.
The year's worst comedy became an extraordinary hit in March, with Eddie Murphy in another fat suit somehow enticing people to part with their cash to see Norbit. It was panned by pretty much everyone, but inexplicably made a mint.
Meet The Robinsons was the year's first big fully-CGI hit animation, although it didn't really spark much interest. It was a Disney product (without the help of Pixar) and most critics seemed to like it, but it just kind of hung around and made over $153 million at the worldwide box-office without anyone really noticing.
A more intriguing CGI animation arrived the same month, in the green shape of TMNT. This was an attempt to relaunch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand, that didn't really work. While the animation was pretty good, the story was weak and only critics who had grown up with the Turtle phenomenon responded favourably. Still, it did make just under $100 million around the world, proving there's still an audience for the heroes in a half shell.
The dreaded horror sequel reared its ugly head with The Hills Have Eyes 2, which somebody thought everyone wanted to see, just because the recent remake wasn't a total dud. They were wrong. It made a pitiful $37 million worldwide. Mind you, it only cost $15 million, so THHE3 is probably months away.
Another inexplicably hit in the UK was Mr Bean's Holiday, which proved to be perfect half-term fare for children and their cruel parents. 10 years after Rowan Atkinson near-silent comic creation floundered in a big-screen debut, who thought this would be any good? It wasn't. But, parent power and Bean nostalgia kept the film in the UK chart for a very long time, and it's actually made over $200 million worldwide!