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Mar 17 2010

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Dan Owen reviews

OCTOBER A few summer stragglers from the US washed-up on our shores as winter approaches, primarily Stardust – a fantasy story with a very British sensibility, which didn't do very well in the US. But over here, it did very well, sticking around the Top 10 for a number of weeks. The big animated hit of the summer Stateside was Brad Bird's Ratatouille from Pixar. It was less typical as a kid's film, with a more adult storyline and texture to everything. As such, it wasn't really the marketing goliath of kid-friendly fare like Toy Story (or even Bird's The Incredibles), but it received mostly glowing reviews, and did very well. British film Control, about the late Ian Curtis (Joy Division's lead singer, who committed suicide) got a lot of respect and praise, but was a major dud with audiences outside of the indie circuit. The Farrelly Brothers, saviour of good-natured toilet humour throughout the 1990s (most famously with There's Something About Mary), returned with that film's star, Ben Stiller, for The Heartbreak Kid. This was actually a remake of a popular 1972 comedy, but didn't mark the expected "comeback" for the Farrelly's after a string of flops, and was seen as a backwards step for Ben Stiller. There were quite a few political films in the latter-half of 2007, but only The Kingdom really made anything of itself – probably because it was half-action film, too. That said, it still didn't really achieve any notable success, with audiences not keen to see current affairs reflected in cinemas. One of the major turkeys of the year came with The Invasion, another remake of The Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. With such an established brand and decades-spanning success, this should have been an easy smash-hit, but studio interference and excessive re-shoots (to punch up the action quotient) either robbed the film of its heart, or failed to paste over the cracks – depending on who you ask. Either way, this was a major bomb everywhere. Similarly ignored at the box-office was The Dark Is Rising, another fantasy book given a big-screen adaptation. After flopping in the US, hopes weren't high – and it flopped just as badly over here. With Halloween looming large, there was the usual batch of horror movies. Saw IV marked the improbably continuation of the Saw franchise, gaining even worse reviews from critics and, while it was still a decent hit, there was noticeably less buzz – even from fans. The franchise is being rested now… but Saw V and VI are slated for 2009 and 2010. Day Watch was the sequel to the Russian supernatural-action epic Night Watch, but too much of a cult movie to make any dent at the box-office. Amongst fans, it was lapped up and was certainly better than its predecessor – yet just as perplexing. Zombies returned to cinemas with Resident Evil: Extinction, with Milla Jovovich still convinced she's involved in one of movie's great franchises. She's not. Even gamers hate these movies. To be fair, it was better than the second film. Unusual movie Mr Brooks went under-the-radar for the masses, as Kevin Costner took the eponymous role of a serial killer who talks to an evil part of his sub-consciousness (played by William Hurt). It was ignored by most people, but gained some decent notices from critics. Sicko may have sounded like a horror flick, but it was actually another of Michael Moore's controversial documentaries – this time looking at the state of the American health system. It was reviewed quite favourably, although didn’t touch a nerve like his Fahrenheit 9/11 had, and was slightly let-down by his rose-tinted view of our very own NHS. David Cronenberg returned (but not for a horror, sadly) with Eastern Promises, a compelling gangster film set in London, with a bravura performance from new muse Viggo Mortensen and the always-excellent Naomi Watts. It wasn't a huge hit, but it did pretty well around mid-chart for a number of weeks here.

NOVEMBER A hangover from Halloween came in the vampiric shape of 30 Days Of Night, a slick adaptation of an acclaimed graphic novel from British director David Slade (Hard Candy). It proved very popular with audiences, but received mixed reviews. Cate Blanchett reprised her role of Queen Elizabeth I for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, another rollicking costume drama, this time set around the time of the Spanish Armada's attack on Britain. It was an unexpected dud in the US, but found a more accepting audience here, particularly for Blanchett's textured performance as the Virgin Queen. Jessica Alba returned from fighting baddies in spandex to play the love-interest in low-brow comedy Good Luck Chuck, about a man (Dane Cook) who is cursed to always be the last person a girl sleeps with before they find their "Mr Right". Critics hated it, but audiences mysteriously kept it bubbling at the top end of the UK chart for longer than expected. Planet Terror limped into screens; the other half of the aborted Grindhouse double-bill. Robert Rodriguez's tale of infected zombie-like "crazies" was more on-the-surface entertaining than Tarantino's Death Proof, but it was also snubbed by cinemagoers. A significant release on November was Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of ancient poem Beowulf. It was another computer-animation that motion-captured real actors, but also offered filmgoers a startling 3-D experience in IMAX cinemas. It was a fairly big hit in the UK, and received generally positives reviews – but primarily for the glimpse of what most cinema experiences might be like in 10-20 years time, when 3-D movies are perhaps commonplace. It was disappointing to see The Darjeeling Limited fail at the box-office, as Wes Anderson's typically oddball train journey across India with three brothers just lingered around the bottom of the Top 10 for a few weeks, before vanishing. It wasn't marketed very well, and Anderson's movies only speak to a niche market. One for DVD, methinks. The Western theme to late-07 continued with The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, although audiences were seemingly turned off by the cumbersome title. It actually became a favourite movie of many critics, and 5-star reviews were quite plentiful - but, even with Brad Pitt as its star, UK audiences just weren't in the mood. The pantheon of poor game-to-film adaptations continued in 2007, with Hitman joining rank alongside Super Mario and Street Fighter. Timothy Olyphant, fresh from trying to kill Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0, starred as the eponymous anti hero, in a film that got poor reviews, yet still managed to drag in a sizeable crowd for a few weeks. With Christmas a month away, the only directly seasonal film was crappy Fred Claus, a miserable excuse for a festive film about Santa's loser brother (Vince Vaughan). Again, widely-panned by just about everyone, it still sold a fair amount of tickets -- no Christmassy competition, see? Personally, I was very disappointed that John August's directorial debut, The Nines, absolutely flopped so hard on UK soil. This was an intriguing brain-puzzle for audiences, with influences from The Matrix to The Truman Show, but nobody saw it. Expect the DVD to generate some good word-of-mouth in 2008.

DECEMBER The festive season saw quite a few family-friendly films hit the cinemas. There was Bee Movie, a CGI animation written/voiced by Jerry Seinfeld. It got generally good reviews and was quite successful. Southland Tales belly-flopped harder than The Nines, which everyone expected after Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko follow-up had been trying to make everyone forget the Cannes panning in 2006 for months. Anyone curious enough to want to see it generally found their local cinema wasn’t showing it. After an awful, disastrous performance at the US box-office, Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium was expected to do just as badly here. But, despite poor-to-average reviews, audiences were interested enough for its to do above-expected business. Not really a hit, just less of a squib than expected. A surprise appearance was Enchanted, which had gone under everyone's nose and crept up to be one of the month's best films. It was a high-concept musical tale about a cartoon princess who arrives in the real world, starring rising star Amy Adams. The big December release was The Golden Compass, the long-awaited adaptation of Philip Pullman's book, and the first in a planned trilogy. It opened in the US and UK at pretty much the same time, but died a death in the US. Over here, it performed much better – but received very mixed reviews. Most people thought it was a weak, plodding adaptation, that lost the soul of Pullman's well-regarded book. Sequels are no longer guaranteed, although the studio may greenlight them based on the film's better overseas business. Alvin & The Chipmunks was being ridiculed months in advance, but this CGI/live-action hybrid, based on the cartoon series of the same name, was a surprise success. The reviews were pretty poor generally, but audiences responded well and it was far from a Garfield-style waste of time. A rather bizarre success around Christmas was St Trinian's, the contemporary remake/pimp-up of the classic St Trinian's schoolgirl franchise. It was detested by critics, but seemed to find an appreciative audience of young teenaged girls, who helped it become a surprise hit over the holidays. Its overseas success is difficult to imagine, though! It took months to get here (never a good sign) and Balls Of Fury was indeed a cruddy sports comedy set in the world of ping pong, with Christopher Walken embarrassing himself in a small role. Quite strangely, the big movie of Christmas week itself was I Am Legend, with Will Smith headlining this adaptation of Richard Matheson's famous book – about the last man on earth after a plague kills 90% of the population. It received strong reviews and positive word-of-mouth over the Christmas period, and drummed up a lot of cash. Amusingly, Smith began the year in January acting alongside his son Jaden in The Pursuit Of Happyness and ended the year in December acting alongside his other son Willow! So, 2007 was officially bookended by Will Smith. How cool is that?

Overall, the box office chart for 2007 (based on worldwide takings) was as follows:

• 1. Spider Man 3
• 2. Shrek The Third
• 3. Transformers
• 4. Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: At World's End
• 5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• 6. The Bourne Ultimatum
• 7. 300
• 8. Ratatouille
• 9. I Am Legend
• 10. The Simpsons Movie