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WEEKEND US BO FOR 27-29 NOV 1998: Bug's Life Slaughters Babe
VIDEOS TO WATCH
Wag the Dog
This is one film that must be seen to be believed - when the Lewinsky issue broke out, the very next day, the Iraqi crisis built up before a resolution a couple of weeks later. This movie is so close to home, it's amazingly topical and extremely funny. Dustin Hoffman as the movie producer brings (as I imagine) such authenticity to the role - he was nominated for an oscar for this performance. Robert Deniro adds class to the role, and Anne Heche is very good.
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Last year, a special edition was released of this most powerful film. Milos Forman is an absolute legend, and this movie proves it. Amadeus was an outstanding picture, yet One Flew over the Cuckoos nest affects the viewer in such a profound way. The feelings one develops towards the nurse in this film is quite amazing, and the performance stands as one of the best pieces of acting by a female iin recent memory. Jack Nicholson won his first best actor oscar for this role, and deservedly so. The movie clean sweaped the top awards at the academies: "best film, director, actress and actor." An excellent score as well I might add.
Duel
Duel is one of Spileberg's earliest efforts on film (I'm not sure, but this one could've been made for television); And the result in this film not only hints at the greatness that is to follow, but stands by itself as a genuinely scary film... I mean this in the sense that if you ever drive and your behind a similar truck to the one in Duel, the movie is always at the back of your head - just like Jaws kept millions of people concerned about Sharks at their local beaches. This is yet another film that relies almost solely on film action to keep its story going, and it is a very interesting film to see how he stages the action. I think in this film, you'll see how the enemy is a silent, almost evil force - methodically going about its business (it's as if evil is devoid of any rationality - it just carries out its work). Curiously, this is a feature of some fine horror films. This is repeated in Jaws and in the first 25 minutes of Saving Private Ryan.
THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS
While we're onto Spielberg - here's a film that is certainly one of the most unusual efforts that he has done. Starring a much younger Goldie Hawn as an obsessed mother whose child was taken away from her because she's unfit, the film is strongest not only in its well written dialogue, but again in the staging of the action. This is another road movie, but far more complicated to pull off than Duel because there's a whole array of police cars involved in this one. The chase scenes are excellent, and so too are some of the suspenseful moments. While the film fits the Spielbergian model of individual/family, there is enough in this film, including the conclusion, that makes this film an outsider. I had a feeling that this could have been an influence for the Cohen Brother's critically acclaimed "Raising Arizona", but I preferred Sugarland Express.
Pop-culture has gone crazy over the Waterboy as it defends the number one position for the second straight weekend in a row. I Still Know WHat You Did Last Summer, and Meet Joe Black - have certainly eaten into the Waterboy figures - but that both of them in their opening week could not beat out the Waterboy, shows that this movie is headed for a box office of between 150-170 million dollars. Of course, next weekend, with Enemy of the State coming into play, Sandler's film will take second place, and eventually be forgotten as A Bug's Life storms into America on November 25 (along with Babe II, which is still not finished!!), Psycho on December 4, and a crazy amount of blockbuster films in three weeks. Only a few films can succeed in this period. Waterboy is the first and will undoubtedly be the most profitable since it only cost 20 million US to make (Psycho is another potential profit generator, even if it doesn't earn over 100 million). My other predictions are: "A Bug's Life" (150 million), "Psycho" (100 million) and "The Prince of Egypt" (200 million+). Of course, many others will do well, but only a few will be breakout hits.
STAR WARS MANIA HITS NEW HIGH - AND THERE'S STILL 6 MONTHS TO GO
I think the internet is the greatest thing. One of the best aspects is the fact that net access allows for information to pass around very quickly around the world. As you can see above, information on US box office figures - a very indicative trend of what is sweeping the popular culture (remember, the biggest US export is the movies - and if that to an extent demonstrates US Pop Culture, it goes a substantial way to explain our thinking) as well as whether the films we want to be successful are (ie. happy that Waterboy has done will). Another aspect to this is the entertainment news previously unavailable or unreported in our press. Such sites as Variety and Yahoo dailenews updates are the official sources. Other sites such as Aint-it-cool-news, and Darkhorizons offer daily inside information into the script of a movie as far as three years away. Test screening results are coming out months before formal critics have seen films, and it makes a site such as Aint-it-cool, or Darkhorizons very important - especially since more people read it than the newspaper critic. However, I wish they'd just back off on hyping Star Wars so much. There are some legitimately interesting points to do with the production - how the design is going - whether Mr Lucas stuffed up in filming - However, dedicating a whole page to whether the trailer is going to be released on November 20 or November 19 is surely ridiculous. If you regularly see movies, you're going to see the trailer - but I suppose, trailer watching has become so significant that people want to say "I was there when the Prequel trailer first played". And then there was the huge scoop for darkhorizons which was a description of the trailer. I don't read such things as they sort of spoil the experience. The problem of course, with sites such as aint-it-cool or darkhorizons is that we end up knowing so much about the movie before we see it - even if it's not the direct scene - access to the net allows us to see how everyone else thinks about a film - and we may be influenced by it in our own shaping of opinion.
But then again one could argue - some trailers themselves are so hopelessly done that you don't even need to see the movie cause they give away the entire plot. The trailer for "Stepmom" is an example. At first, it looked like a great trailer and built up genuine interest - however, I felt that by the end of it, I knew what was going to happen (except maybe for the last five minutes of the film). A trailer such as that for "A Bug's Life" is fantastic - and I predict that this film will be huge. The trailer for "Prince of Egypt" is really not that great. The animation is unbelievable (look at the rippling water in the backgrounds, and the sheer detail of every single scene) but they give away too much. However, everyone knows the story of moses, and the objective of the trailer is to show you that an animated work can be as interesting, if not more so than a live action version (and this makes the POE trailer much better than the Stepmom trailer). Well, at least there's only 6 months to go before we hear the end of episode I spoilers, test screenings, problems, etc. Then there's another two years before we hear the end of Episode II. Overhype (Godzilla) can kill a film if it doesn't meet such a high standard - I hope people don't expect Episode I to be the best ever Star Wars - for if they expect it to be great and it is only very good - then it won't make the pot of gold people expect it to.