Dan’s Movie Digest 2007 Retrospective Part 4

Dan Owen reviews

DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST
2 0 0 7 R e t r o s p e c t i v eP a r t F o u r 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, whichdidn’t do very well in the US. But over here, it did very well, sticking aroundthe Top 10 for a number of weeks.

The big animated hit of the summer Stateside was Brad Bird’s Ratatouillefrom Pixar. It was less typical as a kid’s film, with a more adult storylineand texture to everything. As such, it wasn’t really the marketing goliath ofkid-friendly fare like Toy Story (or even Bird’s The Incredibles), but itreceived mostly glowing reviews, and did very well.

British film Control, about the late Ian Curtis (Joy Division’s leadsinger, who committed suicide) got a lot of respect and praise, but was amajor 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’sstar, Ben Stiller, for The Heartbreak Kid. This was actually a remake ofa popular 1972 comedy, but didn’t mark the expected “comeback” for the Farrelly’safter 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 onlyThe Kingdom really made anything of itself – probably because it washalf-action film, too. That said, it still didn’t really achieve any notablesuccess, with audiences not keen to see current affairs reflected in cinemas.

One of the major turkeys of the year came with The Invasion, anotherremake of The Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, starring Nicole Kidman and DanielCraig. With such an established brand and decades-spanning success, this shouldhave been an easy smash-hit, but studio interference and excessive re-shoots (topunch up the action quotient) either robbed the film of its heart, or failed topaste over the cracks – depending on who you ask. Either way, this was a majorbomb everywhere.

Similarly ignored at the box-office was The Dark Is Rising, anotherfantasy book given a big-screen adaptation. After flopping in the US, hopesweren’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, gainingeven worse reviews from critics and, while it was still a decent hit, there wasnoticeably less buzz – even from fans. The franchise is being rested now… but SawV 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 MillaJovovich still convinced she’s involved in one of movie’s great franchises. She’snot. Even gamers hate these movies. To be fair, it was better than the secondfilm.

Unusual movie Mr Brooks went under-the-radar for the masses, as Kevin Costner tookthe 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 decentnotices from critics.

Sicko may have sounded like a horror flick, but it was actually anotherof Michael Moore’s controversial documentaries – this time looking at the state ofthe American health system. It was reviewed quite favourably, although didn’ttouch a nerve like his Fahrenheit 9/11 had, and was slightly let-down by his rose-tintedview 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 newmuse Viggo Mortensen and the always-excellent Naomi Watts. It wasn’t a hugehit, but it did pretty well around mid-chart for a number of weeks here.

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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 (HardCandy). 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 SpanishArmada’s attack on Britain. It was an unexpected dud in the US, but found a moreaccepting audience here, particularly for Blanchett’s textured performance as theVirgin Queen.

Jessica Alba returned from fighting baddies in spandex to play the love-interestin low-brow comedy Good Luck Chuck, about a man (Dane Cook) who is cursedto 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 ofthe UK chart for longer than expected.

Planet Terror limped into screens; the other half of the aborted Grindhousedouble-bill. Robert Rodriguez’s tale of infected zombie-like “crazies” wasmore on-the-surface entertaining than Tarantino’s Death Proof, but it was also snubbedby cinemagoers.

A significant release on November was Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of ancientpoem Beowulf. It was another computer-animation that motion-captured realactors, 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 – butprimarily for the glimpse of what most cinema experiences might be like in 10-20years 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 threebrothers just lingered around the bottom of the Top 10 for a few weeks, beforevanishing. It wasn’t marketed very well, and Anderson’s movies only speak to aniche 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 actuallybecame 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 Hitmanjoining rank alongside Super Mario and Street Fighter. Timothy Olyphant, freshfrom trying to kill Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0, starred as the eponymous antihero, in a film that got poor reviews, yet still managed to drag in a sizeablecrowd for a few weeks.

With Christmas a month away, the only directly seasonal film was crappy FredClaus, a miserable excuse for a festive film about Santa’s loser brother(Vince Vaughan). Again, widely-panned by just about everyone, it still sold afair amount of tickets — no Christmassy competition, see?

Personally, I was very disappointed that John August’s directorial debut, TheNines, absolutely flopped so hard on UK soil. This was an intriguing brain-puzzlefor audiences, with influences from The Matrix to The Truman Show, but nobodysaw it. Expect the DVD to generate some good word-of-mouth in 2008.

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DECEMBER

The festive season saw quite a few family-friendly films hit the cinemas. Therewas Bee Movie, a CGI animation written/voiced by Jerry Seinfeld. Itgot generally good reviews and was quite successful.

Southland Tales belly-flopped harder than The Nines, which everyoneexpected after Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko follow-up had been trying to makeeveryone forget the Cannes panning in 2006 for months. Anyone curious enoughto 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 Emporiumwas expected to do just as badly here. But, despite poor-to-average reviews,audiences were interested enough for its to do above-expected business. Notreally a hit, just less of a squib than expected.

A surprise appearance was Enchanted, which had gone under everyone’s noseand crept up to be one of the month’s best films. It was a high-concept musical taleabout a cartoon princess who arrives in the real world, starring rising starAmy Adams.

The big December release was The Golden Compass, the long-awaited adaptationof Philip Pullman’s book, and the first in a planned trilogy. It opened in theUS 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 thoughtit was a weak, plodding adaptation, that lost the soul of Pullman’s well-regardedbook. Sequels are no longer guaranteed, although the studio may greenlight thembased on the film’s better overseas business.

Alvin & The Chipmunks was being ridiculed months in advance, but thisCGI/live-action hybrid, based on the cartoon series of the same name, was a surprisesuccess. The reviews were pretty poor generally, but audiences responded welland it was far from a Garfield-style waste of time.

A rather bizarre success around Christmas was St Trinian’s, the contemporaryremake/pimp-up of the classic St Trinian’s schoolgirl franchise. It was detestedby critics, but seemed to find an appreciative audience of young teenaged girls,who helped it become a surprise hit over the holidays. Its overseas successis difficult to imagine, though!

It took months to get here (never a good sign) and Balls Of Fury wasindeed a cruddy sports comedy set in the world of ping pong, with ChristopherWalken 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 – aboutthe last man on earth after a plague kills 90% of the population. It receivedstrong reviews and positive word-of-mouth over the Christmas period, and drummedup a lot of cash. Amusingly, Smith began the year in January acting alongside hisson Jaden in The Pursuit Of Happyness and ended the year in December actingalongside 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) wasas 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

2007 Retrospective Part One –2007 Retrospective Part Two –2007 Retrospective Part ThreePage Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2008.

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