Box Office: The Tree of Hungover Pandas in Paris

I know I said I was taking today off but I ended up drawing instead. I am not a summer person. (I am the opposite of bears, my form of hibernation involving air conditioning in summertime and avoiding bright light.) But moving on to more pressing movie matters...

Memorial Day Weekend at the Box Office proves that it's a repetitive world with tons of franchise action (Bridesmaids 2 already has a greenlight, right? If not, it can't be far off.) It all blends together for me.

Pandas are total lightweights.

The Box Office (4 Day Weekend Actuals!)

01 THE HANGOVER PART II new $103.4
02 KUNG FU PANDA 2 new  $60.8
03 PIRATES 4 $50 (cumulative 163.6)
04 BRIDESMAIDS 1 $20.7 (cumulative $89.3)
05 AVENGERS PREQUEL #2  $12 (cumulative $162.4)
06 THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, 5TH EDITION $7.8 (cumulative $197.3)
        and leaving the world o' franchises behind...
07 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS $2.5 (cumulative $3.4)
08 RIO $2.4 (cumulative $135.4)
09 JUMPING THE BROOM $2.3 (cumulative $34.6)
10 SOMETHING BORROWED $2.2 (cumulative $35.1)

The success stories of the week -- honestly everyone and their dog monkey knew that the Hangover and Panda sequels would sell tickets -- were in limited release: Midnight in Paris and The Tree of Life had, by a significant margin, fuller houses than any other films.

If Woody's annual offering continues to generate this kind of interest he may be looking at a Match Point / Vicky Cristina Barcelona level success. Both of those films had real legs at the box office topping out at about $23 million domestically and nearing $100 million globally and both went on to a bit of Oscar play. For those who are curious about how he has such free reign despite never having "hits" in the traditional sense, it comes down to low budgets and a global fanbase which has been far more loyal to him than American audiences. Nearly all of his movies are much more successful overseas which is definitely not the norm... for American comedies especially.

Though it's sort of off topic, I still maintain that had Dreamworks done a better job with Match Point's release -- it was a sleeper waiting to happen but they held back and held back losing all of its Critics/Cannes/"Comeback!" steam before that lame weekend-after-Christmas Oscar glut strategy -- it would have been even bigger. Midnight hasn't even gone wide yet so things are looking very good IF they keep expanding. As for The Tree of Life... the latest augmentation of the Malick Mystique could have conceivably landed in the top ten had it been less timid about revealing itself; the theaters were packed but they numbered only four.

Oscar Predictions Updates Coming Wednesday. (Working on them now.) My reflections on The Tree of Life coming later. I'm mystified that so many web critics can write huge pieces on complicated movies without time to reflect or edit their words mere moments after they see them... but that's the way film criticism is going. It's an instantaneous world. Alas. (I know I need to speed up, shut up!)

What did you see this holiday weekend?
If it wasn't a holiday for you, did you still have time for a movie or three?

Contest Winner: "I Know Where I'm Going"

Eeep! I forgot to announce the contest winners for this new Katharine Hepburn "I Know Where I'm Going" bio from Charlotte Chandler. I asked participants to name their favorite performance from "Kate the Great" and I just now pulled the winners randomly from those contest entries.

Which Hepburn performances are favored by our three winners? Read on!

Annie in New York. She writes...

My favorite Katharine Hepburn performance is in Bringing Up Baby (1938). Reasons: The improvised line, "I was born on the side of a hill" when the heel on her shoe broke; the glorious close-up of her smiling face that brings the film to a complete halt just to luxuriate in it; "Did we get to the other side?".  It's her full commitment to every aspect of the funniest movie ever made that makes this my favorite Hepburn performance.

Seisgrados in Spain. He writes...

Leonor of Aquitania in The Lion in Winter (1968). Her character is talked about like a bigger than life figure, strong, conniving, powerful, long before she enters the movie.



It's so hard for an actor to live up to those expectations in any film but when Hepburn shows up in this, she manages to be all that. An irresistible force.

Kimberly in Massachussetts. She writes..

Growing up Katharine Hepburn was the first real "actress" I knew of save my fathers obsession with Vivien Leigh (and all things Gone With The Wind). Living in New England she's considered a treasure. I could easily rattle off a specific reason, scene, or line that make each of these performances my favorite: Stage Door - I long to have a real life dialogue where I can use a few of the gems her and Ginger Rogers spout at one another; Bringing Up Baby for the early scene in the restaurant when her dress is ripped; The Philadephia Story drunk in Jimmy Stewarts arms...

But, my favorite would be in Desk Set (1957). Besides being the most often quoted film between my father & I, the performances are pitch perfect. It makes me sad that so many people haven't seen this film. As a woman this film has always stood out to me because Bunny Watson never tried to dumb herself down for Richard Sumner - he came to love her because she was smart. Hepburn also plays off of Joan Blondell in a fantastic way - Kate was rarely given girlfriends in her films - she was tough and always sparred with the boys, so it's fantastic to see her be a girls girl. This is one of my all time favorite films and I watch it every single time it's on. 

Congratulations to the winners! Your books will be in the mail soon.

Was your favorite Hepburn performance duly noted?

Pssst. Mine is Bringing Up Baby with Alice Adams as runner up but I am far from a completist.

Links: Brawling Badlands, Wonder Woman, Coy Cleopatra

Twitch an open letter to visual effects artists. Wow, I had no idea that they weren't unionized like other movie crafts. Hollywood is ripping them off!
GQ an oral history of the making of Terrence Malick's Badlands. Great quotes including some discrepancies about his nature. Paul Lee, a Harvard philosophy instructor, says  "he was so robust, like Belushi. Like a wrestler, even though he wasn't aggressive in any way" Not aggressive? Martin Sheen says he literally beat up a producer on the set!

Heat Vision X-Men First Class skywriting. Now there's some advertising for you.
Pop Matters "Trouble in Wonderland" the fairy tale's current cinematic crisis.
Cinema Blend Bizarre story that I'm hoping is just an interview pull out of context: Angelina Jolie doesn't want to portray Cleopatra as a sex symbol this time. Uhhhh
Movie|Line Nine milestones in the evolution of Brad Pitt

Off-Cinema
Not Racist But... This is a horrifying website but I'm glad someone is taking the time to collate these. It needs a companion site, Not Homophobic But... anytime someone starts the sentence with a disclaimer, watch out.
Lemonwade is exhausted by Lady Gaga's ubiquity. Will we see more defectors?
iFanboy reviews the Wonder Woman pilot that didn't get picked up. And the verdict is mixed but more positive than you'd maybe expect given the homogenous sight-unseen online vitriol.
A Socialite Life Alexander Skarsgård covers Interview magazine. In blue.

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day Weekend and since the 'net is slow anyway as summer unofficially begins -- my my it's warm here -- we're taking it easy. Be back Tuesday morning with regular postings and Moulin Rouge! 10th anniversary week (which, who knows, but we'll at least do a "hit me with your best shot" on Wednesday evening! Join us)

[Pictured: Rita Hayworth and Marlene Dietrich serving it up for the troops; Marilyn Monroe also serving it up.]

Take Three: Catherine Keener

Craig from Dark Eye Socket here with this week's Take Three. Today: Catherine Keener

Take One: Being John Malkovich (1999)
Do you think it’s possible to admire an actress’ immense talent yet still be somewhat immune to her overall allure or effectiveness? Or perhaps it’s fair to acknowledge their greatness, but have issues with many of their performances? It’s been this way with me and Cathy K for eleven years. It was very likely Being John Malkovich that kick-started my general viewer/star incompatibility with Keener. I did, however, enjoy her sarcastically dry, bolshy, personality-destroying task master Maxine Lund in Spike Jonze’s breakthrough film a great deal. But in the film – and in many things since – she’s baffled, transfixed, annoyed and intrigued me in equal measure. Watching one of her films is a tug-of-war, filled with both appreciation and irritation.

Objectively I can see just how good a performance Keener gives here (evident to anyone watching). She has her eye on the ball at all times. Maxine’s never less than alert to her surroundings and ready to manipulate any sad interlopers who infiltrate them to her advantage. While sympathetic to protagonist John Cusack’s plight, I didn’t blame Maxine for maneuvering every event to her betterment. But Malkovich was the key film in how I came to view Keener as an oddly awkward yet undeniably captivating screen presence. Maybe her interpretation of this adversely egoistical role was too successful and the character and actress detrimentally intertwined in my mind.

Keener herself apparently didn’t originally think she was right for the part because of her dislike of Maxine. Regardless, her Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod was well deserved. Unlike her second one...

Take Two: The 40-Year-Old-Virgin (2005)
...or should I say her second Oscar nomination was misplaced?

Click to read more ...