Thursday, March 15, 2001

'Mexican' Spices Up Chilly Box Office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts ruled the North American box office for the second consecutive weekend with their comedic adventure ``The Mexican,'' but overall ticket sales fell for the first time since last October, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

``The Mexican'' grossed about $12.1 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, taking its 10-day total to $38.3 million. The movie, released by privately held studio DreamWorks SKG, should end its U.S.-Canada run with between $60 million and $70 million, industry observers said.

The film cost $40 million to make, a sum that would have been almost swallowed up by the two stars' salaries if they had not taken pay cuts. Pitt plays a mobster who must recover an antique pistol called ``the Mexican,'' while Roberts plays his girlfriend.

Two new wide releases stumbled into the marketplace: the media satire ``15 Minutes,'' starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns, debuted at No. 2 with $10.5 million; and the teen romance ``Get Over It'' opened at No. 6 with $4.4 million, suggesting that audiences have indeed gotten over the hackneyed genre.

According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co., the top 12 films grossed a combined $62 million, down about 6 percent from the year-ago period, when ``Mission to Mars'' opened at No. 1 with $22.9 million. This weekend's tally ends a 21-week winning streak that began last Oct. 13-15, when De Niro's ``Meet the Parents'' was No. 1.

Snow storms in the Northeast kept moviegoers away from theaters, and industry observers noted a paucity of new quality films with wide appeal. New releases next weekend include ``Exit Wounds,'' starring Steven Seagal and rapper DMX, and the Battle of Stalingrad drama ``Enemy at the Gates.''

``15 Minutes'' stars De Niro as a celebrity cop and Burns as an arson investigator. Together they hunt two eastern European thugs who videotape their crime rampage across New York in hopes of becoming media stars.

Officials for the film's distributor, New Line Cinema, declined comment, but observers said ``15 Minutes'' opened at the low end of expectations.

The studio, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., is reeling from executive shuffles, layoffs and a string of poorly performing films, most recently the Cuban missile crisis drama ``Thirteen Days.''

``Get Over It,'' a $12 million-budgeted movie released by Walt Disney Co.'s Miramax Films, revolves around a jilted teen-age boy who falls for the kid sister of his best friend.

Rounding out the top five were the canine caper ``See Spot Run'' from Warner Bros., a unit of AOL Time Warner, which held steady at No. 3 with $6.6 million; the gruesome thriller ''Hannibal'' from MGM, down two from last week to No. 4 with $5.7 million; and the comedy ``Down to Earth'' from Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc. , down one to No. 5 with $5.5 million.

``See Spot Run'' has grossed $18 million after 10 days, ''Hannibal'' $151 million after 31 days, and ``Down to Earth'' $51 million after 24 days.

Elsewhere, the drugs war saga ``Traffic'' (USA Films) was expected to pass $100 million next Saturday, while the martial arts romance ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' (Sony Pictures Classics) should reach that milestone a few days afterward.

Their respective totals stand at $97.5 million and $94.6 million. USA Films is a unit of USA Networks Inc., while Sony Classics is a unit of Sony Corp.

The top movies in North America -- March 9-11

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the March 9-11 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. The Mexican .......... $12,244,750

BOX OFFICE TOP 10:  $38,394,913

2. 15 Minutes .......... $10,523,154

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $10,523,154

3. See Spot Run .......... $6,612,720

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $17,979,088

4. Hannibal .......... $5,847,287

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $151,462,923

5. Down to Earth .......... $5,587,061

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $51,090,387

6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .......... $4,256,899

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $94,512,927

7. Get Over It .......... $4,134,977

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $4,134,977

8. Traffic .......... $3,938,085

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $97,543,805

9. Chocolat .......... $3,843,988

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $51,027,559

10. Recess: School's Out .......... $2,308,781

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $30,600,367

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.:  The box office is slipping again after a long run of profits and big weekends.  Roberts and Pitt are not Hanks and Ryan.  Deniro and Burns are not Deniro and Stiller. Dunst and Sisqo are not uhh, I don't know how to compare those two.  Movies are not making a lot of money this week because people have seen these types of movies before, the films think they are making some profound social statement that is way too obvious, or the plot is totally incomprehensible even after given 2 minutes of time for a trailer.  The Video Nose Pick of the week returns this week with three reviews of Bedazzled, Jackie Chan's Drunken Master, and Urban Legends 2: Final Cut.  I have way too much free time.

Andy Warhol sucks.  The most overused Hollywood cliche around is that everyone will be famous for at least 15 minutes.  This really applies to singers and actors who have a hit one day and then the next day they are back waiting tables.  The recent victims of the 15 minute attack have been Monica Lewinsky, Darva Conger, and most of the cast of Survivor 1.  This week, we get "15 Minutes" starring Robert Deniro and Ed Burns as 2 cops trying to track down 2 foreign psychos who are willing to kill people to get their fifteen minutes of fame.  They plan to kill people on camera, sell it to the media for lots of money, and when they get caught plead insanity and blame it on the violent images of the media.  This movie is some sort of self righteous political fantasy.  We are starting to get a small wave of films that are telling us that reality television will soon lead to people being rewarded for murdering others. The other movie is Series 7 about a strange game show that is allowed to give people guns and tell them to shoot a chosen person to death to win a prize. Movies like S7 and 15M think they are Nostradamus like in predicting what the future will bring, but for the most part they are almost always wrong. The reality is always more subtle and more disturbing than what fiction can come up with. Also, real life criminals are a lot dumber than the master race super minds movies like to portray. For one thing, sanctioned murder of average citizens is not likely to happen. Also, when criminals brag about their crimes, they tend to stay within their circle of friends and if for some inane reason they videotape their assaults they watch the material themselves or with their co-conspirators. The 15M guys go to the media showing their brutalities and brag about it to Deniro and Burns and at the end of the movie they are wondering why everything is not going as planned. One of my pet peeves in movie plots is the serial killer who is compelled to tell the cops their entire plans through clues and taunts and then can't figure out why they are falling off the 100 foot scaffolding in the last reel. I think the writers of these movies must be Jack the Ripper fans because he is the only killer to actually blatantly taunt the police with letters about getting away with murder. Taking on the issue of violent entertainment leading to violent reality is difficult to do and make cinematically interesting. Reality television may lead to showing a live criminal execution or someone getting killed on one of the Survivor shows, but it is still against the law to kill someone for no reason. On a recent episode of "Survivor" a contestant burned their hands severly and had to be airlifted off the show. Graphic footage of his flesh peeling off his fingers was shown, but if he had died would that have aired or would his family sue despite signing 100s of pages of waivers? Or in the heat of competition, would someone actually kill someone to win? These things could happen, but the movies have not shown a realistic scenario yet. "If it bleeds, it leads" is uttered by Kelsey Grammar in 15M, and he is correct. Those stories that cause harm are necessary to report because they are emotionally effective. The good news of the day should be reported as well, but is not as exciting. Exploitation of hardship goes back to the beginning of time, and will continue. There are many specials on cable and on video, and some network wildest "blanks" that border on snuff films and may be considered snuff. HBO show, America Undercover shows real violence many times and they show guys who film their last confession before committing mass murder or videotape their rapes, but every time these people either die when they do the crime, or get convicted with their own evidence and do the time. These things are disturbing, but watching them can help you respect life more when you see how quickly it can end. 15 Minutes may not be a great or insightful film, but the issues it contemplates will make you think, do I really need to see this?

What has happened to the teen comedy? I grew up in the 1980s watching all sorts of great teen comedies from A Sure Thing, Better Off Dead, Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Porkys, and the last great one, Can't Buy Me Love. It was a golden age and John Hughes was king. Nowadays, teen comedies all star 30 year old pretty boys and child stars trying to get through puberty and failing. However, lately, the teen comedies have been failing to excite. The only good one from last year was Bring it On, and it was really just okay. Teen comedy is now raunchy perverted stuff that is constantly trying to imitate American Pie which has now become the Scream of the teen farce. This week, we have "Get Over It," part two of a 3 part Kirsten Dunst 3 words in the title trilogy, with "Spider-man: the Movie" completing the series I guess. This movie did not open well at all and the producers can't figure out why. "We had Sisqo, for gosh sakes and he sings about thongs. Thongs are hip, right?" The problem is that for a teen comedy to be successful, or any movie for that matter, it has to have premise that either the title explains or is made clear in the movie's trailer. The preview for this movie had quick cuts of pratfalls, Dunst in a bikini, and Sisqo spinning around, but it forgot to tell anyone what the heck the film was about. The title says to get over it, and I guess it is about a guy trying to get over breaking up with his girlfriend. I guess if Sisqo spins around enough times it will make him so dizzy he will forget all about his problems. I almost went to see this movie because I like Kirsten Dunst and she looked good in her bathing suit. But since the movie looked a bit stupid and pointless, I stayed home and watched DVDs. The other reason I considered supporting this movie is that Mila "That 70s Show" Kunis shows up and I sort of have a crush on her, but keep that between you and me. This is also the movie that Carmen Electra got to do after her "critically acclaimed" moments in last year's "Scary Movie." I think she may get less screen time in this movie than that one. Carmen has been around for about 10 years, but she still cannot get beyond her looks and her being known as Carmen Electra-Rodman for 2 weeks. My suggestion is for her to become a supervillain on that "Witchblade" show on cable. Get Over It will soon fall out of the top ten and soon be forgotten.

1. Julia Robert's $100 million movie streak is coming to an end.

2. Brad Pitt is in his most successful movie in years.

3. Neither Pitt or Robert's movie stock will be affected by the final box office outcome of this film.

4. See Spot Run is the sleeper hit of the month.

5. The most amazing thing about Hannibal is I think it will make Ray Liotta a bigger star than it was supposed to make Juilanne Moore.

6. Down to Earth is not the huge success Chris Rock had hoped for, but it is making a enough money to sustain the confidence Hollywood is showing him.

7. Zhang Ziyi, will you marry me?

8. Traffic, along with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will both become the 21st and 22 movies released in 2000 to make over a $100 million breaking the record of 21 set in 1999.

9. I'm just guessing here but look for Binoche to not win the best actress Oscar for her role in Chocolat.

10. Looks like it is time to go back to class for the makers of Recess: School's Out.

The story of the genie and 3 wishes or the devil will grant you your greatest desire if you sell him/her your soul has been around for a very long time. However, no one has ever been able to take advantage of the wish list and come out a winner. Each story has to teach us a lesson about being careful what you wish for, you just might get it. In Bedazzled, Brendan Fraser plays Elliot, a hapless computer geek who is infatuated with his co-worker, Allison, played by Frances O'Connor. He is willing to sell his soul to Satan to be with her. In steps Elizabeth Hurley as a sexy Satanic figure who is willing to grant Elliot 7, count 'em, 7 wishes as long as after the 7th wish he gives up his soul. If you have any brains at all, or watched every other episode of "The Twilight Zone" you know every wish will end in disaster until Elliot is able to trick the devil into not acquiring his soul. The gimmick here is how does Elliot get there, what will be the wish catch, and can Hurley wear tighter, shorter, or more revealing clothing? This movie tries to be outrageous and touching and succeeds for the most part, but there is only one really laugh out loud segmen within the film and it is one of the more subtle bits. If you have seen the preview you know that when he asks to be rich and powerful and married to Allison, he becomes a Columbian drug lord (with Spanish subtitles) married to an Allison who does not love him. This wish is very funny, and slighty annoying since it is entirely in Spanish. I won't reveal all of the wishes, but I will say the second wish on the beach is the funniest and the one at the party is the one that came closest to working out perfectly for Elliot. With a stronger script and tighter direction, Fraser could have been a contender for a best actor Oscar. He shows that he is a very talented physical actor and he becomes about 7 different people in this film and is different in each version. I have more respect for him as a performer than I ever had before. Hurley is not a great actress, but this role does not require that to succeed. Her deep voice helps put over the fact that she is the Queen of Darkness, and her hot red numbers keep you at a constant state of attention. My personal favorite was her school teacher look. The character of Allison goes through as many changes as Elliot and the performance of O'Connor is probably overlooked by many people but it shouldn't be. She is beautiful in a movie sense, but also somewhat attainable looking to make it a reasonable possibility that if Elliot stopped being a geek, he might be able to go out with her. O'Connor's best look was as the cheating Columbian wife of Elliot. The other thing this movie has is a good supporting cast that does not get enough screen time. Elliot has these three friends that show up in most of his wish fantasies who do all of these background things that are very funny. However, the best bit is left on the cutting room floor and can only be seen in the extended basketball commentating scene on the DVD. This is not a great movie because it fails to be as outrageous as it pretends to be. Everything eventually turns out okay. It did make me think about what I would do in that situation and my decision is never sell your soul since living in Hell is never a good option. There is no perfect wish, even if God was the one doing it. Real life has things like the IRS and the police to worry about. Forcing someone to love you is never cool either. Wish for things like confidence, good health, a successful law abiding job that pays well, and for less stress for the world, but not world peace since that leads to a whole mess of problems. Never wish for living forever, or you get hit with Rod Serling level tortures. Keep wishes simple and not omnipotent and you might be able to beat the devil. Bedazzled is a fun movie and quite harmless. A good rental. Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up. Rent the DVD, it has great extras.

THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER - FULL REVIEW

This movie was released in Hong Kong as "Jui Kuen II" or "Drunken Master II" as it was more commonly known until last year's official stateside release.  This movie was the sequel to the 1979 film that turned Jackie Chan into a mega star.  It is the story of the Chinese folk hero, Wong Fei-Hung, who has been portrayed over 200 times in films.  Even Jet-Li has taken a crack at this martial arts legend. Fei-Hung knew many styles of fighting, but the one that brings in the Yuans is the drunken style of combat that is the focal point of this film.  There are two parts of Drunken fighting.  The first part is the sober kind where the fighter imitates the confusing swaying of a drunken person to throw off an opponent who is  unable to figure out where the next punch or kick is coming from since they almost become hypnotized by the tricky moves.  However, it is part two that really is effective but dangerous at the same time.  If a master of the drunken fighting actually becomes drunk through mass consumption of alcohol, then their moves become more natural as well as increasing their pain threshold.  Chan does both in this film quite effectively.  It has been compared to the Popeye bit with the eating the spinach to become more powerful.  Of all the Jackie Chan movies out there, Legend of Drunken Master gets its ass kissed more than most.  People say that this not only has the best Chan fight scenes, but maybe the best hand to hand to foot to mouth to chest to knees to head to crotch battles ever filmed.  Well, when the movie decides to have a fight scene, they are good, but no where near the best ever put to celluloid.  The problem with LODM is that there are long gaps between fights and many of them go by so quickly that they are over before you can really get into it.  The best fights are the one under the train with Chan and the movie's director, Chia-Lang Liu which was actually my favorite and the last one between Chan and his real life bodyguard, Ken Lo in the factory.  Those two fight scenes are worth the effort to sit through all of the other extraneous stuff.  The two most disappointing fights are the one with the main henchmen and his cronies who had just attacked Chan's mother and the one with the 30 guys with axes in the restaurant.  Why are they not up to par?  Well, the henchmen gang fight is pretty standard Chan stuff with minimal prop gimmicks that are Chan's trademark.  He also beats their asses pretty convincingly which is okay for the lesser guys, but there is the main villain in the scene and he has nothing for Chan's style and I was expecting a more back and forth fight. It doesn't happen.  The sequence with the ax weilding gang is visully interesting and well choreographed and quite insane when you think about the time it took to put this together, but it is also a bit that has been done a hundred times in kung fu movies including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  In fact, the restaurant in Drunken Master looked exactly like the one in CTHD where Zhang Ziyi took on multiple opponents.  Also, the prop humor was kept at a minium.  I will say that the bamboo whip attack by Chan is brutal in that scene and helps save it from being completely pointless.   Chan is not the only reason to see this film.  There are two other performances that should be noted.  The first is that of Lung Ti as Chan's father. He is excellent in a small but important role as the parent who hates the drunken style and kicks Chan's ass anytime he catches him using it.  He needed to be in his own big fight scene because he showed some flashes of greatness but was never allowed to let loose.  The other actor who stole the movie was Anita Mui as Chan's mom.  She is the Mah Jong addicted mother who encourages Chan to fight and hopes to engage in her own fisticuffs while at the same time tricking her husband into thinking she's pregnant so he won't beat her when he sees her breaking his rules or encouraging Chan to misbehave.  Mui is very funny with her physical humor and dialogue.  It is difficult to gauge the quality of acting when watching a dubbed movie since you are hearing another person's voice, but Mui and Ti come across as being impressive even though their lips don't match with what you actually hear.  Overall, I liked Legend of Drunken Master and it does have a couple of excellent fight sequences.  The last bits in the factory took 4 months to film they were so intricate and it shows.  In the outtakes, you see that Jackie Chan actually crawled over real hot coals.  Chan is an idiot.  See the movie if you get a chance, but be warned.  There is a lot of space between battles and you might become frustrated as you see the movie develop its plot of British nationals trying to steal Chinese artifacts.  The movie is overrated, but definitely one of the better Jackie Chan imports.  Final Review:  3 stars out of 5; 6  out of 10; B-; thumbs up.  Jackie Chan's First Strike still has my all time favorite fight scene with Chan fighting off a dozen guys with a ladder.  The outtake alone from that fight is just brutal.

URBAN LEGENDS 2: FINAL CUT - FULL REVIEW

Oh my freakin' deity, this movie sucked.  This is definitely on my list of one of the worst movies of 2000.  I saw this film because I enjoyed the first movie which was far from perfect but was fun in its premise of a serial killer using urban legends to murder people.  This new movie is practically unwatchable and only has one real urban legend kill, that being the absolutely ridiculous waking up in a tub of ice with your kidney missing.  That scene is the film's best, but it is also its dumbest. I have nothing good to say about this movie and I am angry that it was made and I had to watch it.  The premise is that this girl is at film school and decides to make a movie about a serial killer who murders in the style of urban legend scenarios.  But as soon as she starts, people on her film crew keep getting killed in very boring ways.  You just wait for the last 15 minutes as the true killer finally emerges and gives their stupid reasons for committing cold blooded murder.  The movie could have been good if actual legends were used, but they weren't.  A guy sneaks up behind a girl and her throat is cut, one girl is hanged, one guy gets electrocuted, one gets beat over the head with a camera, and one is shot.  All standard stuff that has been done a million times in better and worse movies.  The kidney scene looks stupid because the girl wakes up with her kidney gone, but is able to walk and run around with little problems until the killer catches up to her and cuts her head off with window pane and feeds her kidney to a barking dog.  That was sort of cool, but still silly.  My favorite part at the end is when the killer from the first movie shows up in a little cameo.  I am a fan of this actor, and it was good to see them again since they haven't had any significant work since the first Urban Legends.  You know what?  To show how much I hated this film I will tell you that Hart Bochner is the killer.  Do not ever see this movie.  It is not worth the time and effort.  It would be considered a disappointment if I had really cared in the first place.  Final Review:  1 1/2 stars out of 5; 3 out of 10; D; thumbs down.  

That is all I have to say this week.  Next week's box office should continue the trend of underperformance.  Exit Wounds and Enemies at the Gate are the two big releases.  If they break the $12 million mark I will be quite surprised.  Bye for now.