THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2001

'Pearl Harbor' Blitzes Box Office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It wasn't the blockbuster many observers had expected, but the heavily hyped World War II epic ''Pearl Harbor'' pulled in $75.1 million at the holiday weekend box office, ranking No. 2 on the all-time list for four-day openings, according to studio estimates issued on Monday.

The Walt Disney Co. film led the field during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, trailed by the animated comedy ``Shrek'' with $54.2 million and action adventure ``The Mummy Returns'' with $19.1 million.

As one of the most heavily marketed films of the year, ''Pearl Harbor'' created great expectations before launching in 3,214 theaters across the United States and Canada on Friday. Many observers had forecast a four-day haul of $90 million-$100 million, apparently ignoring the fact that the film's three-hour running time reduces the number of screenings.

``The expectations out there were set so high, they were never going to hit those numbers,'' said an executive at a rival studio.

``Pearl Harbor,'' directed by Michael Bay (''Armageddon'') and starring Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale, is billed as the most expensive movie ever approved for production, reportedly costing about $140 million to make.

MULTIMEDIA AWARENESS

Disney's marketing efforts, which included lavish multi-million-dollar premiere festivities in Hawaii, triggered an avalanche of Pearl Harbor awareness. Media outlets have run endless stories about either the film or the bombing itself. A special Pearl Harbor G.I. Joe doll even hit the market.

``We've never seen awareness like this before,'' said Disney distribution president Chuck Viane. ``The biggest problem is anticipation, and the way we look at it our anticipation and expectation was very high because we kept selling out theaters all weekend.''

``Pearl Harbor'' ranks 2nd on the four-day list, between ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park,'' which opened with $90.1 million during Memorial Day holiday in 1997, and ``Mission: Impossible 2,'' with $70.8 million (Memorial Day 2000). ``The Lost World'' played for 134 minutes, about 50 minutes shorter than ``Pearl Harbor.''

It is also the best four-day opening by a non-sequel, surpassing the original ``Mission: Impossible's'' $56.8 million (Memorial Day 1996). It also sets a new record for a three-hour movie. By contrast, the 168-minute ``Saving Private Ryan'' grossed $30.6 million during its first three days in 1998 (the three day haul for ``Pearl Harbor'' was $60 million).

Because of its 183-minute running time -- one hour more than the actual Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941 -- theater screenings were generally limited to three per day, instead of four or five.

Viane said ``Pearl Harbor'' played strongest with females and younger viewers, according to exit polling. Males accounted for 53 percent of the total. Almost half of moviegoers were aged between 18 and 34.

``SHREK'' PASSES CENTURY MARK

Elsewhere at the box office, ``Shrek'' was scheduled to pass the century mark on Monday, with an 11-day haul of $110.7 million. The film, about a green ogre's quest for love, was released by privately held DreamWorks.

After 25 days of release, ``The Mummy Returns'' has grossed $170.7 million. The film was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal .

Rounding out the top five were the rock 'n' roll jousting saga ``A Knight's Tale'' (Columbia) starring Heath Ledger, with a four-day total of $9.3 million; and the Jennifer Lopez romantic thriller ``Angel Eyes'' (Warner Bros.) with $6.3 million. Their respective totals are $44.5 million after 18 days and $18.6 million after 11 days. Columbia Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc .

Wide new releases next weekend include the comedies ``What's The Worst That Could Happen?'' and ``The Animal,'' and the lavish musical ``Moulin Rouge,'' which is currently playing to sellout crowds in one theater each in New York and Los Angeles.

The top movies in North America -- May 25-28

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the May 25-28 Memorial Day holiday weekend, according to studio figures released Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Four-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. Pearl Harbor .......... $75,177,654 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $75,177,654

2. Shrek.......... $55,215,620 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $111,753,400

3. The Mummy Returns .......... $19,044,005

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $170,691,056

4. A Knight's Tale .......... $9,110,124 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $44,316,010

5. Angel Eyes .......... $6,205,705 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $18,529,732

6. Bridget Jones's Diary .......... $4,187,218 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $62,381,548

7. Along Came a Spider .......... $2,111,674 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $70,646,843

8. Memento .......... $1,972,953 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $14,540,658

9. Spy Kids .......... $1,296,841 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $105,226,988 

10. Blow .......... $1,242,824 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $51,570,006

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.:  Wow. This was a huge week at the box office.  Some so-called Hollywood insiders thought that Pearl Harbor was going to make $90 million to $100 million this weekend and since it fell short, it could be deemed a disappointment.  A movie that makes $75 million in 4 days is not a disappointment no matter what the quality.  However, Pearl Harbor should be criticized for other reasons which will be touched on later in my full review. Along with the PH review, I have a video pick review of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" a more serious version of similar events.  Shrek's second week was absolutely phenomenal.  This movie could end up being the highest grossing movie of the year.  I also took a look at the number 8 movie this week, Memento.  Big report this week.

PEARL HARBOR - FULL REVIEW

History is a difficult thing to deal with on film.  Docudramas are always criticized for goofing with the facts.  What people have to realize is that real life is quite boring.  There are few real life events that can be tolerated without some spicing up of the events.  "Titanic" was supposed to be a story about a sinking ship, but it was about a girl in love with a boy and a necklace.  The ship was just a supporting actor.  The story of the Japanese Empire's attack on the United States Pacific fleet in Hawaii on December 7, 1941 has been told countless times in movies, mini-series, and History Channel documentaries.  The only time it is not told is in public schools since it is very difficult to get to World War II facts before the end of the school year.  Many people under 25 have never heard of the incident unless they saw it mentioned on television.  In fact, all of my knowledge of the event comes from movies and anniversary 60 Minutes specials.  World War II was rarely mentioned when I went to school, and when I took a history class in college, World War 2 was covered in one day and the Pearl Harbor attack came down to one sentence - "The Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941." Pearl Harbor, the movie, tries to tell a historical tale that is applicable to a young audience who knows very little about what happened. First off, let me tell you what worked and then get into what failed and what went wrong and how it could have been a bit better.  The only thing that really worked in the movie is the relationship between Red (Ewen Bremner) and Betty (James King (yes she has a male name, but she is a girl and she dated Kid Rock)).  These 2 actors/characters are not promoted in any of the trailers or ads in the paper for the movie.  They are only on screen for a short bit of time, but I found them much more interesting than the goings on between Rafe (Ben Affleck), Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), and Danny (Josh Hartnett).  Bremner plays a stuttering soldier who falls for King the nurse.  It is a very simple relationship that has 2 scenes that were more gripping than anything else I saw in the film.  Bremner's stutter is annoying when he does it, but it is not as bad as Billy's in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or Michael Palin's in "A Fish Called Wanda."  However, he plays the closest thing to the everyman that was rampant on the naval base.  James King is a model who is in her first major supporting role.  She is also quite lovely to look at and her relationship with Bremner is touching.  No other critic has focused on those two because their roles were so small, but they were the only things I could really tolerate.  The only other thing that was okay was the initial stagings of the Pearl Harbor attack.  It is good if you like to see people blown up and shot to death as well as drown.  It is exciting, but somewhat glorified.  A little too gung ho and since a PG-13 rating means they can't show the true carnage that would have been more horrifying. As it is filmed now, if you did not know it was pretty close to the what really happened, it was sort of cool to see people blown up.  I don't want to think that the attack on Pearl Harbor was cool.  But, even though this 45 minute sequence of violence is technically amazing, we never get to know any of the sailors hanging on the side of the Arizona and other ships as they are sinking.  The only sailor we get to know at all is the one played by Cuba Gooding Jr.  He plays the African American cook who took over a gunner to shoot down some Japanese planes. This is important because black people were not allowed to participate in war time activities with white officers.  Gooding plays Dorrie Miller who was awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery.  The Dorrie Miller story is interesting, but hard to make more of it than it was.  Gooding is only in the film for about 10 minutes and is basically an afterthought to be politically correct in a time when that concept did not exist.  Michael Bay was trying to fit a black person in the story when it really was not possible for blacks to be a major factor in the outcome of what happened. It is not Miller's fault, and he, like all of the other navy guys who fought and died were heroes as well.  Unfortunately, I think the part should have gone to a lesser known actor for the length of time he was on screen. It would have been nice to learn more about him and how he gets along on the boat or how he feels about not being able to fully participate in navy actions even though he is quite capable to be as good as any other person.  No other ship mate gets any real screen time.  So when you see them die, you don't feel emotionally involved and it just becomes another action sequence with a lot of CGI.  The other thing this movie forgets to do is tell us why all of this happened.  First, the Japanese point of view.  Japan has been villified for this attack for 60 years.  No one really knows why they risked everything to antagonize a country that was 10 times more powerful than them.  The movie says it was because of the United States cutting off their oil supply.  There is more to the story than that of course if you know some detailed history.  Very few people do, and it would have helped a lot to focus about 20 extra minutes on what Yamamoto and Gendo were thinking when they said "We shall bomb Pearl Harbor."  But Disney was afraid to focus too much on the Japanese for fear of making them look bad or being racist.  Absolutely ridiculous.  Japan is the villain in this case, and it always fascinating to learn why villains do what they do.  Not only is the Japanese point of view ignored except for a handful of strategy scenes, but the American version is very poorly shown.  Dan Ackroyd plays an army man who realizes that Japan is planning something big, but there is no emphasis on the failed detective work that led to the United States not getting the message in time that Japan was declaring war and a first attack was eminent.  The back and forth of America and Japan is very interesting, but it is never shown enough to inform anyone what was going on.  When the attack happens in the film, a navy person says "I didn't even know that the Japs were mad at us."  Watching the movie up to that point, it was hard for the audience to realize it too.  Why is the historical aspects of Pearl Harbor the movie so hard to pick out?  The reason is that the first half of the movie is devoted to the love triangle between Affleck, Beckinsale, and Hartnett.  This aspect of the film is the most criticized and why many people say the movie sucks. Well, it is not that the love story is so bad, it is just that it is not as important as it wants to be.  The premise of a woman falling for another man when the man she truly loves seemingly dies is pretty good.  It is predictable because everyone knows that to have a movie, the dead guy has to come back to mess things up.  Typical drama, but entertaining if done well.  I actually liked the idea of the problems these three had, but it did not need to be the bulk of the movie.  If the time they spent on the planning of the attack was given to the time the film gives the primary romance and the romance given less time then the movie would have a more epic feel.  You don't feel that these three people are in the same movie as the Pearl Harbor attack subplot.  These 3 people did not exist, and because of that, they should not have overshadowed the real life characters or events.  In fact when the bombs hit, Affleck and Hartnett are not on any of the boats and have to drive up to the action to become involved.  Beckinsale is a nurse who has to get to the hospital on time to save lives.  You never think that she is in any real danger.  If Affleck and Hartnett had been characters that had been on the battleships and fought to survive, things could have been better.  But when they do get into the thick of things, they participate in a an event that never happened.  It is completely fabricated by the filmmakers and cheapens history.  It was done to look cool and to revise history to make the United States more heroic.  The reality is that Japan was pissed, and they kicked our ass that day.  Affleck and Hartnett were created to get the United States' heat back.  The three main actors are fine, but never do anything to show they are doing anything extraordinary.  No subtlety is involved in their performances.  Beckinsale's "then all this happened" line is the worst delivered dialogue of the year.  Affleck and Beckinsale have some chemistry during their champagne cork scene, but not anywhere else.  Hartnett and Beckinsale are more interesting due to the circumstances of how they get together, but not at one point do you think there is an epic love story here. It is all physical attraction.  Who these people are is tertiary.  While the movie, I was digging it to some degree.  The love story was corny, but I knew that coming in, so I gave it a break.  Cuba Gooding's part is an extended cameo, but he is a good actor and was good with what he was given to do and showed that blacks were a major factor in the war and could have been much better if given a chance.  The attack on Pearl Harbor is pretty good and the best ever shown on film.  The thing that is going to make me not recommend this movie is that there is what can best be described as an extended epilogue. You see, the movie does not end when President Roosevelt talks about dates of infamy.  This movie is 3 hours and 3 minutes long and when John Voigt gives the famous speech, there is still almost an hour left in the picture.  Once again, America has to get its heat back, so the last third of the movie is about the raid on Tokyo that the United States did led by Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin).  This extra mission is a great story that has been told before in the movie "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" and could make another good movie today.  However, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, you want the movie to end, but it does not.  This mission is shown in its entirety from training to execution and it totally turned me off of the film and made you forget whatever you saw before.  It was a mistake to add this section.  There is a scene with John Voigt as Roosevelt talking to his cabinet about the United States' next course of action and Voigt gives a cheesy, but stirring performance here that might just earn him a best supporting actor Oscar nomination next year.  If the movie ended with that moment or close to it, then Pearl Harbor had the chance to really be something special.  But it does not.  Pearl Harbor is an okay movie that will garner various reactions.  Some will love it, some will just like the main Pearl Harbor attack, and some will hate it.  I don't hate the movie, the attack was okay, but I am no where close to loving what I saw this past weekend.  Taken in its entirety, Pearl Harbor fell short on history and drama.  If it had evened out the two and taken out the Doolittle raid, this movie could have been really special and a great tribute to the men and women who died that day. The people who died that day should not be pittied because it was their job to defend this country and die for it if need be.  They go sucker punched which sucked, but many of those people would have died anyway even if we knew what was coming as many did over the next 4 years until we dropped 2 nuclear bombs on Japan in August 1945.  That attack was much more vicious than Pearl Harbor, but you have to realize in war, things are not always fair and people will die until diplomacy wins in the end.  The events on December 7, 1941 were tragic and should never have happened.  But it did bring the United States into World War II and it led to us pretty much saving the world from tyranny.  Those lives sacrificed that day were not in vain.  It would have been nice if this Pearl Harbor movie had shown a little more respect for the real people and not the fictional.  Final Review:  2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; C+; thumbs down.  No movie can ever truly show the horrors of war.

Thumbs up; A-; 9 out of 10; 4 stars out of 5.  This is one of the best films of the year.  Look for Pearce to get an Oscar nomination if not win the award next year.  The Matrix reunion is a successful one.  I bought the whole thing and I am glad I saw it.  Those are the only problems I really had with the film. If you really think about it if he really had this disorder he would probably just sit in a chair and stare out into space all day.  I wake up every 15 minutes and have to realize that my wife is dead, my head hurts, I have this strange note tattooed on my hand, there's blood on my shirt, I am being chased by someone, or am I chasing them, the phone rings but how do they know me, is it the killer, why am I having sex, who is this woman, take a picture it will last longer, these clothes sort of suck, this car is sweet, why is the guy at the front desk such a jerk, why is a whore sniffing coke in the bathroom, and if I get an intricate tattoo what happens if my short term memory goes out in the middle of a letter and I don't realize what is happening.  There are so many things that can go through your mind just to orient yourself that by the time you figure it out you have lost your memory again.   Is the short term memory just the last 15 minutes or does it have to do with how many things he can remember at once.  If he stays on one thought instead of several, can his memory last longer?  There is no consistency with how long Leonard's short term memory is.  There are some concerns with how the movie keeps with its premise that hurt the plot a bit.  Once you realize what is going on then you get caught up in the mystery.  Pantoliano is the best thing in the movie and how he fits into the film is the main reason to stick through to the end even though you know how it ends.  He is a good actor who seems to play the same creepy annoying character in all of his movies and that persona makes you question everything he does and says.  One of Leonard's key notes deals with Teddy.  Joe Pantoliano plays Teddy who seems to be Leonard's guardian angel who is there to keep him out of trouble or ruin his life.  Is she a friend in need or a user trying to take advantage of a disabled poor soul.  That is my favorite scene in the film and put it over the top for me.  There is a moment between Natalie and Leonard that may be the best movie moment of the year.  Moss is a very underrated actress who should definitely get more leading role parts.  She is a strong supporting character here who should be on that top 5 list of actresses getting Oscar nominations next year.  Natalie is having boy friend problems and even though the story is being told backwards, it is still difficult to figure out where this whole thing is going. Carrie Ann Moss plays Leonard's confidant, Natalie.  Guy Pearce may look like VK, but he was definitely the better choice for this part.I could see Val Kilmer in this part, but I am glad the casting director only grabbed Carrie Ann Moss off the set of "Red Planet." Pearce's Leonard Shelby is in every scene of this film.  Pearce should get accolades for the hard work he had to do to carry off this role.  Most people remember Pearce from "L.A. Confidential" as the super moral  heroic cop.  Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby with a strange condition of short term memory that makes him remember his entire life before his head injury, but everything post that, he forgets after a very short time, usually 15 minutes.  Memento is primarily about Leonard, Natalie, and Teddy trying to deal with the murder of Leonard's wife in their own unique ways.  I don't think this is going to work, but I will try.  I did not cheat.  I wrote this thing backwards from the beginning and did not cut and paste a straight forward review to make it look like I did.  Memento is a story told backwards so this whole review in a very stupid move has been written backwards just to be different.  This little movie is very strange and for the first 20 minutes you may have no idea what the heck is going on since one of the major characters in the film is murdered in the first scene.  

MEMENTO - FULL REVIEW

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    A Shrek sequel is already in the works.

2.    Shrek is definitely on track to break the $200 million mark before the end of June 2001.

3.    This is the spot for another great Rachel Weisz pic of the week:

4.    If you want to see come good jousting, instead of Knight's Tale, play the old video game Joust.

5.    Angel Eyes is not doing that well at the box office, but at least Jennifer Lopez has her clothing line to fall back on.

6.    With the success of Bridget Jones' Diary, Rene Z can now put behind such disappointments like "Me, Myself, and Irene."

7.    Maybe Morgan Freeman and Juilanne Moore's (or Jodi Foster) respective law enforcement characters could team up and finally take down that annoying Hannibal Lecter.

8.    Instead of Along Came a Spider or Hannibal: The Next Generation, you can call it "Guess who Ate Everyone at Dinner."

9.    If Freeman and Moore (or Foster) can't take down the good doctor, maybe the Spy Kids can do some reconnaissance.  

10.    Look for the Blow sequel to be subtitled the Robert Downey Jr. story, also starring Johnny Depp since Downey will be unavailable to take the role due to previous penal committments. 

VIDEO NOSE PICK OF THE WEEK

TORA! TORA! TORA! - FULL REVIEW

The reason I was so hard on Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor" is because I had just seen Tora! Tora! Tora! a much more serious approach to the subject.  Tora tries to be a historical account of what led up to the Japanese bombing the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.  Pearl Harbor's gimmick was that they had this "engrossing" love story that would get you to care about a core group of characters so that you would be emotionally involved when bad things started to happen.  Tora has a more fascinating gimmick of its own.  It takes place from the points of view of the United States as well as Japan with equal time given to both.  The American side is directed by Richard Fleischer and the Japanese parts were done by Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasuka.  What this does is give viewers insight into the question that haunts many people and that is why?  The reasons were political of course.  Japan had been attacking China for years and the United States did not support their actions so they put an embargo on supplies to the land of the rising sun.  This stopped much of Japan's oil and industrial material they needed to deal with China and their basic everyday lives.  Japan wanted to make a statement against the United States that could possibly force them into lifting the embargo.  Admiral Yamamoto came up with the idea to attack Pearl Harbor in a somewhat surprising way.  Unfortunately, his plans did not work out as well as he thought and when it was all over, he realized that maybe diplomacy was a better way to go.  The United States in Tora Tora Tora is in the middle of peace negotiations and are somewhat unaware that an attack is in the planning stages.  America is decoding Japanese correspondence, but they are getting conflicting readings.  A full alert on the military at Pearl Harbor is hard to announce when it was so unclear if a threat was real.  The movie becomes a thriller as we see the frustrations that happened in trying to warn the ships at the harbor that their lives were in danger.  Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was not necessarily a cowardly surprise one that they have been criticized for, but one that was given warning.  However, the United States did not get word of the declaration of war until after it was too late.  The whole drama of these events are shown and they are quite fascinating.   This is not an action movie.  The attack on Pearl Harbor is well done for the special effects they had in 1970, but the new movie is  a bit more dramatic with its following of the bombs from the plane and through the boats.  This movie tries to be a fair telling of the events and succeeds.  As an American, I have no sympathy for the Japanese attack and hate them for what they did.  Knowing why they did it does not bring any of those brave naval officers killed.  However, it was war time, and those Americans who died were in a job that they knew could get them killed.  The Japanese attacked a military operation and not a civilian target.  War is hell, and many more people were killed in much worse ways following December 7, 1941.   What Japan needed to realize was that using force to get what they want all of the time will get extreme force right back at them.  Instead of invading China, they should have negotiated economic deals that would have helped both countries.  These petty jealousies did nothing but give people unspeakable horrors.  Japan brought on all of their troubles themselves and it took two atomic bombs to get it through their heads that wars not make one great.  The United States portions of the film are not as interesting since we know how these people feel since that side has been covered over and over again in various forms.  The Japanese parts are what make Tora a good movie.  Before you see Pearl Harbor or praise the movie Pearl Harbor, try to see this film.  It will help you understand the events that the Michael Bay film glosses over or ignores.  Final Review:  3 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B; thumbs up.  The movie is well done, but I will not praise it too much because too many people died to praise this movie as being great.  It was historically interesting, nothing more.  That part of history sucks and should never be glorified.

That is it for this report.  One other thing about Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor."  I know that many people have found that movie to be fantastic.  People have become emotionally involved with the characters and the action that was shown in the film.  Some found it moving, romantic, exciting, patriotic, and sad.  That is fine.  If you like the movie, I understand.  It is entertaining on many levels and almost worked. All I really want is for those who love Bay's movie, read a book, a magazine article, or watch a History Channel documentary special about what really happened.  Don't let this week's number one movie be your World War II teacher.  Next week we have three new movies trying to make the top 10 with Moulin Rouge leading the way with The Animal, and What's the Worse That Could Happen close behind.  I see next week's box office being a mess.  Bye for now.