''The Watcher'' tops sluggish box office
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Crime thriller ``The Watcher,'' starring Keanu Reeves in a rare bad-guy role, topped a sluggish weekend at the NorthAmerican box office, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.
``The Watcher,'' released by Universal Pictures, opened with a modest $9.1 million in ticket sales for the Friday-through-Sunday period.
The film stars Reeves, best known for his hero roles in ''Speed'' and ``The Matrix,'' as a serial killer locked in a cat-and-mouse game with an FBI
agent played by James Spader. Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei co-stars as Spader's compassionate shrink.
Another new release this weekend, the dark comedy ``Nurse Betty'' (USA Films), starring Renee Zellweger in the title role, grossed $7.3 million
to place No. 2 at the box office. The movie, which has garnered mixed reviews, co-stars Greg Kinnear, Morgan Freeman and comedian Chris
Rock.
After three weekends at the top of the box office heap, the high school cheerleader comedy ``Bring It On'' (Universal) slipped to No. 3 with $6.5
million in ticket receipts, pushing its cumulative total to $44.5 million.
The other big release this weekend, ``The Way of the Gun'' (Artisan), a bullet-ridden crime drama about a kidnapping that goes awry, grossed
$2.2 million to enter the box office chart at No. 9.
The Jennifer Lopez psychological thriller ``The Cell'' (New Line Cinema), which enjoyed a No. 1 opening last month, dropped to fourth place in
its fourth weekend, grossing $3.5 million. Its domestic total now stands at $51.2 million.
Clint Eastwood's astronaut adventure ``Space Cowboys'' (Warner Bros.) grossed $2.9 million in its sixth weekend, slipping two notches to No. 5.
Its total haul to date has grown to $78.8 million.
Overall, the end-of-the-summer doldrums continued with the seventh straight weekend of declining ticket sales, compared to the year-ago
period.
The top 12 films together grossed a lackluster $44.7 million, down 28 percent from the same weekend last year, according to box office tracking
service Exhibitor Relations Co. That marked the slowest weekend in North America since Super Bowl weekend at the end of January, an
Exhibitor Relations spokesman said.
Among the latest top 10 movies, the thriller ``What Lies Beneath,'' starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, leads the pack in terms of
cumulative ticket sales, raking in $142.5 million after eight weekends in release. The DreamWorks picture grossed $2.9 million this weekend to
remain at No. 6.
Rounding out this week's top 10 films were: ``The Original Kings of Comedy'' (Paramount Pictures), holding at No. 7 in its fourth weekend with
$2.5 million; ``The Art of War'' (Warner Bros.), slipping four spots to No. 8 with $2.4 million in its third weekend; and ``Highlander: Endgame''
(Miramax Films), dipping five places to No. 10 with $1.8 million.
Reuters/Variety
not
a whole lot for an opening weekend of a wide release. However, it did have
a strong promotional campaign with its previews showing up everywhere on
television and before cinema movies started. But, it also had James Spader,
and his name in the credits means very little. This is also the second
serial killer movie to come out in the past month and 2 is too much. I
seriously considered seeing this, but I chose not to since I generally hate
serial killer movies with a passion since they try to be all real and dramatic,
but they are the most unrealistic things in film. If a real serial killer
ever acted like the ones in the movies, there would be no serial killers.
In the Watcher, Reeves is killing "young women with piano wire"
like he has been doing for some time. Of course since this is a movie,
there can only be one cop tracking this madman, and that is James Spader.
For some reason, Reeves is getting bored and wants to spice things up by sending
photographs to the police of his next victim and giving them a day to find her
before he kills her. What the hell? Just kill her and go about your
business. If you want to get caught so bad, just do a Kevin Spacey in
"Seven" and walk into the 23rd precinct with your hands up. What
is amazing is how the cops take forever to catch the killers when they are
constantly given clues. It's like they're fighting the Riddler or something who
is compelled to give riddles to foreshadow his next caper. In real life,
serial killers kill their victim, dump them in the woods and hope they did not
leave any incriminating carpet 
fibers to be traced back to their
apartment. If you want to see good detective work, watch those HBO
Autopsy specials. They show how you really cannot get away with
anything. What happens at the end of most of these serial killer movies is
the killer is wondering why he is being shot in the forehead when he or she was
committing the perfect crimes. Reeves was getting away with murder for a
long time, but then he gets cocky and has to fight off the advances of Spader
and his psychologist played by Marisa Tomei. I could give rules on
what serial killers should do to not get caught, but I don't think it would be a
public service. The rules are simple, but very difficult to execute, if I
may say. My suggestion is don't take up the practice of killing
people. Go by that rule and you should be alright. Oh, and avoid
serial killer movies and you might be a whole lot better. Reeves has
disowned his involvement in this film and was forced to film it because of a 10
year old handshake. He did it so he wouldn't be sued like Kim Basinger was
for dropping out of "Boxing Helena." Sometimes you gotta take
your chances.
playing the doctor (Greg Kinnear) is actually her ex fiancé and see gets
on the road headed for Los Angeles with Freeman and Rock trying to catch her
before she goes to the police. The movie has a problem of figuring out if
it wants to be a comedy or a dark drama with comedic moments. It starts out
light enough with Renee being a fan of Kinnear and wanting to be a real nurse
since she is so inspired by the TV show. Unfortunately, her husband is
involved in bad drug deal and gets scalped for his troubles, and I do mean the
top of his head is cut off. When this happened, I'm like, "what the
hell?" Was that really necessary? A simple gunshot in the heart
would have sufficed, but for some reason they decided to go old school, like
19th century Native American. But then, the movie jumps to this light tone
as Renee goes catatonic and goes on her quest. She has the missing drugs
her husband stole in the trunk of her car unbeknownst to her. She meets
people who like her but then get confused when she talks about the show as being
real. This whole middle part of the film is what I did not like.
These scenes of "oh you are one crazy broad" when she says "David
Ravel loves me" are ridiculous and not funny. You just sit there waiting
for the moment 
when
she realizes she is a widow and not engaged. The big scene does come, and
is more pathetic than interesting. She also has no chemistry between
herself and Kinnear. Kinnear is in full "Talk Soup" mode with
his big grin and crazy eyebrows. He may have been good in "As Good as
it Gets" playing a gay character, but here he is playing another smart
aleck like in "Playing God" and "Mystery Men." Now he
is an actor playing an actor trying to convince someone he is a real
person. Too confusing. He is okay, but he was not given a part with
any meat to it. Chris Rock plays the darkest character and is the main
villain. You want to laugh when he shows up and you do when he throws out
some of his lines, but he is definitely a crazy thug. It is a bit
unsettling when he gets violent. Rock is too recognized as a comedian and
not as a hitman. Right now he is typecast and it hurts his performance in
the film. The best thing in the movie is Morgan "Easy Reader"
Freeman. This guy has played villains before like in "Street
Smart" and received and Oscar nomination for it. I have been a fan of
his since the 1970s when he
played Easy Reader on the PBS show, "Electric Company." In this
movie he plays a villain with a bit of a heart of gold as he becomes obsessed
with the picture of Renee as he crosses the country to kill her. He has 2
big scenes with Zellweger and has more chemistry with her than she has with
anyone else in the movie. It even looks like they might eventually hook up
romantically it gets so intense. Freeman also plays the character as an
intellectual similar to what he does when he plays police officers. He is
good doing this, but for the character he is supposed to be, it does not make
sense that a guy this intelligent and well read would be a hitman for
hire. Chris Rock actually played the character more like it would be to
make it make sense. Only problem is it was Chris Rock doing it. Freeman
makes you care about him, but you really shouldn't because he kills people for
money. These ambiguities help make the movie a pointless endeavor to
watch and not a must see. There are some good individual scenes such as
Freeman and Rock and the Grand Canyon and the final scenes in the Zellweger's
home. The middle part of the movie is just not interesting and the
characters are just weak or overwritten. You might enjoy it if you buy the
whole premise, but I did not. Final Review: 2 stars out of 5; 5 out
of 10; C-; thumbs down. Okay, but way too many faults.
actors
trying to get a good career going in Hollywood but people still can't remember
who they are. Ryan's big movie was "Cruel Intentions" but no one
saw it for him. Benicio the Bull's biggest film was "Usual
Suspects." His role was small, and I hated him in that because he was
so hard to understand most of the time. Juliette Lewis shows up in this as
another loser with a gun and is also pregnant. She seems to attract these
crazy gun movies like her "Kalifornia" and "Natural Born
Killers" movies. She also has only had one really successful movie
and that was "Cape Fear" and I believe she got an Oscar nomination for
that movie. She is a pretty good actress as long as she is doing what she
did in "The Other Sister," but she comes off like she is crazy in real
life and it is not just an act. This was my first choice of movie to see
this weekend, but I passed because it looked so pitiful from the previews.
The trailer makes little sense in terms of the actual plot which is usually a
death sentence for a movie. If you cannot explain what it is about in less
than 60 seconds, then don't make the movie. When the one guy falls in the
well at the end it gets a laugh, but that is about it. I also like what I
think is a Limp Bizkit song in the trailer. I find myself saying
"it's just one of those days" when know one is looking. For some
reason, Phillippe and The Bull kidnapping a pregnant surrogate mother will give
them the fortune that has been avoiding them all of their lives.
Whatever. The plot did not get over with the fans. Next.
scene and it gets annoying. Even his quieter scenes seem to be on the
brink of mayhem. He is intense and has been since his Serpico and
Godfather days. He plays the head coach of the Sharks in Any Given Sunday
who has to put in a third string quaterback to get his team to the playoffs
after losing 4 games in a row. This third stringer is wild man Jamie Foxx
who may be a little to unruly to keep the team together. He turns out to
be a good player and helps the team but off the field he gets into conflicts
with Pacino, the coach, Cameron Diaz the owner, and L. L. Cool J. as a running
back who feels he is not getting the ball enough to improve his football
stats. Also along for the ride is the great Lawrence "Joe Theisman's
Daddy" Taylor as a guy trying to finish out his career before he breaks his
neck. All of the acting in this movie is quite good. Pacino does
nothing extraordinary, but his average work is still very good. Jamie Foxx
is very good in a very different role from what he usually does on "In
Living Color" and "The Jamie Foxx Show." He is comedic
here, but he has several dramatic scenes that come off pretty well. He
holds back the outrageousness he probably will show in his upcoming film, "
Bait."
Taylor has a smaller role, but he has a good natural screen presence and it
helps that since he was a football player, he is in his natural element.
Diaz is alright and holds her own with Al, but her character is pretty one note
and nothing too special. Just going by the performances, I would give this
movie a strong recommendation. The problems I have with the film are the
weak plot, the poorly directed football games, and the fact that there seems to
be too much football and not enough time on getting to know the players.
The plot is weak because there really is none. It is just a half season of
football and the interworkings of who gets to play and why. They show the
players picking up hookers and doing cocaine but there are no consequences
shown. No one overdoses and no one is arrested. It is funny to see
characters doing blow with a real life crackhead like Lawrence Taylor was
drinking soda. It was probably awkward for him to see those scenes
filmed. The football games are shot with quick MTV type cuts that make it
hard to follow what is
going on at any one time. They play like a movie and not like a real movie
even though the movie is advertised as being realistic. One game has a guy
lose his eye and you see it laying on the field. It looked more realistic
in "Evil Dead 2." The editing is not good because it is hard to
follow the scores of the game. It seems like the director, Oliver Stone, changes
scenes in mid plays. One moment it is 7 to 0 and then the very next scene
it is 20 - 24 or something with no flow. You think, oh, the good guys are
getting killed and then the next scene the game is tied with 1 minute left in
the fourth quarter. Since there are so many games in the film and they are
all cut like that, it makes the movie very annoying to sit through. The
movie is okay and is better than many football films, but it is not something I
would recommend you rush out and see. Final Review: 2 stars out of
5; 5 out of 10; C-; thumbs down. For fun go see Nurse Betty and rent
AGS. Just make sure the Tylenol is near by for the headache you are sure
to get.