The Dull Drums of Hollywood - Winter 2011

I look online, I look in the Sunday pull-out, I view trailer after trailer, yet nothing cinematic lifts me from the doldrums.  It seems I could always count on something to come along and lift me up, incite or inspire me. Even in the basement season of film releases there's usually a speck of a safe friendly haven on the horizon. Not so this year.  Sanctum ( really, James Cameron) , The Roommate (When A Stranger Calls, One Missed Call,  The Eye,) Just Go With It (Adam Sandler... I like you, but why do you insist on hiring uninspiring Dennis Dugan to direct and irritating Nick Swardson to act. I admire your loyalty, but can't you just pay these guys off so we're not subjected to their mediocrity) The Bieber Movie (what hath the social network. wrought),  Gnomeo and Juliet (bastard cousins to the Veggietales), and later in the month Big Mama Like Father Like Son, Hall Pass and what may be the 7th or 8th film from Nick Cage in the last year or so, Drive Angry(His next movie should be called Pay The Mortgage). 

The only film that seems like it could have some promise is the Liam Neeson thriller Unknown. But unfortunately,  the ads are lackluster and designed to spark remembrance of the surprise February kidnap thriller hit from 3 years ago, Taken. Same advertising campaign, same color palate of muted grays and blues, same over the shoulder gun in hand pose, same editing, same release window. Same stone-faced don't-fuck-with-me-because-I'm-from-Northern-Ireland-where-we-blow-things-up Liam Neeson. Why fix what ain't broke, right? But something is broke because this year's winter of discontent is down in attendance and grosses. And we're talking double digits when it comes to percentages. Is it only movie malaise or something more?


It's nice to see the long legs of holdover specialty division films from December.  Oscar contenders The King's Speech, Black Swan, and The Fighter are all approaching the century mark. (Last year's best pic winner The Hurt Locker another speciality division film  by comparison had accrued a paltry 12 million and change before receiving The Oscar, and then topped out at a disappointing 17 million) Finally some quality films  are making bank.  But all were released in 2010, and while this may bode well for  higher quality films come late fall 2011,  I don't want to wait for October.

In  Winter 2011, The Green Hornet has the distinction of being the most financially successful film of the year thus far with 88 million  Hardly a blockbuster by current standards. And while I haven't seen the film, nothing in the promoting or print ads creates a "must see" feeling, rather I feel a depressing indifference.  


Has there even been a major release since January 2011 that has scored higher than a 60% on Rottentomatoes.com ?  


It's the hair shell Bieber release from Friday (that raked in a hefty 30 million this weekend) with a barely passable 63%.  Reviews and box office aren't the be all and end all, but even an okay film can create heat when it's packaged properly. I suppose Justin Bieber's movie debut has resulted in racing hearts and naughty mysterious feelings "down there" for a particular segment of the population, but it's not me. 

So I am left to drift the rough waters of March where the visually amazing but possibly empty Sucker Punch and the year-delayed Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt loom large. Despite the promo weight behind the afore mentioned films, it's the faux docu Blair Witch in Outer Space promise of Apollo 18 that makes my heart beat a bit faster and reminds me of those low budget sci fi thrillers  of the 70s like Laserblast and Food of The Gods. I always say, just entertain me. Good, bad, but never indifferent. Here's hoping the indifference of January and February gives way to Good Good and Good Bad in the months to come.


****** ugh,  a little side note update.  I just read that Weinstein Company may delay the Apollo 18 release date till late April.  Say it ain't so.  Fading... fading... I...can't...hold... out....................