Best of Black Sheep: TWILIGHT

Written by Melissa Rosenberg
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson


Edward Cullen: I wanted to kill you. I never wanted a human being’s blood so much.

It may occasionally sound like a vampire movie but TWILIGHT certainly doesn’t look like any vampire movie I’ve ever seen. For starters, some of these particular vampires are vegetarians. It is much less a movie about vampires as it a movie that just happens to have vampires. You might even say it is the BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN of vampire movies. This is not to say it is anywhere near as good; just that director Catherine Hardwicke cleared the path so that you could see the love and not just the blood lust one would expect. That love is shared between Bella and Edward (played by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson). She just moved back to this tiny town to spend some time with her estranged father and he too just moved back to this same town after being away for a few decades. She is 17 and he looks like he’s 17 (he also looks like he’s ready for an all vampire cabaret revue with all that face makeup but that’s besides the point) but really he was born way back near the turn of the century, the last century. Doesn’t anyone else see something wrong with this picture? He could realistically be her great grandfather, people.


This is Bella’s story really and her perspective is what brings both sensitivity and assertive confidence to TWILIGHT. Bella’s relationship with her father is understandably tricky. Her newfound friends from school take some definite getting used to. And as if her life weren’t complicated enough already, what with the big move and the inevitable adjustment period, she just had to go and fall “hang upside down from the rafters” in love with a vampire. The best part about the somewhat ridiculous premise (I say somewhat because maybe vampires really do exist, even vegetarian ones), is that Hardwicke has grounded it firmly. Imagine a teenage movie where none of the “youngins” utter inspired brilliance every time they open their mouths. No, these folks are actually awkward; they actually don’t know what to say sometimes. And they actually live in a place where not everything they wear is right off the runway. All of this realism helps make the supernatural element all the more plausible but it also brings to light a couple of points of concern about the teenage girl.


TWILIGHT reinforces one of the most unfortunate clichés around these days. Every girl out there just really wants a bad boy. They don’t even care if they have admittedly drained innocent bodies of all their blood before. We should definitely make sure that the legions of young girls who see this film, or read the Stephanie Meyers book it is based upon, believe that love can resolve any obstacle, be that a difference of opinion, a disagreement or the distinct possibility that your boyfriend may one day wake in the middle of the night to find he can no longer resist the urge to drink your blood. It is easy to get sucked in to TWILIGHT’s lore (Get it? Sucked?) because we all have these distorted ideas of love ingrained inside of us but last I checked, a guy who sneaks into your room to watch you sleep is called a stalker, not a romantic. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from TWILIGHT though, it is that a teenage girl’s love is infinitely stronger than a vampire’s lust for blood. Oh, and that girls love all things that sparkle.


My apologies to the technical geeks and true fans out there. I had too much to say about this film to go into detail about all the blu-ray special features. I will just say that if you are a fan of this film, you will not be disappointed with which your admiration has been rewarded. There is feature commentary with the director and two leads; the behind the scenes featurettes go through most of the production stages and can be seen picture in picture on blu-ray (which, if you're like me and didn't know what that was before, means that you can watch the film and a separate screen will appear in the corner to give you information about the scene that is playing). On the whole, all the special features point towards the care with which this production came to life and how much it has meant to legions of fans. There are even music videos by Linkin Park and Paramore. You tell me, what more could a bloodthirsty teenage girl want?

FILM

BD

BLU-REVIEW: NORTH BY NORTHWEST

Written by Ernest Lehman
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason


In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock, considered by many in the industry to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest filmmaker of all time, released what many would also consider to be one of his greatest films off all time, VERTIGO. In 1960, Hitchcock released PSYCHO, perhaps his most infamous work. In between these two films, Hitchcock released one of his most stylish and ambitious projects, NORTH BY NORTHWEST. And with that, you have a period considered to be the most creative of his entire career.


While Hitchcock is often seen as larger than life, he is but a man, just like the man at the center of NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant). Thornhill, a fast-talking ad man in Manhattan thinks he’s flying high on life until the most mundane of events causes him to be mistaken for a man named Kaplan. From that moment on, he might as well be Kaplan as no one will believe him when he says he isn’t. As Thornhill suffers, ever so dashingly thanks to the debonair Mr. Grant, Hitchcock delights in every moment of it. In turn, his delight becomes ours.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and Warner Bros. has released a newly restored version to commemorate not just this occasion but also Hitchcock’s HD debut. It has been packaged as one of their distinguished Blu-Ray books and the special features will please fans of the film while educating newcomers. There are two brand new behind the scenes features, one about the making of the film and one about the man behind the camera. Screenwriter, Ernest Lehman provides an insightful commentary track and Eva Marie Saint, Grant’s love interest in the film, gives you a first hand account of what it was like on the set. All of these special features and the handful of others I didn’t mention, are nothing in comparison though to the crisp restoration that ensures that NORTH BY NORTHWEST will go on to be appreciated for years to come.


Whether you’re on the edge of your seat during the airplane chase in the cornfield, completely taken with Grant And Saint’s playful exchange on the train or just plain floored by the magnitude of the climax on Mount Rushmore, there is no denying the place NORTH BY NORTHWEST holds in film history. It is iconic; it is memorable; and thanks to the genius that is Alfred Hitchcock, it is both a fine piece of cinema and also one heck of a good chase.

FILM AND BLU-RAY

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: 2012 Flattens the Planet

The end of the world is a popular topic in film and television these days but no picture deals with it more directly or exploits our fear surrounding the subject more than 2012. I don't know what our fascination is with wanting to see potential scenarios for our demise but we are definitely fixed on it - 2012's $225 million global take is the 9th biggest in history. $65 million of that came from its domestic tickets, including my own. I caught the Roland Emmerich hit on Saturday morning and the theatre was packed. Did I mention it was morning? It must be bittersweet for Sony though. They have a huge hit on their hands but no possibility for a sequel.


If I were Oprah, I would be doin' a little dance right now. Her pet project, PRECIOUS, continued to devour everything in its indie path this weekend. After debuting to record breaking figures last week on just 18 screens, it managed to make the Top 5 on just 174 screens this weekend. Maintaining an excellent per screen average of $35K, PRECIOUS is redefining the traditional expectations of art house releases. As its wide release isn't even expected for another couple of weeks, it looks like PRECIOUS is going to be around for a while. Look out, Oscar!


The rest of the Top 10 saw a much needed strong hold for Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL, a significant loss of interest in MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT and both PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and COUPLES RETREAT crossed the $100 million mark. The week's biggest per screen average went to a title outside the Top 10, despite the strong numbers posted by PRECIOUS and 2012. No, this week's highest per screen average was $65K and that was had by the wonderful, the tremendous, the FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Wes Anderson's first animated feature showed strong legs on four screens in NYC and L.A. and will try to steal away the rest of the country on Thanksgiving when it goes wide. Other indie successes this week include Oscar contender, THE MESSENGER ($12.5K on 4 screens) and AN EDUCATION continued to expand gracefully (a 24% increase on 37 new screens).


NEXT WEEK: Sandra Bullock shows off her southern side in THE BLIND SIDE (3100 screens) and PLANET 51 tries to pretend its a Pixar feature on 2600 screens but it doesn't matter. How could it when TWILIGHT: NEW MOON attacks over 4000 screens?

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

A PRECIOUS JOURNEY (part two)

An interview with director, Lee Daniels and star, Gabby Sidibe


Now that PRECIOUS has started playing in limited release, I will finally get an answer to something I’ve been wondering since I saw it last September. Will audiences choose to see a film in theatres knowing that it will likely kick them in the gut repeatedly, leaving them bloody and bruised on the floor? It broke records on 18 screens last weekend and unrolls onto another 174 screens this weekend. Lionsgate plans to push it to 600 screens in time for Thanksgiving, a holiday that Precious herself would never have had the opportunity to experience.

It has been selling out screenings all week so the future looks bright. I am both pleased and relieved by this. The biggest impact PRECIOUS has on its viewer is to bring a mirror to the viewer’s face, exposing a layer of ignorance so deep that the viewer may not even be aware of it prior. Precious is the kind of girl one walks right past in the street while casually judging her weight and making presumptions about who she is as a person. PRECIOUS forces you to think about how every person has a story that brought them to precisely where they are. The film has the potential wake people up, to make them more open but we cannot see how closed we are if we never walk past her to begin with.

When asked how he did it, director, Lee Daniels, attributes this effect to one specific approach in his direction. “I just tried to capture moments of truth.” And the truth subsequently follows through on its promise to set things free.


These moments of truth depended on Daniels getting his cast to understand their characters’ truths and with a cast that consists of an unknown, a comedienne and a diva, that could not have been easy.

“I knew exactly what I wanted from every one,” Daniels answers when asked about the eclectic cast. “I knew when I hired them what I was going to get.”

I’m glad he knew because I would never have suspected that any of these actors were capable of pulling the sincerity from their souls that they did. In fact, I would never have necessarily referred to a couple of them as actual actors. Again though, it is about opening your mind and that is clearly what Daniels got them to do.

“Mr. Daniels and I had so many conversations about who this character was and that helped me get it,” Precious herself, Gabby Sidibe, admits when asked how she found this character. Her trust in her director was so strong she even refused to talk to the author of the original book, Sapphire, prior to filming. “I didn’t want any different direction about who this character was. The creator of this character, she really could have thrown me off.”

With that much trust in the captain, how exactly does he run his ship? “When I am doing a film, it is very much like a theatre piece,” Lee begins. “There are no egos except mine.” Having worked in theatre, I can attest that this is pretty much the only way it comes together but does Daniels seriously expect me to believe that Mariah or Mo’Nique left their egos at home?


“Mariah came with zero – no posse, no makeup – and she remained that way. She was putting makeup on Gabby. Mo’Nique was feeding people at the service table.” Daniels beams with pride as he tells me this. “It was a union nightmare but I believed that we were one. I think that’s the magic of the film.”

With material as difficult as this, I cannot imagine the cast not bonding. If anything, they would need to in order to just get through it all. Still, it could not have been an easy set to be on.

“The air was stale and shady sometimes,” admits Sidibe. “Most of the time, Mr. Daniels would call cut and we would laugh. With other scenes though, between takes we would just sit there and avoid eye contact.”

Daniels remembers it the same way but he seems as if part of him is still there. “I get transported back into just being there,” Daniels confides but not before getting choked up and noticeably emotional. “It was a very powerful thing, to just let the material speak for itself.”

So what is the secret formula to make something as tricky as this work so beautifully? “Anything to get the performance!” Daniels proclaims before getting specific about his technique. “I didn’t want tears at all. By not wanting tears, we got the truth. So by not directing them, I did direct them. I knew that if we were just in the moment, then it would happen.”

I will point out at this stage that there are plenty of tears in PRECIOUS. Daniels may not have asked for them but he still got them.


Mariah and Mo’Nique aside, Sidibe, the only actor coming in with zero experience, is perhaps his greatest achievement. The performance he pulled from her is so transformative that when I met her in person, I was myself floored by her outgoing personality. I never saw that coming.

“I don’t know if I can yet say that I am proud of myself because I can’t really see that yet,” Sidibe earnestly confides. “It feels like such a conceited notion to be proud of yourself. It is a completely different girl up there though.”

This whole other girl is changing the lives of everyone she comes in contact with. But has Precious and the subsequent whirlwind the film has been picked up into changed the girl who brought her to life?

“No,” Sidibe asserts by tacking on at least ten more O’s on the end of that word. “There are maybe ten days out of the year where I’m a big deal so this is still something big for me.”

Wait until you hear your name called out for an Oscar nomination, Gabby. Talk to me then.

It was a pleasure meeting both of these talented, appreciative people. I urge anyone who reads this to see PRECIOUS when it plays in your city. We all need to be set free.

A PRECIOUS JOURNEY (part one)

Interviews with PRECIOUS director, Lee Daniels and star, Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe


It didn’t always have this name. Back in 1996, when Claireece “Precious” Jones was first introduced to the world, it had another name altogether. Back then, it was a book and it was called “Push”. It was still called “Push” when its film incarnation debuted at the Sundance film festival in January of this year. In fact, it was still called “Push” when it went on to win both the audience and the critic’s award at that festival, a rare feat. It was only then that things changed. It had moved people; it had floored them. It was then that “Push” became “Precious”.

More specifically, the film adaptation of Sapphire’s acclaimed novel is called PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE. And to be fair, the name change did not come about because the new title was more emotionally evocative than the original. A superhero movie called PUSH that came and went pretty quick this spring owned the rights to that name so it was necessary to change it when Lionsgate came on as North American distributor at Sundance. I personally prefer the new title.

“Really? I was so hurt by the change.” This is the first thing that Gabourey Sidibe says to me when we meet at the Toronto International Film Festival. Things are off to a great start.


When a little known film producer named Lee Daniels first approached Sapphire about adapting the novel that meant so much to so many, she wanted nothing to do with him. It wasn’t until he had some concrete experience directing (his first feature was the critically panned, SHADOWBOXER, starring Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr.) that she even allowed herself to consider his request. Sapphire appreciated Daniels’ seemingly natural interest in difficult subjects – Daniels had previously produced THE WOODSMAN and MONSTER’S BALL – and figured him the best man for the job.

Once Daniels had the rights, he was not letting go of the direction he wanted to take. “I had fought so long to get to do PRECIOUS. I knew what I wanted and what I was doing. I didn’t care what anybody else said,” Daniels tells me when we meet at TIFF. “It was my book. It was my story.”

While this may at first sound somewhat arrogant, I assure you there is nothing remotely smug about Daniels. In person, he is self-effacing and clearly overwhelmed by the heaps of praise both he and the film have received. He is also warm, receptive and surprisingly candid, whether he is talking about the film, his cast or himself.

Daniels worked with first time screenwriter, Geoffrey Fletcher, to adapt Sapphire’s harrowing stream-of-consciousness novel. It was not easy. “If I had done the book the way it is written, it would be x-rated,” he proclaims rather starkly. “Sapphire’s book delves deep into the truth and stays there. Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, she just goes right back there.”


To alleviate some of the tension the novel manifests, which is not to suggest that Daniels and Fletcher sugarcoated any aspect of it, they included a fantasy world for Precious to escape to whenever necessary. This is the most significant departure from page to screen and, so far, enthusiasts of the novel have not had any major issue with the addition. Of course, everyone involved in the project wanted to honour the book and its fans. “Being a fan of the book, I just really, really wanted to get it right,” confides Sidibe, perhaps the person with the most pressure to perform after Daniels himself. “I wanted to stay true as a fan myself,” she continues. “I hate it when adaptations don’t get it right.”

To meet Sidibe in person is mind-blowing. How could this jovial, delightful girl have transformed herself into such an introvert? Sidibe landed this demanding role in what seemed to her like the blink of an eye. “There weren’t a lot of girls who met the physical requirements of the role,” she quips as if her weight, which was beefed up an extra seventy pounds prosthetically during filming, was the only reason she got the role. “Monday was the audition; Tuesday was the callback; Wednesday I got the part without having to audition again.” Sidibe had responded to an open casting call in Manhattan and prior to this, she had only appeared in some college theatre productions. She seemed destined for this part and now she is an Oscar front-runner. Not bad for her first role.

Destiny, whether that be a great personal triumph or a great tragedy, is central to PRECIOUS. And right now, it would seem that PRECIOUS is destined to reach many people and move even more. Of course, lots of movies move people on a regular basis but PRECIOUS is different. PRECIOUS is an experience that most infrequent filmgoers are unaccustomed to. It deals with illiteracy, poverty, abuse of all kinds, teen pregnancy and incest. When was the last time the masses came out for something like that?


Suddenly, the girl that everyone would walk right past in the street without noticing is the one that everyone wants to see. And who do we have to thank for that? Oprah, of course.

Oprah Winfrey and independent movie mogul, Tyler Perry, both signed on as executive producers after PRECIOUS premiered at Sundance. As a result, the attention the film is getting is almost deafening. It was honoured with standing ovations at Cannes. It won the Audience Award at TIFF. It broke records for limited releases when it hit theatres last weekend, pulling in nearly $2 million on just 18 screens. A Best Picture nomination is almost guaranteed.

How does this affect the director? “I am humbled by all of it,” Daniels states with sincerity and cracks in his voice. “I have to embrace this moment, savour it. That is ultimately what PRECIOUS is all about, appreciating what you have.”

Imagine, there’s only more greatness to come.

(Part Two of Black Sheep’s PRECIOUS feature will run tomorrow.)

Best of Black Sheep: PRECIOUS BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE

Written by Geoffrey Fletcher
Directed by Lee Daniels
Starring Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz



EDITOR'S NOTE:
By now, you have certainly heard about PRECIOUS. It is certainly connecting with people in an inspired fashion and Black Sheep Reviews will be taking a closer look at the Lee Daniels film over the course of the next few days. PRECIOUS has had an incredible journey and Black Sheep will break that down for you with interviews with the film's director and its star, Gabourey Sidibe. For now, here are my initial thoughts on the film when I caught it at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award.

Changing the name from “Push” to “Precious” was a smart thing for Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry to do after theysigned on as executive producers on this one. If there is one thing that Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS does, it reminds you just how that word applies to life. No matter how bad you thought you might have it before you see this movie, you will think you’re living large by the time it is over. And the best thing about PRECIOUS is that it doesn’t ask us for our sympathy, it inspires it.


Newcomer, Gabby Sidibe, plays the title character. At 16 years old, she can barely read, she is seriously overweight and is pregnant with her second child. She lives with her mother (Mo’Nique), who sees her more as a means to get bigger welfare cheques and much less an actual daughter. She treats her with even less respect than that, if you can believe it. I am only scratching the surface here. Precious has problems that I cannot even imagine and the stark manner in which Daniels lets bomb after bomb drop on the Harlem circa 1987 setting not only shakes you out of your comfort with the film but also with yourself.


PRECIOUS boasts incredible performances from the entire cast – including smaller parts from The View’s Sheri Shephard and a completely stripped down Mariah Carey as a lowly cubicle social worker. (Diva even has a mustache!) It is the mother/daughter dueling between Mo’Nique and Sidibe that will be getting the most attention though and deservedly so. Their relationship is so strained but these two actors fill the wide space between them with complexities so deep that you are not comfortable being in the same room as both of them. Novice director, Daniels has guided some of the most unexpected and delicate performances of the year.


Ordinarily, modern human nature dictates that we should look away from such hardship – that matters like these are private ones and we have no business getting involved. Of course, this is just an excuse we tell ourselves so that we don’t actually have to get involved. PRECIOUS doesn’t allow you to look the other way though. More importantly, it reminds us that problems do not belong to one but to all and that everything is a gift of the universe.

Best of Black Sheep: IN THE LOOP

Written by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Arnando Iannucci and Tony Roche
Directed by Arnando Iannucci
Staring Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky and James Gandolfini


Michael Rodgers: No, you needn’t worry about the Canadians; they’re always happy to be there. They’re always surprised to be invited.

EDITOR'S NOTE: IN THE LOOP is by far one of the most hilarious films I have seen all year and it is now available to rent and own, courtesy of Alliance Films here in Canada. Not only is it hilarious but it is also biting and fearless politically. Oh, and it has some of the most outlandishly foul language I've ever heard on film. See this film! Here are the extras on the home video release:

Deleted Scenes
Audio Commentary with Cast and Director
Interview with Gina McKee and Chris Addison
Interview with Tom Hollander
Interview with Peter Capaldi
Interview with Director Armando Ianucci
Trailer
Webisodes

And now, here is my review from its theatrical release this past summer.


Pretty much everyone knows what it means to be in the loop and naturally, pretty much everyone wants to be there as often as possible. When it comes to the political players of British comedian, Arnando Iannucci’s first feature film, IN THE LOOP, people are falling in and out of the loop several times an hour. To watch them all scramble makes for two hours of absolutely hilarious political satire that not only exposes the buffoonery of both the American and British governments but also exposes the harsh realities that come to existence because no one seems to know what they’re doing.


That isn’t quite fair. Everyone in IN THE LOOP seems to know what they’re doing, well mostly. They’re just doing everything for their own gain without any regard for the people who elected them to be there. This isn’t exactly a revelation but the language in which Iannucci lets us in his own personal loop is certainly pretty close to revelatory. Never before have I heard such inspired, outrageous dialogue. For instance, I have never heard anyone referred to as a lubricated horse cock before. If you can handle the dirt, then IN THE LOOP will pull so many laughs from your gut that you will feel as though you have been doing crunches the entire time you’ve been watching it.


IN THE LOOP tells its own version of how the United States and Britain convinced (or conned, depending on how you want to see it) the United Nations that they could go to war in Iraq despite their objections. Granted, they are still there and people are dying so perhaps we shouldn’t be laughing this hard but that’s the great thing about satire when it is done right. It is not only sharp, brilliant and hysterical but it is also a scathing condemnation on war profiteering and personal gain at any expense. Iannucci has plenty of experience with the topic, having produced the British show, “The Thick of It”, which IN THE LOOP is based on, and he uses his expertise to cut through the superfluous so that he can kick hard where it truly hurts.


It pays to be those in the know. When the potential of the Iraq war was being talked up all over the news and Washington, those of us sitting at home were frustrated because we were simply not in that particular loop. We were being fed certain stories that were being used as justifications and even though none of it seemed to be based in any fact, we had to accept it for what it was because there was no way for us disprove any of it. IN THE LOOP finally gets us in there, even though it is making it all up as it goes along. That’s the funniest part though; they were making it all up back then too.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Christmas Comes Early ... Too Early

It seemed promising enough on Friday. Robert Zemeckis's expensive remake of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, starring Jim Carrey, debuted strong, prompting some to expect a weekend take north of $40 million. The final tally came in around $31 million and begs the question, why? Could be that audiences aren't ready for Christmas just yet but it could also be that audiences are not connecting with Zemeckis's obsession with motion capture animation. His previous effort, THE POLAR EXPRESS, was hardly a resounding success and the word on A CHRISTMAS CAROL is that some of it works but it is just as cold and lifeless this time out with Carrey as it was with Tom Hanks. The past and present are pretty shaky for motion capture animation so unless the ghost of Christmas future has a few tricks in store, Zemeckis might have to go back to making movies the old fashioned way ... just once.


This week's big winner is a pleasant surprise. Yes, it won the Audience Award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Yes, Mo'Nique was on Ellen and Mariah did Larry King this week. And yes, Oprah has been telling all of her minions to see it for weeks now. Still, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE is difficult movie to watch so it would naturally repel certain viewers. I'm happy to report that audiences in the four cities that it is currently playing in decided not to cower but to face the harshness head on. PRECIOUS earned over $1.8 million on just 18 screens in all of America. That makes its $100K per screen average a record breaker for an urban picture and one of the 25 greatest per screen averages of all time. It should be noted that the greater per screens are for lower screen counts, making PRECIOUS look even more impressive. Best Picture, here we come? (Note: Black Sheep's interview with the director and star is coming soon!)


There was a lot of other activity in the Top 10 and for the first time in while, it wasn't paranormal. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY did continue to hold up well though. I can't say I understand why now that Halloween is done with and everyone should know by now that it isn't anywhere near as scary as was suggested. Its continued success may explain why THE FOURTH KIND did not blow up, instead managing a respectable fourth place finish. Coming in ahead at number three was the George Clooney/Ewan MacGregor war farce, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS. Adult films are harder and harder to sell and subsequently, the $13 million debut is considered to be a win for Overture. Neither film was able to take down MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT. I finally caught that one this weekend and the theatre was definitely packed so Jackson's music is alive and well. I cannot say the same for Richard Kelley's follow-up to DONNIE DARKO, THE BOX. The film, which fizzled in sixth place, asks if you would take a million dollars if you knew someone random in the world would die. The answer: Nobody cares.


NEXT WEEK: PRECIOUS will expand slowly and Wes Anderson's first foray into animation, FANTASTIC MR. FOX, debuts on 4 screens. I caught it this week ... see it! PIRATE RADIO wants to dominate the airwaves on 900 screens but none of this matters. Nope because next week the world ends when 2012 debuts on 3000+ screens. It was nice knowing you.

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo

ABC: E is for EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
Written by Caroline Thompson
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring Johhny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest and Alan Arkin


I can’t say how many years it has been since I last saw Tim Burton’s EDWARD SCISSORHANDS but I can say that I wasn’t prepared to have it come over me the way that it did when I watched it again recently. There I was, just sitting in my living room alone one night, taking notes on this variation of the “Frankenstein” story, and before it ended, I was crying. I was fully moved by the palpable love that was emanating from my screen and then I remembered something … This is a Tim Burton movie and I’m overwhelmed with love. Hmmm …


In case you’re not familiar, this 1990 film, tells the story of Edward, a man-made man who was unfortunately unfinished at the time of the inventor’s death. He had a head, a heart and a soul but he had no hands. In their place, he had scissors. Having scissors for hands and no interaction with anyone for an undetermined amount of years left Edward detached from society and, without the reassuring touch of another human being, he felt incapable of connecting. He lived in peace, albeit lonesome, atop a hill in a mansion that overlooked this quaint suburban Burbank neighborhood, until one day, when none other than Peg, the Avon lady, knocked on his door. When Peg (Dianne Wiest) saw that Edward (Johnny Depp) needed so much more than cosmetics, she decided to take him home with her. What she didn’t anticipate was how a supposedly normal society would react to such a supposed freak.


Burton considers EDWARD SCISSORHANDS to be one of his most personal works and, when you consider it to be the birthplace of so many recurring Burton themes and motifs, it is easy to see why. Burton himself grew up in Burbank and, although I cannot personally attest to his accuracy in recreating it, I can certainly feel what it must have been like for such a unique artist to have grown up in this type of environment. Edward, with his pale skin, unkempt black hair and, well, scissors for hands, is at first the object of total fascination in this community that consists of cookie-cutter houses that vary in pastel exteriors. Inside these houses are men who all leave for work at the same every day and their wives, the originally desperate ones, who need the drama of the neighborhood to give their lives meaning. With everyone playing house, there is no room for different and no reference as to how to deal with it.


Being the outsider, being misunderstood, being dark and having people wrongly equate that with evil – these are all themes that Burton is obsessed with and certainly also themes that spring directly from his own experiences with society. EDWARD SCISSORHANDS allows him to put himself out there and allows the viewer to see what he presumes to be how a wider audience will react to him. And so, his expectation is that they will embrace and admire his differences at first but eventually come to revile him for them. A burst of excitement is all these rutted people crave but they learn quickly that they prefer the comfort that ruts also often offer. Of course, Burton’s onscreen representation is exaggerated by Depp. At this stage in his career, Depp was seen as merely a teen idol, which was not meshing with how he wanted to be seen or where he wanted his career to go. With his sweet face covered in makeup and scars, Depp was able to show audiences his Keaton-esque side – his humour, his empathy and his charm.


At one point, Edward is on a daytime talk show and one of the audience members asks him if he would have his scissors replaced by hands if that were possible. Edward doesn’t hesitate and says, “Yes.” But then, the lady in the audience points out, he would be just like everyone else, that there would be nothing special about him. This is where this unexpected Burton-esque optimism fills the screen. Peg, sitting next to Edward, says that he will always be special. In that moment, we are all Edward. We all have something unique about us that, if we cannot hide, ostracizes us from everyone else. When you live your life removed from everyone, you do not know the healing qualities of human touch. And when no one has touched you in a long time, you can lose the confidence to reach out and touch someone else. You may even think that you are not even capable of it.


Behind the scissors that keep everyone at a distance, Edward is just a man and, like any man with a sensitive heart, he simply wants to love. And what could be more lovely than the image of a young Winona Ryder spinning freely underneath the snow-like shavings of an ice sculpture that Edward is carving just for her? With EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, Burton shares this wonderful gift with his Edward, with his audience and with himself. Suddenly, the Burbank boy that always felt different knows what its like to touch the hearts of others.

Paranormal Goat Activity

Ok, so I love this trailer. I thoroughly enjoyed THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS and actually thought that PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was one of the biggest disappointments of the year, a lame goat, if you will. That said, I am loving this mashup!

Best of Black Sheep: THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

I’m not sure what I was expecting considering the title. I can say that what I got from Grant Heslov’s new film, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, I could never have expected even if I tried. Heslov tells you right away that most of what you’re about to see is truer than you would think, which implies that at least some of what you’re about to see is a fat lie. What actually follows is so entirely ludicrous that it’s hard to imagine it as either made up or the truth. The other thing I wasn’t expecting before going in was laughing as hard and as often as I did.


Ewan McGregor is back in familiar territory as an earnest, likeable lead. He plays reporter and underachiever, Bob Wilton. His wife has just left him and he has, in turn, left the United States for Iraq. It is 2003 and he wants to prove to the world and himself that he is worth something by writing the best post-Iraq war feature ever written. He decides the best angle for his story is to be found with Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney). Cassidy, an army man himself, used to roll with the U.S. Army’s New Earth Division, a division based on the principal that peace is the only thing that can actually win a war and that takes from the paranormal studies to develop its weaponry and calls its top soldiers Jedi warriors. Cassidy himself is said to be able to stare at goats long enough to make their hearts stop. How the U.S. army could have funded any of this is beyond me but it was … or at least some of it was.


I’ll be honest; I am not sure whether Heslov is suggesting that this approach is just as nonsensical as the military methods that we’re familiar with now or that war makes no sense no matter what your plan of attack is. All I know is that when McGregor asks Clooney what a Jedi warrior is, the theatre erupts in laughter. Now, that’s using the force.

Best of Black Sheep: FOOD INC

Written and Directed by Robert Kenner


“It looks like a tomato but it’s more of a notional tomato, the idea of a tomato.”

Editor's Note:
FOOD INC, one of the most compelling and essential documentaries of the year is now available on DVD courtesy of Alliance Films. The DVD release itself contains the following extras:

- Deleted Scenes
- Celebrity Public Service Announcements
- Resources
- ABC News Nightline "You Are What You Eat": Food With Integrity
- "The Amazing Food Detective" and "Snacktown Smackdown": Stay Active and Eat Healthy

Please take the time to check out this fantastic film. I know that knowing what you're really eating is frightening but it is also vital to your health. In the meantime, here is my review of the film from its theatrical release ...


If we are what we eat, then none of us are going to make it. FOOD INC is one of the scariest movies of the year and also one that will sadly not be seen by as many as it should. Our parents watch over us when we’re young and stop us if we are going to put something in our mouths that we shouldn’t, like gum we find on the floor or something equally bacteria ridden. And yes, these same parents would put the best possible food they could on the tables but no one wants to ask any questions about how this food actually got from the farm to the table. Whenever I have recommended to anyone that they see FOOD INC, the first thing they ask is if this is the kind of movie that shows us what we’re really eating. When I tell them it is, they want nothing to do with it. Apparently, when it comes to food, ignorance is bliss … with a big fat side of fries.


First time feature filmmaker, Robert Kenner has put together an important film that is actually a lot easier to chew and digest than you would expect. Watching FOOD INC is not going to make you lose your lunch. It will however open your eyes to what you really were packing for lunch. At first, Kenner had been working with author, Eric Schlosser, to make a documentary of Schlosser’s fascinating expose, FAST FOOD NATION. That was unfortunately made into a lackluster fictional work instead but now FOOD INC is the movie I always wanted FAST FOOD NATION to be. Schlosser is still on hand as an expert (whose favorite meal, ironically, is burgers and fries) but this film does not focus solely on the role fast food has played in the decline of our food production. Instead, it starts there and looks at the cleanliness of slaughterhouses, the conglomerate control of farming and the government bias that ensures that manufacturers are better protected than the consumers.


FOOD INC is not some prejudicial disparagement of the American food industry. In fact, it is almost forgiving of the corporate driven field as it states a number of times that the situation we find ourselves in today was likely unintended at the onset. Like other documentaries that cry out for change that will benefit humanity though, it offers little advice to go forward with. There are a number of suggestions at the close of the film of how we the little people can make a difference for our selves and for others but after seeing just how much excess fat we are already drowning in, it is hard to think that these suggestion truly will better future generations. Still, we must start somewhere and we should all start by seeing FOOD INC.

For a list of things you can do right now to improve how you eat, visit the film’s website.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: The Saw Is Finally Dull

It may not be too fair to say so but it would seem that the SAW series has finally warn out its welcome. Ordinarily, it isn't Halloween if it isn't SAW but the sixth installment of the consistently successful franchise pulled in less than half of what the fifth film did. The reason I say it may not be fair to send SAW to the grave just yet is because the SAW series has never had a force as monumental as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY to deal with in past years. This phenomenon added over 1100 screens this week and saw its earnings increase another 12% for a first place finish six weeks after its initial release. With Halloween coming next week, there is no question that the film will continue to haunt minds and multiplexes for at least the next little while.


Last week's champ, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, suffered a non-too-surprising 55% drop, suggesting that fans have come and gone already and that it doesn't have the legs to really let loose. Still, it was the top family draw this weekend as audiences showed little interest in the animated big screen adaptation of ASTRO BOY, which landed hard in sixth place. That landing is nothing compared to the nosedive crash of AMELIA. The Hilary Swank Oscar bait missed out on the Top 10 entirely, coming in 11th place, with just over $4 million. Other notable films this week include continued success for the Coen Brothers' A SERIOUS MAN (12th place finish with a 34% increase), Chris Rock's documentary, GOOD HAIR (pulling in over $1 million on 460 screens), the delicate and lovely AN EDUCATION ($13K per screen average, more than any other film in release) and the not to be missed, THE DAMNED UNITED (115% increase on 36 screens). Finally, Lars Von Trier's latest, ANTICHRIST, debuted to an average of $12K per screen on just six screens and will expand next week. Speaking of which ...

NEXT WEEK: Nobody wants to get in the way of the king ... Michael Jackson's THIS IS IT is the only major release next week, hitting 3400 screens on Wednesday for a limited time. I don't know about you but I am very curious to see if this is really it finally.

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo