Black Sheep @ The Box Office

My apologies for missing the box office last weekend.  It was my birthday weekend and I was a little wrecked on Sunday.  Just a little though.  I still had enough juice to check out HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, which I thought was plenty funny, if not a little too good to be true in the end.  Maybe casting Steve Carrell in the John Cusack part would have made for better box office because it seems like Carrell almost always does well.  Sure, DATE NIGHT is his lowest opener since THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN but it's not like that movie did him so bad.

DATE NIGHT, boosted certainly from Tina Fey followers as well, pulled in a strong $27 million debut to steal first place from CLASH OF THE TITANS and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, all three of which were in position to come in first after Friday's returns.  As far as Fey is concerned, this is definitely her strongest opening to date.  The new comedy dream team already have another project in the works and the success of this film will certainly help NBC's Thursday night viewership as well.  Meanwhile, TITANS crashed an expected 56% and DRAGON managed a strong hold, dropping off only 12%.

Elsewhere in the Top 10, the cancer drama, LETTERS TO GOD, managed to crack the list but barely with an unenthusiastic average of $1300 per screen.  Below the Top 10, the art house fare made very few waves.  Apparition Films celebrated Kristen Stewart's 20th birthday on Friday by adding 120 screens to the floundering run of THE RUNAWAYS.  The total was boosted over 130% but still only managed an average of $2300 per screen.  And with news of an impending American remake, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, continues limited success, pulling in another $550K on just 125 screens.

NEXT WEEK: Super heroes get a little less super in KICK-ASS, blasting out of their pajamas and onto 3000 screens.  Neil LaBute's remake of DEATH AT A FUNERAL with Chris Rock and Tracy Jordan will hopefully not die on 2400 screens.  And Demi Moore and David Duchovny try to keep up with THE JONESES on 190 screens.

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

DATE NIGHT

Written by Josh Clausner
Directed by Shawn Levy
Starring Steve Carrell, Tina Fey and Mark Wahlberg

Claire Foster: No! When he says,” vagina”, he means your face.

Before the day has even started, it is already gone. Nasal strips are ripped off your face while miniature bodies pile drive into you before the alarm even has a chance to go off. In all honesty, the alarm probably hasn’t even needed setting in years. Something will inevitably wake the Foster’s up to their routine earlier than necessary. Phil and Claire, played by the king and queen of NBC comedy, Steve Carrell and Tina Fey, sit on opposite sides of their bed and stare into the separate abysses that await them. The message is clear; being married is hard, maybe even too hard. As you look at these two comedic geniuses though, you still see hope in their nearly defeated faces – hope for both the Foster’s themselves and for the movie you’re actually about to watch. What everybody needs is a good DATE NIGHT.

I am not married and nor do I have children. In fact, I saw DATE NIGHT in the middle of the afternoon, alone. I may not be the intended audience in regard to the marital doldrums theme we have seen plenty of times before but there is a whole other audience built in to DATE NIGHT that director, Shawn Levy, plays to more often than the first. That would be the legions of Carrell and Fey followers out there, of which I easily include myself among. Before this, I essentially avoided Levy’s work altogether. I’m not saying I’m about to go back and watch the NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM series but I must commend him for rising above the complete implausibility of the film’s mistaken identity premise by allowing his stars to shine when they should. Meanwhile, getting strong character actors, like James Franco, Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, for random bit parts also gives more credibility whenever it was needed.

Fey’s quick wit and Carrell’s endearing awkwardness may be strengths we are used to by now and just expect to some extent, but their mastery is only getting better and it is their chemistry that makes DATE NIGHT work when it so easily could have bombed. These two immensely funny people pull from their dramatic strengths to make sure the Foster’s are a real couple. They’re real because you can always see the fear on their faces – the fear that they could actually lose each other. This DATE NIGHT really needs to work. And it does.

Black Sheep's Blu-Tuesday: LORD OF THE RINGS

Yes, I realize that it is Wednesday and this is a Blu-Tuesday post. It was a busy day yesterday; what can I say?

Every so often, a new title comes along that eclipses all other titles being released that day. Today is one of those days as Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY is making its first appearance on BD. I will not make judgments about the films themselves. That hardly seems the point considering how well-loved they are by fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novels. It seems even less relevant when you consider that the three films made a combined amount of $2.9 billion and collected a total of 17 Academy Awards between them. No, the only thing that matters right now is whether it is worth upgrading from the existing DVD copies you almost certainly have on your shelves already.

Here is what's new about the BD releases. All three films are in 1080p and DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1. This is the BD touch and considering that all three films won Oscars for visual effects, this should be what drives you to go out and get them. Personally, I did not find the transfer itself to be anything spectacular. Yes, Middle Earth looks great but it already looked great last I checked. The only other new inclusion in this set is a set of digital copies for all three films. Great! Now I can watch Frodo and friends on my iPad.

That's pretty much it. Everything else in this set is unchanged from previous releases, literally. The extras, none of which are new, are still in standard definition on DVD. There are certainly plenty of extras to make the LOTR experience that much more meaningful but anyone who owns these films already - and let's be honest here, how many people who want the films don't already own them - has already been through the extras already as well.

I think my biggest gripe about the LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY BD release is that it seems simply designed to take advantage of its core audience rather than honour it. Fans who have been waiting for this BD release will buy it but they're getting a rushed release with little to nothing new. The featured versions of the films aren't even the extended versions that most generally considered even better than the theatrical versions. That's fine though because they can just buy those too when they inevitably come out in time for some holiday.

ALSO NEW ON BD THIS WEEK

Nicolas Cage stars in Werner Herzog's remake of BAD LIEUTENANT.

Francis Ford Coppola insists he's indie with TETRO.

And Madonna gets STICKY AND SWEET with her first tour BD.

Capitalizing on Capitalism

An interview with director, Michael Moore

When I first heard I was getting face time with the infamous non-fiction filmmaker, Michael Moore, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Whether you watch his movies or not, you likely have an opinion about him and his politics and opinions about him tend to be extreme. His detractors don’t give him a fair shake and even his supporters can tell you a thing or two they don’t like about him. Is he really the champion of the people he purports to be or is he riding their miserable coattails all the way to the bank? After having spoken with him though, I can tell you plainly that Moore doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of him. Moore only cares about one thing – America – and what people think of her.

The reason I know this is not because Moore couldn’t stop gushing about America but rather because he couldn’t stop apologizing for it when we spoke. “We Americans, let me tell you, and you can believe me if you want to, we are really good people,” he tells me after he discovers I’m Canadian. I assure him that I like Americans just fine, that some of my best friends are Americans. Perhaps I wasn’t convincing enough because he goes on. “We have a good heart; we come up with a lot of great ideas. Somehow lately though, we have gone into a dark place and ignorance is our wall we can’t climb out of.” I’m used to Moore wagging his finger at behaviour he deems bad on camera but hearing the disappointment in his country direct from his mouth was disconcerting.

In CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, Moore’s latest controversial feature, he directs his lens at a facet of the American foundation that has been crumbling at the base as of late – the economy. Following the economic crisis or collapse or catastrophe, depending on what media inspired catch phrase you are partial to, Moore decided to explore the system that was falling apart in an effort to see if it is truly worth saving. “I want people to get angry enough to become active citizens and try to get this country back into the hands of the people and not the corporations,” Moore says of what he hopes people take away from the film. His initial aspirations make way for doubt though soon enough. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen or if it is even possible,” he continues. “It may be too late.”

Moore has been at this for a long time. His first feature, Roger & Me, was released in 1988 and he has been churning out films about gun control, health care and abuse of governmental authority ever since. It may not be possible to quantify exactly how much impact that has had but it is fair to say that, as a non-fiction filmmaker, he has had a greater influence on the general public than any other before him. “I have the privilege of making non-fiction films and reaching an audience of people who don’t go to non-fiction films.” Despite his disappointment in some aspects of his influence, he is certainly proud of how wide his reach is. “Studio surveys have shown that seven times out of ten, a person coming out of my movie is seeing a documentary in a theatre for the very fist time.”

I don’t know what’s more disturbing about that statistic – that so few people see documentaries in the theatre or that Michael Moore actually reads studio surveys.

At the time of our interview, Moore has no other project on deck. As he sits in front of me, looking like he should be drinking a beer in the backyard instead of promoting an internationally distributed film, I wonder if his exploits are starting to discourage him more than he realizes. Even as he begins spitting out random trivia bits about how 11% of Americans polled in a recent survey couldn’t find America on the map, I’m not swayed. Even as he follows these stats by saying, “This is what I’m dealing with. Sadly, this is what the world is dealing with,” I refuse to give up on him. One just needs to turn to one of the last things Moore says in Capitalism to remember his resolve. “I refuse to live in a country like this and I’m not leaving.”

Capitalize on that, Mr. Moore.

For Black Sheep's original review of CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, just click the title.

CHLOE

Written by Erin Cresside Wilson
Directed by Atom Egoyan
Starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried

Catherine Stewart: I don’t know whether I should be relieved or just go hang myself.

Atom Egoyan is one of Canada’s most celebrated auteur filmmakers but you would never know it from watching his latest, CHLOE. I thought the hyper-sexualized erotic thriller went out in the ‘90’s but Egoyan seems bent on bringing it back with this remake of the 2004 Anne Fontaine (COCO AVANT CHANEL) film, NATHALIE. He also seems bent on proving that Toronto, where the film takes place, is just as stylish as New York City, but he may just end up ruining his reputation for being talented and insightful at the same time.

Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) is the first person we meet. She is pulling up her stockings, presumably getting dressed after an intimate encounter, or on her way to one, from the look of her under garments. She thinks to herself about how much attention must be paid to detail in her line of work. As she continues on about sexual needs and how to anticipate them, it becomes explicitly clear what line of work that really is. The words that come out of her mouth are sharp and meant to be shocking. Only we’ve met this girl plenty of times already and she has nothing new to say. She’s just pretty when she says it.

We next meet Catherine and David Stewart (Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson). They are a well-to-do couple who have been together for many years and have an adolescent son living with them. They are surrounded by excess and yet she’s miserable and he doesn’t care. She suspects he’s having an affair; he flirts shamelessly in front of her. They can’t even work together when it comes to dealing with their own son. It should be no surprise then that instead of confronting her husband when she suspects him of having an affair that she hires a prostitute to trap him so that she can know for a fact. Enter Chloe and exit all sense of suspense and surprise.

Let alone that rich, white people bringing problems upon themselves is hardly something an audience can sympathize with, Egoyan is also overtly obvious with all of his other intentions as well. I understand that he wants to open the discussion about sexual politics and the increasing disconnected nature of our modern society but I don’t need scene after scene of Seyfried talking dirty to Moore about her husband or a breakup on web cam to get those points. And while Seyfried does her best to remain hauntingly distant and neutral throughout to mask her deep-rooted emotional issues, it is still pretty clear every step of the way what is coming next. CHLOE is a thriller without any thrills, sexual or otherwise. Toronto looks good though.

For a previous interview with Atom Egoyan, regarding his 2009 film, ADORATION, click the title.

For an interview with Steven Soderbergh about THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, a much better insight into the life of a high-priced escort, again, click the title.

Black Sheep presents Blu-Tuesday

Two giant holiday releases from last year make their way to homes everywhere this week.  It should be a pretty insane sales week, what with these titles and Easter coming up this weekend.  The reigning sales champ is THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON.  The set sold 4 million plus units in its first week of release, 17% of which came from BD sales.  Somehow though, on the rental side of the board, the whiny little vampire folk only managed a second place debut.  Second place is none too shabby considering the film only came out on the Saturday of that week, giving it only two days to qualify.  Still, it lost the crown to DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS?  That's got to be a pain in the neck

Here are this week's biggest BD releases ...

SHERLOCK HOLMES
The good folks at Warner Bros. sent me over a copy of this Guy Ritchie hit from 2009.  I caught the SHERLOCK HOLMES in theatres and, at the time, thought it was somewhat overly complicated but still a good thrill ride nonetheless.  Holmes is supposed to be some sort of super detective genius and, while his genius as channeled through the further genius of Robert Downey Jr., provides wit so quick, it can be tricky to keep up with, it also alienates the viewer from figuring out any part of the mystery themselves.  I like to have a fighting chance as someone watching to figure out what is going on.  Still, in my living room, the exquisite sets and art direction are something to behold and the thrills are still there.  BD extras include a full picture in picture tour from Ritchie and look for Downey Jr. himself to join in a community screening of the film through BD live options, this Thursday, April 1, at 9:00 PM, EST.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL
Every time I have to type the word "squeakquel", I want to vomit a little.  This juggernaut of a family film did even better business than its predecessor and not surprisingly will be followed up with a third film in 3D.  I'm not sure what the appeal is for children.  This isn't exactly a well-known brand to this generation, or at least it wasn't before the first film came out.  Yet still, the kids seem to be eating up just as quick as these little rodents are eating up their own poo.  BD extras, so you can be sure to really get your chipmunk on, include plenty of interactive games and sing-a-long's for your kids to drive you insane with all throughout Easter weekend.

AN EDUCATION
Now this is where my money is going this week.  Lone Scherfig's Oscar-nominated film is an elegant and tasteful experience but it is also a telling lesson that all should learn.  I intend to learn my lesson again in my Sunday best with tea and scones just to make sure I do it right.  I should be careful though; I don't want to give the impression that AN EDUCATION is a snotty film.  It is quite the opposite.  The brilliant cast, led by the enchanting Carey Mulligan, paint a beautiful portrait of what it was like to be a girl in 1960's Britain.  Author, Nick Hornby's first screenplay is so subtle and so insightful that you don't even realize how much you're being schooled until it's done.  You will not want to miss this class.  BD extras include commentary with director, Scherfug, Mulligan and co-star, Peter Saarsgard.

SOURCES: BLU-RAY.COM    ROTTEN TOMATOES

Black Sheep @ The Box Office

I met a guy last week who was really keen on seeing HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.  No, it was not the 3D element that was calling to him, as it did to millions of people this weekend.  No, he just really digs dragons.  With the positive reviews, both from critics and audiences alike for this Dreamworks animation, I'm pretty sure he won't be the only one digging on dragons for very long.

Between HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and ALICE IN WONDERLAND following in second place, 3D pictures continue to command the dollar of the movie going audience.  There isn't enough room for three 3D titles in the Top 10 this weekend though.  The biggest box office success of all time, AVATAR, exits the Top 10 for the first time in its 15 weeks of release.  Its disappearance from the public consciousness will only be temporary though as the film will be made available to purchase within the next month.

As HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON basks in the warm, soothing bubbles of its own great success - one of the Top 10 March debuts in history - HOT TUB TIME MACHINE had to wait in line to get in.  The buzz for this time travel comedy has been boiling over -  I promise, I'll stop - in recent weeks and most were expecting a surprisingly large gross this weekend .. which wouldn't really make it a surprise, mind you.  The insider buzz didn't spread though and this Steve Pink film had to settle for third place.

A few Top 10 titles managed solid holds this week, suggesting repeat business and good word of mouth later in the run.  I tried to warn you guys but yet THE BOUNTY HUNTER managed a reasonable drop of only 40% this weekend.  If you missed it last weekend, you really should have just let it go.  I want to see a much steeper decline next week, alright?  Meanwhile, SHUTTER ISLAND and SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE managed even better declines of less than 40%.

Below the Top 10, Noah Baumbach's GREENBERG, starring Ben Stiller, added 178 screens for a grand total of 181, and saw an increase of nearly 800%.  It pulled in a solid average of just under $6K and has made $1.2 million in two limited weeks.  On less screens, it managed to pull in more than Canadian filmmaker, Atom Egoyan's latest thriller, CHLOE.  The Toronto-based love triangle debuted in 13th place this week, with a total of just over $1 million on 350 screens.  Some of that money is mine as I saw the film on Friday.  The Black Sheep review is coming in the next week.

NEXT WEEK: Next Saturday is my birthday.  Every year on my birthday weekend, there is nothing but garbage released in theatres .. or at least what I presume to be garbage or movies that completely disinterest me.  This year is no different whatsoever.  On Wednesday, hoping to score some early Easter money, the Miley Cyrus movie, THE LAST SONG, opens on 2500 screens.  The Tyler Perry sequel, WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO? opens on 2000 screens on Friday.  There are a few indie sprinklings here and there but the big guy in town with be CLASH OF THE TITANS, roaring on to 3600 screens, with a bunch of them being 3D.  Of those three, which do you think I have no interest in and which do you think I think look like garbage?  Happy birthday to me, indeed.

SOURCE: BOX OFFICE MOJO

GREENBERG

Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach
Starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Florence: Hurt people hurt people.

Noah Baumbach, the Oscar-nominated writer and director of THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, has a knack for creating characters that are troubled and difficult to be around. His fascination with giving a voice to those no one wants to hear, shows his immense sympathy as a writer and director, but it also means that his characters are not easy to endure for two hours straight. In his latest film, GREENBERG, he gives us another gem of a man – complicated, broken and the kind you would desperately avoid if you could.

Ben Stiller is this man, one Roger Greenberg. Fresh from his time in a mental hospital for a nervous breakdown, Greenberg has left the comforts of New York City to do nothing for a while at his brother’s place in Los Angeles. While in the city, he meets up with buddies and ex-girlfriends from his rock star youth days but not because he wants to. He does so because it is a lot easier than forming any new relationships in his life. The supporting cast - Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Jason Leigh representing the old and Greta Gerwig charmingly representing the new - struggle too but the way they handle themselves only further shows how little dealing Greenerg is actually doing. Still that naïve, failed rocker, he has not progressed past his glory days and he is quickly realizing that they weren’t so glorious to begin with.

Stiller doesn’t have to try very hard to be unlikable but he still does the depth of Greenberg’s sorrow justice all the same. Successfully capturing a character that is so narcissistic and oblivious not an easy feat. The more successful you are though, the more you run the risk of alienating everyone watching. You want to like Greenberg; you can tell the people around him want to like him; but until he actually considers liking himself, there isn’t a lot to like about him. Fortunately for him, at least Baumbach still has his back, and fortunately for us, Baumbach still has ours too.

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Black Sheep's Blu-Tuesday

What a crazy day for the buying public it is .. myself included. I'm going to have to dig into my sofa cushions because there are just way too many things to buy today. I know I won't be able to resist when I walk past so either I just don't walk past or I give in now and just accept my fate. This could mean that by the end of the day, the following items will find their way to my already crowded shelves.

TOY STORY / TOY STORY 2
I was fortunate enough to catch these two great Pixar films back to back and in 3D when Disney re-released them last fall. Both films are looking fantastic so many years later and, although you can feel the concessions Pixar would have had to make at the time to appease Disney, you can also see the great promise of Pixar that was made then but has been fulfilled time and time again. Extras on the first time BD releases are as plentiful as any Pixar release, including commentaries, elaborate behind the scenes features and sneak peaks at TOY STORY 3

MAD MEN: SEASON 3
I just finished the fourth season of LOST last night so I'm looking forward to taking a small break from the island and getting back to the good old traditional values of the great men and women and MAD MEN. I don't know much about the third season but if it is anywhere near as stylish, subtle and suggestive as the first two seasons, there is no way I can be disappointed. I wonder if Don will try to quit smoking.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Ordinarily, when I enjoy a film as much as I enjoyed this one by Wes Anderson, I tend to see it more than once on the big screen. That was just not possible in this case so I am very much looking forward to my second viewing of this film in the comfort of my home. I cannot wait to devour the gorgeous imagery and delight in the magical tale that is told with such smooth flair. Extras promise to give plenty of insight into the process that brought this classic Roald Dahl tale to life. Click here for the original Black Sheep review.

ALSO NEW ON BD AND DVD

See Sandra Bullock's Oscar winning performance in THE BLIND SIDE.

George Clooney and Ewan McGregor spend some time with farm animals in THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman play while Tobey Maguire is away in BROTHERS.

Criterion gives us Terrence Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN, Nicholas Ray's BIGGER THAN LIFE and Akira Kurosawa's YOJIMBO on this the 100th anniversary of his date of birth.

And finally, Hollywood classic, THE AFRICAN QUEEN, has been packaged in a commemorative box set.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office

ALICE IN WONDERLAND continues to dominate the spring box office but the spring box office bestows it's riches upon a number of other films regardless. Tim Burton's biggest career hit dropped off a respectable 45% in its third week and continues to rule internationally as well, with a grand global total of $565 million so far.


The runner-up spot was fought for all weekend. The Jennifer Aniston-Gerard Butler dud, THE BOUNTY HUNTER, opened second behind ALICE IN WONDERLAND on Friday but the family crowd push throughout the weekend helped DIARY OF A WIMPY KID overtake the supposed romantic comedy for a number two finish. Final results may vary when the final numbers come in on Monday but my money is still on the kid flick.


Past that, there was very little love for the REPO MEN remake, starring Forest Whittaker and Jude Law. Buzzed about Sundance Joan Jett biopic, THE RUNAWAYS, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning pulled in a disappointing $3300 per screen average on 244 screens. Roman Polanski's latest, GHOST WRITER, expanded as successfully as possible considering its rough start with a 71% increase after adding 595 screens. The film's total gross now stands at just under $7 million with a reported budget of $45 million. Providing hope though, art house success Noah Baumbach's latest, GREENBERG, pulling in over $120K, on just three screens, with an average of $40K. The Black Sheep review will be coming later this week.

NEXT WEEK: The much-hyped, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, will be cracking it up on 2750 screens. 3D animated offering, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, will be exploding out of 3000 screens. And Atom Egoyan's latest, CHLOE, hits the limited scene.

THE BOUNTY HUNTER

Written by Sarah Thorp
Directed by Andy Tennant
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler and Christine Baranski


Jennifer Aniston is looking a little tired these days. Fortunately for her though, the attempted humour in her latest starring vehicle, THE BOUNTY HUNTER, is infinitely more unoriginal than she is, so you don’t necessarily notice her worry lines so much.


I don’t really blame her for worrying though. There is no way she could have been making this movie and thinking it was actually going to turn out well. I’m sure it sounded great when somebody pitched it to her. It’s Aniston and romantic comedy hunk, Gerard Butler, playing exes on the run. He, being the aforementioned bounty hunter, is giddily tracking down his ex because she skipped her court appearance for a traffic accident involving a police officer. Before they know it, they’re mixed up in a major undercover police operation that could get them killed. And, now this is the clincher, while they’re stuck together in this crazy impossible scenario, this old flame of theirs has the chance to be reignited again. Clearly, with all this deliberate and obvious set up, hijinks should ensue. Instead, scene after repetitive scene followed with not a trace of laughter to be had.


In order to catch a criminal, an effort must be made. In order to entertain people at a movie, an equal effort must be made. Between Butler barely trying to mask his accent and director, Andy Tennant, barely focusing on anything other than Aniston’s back side, it seems pretty fair to say that the only real effort being made in this film is Aniston running around in ridiculously high heels all the time. I’m sure if she was wearing more sensible footwear, she would have ran right off the set.

Blu-Review: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE

Written by Geoffrey Fletcher
Directed by Lee Daniels


I saw PRECIOUS twice in theatres and when I sat down to watch it again from the comfort of my own couch, I felt almost like I had never seen it before. It was surreal. The film came with so much hype attached to it upon its theatrical release and is such a powerhouse of difficult yet necessary imagery that perhaps it was just too much to take in when I first saw it. With awards season now behind us though, it is possible to watch PRECIOUS with a degree of expectation removed. What I saw this time was an insightful and inspired piece of filmmaking.


I realize that only furthers the hype for the film but inviting PRECIOUS into your home is a cathartic experience. One might think it difficult to identify with an obese 16-year-old African-American girl who is pregnant for the second time by her biological father and who struggles to learn to read while her mother drills how stupid she is into her at every opportunity. There is a universal appeal to PRECIOUS though and it was one for me that only showed itself when I could be alone with the movie at home. Yes, Precious (the title character played by the revelatory, Gabourey Sidibe) is everything I just said but she is also just a person who wants to be someone and wants to be heard but doesn’t know how to make that happen and doesn’t it believe it even could. Everyone can identify with that to some extent.


Making PRECIOUS was clearly an equally precious experience for all involved, as is evident in the bonus material on the BD release. Not only does it look incredibly sharp but a sensitive director commentary from Lee Daniels and a number of featurettes about how the film was made really showcase how important PRECIOUS truly is.

THE FILM


THE BLU-RAY