Grand Readership,
This week features two star-studded pictures in STATE OF PLAY and 17 AGAIN - although I'm leaning towards the much buzzed IS ANYBODY THERE? We're only a few weeks away from the official launch of the blockbuster season (WOLVERINE, MAY 2) and the studios are hoping to get a few more weeks of profitability on the smaller pictures before conceding to the tent-poles. STATE OF PLAY should do well in its first week and who wouldn't want to watch the adorable pre-hunk-a-zoid EFFRON in 17 AGAIN? Previous releases FAST AND FURIOUS and HANNAH MONTANA should hold up pretty well - the former not as good as the latter.
Enjoy... what will you be seeing?
STATE OF PLAY (DIR. KEVIN MACDONALD)Whether or not RUSSELL CROWE wears thin on your nerves (I can tolerate him from time to time) will likely inform your interest in KEVIN MACDONALD'S STATE OF PLAY. MACDONALD recently helmed THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - a picture that delivered FOREST WHITAKER his first OSCAR - proof that MACDONALD can at least generate a performance, but can he generate a picture? LAST KING was too clearly a vehicle for WHITAKER and with a star studded cast that includes CROWE, AFLECK, MCADAMS and MIRREN (naming only a few) - STATE OF PLAY seems too top heavy to balance. Knowing that thrillers are notorious for having an uphill battle at the box office (the list of thriller box office duds is longer than STATE OF PLAY'S list of stars) won't help - but that TONY GILROY (MICHAEL CLAYTON) wrote the screenplay may. Will make some money this first week then slip quietly into May.
IS ANYBODY THERE? (DIR. JOHN CROWLEY)IS ANYBODY THERE? certainly has buzz going for it and rumor has it this is MICHAEL CAINE'S best role in years (but honestly CAINE is rarely off mark). More concerning is how director JOHN CROWLEY will fare, having only shot one other theatrical feature in INTERMISSION - which starred the usually annoying COLIN FARRELL. IS ANYBODY THERE? does feature BILL MILNER, who earned a bit of stardom from 2007's SON OF RAMBOW. This picture will be hard pressed to pick up any momentum - but enough people are talking about it to earn an LA/NY release. I will be taking a chance with this one, seems like the right kind of picture (dare I call it a lightly buttered drama?) to counter the impending blockbuster madness.
17 AGAIN (DIR. BUR STEERS)17 AGAIN is so clearly a showcase for upcoming star ZAC EFFRON and a (maybe last-chance?) highlight for ailing comedy guru MATTHEW PERRY that it's lack of creativity isn't surprising. Forget that the concept (a middle aged person wakes up as a teenager or visa versa) has been used more than the MATTHEW PERRY prescription pill punch-line, 17 AGAIN is more about getting EFFRON off the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL boat and onto the mainland comedy scene. Also with LESLIE MANN (now married to HOLLYWOOD hotman JUDD APATOW) and directed by BUR STEERS - who gave us the interesting but muddled IGBY GOES DOWN in 2002. Should steal much of the HANNAH MONTANA crowd away and do fairly well for a week or two.
CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE (DIR. MARK NEVELDINE AND BRIAN TAYLOR)This follow up to the moderately successful CRANK from 2006 features the same over-ripped, empty eyed and gruffly spoken JASON STATHEM. Part of CRANK'S original appeal was that it seemed to have little regard for it's main character and had a plot predicated on a condition that would prevent a sequel. Where FAST AND FURIOUS cranked up the level of its original appeal, HIGH VOLTAGE seems to have OVER-CRANKED (no pun intended). The problem here is that what made FAST/FURIOUS so enjoyable was that it forced itself to reach a broad audience (and consequently a moderate PG13 rating). HIGH VOLTAGE doesn't have this requirement, as displayed by a RED-BAND trailer so explicit I'm surprised it was ever released. Avoid this unless you're in mood for poorly done, overly explicit gratuity... wait, that doesn't sound so bad!
