Failure to Launch Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cinematical Seven: Most Contrived Rom-Com Scenarios
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Cinematical Seven », Lists »
Let me make this clear: when I say that I'm compiling a list of the most contrived rom-com scenarios, I'm not saying that they're automatically the worst -- although a glance at the titles doesn't exactly stray far from that correlation. Tomorrow's The Proposal finds Sandra Bullock forcing Ryan Reynolds into marriage for the sake of holding off immigration authorities and keeping her/their jobs (I guess it's not too soon to remake Green Card and Picture Perfect after all), so we're talking about seven plot points along those lines of high-concept, close-quarters thinking, with some (dis)honorable mentions along the way...
Another Movie About the 2012 Apocalypse -- This One is for the Kiddies
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Paramount », Family Films », Religious »
In about five-and-a-half years, the world will supposedly end. Don't worry, though, because it will be a lot of fun. That is the impression I get from Nickelodeon Films, anyway. The kid-friendly division of Paramount is making an action-adventure for the whole family that is based on the idea that the apocalypse is coming in December of 2012. Called simply 2012, the movie will be about a family vacation during that fateful month when, according to the Mayan calendar, and some UFO theorists, something devastating is expected to take place. 2012 will be written by Tom Astle and Matt Ember, and it will probably be directed by Tom Dey -- all three of whom were responsible for Failure to Launch. This is the second movie we've heard about so far that has to do with the Mayan doomsday prediction. The first is an adaptation of Whitley Streiber's upcoming book 2012: The War for Souls, which Michael Bay is making for Warner Bros. Though Nickelodeon's 2012 should be much lighter in tone, I have to assume that the whole premise will still be a bit scary for the intended audience -- unless kids these days just aren't afraid of the end of the world as much as I was (and honestly still am). According to Variety, those involved with 2012 have some time before they'll be able to get started on the movie. Currently, Astle and Ember are writing the direct-to-video spin-off Get Smarter: Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control and reportedly Dey is expected to be committing to other projects ahead of this one. The trio better not take too long, though, because they're running out of time. In only six years, either the movie will lose all relevance, or we won't be around to see it.
Tips for Tuesday: New to DVD on 6/27
Filed under: New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
Recent Theatricals- Annapolis (Buena Vista) -- James Franco and Tyrese Gibson invade the Naval Academy, blissfully unaware that An Officer and a Gentleman is still a fairly well-remembered film. (Filmmaker commentary, deleted scenes, two featurettes)
- Failure to Launch (Paramount) -- Professional floozy Sarah Jessica Parker is hired to seduce Matthew McConaughey right out of his parents' home. Of all the movies that show Terry Bradshaw's naked ass, this one's the finest. (Five blathering featurettes)
- Find Me Guilty (Fox) -- I don't care that it bombed and I don't care that it stars Vin Diesel; Sidney Lumet directed it! ("Conversations with Lumet" featurette)
- Madea's Family Reunion (Lionsgate) -- Tyler Perry is the Uwe Boll of urban melodrama. (Director's commentary, deleted scenes, four featurettes)
- Ultraviolet (Sony) -- Milla J. stars in a bunch of stand-alone action sequences that boast some pretty swanky set design. (Jovovich commentary, featurette, 7 minute-longer "extended" cut)
Box Office Report: V for Victory
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Romance », Thrillers », Box Office », Family Films », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
V
for Vendetta roared to the top of the box office this weekend, its take of about $26 million out-earning the
nearest competition by more than $10 million. While that total - on just under 3400 screens - sounds pretty impressive,
it's believed to be below the studio's opening weekend hopes. Meanwhile She's
the Man, the week's other debut, met estimates with $11 million, which was enough to make it the fourth-highest
earner of the weekend. Finishing second was Failure
to Launch which, with a take of $15.8 million, fell 35% from last week's chart-leading totals. In third was
The
Shaggy Dog with $13.6 million, the audience for which fell only slightly after last week's open - thanks to
families with small kids, this one might have some staying power. Wrapping up the top five was The
Hills Have Eyes, which took in $8.1 million; the film's $28.8 million total after just two weeks in release is
nearly twice its budget.Full numbers are after the jump.
The Oscars Aren't Over: Entertainment Weekly In 60 Seconds
Filed under: Awards », Casting », New Releases », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Box Office », Entertainment Weekly in 60 Seconds », Newsstand », Home Entertainment », Lists », Oscar Watch »
It's the superduper, mega, gigantic
post-Oscars issue, with behind the scenes photos, news and quotes from all the parties, and a roundup of what the Oscar winners are going to
work on next.- New movies: the mag gives Failure To Launch a C, The Hills Have Eyes a C-plus, The Shaggy Dog a B, and Ask The Dust a D.
- New DVDs: Good Night, and Good Luck gets an A-, and A History of Violence gets an A.
- The Davinci Code won't be released til May, but you can read all about the lawsuit against author Dan Brown now. It's like a prequel!
- Critic Owen Gleiberman never gave Diane Lane a chance to make it big. He was wrong.
- An online exclusive: a Q and A with X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner.
Box Office Report: Failure to Launch lends itself to so many clever headlines that I'm confounded by the options and can't pick one
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Romance », Box Office », Family Films », Remakes and Sequels »
The box office as a whole was be up an estimated
10% from last weekend, led by a trio of new releases that filled the top spots. Easily topping the list was Failure to Launch, which
took in $24.6 million - not bad for a movie that, after having its release delayed, got mostly bad reviews from
critics. Filling the second and third spots this weekend were two remakes: Disney's The Shaggy Dog made $16 million, while The Hills Have Eyes came it at just under that number, with $15.5 million. As the AP
report points out, the fact that this weekend's three new releases are so different means they appeal to different
viewers, so they tended to take audiences from older films, rather than from one another.Filling the fourth spot was 16 Blocks which, in only its second week of release, was down to just over $7 million. Madea's Family Reunion, meanwhile, earned nearly $6 million, thus bringing its three week total to $55.8 million, or nearly 10 times its budget. Who thinks we'll be seeing another movie about the life of Miss Madea? Of the other top earning films this weekend, only Eight Below made more than $5 million - ah, the power of puppies. (The complete numbers are after the jump.)
Review Roundup: Failure to Launch, The Hills Have Eyes, Shaggy Dog
Filed under: Comedy », Horror », Romance », New Releases », Remakes and Sequels », Review Roundup »
Three big studio flicks go wide this week, and what do you know - all of them were screened for critics, even the horror remake! Someone, make a note of the date. Reviews of all three are all over the place, but in sum: Failure to Launch is either astonishingly sharp and well-acted or meh; The Hills Have Eyes is really, really violent; The Shaggy Dog is either cute or stupid (the latter if you're mature, or at least think you are). Details follow.
- Failure to
Launch: I can't possibly express to you how odd it is it to read a dozen or so reviews
of this movie, back to back.
You go from Robert's "at least it
doesn't suck," to Stephen Hunter's declaration that the film is "the only American comedy in
a long time that could be called Wilderan in its concept and execution"; from Roger Ebert, who hates the movie
so much that he resorts to a story of being bitten
by a Kubrick donkey, to your friend and mine, Mick LeSalle, who praises Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker for their rare willingness to "go out of their way to project
thought and emotion in concentrated doses." I mean, honestly. What's a girl to think? There are mixed
opinions all the time, but this is insane.
Review: Failure To Launch
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », New Releases », Paramount », Theatrical Reviews », New in Theaters »
Anyone who enjoys movies keeps a secret tally of any movie's strengths and weaknesses. Like an Olympic judge rating an athlete's performance, the final score determines whether a movie rates a recommendation or is forgotten as an also-ran.
As far as formula fare goes, one could do worse than the above-middlin' romantic comedy Failure To Launch starring Matthew McConaughey as a 30-something who still lives with his folks (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) until they hire a motivationalist (Sarah Jessica Parker) to help him fly the nest. Naturally and against all odds, McConaughey's and Parker's completely artificial relationship blossoms into something more. Here's how I broke it down:
First, it's funny. Not just an occasional giggle, sit-com kind of funny but infused throughout funny. TV vets Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, who are attached to this year's Steve Carell update of Get Smart, may be green as screenwriters, this being their first project produced, but with that inexperience comes a kind of hunger. Of course, most first-timers become well-fed and lazy after a taste of success like this, but for now, proof of their talent is apparent. Each character is created with a specific purpose, as is every scene, sequence and act. It's all very textbook, but it works. Mark one in the "plus" column.
Failure to Launch (yawn), Idlewild (nooooooo!) delayed
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Horror », Music & Musicals », Romance », Paramount », Family Films », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
The release of Failure
to Launch, the new Sarah Jessica Parker flick that is, yes, a
romantic comedy,
has been delayed by Paramount. Instead of the original February 10 date, the film will now hit theaters a full month
later, on March 10. So...they're moving a romantic film away from Valentine's Day? That's weird. Granted, there are a
few big releases due on February 10 - the inevitably crappy The
Pink Panther and the kid-friendly Curious
George primary among them - but one wonders how significantly the audiences for those films overlap with the
one for Failure to Launch. The new competition is pretty much a horror fest: The
Hills Have Eyes and The
Shaggy Dog (which, needless to say, will be frightening for very different reasons) are the main releases on
March 10. The bottom line, then, is that things are less crowded in the new release window. That said, however, this
move is not a vote of confidence for a flick that's already getting pretty poor early notices.Meanwhile, in the broken record department, Idlewild has again been yanked from HBO Films' release schedule. I think I've figured it out: this movie doesn't even exist. I bet the bastards shot that awesome trailer and nothing else. Sigh.
Failure to Lanch: Sarah Jessica Parker tries again
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », New Releases », Movie Marketing »
Despite receiving critical praise for her nastier-than-Carrie turn in The Family Stone, Sarah Jessica Parker is still struggling to shake off the predictable
career effects of playing the same sweet, lovelorn character for
about a billion years. Her latest effort in that direction is Failure to Launch, a (cringe) romantic comedy in which she stars
opposite Matthew McConaughey. In the film, Parker plays some sort of
professional motivator who is hired by McConaughey's parents (played by Kathy Bates and Terry
Bradshaw. (Terry Bradshaw! I'm so seeing this just for him!) to get him to move the hell out of their house. You
know exactly where this is going, don't you? Yep, the "motivation" comes in the form of a girlfriend - a role
filled, of course, by Parker's character. And, yes, what starts out as a job turns into - wait for it - real love.
Ah, the sweetness of it all.So, based on this evidence - the trailer is linked below - maybe Parker's already given up. After all, she could certainly do worse that spending the rest of her career playing a fleet of Carrie Bradshaws: there's certainly good movie money is sweetness and romance.
Failure to Launch hits theaters in February.
[via JoBlo]
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
_thumbnail.jpg)
