Martian Child Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The oddest thing happened as I started to watch Martian Child. The movie opens with John Cusack narrating ... or at least it was supposed to be Cusack. But the voice triggered a sense of deja vu: I'd heard it before, but not out of this particular actor's mouth. When his character started talking about his latest science-fiction novel, suddenly I figured it out, and it was freaky: I was seeing John Cusack and hearing Albert Brooks (who also played a sf author, in Mother). The sensation was uncanny, and almost impossible to shake. During the slower parts of this movie, I found myself wondering whether Cusack had some kind of secret chronic throat ailment and had been dubbed by Brooks.

Perhaps if the movie had engaged me more, I would have forgotten about the weird voice thing as the story progressed. Unfortunately, Martian Child never drew me in, although some scenes made me laugh and the cast was terrific. The movie was directed by Menno Meyjes, who also worked with Cusack in the 2002 film Max, and was based on a semi-autobiographical novel by science-fiction writer David Gerrold (who wrote the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles").

As expected, Saw IV continued the franchise's tradition of tearing it up at the Halloween box office, and Dan in Real Life took second place, placating audiences looking for something milder. The only thing that kept me from a perfect score on my prediction was the fact that The Game Plan had a little more life in it than I thought, beating out Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married for fourth place. Ah well, whatcha gonna do. Congrats to Bubba8193 for hitting one out of the park. And now without further ado, here's last weekend's final box office numbers:

1. Saw IV: $32.1 million.
2. Dan in Real Life: $12.1 million.
3. 30 Days of Night: $6.7 million.
4. The Game Plan: $6.3 million.
5. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? $5.7 million

Looking for a new release this weekend? Well, here are your options:

American Gangster
What's It All About: Set in the 1970s, American Gangster stars Denzel Washington as a Harlem drug lord who smuggles heroin inside the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam, and Russel Crowe plays the maverick cop out to stop him.
Why It Might Do Well: Two high caliber stars, Ridley Scott at the helm and an 89% fresh rating over at Rottentomatoes.com suggest this one is going to pull in some serious coin.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Those of us who have recently suffered through the tedium that was We Own The Night know all too well how badly a period cop story can go wrong.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $31 million

Bee Movie
What's It All About: Computer animated comedy starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger. Seinfeld plays Barry B. Benson, an idealistic young honey bee who decides to sue the human race for stealing his people's honey.
Why It Might Do Well: Promotion for this film started a looooonng time ago, so the word is definitely out there. Even nine years after his sitcom finished up, Seinfeld is still a recognizable and highly bankable star, and I think this will be this weekend's number one movie.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Only if actual bees are released in the theater.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $38 million

I'm about a week behind, but I wanted to talk this week about something discussed at the ShowEast exhibition convention, which was held October 13 - 18 in Orlando. That something is onscreen advertising, which I'll get to in a second; first I wanted to just outline some of the other somethings that were addressed. For those who don't know, ShowEast is one of four annual events where studios and theatre owners meet -- along with others involved in the movie industry, such as food concessions companies -- in order to discuss trends and issues, while simultaneously (and it seems primarily) celebrating upcoming releases and big stars.

This year, ShowEast awards went to John Cusack ("Star of the Year"), Frank Darabont ("Kodak Award For Excellence in Filmmaking"), New Line Cinema theatrical distribution president David Tuckerman ("Show 'E' Award") and National Amusements' Shari Redstone ("Salah M. Hassanein Humanitarian Award"), among others. Typically the awards, particularly those given to talent like actors and directors, are handed out as thank you notes to people who made the money for exhibitors this year. Obviously, giving an award to Darabont before The Mist even hits theaters is a little weird. And despite the surprise box office for Cusack's 1408, his award is also for not-yet-released movies Grace is Gone and Martian Child. As for Tuckerman's award: I don't get it. New Line hasn't been having the best year, and yesterday I heard through the grapevine that The Golden Compass is a mess. Then again, the grapevine has been wrong before ...

I haven't looked at the "funny pages" in years, so I'm not familiar with Mark Tatulli's comic strip Li?. From what I can tell, though, it's a bit like Calvin and Hobbes but instead of a tiger, the kid is friends with macabre figures like the Grim Reaper. And they're not as much part of the boy's imagination. Now that I've looked at a bunch, I'm pretty much hooked. It's definitely not the best strip I've ever read, but considering my old favorites are no longer being produced, Li? is a fair alternative to much of the junk filling the comics section these days. Anyway, because I'm hooked on the strip, which has apparently been around for a year and a half now, I'm also excited about the news that it's being turned into a live-action movie. According to Variety, producer David Kirschner is working with Universal Press Syndicate to bring the boy and his creepy companions to the big screen. It's certainly fitting since Kirschner is the guy who gave us both Fievel Mousekewitz and the Chucky doll. He will be working with Corey Sienega, who he partnered with on Seed of Chucky and the upcoming Martian Child.

The only thing I'm concerned about is the story, and whether or not it could maybe be told without dialogue. See, Li? is a primarily pantomimed strip and it would be most appropriate if the movie were the same. Of course, Hollywood would never go for a silent adaptation. Besides, it's a lot easier for each strip to be dialogue-free, since there's no on-going plot. Not that the movie would necessarily require dialogue, but it could definitely use some. The important thing, however, and this is only if I'm getting the strip correctly based on about 10 examples, is to keep the supernatural friends rather mysterious and/or ambiguous. As far as I can tell, we shouldn't know how or why Li? is pals with them. Also, the dialogue would have to be easily translated into foreign languages, since the strip's speechlessness has allowed it to become a hit overseas. In talking about adapting Li?, Kirschner has mentioned models in The Addams Family and Edward Scissorhands. So, can we assume he's already tried to contact Tim Burton's people (with Sonnenfeld's number on the back-burner)? Also, can we get this in time for a double-feature with the Edward Gorey movie?

Sometimes I get an idea for a column and when I sit down to write it I find that there are no good examples to illustrate my point floating around in my less-than-400 screen domain. The topic currently burning in my brain requires a few films that are still playing in the upper reaches, so while I wait for them to tumble down to me, I've decided to write a few lines about actors I admire. The first name that pops up is John Cusack's, currently appearing in 1408 (218 screens). Though it's based on a Stephen King story and features some decent thrills and chills, it's the kind of one-man performance that runs the gamut and could earn Cusack his very first Oscar nomination.

It's odd to think of this veteran actor, a favorite for over 20 years, having never earned so much as a nomination. But then that factor also adds to Cusack's outlaw, outsider status. Cusack somehow managed to become an everyman to almost every man. He's a nerd, but he's not a hopeless nerd; he's unique enough to be cool at the same time. He's smart, but also appeals to jocks and dropouts. A typical Cusack character might be seen tossing a football around or failing a trigonometry quiz. Best of all, although he always has romantic troubles, he always has something cool to say to girls. At the same time, this interchangeable quality keeps him slightly on the edge; you can't ever pin him down

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing after reading that headline: "Ryan Phillippe? In a Viking epic?" Is someone playing a cruel joke, or is this thin-as-tissue-paper pretty boy really going to try to pull off playing a tough-as-nails Viking? Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it would appear as if the latter is indeed true -- Phillippe, Sean Bean and Abbie Cornish have signed on to star in writer-director Menno Meyjes' Viking tale Last Battle Dreamer. HR describes Phillippe's role as being a "seventh-century Viking warrior named Thorfinn (sorry, I need to pause for a chuckle ... carry on ... ) who, along with his older brother, the battle-scarred Hakon (Bean), invades Britain." Maybe I'm totally mis-judging the guy (and, to be fair, I've sort of warmed up to Phillippe over the past two years), but no part of me sees him playing "a seventh-century Viking warrior."

But I digress. Bean and Cornish, on the other hand, I'm really starting to dig. I can certainly see them starring in a film like this, which Meyjes says is "a love story written in fire and blood." Back when this film was first announced, Variety said Meyjes was looking for an American to star as the Viking and a British woman to co-star as the noblewoman with which our heroic Viking falls for. Monika suggested Brad Pitt for the role. Well, I guess they're both blondes. Phillippe and Cornish will also star alongside one another in the upcoming Stop Loss, while Meyjes (who's completing post production on his matador biopic Manolete) has the John Cusack flick Martian Child (a film in which practically everyone at Cinematical wanted to review for some reason) due out this October, courtesy of New Line.

Like many of you, I've been a huge John Cusack fan for many a decade. From Better Off Dead and Say Anything to High Fidelity and The Ice Harvest (hey, I liked it), I've been known to enjoy a mediocre flick just because of Cusack's performance *koff* Con Air. (And just wait till you see John go in Grace is Gone!) Having said all that, John's next flick, the sappy-looking Martian Child, looks might it test my well-founded faith in the actor. (It's not just that the movie looks to be extra sugary, but also that there's not one scene in the trailer we haven't seen before!)

Based on the novel by David Gerrold, the movie is about a nice guy who takes a shine to a local "weird kid" who a) believes he's an alien and b) spends most of his time inside a cardboard box. The adaptation comes from a pair of first-time scribes (Seth Bass and Jon Tolins) and writer-turned-director Menno Meyjes, who not very long ago worked with Mr. Cusack on Max. Co-starring in the PG-rated New Line release are Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt and Richard Schiff. Ah, and it looks like John will be reunited with his sister Joan once again. (I believe this marks the ninth time they've appeared in the same movie.) Martian Child opens on June 29; Cusack also has 1408 on the way in addition to the aforementioned (and very excellent) Grace is Gone.