PursuitOfHappyness Tagged Articles at Cinematical

For me the most entertaining part of the annual Oscar schpiel is not seeing which films get awards and what actors earn the most respect; it's scratching my head through the boneheaded decisions that seem to come a) out of nowhere and b) from a bunch of people who really ought to know a little better. Here are my picks for the seven biggest pieces of silliness regarding this year's Oscar nominations:

7. Borat for best adapted screenplay? Whaaaaat? Did we see the same movie? Don't get me wrong: I absolutely LOVED this movie -- I called it "one of the funniest movies ever made" and I stand by that opinion today -- but didn't most of the funniest bits come from moments best described as "off the cuff," "reaction-driven" and "semi-improvised"? I understand that more of the flick was scripted than one might expect, but c'mon. Unless all of Borat's interview subjects were given lines to read, I really don't see how this nomination makes any sense. I love seeing the movie get some respect, but what a silly way to do it.

6. Click gets nominated for best makeup ... but Pirates of the Caribbean 2 does not? What the hell? Did any of the Academy members see this movie? Yeah, I know that most of the more dazzling FX were full-bore CGI, but heck; the makeup used on Naomie Harris was more impressive than anything in freakin' Click! Fat suits and really lame "old man" makeup is all it takes to get an Oscar nom these days? Sheesh. Plus I just don't like living in a world that calls Click an Oscar nominee.

5. Nominating The Devil Wears Prada for Best Costume Design is like nominating Talladega Nights for Best Product Placement. Welcome to the world of Home Shopping Cinema.

Happy New Year to one and all. Have you broken all your resolutions yet? Here's what I picked for this weekend's top five:

1. Night at the Museum
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Pursuit of Happyness
4. Rocky Balboa
5. The Good Shepherd

And the actual top five (drum roll, please):

1. Night at the Museum - $37.8 million
2. The Pursuit of Happyness - $19.3 million
3. Dreamgirls - $15.5 million
4. Charlotte's Web - $12 million
5. Rocky Balboa - $11.4 million

Get the full box office report here.

Once again, I picked only the top movie correctly -- but I couldn't have predicted how well 'Night at the Museum' would end up doing (again). It earned $8 million more than it did on opening weekend, with parents presumably shuttling their entire families to the theaters to catch Ben Stiller's dinosaurific antics. Looks like we have to anoint 'Museum' as the season's new 'Happy Feet,' seeing as how it's hauled in a whopping $125 million in only two weeks of release. Amazingly enough, that makes it the 14th-highest-grossing film of 2006, just behind 'Borat' and just ahead of 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'The Departed.'

And which other December flick finishes the year at #18? That would be 'The Pursuit of Happyness,' the Will Smith terjerker that makes you want to go out and buy Captain America dolls for every homeless kid living in a train station bathroom. Smith, it seems, can do no wrong. Perhaps M. Night Shyamalan should consider casting him in his next movie.

Domenico Procacci is a man of many talents. Well known for his producing abilities in Italy, he has now started up a production company in New York by the name of Last Kiss Productions. He created this company to continue to work in unison with director Gabriele Muccino in America -- of course, Muccino is the man responsible for The Pursuit of Happyness, last week's number one film. Muccino and Procacci are long time collaborators, although Procacci did not produce Happyness, yet still has no troubles applauding his colleague's success. Happyness marks the first time an Italian director has opened their film at number one in the United States.

Procacci created Last Kiss Productions to go beyond his work in Rome with Fandango productions (he also owns a restaurant and a record company baring the same name). Fandango produces his native Italian language films but Last Kiss will work on bringing Italian-based stories to the English language -- no subtitles necessary. His first English-speaking film, giving him co-producer credits, is Silk starring Kiera Knightly, which will arrive sometime next year.

We have a lot to look forward to. Procacci has a slew of new projects that are in production; many based on books from Italian novelists such as Alessandro Baricco (also wrote the novel that Silk is based off of) and Walter Veltroni's (Rome's mayor) novel La scoperta dell'alba (The Dawn Discovery). La scoperta dell'alba is about a man who travels back in time to 'Italy's terror plagued "years of lead" all by incidentally picking up a phone. Needless to say, I already bought my ticket.

What more can we expect from Procacci? A lot. He is even making his directorial debut in February with Lesson 21 -- shot in English. Even though I love listening to his films in Italian, a language not even comparable to English in beauty, I look forward to seeing how he translates his stories without using his native tongue. You?

Happy Holidays to all and to all a ... few good movies. I've been asked to step in and semi-resurrect our regular old Review Roundup feature, which works out pretty well considering I usually spend most Fridays (and some Wednesdays) poring through all my favorite critics, agreeing with some and questioning the basic sanity of others. But since the release date schedules get extra jumbly during the year-end holiday season, I figured I'd spend my first column covering, well, everything. Let's start with the ones that actually opened yesterday ...

The Good Shepherd

Pro: "It's not a tub-thumping anti-CIA screed, but at the same time it's not a gung-ho patriotic extravaganza about the moral certainty of our side." -- Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

Con: "This is featherweight entertainment, sans visual elation and moral consequence-like Munich for Beginners." -- Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

Pro: "The bottom line is that The Good Shepherd is engaging cinema. The length is a drawback, but not a big one since the movie earns the majority of its 165-minute running time." -- James Berardinelli, ReelViews.net

Con: "De Niro's vision seems unfocused and ill-executed. It seems as though he had a thousand good ideas about what a spy film should be that didn't quite coalesce into a singular product, but he crammed 'em all in there regardless and tossed the editing shears into the garbage." -- Phil Villareal, Arizona Daily Star

BONUS: "A truncated American tragedy, noticeably half-finished and undercooked, but often tantalizing for the promise that clearly lay buried in the material, like unbroken codes." -- Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

Night at the Museum

Pro: "Trying to get kids to go to a museum over their holiday vacations might be a little easier after seeing Night at the Museum, a family-friendly comedy that tries to entertain while educating - and often succeeds, at least with the former." -- Mack Bates, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Con: "A volley of contented cackles greeted the final third of Night at the Museum, a pea-brained fantasy-comedy with a riot of kid-pleasing special effects." -- Jan Stuart, Newsday Magazine

Pro: "What do you know, not only is this a delightful popcorn movie, Ben Stiller is actually really good in it." -- Kevin LaForest, Montreal Film Journal

Con: "The possibilities for building an intriguing and original story around this concept -- the Museum of freakin' Natural History comes alive every night! -- are endless, and they chose this. That is downright criminal." -- MaryAnn Johanson, The Flick Filosopher

BONUS: "Lots of pure imagination, with an extra helping of the most fun you might have at the theater all year." -- Erik Davis, Cinematical

We Are Marshall

Pro: "Warm and big-hearted, We Are Marshall succeeds as a tribute because it respects its subjects. It succeeds as a movie because it doesn't confuse respect with lifelessness." -- Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

Con: "Director McG, known for the whiz-bang acrobatics of his Charlie's Angels movies, applies a warm, shiny veneer to everything here which prevents any emotion from getting through." -- Christy Lemire, San Francisco Gate

Pro: "The film is injected with a refreshing energy whenever McConaughey is on-screen, balancing some of the inherent sadness of the story." -- Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times

Con: "No matter how earnest the intentions are, however, the harsh truth is that We Are Marshall is shockingly empty, one-dimensionally written, and finally unconvincing." -- Dustin Putnam, TheMovieBoy.com

BONUS: "A film that walks a tightrope with tricky subject matter, and somehow makes it to the other side." -- Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

Now let's skip back over the past week or so and see how the other holiday break also-rans fared with the critics...

Do you prefer fact to fiction or fiction to fact? I think it's inevitable after watching any film based on real life individuals or happenings that you may find yourself fact checking choices made by the filmmakers. Did Johnny Cash really ask June Carter to marry him on stage like in Walk the Line? Yes, he did. But what if he didn't? Would you be annoyed or angry by the writer, director, and actor's choice to make the story more whimsical?

Variety did a little fact checking of their own on this year's films with notable historical references. The article rated films such as Catch a Fire, Pursuit of Happyness and The Last King of Scotland according to their historical relevance and gave a little synopsis of the filmmaker's "spin" on the story.

Almost all the films had a high rating according to factual validity although none scored a perfect ten. Why all the twisting of the truth to make an already good story better? Well first of all, most stories do not come with that tried and true "Hollywood Ending" that viewers love so much. A story, no matter how difficult it is throughout (Hotel Rwanda anybody?) ultimately needs to have an awe-inspiring ending -- leaving the audience member uplifted and with a sense of hope.

So which movies ranked the highest and the lowest? World Trade Center received a nine on the fact meter. The story is about two NYPD officers who survived after their extraordinary heroism following the attacks on 9/11. Writer Andrea Berloff had the upper hand though as she had direct accounts from the real life survivors; whereas Sofia Coppola couldn't have a word with Marie Antoinette. If she had a dialogue with the late queen she may have found out that Manolo Blahniks were not yet available at street markets and New Order wouldn't be arriving on the scene for a couple hundred more years -- but that doesn't mean the film is any less fun.

I say, write it well, direct it well, perform it well and then maybe I won't even care if it's fact or fiction.

Greetings and salutations, all you box office predictors -- or as I like to call you, BOPs. (Behind your backs, of course.) It's the morning after the office holiday party, which means I am moving a tad slowly right now, which means this is going to be the shortest Box Office Prediction ever. Please, try to contain your crushing disappointment.

'Eragon': I get to see a fair number of movies for my job, but the one that's prompted the most curiosity among friends of mine this year (as in, "Please please please tell me when you get to see a screening, I am SO EXCITED for it") has been this one. The first book in Christopher Paolini's 'Inheritance' trilogy comes to the big screen this weekend complete with fire-breathing CGI dragon, a newcomer (Ed Speleers) as the fledgling Dragon Rider, Jeremy Irons as his mentor Brom, and John Malkovich as bad guy Galbatorix. Aaaand that's pretty much all I know about it, since apparently the movie didn't screen in New York. Damn you, 20th Century Fox! At any rate, excitement for 'Eragon' in certain circles has reached a fever pitch, so the question really isn't whether or not the movie will finish No. 1, but how much it'll make. 'The Chronicles of Narnia' made $65 million in its opening weekend; 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' made $47 million. My guess? 'Eragon' won't quite reach those numbers, but somewhere around $25-30 million is probably a safe bet.

'Charlotte's Web': I was a complete bookworm as a child -- still am, really -- and 'Charlotte's Web' was one of my very first favorite books. (Well, first favorite book that didn't have pictures in it, anyway.) Therefore, I have to admit I was a little taken aback when I heard that there was a new movie in the works, as I didn't want anything to mar the pictures I already have in my head of Wilbur the pig, Charlotte the spider and everything else in E.B. White's wonderful children's classic. That said, it's getting very nice reviews, and Julia Roberts (who provides the voice for Charlotte) is one of those stars that I will never, ever get tired of. Plus, Steve Buscemi as Templeton the rat! Genius! So it looks like 'Happy Feet' will be toppled at last ... but don't cry for the penguins. They had a nice run of it, after all.

'The Pursuit of Happyness': Interestingly enough, all three movies opening wide this weekend were based on books. (Go, reading!) 'Happyness' is based on the memoir by Chris Gardner, who overcame seemingly unsurmountable odds to become a successful stockbroker while caring for his young son and living in homeless shelters. Will Smith stars as Gardner, and his son Christopher is played by Smith's real-life son, Jaden -- who's never acted before, but who does a terrific job (as does his dad, who just earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance). If you're in the mood for a tearjerker, then this is the movie for you; there's one scene involving a Captain America doll, of all things, that is one the most wrenching scenes in the movies this year. I kid you not.

If you live in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles, then you're lucky enough to get to see 'Dreamgirls' this weekend -- but since it's only opening on three screens, I'll save that analysis for another week. Ready to predict? All righty. Please don't forget to post by midnight on Saturday if you want your prediction to count. And have a rockin' weekend, all.

1. Eragon
2. Charlotte's Web
3. The Pursuit of Happyness
4. Apocalypto
5. Happy Feet

POST: What's your weekend top five prediction?

POST: What do you think of these movies?

'Eragon': Showtimes, trailer & more | Exclusive clips | Photos

'Charlotte's Web': Showtimes, trailer & more | Five-minute clip | Photos

'The Pursuit of Happyness': Showtimes, trailer & more | Photos | Chris Gardner interview

When we used to live in Rochester, NY, every time we went to the airport we saw these enormous advertisements for a local college. We used to make fun of the seriousness of the school's marketing message -- my favorite sign read "Tenacity. We teach it." which for some reason always put images of Dickensenian orphans in my head. I thought a lot about tenacity, though, as I watched Will Smith's newest film, The Pursuit of Happyness.

The film tells the tale of Chris Gardner (Smith) who gets the opportunity to train as a stockbroker -- in a six-month internship for no salary -- just as his wife abandons him and his five-year-old son, Christopher (played by Smith's seven-year-old son Jaden). Gardner and his son end up homeless and sleeping in subway bathrooms and homeless shelters to survive, but in spite of this, Gardner shows up for his internship every day in his one neatly pressed suit and tie, never revealing the desperation of his situation to his coworkers and supervisors.

Sony Pictures announced Thursday that for the first time, they will exceed $3 billion in worldwide ticket sales this year. This isn't any kind of record, though; other studios have surpassed the $3 billion mark before (three times before, in fact), but it's still good news for Sony -- and it is only one aspect of their amazing year at the box office. Their domestic take for 2006 is expected to pass the industry record of $1.573 million, an amount and record they reached back in 2002, for any studio in a single year. Another industry record they've already broken this year is for the number of releases to open at #1. So far, this number is 12, but Sony still has two more titles (The Holiday and The Pursuit of Happyness) to release before the year ends.

For the third time in the past five years, Sony will likely finish out the year with the greatest domestic market share for box office gross. The major contributor to Sony's success in 2006 was The Da Vinci Code, which had an international gross of more than $750 million. Other titles that helped out include Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Casino Royale and, surprisingly, The Pink Panther (hey, that's two remakes that originally starred Peter Sellers!).

Overall 2006 has been a seemingly good year for the motion picture industry, especially considering all the commotion last year over the "Great 'Slump' of '05". And yet, according to Box Office Mojo the total domestic gross for all movies in 2006 is right now $500 million less than the total of 2005 -- though some reports say that this year is up 4% over last year (not a big deal since '05 was down 6% from '04). Thankfully, B.O.M. has a handy YTD comparison, so we can actually see how 2006 stands so far against the same point in years '02 thru '05, and comparatively we're experiencing maybe only the third best year in five. We still have a few weeks left until the year closes, and a lot of movies are coming out in those few weeks, so the final tally could possibly outdo 2004's or 2003's grosses, but I wouldn't bet on it.