Transporter3 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Milk
Sean Penn won an Academy Award for his portrayal of openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, and Dustin Lance Black won another for his script, which focused on Milk's activist years in the 1970s. "It's a minor miracle of sheer film making joy and determination," wrote James Rocchi, "and one of the best American films of 2008." With deleted scenes and mini-features "Remembering Harvey," "Hollywood Comes to San Francisco," and "Marching for Equality." Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon.

Let the Right One In
My top pick from last year is a dramatic thriller about vampires and young people, old souls and eternal fears, yearning for the unobtainable and the inevitable pains of loving another person. Director Tomas Alfredson takes a traditional tale -- the youngster who is picked on and the new friend who helps -- and rubs in a touch of supernatural, a touch of the old world, and a touch of heart on the sleeve, wrapping it in beauty and agony. Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon.

Transporter 3
I have no easy defense of my love for Jason Statham as Frank Martin in the Transporter films. Suffice it to say that the action -- fights, car stunts, people stunts -- keeps me occupied, the plots are not hard to track, and I like the interplay between the main character and Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand). In this episode, Jeroen Krabbé as the bad guy is a nice bonus. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon.

Also out: Cadillac Records, Role Models. After the jump: a bounty of Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray Picks, plus Collector's Corner.

Thanks to advancements in movie-going technology over the years, all one needs to view tomorrow's slasher remake, My Bloody Valentine, in three dimensions is a special pair of glasses. And according to Lionsgate's marketing department, all one needs in order to see the film in four dimensions is a set of beer goggles.

The above picture is of an online ad that I just came across while watching a video on YouTube. (Whether or not said video was a RickRoll, I'll neither confirm nor deny.) Apparently, the studio is so confident in the quality of their film that they hope young viewers over the age of 21 will stumble up to the ticket window before tossing their cookies mid-movie in an effort to create an interactive "splash zone" of sorts for some lucky viewers.

As the season marches on, 'for your consideration' ads litter the trades and various awards analysis websites. However, there aren't nearly enough campaigns for the year's worst performances.

You have your obnoxious kids (Jaden Smith in The Day The Earth Stood Still, Logan Lerman in Meet Bill). You have your touched individuals who straddle the line between functional and, ahem, 'full retard' (Sophie Okonedo in The Secret Life of Bees, Omar Benson Miller in Miracle at St. Anna, David Morse in Hounddog). You've got your guys that give 'insane' a bad name (Jason Butler Harner in Changeling, Donny Osmond in College Road Trip), and you've got your girls that give English a bad name (Ahney Her in Gran Torino, Natalya Rudakova in Transporter 3).

Oh, and then there's just about the entire cast of The Happening. (If I had to pick just one person, though, I'd go with the gardener who babbles on about hot dogs. The man's priceless.)

So, unless we're about to let Witless Protection sweep the Razzies, what were some of your least favorite performances of the year?

Who do you prefer: Frank Martin (Jason Statham in Transporter 3) or Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson in Punisher: War Zone)? While munching popcorn at my local multiplex on Friday night, I realized that both movies I was watching featured lead characters named Frank! Since both flicks were disappointing to various degrees (as explained at length by William Goss and Eric D. Snider), my mind wandered and I began imagining a movie in which the two battled to the death. Call it Frank vs. Frank.

If that calls to mind the horror movie stand-off Freddy vs. Jason, you're not far off from my idle imaginings. In fact, the extreme body count and ultra-violence inflicted by Frank Castle -- I can't remember when I've seen so many blown-apart faces and shotgunned heads -- means that Punisher: War Zone closely resembles an 80s slasher movie. Of course, Transporter Frank would rather avoid violence altogether, but he too manages to lay waste to dozens of bad guys.

Both Franks live by their own set of rules: Transporter Frank insists on no names, no opening the package, and no changing the deal, while Punisher Frank only kills criminals who deserve to die -- which is all of them, but still, it's a rule. Both men prefer to work alone. And both men enforce their own dress code: Transporter Frank wears a black suit, white shirt, and black tie, while Punisher Frank wears a skull on his full-length costume (admittedly, not so prominent in the latest version).

I know who'd win in my movie version, but I thought I'd throw it out there to my fellow action movie junkies. Who would win: the more cerebral, 'let me alone, I want to retire' Transporter Frank? Or the merciless, 'forever hell bent on vengeance' Punisher Frank?

I think critics should start boycotting the yearly Christmas Family Comedy. It's amazing: these movies are never good. I can't think of another distinct subgenre with such a poor track record over the last decade. And of course, I went and saw Four Christmases, of my own free will. I'm an idiot.

In any event, it was silly of me to imply that Four Christmases didn't have the muscle to win the weekend; high-profile Christmas movies almost always do well. The $31.7 million three-day is one of the best openings ever for a movie of this kind; last year's Fred Claus, also starring Vince Vaughn, only managed $18.5 million in early November. Four Christmases even squeaked out Elf. Its five-day gross was an impressive $46.7 million.

Australia, on the other hand: oh boy. Baz Luhrmann's ultra-expensive, ultra-long epic made $20 million over the five days, which is less than inspiring -- especially considering it has now basically exited the Oscar race. Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! only ended up with around $57 million at the end of its domestic run -- but it didn't cost $130 million, either.

Transporter 3 -- the weekend's best new offering, for my money -- did okay with $12.3 million over three days and $18.5 over five. The three-day is a slight decline from what Transporter 2 did three years ago, but overall I'd put them even. This franchise continues to be profitable.

Twilight fell considerably, which isn't too surprising given the rabid-fan phenomenon that packs theaters opening weekend. Around $160 million is looking like the endgame. Meanwhile, Bolt, facing no new kid-centric competition over the weekend, held up almost miraculously well, actually gaining slightly over the three-day weekend. The folks at Disney have surely turned last weekend's frown upside down.

Slots 10 and 11 on the weekend's chart are occupied by limited releases: Milk and Slumdog Millionaire, on 36 and 49 screens, respectively. Their success bodes well for their Oscar chances.

The full five-day estimates after the jump.

One would like to think that they're only asking for so much when they opt to see a flick titled Transporter 3, and that fulfills our end of the bargain. We, the audience, provide the expectations, however modest, and they, the filmmakers, provide the execution. Frank Martin knows when he has to deliver; after all, it's his job.

Olivier Megaton, on the other hand... not so much.

Megaton has taken on the job after serving as second-unit director on Hitman. Given that both stories are about stoic bald dudes kicking butt across Europe with a native femme in tow, I'd guess that's as good a qualifier as any, though not good enough in hindsight. Our stoic bald dude is Frank Martin, natch, and he's once again played by Jason Statham with all the steely glares and ab crunches that come with the territory (and seemingly every role he takes).

The vampire romance Twilight kicked serious butt with the fifth biggest November opening in history. Last week's other newbie, Bolt, took a somewhat disappointing third place with Quantam of Solace outselling the Disney feature by a mere half million. Here's the top five:

1. Twilight: $69.6 million
2. Quantum of Solace: $26.7 million
3. Bolt: $26.2 million
4. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: $15.6 million
5. Role Models: $7.3 million

This week, a historical drama, a holiday-themed comedy and an action sequel are vying for your Thanksgiving weekend box-office dollars.

Australia
What's It All About: Set in the months after Pearl Harbor, Nicole Kidman plays an aristocratic British cattle rancher with Hugh Jackman playing a cattle driver who helps drive her herd across hundreds of miles of Australian outback.
Why It Might Do Well: The cast is definitely a plus and Kidman and Jackman appear to have good chemistry.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 47% rotten at Rottentomatoes.com suggests a less than bright future for this one.
Number of Theaters: 2,600
Prediction: $17 million

Four Christmases
What's It All About: When a couple played by Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn find their vacation flight has been canceled, they are forced to visit all four of their divorced and remarried parents on Christmas Day.
Why It Might Do Well: The holiday season is almost here, so the Christmas angle may appeal to some.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The plot has a been-there-done-that feel, Vaughn appears to be playing the same character we've seen him do countless times before, and Rottentomatoes.com gives it 23%.
Number of Theaters: 3,200
Prediction: $26 million

What to make of Twilight's $70.5 million bow? Well, it's not quite Harry Potter, whose first-weekend outings have ranged from $77 million to $102. But when you consider that Twilight is basically a niche film -- certainly it has a lot less cross-demographic appeal than Harry Potter -- its success starts to seem pretty remarkable. Are there any teenage girls who didn't see it this weekend? And what will happen to it next weekend? All the fans may have seen Twilight already -- then again, many of the die-hards may grace it with repeat viewings. Given the incessant shrieking at the screening I attended, that wouldn't surprise me.

Disney's Bolt didn't take despite favorable reviews. The studio continues to have trouble getting its non-Pixar animated features off the ground as tentpoles. Its best go was Chicken Little three years ago; Bolt looks to land about on par with Meet the Robinsons. Disappointing.

What else. Quantum of Solace remains on track to be the top-grossing Bond film of all time. Just below the top 10, Slumdog Millionaire is riding a deserved wave of great word-of-mouth to a $31,000 per-screen average on 32 screens. It'll continue to expand in the coming weeks, and should hit the top 10 before long.

The full estimates after the jump.

How do you follow films like The Transporter and Transporter 2? Um, you hire non-stop bad-ass Jason Statham to star in Transporter 3? (Yep.) The third entry in the hyper-kinetic action series comes from Lionsgate (whereas the first two came from Fox) and of course the producers found a way to get Mr. Statham back for Part 3 -- AND they found a way for him to fight with his shirt off. (Marketing class tells us this brings females to the theater.)

The first film dealt with an oddly superhuman courier who is forced to kick much ass when he's double-crossed by some villains. The second film ... pretty much the same, although the action bits were upgraded from slightly absurd to full-on Looney Tunes. Part 3? Yeah, our favorite "package" deliverer is forced to go on a mission, only if he wanders too far from his car, a giant wrist-bomb will go off. Apologies to my film professors, but that's just enough of a plot to get me interested in an action movie.

Transporter 3 opens on November 26, and LG has just released the final trailer. Here it is, and thanks to TrailerAddict.com for hooking us up with the embeddables:

"Rules Remain The Same, Except Some Changes."

I recall first seeing that tagline attached to a billboard touting The Transporter 3 at Cannes last May (whether or not I actually saw the picture at JoBlo.com then, all that matters is they still have it now) and dismissed it as a clumsy phrase with something perhaps lost in the translation from the European investors into big, fat, shiny English.

And yet IGN has the first domestic teaser up for the film, and that tagline appears nearly verbatim. I probably shouldn't care, and you probably don't, but it's just a further indication that even the filmmakers -- well, their marketing team -- have barely half a heart in this puppy.