hellboyiithegoldenarmy Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Some critics' groups rush to hand out awards weeks before the year of eligility is over. Other groups, like the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films, prefer to take their time. The 35th annual Saturn Awards were presented last night in beautiful downtown Burbank, California, honoring the best in genre films for the 2008 calendar year. The top awards, as listed by FearNet, went to Iron Man (Science Fiction), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fantasy), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Horror), and The Dark Knight (Action / Adventure / Thriller).

The Academy also found room to honor Angelina Jolie as Best Actress for Changeling, which makes me wonder how that film could possibly qualify as a genre flick. Horror, perhaps? More major awards went to Robert Downey, Jr. as Best Actor and Jon Favreau as Best Director for Iron Man, Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor, and Tilda Swinton as Best Supporting Actress. Wall-E took home Best Animated Film and Let the Right One In was presented with the Best International Film award. And here are the awards that make the Saturns stand out for genre fans: Lance Henriksen received the Life Career Award, and Leonard Nimoy nabbed the Lifetime Achievement Award.

I was following the awards show via Twitter, and the most entertaining account was the one by loquaciousmuse; she made it sound like a blast. If you're out of state, $40 buys an Academy membership with award voting privileges. The least expensive in-state membership is $150, which also grants access to more than 100 special screenings.

When we were kicking around ideas for year-end superlative Cinematical Sevens, I was proudly tasked with chronicling the year's finest in big-screen mayhem, violence, destruction and other such shenanigans. When I was kicking around ideas for said feature between me, myself, and I, there were too many titles to leave off the list, so instead of highlighting only a mere couple of movies, I've opted to sort these puppies out by specific manner of cinematic excess.

So there.

1. Most pervasive destruction - The Joker may have terrorized Gotham to the tune of a destroyed hospital, a wrecked helicopter, a sunken SWAT truck, a toasty fire engine, and a golden district attorney, but even he can't top the Cloverfield monster's swath of destruction across the real-life Gotham. Statue of Liberty? Gone. Brooklyn Bridge? History. Central Park? Adios. And that's not including all the Hollister stores that our protagonists might've fled to. (On a smaller scale, though, Inside's lady in black terrorizes a pregnant woman on Christmas Eve to the point of all but painting every last wall in her house with the blood of her victims. Gotta love the French!)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The red beastie with a penchant for kittens is back. This time, Hellboy must stop an underworld leader bent on awakening an army of unstoppable gizmos created to take over the world. He's got problems with Liz, and new aggravations from Johann (voiced by Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane). You can pick up the regular old simple edition, a big 3-disc set, or if you like collectibles, a boxed collector's set with a statue, poster, and book on regular DVD or Blu-ray. (More info on the DVD right here.) Buy it.

Mister Foe
On the less flashy front, there's the excellent Jamie Bell in Hallam Foe. Another victim of renaming, the film is known as Mister Foe stateside, but still covers Bell as Foe -- a peeping Tom on the streets of Edinburgh after his mother's untimely death. You won't get the mass of goodies that Hellboy has, but there are a few extras to dip into. Rent it.

Sukiyaki Western DjangoUber popular Japanese cult filmmaker Takashi Miike now brings us Sukiyaki Western Django -- riffing on spaghetti westerns, two clans battle for a town's treasure as a gunslinger strolls into town. According to Jeffrey M. Anderson's review: "Miike has managed the best Spaghetti Western knockoff in years." Buy it on DVD or Blu-ray.

Also out: Star Wars: Clone Wars.

"While waiting in line for the screening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, I overhead someone say that Guillermo del Toro's latest is being seen as his audition tape for The Hobbit," observed Jonathan Pacheco in his review for The House Next Door. Of course, Del Toro already had the directing gigs for the two Hobbit films before Hellboy II hit theaters, but that won't stop audiences from evaluating the current parade of fairies, demons and evil elves with Del Toro's Middle-Earth-to-be in mind.
Needless to say, it's a narrow perspective.

It would make more sense to expect that these upcoming features will negotiate between the gothic horror of Pan's Labryinth and the blockbuster approach of Hellboy II. In the latter work, it's clear that Del Toro has more interest in placing these loony supernatural beings in relatively conventional action sequences, allowing the specificity of the characters to create a sense of ingenuity. Pan's Labryinth, on the other hand, offers a single package of storytelling: The art direction, special effects and even the violence directly relate to the drama. The best case scenario for the Hobbit films would be a happy medium: Glorious visuals that reflect Tolkien's deeply involving mythology.

I guess Eddie Murphy knew something we didn't. I don't know how much the star showing up for the premiere of his own movie would have helped matters, but it couldn't have hurt. The poorly (though not abysmally) reviewed Meet Dave somehow turned out to be Murphy's worst debut weekend grosser since 2002's legendarily bad The Adventures of Pluto Nash, and before that 1998's Holy Man. Actually, Meet Dave's $5.3 million take just barely edged out Holy Man's opening. And that's pretty impressive. I probably shouldn't be too surprised, since even I didn't bother watching the thing, and I see just about everything. Bigger and better-looking films have at the moment cornered every demographic that Dave could have aimed for.

Better news for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, whose $35.9 million bow won't set any records this summer, but is a solid improvement on Hellboy's $23 million opening (it would go on to gross $60 million) and good enough for first. On the other hand, Journey to the Center of the Earth's $20.6 million, 3rd place finish has to be considered a mixed success. $11.7 million of that came from the film's 857 3-D locations (significantly less than a third of its total sites). That's not surprising, considering how much the movie was marketed as a 3-D affair; I wonder how many people went in thinking they were going to watch it in 3-D and went home disappointed. (Not receiving a pair of 3-D glasses would have tipped them off, I suppose.)

Nothing remarkable going on among the holdovers this week. Hancock dropped 47% in its second weekend and is sitting pretty with a $165 million cume (though recall that it was released two Tuesdays ago). Wall-E lost another 42% and, at $162.7 million after three weeks, it's tracking behind The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, but ahead of every other Pixar offering.

The full top 10 after the jump!

Speaking with the press in Beverly Hills, Guillermo del Toro casually tossed off a line that sums up the spirit of his most recent film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the tone he and his cast achieved: "When you go see a movie called "Hellboy," already there's an implicit, assumed certain sense of goofiness; you have to then say 'Look, we know we're pulpy, we know we're different, but we take ourselves seriously, and we want to entertain." Mike (Mignola, creator of the Hellboy comics) said it: He's not the Hell Knight, he's not the Hell Spawn, he's not the Hell Lord, he's the Hellboy. ... "

Much of the pleasure in the Hellboy series comes from the mesh and mix of the sensibilities of del Toro and Hellboy's creator Mike Mignola; I asked del Toro about the challenge of adapting someone else's material. How much of it is a struggle, and how much of it is a pleasure, to find ways to make someone else's creation yours? "I said in the past that, obviously, no matter how respectful you are of the material there's a moment ... I made the analogy that it's like marrying a widow; you have to be very respectful about the late husband, but at some point, you're going to get in bed, and the late husband is not gonna matter anymore, or it better not. And I think it's the same with material; there's a point where you go "I have only my instincts to guide me through this section ..." But, it's co-exploring. In the case of Hellboy, I've been blessed with a guy like Mike (Mignola), who is the most generous landlord of the Hellboy real estate; he says, essentially, move in, decorate as you want and make it yours."

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that makes us all Bat-crazy every Friday afternoon right here on Cinematical! Last week we asked you to get your red on with a little Hellboy in honor of the big dude's return to the big screen this weekend in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Congrats to our three winners ... and perhaps Guillermo del Toro will use your ideas in the next installment. (Fresca's makin' a comeback!)

1. "Yep, there it is: 'May cause redness and swelling of appendages.'" -- Jordan B.

2. "Even Hellboy later admitted that night might be a new record for worst case of 'Beer Goggles'". -- Chaz K.

3. "I have to admit, Fresca doesn't really suit my personality." -- Dan N.

See full image and all captions



Why so serious? It's Friday, and I think it's quite obvious that this was the week you crazy captioners have been waiting for! Yup, the Bat is officially back ... and to celebrate we've got one heckuva prize package for the top three captions based on the photo below from The Dark Knight (in theaters July 18). Give us your Gotham best, and you could walk away with one Dark Knight moleskin journal with Joker card, one Dark Knight black metal pen, one Dark Knight ladies' tank, one Dark Knight bracelet, one Dark Knight military hat and one Dark Knight mens' tee. Good luck! And don't forget to check back next week to see who won ... same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.



Read the official rules for this contest

Yes, I'm back again wanting to get all up in your business and find out what, exactly, you're planning to go see this weekend (otherwise known as "the weekend before Bat-mas ... or Bat-ukah if you're Batish"). If you're in the mood for lots of action featuring some of the most badass monsters this side of the Troll Market, then you'll want to head on over to Guillermo Del Toro's new flick, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Maybe take in a screening of Hellboy before delving into the sequel -- paint yourself red, punch out a few walls (only if you're over 18) and have a blast.

For the kids, I'm hearing Journey to the Center of the Earth is a must-see in 3D. Cinematical's Chris Campbell raved about the 3D experience he had with this film (I think it was borderline orgasmic for him, but he's a theater geek like that). Keep in mind the 3D might be a little freaky for the real little ones, but it seems like the kind of moviegoing experience I'd have wanted my parents to give me growing up. So do something nice for the little buggers and take them on a journey ... in 3D!

Then you have Eddie Murphy in Meet Dave. It's brought to us by the folks behind Norbit, which means it ain't Oscar material, but I'm sure there are drugs that exist that will make this movie worth the price of admission. Kidding! We love you Eddie ... I just wish you'd produce something a little dirty, a little risky, a little mid-80s. Give us the old Eddie and we'll give you two or three more of these "all-too-safe" comedies.

So, what are you watching movie freaks???

Speaking with Cinematical in Los Angeles, director and writer Guillermo del Toro was enthused and excited to talk about the challenges and triumphs of his latest film. "The biggest challenge (for Hellboy II: The Golden Army) was to say "Let's remain loose and interested and happy and crazier and more free in the second movie. ... And the second-biggest challenge was to make a 200-million dollar movie with 85 (million). ..." Del Toro also spoke about the film's mix of slapstick and the supernatural, the pleasures and pitfalls of practical effects and what he'd say to someone concerned that his upcoming task of directing The Hobbit would mean too much time spent away from him crafting his own unique visions for the big screen. (Warning: Brief snippets of foul language included within.)

Cinematical's podcast content is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Once again the Independence Day holiday proved successful for Will Smith. Hancock launched on Tuesday night, had a total of $103.9 million by weekend's end and provided Smith with his eighth consecutive film to open at number one. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, which went into wider release last weekend, finished in eighth place. Here's the top five:

1. Hancock $62.6 million
2. Wall-E $32.5 million
3. Wanted $20 million
4. Get Smart $11.1 million
5. Kung Fu Panda $7.3 million

Three new ones this week with (surprise) yet another superhero flick gunning for the top spot.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
What's It All About: Ron Perlman returns as Hellboy, a demon employed by the U.S. government to do battle against the things that go bump in the night. Denizens of a mystical world of supernatural creatures are about to wage war upon humanity, and Hellboy, the scarlet skinned scourge of evil, must stop them. Also returning are Doug Jones as the aquatic Abe Sapien (voicing the character himself this time, and not being dubbed by David Hyde Pierce) and Selma Blair as the pyrokinetic Liz.
Why It Might Do Well: In a nutshell: Guillermo del Toro. The man behind the original Hellboy film is back. In addition to being rejoined by the original cast, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola collaborated on the script. Also, we're talking 90% from Rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Who's going to go see a movie based on a comic book? Oh, wait...
Number of Theaters: 2,900
Prediction: $42 million