old dogs Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's like Oscar night all over again! We have one loser and one winner: which is which?

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
The film snatched two Oscars, one expected (Mo'Nique for best supporting actress), one not (best screenplay adaptation, which was assumed to belong to Up in the Air). Our own Eric D. Snider identified the challenge and held out a hope: "The premise of Precious is so unsettling and bleak that no one would blame you if you didn't want to see it. ... That feeling of hopefulness, not the awfulness that precedes it, is what you'll take with you when the film is over." Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Up in the Air
Jason Reitman's character drama walked away empty-handed after earning nominations for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Reitman himself. Clooney plays a frequent-flying 'termination agent,' firing flocks of people from corporations that don't want to do the dirty deeds themselves. Kendrick is the new kid on the firing block, proposing to save money by inhuman means, and Farmiga is the fellow foxy frequent flyer who appears to share Clooney's commitment-phobic allergies.

While not without its moments, it leans heavily on portraying single, childless people as lonely, hollow bastards, while celebrating the joys of marriage and family. Trouble is, none of the families or relationships portrayed are anything close to joyful, so the argument falls flat on its self-righteous face. And it manages to smugly trivialize the consequences of the Great Recession along the way. Rent it if you're single, unemployed and masochistic, or married, currently employed and sadistic.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

After the jump: saints, dogs, cartoons, capitalists, and a stoning.

Vinnie Barbarino, where have you gone? John Travolta was the breakout star of the 70s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, so forgive me if I see every role he's done since then as a variation of the sweet, wisecracking Sweathog. He was Nancy Allen's ill-intentioned accomplice in Brian DePalma's Carrie, but after he hit the big time as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977), he stayed firmly on the side of the good guys until John Woo's Broken Arrow (1996). In that high-octane action flick, he played an out and out evil, cackling villain.

Travolta had played bad boys throughout his career, but even professional killer Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction had a core of heroic goodness somewhere inside. Not so the nuke stealing, government blackmailing Major Vic Deakins. That performance unleashed the devil inside, and over the past 14 years Travolta has played a series of oft-hysterical, over the top villains (Face/Off, Swordfish, The Punisher, and last year's The Taking of Pelham 123).

In Pierre Morel's From Paris With Love, which opens on Friday, Travolta looks, acts, and tosses around the f-bomb like a menacing, swaggering, nasty bad guy, even though, (psst!) he's supposed to be a good guy. Whenever he's played a character like the over-the-top American spy he plays in Paris, he seems to be having a helluva good time, even if the movie fails to live up to expectations, which is why I've come to prefer the "Bad Boy Travolta." The "Good Guy Travolta" in movies like Old Dogs is the kind that receives Razzie nominations. What about you? Do you prefer "Good Guy Travolta" or "Bad Boy Travolta"?

I'm no shrink, but I'm fairly certain that When in Rome suffers from multiple personality disorder. The writers David Diamond and David Weissman, for whom we can thank for Old Dogs, apparently couldn't decide if When in Rome was supposed to be slapstick, romantic, or even slightly dramatic, so we're treated to a whirlwind of scenarios that don't add up in the end.

It seems that our protagonist Beth (Kristen Bell) suffers from the same disorder. Career Woman Beth is addicted to her Blackberry and claims she's waiting for a guy whom she loves more than her super-awesome job at the Guggenheim, but it sounds so forced, it's like not even the character believes it. Career Beth comes with two funky assistants and a slightly sassy gay man who seem to be her only friends. "Eff My Life" Beth runs into poles and is publicly humiliated by an ex at an art event she put together; as all eyes turn to her, the heel of her boot breaks. When she gets home, her little sister comes over to announce she is getting married in Rome in two days to someone she met in first class. Sensitive Beth has been burned by love (specifically her ex, played Lee Pace, looking sadly douche-tastic) and is, of course, the product of a bitter divorce; she uncharacteristically snuggles up with the best man at the wedding, Nick, while they're dancing after the ceremony. Wacky Beth gets drunk at said wedding, jumps in the Fountain of Love in her wedding dress, and steals coins.

Remember when John Travolta did duets with women his own age, or older in the case of Olivia Newton-John? These days he's apparently only singing with little girls, like Miley Cyrus and now his 9-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu, who recently co-starred with her parents in Disney's Old Dogs. If you were scared by the actor's appearance in the new trailer for From Paris With Love, just check him doing his best attempt at Bobby Brown in the music video for "Every Little Step," which appears on the Old Dogs soundtrack.

Honestly, it's not that creepy compared to the video for his Bolt song with Cyrus ("I Thought I Lost You"), which should have kept Travolta hidden behind the cartoon dog rather than appearing alongside the teen pop star as if they were lovers. Fortunately in his version of "Every Little Step," Travolta has changed lyrics like "we were made to fall in love" to "you will always be the one" and comes off as more paternal than lecherous. It's no awkward father-daughter collaboration like "Cruisin'" in Duets or "Afternoon Delight" in Arrested Development.

Welcome to a new series here on Cinematical where we select an actor or actress and the role we think is their all time best.

There is a widely believed theory that says anytime Robin Williams grows a beard for a film, that film will be good. Or, at least his performance will be. The idea is mostly accepted on the evidence of Williams' terrific dramatic appearances in Moscow on the Hudson, Awakenings, The Fisher King and Good Will Hunting, for which he won an Oscar. But many people like to argue against the theory because the actor shows up bearded in Jumanji, which isn't quite on the level of Williams' best work. Also, the theory holds little weight when we look at all his excellent clean-shaven turns, such as those in One Hour Photo, Good Morning Vietnam, Insomnia, Dead Poets Society, The World According to Garp and, yes, Popeye.

My belief is that the only way to classify Williams' roles and films is to look at the actual performances. Crazy, right? Well, a lot of us like to attempt to create rules for looking at Hollywood careers, and it's more fun to think there's really a beard law when it comes to Williams, or that we can easily presume he's past his prime and will only make broad, lowbrow junk like RV and License to Wed from now on. His most recent movie, Old Dogs, doesn't offer a lot of hope against that presumption, either.

Yet Williams continues to make appearances, whether leading or supporting, in smaller, more interesting films, such as Bobcat Goldthwaite's World's Greatest Dad (which grossed only 0.1% of the current combined take of Williams' two major 2009 releases, Old Dogs and Night at the Museum). And it's choices like these that remind me of Williams' best role and performance: as Parry in Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King.

It's a bit disconcerting when a movie takes a 70% tumble in its second weekend, and still ends up with a $66 million holiday take, but that's Twilight fans for you. New Moon took all of eight days to get to $200 million, a number bested only by The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It doesn't look like New Moon's staying power will be particularly impressive, but when your movie opens to $142 million, you don't really need it.

A movie that might be sticking around the top of the charts for a few weeks yet is The Blind Side, which surged to get an 18% boost over its strong opening weekend (3-day numbers). The relentlessly positive movie no doubt was helped by families looking for something generically acceptable to watch together over the holiday weekend. Even those who don't care for The Blind Side should be happy that most families chose it over the universally despised Old Dogs, which landed in fourth place with $24 million over the five-day weekend, about $15 million less than its predecessor-in-everything-but-name (but really in name too), Wild Hogs, made in its three-day opening.

The weekend's other major debut was Ninja Assassin, which put up a lukewarm $21 million. That's weaker than the non-holiday opening of the last McTeigue/Wachowski Bros. collaboration, V for Vendetta, despite Ninja Assassin seemingly having broader potential appeal (I mean, come on -- ninjas). Opening in limited release was Dimension's The Road, which did okay on just over 100 screens. It seems safe to say that the dark, grimy post-apocalyptic thriller won't be a breakout hit.

The holiday top 11 after the jump.

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, the newest Twilight film made CRAZY money over the weekend. The Blind Side made a pretty respectable showing as well, though still taking a distant second. Here's the top five:

1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: $142.8 million
2. The Blind Side: $34.1 million
3. 2012: $26.4 million
4. Planet 51: $12.29 million
5. A Christmas Carol: $12.28 million

This weeks new releases offer one part action to one part comedy, plus we have a kids film going into wider release.

Ninja Assassin
What's It All About: A skilled assassin swears vengeance on the secret order that trained him after they murder his friend.
Why It Might Do Well: This is produced by the Wachowskis, the team behind the Matrix films, so I imagine the martial arts action will be something to behold.
Why It Might Not Do Well: A lack of star power may be a problem.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $10 million

Old Dogs
What's It All About: Robin Williams plays a middle aged man who suddenly finds out that he has six-year-old twins with a woman he hasn't seen in years, and his bachelor buddy John Travolta helps him adjust to life as a father.
Why It Might Do Well: I really love that bit in the commercial where a terrified Seth Green sings "All Out of Love" to a gorilla.
Why It Might Not Do Well: I suspect that gorilla gag may be all the film has to offer, as the film is only getting 10% over at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 3,300
Prediction: $32 million

I will say this for Old Dogs: It is exactly as funny as you'd expect a movie to be that stars John Travolta and Robin Williams as two bachelors who must suddenly take care of precocious 7-year-old twins, and that was directed by the man who made Wild Hogs. Which is to say, it is not the least bit funny, not once, not even for a minute. Imagine a season's worth of plot devices from TV's most generic sitcom crammed into 88 excruciating minutes.

Here are the thoughts of Williams' character in this frantic, contrived mess: I had a one-night stand seven years ago, and it turns out I'm the father of twins! And now I have to babysit them for two weeks! But I'm working on the Big Account at my job, and I don't have time! Oh no, they don't allow children in my condos -- apparently not even temporarily, to visit -- so we have to stay with my best friend at his un-child-proofed apartment! Oh no, if I screw up this golf game with the client, it'll blow everything -- and I accidentally took my friend's medication this morning that gives me hallucinations! Oh no, my friend and I are going to breakfast with the kids, and everyone thinks we're their grandparents! And now the staff is singing a "welcome to the grandparents' club" song, which surely does not exist in real life anywhere! How embarrassing! And now we're on a camping trip with the kids, and the scout leader thinks my friend and I are gay, except we're too stupid to realize he thinks that, because somehow it's "funnier" if we don't know! Doh! We're on a collision course with wackiness!!

While attending a midnight showing of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra last week, we got a surprisingly diverse group of trailers attached to a movie that's based on a kid's property, but has no shortage of impaled skulls and throwing stars to the eye sockets (but it's bloodless, Prince Caspian-style, so it's okay!).

The one that got the biggest rise out of the audience was that of Old Dogs, from the director of Wild Hogs (get it?) and starring Robin Williams and John Travolta as swinging bachelors suddenly saddled with kids to care for and forced, one would gather, to learn new tricks (get it?). And lo, the audience did howl, and lo, I did slouch further and further into my seat. A kid is hit in the head by a ball! Williams loses depth perception after the brats mix up his meds! Seth Green is being cuddled by a gorilla that gets angry if he doesn't sing for it! John Travolta gets pecked in the head by aggravated penguins! Sweet Charlie Chaplin's ghost, that there's a knee-slapper!

Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese's latest thriller looks downright spectacular. The film is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane and Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a U.S. Marshall searching for an escaped mental patient on an island off the coast of Massachusetts. DiCaprio's character comes up against a dark conspiracy and he is haunted by the memory of his late wife who is played by Michelle Williams. And yes that's Jackie Earl Haley as one of the inmates (he plays crazy REALLY well). Watch for this one on October 2.

Old Dogs
OK, the bit where Seth Green is singing "I'm All Out of Love" to the gorilla is pretty funny, and the penguin attack got me to laugh but the plot seems ridiculously simplistic. Robin Williams plays a man whose former girlfriend returns after seven years to tell him that he has twin children. With the help of his buddy played by John Travolta, Williams's character must adapt to the idea of instant fatherhood at a relatively advanced age. Wackiness enuses. This is being billed as a family movie so much of the humor is aimed at kids. This one hits theaters on November 25.