the express Tagged Articles at Cinematical

City of Ember
This is the film that our Jette Kernion said is "one of the most gorgeous-looking films I've seen this year" (2008). It's the tale of a city in darkness -- a community that houses the likes of Saoirse Ronan, Tim Robbins, and Martin Landau, and is led by none other than Bill Murray. If thoughts of the future and rousing family fare are your cup of tea: Buy It on DVD. Sadly, there's no Blu-ray at this time.

Repo! The Genetic Opera
Unfortunately, this rock opera didn't live up to some expectations. But nevertheless, we're talking about a flick that had the cojones to cast Paris Hilton, and gave many rabid Buffy fans the opportunity to see Anthony Head belt out lyrics once again. Rent it, on DVD or Blu-ray, if you can handle a little blood and rock beats.

Max Payne
It came, it screened, it died. Max Payne was the action movie without action, the video game adaptation with serious plot changes. Perhaps in the right hands this still could have meant something amazing, but as it is, Payne fizzled. Skip it on DVD and Blu-ray. Elisabeth Rappe has a review of the DVD right here.

There have been a number of moderate- to high-profile box office fizzles in the past few weeks -- 'tis the season, I suppose, though the flop ratio seems higher than average this year -- and this week adds a couple more to the list. First and most surprising is the tepid performance of Body of Lies, which couldn't leverage the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, or Ridley Scott to open to more than $13 million. I don't really get it: the marketing was action-packed and fairly ubiquitous (though a bit confusing -- people apparently had trouble deciphering the trailer), and I thought the star wattage would do more for the film. (On the other hand, Scott's A Good Year, which also starred Crowe, died an even harder death.) Is anything involving Iraq or the Middle East really that much of a turn-off right now? Or maybe anything perceived as serious? It's really a superb film, and one that benefits from the big screen; you should check it out before it vanishes.

Another addition to the list of big fat flops is Fox's City of Ember, which crashed and burned at number ten (10). I haven't seen it yet, but I'm a big, big fan of Gil Kenan's debut Monster House, and so was rooting for Ember. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone knew that it existed. The football drama The Express doesn't count as a flop, I don't think, since no one expected it to do much better than it did: $4.7 million in sixth place. People just couldn't bring themselves to care about this story again, though the movie isn't bad.

The weekend's hits were exercises in escapist frivolity, which might support one of my hypotheses regarding Body of Lies' failure. Beverly Hills Chihuahua held on to the top spot with $17.5 million, ensuring a sequel. And the low-budget Quarantine took second in a huge victory for Screen Gems -- a $14 million opening for a movie like this is gold.

The full list of estimates after the jump.

It's football season, which means it's also the season for at least one heartwarming and inspiring movie about the sport. This year the film comes from Universal -- The Express, a biopic of Ernie "The Elmira Express" Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy, back in 1963. However, the movie divides its time between Davis and his coach at Syracuse University, Ben Schwartzwalder, and shows the ways in which the two characters changed one another (for the better, natch).

The movie opens during the notorious Cotton Bowl game of 1960, when Davis (Rob Brown) was a running back on the Syracuse University team that played The University of Texas, which had not yet allowed black varsity team members. It's a rough game, but Davis is handling himself until all hell breaks loose ... and then we flash back to Davis's childhood in the 1940s and see how he learned to handle nasty racist situations even at an early age. He's stubborn and he's speedy, and eventually decides to use those assets to strive for his goal of playing professional football. His idol, Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown, advises Davis to play for his alma mater Syracuse because Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid) is such an excellent head coach. But Davis encounters difficulties in the ways Schwartzwalder handles the black team members. The coach's primary goal is to avoid "trouble," so they're warned away from the white female students, and worse yet, at certain Southern games they're not allowed to score touchdowns. The real action culminates when the film returns to the Cotton Bowl game in Dallas.

Welcome back to another installment of Insert Caption -- the game President Bush would love to play ... if only he knew how to find the internet. Zing! Last week we asked you to "go long" for a photo from the new movie The Express, and score you did. Congrats to the three sports who managed to cross into our funny zone. (Get it -- instead of end zone, I said funny zone? Heh ... wait, why aren't you laughing?)

1. "Staring Contest? This is no Staring Contest....This is FOOTBALL!" -- Darren C.

2. 'Coach: Why aren't you playing up to your obvious potential yet?
Player: Because we haven't had the requisite training montage yet!" -- Matt B.

3. "Damn ... Did you hear about O.J.?" -- Chaz K.

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I'm a little afraid of the captions we'll be receiving this week, in honor of the new Oliver Stone flick W. (in theaters October 17), though I'm sure our readers will show a little {cough} respect with their captions. Based on the life and times of our current president (who'll be leaving office in just a few months), W. stars Josh Brolin (as W.) and a whole slew of all stars as some of our most favorite political heroes. The candidates behind our three favorite captions will spin away with one W. poster, one W. t-shirt and a set of six W. shot glasses. Sound off below ...



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Despite having six new wide releases last week, only Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist cracked the top five. In its third week of release, Appaloosa expanded into an additional 1,031 theaters, allowing it to take the number five spot. Here's the top five.

1. Beverly Hills Chihuahua: $29.3 million
2. Eagle Eye: $17.7 million
3. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: $11.3 million
4. Nights in Rodanthe: $7.3 million
5. Appaloosa: $5 million

Body of Lies
What's It All About: In this Ridley Scott film, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a CIA agent tracking terrorist activity in Jordan, with Russell Crowe playing the veteran agent who helps him infiltrate the terrorist underground.
Why It Might Do Well: This film reteams DiCaprio with William Monahan, the screenwriter behind The Departed, and the flick is sporting a 70% fresh rating at rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: This being an election year, there are already enough lies kicking around.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $26 million

Welcome back to another installment in our groundbreaking, game-changing (to borrow a phrase from the news anchors of the world) Insert Caption series -- where you provide the content and we provide the prizes. Last week we asked you to dish out some captions for a photo from How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, which opens in theaters today. Congrats to our three winners -- none of whom include you, dude.

1. "But the ad said the auditions were for Hair" -- Debra F.

2. "All Simon's attempts to compliment Jeff's "very masculine" hair piece ended in futility after mistakenly introducing himself to whom he thought was "Mrs. Bridges." -- Nathan H.

3. "Look, it's part of the bailout agreement. I get to keep my CEO golden parachute, and you have to swim back to England." -- Kevin M.

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This week we've purchased a one-way ticket for The Express, which hits theaters on October 10th, and follows the story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. The three readers who score a touchdown with our caption judges this week will hit the showers with a prize package that includes one The Express poster, one The Express t-shirt, one The Express hat and one The Express mini football. Sunday afternoon will never be the same again. Sound off below ...



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If you happen to be a fan of mystery novels from the 60's and 70's, then the name John D. MacDonald probably rings a bell. If not, it looks like you are going to get the chance to get to know him, but on the big-screen instead. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Fox is planning on a feature film version of McDonald's The Deep Blue Good-By, and that Gary Fleder (the man behind Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury) is in talks to direct.

Good-By was the first novel in McDonald's Travis McGee series. McGee is a Korean War vet and amateur sleuth who works as a "salvage consultant," recovering property and money for his clients (for a tidy fee) while operating out of a houseboat in Florida -- sadly without an alligator named Elvis. MacDonald wrote over 20 novels starring Travis McGee, so the project could be a great opportunity for Fox to get a new franchise up and running.

Fleder's feature debut was Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead back in 1995. Since then, Fleder has mainly made thrillers, but, he recently got the chance to flex his biopic muscles with the Ernie Davis biography, The Express, starring Dennis Quaid and Charles S. Dutton. Fleder might have the most experience when it comes to thrillers, but MacDonald was known for having a dark sense of humor in his capers. So if Fleder does sign for the film, he might have to lighten up a little this time around.

Thursday bites:

• According to The New York Post, Scarlett Johansson has more than just Woody Allen on her professional palette. There have been previous rumors about her signing on for The Sound of Music, but it nows seems that she's got her heart set on something more south, specifically, a revival of South Pacific. That's right. S-J is reportedly in talks to take on the lead role -- Nellie Forbush. A source told the Post that they want someone sexy because "This is not going to be a stodgy production..." I don't know. We've already discussed on Cinematical whether Scarlett has the acting chops. I just cannot picture her in a Broadway musical. She's just not the peppy Broadway type.
• In November, I posted news that an Ernie Davis biopic, The Express, was in the works. Erik followed up with word that Dennis Quaid would play Davis' mentor, Ben Schwartzwalder. However, there was still no word on the legend himself. Finally, we've got a star, and it's none other than Rob Brown. The guy is no stranger to feel-good mentor sorts of stories -- he's the kid from Finding Forrester. I'm sure he'll do fine in the role, but hopefully it won't get too sappy. Then again, most sappy treatments don't end in tragedy as Davis' story does, so perhaps it will escape that curse.
• Finally, we've got New Line nabbing a dramatic thriller pitch. The Black Path, to be written by new screenwriter Henry Jones, is about a brilliant, job-less novelist. While doing a travel piece in Ecuador, he finds a legendary Incan treasure -- based on a real story of the Incan treasure of Atahualpa. Unfortunately, the people in his search party start killing each other to take the gold. That pesky greed... It's a killer.

Personally, I'm a little tired of these inspirational sports stories, however at the speedy rate Hollywood is cranking them out it appears there will always be an audience for them. Heck, last week before I attended a screening for Unaccompanied Minors, there were a handful of women leaving a screening for We Are Marshall -- all of whom had tissues in their hands from crying. The way I see it, if you can get a bunch of women to cry over a football flick, then you've successfully done your job. (Heh, the only way my wife is crying over a sports-themed film is if someone accidentally kicks a Coach bag and ruins it.)

The opening sentence of this Variety article makes it seem as if Dennis Quaid is going to play the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. And yes, for a very brief second, I thought the world had officially come to an end. Thankfully, I continued reading where I discovered that Quaid was not playing a black football player, but instead was taking on the role of said player's mentor. As we previously reported, The Express is the film in question and it tells the true story of college football player Ernie Davis -- a guy who dominated on the field, but died of leukemia at age 23 before he could go pro. Gary Fleder will direct, while Charles Leavitt (Blood Diamond) has been brought on to rewrite Scott Williams' draft, and they're currently searching for an actor to play Davis himself. Any ideas??