yes man Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Doubt
Philip Seymour Hoffman is thrilling to watch as a priest accused of abuse by god-like nun Meryl Streep. Streep's highly-studied Bronx accent cracks me up, but this is a crackerjack stage play by John Patrick Shanley that he adopted for the screen and directed. Viola Davis makes a deep impression, and Amy Adams is a cute nun. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read Jeffrey M. Anderson's review.

The Tale of Despereaux
Quoting myself: "A slapdash character study of two rodents ... a gentle and nurturing children's story, imparting lessons without being too condescending to its audience." This could become a family perennial. With the voices of Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Watson. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read my review.

The Day the Earth Stood Still
You've already seen the best bits in the trailer. Seriously. Even allowing for Keanu Reeves' intentionally blank slate and the prototypical "annoying kid," and crushing on Jennifer Connelly, this was a deadly bore that didn't come close to the far superior original. Skip it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read William Goss' review.

Yes Man
Jim Carrey stars in what our man Will Goss described as "a minor lark in the Canadian comedian's career ... familiar and funny in about equal measure." Still, Carrey familiarity + Zooey Deschanel makes me want to check it out. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read William Goss' review.

Bedtime Stories

Adam Sandler has always seemed child-like, but Jette Kernion said: "Watching Bedtime Stories is about as delightful as peeking into your Christmas stocking and finding it empty except for a few lint-covered peppermints." (Note: Released this past Sunday.) Skip it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read Jette Kernion's review.

Jim Carrey's Yes Man struck me as an awful waste of a terrific premise.

Far from the retread of the Liar Liar gimmick that some people claim, Yes Man's central conceit really resonates, and gets at a simple but profound truth: saying "no" to opportunities is safer and easier, but saying "yes" is more rewarding and fun. Literally having the main character start saying "yes" to everything is not my preferred way of tackling this issue, but it could easily work as a goofy, absurdist approach. Jim Carrey's track record may be bruised, but the actor is still a national treasure. And Peyton Reed's filmography contains some films that managed to be thoughtful despite their staunchly populist aims.

What an unpleasant surprise, then, to see a film so terminally mired in the worst Hollywood comedy conventions. It's hard to be meaningful or even sincere when everything is hideously distorted to fit the confines of hoary old formulas, complete with scenes that don't fit, but which a movie like this simply must contain. Yes Man winds up shrill, manic and unpleasant (albeit sporadically funny) when it should have been breezy, earnest and simple.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that gives our loyal readers more than one last chance to win fabulous movie-related prizes. Due to the holidays and all, we took a week off -- but now we're back to congratulate the three talented folks who said 'yes' to our Yes Man caption contest and walked away winners.

1. "And with rare audition footage, the general public sees why Jim Carrey was not selected to play Johnny Cash in Walk the Line." -- Kathi F.

2. "My career has left the building. Thank you and goodnight!" -- Adi B.

3. "Jim later realized that playing Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" was probably not the wisest choice for little Terry's five year birthday party." -- James H.

See full image and all captions

You didn't think we'd return from our little holiday vacation empty-handed, did you? Because we have gifts -- some very cool gifts -- and we're totally willing to give them away to the one lucky person behind our favorite caption for a photo from the new film Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. You heard me, there's only one winner this week (because the prize is pretty sweet), and that person will receive one Last Chance Harvey Travel Kit including three Last Chance Harvey Tumi travel bags and one Last Chance Harvey Burberry Umbrella. Nice! Just in time for that winter vacation, right? Sound off below ...



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You really expect a movie headlined by Will Smith -- the consensus Biggest Movie Star in the World -- to at least break $20 million in its opening weekend. You'd have to go back to 2001's Ali to find one that didn't. Instead, Seven Pounds -- poorly reviewed and marketed to emphasize the central mystery in a way that turned out mystifying -- played second fiddle to Jim Carrey's Yes Man, pulling in $16 million to Yes Man's $18.1 million.

The Seven Pounds result is actually not terribly surprising, even given the Will Smith factor -- the movie is a morose downer, with none of the uplifting, holiday-appropriate draw of 2006's affable The Pursuit of Happyness (another Smith-Gabriele Muccino collaboration), and the people looking for that sort of thing have a lot to choose from this time of year, most of it carrying more cred. I'm a bit more taken aback by Yes Man's relatively weak opening. For a high-concept Jim Carrey comedy, opening a good three weeks after the last big light-hearted offering, $18 million is uninspiring. It's in the same ballpark as Fun with Dick and Jane, opening around the same time three years ago, but that one went up against three other comedies opening the same weekend, and was harder to market. I wonder if Jim Carrey's draw might be waning a bit.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the online game that says 'yes' to everything! Last week we asked you to cough up some witty captions for an image from the new animated flick The Tale of Despereaux, and you rats gave us more than enough cheese to chew on. Congrats to our three winners below!

1. "I bring you the head of Fettuccine Alfredo Garcia!" -- Harry J.

2."And then, when the fat man reaches for the cheese....WHAM! The bar comes down and snaps his neck! And all the mice dine for the winter!"-- Charles P.

3. "Fortunately for Despereaux, he had enlarged ears. His brother, Squeaker, with his enlarged nose, did not survive the 'cheese cutting.' -- Dan N.

See full image and all captions



Yes! This week we're letting ourselves go and introducing our souls to new experiences by saying 'yes' to everything -- and, most importantly, saying 'yes' to Jim Carrey's new film Yes Man (in theaters this weekend). The crazy cats behind our three favorite captions will rock out with one Yes Man Motion Pen, one Yes Man "Yes I Can" Post-Its, one Yes Man Loaded Dice in Box, one Yes Man Magic Answer Ball, one Yes Man Next Level Ladies Pink T-Shirt and one Yes Man Next Level Men's Black Tee. Sound off below!



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Yes, I consider myself a Jim Carrey fan. No, I do not consider myself an apologist for anything he's done. Yes, his latest -- Yes Man -- is amusing. No, it's not his big comeback to live-action fodder since 2005's Fun with Dick and Jane (apparently, last year's The Number 23 wasn't supposed to be funny...), but rather a minor lark in the Canadian comedian's career that attempts to wedge together the wisest cracks and broadest mugging of his Tom Shadyac comic fantasies, Bruce Almighty and Liar Liar, with the exceedingly conventional rom-com efforts of director Peyton Reed (The Break-Up, Down with Love). Yes, the combination (substitution?) leaves something to be desired, although no, it's not exactly a painful sit because of it...

Oh, and yes, the rest of the review will read just like this.

America loves a good alien invasion apparently, so the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still took top honors. Holdovers from previous weeks filled out the rest of the top five with last week's two other big releases, Nothing Like the Holidays and Delgo, respectively taking seventh and eighteenth (eek!) place. Here's the top five:

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still: $30.4 million
2. Four Christmases: $13 million
3. Twilight: $7.9 million
4. Bolt: $7.4 million
5. Australia: $4.1 million

Three new ones this week featuring drama, laughs and something for the kids.

Seven Pounds
What's It All About: Will Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who after a tragic accident seeks redemption through interaction with seven strangers.
Why It Might Do Well: In addition to Smith in the lead, the cast also includes Woody Harrelson and Rosario Dawson, and there's some decent buzz.
Why It Might Not Do Well: People rarely seek out an IRS agent.
Number of Theaters: 2,600
Prediction: $22 million

Now before anyone gets too excited, keep in mind that when it comes to Dark Shadows on the big screen, nothing is ever a done deal. Over a year ago, the news surfaced that Johnny Depp and Tim Burton were putting their heads together to bring the 1960's TV series to the big screen. But, as we all know, a certain girl falling down a rabbit hole took priority. But, in a conversation with Yes Man producers, Richard D. Zanuck and David Heyman, Collider scored some news about the adaptation via 'Hollywood Royal', Mr. Zanuck. According to him, "Dark Shadows is going to be Tim's next project after Alice in Wonderland and they'll be shooting it next summer in London".

For those of you who might not remember the campy awesomeness that was Dark Shadows, here is a little primer: Shadows premiered back in 1966 and was considered a 'Gothic soap' that made the leap into the supernatural a few months into its run by adding werewolves, ghosts, zombies, and various other monsters, and most importantly, a vampire by the name of Barnabas Collins. Numerous TV revivals of the series and feature film adaptations have been attempted, but none have ever lasted despite the strong fan base for the 40-plus year old soap.

Both Depp and Burton are avowed Shadows fans, so it makes perfect sense that the duo would be reluctant to let the project fall by the wayside in spite of the delay. But, it is going to be no easy task to bring the soap onto the big screen, even with two die hard fans like Depp and Burton behind the wheel.

Sound off below and tell us if you would like to see Dark Shadows on the big screen...

When the trailer hit for Yes Man back in July, it was as you'd expect -- a classic Jim Carrey dude loves the word no, overuses it, and then begins to learn the joys of saying yes. Getting to do so under the tutelage of Terence Stamp, with Zooey Deschanel as a love interest, that made it all the better.

But I never imagined that becoming a man who lathers in the warmth of "Yes," would mean becoming Harry Potter. The above picture is one of a handful of new images that have gone up over at /film. Did Jim Carrey get to say yes to crashing the Harry Potter film set? Yes to a theme party? Whatever the reason, I'm sort of wishing that this whole film was a Potter spoof starring Carrey and Deschanel, with John Michael Higgins as Ron. God, that would be good.

Does this inspire you to say "YES!" to Yes Man? The film will hit screens on December 19.

You escaped summer and spent the month of September watching "eh" films do "blah" business at the box office, while tons of press folk shouted praise for (insert festival film here). Release dates keep switching, movies are on the, well, move, and you still don't know exactly what you should be looking forward to over the next couple months. Here are five to get you started:

5. Yes Man

When: In theaters December 18th.
What's It About: Jim Carrey stars as a dude who says 'no' to everything until some guru hits him in the forehead, and then -- whaddya know -- he begins to say 'yes' to everything instead.
Who Should Watch: People who loved Liar, Liar and have been desperately waiting for Jim Carrey to return to comedic form. Guys who like to get lost in Zooey Deschanel's eyes (raises hand). Folks who say 'no' more than they say 'yes'.
If You Dig This, Check These Trailers Out: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (October 3), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (October 31), Four Christmases (November 26)



Four more after the jump ...