April 18, 2008

Is Carrie On For Cannes?

The movie version of "Sex and the City,'' which has been rumored to be opening this year's Cannes Film Festival, is conspicuously not mentioned in a lengthy article in today's Variety offering presumably informed speculation on which movies will and won't be on the list released next week. Variety says the U.S. will be represented by Charlie Kaufman's directing debut "Synecdoche, NY'' with Philip Seymour Hoffman and the animated "Kung Fu Panda,'' titles we listed more than a month ago, along with the world premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls.'' But the trade paper says it doesn't look like Steven Soderbergh's hotly anticipated double feature of Che Guevera flicks with Benicio del Toro will be ready in time. And the Spanish financiers of the new Woody Allen, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona'' -- with ScarJo and Penelope Cruz allegedly engaging in hot lesbian sex -- have settled on a world premiere at the San Sebastian fest. The somewhat dubious honor of the Cannes closing spot (when most of the press and industry have already fled the Riviera) goes to "What Just Happened,'' a Barry Levinson dud that world premiered at Sundance and is still looking for a U.S. distributor. Some think its inclusion is a nod to Cannes jury president Sean Penn, who plays "himself" opposite exasperated producer Robert DeNiro. The film's climax, set at the Cannes premiered of Penn's fictional movie, was actually filmed at a California high school. And what of "Sex and the City''? Sarah Jessica Parker has coyly acknowledged the possibility of Cannes debut in interviews but expressed reservations about unveiling the flick two weeks before its U.S. bow because plot details might get out to fans. There are plenty of spoilers out there already, including this story in last Sunday's Post. Or maybe SJP is really worried about bad early reviews?

Posted by Lou Lumenick at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

Box Office Preview: Another Soft Opening for Team Apatow?

A huge promotional blitz for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' may not reverse the flagging fortunes of producer Judd Apatow, whose reputation as Hollywood's King of Comedy suffered when "Walk Hard'' and "Drillbit Taylor'' opened way below expectations. Steve Mason of Fantasy Moguls predicts an disappointing three-day opening of between $13-16 million for the flick, which got 85 percent positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and a somewhat grudging three stars from moi. Despite a marketing campaign built largely on writer-star Jason Segel's much-displayed flaccid member, Mase says "we may all be suffering from Apatow fatigue,'' which is not great news for the studios that have a pair of summer releases coming from Team Apatow. First place in what looks like another underwhelming weekend is expected to go to "Forbidden Kingdom,'' a teaming of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Bruce Li that Mase thinks will take in $17-20 million. It rates 58 percent at RT and was awarded 2.5 stars by my very esteemed colleague Kyle Smith. Kyle gives just one star to the hilariously bad Al Pacino thriller "88 Minutes,'' which Mase says actually has more public awareness than "Sarah Marshall,'' even if the reviews are venomous -- Metacritic briefly ranked it as the third worst movie in the last decade or so, behind "Bio-Dome'' and the infamous gay Holocaust fantasy "The Singing Forest,'' though it slipped to 29th place after more reviews came in today (Both RT and Metacritic rank the reviews as 11 percent positive). Mase predicts a surprisingly respectable $9-12 million for "88 Minutes'' and a meagre $1-3 million for "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,'' a right wing, anti-Darwinism doc(a rotten 8 percent at RT and two stars from Kyle) that's absurdly going out on 1,032 screens. At the other end of the political spectrum, Morgan Spurlock's inane "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden'' is getting a more realistic 102-screen break. It's 30 percent at RT and receives one star from me.

Posted by Lou Lumenick at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2008

No 'Deal' for Big Apple

You're going to have to travel to Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco or Los Angeles if you want to see "Deal,'' a new gambling drama with Burt Reynolds that MGM is opening in limited release a week from tomorrow. It isn't playing in New York. We lucky Gothamites are getting the thriller "Deception,'' starring Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams. "Deception'' isn't being screened in advance for critics, and you know what that means.

Posted by Lou Lumenick at 11:51 AM | Comments (1)

Onion Movie Finally Arrives

Originally announced by Fox Searchlight for a theatrical release in December 2004, "The Onion Movie'' finally lands on DVD June 3. We'd imagine the sketch comedy spun off from the satirical weekly might be a tad dated. Fox Home Entertaiment's release says: "The Onion Movie features the world premiere trailer of the explosive action-packed thriller 'Cockpuncher' starring a martial arts superstar whose identity must remain a mystery.'' Well, not if you check with IMDB or the Steven Seagal fan site, which helpfully offers this production still. Seagal apparently hasn't had a movie in U.S. theaters since 2002's "Half Past Dead.''

Posted by Lou Lumenick at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)