The Seattle Times: Popcorn & Prejudice: A Movie Blog

"The Dark Knight." "Spider-Man 3." "New Moon." Say what?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:09:03 PST

Well, bite me. That little vampire movie grossed more than $140 million over the weekend, making it the biggest opening of the year and the third biggest of all time (behind the other two movies named in this blog's title -- both of which, it should be pointed out, opened in the busy summer season). "New Moon" also racked up the biggest opening day in movie history (Friday alone made an estimated $72.7 million, compared to $67.2 million earned by "The Dark Knight"), and more than doubled the opening-weekend totals for its 2008 predecessor "Twilight." Variety reports this morning that all of this is shaking up the movie industry, which has long believed that big-box-office movies have to be aimed at fanboys or families, not young women. (Hey, don't they remember "Titanic"?) 50 percent of the women attending "New Moon," the story points out, were under 21.

As we ponder the fact that "Eclipse," the third "Twilight" movie, will open during the peak of the summer movie season next year, and wonder whether Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will spend the rest of their careers trying vainly to prove that there's more to them than moody sparkle-skinned vampire, surly girl-in-crisis, and cheery teen werewolf respectively, let me ask this: Did you go this weekend? I went Wednesday (to the premiere screening) and noted that Team Jacob screamed much more loudly than Team Edward, and that, in a move that should warm the hearts of studio executives, a huge roar of approval was given to the Summit Entertainment logo at the beginning of the movie. But I wasn't at the multiplexes this weekend. Any good "New Moon" stories out there?

Run, Bella, run! But why do you look like you're holding your shirt together? (Photo by Kimberley French, courtesy of Summit Entertainment.)

News flash: Movie popcorn is bad for you. And, it's raining.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:28:03 PST

Well, this arrived just in time to make me feel bad about consuming that enormous bag of popcorn at "New Moon" the other night. (Hey, it was my dinner.) But seriously, was anyone out there thinking that movie popcorn was nutritious? I eat it all the time, under no illusions -- though I do pretend that not adding the scary "buttery" topping makes it, if not good, at least not as bad as it might be. And I'm wondering when the nutritionist quoted in the story last went to a movie theater, if she thinks that the popcorn counter and the candy counter are two different places.

While we're talking about movie food on this rainy Friday, here's a question: Anyone tried the new chicken nuggets at Pacific Place? I saw a sign advertising them the other day, but didn't have nerve to try them; nor have I sampled the egg rolls at the Meridian. Neither seem like they would go well with popcorn. (Little-known fact, shared with me by several Pacific Place employees: You can carry in your own food -- but only if it's from one of the Pacific Place restaurants.)

And finally, on this black-and-white day, here's a black-and-white clip that's sure to cheer. It's Ginger Rogers singing "Let Yourself Go," a 1936 song I was happy to hear just yesterday on the soundtrack to Richard Linklater's charming new film "Me and Orson Welles" (opening in Seattle Dec. 11). The song, irresistibly catchy, was written by Irving Berlin for "Follow the Fleet," from which this clip was taken. Watch it and smile, and have a nice weekend.

An update: DVD recall of John Huston's "The Dead"

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:23:03 PST

This is slightly old news (it happened while I was away on vacation), but a reader brought this to my attention this week so I thought I'd post it. As I posted a few months ago, the long-awaited DVD release of John Huston's beautiful final film "The Dead" was announced last summer for November 3. Sadly (and inexplicably), Lionsgate managed to botch the release, putting out a version of the film that was missing about ten minutes from the early scenes. They quickly recalled the product, leaving many puzzled. I talked to a Lionsgate staffer this week and she gave me the following statement:

It has come to our attention that due to a technical malfunction, the initial DVD shipment of John Huston's THE DEAD contained an incomplete version of the film. We deeply apologize to all our consumers for this unfortunate error and want to offer them an opportunity to replace their current copies with the complete version as soon as it is available to ship the week of November 23rd. We regret this inconvenience, as Lionsgate is committed to providing our consumers the highest quality home entertainment experience.

All consumers who purchased a copy and wish to receive the new complete version should do one of the following:

EMAIL lionsgatecs@orderassistance.com with their address and a scan/attachment of their receipt
FAX (310) 222-5562 with their address and copy of their receipt
MAIL their receipt along with a note including their address to: 20102 S Vermont Ave Torrance, CA 90502

Or please call (800) 650-7099 directly if you have any further questions

She said that correct versions of the DVD will be available in stores or for online purchase starting November 23. If you buy (or rent) a copy, be sure to check the running time: Huston's version is 83 minutes. And yes, this exquisite film is worth the trouble.

A moment of recognition in "New Moon"

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:20:04 PST

So, I'm sitting watching "New Moon" at Cinerama last night, and the girls of Team Jacob have finally stopped screaming everytime the kid comes on screen, and we're watching the ill-fated movie date-and-a-half (what else do you call a date that involves three people?) between Bella, Mike and Jacob, and I'm thinking, wow, that theater looks familiar. Indeed it was: The Ridge, my neighborhood moviehouse in Vancouver, B.C., where I grew up and where "New Moon" was shot. (The first "Twilight" movie was primarily filmed in Oregon; the second two in Vancouver B.C. Yes, it's supposed to be Forks, Washington, but the filmmakers didn't shoot there.) The Ridge, which has been around forever, has a distinctively skinny lobby with a staircase on one side, on which Jacob and Bella sit. I think I've sat there too, and maybe even on a date, though not with a werewolf.

If you grew up in Vancouver, you see a lot of familiar sights on screen, as so many movies and TV shows shoot there. And you're often amused by geography: Vancouver is usually passing for some other city (often Seattle), and you see funny stuff like Al Pacino, in "88 Minutes," driving down the Seattle viaduct and, immediately afterwards, arriving at the University of British Columbia campus.

Ever been surprised by an oh-so-familiar location in a movie? Do share.

Behind the scenes with "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:34:03 PST

Let's briefly interrupt the all-"New Moon"-all-the-time-ishness of this week for something completely different. Today I saw Wes Anderson's delightful new stop-motion-animation film, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," based on the children's book by Roald Dahl. It's funny, sweet and wonderfully creative -- and you get a sense of how creative it is by watching this brief featurette about the making of the film. I was surprised to see how teeny the animal figures actually are (stitching those little costumes must have been a chore), and that Anderson had his cast record their voice tracks outdoors at a farm, rather than in a studio. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" opens in multiple Seattle theaters Wednesday, Nov. 25. It's a treat.

A "New Moon" poll: Are you going?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:01:59 PST

This morning I heard from the nice people at Fandango, who told me that "New Moon" recently became their biggest advance seller ever, moving more early tickets than "Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "The Dark Knight," or any "Harry Potter" movie. So, who's buying all these tickets? Do teenage girls really have that much money? How many closeted Twilight Moms are out there? Let's take a poll:

Feel free to add comments explaining your choice. Me, I'm going to the premiere screening tonight, because it's my job. (Would I go if it wasn't my job? Umm . .. probably not. Certainly not opening weekend, anyway.) If you're coming, look for me; I'll be the one without a "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward" T-shirt, and an amused yet vaguely frightened expression, kind of like the one Bella gets when she's hanging out with the Cullens. I'm expecting a sort of "Rocky Horror"-like atmosphere, with a lot of teens yelling "Bite me!" at the screen. Wish me luck.

Doesn't anybody ever smile in this movie? Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner doing that moony thing in "New Moon" (Photo credit: Kimberley French, courtesy of Summit Entertainment)

Vampires and werewolves and girls, oh my! "New Moon" madness

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:03:10 PST

Yes, my friends, it's "New Moon" week, and every other item in my email box has something to do with The Movie Everyone Is Asking Me If I've Seen Yet. (Answer: no, tomorrow night, along with about a thousand screaming teenagers. I'm scared.) Here's just a sampling of today's "Twilight"-themed potpourri.

-- From MovieTickets.com: 2,150 screenings of "New Moon" have already sold out (and, in an item last week, "New Moon" advance tickets were selling four times faster than "Twilight" tickets last year).

-- From Moviefone: a list of the 10 greatest screen vampires, in which Robert "The Hair Is 75 Percent Of My Performance" Pattinson ranks only at #6. (The winner? Bela Lugosi, but of course.)

-- From a random publicist: an announcement of the available-for-interviews-ness of a university professor who seems to spend an awful lot of time thinking about "Twilight," and who notes that the Stephenie Meyer books are "a gateway drug" that drive teens to better literature. Let's hope.

-- From another random publicist: the announcement that some university researchers who've spent an awful lot of time thinking about "Twilight" have concluded that the books have an abstinence message. No kidding.

Me, I'm reading "New Moon" (well, "barrelling through" might be a better description) and bracing myself for tomorrow night's decibel level. And wondering whether the 15-year-old me would be on Team Edward or Team Jacob. (Probably Edward, despite the unfortunate glitter-skin thing.)

Edward, Bella, Jacob, and Jacob's biceps in a still from "New Moon." So, whose hair is the prettiest? (Photo by Kimberley French, courtesy of Summit Entertainment)

Update: I just spoke to my editor, the brilliant and always well-coiffed Lynn Jacobson, about upcoming holiday movies, and she observed that "Hugh Grant is the Edward, and George Clooney is the Jacob." "New Moon" for grownups, people. I have nothing more to add.

Oscar watch: Is Meryl Streep alone in the Best Actress race?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:32:04 PST

It's mid-November, which means it's officially not too early to talk about the Oscars, and Steven Zeitchik at the Hollywood Reporter weighs in today on the Best Actress race -- which is, he says, unusually shallow this year. There's one sure thing -- Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" -- and a couple of newcomers who are likely possibilities: Carey Mulligan in "An Education" and Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious." Otherwise, he says, slim pickings. Maybe Abbie Cornish in "Bright Star," though the movie didn't find a wide audience; maybe Emily Blunt in "The Young Victoria," Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (which nobody's seen yet), Saoirse Ronan in "The Lovely Bones" (ditto), or somebody in the ensemble cast of "Nine" (though is there a star turn in that movie? No one knows yet). As usual, it's been a year in which strong roles for women are few and far between.

I won't argue with that, but I will throw out a few wildcard performances that Zeitchik doesn't mention, any of which are deserving. (I'm also much more positive than he is that Cornish will turn up among the nominees.) Here are a few of my under-the-radar favorite lead performances by actresses this year, all worth a look if you missed them:

-- Elle Fanning in "Phoebe in Wonderland." Yes, I know she's just a kid, but I can think of few performances this year more haunting than this one, as a little girl overwhelmed by her own imagination.
-- Amy Adams, "Sunshine Cleaning." Far better than her too-cute work in "Julie & Julia," this underseen, quirky charmer showed Adams at her determinedly sunny best.
-- Hiam Abbass, "Lemon Tree." Abbass, seen recently in "The Visitor," does beautiful work in this Israeli film about a Palestinian woman fighting to save her family's lemon grove.
-- Michelle Pfeiffer, "Cheri." The great Pfeiffer, so beautiful she almost seems a special effect, gives a performance of great delicacy and poignancy as an aging courtesan in Stephen Frears' delicious period piece, based on the novel by Colette.
-- Audrey Tautou, "Coco Before Chanel." You'll forget "Amelie" (not that you'd want to) in
watching Tautou's tough, smart performance in Anne Fontaine's biopic about the great French fashion designer.

That's my five, and sadly I think the Academy will remember none of them. And what do you think? What's your favorite performance by a lead actress this year?

The sure thing: Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia." Just the trill she puts on the word "do" (or "doooooo") deserves an award. It makes me happy just to watch her.

A decade of movies

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:38:03 PST

A.O. Scott, in the New York Times magazine yesterday, posted a couple of interesting lists, both looking back on the last decade of movies (2000-2009). His Movies of Influence list includes the likes of "The Passion of the Christ" (for reminding Hollywood about the power of Christian-themed popular culture), "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (for kicking off the Judd Apatow reign of comedy), and Tyler Perry's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" (for launching Tyler Perry's entertainment empire). His "Movies of Quality" list (tellingly, there's no overlap between the two lists) includes several of my favorites of the past decade: "Gosford Park," "WALL-E," "Pan's Labyrinth," and most of all "The Best of Youth." (If you haven't seen Marco Tullio Giordana's glorious six-hour tribute to love, family and the poetry of time, for heaven's sake, go rent it. You'll thank me.)

Such lists, of course, are fun to read as a starting place for our own versions. Best films of the decade? I'd add, off the top of my head, Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love"; Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" (though Scott picked "Talk to Her," which I wouldn't argue much with); Pixar's "Finding Nemo" or "Ratatouille"; Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain"; Alexander Payne's "Sideways." Most influential? Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," surely (which might well deserve a place on both lists); Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge," which kicked off a new era of movie musicals; and, love it or hate it, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," whose indie success spawned a slew of imitations.

And what do YOU think?

"The Wizard of Oz" in Florence, in London, and at (no place like) home

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:25:04 PST

To paraphrase Dorothy Parker upon her return to her New Yorker column after a long absence, maybe you just thought I was out in the ladies room this whole time, but there's no truth to it. I was off having fun overseas on a not-quite-spur-of-the-moment burst of off-season travel to celebrate a loved one's return to health after a serious illness. It was a great vacation filled with pasta and gelato (in Italy; specifically, Florence and several Tuscany towns) and tea (in London) and art (everywhere), and I often felt like Miss Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) in "A Room with a View," minus the hats. I watched the Merchant/Ivory movie the other day upon my return, because much of the first half is shot in Florence, and the Piazza della Signoria (the central square in which Lucy buys postcards -- and I did, too) looks today remarkably like it does in the movie, set a century ago, as Ivory carefully positioned his shot to avoid the Chanel store.

Otherwise I haven't done much movie watching in the last three weeks (though I did reread a lot of E.M. Forster), but there was one beloved movie that, mysteriously, seemed to follow me on the trip. In Florence on a rainy Sunday morning two weeks ago, I walked through the square behind the Duomo and heard something both unusual and familiar: an instrument that I couldn't identify, playing a tune I knew by heart. It was an old man, standing outside a restaurant playing what looked like a small, battered accordion, and the song was "Over the Rainbow." A week later, in London, I watched a friend's 3-year-old daughter (a lovely kid who speaks in the plummy tones of a junior Masterpiece Theatre narrator) mesmerized as she viewed a DVD of the movie for the umpteenth time, her lips moving as she recited along with favorite scenes, living the journey with Dorothy (pronounced "Dossey"). She would later entertain us, several times a day, by dancing rather seriously around the dining room table, basket and stuffed doggy in hand, to "Follow the Yellow Brick Road." And now, back home, I see that "The Wizard of Oz" is back in theaters tomorrow, for one night only, letting us all travel to the Emerald City and back again.

Maybe there's just something about "The Wizard of Oz" -- and the way little Judy Garland makes "Over the Rainbow" forever new -- that speaks to all of us, wherever we are, however young or old. Maybe there really is a place where troubles melt like lemon drops -- and maybe there really is no place like home.

It's nice to be back in my own Emerald City. So, tell me what movies I missed. What have you seen and liked in the past few weeks?

("The Wizard of Oz." Credit: AP Photo/HO, Warner Bros.)