Saturday 6.22.02 - 10:14pm PST

Kim and I spent a lot of time watching movies today. After we got back from our condo walkthrough, we watched American Psycho 2. It is total ASS! I would like to find everyone who was involved with that movie and beat them. They completely missed the point of the first movie. It is not just a black comedy, it is a satire on the excess of the 80s. AP2 is just ass starring Shatner. I'm embarassed to have rented it.

We had tickets to see Minority Report at 4:10pm at the Arclight in the dome. I really liked Minority Report, but Kim did not. I thought it was very good sci-fi and a lot of good action. I really liked the story and the way it was shot. The entire movie is basically over-exposed and put under a blue filter. It gives it a very nice look where the 'whites' glow. Kim thought it was just not enough action and too much sci-fi. She didn't really care for A.I. either, so I guess she does not like the new, mature Spielberg. I really do. I like this direction he is headed.

When we came out of Minority Report, Kim noticed that they were showing Episode II digitally at 7:00pm. So we bought tickets for that. I had never seen a movie projected digitally and now I am completely ruined. It is so much clearer. It is like the difference between watching a DVD on S-Video and watching a 4th generation VHS tape. We were really quite stunned. If you have the opportunity to see Episode II projected digitally, you must go. It is so clear it almost looks like video tape, which, technically, it is.

Tuesday 6.18.02 - 7:23pm PST

Over the weekend, Kim and I watched The Mothman Prophecies. It was much better than I expected. I expected it to be an X-Files episode without Mulder and Scully, and it really wasn't. I thought it was legitimately suspenseful and well directed. Basically, it is about Richard Gere trying to find out what happened to his wife when they had a car accident. She draws pictures of this shape that she saw, and he finds other people that have seen it, too. He ends up in West Virginia looking for this thing that other people are starting to see in the town. More and more people have these encounters, and he starts to find out that the sightings typically increase when something bad is about to happen. It is supposed to be based on a true story, but I'm sure there is plenty of creative license going on. Anyway, it is definitely worth renting if you like creepy movies.

Scooby Doo was No. 1 at the box office with a surprisingly large sum of money generated. Here are the figures from the weekend.

Weekend Box Office for June 14 - June 16, 2002

1. Scooby Doo - $54.1 million this weekend, $54.1 million since opening.
2. The Bourne Identity - $27.1 million this weekend, $27.1 million since opening.
3. Windtalkers - $14.5 million this weekend, $14.5 million since opening.
4. The Sum of All Fears - $13.4 million this weekend, $84.4 million since opening.
5. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones - $9.4 million this weekend, $270.7 million since opening.
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - $8.9 million this weekend, $34.0 million since opening.
7. Spider-Man - $7.5 million this weekend, $382.5 million since opening.
8. Bad Company - $5.9 million this weekend, $21.6 million since opening.
9. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - $5.2 million this weekend, $63.5 million since opening.
10. Undercover Brother - $4.4 million this weekend, $31.3 million since opening.

I've started a Fantasy Film League. It is like fantasy football but with much less work and much more interesting to me. Basically you pick a director and 6 actors that you think will be in movies that will stay in the top 10 at the box office the longest. You have to "buy" them, and they ranked by how popular the movies they are going to be in are thought to be. Just sign up and join the league. It is league number 660 and the password is 'lucasrocks'. We've already got 7 people. The deadline for the first season is July 1st.

I read today that the teaser for Daredevil is going to be on Minority Report.

Sunday 6.16.02 - 5:02pm PST

Kim and I saw Scooby Doo Saturday afternoon. To be honest, it is a successful live action rendition of the cartoon. It is entertaining in the same way that the cartoon was entertaining. Matthew Lillard hands in what is quite possibly the best 90 minute imitation of a well known cartoon character. His Shaggy is flawless. So, the movie does have its moments. Also, Scooby Doo carries the trailer for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Much like the book, the second movie looks decidedly darker than the first.

After the movie, Kim and I headed to Best Buy and picked up a couple DVDs, Black Hawk Down and Mr. Show: The Complete First and Second Season. These are "must haves" in my opinion.

Sci-fi channel picked up the US distribution to a movie we had been looking for called Dog Soldiers. It premiered Saturday night at 9:00. It is a british film about soldiers on a training mission fighting werewolves. It's good for a low budget horror movie, and features some rather impressive guys in suits. You should try to catch it if you get Sci-fi and like horror.

Thursday 6.13.02 - 9:00pm PST

Scooby Doo looms on the horizon like impending doom. Kim is going to make me take her to see it on Saturday. I don't know why I fear it. I watched the cartoon a lot as a kid, and Matthew Lillard is doing the best Shaggy seen in recent years, but for some reason, I fear it. I think it is all about Freddie Prinze, Jr. I'll let you know how it is.

Dean Devlin was talking up Independence Day 2 at the Saturn Awards.

Black Hawk Down and the first two seasons of Mr. Show came out on DVD on Tuesday. I'll have to go and get those.

Slow week in movie news.

Sunday 6.9.02 - 11:47am PST

I guess there wasn't much going on in the movie industry last week because I couldn't find very much stuff to post. I did read a story about Warner Bros wanting to make a Wonder Twins movie. I am thinking this would be a silly spoof movie like Scooby Doo as opposed to a serious comic book movie like Spider-Man. Either way, it will completely suck...unless it was being done by Cartoon Network. Their old Superfriends spoof stuff is hysterical.

The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon comes out next Friday. We are going to see it, but I am not really excited about it. I like spy movies, and I read this book a very long time ago. I do not remember much about it. I may read it again, and try to pick up the sequels: The Bourne Supremecy and The Bourne Ultimatum. My mother got me into reading Robert Ludlum when I was in 7th grade or something. There has already been a movie of this made for television in the late 80s starring Richard Chamberlain as Jason Bourne. I do not remember watching it. Doug Liman is directing this one, and I typically like his stuff (Swingers, Go), however, this will be quite a departure from his usual material. I hope it does well. I would like it if spy movies made a comeback. I was very disappointed when Ronin did not do well at the box office. That is a great film. Windtalkers with Nic Cage and directed by John Woo also comes out next Friday. I'm not sure why, but I could not be less excited about a movie. Maybe because I have been seeing trailers for it for a year, but even then I wasn't really pumped about it. I like John Woo when he is doing action movies, but I'm not so sure about drama. I think Windtalkers will fall nearer to the drama side. Who knows...if it does well and gets some good reviews, we may check it out.

This picture upsets me. What upsets me even more is that I will have to rent it. It comes to video June 18th.

On the other hand, I am really looking forward to this movie. Kim and I rented Cube, and I believe it is one of the most progressive horror movies I've ever seen. It is practically a workshop in independent filmmaking and 'how to make a really good movie for nothing'. The entire film was shot in basically one room that they kept repainting...brilliant. The story is really cool, too. It may not tie everything up at the end like you might expect, but I was satisfied after seeing it. I highly recommend that everyone rent Cube. I'll let you know if the sequel is any good. Unfortunately, no one from the creative team of the first one is involved in the sequel, so they must have just sold off the rights. I like the idea, though.

Tuesday 6.4.02 - 5:44pm PST

The Sum of All Fears beat out Attack of the Clones for the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend. Attack of the Clones and Spider-Man are still performing respectably, though. It looks like Insomnia is still doing pretty well also. I'm glad. Chris Nolan deserves to be successful, and I don't think Memento really put him over the top quite yet.

I did not read the book for The Sum of All Fears, but I understand it takes a few departures from the book, most notably Jack Ryan's age and position. Since I have not read the book, it seemed to fit the story fine in my opinion. Also, I think Ben Affleck did pretty well in the film, all things considered. It was a little strange watching the film, because things like that don't seem as fantastic anymore. Someone exploding an atomic bomb at the Super Bowl is not that far outside the realm of possibility. It gives these summer popcorn movies a little more weight.

Here are the rest of the numbers from the weekend:

1. The Sum of All Fears, $31.2 million this weekend, $31.2 million since opening.
2. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, $21.0 million this weekend, $232.3 million since opening.
3. Spider-Man, $14.3 million this weekend, $353.8 million since opening.
4. Undercover Brother, $12.0 million this weekend, $12.0 million since opening.
5. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, $11.3 million this weekend, $38.7 million since opening.
6. Insomnia, $9.9 million this weekend, $41.6 million since opening.
7. Enough, $6.8 million this weekend, $27.1 million since opening.
8. About a Boy, $4.1 million this weekend, $27.8 million since opening.
9. Unfaithful, $2.9 million this weekend, $45.7 million since opening.
10. The New Guy, $1.4 million this weekend, $26.8 million since opening.

In other movie news, Kelly Hu from The Scorpion King has been cast in a role for X-Men 2. The role is one I am not familiar with, so it was NOT Jubilee.

Also, there is talk of a Clash of the Titans remake, something I thought of years ago.

Sunday 6.2.02 - 6:56pm PST

Here is my list of DVDs that I need to get. I'm working on a complete inventory of my DVD collection. It will be lengthy.

Recent purchases: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Special Widescreen Edition) (2 DVD), Vanilla Sky (Widescreen Collection).

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