|
|
by Jeff Eason |
|
Sequels and remakes dominate
the box office
By Jeff Eason
3:10 to Yuma |
American Gangster |
Enchanted |
I Am Legend |
The Simpsons Movie |
The Golden Compass |
Bridge to Terabithia |
If there was one predominant trend in movies for the year
2007 it would have to be that the kids movie genre became
extremely competitive. With so many kids movie titles
flooding the theaters across America, somebody in Hollywood
decided that they had better start making some good movies
if they wanted their fair share of the pie. Gone are the
days when you could just slap the name “Disney”
or “Pixar” on a film and be guaranteed a box
office smash.
As of late December, the list of the top 25 grossing movies
for 2007 included kid and teen-friendly fare such as Spider-Man
3 (#1), Shrek the Third (#2), Transformers (#3), Pirates
of the Caribbean 3 (#4), Ratatouille (#8), The Simpsons
Movie (#9), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
(#14), Bee Movie (#16), Hairspray (#19) and Meet the Robinsons
(#24).
Some of the kids movies that just missed being in the
top 25 were among the best including Enchanted (#27),
Bridge to Terabithia (#29), and Surf’s Up (#36).
The top 25 is also evidence of the power of pre-knowledge.
Ten of the top 25 grossing movies were sequels of other
movies, while two others were based on television cartoons
(Transformers and The Simpsons Movie). I Am Legend (already
#25 for the entire year) was based on a 1950s sci-fi novel
that had already been made into a movie twice before while
Hairspray was a movie in the 1980s before turning into
a Broadway musical then back into a movie. Then you have
two others, 300 (#7) and Ghost Rider (#22), that were
based on popular graphic novels.
That leaves eight spots in the top 25 for original films
(not sequels) based on original screenplays.
Are we sensing a bit of a trend here? I certainly hope
not because the best films of the year, especially when
we’re talking about films aimed at adult sensibilities,
were the original ones not necessarily based on anything
but a decent idea and well-written script.
My picks for the best adult-themed movies of the year
include American Gangster, Fracture, 3:10 to Yuma, Michael
Clayton, Eastern Promises, Superbad, Dan in Real Life,
Zodiac, Disturbia and Beowulf.
I have yet to see No Country for Old Men but everyone
I’ve talked to assures me that it is one of 2007’s
best. Maybe it will come to a High Country theater before
it comes out on DVD. Other movies I looked forward to
but didn’t see because they failed to open in Boone
(when they opened just about everywhere else) were The
Darjeeling Limited, Juno, Into the Wild, Across the Universe
and Waitress.
The two most disappointing movies I saw in 2007 had to
be Lions for Lambs and The Brave One, both for basically
the same reason. When Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Robert
Redford and Meryl Streep star in a movie, I expect something
of quality. At least I did until these great actors appeared
in these two predictable, mundane films. They should take
a tip from Russell Crowe who starred in not one, but two
of the year’s finest films with his performances
in 3:10 to Yuma and American Gangster.
One trend that I saw in 2007 that is likely to snowball
during the next couple of years is the full-scale computer
graphic imagery of the movies Beowulf and 300. This is
a computer animation technique that is designed to imitate
real images. It has been used for special effects for
over a decade and now it is being used for entire films.
Actors provide the voices, and sometimes the inspiration
for how a character looks, but filmmakers are now able
to create incredible worlds and impossible camera angles
with this form of CGI. If they want to, they can take
movie icons from another era such as Marilyn Monroe or
Humphrey Bogart and have them star in a brand new film.
I predict that in a few years the Screen Actors Guild
will be under the gun to protect its members from use
of computer imagery that threatens the jobs of real actors.
So what can movie lovers look forward to in the
coming year? Looking into the near future, a number of
interesting titles will be released in January 2008. They
include the indie drama The Killing of John Lennon, the
supernatural killer One Missed Call, the romantic comedy
27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl, The Bucket List starring
Academy Award-winning actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan
Freeman, the comedy First Sunday starring Ice Cube and
Tracy Morgan, and The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything—A
Veggietales Movie.
Probably the most talked about January release is Cloverfield,
a movie that has built steady buzz from its trailers which
are filled with mysterious hand-held camera images of
a party night that goes terribly wrong. A mysterious creature
attacks New York City and a group of young adults fights
for survival. Directed by J.J. Abrams, Cloverfield opens
January 18th.
|
|
|
|
Get Firefox