We are almost at the Ultimate Rankings of all 23 James Bond films now that I’ve viewed them all over the past month and a half. Before that, though, I’ve ranked my Top 7 Theme Songs and Bond girls, so it’s time for the (00) 7 Best James Bond Villains. This was tough and I’ll throw out there already that Sophie Marceau as Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough and Harold Sakata as the series most famous henchman Odd Job nearly made the cut. There could only be seven though and here they are.
7. Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) in A View to a Kill
OK, the movie is pretty mediocre, but Christopher Walken’s performance as psychotic industrialist Max Zorin is easily the film’s high point. The great actor genuinely seems to be soaking up and enjoying playing a 007 baddie.
6. Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) in Licence to Kill
Timothy Dalton’s second Bond entry is by far one of the most underrated of the franchise and Robert Davi’s terrific performance as drug lord Sanchez is a big part of the film’s success. He gets more screen time than your typical villain and he makes the most of it.
5. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (various actors)
Some Bond fanatics would consider it sacrilege not to list Bond’s most well-known nemesis Blofeld as #1. Honesty has to prevail though. Blofeld’s history for me is checkered. He appeared prominently in three Bonds with Donald Pleasance playing him in You Only Live Twice, Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Charles Gray in Diamonds Are Forever. He was seen barking orders without his face shown in From Russia with Love, Thunderball, and was finally killed in For Your Eyes Only in the opening scene. However, appearing in six movies doesn’t make you the greatest Bond villain. I preferred Pleasance’s take on Blofeld more than any other. By Diamonds Are Forever, even though Gray’s performance was decent, the character was written poorly. Still, Blofeld earns a spot on here.
4. Red Grant (Robert Shaw) in From Russia with Love
Odd Job may be considered the best henchman, but my personal favorite is definitely Robert Shaw’s fantastic performance as Red Grant in the second 007 adventure. He proves to be one of the more worthy Bond adversaries and their scenes on the long train sequence in the film are classic.
3. Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) in From Russia with Love
And while we’re talking From Russia with Love, the film’s main villain is wonderful. Lenya’s performance as ex Soviet agent turned SPECTRE baddie Rosa Klebb is one of a kind. She looks nothing like what you think a Bond villain and that’s part of her appeal.
2. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) in Goldfinger
He’s long been considered the classic and best Bond villain and there’s a reason for it. Goldfinger is one of the most colorful and fun antagonists to Mr. Bond and he’s given some classic bits, including trying to cut 007 in half with a giant frickin laser. And he gets that wonderful line: “No, Mr. Bond! I expect you to die!” that is probably the most famous scene ever in the series.
1. Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) in Skyfall
And Goldfinger would’ve been first, if not for a little picture called Skyfall last year. Bardem’s performance as the ex-agent turned bad guy who has plans to kill M is amazing. The character is well-written and given a number of memorable moments. Mostly though, we have a true example of the best Bond villain being the best actor to ever play one.
The billion dollar Bond. Skyfall marks 007’s 50th anniversary in existence on the big screen and I think you can say things turned out pretty well. The picture is the first in the series to earn over one billion dollars worldwide. It’s the first entry that garnered serious talk as to whether it would receive a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. It did not.
Nevertheless, from a financial standpoint, Skyfall has put the series in uncharted territory and helped solidify Daniel Craig as a 007 for the ages. So, how is the movie??
Well, it begins with one of the greatest opening sequences in the series: a rousing, go-for-broke action set piece with 007 engaging in a chase in a car, on a motorcycle, and on a train. He is assisted by Eve (Naomie Harris), a fellow agent. The 13 minute opener concludes with M (Judi Dench) ordering Eve to take a difficult shot as Bond battles a baddie atop the train. It doesn’t end well. Bond is shot and plummets to the water, presumed dead.
We move on to the title credits and one of the best Bond theme songs (I ranked it #4). The marriage of a Bond theme and British singer Adele sounded like a natural fit when it was announced. It is. My apologies, with the recent “newness” of the film, there is no high quality version of the actual title credits I could find. Here is the official music video:
After Bond’s plunge off the train, M is forced to write his obituary and the agent is left on his own on an island with a female companion and a lot of alcohol. Meanwhile, all hell is breaking loose in London. An unseen villain has stolen a list of every NATO agent embedded in terrorist organizations and threatening to post the information publicly. M is getting blamed for the latest mishaps by the British government and is told her “voluntary retirement” will come soon by Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), an operative in the intelligence services. Matters take an even more awful turn for the worse when MI6 headquarters in bombed.
This all leads to 007 coming back to help, but he’s told he must first be cleared for active duty. The wounded Bond actually fails all his tests, both the physical and psychological portions. M clears him anyway. She trusts him. The psych evaluation is of particular interest, since one word (Skyfall) seems to set Bond on edge.
Once he is cleared, 007 is sent to meet with the new Quartermaster… yes, a new “Q”, played by the young Ben Whishaw. His first scene with Bond provides some humor, just as Desmond Llewelyn’s interplay with Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan usually did. The Bond/Q meeting sheds some light on the new reality of 007’s world. There’s really no fancy gadgets anymore. Just the essentials. He gets a gun that only he can fire and a radio.
Bond follows the train suspect who stole that important covert list to Shanghai. This leads to a very cool fight scene at a high rise. The lighting in the scene is of particular coolness.
We move on to Macau as 007 keeps following leads to get to the shadowy main villain. Here, we have a memorable casino sequence. Again, I reiterate that it should be required for every picture in the series to have a casino scene. Mission accomplished here! Bond meets Severine (Berenice Marlohe), who’s working for the main villain. 007 figures out that she was sold into a child slavery ring at an early age and wants to break out of her horrible existence. She agrees to help him if he promises to kill the unknown head bad guy. Severine’s character is a good one and I actually thought she was given too little screen time. The casino sequence ends with more terrific action, as Bond fights some henchman in a pit that happens to have a komodo dragon in it.
Severine does lead 007 to who he (and we as an audience) have been looking for. Turns out our villain is Silva (Javier Bardem), an ex-agent who’s behind all the mayhem. Silva was left for dead in a mission years ago by M and he has plans to repay her. Bond meets Silva at a deserted island that the villain has commandeered. Their initial meeting is a wonderful scene. It takes just this sequence together for us, as an audience, to know that Silva is one unique villain. And also one of the finest villains in the Bond franchise.
Like in the first picture, 1962’s Dr. No, the introduction of Silva comes nearly halfway through the proceedings, at the 70 minute mark. Unlike Dr. No, where the villain didn’t have much time to make an impression, it is far different with Silva. First off, Oscar winner Javier Bardem is just an amazing actor. Silva embodies the finest qualities of a great Bond villain: you believe he can go toe-to-toe with Bond and his schemes are slightly exaggerated and crazy. Bardem’s Silva is in the grand tradition of Goldfinger, Blofeld, and others. Whereas neither villain in Craig’s first two entries was of particular note, Silva is a classic character and Bardem’s performance is astonishing. Silva is captured (it turns out he wanted it to happen) and he reveals to M what the cyanide capsule he bit into when she left him hanging out to dry did to him. Creepy stuff, my friends.
Of course, Silva escapes and this leads to Bond’s most personal mission yet: protecting M. The two are on the run together and we end up at 007’s childhood home… a mansion in Scotland called Skyfall. We’ve always known Bond was an orphan, but we certainly hear more details on his life than ever before. We meet the gatekeeper at the home, played by Albert Finney (who is always good). And we experience a final battle between Bond and Silva at the estate that has major consequences on the future of the series.
Judi Dench is making her seventh appearance as M. This includes the four Brosnans and the three Craigs. It is with the Daniel Craig movies that her character became even more integral to the stories. Her relationship with Bond has been a focal point. The rapport of Craig and Dench is magnificent. For their characters, it isn’t just a boss/employee dynamic. She recruited him. She trusts his judgment. And he trusts her. Bond could have ended up like Silva, but his love of country, duty, and (yes) M prevented that. The unique dynamic between these two characters reaches its crescendo in Skyfall. There are tragic results and yet it feels right.
Being that it’s Bond 50th anniversary, we do get some nice nods to past features. Most notably, we see the beloved Aston Martin yet again. Bond at one point utters the line “I must be dreaming”, a nod to the famous introduction of Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.
However, in many ways, Skyfall is a unique and different Bond film. It has the distinction of being the first entry directed by an Oscar winner, Sam Mendes (winner for American Beauty, he also directed Road to Perdition and Jarhead). Veterans screewriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are joined by John Logan, screenwriter of Gladiator. The action scenes are at a high level… we see that $200 million dollars on screen.
Yet Skyfall sometimes feels like a smaller film, interestingly enough. There is more concentration on the Bond-M relationship than ever before. The extended climax at Bond’s boyhood home is free of any fancy gadgets… it’s just 007 fighting the villains with an old rifle and things he found around the house.
There are other sequences where I felt the influence of a current popular director, Christopher Nolan. Thomas Newman’s score sounds occasionally derivative of Nolan’s Dark Knight series. A scene where M is testifying in a hearing with her voice over reading a poem as Silva and his henchman wreak havoc seems like something straight out of Nolan. I know some Bond fanatics may not like reading this, but Nolan’s influence here is undeniable in my view. That’s not necessarily a bad thing either, but some of it feels like it doesn’t belong in a Bond movie.
By the end of Skyfall, we see that the series is moving in a new direction. SPOILER ALERT: M dies, Mallory becomes the new M, and it turns out fellow agent Eve’s last name is Moneypenny.
We have all grown to appreciate just how wonderful Daniel Craig is as Bond. It’s hard to believe now that his casting was originally met with skepticism and derision. Bardem is one of the greatest Bond villains ever. Dench is fabulous in her final appearance.
I do have some minor quibbles, as usual. The finale at Skyfall does feel strangely anticlimactic at times and goes on too long. Even though Eve is apparently the main Bond girl here, her character doesn’t make much of an impression and the other girl, Severine, is a good character not given enough time to shine.
None of this hides the fact that Skyfall delivers on the promise that Casino Royale set up for future Daniel Craig pictures in a way that Quantum of Solace did not. However, it is not quite the masterpiece that Casino Royale was. It’s a near masterpiece. And that puts it in a small company of other Bond entries, near the top of the list of 23 007 pictures in the first half century of the franchise.
Here are the facts:
Film: Skyfall
U.S. Release Date: November 9, 2012
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenplay: John Logan, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade
Bond: Daniel Craig
Main Bond Villain: Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem)
Main Bond Girl: Eve (Naomie Harris)
Theme Song: “Skyfall” – performed by Adele
Budget: $200 million
Worldwide Box Office: $1.1 billion
My James Bond blog series will return with The 007 Files: Spectre
After the big holiday season complete with blockbusters (Skyfall, The Hobbit) and high grossing awards favorites (Lincoln, Django, Silver Linings Playbook), what usually follows is a dull January and early February.
2013 was no exception. There was one big hit (Mama), some medium-size performers (Hansel&Gretel, Texas Chainsaw 3D), and some big ol’ bombs (The Last Stand, Bullet to the Head, Movie 43, Parker).
Last weekend saw Melissa McCarthy’s first headlining comedy Identity Thief break out in a major way with a $34.5 million opening, surpassing pretty much everyone’s expectations, including mine.
This weekend, the box office landscape changes with four major releases competing with Thief‘s second frame. Added to the dynamic: Valentine Day’s falls on Thursday, so all newbies are opening then. Furthermore, it’s President’s Day weekend (where a lot of potential moviegoers have Monday off). Therefore, instead of the normal three days, my box office predictions will be for the Thursday-Monday time period.
We begin with A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth go-round for Bruce Willis as John McClane. Hard to believe, but it’s been 25 years since Mr. McClane battled Hans Gruber at Nakatomi Plaza. While 80s/90s action icons have had a miserable time recently (Ahnuld with Last Stand, Sly with Bullet to the Head), A Good Day to Die Hard should be much different. It’s a brand name, it’s well-publicized, and all four previous entries have been blockbusters. For the five day period, anything below $35 million would be considered disappointing. I believe the potential is certainly there for an opening of $50M plus, but I have a feeling it may open a bit lower than that.
The romantic drama Safe Haven with Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough enters the fray, shrewdly positioning itself for Valentine’s Day. It’s based on a popular novel by Nicholas Sparks, whose romance novels have been turned into several pictures, including The Notebook. In the same box office weekend last year, The Vow with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams made a killing with a $41 million opening. Safe Haven will probably not do those numbers (though it might), but it should have a rock solid opening with, I suspect, many “girls night out” outings and maybe even some fellas joining their gals to see it for Valentine’s Day. Those girls forcing their guys to go might have to see Die Hard later in the weekend, I bet.
Adding to the packed weekend is Beautiful Creatures, also based on a popular novel. The romantic fantasy film features Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson in supporting roles and has been heavily marketed. It’s definitely going after the Twilight crowd and is geared more towards females. Warner Bros. has hopes this will become a franchise. I’m not so sure. Opening Creatures against Haven is a serious risk since they’re both going after females. Its opening shouldn’t be bad, but it might not be enough to warrant further entries. Early reviews have been mixed.
Going after the kiddie crowd is the animated Escape from Planet Earth, from the Weinstein Company. This one seems to be flying under the radar and it seems highly unlikely to do Pixar or even Dreamworks numbers. Still, there is a serious lack of titles out that appeal to parents wanting to take the kiddos out. Earth has the potential to surpass my modest prediction, but I’m going with a relatively low opening.
And we have last weekend’s champ Identity Thief in the mix on its second weekend. It had a much larger than expected opening that solidified Melissa McCarthy’s box office draw. The CinemaScore grade of “B” is actually pretty low, however, indicating audiences didn’t exactly love it. Thief could drop 50%, but with no other comedy competition, I suspect the drop-off won’t be so pronounced.
And with all that, my predictions for the Valentine’s/President’s Day five-day box office weekend:
1. A Good to Die Hard
Predicted Gross: $45.6 million
2. Safe Haven
Predicted Gross: $32.3 million
3. Identity Thief
Predicted Gross: $20.3 million (representing a drop of 41%)
4. Beautiful Creatures
Predicted Gross: $19.4 million
5. Escape from Planet Earth
Predicted Gross: $14.2 million
Whew. There’s your predictions, my friends. We’ll see what happens. Check my Facebook blog throughout the weekend for updates and on Monday when the final numbers roll in.
Keeping with my theme of wrapping up “The 007 Files” with the release of Skyfall on Blu Ray tomorrow and the fact that I’ve watched all 23 official Bond films in a very short amount of time, today we add my (00) 7 Best Bond Girls.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion and I’m sure 007 lovers might strenuously disagree with my picks, but here they are. Please note that this list does not include female Bond villains… there’s going to be another blog post for greatest villains later this week. These are the officials “Bond girls” who wanna love James, not fight him.
Without further adieu, my picks for the seven greatest women in 007’s life.
7. Octopussy (Maud Adams) in Octopussy
Ms. Adams actually has the distinction of playing two totally different Bond gals, once in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun and here, as the title character in 1983’s Roger Moore entry. Her character is pretty badass and she even has a totally hot army of women she trains.
6. Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
I am standing firm in my belief that OHMSS is pretty damn overrated (some consider it the best Bond film… not this guy). However, the movie does have the distinction of having Rigg’s character, referred to as Tracy, being the first gal to steal 007’s heart. He even marries her! The marriage, alas, is extraordinarily short-lived. Rigg, well-known from the TV series “The Avengers”, is a bright spot in an otherwise very uneven Bond flick.
5. Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) in Goldfinger
She certainly has a memorable name and is considered by many to be Bond’s greatest girl. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but Blackman gives a winning performance in one of the very best 007 pictures. Bond’s introduction to her is a classic.
4. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) in The Spy Who Loved Me
Roger Moore’s best 007 movie has the best girl he got to romance, KGB agent Anya. Barbara Bach’s performance is average, but it’s the dynamic of her character with Bond that makes her interesting. It seems James killed her boyfriend on a previous mission (something Anya doesn’t discover until later in the picture). The backstory between 007 and Anya is well-written and gives Bach a role to play that’s not your typical Bond gal.
3. Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) in From Russia with Love
Tatiana is the second main Bond gal and she’s a great one. Stunningly beautiful, Daniela Bianchi has a wonderful chemistry with Sean Connery. Her character is also notable for a memorable scene in which leered at by Rosa Klebb, the main villain. The homosexual undertones were pretty darn risque for 1963.
2. Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Casino Royale
Vesper, played in a fine performance from Eva Green, makes Bond fall the hardest he has for any girl since that brief marriage 27 years before (in movie release time). Daniel Craig’s chemistry with Green is wonderful. We actually believe he’d want to quit MI6 to be with her.
1. Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) in Dr. No
Just because Dr. No is the first 007 picture doesn’t mean it’s the best (it’s not) or has the best villain (it doesn’t). But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t have the best girl with Ursula Andress playing Honey Ryder, whose entrance coming out of the ocean is legendary. Is her character particularly fascinating? Truthfully, no. Andress is absolutely gorgeous, though, and her interplay with Connery works quite well. This is the Bond gal that all others are measured against. Some others have come very close, but not quite Ursula territory.
If this weekend’s East Coast blizzard had a negative effect on the box office, it sure didn’t seem to hinder the Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief very much. In my predictions post this past Wednesday, I wrote that the film, costarring Jason Bateman, could gross anywhere from $16 to $36 million dollars. I chose to hedge my bets, though, with its negative reviews and predicted a $22.1 million opening, while stating it could go much bigger.
Well, I was wrong on my prediction and right about the much bigger part. Identity Thief grossed a terrific $34.6 million over the weekend frame, solidifying McCarthy’s status as a major comedic movie star. Her supporting role in 2011’s Bridesmaids (complete with an Oscar nomination) got the wheels in motion. Identity Thief and its fantastic opening puts her in another realm. The opening bodes well for her next features, the buddy cop comedy The Heat with Sandra Bullock. That movie was moved from April to June, signaling a high amount of confidence from the studio to put it in summer competition. Even if The Heat gets the kind of mediocre reviews Thief achieved, expect it to be a big player at the box office this summer. McCarthy’s box office success may be bad news for fans of her CBS sitcom “Mike&Molly”. You really have to wonder how long she stays on that program with her blossoming film career.
While Identity Thief was certainly a box office bright spot, all-around grosses were approximately 45% lower than the same weekend in 2012 when The Vow and Safe House both posted debuts above $40 million.
Steven Soderbergh’s generally well-reviewed Side Effects had a lackluster $9.3 million opening, lower than my $11.5M forecast. It was last weekend’s champ, Warm Bodies, that took the #2 position with an $11.4 million gross, slightly higher than my $10.6M estimate.
In fourth, Silver Linings Playbook made $6.9 million, just above my $6.4M projection and Hansel&Gretel: Witch Hunters was fifth in its third weekend with $5.8 million, a better hold than my $4M estimate.
Be sure to check back Wednesday for my forecast for next weekend when some heavy hitters enter the frame with four debuts: A Good Day to Die Hard, Safe Haven, Beautiful Creatures, and the animated Escape from Planet Earth.
Followers of my blog are aware that I’ve been blogging on each and every James Bond film with my thoughts on them all for the past month and a half. It will culminate this week when Skyfall is released on Blu Ray. Following my blog post on that picture, I will write a post ranking every 007 movie from #1 to #23.
In the meantime, all that Bond watching has given me an opportunity to hear every James Bond theme song that plays over the opening credits. So today seems like an appropriate time to share with you my favorites of the 007 theme songs… and even it’s even more appropriate to pick seven of them. So without further adieu, the (00) 7 Best James Bond Theme Songs picked by yours truly.
7. “Diamonds Are Forever” – performed by Shirley Bassey
This is not Shirley Bassey’s first James Bond theme song or her last (she would return for 1979’s Moonraker). While her first 007 theme will rank higher, this song is a memorable Bond theme… and be used later in a Kanye West sample. Great work from Bassey, though not quite her best.
6. “You Only Live Twice” – performed by Nancy Sinatra
From the Chairman of the Board’s daughter comes this lush theme. It definitely sticks in your head and was sampled later by Robbie Williams for his terrific song “Millenium”.
5. “A View to a Kill” – performed by Duran Duran
Not one of the best 007 movies, but definitely a fantastic theme song. Performed by Duran Duran (a “boy” band who happened to make brilliant pop music in the 80s), this happens to be the only Bond theme I’ve seen performed live.
4. “Skyfall” – performed by Adele
There was a long break between great theme songs… about twenty seven years to be exact between A View to a Kill and this. There were some decent ones (The World Is Not Enough by Garbage, You Don’t Know My Name from Casino Royale by Chris Cornell) and some bad to mediocre ones (Sheryl Crow’s Tomorrow Never Dies, Madonna’s Die Another Day). With the 2012 Bond and Skyfall, the marriage of Adele and Bond theme seemed like a perfect idea the moment it was announced. And it was.
3. “Nobody Does It Better” – performed by Carly Simon
From one of the very best Bond pictures, 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, comes this classic Bond theme. With its wonderful piano arrangement and Carly Simon’s vocals, this epitomizes what’s special about 007 music.
2. “Live and Let Die” – performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Seems like a natural fit to have someone from Britain’s most famous band do a theme song for Britain’s most famous film character. The result is this classic song.
1. “Goldfinger” – performed by Shirley Bassey
The theme song that every other Bond song is measured against… and there’s a reason for it. From the moment those classic strings come in and Shirley Bassey starts singing, “Goldfinger” takes its place as the quintessential 007 tune.
So there you have it – my favorite 007 theme songs! My thoughts on Skyfall are coming soon, my friends, along with my ultimate rankings of all 007 movies!
You know that one guy who played D-Day in National Lampoon’s Animal House and he’s been in like 100 movies since then? That’s Bruce McGill, an actor whose become a personal favorite of great director Michael Mann and appeared in his movies The Insider, Ali, and Collateral. He’s also shown up in The Last Boy Scout The Sum of All Fears, and Cinderella Man, among many others. Here he is making the absolute most of his screen time in a fantastic courtroom scene in The Insider.
Mr. McGill is a perfect example of a “Character Actor”, those performers who seem to pop up in about three or four high-profile pictures a year. While a lot of us may go to the theater to see the actor whose name is above the title, it’s these character actors that often put a smile on our faces. Their presence is like comfort food. We may not even know their names, but we know their work. And we’re often left saying, “You Know That One Guy…” from “so and so”… “he/she is great!!”.
I certainly have my group of favorite character actors and here is just a small sampling. You may not know the name James Rebhorn, but I bet you know him. He’s been in everything from Independence Day to Scent of a Woman to The Game to Meet the Parents to Baby Mama. Here he is alongside Gwyneth Paltow in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.
There’s the late, great J.T. Walsh, who you may know as Jack Nicholson’s right-hand man in A Few Good Men. You know, the one that killed himself and screwed up Tom Cruise’s whole case. You may also know him from Backdraft. Or Pleasantville. Or Hoffa. Or The Negotiator. Or Sling Blade. Here he is in one of the few decent scenes in 1995’s Outbreak.
Then there’s Alfred Molina. He’s been in everything from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Spider-Man 2, in which he had a breakout role playing the main villain. You may also know him from The Da Vinci Code. Or Chocolat. My favorite Molina role is unquestionably his role as a coked-up weirdo in 1997’s brilliant Boogie Nights. He had only one scene, but he killed it and that sequence in the film is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. Molina’s contribution had a lot to do with that.
Another one of my beloved character actors was also in Boogie Nights. Luis Guzman is definitely a face you’ll recognize. If not from Boogie Nights, how about Carlito’s Way, Out of Sight, or Traffic. Here he is alongside Jack Nicholson in 2003’s Anger Management.
The late Paul Gleason is also a personal favorite. He always tended to show up as a prick in many famous 1980s pictures, namely Trading Places, The Breakfast Club, and Die Hard. Here is a wonderful tribute to his work:
William Fichtner is that guy who’s been in everything from Heat to Armageddon to Black Hawk Down to Crash to The Dark Knight. He also absolutely kills in every scene from 1999’s Go. Fichtner pretty much steals that movie.
How about Richard Jenkins? Burn After Reading. Friends with Benefits. The Kingdom. Eat Pray Love. The Cabin in the Woods. You know… that guy. Here he is as John C. Reilly’s dad in Step Brothers.
And there’s no way I could do a post on fabulous character actors without mentioning Gary Cole. From his perfect comedic portrayal of Mike in The Brady Bunch movies to Will Ferrell’s absentee dad in Talladega Nights to sportscaster Cotton McKnight in Dodgeball, Cole has brilliantly turned a career that started in TV drama (he was the star of the series “Midnight Caller”) to a comedic gold mine of roles. Oh yeah. There’s also his role as Bill Lumbergh in a little 1999 comedy called Office Space.
Sometimes performers known as character actors become household names. Think Christopher Walken. Or John C. Reilly. Or Paul Giamatti. Or William H. Macy. Or Steve Buscemi. Or Gary Oldman and Kevin Spacey. I could go on pontificating on the greatness of many more character actors, from Joe Pantoliano to Frances McDormand to Philip Baker Hall to Dennis Farina to Brian Cox to J.K. Simmons (you know, that guy who’s Peter Parker’s boss and Juno’s dad…).
However, I’ll end on this note, giving you two character actors to keep an eye on. First up: Lucy Punch, a talented comedic actress who has made the most of her roles in Dinner for Schmucks and Bad Teacher.
By the way, that scene in Bad Teacher features another wonderful character actor, John Michael Higgins or “that guy from all the Christopher Guest movies who also played Jennifer Aniston’s brother in The Break-Up“.
And remember the name Brett Gelman. He’s been in such comedies as 30 Minutes or Less and A Very Harold&Kumar 3D Christmas. Gelman caught my attention in the 2010 Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg picture The Other Guys, in which he owned the scene he got to appear in. Pay attention to about :56 seconds into this clip. This dude’s awesome!
I could obviously go on with many more examples, but you get the idea. We may talk about the big movie stars and their filmographies on a more regular basis. It is often those character actors that we remember the most though. Even if we can’t always recall their names off-hand.
At the box office this weekend, we have a high profile comedy and a high profile director offering up new material, along with last weekend’s champ Warm Bodies entering its sophomore frame.
First up: Identity Thief, from the director of Horrible Bosses, starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. It will be interesting to see McCarthy’s star power with this feature. This is her first vehicle in a starring role after making an enormous splash in a supporting role in 2011’s massive hit Bridesmaids. She even earned an Oscar nomination (rare for a comedic performance) for the role. While Bridesmaids received overwhelmingly positive reviews, Identity Thief has not been met with much critical acclaim. Still, McCarthy’s presence, some fairly effective trailers, and the absence of comedies over the last couple of months should help. I honestly believe Thief could gross as low as $16 million and as much as $36 million. My gut tells me it will be on the lower end of the spectrum, but I won’t be shocked if it outperforms my prediction.
Steven Soderbergh, the great director of Out of Sight, Traffic, and Contagion, is back with Side Effects, a psychological thriller starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, and (paying attention ladies?…) Channing Tatum. Soderbergh has a spotty track record at the box office lately. While Contagion was a hit, his last feature (2012’s Haywire) grossed a weak $8 million in its opening frame. The marketing for Side Effects has been muted in my view, though the presence of Tatum and generally solid reviews does nothing but help. If audiences are still seeking out adult fare (which they’ve had in abundance lately), Effects could open higher than my rather meager prediction.
As for the leftovers likely to fill out the Top 5, the zombie comedy Warm Bodies enters its second weekend and I expect it to drop close to 50 percent. For the record… I predicted it would open at $20.5 million last weekend and it grossed $20.4 million. So… pat on the back for me! Silver Linings Playbook has remained in the Top 5 and experienced small declines from week to week. I expect that to continue. Finally, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, in its third frame, seems likely to drop over 50 percent, just as it did in its second weekend.
And with that, my predictions for the weekend:
1. Identity Thief
Predicted Gross: $22.1 million
2. Side Effects
Predicted Gross: $11.5 million
3. Warm Bodies
Predicted Gross: $10.6 million (representing a drop of 48%)
4. Silver Linings Playbook
Predicted Gross: $6 million (representing a drop of 23%)
5. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Predicted Gross: $4 million (representing a drop of 54%)
This weekend on the Facebook page, check for updates on Saturday and on the blog Sunday for final numbers!
It is not often that we experience a new phenomenon in the world of film and television. However, as of this past Friday, entertainment audiences have been treated to a grand experiment… and a pretty risk one at that.
We all know Netflix, the streaming and mail order service entertainment catalog that serves us thousands and thousands of titles for our viewing pleasure. Personally, I feel strongly that Netflix is absolutely wonderful. The streaming service alone gives fans of movies and TV a tremendous amount of exposure to titles they might not normally see. This is music to my ears as I always encourage movie (and TV) lovers to expand their palette, hence my “Movies You Might Not Know” posts, etc…
Don’t get me wrong. A lot of the titles offered on Netflix are junk, but that’s movies for ya! On the contrary, when I scroll through their Classic Movies selection, it’s pretty damn impressive. I love the fact that, through Netflix, people are watching things they never would otherwise, especially with the death of video chains. Pay cable like HBO, Showtime, and others offer the same chance, but on a much more limited basis. And we all know that when a blockbuster title like The Hunger Games premieres of Cinemax, it’s going to be showing a lot, which preempts other titles.
Until now, Netflix has always been thought of as simply a way to see movies and TV shows (and documentaries and concerts) that have already been released. That is until last Friday when Netflix made a bold decision to begin making their own original programming.
And for their first experiment, they didn’t go for some generic action pic or outrageous comedy that might have cost $10-$20 million to produce. Instead, Netflix went ahead and made a 13 episode TV series “House of Cards” and they invested in some high-price talent to do it. A second season is already ordered. The series stars Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright Penn, and Kate Mara. The first two episodes are directed by the great David Fincher, who brought us Seven, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Other episodes are directed by James Foley, who directed Spacey in Glengarry Glen Ross and Joel Schumacher, who directed Spacey in A Time to Kill. The show is set in Washington D.C., with Spacey playing a conniving Congressman who will go to far lengths to get what he wants. The characters are complicated and well-written. The direction is first-rate. I don’t know why, but the orchestral theme song by Jeff Beal has not gotten out of my head since I started watching. I’m six episodes in out of thirteen and I can already say with high confidence that Kevin Spacey will win Best Actor at the Emmys this fall for his brilliant performance.
While many may gripe that movies aren’t that good anymore (a sentiment I vehemently disagree with), there is little doubt that television drama has been in a golden age for over a decade now. From “The Sopranos” to “Mad Men” to “Breaking Bad” to “Lost” to “24” to “Homeland” to “Boardwalk Empire” to “The Shield” to “The Walking Dead” and much more, TV drama has been on a hot streak for a long time now. Looking at that list, you realize a lot of that has to do with cable networks and their ability to take risks and produce high-quality programming. What HBO started has been continued by AMC, FX, and Showtime, among others.
Netflix decided it was time to get in on the action and they spent an astonishing $100 million dollars to produce two seasons of “House of Cards”. It may be awhile before we know if their investment paid off. There’s a lot of questions, but the main one is: how many people will watch it? What is a good number to be considered a hit show and worth the nine digit investment? It will be months before we really know how well it did. Will Netflix subscribers watch one or two episodes or the whole 13 episodes? And will this lead to Netflix producing a lot more TV shows and movies?
If it does lead to movies… what kind of talent will the company be able to attract? They’ve had a heckuva start enlisting Fincher for “Cards”, considering he’s one of the most sought after directors in Hollywood.
This all remains to be seen, but I give a whole lot of credit to Netflix for making their inaugural dip into the original programming pool a worthwhile one. “House of Cards” is pretty special and I highly recommend it.
Before your attention shifts to New Orleans and the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, we have some box office results to get to for the weekend.
As expected, the zombie comedy Warm Bodies opened atop the box office, grossing an estimated $20.4 million dollars in its opening weekend, right on target with my $20.5M projection. The picture earned solid reviews and a decent B+ Cinemascore grade from audiences and may have a decent holdup next weekend.
Last weekend’s winner Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters fell to second with $9.4 million, slightly above my $8.6M prediction. Oscar darling Silver Linings Playbook continues to exceed my expectations and came in third with $7.7 million, above my $6.6M estimate. In fourth place, I was right on the money with horror flick Mama earning $6.6 million (I said $6.7M). Zero Dark Thirty came in at the five post with $5.2 million, just under my $6M projection.
Sylvester Stallone’s Bullet to the Head performed a giant box office belly flop this weekend and the film had an even more pathetic opening than buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bomb The Last Stand two weeks ago. Bullet managed just $4.5 million, well below my apparently generous $8 million estimate. The last three weeks have been brutal to generic action films, with Bullet, Stand, and Jason Statham’s Parker all flopping.
Finally, the Al Pacino pic Stand Up Guys opened on a small number of screens and made just $1.5 million, just above my $1.2 estimate.
Be sure to check back Wednesday for projections for next weekend when the Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief and Steven Soderbergh directed thriller Side Effects made their debuts. Stay tuned and enjoy the Super Bowl!
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