Month: May 2013

50 Best Saturday Night Live Celebrity Impersonations: Part Three

Part Three of my favorite SNL cast member celebrity impressions covers numbers 30-21 as we get closer to the cream of the crop. Here we go:

30. Martin Short as Jerry Lewis

The incredibly talented Short was only on SNL for one season, but he certainly made the most of it. His Jerry Lewis is terrific.

29. John Belushi as Elizabeth Taylor

Belushi isn’t really remembered for impressions, even though he did a wicked Liz Taylor, as well as an accurate Joe Cocker.

28. Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet

Ferrell’s makes his debut on the list with his totally bizarre take on Robert Goulet.

27. Dan Aykroyd as President Jimmy Carter

Aykroyd’s Carter marks the first but not the last Presidential impersonation on the list. His Carter was pretty spot-on. The original cast member also did a memorable sketch where he played chef Julia Child. Darrell Hammond would also play Carter in a funny Barry Gibb sketch alongside Fallon and Timberlake.

26. Bill Hader as James Carville

Hader is leaving SNL after eight years and I believe he’s been the best thing about the show for a while. A great impressionist, his Carville is a masterpiece.

25. Dana Carvey as Regis Philbin

“I’m outta control!!!” Carvey’s Regis isn’t much more exaggerated than the actual subject and it’s a trip.

24. Kristin Wiig as Kathie Lee Gifford

Speaking of Regis, how about Kristin Wiig’s boozed up and wonderful take on Kathie Lee Gifford’s “Today” show hosting duties?

23. Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis Jr.

Like Martin Short, Crystal was only on for one season. His Sammy Davis Jr. is fabulous.

22. Chevy Chase as President Gerald Ford

Ford was the sitting POTUS when SNL debuted and original cast member Chase got the assignment. He made no attempt to look like Ford, instead hilariously focusing on the President’s clumsiness. This is the first, but not last example of an SNL portrayal affecting public perception of the leader of the free world.

21. Eddie Murphy as Stevie Wonder

Murphy’s debut on the list is one of many uncanny impressions the superstar can do. His Stevie is unforgettable.

Stay tuned for Part Four and numbers 20-11!

50 Best Saturday Night Live Celebrity Impersonations: Part Two

Continuing on with my personal favorite “Saturday Night Live” cast member celebrity impressions, I now bring part two and #s 40-31:

40. Andy Samberg as Mark Wahlberg

Known more for his digital shorts like “Dick in a Box”, Samberg also unleashed a killer Marky Mark impression that had him communicating with a chicken. “Say hi to your mutha for me”.

39. Cheri Oteri as Barbara Walters

Oteri’s take on “The View” host was a riot as she constantly name dropped celebrities and world leaders.

http://www.zimbio.com/watch/kwqyzAD-ZwF/Walters+Lewinsky+Cold+Opening/Saturday+Night+Live

38. Dana Carvey as Charles Grodin

Carvey’s first and far from last appearance on the list. The master impressionist’s take on actor-writer Grodin was hilarious.

37. Chris Farley as Tom Arnold

Victoria Jackson did a nice Roseanne impersonation, but it was the late, great Farley that was the highlight with his manic and accurate portrayal of Roseanne’s ex-hubby.

36. Maya Rudolph as Whitney Houston

Rudolph nailed Houston’s flaky and drugged out personality to a tee, often running out of breath after singing only a couple lines of her best-known hits. Rudolph’s Oprah Winfrey impression also merits consideration on the list, but her Whitney won out.

35. Norm MacDonald as David Letterman

Joe Piscopo did a good Letterman as well, but it’s Norm who gave the best Dave impression. MacDonald had fun with Dave’s habit of repeating jokes and Chris Kattan also provided funny moments as Paul Schaffer. Norm’s Burt Reynolds and Larry King also were considered for the list.

34. Ana Gasteyer as Martha Stewart

It didn’t hurt that Gasteyer kinda looked like Stewart, but her impression was much more than that. Her Martha Stewart take was often bizarre but always hilarious. One sketch had Martha addressing her audience topless.

33. Taran Killam as Brad Pitt

With Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Jason Sudeikis leaving the show, I believe Killam is poised to be the show’s new breakout star. He’s done Brad Pitt a couple times on the show and his accuracy impersonating the actor is uncanny.

32. Phil Hartman as Ed McMahon

“You are correct, sir!” Hartman’s appearance has the performer brilliantly serving as sidekick to Carvey’s Carson.

31. Dana Carvey as Tom Brokaw

The spot-on impression that we expect from Carvey, his Brokaw also happened to belong in an uproarious sketch where the anchor is taping announcements for future broadcasts. This includes Gerald Ford being killed by a pack of wolves and Brokaw coming out of the closet.

And there’s Part Two, my friends. Check back soon for the third installment covering numbers 30-21!

50 Best Saturday Night Live Celebrity Impersonations: Part One

Hard to believe but in two years, “Saturday Night Live” will be officially over the hill when it celebrates its 40th anniversary. In that time, we’ve seen countless cast members impersonating celebrities and political figures. This gave me the idea to compile my personal Top 50 Best SNL Impressions. I’ll roll them out in five parts starting with numbers 50-41 and so on. If you’re an SNL fan, I hope you enjoy these posts and please feel free to tell me where I’m wrong, where I’m right, and who I left off. Without further adieu:

50. Kevin Nealon as Brent Musberger

Sometimes a simple little touch can make an impression hilarious. And Kevin Nealon taking his fingers to make his eyes smaller makes his take on sports analyst Brent Musberger genius.

49. Fred Armisen as Queen Elizabeth

Armisen, who leaves SNL after this season, did a brilliant take on the Queen. She’s the delicate and proper lady you would expect while at official functions, but a little different behind the scenes. She sounds more like a Sex Pistols band member behind the curtain. Great stuff.

48. Abby Elliot as Angelina Jolie

Elliot nails her Angelina impression, portraying her as someone whose curious nature goes into overdrive at the mention of the word “baby”.

47. Phil Hartman as Admiral James Stockdale

The incomparable Hartman makes his debut on the list with his unforgettable take on Ross Perot’s 1992 running mate. Funny thing is, Hartman’s performance as Stockdale wasn’t much more exaggerated than the actual guy in the debate.

46. Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews

First time you’re seeing Hammond’s name, but it certainly won’t be the last. We’ll start with his spot-on impression of the “Hardball” host.

45. Jon Lovitz as Harvey Fierstein

Lovitz’s nailed the flamboyant actor and playwright and started a catchphrase at the time: “Is that so wroooooooong?!?!?”

44. Fred Armisen as Penny Marshall

I think the versatile Armisen only did the Hollywood director and “Laverne&Shirley” star a couple of times, but it was a riot.

43. Jay Pharoah as Will Smith

Pharoah is a newer cast member to the show and his specialty seems to be impressions. He’s got great takes on Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Jay-Z, and others. His best so far is Will Smith.

42. Jan Hooks as Tammy Faye Bakker

Hooks is one of the most talented female cast members in the show’s history and her impersonation of disgraced evangelist Jim Bakker’s wife is perfect.

41. Kate McKinnon as Ellen DeGeneres

Another new cast member, McKinnon also seems to have a knack for impressions. Her Ellen DeGeneres is remarkable.

Coming next: Part Two, covering numbers 40-31!

Box Office Predictions: May 16-19

JJ Abrams eagerly awaited Star Trek Into Darkness blasts into theaters this weekend. Opening on Thursday, I wrote a detailed blog post Monday in which I predicted its four-day take will bring in over $100 million. That post can be found here:

https://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/star-trek-into-darkness-box-office-prediction/

Captain Kirk and company should have no problem whatsoever debuting atop the box office. Last weekend’s #1 and #2 Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby, both huge hits, are likely to see drops close to the 50% range. It will be interesting in particular to see how Gatsby performs in its sophomore weekend. While the picture had a massive $50M opening, it earned a fairly weak B Cinemascore grade. Still, it’s the only title out there marketing to the female audience.

Rounding out the top five, Pain and Gain and 42 are bringing in considerably smaller grosses than the top 3 and are likely to see smaller declines.

And with that, my predictions for this weekend’s Top Five:

1. Star Trek Into Darkness

Predicted Gross: $106.2 million (over Thursday-Sunday)

All remaining predictions are for Friday to Sunday frame:

2. Iron Man 3

Predicted Gross: $37.3 million (representing a drop of 47%)

3. The Great Gatsby

Predicted Gross: $25.6 million (representing a drop of 49%)

4. Pain and Gain

Predicted Gross: $3.4 million (representing a drop of 33%)

5. 42

Predicted Gross: $3.3 million (representing a drop of 30%)

That’s all for now, but on Saturday I’ll have early results for how things are shaping up. And, of course, there will be a full report Sunday on the blog!

Oscar History: 2001

As far as film history, the year 2001 will most be remembered for the first installments of two billion dollar franchises, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Other than that, not much will be remembered about the year. It was an exceptionally weak year for movies.

This was reflected in a relatively unimpressive group of Best Picture nominees. Ron Howard’s good but not great A Beautiful Mind would take top prize against Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, Todd Field’s In the Bedroom, and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. The other nominee: Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which began a three-year streak of the franchise’s entry being nominated.

I’ve always felt Fellowship was the best of the trilogy and I certainly would’ve had no problem with it winning over Mind. The Academy decided against some edgier material, such as David Lynch’s critically lauded Mulholland Drive and Chris Nolan’s twisty thriller Memento.

Ron Howard took Best Director over Altman and Jackson. Lynch would be nominated here for Mulholland, as well as Ridley Scott for Black Hawk Down. Field and Luhrmann were the two auteurs whose Picture was nominated left out. Certainly, I would’ve reserved a slot for Nolan for his work in Memento.

Denzel Washington would earn his first Best Actor prize for Training Day (he won Supporting Actor for Glory in 1989). Other nominees: previous year’s winner Russell Crowe for Mind, Sean Penn for I Am Sam, Will Smith as Ali, and Tom Wilkinson for In the Bedroom.

I would have considered Johnny Depp for his performance in Blow or Billy Bob Thornton in Monster’s Ball. Keeping with the Memento kick, how about Guy Pearce for his challenging lead role? And if you’ve read my previous Oscar History posts, you’ll notice I usually advocate for comedic performances, which the Academy typically ignores. So how about a shout-out to Ben Stiller for his hilarious turn as Derek Zoolander?

Oscar history would be made as Halle Berry became the first African-American to win Best Actress for Monster’s Ball. It would also be the first year where both the Actor and Actress prizes went to African-Americans. Other nominees: Judi Dench in Iris, Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, Sissy Spacek for In the Bedroom, and Renee Zellwegger for Bridget Jones Diary. Other performances worthy of consideration: Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive and Audrey Tautou in Amelie.

Jim Broadbent was a surprise Supporting Actor winner for Iris, beating out favorites Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast and Ian McKellen in Lord of the Rings. Other nominees: Ethan Hawke for Training Day and Jon Voight in Ali.

Steve Buscemi in Ghost World and Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums were worthy nominees. And here’s a totally outside-the-box selection from me: Bruce Davison’s wonderful performance as Kirsten Dunst’s dad in the romantic drama Crazy/Beautiful, a greatly underrated film.

Jennifer Connelly would win Supporting Actress for A Beautiful Mind. Other nominees: Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith (both for Gosford Park), Marisa Tomei for In the Bedroom, and Kate Winslet for Iris.

I probably would have found room for Cameron Diaz’s effective performance as Tom Cruise’s jilted lover in Vanilla Sky.

So, all in all, other than some historical Actor and Actress winners, 2001 was a pretty blah year for the Academy. A Beautiful Mind is a solid flick, but definitely one of the least memorable Best Picture winners of recent years, as I see it.

Trailer Park: Captain Phillips, Gravity, The Butler

This evening I bring you a new feature on the blog called Trailer Park, in which I’ll review the trailers for upcoming movies that have recently debuted. With the summer movie season freshly upon us, we’re likely to see a nice helping of trailers for pictures coming out this fall and even next summer. I’ll try to do a new Trailer Park posting every week, at least. I realize there’s probably oodles of movie bloggers like myself who also call their coming attractions posts Trailer Park, but hey – it’s a catchy name and you don’t always have to be original.

So what’s my criteria for grading a trailer? Simple. Does the trailer make me more or less likely to wanna watch the featured title? That’s pretty much it. Two recent examples: the most recent trailer for June’s Superman epic Man of Steel was a masterpiece. I went from really wanting to see it to dying to see it right away. Seriously, it’s one of the most effective trailers in a loooong time.

On the flip side, there’s R.I.P.D., coming in July. When I first heard about the movie, I thought “Sci-fi action comedy with Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds?” Sure, why not? Then I saw the trailer, in which it looks like a third-rate Men in Black knock-off with terrible special effects. Jeff Bridges has got to be receiving better offers than this!

This inaugural Trailer Park post grade three titles from Oscar-nominated directors. All three pictures are in the early running for awards consideration. How do their trailers measure up?

We begin with Captain Phillips. Paul Greengrass, director of The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and United 93 brings us this true life thriller based on the Somali pirate hostage crisis of 2009. The title character is played by Tom Hanks. Judging from the preview, we may just have the actor’s first real awards-worthy role since Cast Away over 12 years ago. Hanks is also sporting his New England Catch Me If You Can accent here. The subject matter coupled with what appears to be the perfect director doing the material bodes well. The trailer for Captain Phillips is terrific. Grade: A

Alfonso Cuaron is the brilliant director behind Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Children of Men. It’s been seven long years since Children and film lovers have been eager to see what this visual genius comes up with next. The answer is Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts whose mission goes horribly wrong. This is definitely more of a teaser than full trailer, but there’s just enough there to let us know this will be a feast for the eyes, as are all of Cuaron’s efforts. I can’t wait to see a full trailer, but the final shot of Bullock barreling helplessly into space earns Gravity a B+ trailer grade.

Lee Daniels receive a Best Director nomination for his unexpected hit Precious and followed it up with last year’s critically panned The Paperboy. His latest feature, The Butler, tells the true life story of an African-American White House butler (Forest Whitaker) who served from the Eisenhower to Reagan administrations. From the Weinstein Company (they know how to get movies noticed by Oscar), The Butler looks tailor-made for Academy consideration. Another selling point: this is Oprah Winfrey’s first major film role in 15 years. I must admit, however, I’m not wild about the trailer. There seems to be almost too much information they’re trying to pack into it. And the brief glimpses of well-known actors playing the First Family – Robin Williams as Ike, John Cusack as Nixon, Liev Schrieber as LBJ, Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, and Severus Snape as Ronald Reagan – are somewhat distracting. The Butler may turn out to be a great and inspiring picture, but the trailer is a tad underwhelming and only merits a B- Trailer grade.

So there you have it – my first crack at grading trailers. I’ll be back for more next week!

Star Trek Into Darkness Box Office Prediction

Before JJ Abrams moves onto making another beloved sci-fi franchise that begins with the word “Star”, the director is following up his massively successful restart of another beloved franchise with Star Trek Into Darkness, opening Thursday.

In the summer of 2009, Star Trek reinvigorated a slumping franchise to the tune of a $257 million domestic gross. The film’s reputation has only seemed to grow in the past four years. The sequel sees Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto return as Kirk and Spock and the marketing campaign has been heavy. With Iron Man 3 entering its third weekend, Darkness is poised to make a splashy #1 debut.

Against smaller expectations four years ago, Star Trek debuted to a very impressive $75 million in its first weekend. It would stand to reason that the sequel’s opening gross will be bigger. Plus it opens on Thursday, so the four-day gross alone as opposed to the original’s three should be greater.

The question is: just how much bigger will it open? While audiences certainly liked what they saw in 2009, it’s a legitimate point to wonder just how many new viewers will turn out the first weekend. The Trekkie fan base certainly grew with Abrams taking over the series and it exposed many younger moviegoers to Captain Kirk’s world.

While I believe the Friday to Sunday portion of Darkness‘s take will exceed $75 million, it may not exceed it by a whole lot, especially with the Thursday debut when die-hard Trekkies will rush out to see it.

So – what’s the ceiling here? I’d say $120 million is not unreasonable for the four-day take. Once again, I’m tempted to go there. Yet, ultimately, I believe a Friday to Sunday take in the mid-80s in addition to a high teens to low twenties Thursday gross is more possible.

In just two years, JJ Abrams will direct the breathlessly awaited seventh episode of the Star Wars franchise. He should definitely be coming off a sizable hit with Star Trek Into Darkness as he begins work on that picture in England.

Star Trek Into Darkness opening weekend (including Thursday) prediction: $106.2 million

On Wednesday, I’ll predict the weekend’s Top Five which includes the second frame of The Great Gatsby and Tony Stark’s third weekend.

Movie Perfection: Moneyball and The Crack of the Bat

The 2011 Bennett Miller directed hit Moneyball is one of the better sports flicks of the 21st century and it contains one particular scene that qualifies as Movie Perfection.

Based on a true story, the picture focuses on Billy Beane (Brad Pitt in an Oscar nominated performance), owner of the Oakland A’s baseball franchise. When the team loses its big free agents to richer teams like the Red Sox, Billy buys into the team building ideas of Peter Brand (Jonah Hill, also Oscar nominated). The theory relies not on marquee names, but solely on which players stats lead to wins. This is met with skepticism from manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and many others.

After some initial difficulty with the new format, an interesting thing begins to occur: The A’s start winning. And winning. And winning. So much so that they win 19 in a row and are going for a record-breaking 20. Billy is a rather superstitious fellow who doesn’t attend the games. The significance of a potential record-breaking moment draws him to the event after the A’s go up 11-0 and appear assured for history. What happens? The Kansas City Royals make a furious comeback and tie the game 11 all. Billy retreats back to the locker room.

And then – history is made! Scott Hatteberg, a player that no one but Billy wanted, steps up to the plate. We see the pitcher release the ball and then…

Crack!

What follows is a scene that is amazingly directed and edited. What I love most it is that, even to the most casual moviegoer, it brilliantly demonstrates the importance of not just editing, but also sound effects editing.

We hear the sound of the crack followed by the reactions of Billy, Peter, and Art. The music swells. The team celebrates. And Billy has his own moment of unbridled joy – something he doesn’t allow himself to do often. I’m not an Oakland A’s fan. Truthfully, I’m not even much of a baseball fan. However, during this scene, I am an Oakland fan and a baseball fan. I’m a fan because this scene is so well put together and features such well-written characters that you can’t help but be a fan.

I’m a fan of the movie Moneyball. And this scene is total Movie Perfection. I get goosebumps every time I see it.

Mother’s Day Movie Tribute

Today we celebrate all the great mothers out there with our phone calls, Facebook messages, and tweets. And, today on the movie blog, I take a brief trip down film history lane bringing you the best and worst when it comes to mothers…

Or “mamas” with Sally Field’s wonderful performance as mama to Forrest Gump…

There’s the single mom doing her best to better herself and her children’s lives, like Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich…

There’s the teenage mom who comes to learn the joys of motherhood like Ellen Page as Juno…

And there’s the always supportive mom who, even when she doesn’t agree with her kids actions, still loves them unconditionally, like Frances McDormand in Almost Famous:

This brings to the moms in film history representing the dark side of motherhood. There’s the overprotective mom as shown by Piper Laurie in Carrie:

There’s the mom whose wild ambitions for her children screw them up for life, like Meryl Streep in The Manchurian Candidate:

Of course, there’s also just the completely crazy moms who hate wire hangers, like Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest:

And, finally, well there’s this mom:

So here’s hoping your mama is more like Forrest Gump’s and less like Norman Bates’s! And Happy Mother’s Day to all the Forrest Gump-like mamas in the world, including my wonderful mother!

Box Office Results: May 10-12

Well, when you’re wrong – you’re wrong and I was all kinds of wrong in multiple ways this weekend with my box office predictions. I didn’t give some movies enough credit and for others, I gave them way too much credit.

As expected, Iron Man 3 remained at #1 in its sophomore weekend, but fell further than I predicted. The Tony Stark adventure grossed $72.5 million for a 58% drop. I predicted it’d do $83.9M and experience a smaller decline. Still, IM3 is still poised to be the biggest earner of the summer and possibly the year.

The Great Gatsby outperformed nearly all expectations, including my own. The Leo DiCaprio flick grossed a terrific $51.1 million, well above my $41.3M projection. With a so-so B Cinemascore grade, Gatsby could experience hefty declines in coming weekends, but it’s still the only pic out there marketing towards the female audience.

I was way off with Tyler Perry Presents Peeples. I figured Perry’s name alone would bring in his audience. That did not happen. I predicted a solid opening of $18.5 million. Peeples was a total bomb, earning only $4.9 million for a fourth place showing. Whoops. With a weak B- Cinemascore grade, expect Peeples to be presented to DVD in short order.

Pain and Gain was third in its third weekend with $5 million, above my $3.3M projection. 42 was fifth with $4.7 million, higher than my $3.6M prediction.

Not a great weekend of predictin’ this time around, but I’ll try to do better tomorrow when I make my projection for next weekend’s big opener, Star Trek Into Darkness. My full Top Five predictions come Wednesday on the blog. Stay tuned!