Six years ago Today in Movie History – January 25 – Sylvester Stallone returned to one of his most iconic roles in Rambo, the fourth installment of the franchise which came 20 years after the third. Directed by it star, Rambo opened to #2 at the box office with a solid $18.2 million on its way to a domestic take of $42 million. We haven’t seen Sly in the role since but he did start yet another successful franchise afterwards with The Expendables.
As for birthdays, Dean Jones is 83 today. He’s best known for starring in a number of Disney live-action features in the 1960s and 1970s including That Darn Cat!, The Love Bug, and The Shaggy D.A. In more recent years, Jones was seen in Beethoven and alongside Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger.
Director Tobe Hooper is 71 on this day. He made a major impact in the horror genre directing the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1974. The director would return to direct 1986’s sequel. Hooper would have another huge hit in 1982 with Poltergeist.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between Mr. Jones and Mr. Hooper:
Dean Jones was in Clear and Present Danger with Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford was in Anchorman 2 with Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell was in Blades of Glory with Craig T. Nelson
Craig T. Nelson was directed by Tobe Hooper in Poltergeist
28 years ago Today in Movie History – January 24 – Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple would rise to #1 at the box office. At the time, Spielberg was really only known for popcorn blockbusters like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. and Purple would be classified as his first “serious” picture. Focusing on the plight of African-Americans in the U.S. during the early 20th century, Purple starred Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong, and Whoopi Goldberg in her first film role. It would be a rousing box office success with a domestic tally of $98 million. Purple earned 11 Oscar nominations yet won none of them. Based originally on a novel by Alice Walker, it would later be made into a Broadway play.
As for birthdays, John Belushi would’ve turned 65 years old today. One of the original cast members of “Saturday Night Live”, Belushi would make a huge splash in film as Bluto in the iconic comedy National Lampoon’s Animal House. Two years later, further success would follow with The Blues Brothers. Other film roles: Goin South, 1941, Neighbors, and Continental Divide. Dan Aykroyd wrote the role of Dr. Venkman in Ghostbusters for Belushi, but the star would die in 1982 from a drug overdose.
Ed Helms is 40 today. Known to many for his supporting role on TV’s “The Office”, Helms found box office success in The Hangover trilogy. Other notable roles include Cedar Rapids, Jeff, Who Lives At Home and We’re the Millers. Helms is currently attached to headline a reboot of the Vacation franchise.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between them:
John Belushi was in The Blues Brothers with Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd was in Trading Places with Eddie Murphy
10 years ago today in Movie History – January 23 – Ashton Kutcher headlined the sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect to surprisingly robust box office results. Claiming the top spot in its opening weekend, Effect took in $17 million on its way to a $57 million domestic run. Kutcher would go onto other successful pictures including Guess Who, What Happens in Vegas, and No Strings Attached before settling back to TV replacing Charlie Sheen on “Two and a Half Men”. The pic would spawn two direct to DVD sequels without Mr. Kutcher’s participation.
As for birthdays, martial arts legend Sonny Chiba is 75 today. His big breakthrough came in 1974 with The Street Fighter and he would star in many genre pics. He came out of retirement in 2003 via Quentin Tarantino costarring as sword maker Hanzo Hattori in Kill Bill: Volume 1.
Rutger Hauer is 70 today. He’s been perhaps best known as the villain from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Hauer has many high-profile films to his credit including Nighthawks, The Hitcher, Ladyhawke, Sin City, and Batman Begins.
The two birthday performers have an interesting distinction in common: they are both mentioned in Quentin Tarantino screenplays. Chiba is talked about extensively by Christian Slater’s character in True Romance while Samuel L. Jackson name checks Hauer in Jackie Brown.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between Mr. Chiba and Mr. Hauer:
Sonny Chiba was in Kill Bill: Volume 1 with Uma Thurman
32 years ago Today in Movie History – January 22 – On Golden Pond opened wide in theaters on its way to a number of Oscars. It had a limited opening in late 1981 to qualify for Oscar consideration. Pond would be the final film role for legendary actor Henry Fonda and he would win Best Actor for the part. Too sick to accept the award, his daughter and costar Jane spoke for him. Fonda would die just months later. His counterpart in the picture, Katherine Hepburn, would win her fourth Oscar as Best Actress – setting a record that’s yet to be surpassed. Pond would earn a fantastic $119 million domestically and ranked as the second top grosser of 1981 behind Raiders of the Lost Ark.
As for birthdays, two actresses known primarily for their roles in classic horror flicks celebrate today. Piper Laurie is 84. She received an Oscar nomination as the title character’s crazy mother in 1976’s Carrie. She had been nominated 15 years prior as Paul Newman’s girlfriend in the classic The Hustler. Laurie received a third nomination in 1986 for Children of a Lesser God.
And Linda Blair is 55 today. She received an Oscar nomination in 1973 as demonic child Regan in The Exorcist, perhaps the greatest horror title of all time. She would also appear in Airport 1975 and reprise her famous role in the 1977 Exorcist sequel. In more recent history, she had a cameo role in 1996’s Scream.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between the scream queens:
Piper Laurie was in Carrie with John Travolta
John Travolta was in Face/Off with Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage was in The Wicker Man with Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn was in The Exorcist with Linda Blair
It’s a pretty quiet frame upcoming this weekend at the box office as only one new entry – I, Frankenstein – debuts. You can read my detailed prediction post on that film here:
Unless I, Frankenstein has a healthier than expected premiere, the path should be clear for last weekend’s champ Ride Along to repeat at #1. The Kevin Hart/Ice Cube buddy comedy set the all-time January record of all time with a much larger than expected $48 million over the four-day holiday weekend.
Lone Survivor, The Nut Job, and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit should all see drops in the mid to high 30s and Disney’s Frozen may finally fall out of the top five (though I’ve predicted that before and it’s stayed in there).
And with that, my predictions for this weekend’s top five:
1. Ride Along
Predicted Gross: $22.7 million (representing a drop of 45%)
2. I, Frankenstein
Predicted Gross: $16.6 million
3. Lone Survivor
Predicted Gross: $13.6 million (representing a drop of 38%)
4. The Nut Job
Predicted Gross: $12.5 million (representing a drop of 36%)
5. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Predicted Gross: $9.5 million (representing a drop of 38%)
As always, I’ll update the blog’s Facebook page Saturday with early results and go over final results on Monday!
Rapper turned actor/director Ice Cube currently has the #1 film in America with Ride Along, which set the all-time record opening for the month of January over the weekend. He also held the top spot nine years ago Today in Movie History – January 21 – with Are There We There Yet?, whichturned the once controversial gangsta rapper into a family friendly movie star. Opening to $18.5 million, the pic ended up with a domestic haul of $82 million. A sequel in 2007, Are We Done Yet?, would follow as would a TV series that began in 2010 and is still airing.
As for birthdays, actor Telly Savalas would have turned 92 today. An Oscar nominee for Supporting Actor in 1962’s Birdman of Alcatraz, Savalas would go onto huge TV stardom with the 1970s crime series “Kojak”. Other notable film appearances include The Dirty Dozen, as Bond villain Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and alongside Clint Eastwood in Kelly’s Heroes. Mr. Savalas passed away in 1994.
Geena Davis is 58 today. She won a Supporting Actress Oscar for 1988’s The Accidental Tourist. Her debut was in 1982’s smash hit Tootsie. Davis would turn into one of the more high-profile actresses in the 80s and 90s with pictures such as The Fly, Beetlejuice, Earth Girls Are Easy, Thelma&Louise, A League of their Own, and The Long Kiss Goodnight.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between Mr. Savalas and Ms. Davis:
Telly Savalas was in Kelly’s Heroes with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood was in Unforgiven with Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman was in Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman
What if a Gordon Gekko type figure was in the midst of the largest financial deal of his career and then goes and gets his mistress killed? This is the central concept of Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage, which boasts an impressive performance from Richard Gere and its fair share of flaws.
Gere is Wall Street hedge fund tycoon Robert Miller and the picture opens with him celebrating his 60th birthday with his wife (Susan Sarandon) and family. He’s got a girl on the side too (Laetitia Casta) and it’s this relationship that comes into focus when he dozes off driving with her. They crash – he lives, she dies. Miller is forced to immediately decide whether the incident will jeopardize the impending sale of his company that’s worth hundreds of millions. He enlists Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), a young man with a criminal past whose father served as Miller’s driver for many years to help. Jimmy picks him up from the scene of the accident before the police arrive and becomes an accomplice to the cover-up.
It is Jimmy who the police focus on, led by Detective Bryer (Tim Roth, overacting a bit) and this leads to Miller having to choose how the situation plays out. While his actions were accidental, some of Miller’s handlings of his company’s finances turn out to be downright illegal which strains his relationship with daughter (Brit Marling), who serves as CFO for the fund. We go back and forth as Miller tries to be one step ahead in his personal and financial problems. In essence, he looks at managing the accident cover-up just as he would managing an investment deal – carefully and often coldly.
Arbitrage opened in 2012 to mostly rave reviews, especially for Gere. He deserves a lot of that credit. Over the past few years, Gere has turned in one solid performance after another. The role of Miller is similar in some ways to the character he played in Unfaithful. Or at least those characters find themselves in similar storylines. Gere gives this part his all and it’s because of him that Arbitrage is often involving and interesting.
That being said, I was underwhelmed by the picture as a whole. The relationship between Miller and Jimmy is central to the story and yet it feels curiously underwritten. While Nate Parker shows promise in the role, the underdeveloped nature of his connection to Miller begs for more fleshing out. Sarandon is saddled with a fairly one-note role as the wife who may know more than her husband figures. And as mentioned before, Tim Roth hams it up a bit much as the detective determined to see the filthy rich boy fall.
We gets scenes that show Miller’s mastery of negotiation and it gives Gere a chance to shine – even if the scenes themselves feel familiar. For a movie about multi-million dollar investments, I had a hard time investing myself in the storyline.
Who knew the pairing of Tony Soprano and Elaine Benes would result in something this rewarding? Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said is a romantic comedy which employs relatively few of the clichés we’ve come to expect in the genre. There is one giant exception and it hinges on a fairly amazing coincidence between the picture’s central characters. At the end of the day, though, it doesn’t matter much because this is a thoughtful, honest, often emotional, and incredibly well-acted movie.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is really only known for her TV work – “Seinfeld”, “The New Adventures of Old Christine”, and “Veep”. James Gandolfini played one of the most iconic television roles in history, but has had an impressive filmography as well. Putting these two together in a rom com doesn’t sound like an automatic recipe for success. It is.
Enough Said focuses on Eva (Louis-Dreyfus), a middle-aged divorcee and mother of one whose daughter is getting ready to go to college. Albert (Gandolfini) is a middle-aged divorcee and father of one who daughter is getting ready to go to college. The two meet at a party and begin dating. Eva is a masseuse who meets a new client (Catherine Keener) at the same party. It turns out later that she is Albert’s ex-wife and this complicates Eva’s view of her budding relationship.
The film is refreshing in its realistic dialogue. Its funny moments aren’t forced and feel natural. I particularly liked how many of the characters first question to Eva about being a masseuse is whether clients often become aroused. I have a feeling masseuses probably get that question all the time. There are some nicely developed supporting characters including Eva’s not so happily married friends played by Toni Collette and Ben Falcone. In a lesser movie, Eva and Albert’s exes might be portrayed as “bad guys”, but not here. Director and writer Holofcener seems to respect her audience and she gives us characters that are flawed, but also just good people trying to make things work out.
The screenplay is a huge plus and the last few minutes of Enough Said pack more emotional punch that I could’ve anticipated. Yet it’s Louis-Dreyfus and Gandolfini that make this film special. Louis-Dreyfus has proven a master of sitcom acting which requires different beats and style than movies. She is terrific here as well and I would love to see her continue to seek out roles on the big screen.
Sadly, we all know that Gandolfini died last year shortly before this picture’s release. Those of us who came to know him and love him and sometimes loathe him as Tony Soprano knew his intensity and brilliance at playing that character. His portrayal of Tony is legendary. However, he was so much more than that and capable of playing much different roles and that is evidenced here. We don’t see Tony Soprano in the character of Albert. We see Gandolfini brilliantly stepping into the part of a regular guy who gets a second shot at love. These two TV titans have been blessed with great writing on the small screen back in the day. They get another chance here in this.
And it gives an audience one more chance to remember the talents of a man who left too soon. Enough said.
Rarely does politics blend in on my blog but today we’ll make a rare exception. On This Day in Movie (and Political) History 34 years ago, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States. He’s the one and only POTUS who happened to be a movie star as well. 43 years prior to becoming the most powerful man in the world and the conservative icon that he is today, Reagan had his first film role in 1937’s Love Is on the Air. He would costar with Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis in Dark Victory. Perhaps his most iconic role came as George Gipp in Knute Rockne, All-American. It was this picture that gave President Reagan one of his most enduring nicknames – “The Gipper”. His final film role came in 1964’s The Killers. Two years later he would be elected Governor of California and the rest was history.
As for birthdays, Rainn Wilson is 48 today. Known best for his role as Dwight Schrute on NBC’s “The Office”, Wilson starred in the 2008 comedy The Rocker, in addition to parts in Galaxy Quest, Sahara, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Juno, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Stacey Dash in 47 today. You may know her best from her costarring role in 1995’s hit Clueless or alongside Damon Wayans in Mo’ Money. Other credits include Renaissance Man and View from the Top.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between the birthdays stars:
Rainn Wilson was in My Super Ex-Girlfriend with Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman was in Be Cool with Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito was in Renaissance Man with Stacey Dash
For the MLK weekend, we are just dealing with estimates right now but we know one thing: Ride Along with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube has achieved the biggest January opening of all time. The record had been held for the past six years by Cloverfield but Ride‘s monster debut eclipsed it. Taking in an estimated $48.1 million, the pic cruised way beyond my $21.4M projection. Ride Along proves that Hart, especially, is a bona fide movie draw and don’t be surprised if Ride Along 2 is green lit this week.
Falling to second was last weekend’s champ Lone Survivor with $26.3 million over the four-day, a bit lower than my $30.4M estimate. The Mark Wahlberg Navy SEAL tale has earned a whopping $77 million so far and looks to easily break $100M when all is said and done. The animated feature The Nut Job posted a very solid opening in third with $25.2 million over the holiday weekend, trumping my $19.6M prediction.
The top three spots over the weekend are all good news for those pictures. The same cannot be said for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, which posted a weak fourth place opening with $18 million over the four-day, less than my $25.6M projection. With Chris Pine taking over the role of Jack Ryan in the fifth entry in the franchise, the nearly 12 year wait between movies clearly showed audience interest has waned. It’ll need a good hold in its second weekend and I’m not sure it’ll get it.
Spots five and six were held by leftovers. Frozen was fifth with $16.2 million and multiple Oscar nominee American Hustle got a nice boost with all its publicity and grossed $11.5 million for sixth. Their respective grosses so far are $336 and $117 million.
This meant the new horror flick Devil’s Due had a disappointing premiere with only $9.3 million in four days, well below my $17.1M prediction. January has been a pretty dismal month for horror – as this and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones came in below expectations.
That’s all for now! Due to the holiday weekend and final numbers not coming until Tuesday, I’ll have my top five predictions for next weekend when only I, Frankenstein opens tomorrow on the blog.
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