Marvel Studios started as a novel concept. Headed by Kevin Feige, the group was asked to take control of Marvel’s own comic-to-big-screen incarnations and make them more faithful to their source material, as well as develop continuity between their projects.

It’s the kind of criss-cross universe comparable to that of their comics that made geeks salivate at the mouth. They even started off pretty well. “Iron Man” had an inspired bit of casting in Robert Downey Jr. and ended up making $318.4 million domestically. They even threw in a cameo of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury! Genius, I say.

Next came the more mediocre “The Incredible Hulk” which barely managed to top its Eric Bana-starring previous incarnation at the box office. But the films successfully began Marvel’s path to the upcoming “Avengers.” There were even rumors that “Hulk” star Edward Norton was so passionate about the character that he took on uncredited roles as both a producer and a screenwriter. He certainly wanted in on “Avengers.”

The company looked like it was different from the ignorant studios that seem to own Hollywood. They were giving fans what they wanted by hiring quality filmmakers and showing a dedication to the quality of their own projects–a live-action Pixar, if you will.

But the studio truly hadn’t been put to the test yet. Their next film was “Iron Man 2,” and it was a clunker if there ever was one. I mean, how do you mess up a film when you have Downey Jr., Jackson, Sam Rockwell and Mickey frickin’ Rourke!? Well, they managed to do it, alright. Audiences expecting the same smarts and energy as the first installment experienced shoddy storytelling, a plot that was not clearly fleshed out, and montages such as Tony Stark shooting lasers around a room and suddenly discovering a new atom… seriously?

What about the dark, alcoholic Tony Stark fans love from the comics? Why were actors like Rockwell and Rourke literally wasted, only performing in scenes necessary to move the plot forward but not to flesh out character? I mean, no one’s going to disagree that they are both excellent character actors.

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Come July 3, 2012, Andrew Garfield will be forever known as either the Amazing Spider-Man or the sap who ruined a perfectly good reboot.

Can the British actor, who previously appeared in ‘The Social Network’ and ‘Never Let Me Go,’ spin a web, any size, that catches thieves, just like flies? And what about Henry Cavill, another relative unknown tapped to play the lead in ‘Man of Steel’ hitting theaters in 2013?

Sometimes looking into an actor’s past can reveal plenty about their future prospects. And, in the case of those cast in superhero franchises, there’s a lot riding on just how heroic they can appear on screen.

So let’s recall how other actors prepared for their super close-ups and what happened once they tugged on those unforgiving tights — or, in the case of George Clooney, poured themselves into an uncomfortable cod piece.

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It’s easy to throw two good looking and talented actors into the predictable plot of a romantic comedy and have it turn into one big cheesy mess. On the other hand, it surprises you when you walk into the theatre expecting that cheesy mess and the film turns out to be a hilarious and charming romcom.

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‘What’s Your Number?’ is a story about sex and the single woman, very reminiscent to ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ and ‘Sex and the City’. What makes this singleton story unique is Anna Faris. Faris who has proven herself as one of the most talented comedic actressestoday. Between her ‘Scary Movie’ films and ‘The House Bunny’, she always presents a quirky but lovable character that makes it fun for the audience.

‘What’s Your Number?’ begins as Ally (Faris) wakes up before her boyfriend (Zachary Quinto) and hurries to the bathroom to apply make-up, brush her hair, a scene that is almost identical to Kristen Wiig’s at the beginning of ‘Bridesmaids’. As Ally makes him breakfast, she asks him to be her date to her little sister’s (Ari Graynor) wedding and when he refuses, Ally adds him to her list of other crap ex-boyfriends. Later that day she gets fired from her marketing job, which she never really liked in the first place and starts flipping through a magazine to an article about how women who have slept with 20 or more people are less likely to find a husband. Ally is at 19 and proclaims in front of her sister and all her friends that the next guy she sleeps with is just going to have to be her husband. Well, after a few drinks and maybe a blackout, Ally wakes up next to #20 and decides that she must backtrack and find all of her ex-boyfriends, in hopes that maybe one of them got better with age.

Ally discovers that her womanizing neighbor Colin (frequently shirtless Chris Evans) has some detective skills and she assigns him the duty of tracking down her exes in exchange of him using her apartment as a ‘safe zone’ from his one night stands. Evans shows off his ‘Captain America’ bod in some racy scenes including one with Faris where they are playing a unique game of basketball. Both actors are able to sell this story with their strong chemistry (both comic and sexual). Although it’s easy to tell where their relationship is going, it’s a lot of fun watching them get there.

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Anna Faris is built for comedy, what with those Goldie Hawn eyes and pipes that could wring laughs out of beat poetry.

But she’s all wrong for the latest rom-com misfire “What’s Your Number?“

Then again, even rom-com queen Meg Ryan couldn’t add anything to this misbegotten “Number.” It’s another tale of a lonely heart who thinks her romantic solutions can be found in the pages of a women’s magazine.

Didn’t “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” teach us anything?

Ally (Faris) is sick of sleeping with the wrong kind of guy. So when she reads an article in Marie Claire saying women who have had sex with more than 20 fellas are less likely to get hitched she panics.

Her number of conquests stands at 19, so she decides to give up sex until she meets the man she plans on marrying.

One drunken night later she reaches the dreaded number 20 mark. Since she can’t sleep with another man according to the article‘s rules she plots to locate her exes to give them one more chance. Men do get better with age, right? That means looking up “creepy puppet guy,” “disgusting Donald” and other former beaus to see if time has been kind to them.

Chris Evans (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) plays Ally’s neighbor Colin, a cad who bursts out of his apartment each morning to avoid pillow talk with his latest one-night stand.

“I bet the longest relationship you’ve ever had is with that sandwich,” Ally tells him while he stuffs his handsome mug.

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In addition to the critical hit “October Sky,” Joe Johnston has previously directed several fun action movies including “Jurassic Park III” and “The Rocketeer.” With that in mind, it’s difficult to see where Johnston went so wrong in directing “Captain America: The First Avenger,” a lifeless and clichéd action film that never lives up to its title or its title characters’  ideals.

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“Captain America” tells the story of a scrawny kid named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who wants to join the military during World War II. Rogers, who weights in at around ninety pounds,  suffers from multiple medical conditions but his noble ambitions push him back time and time again to the recruitment office. Despite being rejected by the military repeatedly, he still wants to serve his country. After noting that people are dying in the war overseas, Rogers notes that he has “no right to do anything less than them.”

The story’s beginning has potential but the bizarre decision to use Evans’ head on a thin-rail body detracts from the film itself. It’s difficult not to focus on this “special effect,” which is awkward and out of place.

As the story continues, Rogers is recruited to be a test subject for a science experiment performed by Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a doctor who finally gets Rogers accepted into the armed forces. Erskine’s experiment strengthens Rogers and makes him a powerful physical weapon that can be used against the dreaded Nazis. When the experiment ends, Evans can start acting in his real body again, a welcome relief for viewers. At first, the military uses Rogers, who is now known nationwide as “Captain America,”  to help sell war bonds but when he realizes that one of his friends is missing behind enemy lines, Rogers decides to take on the Nazis himself.  He eventually goes up against Hydra, the Nazi’s science division, which is led by the repulsive Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving).

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Few things in real life are more heinous than Nazis. And yet in the realm of fantasy adventure, few things are more useful. As shorthand for unbounded evil, a Nazi is hard to beat. Tack on a frothing obsession with supernatural whatnot, and you have the makings of a great pulp yarn, as was memorably demonstrated by the Indiana Jones movies.

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Captain America: The First Avenger is in some ways the best of the Marvel Comics preludes leading up to next year’s superhero jamboree, The Avengers. Like the Indy films, it’s set in the dark years of Hitler’s rise toward world conquest (the mid-1930s in the Jones pictures, the war years of the early ’40s here). In this rich period setting, so unlike our own morally nuanced age, the story’s uncomplicated good-versus-evil structure is unusually stirring.

The movie’s protagonist, unpromising at first, is a classic 98-pound weakling named Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, digitally diminished—an eerie effect). Steve longs to join the army and battle the Huns, but he’s repeatedly rebuffed—this is a kid who was born to be 4F. Then he comes to the attention of a government scientist named Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci), who selects him for an experiment involving a top-secret new serum that—in the words of Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), head of the “Strategic Scientific Service”—will create “a new breed of cyber soldiers” who will “personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell.” Yes!

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A year ago Big Hollywood’s John Nolte expressed his “predictable heartbreak,” and I did likewise, over disappointing interview comments by Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston. They seemed desperately designed to reassure his patriotism-hating peers in Hollywood that his superhero “wants to serve his country, but he’s not this sort of jingoistic American flag-waver. He’s just a good person.”

As recently as last week, the film’s star Chris Evans chimed in with more apologies about his intrinsically patriotic character. “He might wear the red, white and blue, but I don’t think this is all about America. It is what America stands for. It could be called ‘Captain Good.’” You read that right. Captain Good.

The Los Angeles Times echoed the hand-wringing that a film with “America” in the title and a protagonist swathed in red, white, and blue might not be groveling enough to suit their leftist self-loathing:

Of course, setting ‘Captain America’ in the storied past [WWII] helps avoid some of the more charged political questions that accompany releasing a patriotically themed production around the world at a time when the U.S. is perceived in certain places as somewhat less than heroic.

As I settled in my seat for a screening of Captain America (next to my esteemed Big Hollywood colleague Alex Marlow, who posted his own review yesterday), my expectations – based on all the preemptive apologies from the filmmakers and critics – was that I was about to witness Hollywood’s ruination of the most iconic of American comic book heroes. (more…)

One year ago today John Nolte reported in this space that “Captain America: The First Avenger” director Joe Johnston said the film based on the legendary comic book hero is “not about America,” and I can finally confirm that he spoke the truth.  The $140 million blockbuster, which opens at midnight, is not anti-American–it’s even kinda pro-American–but if you’re looking for that rare film that surrenders itself to the reality of American exceptionalism, don’t let the title fool you.  Johnston describes the latest from the summer movie factory that is Marvel Studios best: “It’s an international cast and an international story. It’s about what makes America great and what make the rest of the world great too.”   Now, I’m very much relieved that it’s now okay to call America “great” in Hollywood, but as far as “Captain America: The First Avenger” is concerned, self-conscious pandering to multi-cultural feel-goodism combined with some unambitious storytelling makes for an unsatisfying movie-going experience.

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“Captain America: The First Avenger” is set in the latter half of World War II.  The action begins with a scrawny Steve Rogers (a digitally depreciated Chris Evans) doing everything he can to enlist in the U.S. Army.  Rogers has all kinds of heart, but he’s gaunt and is thus 4-F.  The plot turns when an impassioned speech to a friend (“There are men laying down their lives.  I have no right to do any less than them.”) catches the ear of Dr. Abraham Erskine (a very Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci).  Erskine is a German scientist who is working with the U.S. Army to develop a Super Solider Serum–the ultimate performance enhancing drug–and is on the lookout for a test subject.  The serum amplifies what’s inside of you, so someone of Rogers’ size and character makes him the perfect candidate for this breakthrough procedure.  Erskine and engineer Howard Stark (father of Tony) put Rogers in what looks like a retro-50s refrigerator, crank up the dials until all the power in the building short-circuits, and out comes this guy: (more…)

It’s hard to go into a movie called “The Losers” with high expectations. The title is silly and likely turned some viewers off (who wants to go see a movie called “The Losers,” anyway?). Fortunately, the title does not do the movie justice as the film turns out to be a fun, light and enjoyable action adventure.

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The story begins with a unit of quirky individuals on a seemingly routine military mission in Bolivia. That mission becomes more complicated than expected when a group of kids becomes endangered and soon they’re (the “Losers”) all targeted for assassination by a mysterious man who goes by the name Max. After a failed assassination plot against the “Losers,” the team decides to seek vengeance against Max with the assistance of Aisha, an intense and seductive woman they meet while attempting to lay low. The movie focuses on the Losers and Aisha as they attempt to find Max and bring him to justice for betraying them. 

Although this sounds like a typical action adventure, events are spiced with comedic elements. The Losers never take themselves all that seriously and the story’s clever wit livens up the action sequences. In one particularly enjoyable sequence, one of the Losers has to break into an office to steal some files which leads to a woman catching him changing his clothes in the elevator and a smart ending to the escape operation all set to a terrific song. (more…)

Tyler Perry is the king of the Hollywood box office for Academy Awards weekend. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail (Lionsgate) debuted with just 2,032 playdates on Friday and scored a monstrous $14.65M for a Per Theatre Average of over $7,000. The final weekend take could be $41.12M.

The box office king....err....queen of Oscar weekend

Although I am not necessarily a fan of Tyler Perry movies, I am a Tyler Perry fan. He traveled the country for years doing live stage shows in order to fine-tune his act, and he identified an under-served audience – African Americans, and more specifically black, Christian women. Now he makes two movies a year, and he has two television series’ on TBS – House of Payne and Meet the Browns. He built a multi-million dollar studio in an under-served area in Atlanta, taking advantage of tax credits for building in a blighted neighborhood. Now he is building a mini-empire. He produces, writes, directs and stars in his projects, and he even helps to finance them.

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Filmmaker Tyler Perry, with Oprah Winfrey as a role model, has consistently outsmarted Hollywood moguls since his debut feature Diary of a Mad Black Women. That Gospel-infused “fat-suit-in-drag” comedy was made for a mere $5.5M and scored an opening weekend of $21.9M, ultimately generating $50.6M in domestic sales.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well with Tyler Perry

At only 39, Perry is building an empire. He officially christened Tyler Perry Studios last October in Atlanta with a star-studded event. The multi-million dollar project is a sprawling 30-acre working production facility in southwestern Atlanta, and the opening night party featured appearances by legendary African American actors like Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Lou Gossett, Jr. and Will Smith.

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Although America is suffering through its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, there is no recession in the movie business. Led by the Warner Bros reboot of Friday the Thirteenth and a couple of surprisingly strong chick flicks, Hollywood’s top twelve grossing movies may grab a combined $201.5M over the long President’s Day weekend holiday, which marks an all-time best for the annual 4-day movie-going bonanza.

TOP GROSSING PRESIDENT’S WEEKENDS FOR HOLLYWOOD
- combined gross of top 12 films -
1. 2009 – $201.5M (estimated)
2. 2007 – $167.8M
3. 2008 – $141.1M
4. 2003 – $141M
5. 2005 – $137.1M

Director Marcus Nispel (2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) and the Platinum Dunes production company have gotten the all-new Friday the Thirteenth off to a spectacular $19.3M opening day. That could translate to a well-above-expectations $47M by Tuesday morning. The new Jason restart quickly follows the Platinum Dunes success of The Unborn, released on January 9 to a $19.8M 3-day take. That David D. Goyer written and directed genre pic was made for just $16M, and The Unborn has generated an estimated $42M in the US.

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The Drew Barrymore-produced romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You has made the jump from catch-phrase to self-help book to movie hit. With an all-star cast this classic ‘chick flick” appears to be winning the weekend after posting a spectacular $10.5M in opening day ticket sales. That should mean a 3-day start of $27.4M or so, easily out-pacing holdover Taken (Fox) and three other new wide releases. With this kind of opening, Not That Into You could reach almost $60M by the end of next weekend (a 4-day Presidents/Valentine’s combo), which would forecast a potential $90M in US ticket sales.

The new movie developed by New Line and now released by Warner Bros is based on the book of the same name co-written by former Sex & the City scribes Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo. The line itself has come to be a reassuring fallback for women in the dating scene (and I’m guessing single guys have adopted the mentality as well in the rough-and-tumble world of dating).

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