Review: ‘Whatever Works’

Woody Allen’s told his share of dark stories. “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (1989) and “Match Point” (2005) immediately come to mind. Both are remarkable films that delve into the auteur’s well-traveled theme of what morality means in a world he sees as godless and pointlessly random.  In each, the protagonist plots and carries out a cold-blooded murder. Neither is caught or punished. In fact, both prosper. Without condoning the behavior, Allen expertly uses the dramatic extreme of murder to illustrate his belief that we live in a world where if you can get past the law and over your own conscience, it’s all relative. And you need not agree to find this idea fascinating.

With “Whatever Works,” a deeply unpleasant, unfunny “comedy” starring Larry David, Allen takes a disturbing stride towards condoning this form of nihilism. We’re far beyond “The Heart Wants What It Wants,” the memorable theme explored so tenderly in Allen’s 1986 masterpiece “Hannah and Her Sisters.” In that film there were at least very real and human consequences to infidelity and other selfish, romantic pursuits. No more. “Whatever Works” might as well be titled “Whatever Works Works.” (more…)

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Tags: "Whatever Works", Ed Begley Jr., evan rachel wood, Hannah and Her Sisters, Larry David
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 6:59 pm in Featured Story, Reviews | 17642270 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/03/review-whatever-works/Review%3A+%27Whatever+Works%272009-07-04+01%3A59%3A57John+Nolte

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS with almost $12K per 3-D screen! The future of 3-D is looking UP!

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Dreamworks Animation have definitively proven that Digital 3-D is a blockbuster format. Not only has Monsters vs. Aliens seized a monstrous $58.2M in opening weekend ticket sales, Real-D (the technology provider) and Dreamworks have revealed that $25M or so of that gross was generated specifically from 3-D and IMAX 3-D. Fox is reporting that fully 43% of the total take was from the estimated 2,218 Digital 3-D screens.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS tore up the box office this weekend - especially in 3-D

That means that the Per Screen Average for the movie in 3-D was about $11,700, while the 4,800 or so traditional 35MM 2-D engagements had a Per Theatre of just an estimated $4,780. Exhibitors who figured out a way to overcome the credit crunch and pay the estimated $100,000 to convert a traditional theatre into one that can show Digital 3-D made a killing this weekend.

(more…)

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Tags: 2-d, 3-d, amanda peet, amy poehler, arch oboler
Posted Mar 29th 2009 at 9:04 pm in Entertainment, Steve Mason's Box Office | 920863 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/03/29/monsters-vs-aliens-with-almost-12k-per-3-d-screen-the-future-of-3-d-is-looking-up/MONSTERS+VS.+ALIENS+with+almost+%2412K+per+3-D+screen%21+The+future+of+3-D+is+looking+UP%212009-03-30+04%3A04%3A22Steve+Mason

Overlooked: The Top 10 Best Performances of 2008 that you may not have heard about!

The Academy Awards for 2008 have been handed out, and the “popular kids” have Oscars on their mantles, but the dirty little secret about winning awards is that you’ve gotta campaign for them. Thousands of dollars were spent by the distributors and filmmakers behind Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Milk (Focus Features), The Reader (Weinstein) and other assorted winners and nominees, but not all performances received that sort of big money backing.

I am an unabashed lover of the acting craft. I see virtually every movie, large and small, that passes through the US marketplace, and, taking nothing away from Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger, not all of 2008’s best performances have been recognized. I’m not going to be obvious here. Clint Eastwood was snubbed for Gran Torino, but he received lots of acclaim for the role including being named Best Actor by the National Board of Review. My goal is to highlight 10 performances from last year that have received virtually no acclaim in the US. Many of these roles can be found in hardly-seen, under-appreciated movies that came and went without much notice. Each and every one of these movies deserve a spot in your Netflix (or Blockbuster) cue. (more…)

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Tags: "Traitor", 2008, academy awards, acting, alan rickman
Posted Mar 1st 2009 at 2:10 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story | 7013043 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/03/01/performances/Overlooked%3A+The+Top+10+Best+Performances+of+2008+that+you+may+not+have+heard+about%212009-03-01+22%3A10%3A58Steve+Mason

Mickey Rourke with another priceless acceptance speech! Stage set for Oscar glory?

Mickey Rourke won the Independent Spirit Award last night in Santa Monica, possibly setting the stage for a memorable Oscar moment tonight. Randy “The Ram” Robinson, the character that Rourke plays in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) is a blazing, raw, “broken down piece of meat” of a professional wrestler, and it is a once in a lifetime performance for the not-that-long-ago has-been.

His speech is so entertaining that as I was hosting an Oscar Eve radio special on 790 KABC in Los Angeles last night, every guest that had been at the Spirits could talk about nothing else, including Best Supporting Actress nominee Taraji P. Henson from Benjamin Button, E!’s Ben Lyons, Associated Press film critic Christy Lemire, James Marsh, the writer/director of Man On Wire (favored to win Best Documentary Feature tonight) and Emmy winning actor Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad (set to return on AMC on March 8). (more…)

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Tags: academy awards, acceptance speech, best actor, Darren Aronofsky, eric roberts
Posted Feb 22nd 2009 at 10:39 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Steve Mason's Box Office | 5738215 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/22/mickey/Mickey+Rourke+with+another+priceless+acceptance+speech%21+Stage+set+for+Oscar+glory%3F2009-02-22+18%3A39%3A02Steve+Mason

PAUL BLART: MALL COP comes-from-behind for a weekend win with $21.5M; Sony finishes 1-2 with UNDERWORLD at $20.7M; GRAN TORINO adds $16M and will become Eastwood’s #1 grossing movie on Wednesday; No love for INKHEART!

The chubby guy on the Segway rallied for a come-from-behind win over the Beckinsale-less Underworld sequel, but regardless, it was a 1-2 finish for Sony. When I originally predicted that Paul Blart: Mall Cop as the likely weekend winner over the MLK 4-day, some online sites questioned my pick. Even I didn’t expect an opening close to $40M, and now the Kevin James vehicle has surprised again.

The Adam Sandler-produced comedy has broadened its audience, showing real family appeal. That led to stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees for a stellar $21.5M by Monday morning. That gives the movie a 10-day cume of just shy of $65M, which is impressive considering that it was budgeted at just $26M. After success as a supporting star in movies like Hitch ($179.5M cume) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($120M cume), it appears that James can open a movie without the help of Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Mall Cop dipped only 32% from last Friday-thru-Sunday (and that was part of a 4-day weekend, which can often lead to a sharper drop). (more…)

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Tags: a special relationship, a.r. rahman, academy award nominations, adam sandler, albert wolsky
Posted Jan 25th 2009 at 5:55 pm in Steve Mason's Box Office | 2962930 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/01/25/estimates-3/PAUL+BLART%3A+MALL+COP+comes-from-behind+for+a+weekend+win+with+%2421.5M%3B+Sony+finishes+1-2+with+UNDERWORLD+at+%2420.7M%3B+GRAN+TORINO+adds+%2416M+and+will+become+Eastwood%E2%80%99s+%231+grossing+movie+on+Wednesday%3B+No+love+for+INKHEART%212009-01-26+01%3A55%3A17Steve+Mason