Not only did Clerks 2 receive an 8 minute standing ovation, but Kevin Smith has recorded an audio commentary track that you can download to your iPod and bring to the feature.
Category / Film
Someone Tell Stallone It’s Not 1985 Anymore
Bad enough that we’re seeing the return of Rocky Balboa. But Rambo IV? I remain curious: who exactly is Stallone’s core audience these days? Perhaps Hollywood should pay attention to the numbers:
Get Carter (2000). Budget: $40M, Domestic Gross: $14.9M.
Driven (2001). Budget: $72M, Domestic Gross: $32.6M.
D-Tox (2002). Budget: $55M, Opening Weekend: $32,300.
Shade (2003). Budget: $6.8M, Domestic Gross: $25,032.
And those are four of the last five films featuring Stallone in the star role. (The IMDB has scant BO biz on Avenging Angelo.) In other words, it is quite clear that Stallone isn’t a profitable star anymore. Or does Hollywood work on the assumption that Stallone co-hosting The Contender translates into instant revenue down the line? Or do they really believe that audiences will flock to Rocky Balboa at 1990 levels? Of course, since Stallone has kept the budget for Rocky Balboa at $24 million, perhaps this is the secret ingredient to his cinematic return. Unless he’s still huge in Europe.
The Moral of the Story: Lose the Guillotine, Lose the Audience
Guardian: ” They sat in their seats and hooted and whistled and shouted and slow-clapped. It felt as though the audience was providing the ending that Sofia Coppola was too decorous to show, bringing down the guillotine on a rather silly, spoilt little film. Marie Antoinette is a poodle-brained period fancy. Part curtsy, part style spread, it tells the tale of a beautiful queen and the lovely parties she attends. If ever a movie deserved to be thrown to the mob, it is this one.” (via Romancing the Tome)
Born on the 11th of September?
The trailer for Oliver Stone’s WTC is now up.
“Personal Evolution of the Character” = Spineless Romp with Bad 80s Music?
An interview with Sofia Coppola. At least someone taught her the word “ineluctable.” (via Quiddity):
JML/ Why did you choose not to show MA’s death?
SC/ I didn’t want to show the evasion, the arrest, the guillotine, I didn’t want to ÇreconstituteÈ the whole story, that wasn’t the goal of the film. I wanted to concentrate myself on the personal evolution of the character, up until the point where I could show how she eventually ends up accepting her ineluctable death, way before being confronted to it. I didn’t picture myself shooting in a jail either, and even less so reconstituting it. And above all, I didn’t want to show a decapitated head on the ground in a mix of mud and blood.