Archive for the ‘Samuel Goldwyn Films’ Category
Filed under: Drama, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Posters
Harry Brown has been one of those titles I’ve seen crop up from time to time, the kind that makes waves at a few festivals, building a nice buzz before disappearing without ever really establishing a feel for what it’s all about. Well, Cinematical was just given the chance to premiere the poster ahead of the film’s theatrical release in the US on April 30th thanks to Samuel Goldwyn and I’ve not only finally learned what it’s actually about, but that if you want to instantly sell me a ticket to a movie, just make a poster that prominently features Michael Caine holding a revolver while a city burns itself to the ground behind him.
It’s an eye catching design, no doubt, but what really drives the image home is the indifferent, curious lack of remorse in Caine’s face, a face audiences have likely grown accustomed to seeing bearing only smiles and general good will in recent years. Good will, however, seems to be precisely what Harry Brown runs out of, according to the film’s official synopsis:
“Set in modern day Britain, Harry Brown follows one man’s journey through a chaotic world where teenage violence runs rampant. As a modest, law abiding citizen, Brown lives alone. His only companion is his best friend Leonard. When Leonard is killed, Brown reaches his breaking point.”
What happens after he’s reached his breaking point, I don’t know, but color me interested come this April. Check out the Harry Brown poster in full below.
Gallery: ‘Harry Brown’ Poster Premiere
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Theatrical Reviews, Samuel Goldwyn Films
By Erik Davis — reprint from 1/19/08 — Sundance Film Festival
I’m starting to dislike films that sell themselves with the tagline: “Love is where you least expect it.” Isn’t it about time we retire that line? Yellow Handkerchief arrives as yet another indie road flick featuring characters very different from one another on the outside, but similar on the inside. It’s pretty to watch (thanks to great camerawork from Chris Menges), but the film never really soars above “That was a nice moment,” and into must-see territory. However, superb performances from the four leads lend Handkerchief enough charm to leave those watching with a smile … and an odd desire to visit Louisiana.
William Hurt stars as an ex-con named Brett, who, after six years in prison, stumbles back out into the world with a sense of purpose. Soon after his release, Brett winds up hitching a ride with Gordy (Eddie Redmayne), a kind-of-slow outcast heading down to New Orleans. Joining the men, after watching last night’s fling hook up with another girl, is Martine (Kristen Stewart) — a fidgety gal with massive father figure issues. Because of her sour relationship with Pops, Martine desperately attempts to latch onto men who show the slightest interest, and when Gordy fires up a conversation with her, it’s enough for Martine to forget about the last guy and jump into a convertible with the next one. Thus, our three strangers head out for a ride to escape their problems — and jaded pasts — but ultimately wind up banding together to confront the purple elephant in the corner and wash away their damaged souls.
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Samuel Goldwyn Films
William Hurt, star of the upcoming drama The Yellow Handkerchief, told reporters that he is interested in reprising his role as The Incredible Hulk’s General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross in future Marvel movies if asked by the filmmakers. “If they call me, I’ll answer,” Hurt said in a roundtable interview Thursday in Los Angeles, Calif. “I would do it.”
Ironically, Hurt’s answer came immediately after he described unfavorably the challenges of working on tentpole movies and blockbusters. “It’s horrendously difficult,” Hurt confessed. “It’s awful. It’s hard. It’s like, why didn’t you give me any rehearsal, especially when the budget went up? I get that much more scared when I go to work.”
Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Thrillers, Sony Classics, ThinkFilm, Box Office, Fox Searchlight, Cinematical Indie, Samuel Goldwyn Films
A French master topped an American actress’ directorial debut this weekend. Claude Lelouch’s Roman de Gare (Samuel Goldwyn) opened at two theaters in Manhattan and grossed $25,500, for a very nice $12,750 per-screen average, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. The French-language thriller scored 73% positive at Rotten Tomatoes, though a number of critics had reservations about its twisty, playful nature.
Helen Hunt’s comedy/drama Then She Found Me (ThinkFilm) hauled in $8,266 per-screen at nine locations. Hunt plays a teacher who must deal with an unlikely fiancee (Matthew Broderick), a volatile love interest (Colin Firth), and the unexpected appearance of her mother (Bette Midler). Ryan Stewart felt that the story is “as old as the hills,” but that it was “still executed with style.”
Standard Operating Procedure (Sony Classics), the latest doc by Errol Morris, has generated controversy not only because of its subject matter — the story behind the notorious Abu Gharib prison photos — but because Morris has admitted to paying some of the interviewees. Reviews were mostly positive (79%, according to Rotten Tomatoes). Opening at two theaters in Manhattan, the film averaged $7,450 per screen.
Two holdovers continued to perform well. Tom McCarthy’s excellent The Visitor (Overture) expanded into 76 theaters nationwide and averaged $6,684 per screen in its third week of release. Stephen Walker’s heartwarming music doc Young @ Heart (Fox Searchlight) expanded from 23 to 56 locations and grossed an average of $4,017 per screen.
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Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, IFC, Box Office, Miramax, Cinematical Indie, Paramount Vantage, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Roadside Attractions
Two new indie releases fared well, while two others struggled. Hailing from Norway, Reprise (Miramax) earned a very good $15,500 per-screen average at three theaters, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Our own James Rocchi gushed in his review: “Directed by Joachim Trier, Reprise is one of the most brilliant, heartfelt, exciting and exuberant feature film debuts in recent memory.”
Mexican film Sangre de mi Sangre (AKA Padre Nuestro) (IFC Films) nestled into the #2 spot, earning $8,500 at one theater in Manhattan. The film follows two teenagers, one honest, one dishonest, trying to reach their disparate goals (reuniting with family, making money). Eric D. Snider noted: “The trouble is that the film is so bleak as to be almost hopeless … Its grimness is not matched by its excellence.”
Cinematical’s Erik Davis raved about German director Christian Petzold’s Yella (Cinema Guild) when he saw it at the Berlin film festival last year: “Like a drug, Yella slowly creeps on you long after the end credits roll, takes hold of your body and doesn’t let go until you’re convinced it was one of the best films this year’s Berlinale had to offer.” Opening at two theaters, the film made $3,450 per screen.
Despite good reviews (82% positive at Rotten Tomatoes), Georgina Garcia Riedel’s How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (Maya Releasing) failed to make an impact, opening at 84 theaters and marshaling just $1,040 per screen, per Mr. Klady’s estimate.
Continue reading Indie Weekend Box Office: ‘Reprise’ and ‘Sangre’ Lead the Way
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Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Sony Classics, Box Office, Miramax, Cinematical Indie, Samuel Goldwyn Films
A poorly-reviewed movie easily fought its way to the top of the weekend box office. That’s almost standard practice for big-budget Hollywood studio product, but is quite unusual for an indie film. Joshua Seftel’s comedy / drama War, Inc. (First Look) earned $17,650 per screen at two locations, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo, despite receiving mostly negative reviews — Rotten Tomatoes pegged the critics at only 24% positive. Writing for Cinematical, Joel Keller described it as “an ambitious film that fails miserably at everything it attempts to be.” John Cusack co-wrote and stars along with Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley and Hilary Duff.
Roger Spottiswoode’s drama The Children of Huang Shi (Sony Pictures Classics) did not fare any better with our critic, Nick Schager, who felt that the film is “a TV movie in disguise, a handsomely staid affair that prefers skin-deep elegance to psychological or historical substance.” Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as a reporter that helped a school of orphaned children in 1937 China; Chow Yun-Fat plays a rebel and Radha Mitchell a nurse. Opening at seven theaters, The Children of Huang Shi averaged $6,036 per screen.
Good returns were also enjoyed by Joachim Trier’s Reprise (Miramax), which expanded to 14 theaters in its second week and took in $6,614 per screen, and Claude Lelouch’s Roman de Gare (Samuel Goldwyn), which added 11 more locations in its fifth week and increased nicely to $4,485 per screen.
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Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, IFC, ThinkFilm, Box Office, Family Films, Cinematical Indie, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Picturehouse
Despite dropping more than 50% in its second week of release, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (Picturehouse) outdrew all other specialty releases over the weekend, earning $21,200 per screen at five theaters, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo.
Directed by Canadian indie veteran Patricia Rozema (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, When Night is Falling), Kit Kittredge has clearly benefited from a devoted fan base that convinced thousands of their parental units to fork over $20 per ticket — which, to be fair, includes a limited-edition t-shirt — to see the movie in advance of its wide release tomorrow. That’s a very good performance when you consider its main competition was not, actually, a French-language flick that skewed very adult, but actually a heavily-advertised animated film.
Catherine Breillat’s The Last Mistress (IFC Films), starring Asia Argento, took in $17,600 per screen at two locations, which probably owes as much, if not more, to the name recognition of Argento as that of the often-confounding Breillat.
Continue reading Indie Weekend Box Office: American Girl ‘Kit’ vs. French ‘Mistress’
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Filed under: Drama, Romance, Theatrical Reviews, Cinematical Indie, Samuel Goldwyn Films
I’m not partial to overtly subjective reviews, yet I can’t seem to find any better way of relating my response to Isabel Coixet’s latest film, Elegy, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel “The Dying Animal,” which follows the romance between a college professor and his much younger former student. First, though, a note of appropriateness: early in the film, this professor, the Roth regular David Kepesh, who previously appeared in the novels “The Breast” and “The Professor of Desire,” is lecturing about how literature, specifically Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” will be appreciated differently by a reader at different points in his or her life. In ten years, for example, it may seem like a new book entirely.
Perhaps in ten years, then, or more likely in thirty, I will be able to watch Elegy again and have a new perspective. Maybe I will be able to relate to Kepesh, here portrayed by Ben Kingsley, when I am in my sixties and have similarly lived and experienced as much. Yet the fact that Coixet’s film is so depressing makes me almost hope that I never actually live so long to find out. I should have known, what with the filmmaker’s past films, such as My Life Without Me, with their gray atmospheres and dreary dealings with illness and death. While appearing on the outside to be a sexy drama about how one lecherous old man discovers love, Elegy is on the inside really just a slow, uninteresting depiction of a selfish fool who possibly too-late realizes that he’s grown old before he’s actually grown up.
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Sony Classics, Box Office, Cinematical Indie, Paramount Vantage, Samuel Goldwyn Films
Winners
Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Duchess (Paramount Vantage)
Fireproof (Samuel Goldwyn)
Riding a wave of positive buzz and the rising stardom of Anne Hathaway, Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married crushed all comers, earning $33,667 per screen at nine theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Hathaway appeared everywhere to promote it, even gamely spoofing herself as host on Saturday Night Live. (Loved her as Mary Poppins!)
Too much attention may be paid to Keira Knightley’s ribs, but she was undoubtedly the reason that The Duchess made $7,047 per screen as it expanded to 127 locations in its third week. Keira and costume dramas seem to be the right fit; I wouldn’t be surprised if this one drew an older audience that consistently attends British historical flicks.
Still ignored by the mainstream press (in contrast to Bill Maher’s Religulous), faith-based Fireproof dropped just 40.5% (about the same as Eagle Eye) and took in $4,776 per screen at 852 theaters in its second week. So far the film has grossed more than $12 million. Was it ever advertised on TV? Or was the marketing done entirely through church groups? Whatever the case, with a reported budget of only half a million dollars, Fireproof appears to be a healthy success story.
Sex Still Sells
Elegy (Samuel Goldwyn)
Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)
Elegy, the ‘old professor in love with a younger woman’ adaptation of a Philip Roth novel starring Ben Kingsley and a sometimes naked Penelope Cruz, is in its ninth week of release and still playing in 70 theaters. The theater count is dropping, but the film has grossed more than $3.3 million.
Continue reading Indie Winners: ‘Rachel Getting Married,’ ‘Duchess,’ and Sex Still Sells
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Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Independent, Lionsgate Films, Sony Classics, Box Office, Cinematical Indie, Samuel Goldwyn Films
Here are this weekend’s box office success stories in the indie film world:
1. Frontrunners (Oscilloscope)
2. Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
3. Fireproof (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
4. Religulous (Lionsgate Films)
Caroline Suh’s documentary Frontrunners (pictured), which follows four teens running for elective office at a prestigious high school in New York City, had its world premiere at South by Southwest and was acquired for distribution by Oscilloscope, founded by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, in July. Opening at one theater in New York, the film earned $7,400 over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, the third highest per-screen total among limited releases. That’s a very good accomplishment for the fledgling Oscilloscope.
Jonathan Demme’s drama Rachel Getting Married expanded from 27 to 69 theaters in selected cities across the country (including mine) and increased solidly to a per-screen average of $10,464. It’s earned more than $1.75 million so far. I saw it on Saturday and was disappointed by its utterly ordinary, overly familiar dysfunctional family routines and excessive padding for what is a very thin story, but a ton of people showed up for the early afternoon screening, so I guess everyone loves weddings and the promise of battling sisters working out all their problems in a single weekend.
On the “pro” side of religion, Fireproof, a drama starring Kirk Cameron, added even more theaters (up to 905 now) and dropped very little, percentage wise, totaling more than $20 million in four weeks of release. On the “con” side, Religulous, a doc by Larry Charles featuring Bill Maher, dropped a few theaters (to 504 locations) yet still burst past the $9 million mark, a remarkable performance for a documentary.
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