Category: movie sequels

People’s Choice Awards: Lessons To Be Learned

January 7th, 2010

I’m clueless about how the winners of the People’s Choice Awards are determined, and I’m not sure I really want to know. Not unlike the American Music Awards, the whole thing comes off as little more than the entertainment world’s version of a high-school popularity contest.

But the film industry can always learn lessons when these shows come along.

A few takeaways, aside from that whole no-accounting-for-taste thing:

Four wins for Twilight: New Moon — 1)Even long past those ginormous box-office returns, “Twilight” fever remains in full force, meaning no end on the horizon for the movies and tie-in products; 2)The teenybopper crowd has the power to break a movie big; 3)Vampire fever lives.

Breakout Actress: Miley Cyrus (for Hannah Montana: The Movie, over the likes of, oh, never mind) — See No. 2, above.

Actress: Sandra Bullock & Comedy Movie: The Proposal — 1)Time to bid adieu to that whole notion about actresses of a certain age no longer getting the good roles or pulling in filmgoers (also see Meryl Streep, but not in these awards) and 2)When it comes to second acts in the lives of American actors, determination and persistence sometimes pay off big.

Independent Movie: Inglourious Basterds — 1)You can always count on a Nazi to make a good villain, even more than 60 years after Hitler’s atrocities and 2)Celebrity can help even the most independent-minded directors (like Quentin Tarantino) find audiences for their movies.

Actor: Johnny Depp (Public Enemies, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) — See No. 2, above, and substitute “actors” for “directors.”

Action Star: Hugh Jackman (X-Men Origins) — Some (handsome) guys have all the luck.

Family Movie: Up — Sometimes even high-quality animation wins out.

Comedic Star: Jim Carrey (A Christmas Carol) — Go figure.
The Razzies: Worst Movies of the Year

February 23rd, 2009

From the sort-of sublime (the Oscars) to the ridiculous …

Bad movies deserve a little love, or faux love, too. That’s the motivation behind the Razzies, formally known as the Golden Raspberry Awards.

Ceremonies for the dubious honors — honoring the year’s worst achievements in film — were held on Saturday at the Barnsdall Theatre in Hollywood.

The genuinely stinky Mike Myers “comedy” The Love Guru was named worst picture, and the star took home the award for worst actor.

Paris Hilton, who may or may not be as funny as Jerry Lewis, in France, scored other top honors. She was named the year’s worst actress, for The Hottie and the Nottie (to call the movie “execrable” would be redundant), and the worst supporting actress for “slasher musical” Repo: The Genetic Opera. Hilton made it a triple play as part of the worst screen couple (with either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore), also for The Hottie and the Nottie.

More “winners”:

Worst director: Uwe Boll, 1968: Tunnel Rats & In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale & Postal

Worst supporting actor: Pierce Brosnan, Mamma Mia!

Worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

Worst screenplay: Mike Myers & Graham Gordy, The Love Guru

Worst career achievement: Uwe Boll (“Germany’s answer to Ed Wood”)

For more info, go to the Razzies site.
Friday the 13th — Another Horror Reboot

February 11th, 2009

What happens to horror-film franchises that seem to have run their course?

D’oh! They reboot.

No need to come up with an original concept when an old idea means instant brand recognition and — thanks to low overhead on script and talent — a really impressive ROI (return on investment).

That’s the thinking, one guesses, behind Friday the 13th, opening this weekend (Fri, 2/13, naturally), the latest in a series of new horror films boasting familiar titles and tried-and-bloody plots.

Why start all over with the tale of Jason, the killer wearing a hockey mask, and the pretty but promiscuous teens he murders at Camp Crystal Lake?

Because the zig-zagging direction and creative dead ends of the existing franchise left filmmakers no other sensible options, as horror specialist Devin Faraci (Chud.com) told the New York Times.

“These films have a ridiculously convoluted history,” Faraci said. “Jason barely appears in Part 1. He shows up in Part 2, gets killed in Part 4. There’s an impostor in a Jason mask in Part 5. Jason comes back as a zombie in Part 6. Toxic sludge turns him back into a child at the end of Part 8. He gets blown up in the opening minutes of Part 9 and then becomes a body-hopping force of evil that gets sucked into hell. In Part 10 the earth is destroyed, Jason becomes a cyborg and lands on an alien planet. Where could the series possibly go at that point? A reboot is the only sane answer.”

The reborn Friday the 13th was preceded by 2001’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and 2006 prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, which together reaped about $120 million at the U.S. box office; 2005’s Amityville Horror, which scored $65 million; and 2007’s remake of The Hitcher ($16 million).

Just around the corner, due on March 13, is The Last House on the Left, a remake of Wes Craven’s chilling horror thriller of the same name, released 37 years ago. Craven is a producer of the new film, along with Sean Cunningham, director of the original Friday the 13th, released in 1980 and a producer of several more in the series, including the remake.

Toby Emmerich, head of New Line Cinema, home to the new Friday the 13th, said his studio also plans to remake Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, released in 1984.

Category: movie sequels

People’s Choice Awards: Lessons To Be Learned

The Razzies: Worst Movies of the Year

Friday the 13th — Another Horror Reboot