Sunday Verdict
The people who made Eagle Eye the weekend’s #1 film with a $29.2 million haul are obviously easy lays. The ads and reviews made it crystal clear this was/is a brainless, pumped-up slapdash thriller, and they went anyway.
The $13 million-plus that Nights at Rodanthe earned for the #2 position came from the wallets of women with low (certainly flexible) standards who don’t want to know from reviews and just wanted to hang with Richard Gere and Diane Lane…end of diagnosis.
The $6.5 million earned by Fireproof in 839 locations, or $7,764 per theatre, makes for a nice fourth-place showing by Sherwood Pictures, the Georgia-based Christian outfit (although it’s more likely than not that most of the people who paid to see it this weekend are McCain supporters).
And the box-office death of Spike Lee‘s Miracle at St. Anna — $3.5 million at 1,150 locations — was written on the wall a long while ago. Sentimental-cornball, bad reviews, limited interest in black World War II soldiers in Tuscany subject, the shooting incident in the trailer, 166 minutes….forget it.
I’m just wondering how Eagle Eye will do up against that chihuahua flick and Nick and Norah. [For some reason, I don't buy the latter flick being a hit, because it comes off being too "corporate".]
“The people who made Eagle Eye the weekend’s #1 film with a $29.2 million haul are obviously easy lays.”
What else is there to see? I mean for the average moviegoer in the average market who just wants to go see a movie?
“Righteous Kill” ? “My Best Friend’s Girl” ? Perhaps “Lakeview Terrace” or the new Tyler Perry?
Look at the rest of the Top 10. Save for the two-weeks-old “Burn After Reading” it’s pretty barren out there.
“Nick & Nora” probably might not be a hit in theaters but I predict it will be a well-regarded cult classic.
The clips I’ve seen are funny, Cera’s always reliable, Kat Dennings is cute as a button (although she occasionally reminds me of MacCauley Culkin in drag) and it’s by the guy who did “Raising Victor Vargas.”
Does Clint Eastwood feels bad for Spike?
“The ads and reviews made it crystal clear this was/is a brainless, pumped-up slapdash thriller”
And what the fuck is wrong with that, Wells?
By the way, the ads also (and PRIMARILY) made it seem like an exciting one. And gosh-darn dammit Shia is one likable dude.
I ignored the reviews and saw Eagle Eye because it looked like a film that would move like a rocket, not bore me, and entertain my girlfriend as well.
*shrugs*
Perhaps “not boring” is faint praise, but hey. I got my money’s worth on the night, and I’ll probably never watch it again. It established early on that it was going to be utterly ridiculous so I just accepted it – as ludicrous as it got, it pretty much made “sense”.
Well…sort of.
*SPOILER*
Uh…why did the computer even need to use people, since it could control planes and whatnot? Ignoring that, why the vast, convoluted plot to get Shia and Monaghan to DC with the Feds in tow, when it could’ve just got them there without all the fooforaw? It got Monaghan to go along just by saying threatening her kid, why didn’t it just say to Shia “I’ll kill your family” rather than the terrorist set-up?
Answer: because the plot required it, I guess.
*SPOILER ENDS*
I’m very much looking forward to Nick and Norah. I doubt it’ll set records, but I agree with Mick that it’ll probably be well regarded in years to come.
Wow! So many vapid generalizations to correct, so little time!
“The ads and reviews made it very clear this was a brainless, pumped-up slapdash thriller, and they went anyway. Taste-challenged, to put it mildly.”
You can’t judge any film accurately just by its trailer. EAGLE EYE looked like it could be a solid action/conspiracy thriller (best case sceneario: ENEMY OF THE STATE + 2001). The fact that it sucked doesn’t mean that there weren’t any good ideas rattling around in its head. They were just poorly executed. But at least I saw the film before trashing it.
“The $13 million-plus that Nights at Rodanthe earned for the #2 position came from the wallets of women with low standards who don’t want to know from reviews and just wanted to hang with Richard Gere and Diane Lane…end of story.”
Or they just might be fans of Nicholas Sparks. Nah, that’s just silly talk, It’s not like he’s sold any paperbacks.
“The $6.5 million earned by Fireproof in 839 locations, or $7,764 per theatre, makes for a nice fourth-place showing by Sherwood Pictures, the Georgia-based Christian outfit (although it’s more likely than not that most of the people who paid to see it this weekend are McCain supporters).”
Let’s just ignore the fact that most of the this money came from pre-sales through church groups and the film had minimal advertising. Let’s also ignore the fact that McCain is not a religious man and only started embracing Evangelicals in order to win the Presidency. Remember, this is the man who called the religious right “the agents of intolerance” back when he was running in 2000. Bottom line, conservative Christians can have poor taste in movies without having anything to do with John McCain.
“Sentimental, bad reviews, limited interest in black World War II soldiers in Tuscany, the shooting incident in the trailer, 166 minutes….forget it.”
Hmm…a poorly-reviewed, violent, overly-long examination of an historical event that happened over 40 years ago; sounds a lot like Soderbergh’s CHE (minus the sentimental part).
fatty: “You can’t judge any film accurately just by its trailer. ”
True, but you can judge it by whether Shia is in it. ^_-
I like Shia. He’s been in a few shit movies, but he hasn’t made them worse via his presence.
And anyway, if you were a dude who probably grew up playing with Transformers toys and watching Indiana Jones movies, are you really going to say no to starring in Transformers and Indy 4? I sure as fuck wouldn’t.
No matter what anybody says Shia’s movies make money. Disturbia, and and now this.. (Transformers and Indiana Jones don’t count because those already have a buit in audience)
Also all these movies he makes are with Dreamworks.
Arran: “And anyway, if you were a dude who probably grew up playing with Transformers toys and watching Indiana Jones movies, are you really going to say no to starring in Transformers and Indy 4?”
No one does those kinds of movies because they have a sense of nostalgia. They do them for the fat paychecks. For Shia, it’s either TF and Indy 4 or the Jake Gylenhaal route.
hollyman: The last movie is still $80 million, not counting P+A, so we still have to wait for next weekend to see if it sticks.
Miracle at St. Anna is probably the first Spike Lee movie without an interesting performance or a memorable scene. Total mess.
Well call me an easy lay too but Righteous Kill is worth seeing just for DeNiro & Pacino.
I have no problem with a 20 year old kid taking his 19 year old girlfriend to see Eagle Eye…BUT anyone 35+ who would see Eagle Eye before seeing DeNiro & Pacino in anything, even a just so-so fiick like Righteous Kill, is probably someone I don’t want to know.
p. Vice: I did like the kid in the movie, even though the role is awful. But yes, it pains me to say this, being a Spike Lee fan (I even thought SHE HATE ME wasn’t as bad as people think), this is his worst movie.
I don’t get the hate for Miracle of St. Anna … it was an excellent film, it certainly wasn’t cornball, nor was it too long – loved the Louisiana Ice Slides flashback within a flashback – the guy getting shot in the post office makes perfect sense within the context of the film. Yadda yadda different strokes.
Rumors have it Spike Lee is going to make a sequel to Inside Man… I never thought I would see the day that Spike Lee would make a sequel….
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