Opening in Chicago, 05/09
May 9, 2008 by Brian
A couple of noteworthy reperatory happenings this week. First, the Music Box is showing the first four James Bond films (Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball). Of those, Goldfinger is the one that gets all the hype, but for my money, From Russia with Love may have been the best Bond movie made. So I’m looking forward to catching that, and may or may not get around to the others.
Second, The Third Man is showing this week also at the Gene Siskel Film Center. I actually own the DVD, and have seen it probably half a dozen times. But I’m still looking forward to watching it in the cinema - several years ago, I found myself in a situation where I had to decide between it and Grand Illusion, and I chose the latter.
Speaking of The Third Man and DVD, in what I feel is major news, the Criterion Collection has announced a slate of upcoming Blu-Ray releases. Included, of course, is The Third Man. One more reason to make the switch … it’s inevitable now. Anyway…
Movies I am interested in seeing, in order of preference:
Redbelt (trailer)
Director: David Mamet (House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, The Winslow Boy, Spartan)
Ooh boy, a new film from Mamet, although I’d be lying if I said this looks like one of his best. Still, it looks pretty good, with a strong cast led by Chiwetel Ejiofor and the typical Mametian bag of tricks. Always fun.
MC/RT: 69/68
Son of Rambow (trailer)
Director: Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Buzz has been strong since the film’s premiere at Sundance … in 2007. In other words, it’s been on the Paramount Vantage shelf for 16 months. What’s the deal with that?
MC/RT: 62/73
Speed Racer (trailer)
Director: The Wachowski Brothers (Bound, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions)
My feelings about this one are fairly complex. If I had to descibe them, I’d say “the conviction that it will suck beyond comprehension mixed with a strong desire for it to be good.” Honestly, I’d love for some huge CGI-fest to come along and make me say, “Wow, so that’s what I’ve been missing over the first 100 years of cinema!” The first Matrix was close to that, but the third was just so horrible it wiped out any good will towards the Wachowskis that I had. And these trailers have all been pretty bad. And the concept is highly questionable (never really watched the cartoon).
MC/RT: 36/36
Movies I’m not interested in, in alphabetical order:
America the Beautiful (trailer at official site)
Director: Darryl Roberts (How U Like Me Now)
Documentary on how skinny models like Paris Hilton are totally destroying the society and stuff. From the IMDb summary: “Child models, plastic surgery, celebrity worship, airbrushed advertising, dangerous cosmetics - no rock is left unturned.” Hmm … any chance that “Darryl Roberts” is actually a pseudonym for Barbara Walters?
MC/RT: not listed/not listed
What Happens in Vegas… (trailer)
Director: Tom Vaughan (Starter for 10)
No need to pile on this one.
MC/RT: 40/28
Oh yeah, on the money on that one. Dr No is a fun film by itself but without From Russia With Love it wouldn’t have been the starting point of the longest running film series in history. In many ways it has to be considered one of the best sequels in history. So much grin-inducing stuff in that film. That suitcase is still the coolest Bond gadget ever.
Oddly, it’s not Goldfinger but Thunderball that is the biggest of all of the Bond films. According to Boxoffice Mojo it’s even the 26th highest domestic grosser of all time (adjusted for inflation).
From what I understand Son of Rambow suffered from the typical problem of not knowing when to release a good Sundance film for maximum box-office potential (they paid a lot of money for it). What I don’t get is why they always insist on releasing films like this as limited art-house releases. Why not release give it a proper release like a good film for kids? Because that’s what it is, right? Mindnumbing, really.
If nothing else, Thunderball wins the honors for worst theme song in the series history. Tom Jones screeching through some tuneless sludge - it hurts, badly.
The rest of the movie sort of sucked, too. You Only Live Twice wasn’t much better. And then On Her Majesty’s Secret Service featured the one-and-done George Lazenby (although it is actually one of the best Bond films).
It’s a miracle the series survived past those three, IMO.