411 Movies Roundtable: July 2009

Posted by Larry Csonka on 12.31.1969

The 411 staff takes a look back at the month that was, and discusses the upcoming big releases in July!

Welcome to the monthly 411 Movies Roundtable. It's been a scorching summer, and the cinema has seen some particularly bright rays of sunshine too, even if they were all outshone by the juggernaut that is Michael Bay and his robots in disguise. Still, the blockbuster season ain't quite over yet. This month, Sacha Baron Cohen teaches the world that he has literally no shame, Harry Potter returns in something like his twenty-seventh movie outing of the decade, and Adam Sandler stands up for cancer.

This month's picture theme takes a historical approach that ties in with a certain three-dimensional release from this month. Let's get down to business...

Introducing this month's participants:

A tidal wave of furiousness...ness... it's Arnold Furious!

Gratuitous Bryan Kristopowitz!

Around the world in 24 frames with Len Archibald!

Fill-in king Steve Gustafson!

The new chief of the R's, Shawn S. Lealos!

Sssshhh, it's Jeremy Thomas!

...and I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield!

The Month That Was

Arnold Furious

Biggest Winner of the Month: The guys behind The Hangover. What a massive hit that turned out to be! I didn't see it racking in that kind of green but it's been huge. It's taken over $150M and the budget was only $35M. Massive hit. Yeah, Up is doing pretty good but it was supposed to and Transformers was always going to be big. So yeah, Todd Philips, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and the people at Warner Brothers are the big winners at the casino tonight.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Well Land of the Lost was a bit of a catastrophe but I'm going with Eddie Murphy. After the disastrous Meet Dave last year he needed to bounce back. Imagine That was a bad idea, poorly executed and got what it deserved; very little. I'm sure Will Ferrell will bounce back. Eddie Murphy might be reaching the end of the line as a star. And really he only has himself to blame. The lack of challenging projects since his great performance in Dreamgirls (a poor film but one he excelled in) has been hugely disappointing.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: It was sad to see Farrah Fawcett's unfortunate death get lost in the media frenzy around Michael Jackson's demise. In terms of cinematic goings on the announcement that the ‘best picture' Oscar will be extended to 10 nominees is quite the surprise. Hell, when the nominees go up NOW with it only being five you know that only 2 or maybe 3 films have a shot at actually winning. I guess it'll stop people bitching about stuff like Dark Knight and WALL-E not getting nominated and Up could well benefit and get nominated for best picture next year. Too late for the producers on those films last year though.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Public Enemies. Not a big Michael Mann fan. I think he often prefers style over substance and makes pictures that look very ‘arty' without the art of content. But he can't fail with this cast. It should be terrific. Also check out the cast for Funny People. That should be good too.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Watchmen. It was a very solid movie and the DVD is loaded with extra stuff that Zach Snyder shot.

Classic Movie of the Month: The Big Chill. I saw it the other day and it reminded me that several of the stars were great actors. Jeff Goldblum is seriously good in it. It's like The Breakfast Club for grown up's with 60's hippies realising they've grown up to be yuppies at Kevin Costner's funeral. The soundtrack is phenomenal.

Movie Quote of the Month: "I'm not supposed to be within two hundred feet of a school... or a Chuck E. Cheese." – Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover.

Bryan Kristopowitz

Biggest Winner of the Month: The people behind The Hangover. It ended up beating Will Ferrell's big summer movie Land of the Lost when they opened on the same weekend and has remained a force in the top ten the whole month. I'd count that as a big win, wouldn't you? Oh, and Michael Bay is a pretty big winner, too. Transformers 2, despite the many bad reviews, made a bunch of money anyway. I'd say that's a win.

Biggest Loser of the Month: A toss up between Will Ferrell and the people behind Land of the Lost and Jack Black and the people behind Year One, as both big name comedies tanked at the box office. That's not supposed to happen to big stars.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: The death of Michael Jackson. It'll probably end up being the biggest pop culture news item of the year. Even with all of his personal issues and the court cases that diminished his, for the lack of a better phrase, current appeal, he still mattered, and his sudden death will only enhance his legacy into the future. He never got his final curtain call and the world never got to see him perform again. That's all pretty sad and pretty dang big.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Bruno is the only real definite must see this month. Public Enemies might be a close second. And I may be the only one saying this, but G-Force looks funny.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: The big hooha Nicolas Cage movie Knowing comes out, Matlock Season 3 hits stores as does a new DVD of the vampire classic Near Dark, G.I. Joe: An American Hero Season 1.1 (whatever the heck that means), a bunch of different Watchmen DVD comes out, Pushing Daisies Season 2 and the Knight Rider reboot come out, How Bruce Lee Changed the World, which was a documentary that, I believe, aired on the History Channel earlier this year, Combat Shock gets a big 2-disc special edition, and two new B-movies hit, Streets of Blood starring Sharon Stone and Val Kilmer, and Angel of Death, an action movie starring the great Zoe Bell.

Classic Movie of the Month: Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986): Whoopi Goldberg is Terri Doolittle, a single, lowly computer terminal worker at a New York City bank that gets caught up in an international spy situation involving British intelligence, the CIA, and the KGB. Easily one of Goldberg's best movies, featuring great performances by Annie Potts, Stephen Collins, Carol Kane, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Tracey Ullman, Michael McKean, and a hilarious Garry Marshall. I wish Penny Marshall would make another movie as good as this one.

Movie Quote of the Month: Killian: "You bastard! Drop dead!"
Richards: "I don't do requests."
Richard Dawson (Killian) and Ahnold Schwarzenegger (Richards) - The Running Man (1987)

Len Archibald

Biggest Winner of the Month: The Hangover - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was expected to make big bucks, but Todd Phillips' little (big?) comedy with basically no A-List actors was a HUGE hit and made everyone, even the harshest of film critics believers. Hell, even I was skeptical about the movie – then I saw it. Now, I will be first in line when the unrated DVD is released.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Land of the Lost and Year One. If we took those bombs and dropped them on North Korea and parts of Iran, the world may actually be a better place.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Death comes in threes – Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and MICHAEL JACKSON all met with the cold clammy hands of the grim reaper. Three ultra-talented individuals will live on forever in our memories. But I wonder, who will give me my $10 million Publisher's Clearance House check? Oh – the Oscars will do ten nominations instead of five. That's about 10 years too late, fellas.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Public Enemies. Hells. Yes. If Mann is able to recapture anything resembling the absolute brilliance that was Heat, we actually may have an early contender for Best Picture (I mean, there ARE ten nominations, now).

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Knowing - I know a lot of people hate on Nicholas Cage, but this is actually the little gem of a movie that actually dares to ask some questions about the fundamentals of human existence and plays its genre true to the end.

Classic Movie of the Month: In celebration of Michael Mann's possible return to prominence, Heat starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Two of the greatest at the top of their games, along with an unbelievable supporting cast that includes Val Kilmer, Dennis Haysbert (the former President and Allstate guy), Tom Sizemore before he went crazy, Jon Voight, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Ted Levine, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Hank Azaria, the always awesome Danny Trejo and Henry F'N Rollins – Holy holy hell, how did they get away with this cast?!?!?!

Movie Quote of the Month: Vincent Hanna: "You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we've been face to face, if I'm there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it. But I tell you, if it's between you and some poor bastard whose wife you're gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down."

Neil McCauley: "There is a flip side to that coin. What if you do got me boxed in and I gotta put you down? Cause no matter what, you will not get in my way. We've been face to face, yeah. But I will not hesitate. Not for a second."

- Al Pacino and Robert De Niro showing the acting world how it's done in a coffee shop in Heat

Steve Gustafson

Biggest Winner of the Month: Should I go with Transformers? Nah. How about the news that plans were announced for a massive 175-acre development in Thailand that will house a movie studio, animation facilities and special-effects labs, as well as a theme park, water park and residential units connected to the film facilities? Close, but no. I know. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis. The surprise hit that is The Hangover put three new stars on the Hollywood map. Welcome to the big time, boys!

Biggest Loser of the Month: Steven Soderbergh. Just days before it was to go into production, Sony/Columbia Pictures has halted work on Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Soderbergh. According to reports Columbia head Amy Pascal was miffed by a reading of the Soderbergh's revised script. It's like mom coming into your basement and taking away your laptop right before you were going to start playing World of Warcraft. Better luck next time, Steven.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Sorry, not going with the obvious one. Yes, Transformers is doing beyond awesome but how is that going to effect the industry in positive way over the long haul? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that hands out the annual Oscar awards, touched off an industry-wide controversy when it announced that it is doubling the number of nominees for Best Picture to 10. I'm holding off my judgment until AFTER the Oscars, to see how they pull it off. This will sink or swim pretty fast.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: (500) Days of Summer. Call me crazy but I'm really interested in this. I'm a self-professed Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan and while this won't be his huge breakout hit (If he takes my advice and plays Bucky Barnes in Captain America he will!), it will get him some more critical attention.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: This list begins and ends with The State coming out on DVD. If you don't know, now you know.

Classic Movie of the Month: Over the Top. Its greatness is in its simplicity. A long haul truck driver who tries to win back his alienated son while becoming a champion arm wrestler. Sylvester Stallone at the top of his game!

Movie Quote of the Month: Martin Daniels: "Here's the deal: Go to your room, write a confession that I'll take to the police, I will not send you back to your parents, and you tell Sarah that you and I are the best of friends."
Clifford: "And we are, aren't we?"
Martin Daniels: "Shut up."

- Clifford. Charles Grodin and Martin Short tearing it up! A Gustafson family favorite! My sisters and I quote it daily.

Shawn S. Lealos

Biggest Winner of the Month: The Hangover. This movie completely floored me. I was shocked at how brilliantly funny it is from start to finish. Bradley Cooper cemented his place in my mind as a star, and has me excited to know he is on the short list to play Face in the A-Team movie. Zack Galifianakis is the breakout star of the movie and I think he could be the next John Belushi. It also made great money for a hard R-rated comedy.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Tony Scott. The Taking of Pelham 123 sucked worse than anything I have seen this year. It is easily the worst blockbuster of the summer.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: It was announced in June that Tim Burton will be featured in a big time exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa to the cool kids). The dates of the exhibition will be November 22, 2009 through April 26, 2010. Check out what will be on display: artwork generated during the conception and production of his films, and highlights a number of unrealized projects and never-before-seen pieces, as well as student art, his earliest non-professional films, and examples of his work as a storyteller and graphic artist for non-film projects including drawings, paintings, storyboards, digital and moving-image formats, puppets and maquettes, props, costumes, ephemera, sketchbooks, and cartoons. Also showing will be a number of films that influenced him including Frankenstein, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: I really want to say Public Enemies, but I have to go with Harry Potter and the big ass spoiler that concludes this chapter of his story.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: The State, July 14. Holy Freaking Crap!!!!!!!!!!! I wanna dip my balls in it!

Classic Movie of the Month: The Public Enemy (1931) - With Public Enemies coming out this week, check out the original film of the same name which stars James Cagney. Cagney portrays Tom Powers, a guy who grows up to be a big time gangster. Many films since owe a great deal of debt to this, one of the first gangster films. You can see The Godfather, Scarface and even Raging Bull in the frames of this great movie.

Movie Quote of the Month: "You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!" - Alan, The Hangover

Jeremy Thomas

Biggest Winner of the Month: Hard to pick for this one between The Hangover and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The R-rated comedy is certainly the bigger surprise of the two, having brought in $213 million on a $35 million budget, but I don't think anyone expected the Bay flick to match The Dark Knight's first five days. I'm going to go with The Hangover since I enjoyed myself a hell of a lot more with that movie, but you can't argue with the big robots' success either.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Prehistoric comedy in general, as Year One and Land of the Lost both deservedly bombed thanks to being shoddy films that failed to connect with audiences. The two projects are this summer's Don't Mess with the Zohan and Love Guru in terms of quality and financial success. And in this month's case at least, when prehistoric comedy loses, we all win.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: The Academy Awards is making some changes, and they include expanding the number of Best Picture nominees to 10, requiring that any potential Best Song nominee meet a minimum rating (which means that there could be no Best Song nominees in a particular month) and that most of the "testimonial" awards such as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award will not be shown during the telecast. Lots of changes... one good, one bad, one "wait and see." We'll see how it all works out.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: I have to go with Public Enemies. Michael Mann directing Johnny Depp and Christian Bale with Tommy guns and Model T's. What more do you really need to know?

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: July 21st is gonna be a rough day for my pocketbook as both Watchmen and Coraline come out. You can damn well be sure that both are going to be in my collection - if not on the same day, then certainly by the time August rolls around.

Classic Movie of the Month: In honor of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I'm giving this spot to a "new classic" in the original film. When it came out, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was nothing less than a phenomenon; it's actually kind of disturbing to think that it's been eight years since then. The luster may have fallen off the wand for some with this series, but the first one will always be a smashing success and one hell of a first entry in what is in my book a great film series.

Movie Quote of the Month: "You're a wizard, Harry." - Hagrid, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Owain J. Brimfield

Biggest Winner of the Month: I'm going with the guys behind The Hangover, despite Michael Bay rampaging all over the horizon destroying everything in sight. Todd Phillips' film was the right film at the time, earning big bucks, and not incidentally, somewhat paving the way for the upcoming adaptation of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, which will tread exactly the same sort of path. R-rated comedy is the new, er, well it's doing pretty well for itself, compared to...

Biggest Loser of the Month: ...Shitty prehistoric comedy like Year One and to a lesser extent Land of the Lost. How on earth the former turned out to be the bomb it was is completely befuddling given the talent involved, but if it finally makes Michael Cera realise he needs to learn how to play a different character to have any sort of long-lasting career in the movies, it'll have been totally worth it.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: What's all this shenanigans with the Oscars, like the Academy is somehow pretending they still mean something? I highly doubt the extending of the best picture nomination list is actually going to have any tangible effect (unlike the amendments to the best song award, which could well hamstring any songwriters hoping for Academy glory), but when the notably traditional Academy shakes things up to this extent, people still sit up and pay attention, even if the changes don't really mean anything in the long run.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: It's got to be Bruno, purely to see if Sacha Baron Cohen can outdo the naked wrestling scene from Borat. My money says yes, yes he can.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Looks like Knowing, the best film ever to feature a moose on fire, is making its debut on disc, and it's worth a watch if you're happy to accept a hokey turn of events way down the line.

Classic Movie of the Month: Since I've been rewatching it for 'Ten Deep', it's going to be 12 Angry Men, the Sidney Lumet original not the William Friedkin remake. Dramatic filmmaking at its most superior.

Movie Quote of the Month: "It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities - we may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don't know. Nobody really can. But we have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's SURE. We nine can't understand how you three are still so sure. Maybe you can tell us." - Henry Fonda lays it on the line in 12 Angry Men.

Coming Attractions

JULY 1ST

Public Enemies
Studio: Universal
Directed by: Michael Mann
Starring: Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup
The plot: FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) sets his sights on American gangster John Dillinger (Depp) and others in an attempt to curb a rampant Chicago crime spree during the 1930s.

Furious: Yes, yes, yes. Sold. I hope it's a hit because the cast is terrific. Early reviews are in and they're pretty strong. Pretty sure you'll get good entertainment for your hard earned cashola here. Concerns I have about Mann's directorial style look to be misplaced on this occasion. Perhaps he's been taking notes.

Kristopowitz: Director Michael Mann is always interesting, even when his movies are terrible (like Miami Vice), so this is a definite must see even if it ends up terrible. It looks like a decent enough period drama. Johnny Depp looks like he's having a ball in the trailers. Christian Bale, though, could be the guy that makes or breaks the movie. Will he be dour and super serious or will he be charismatic and interesting? I guess we'll see soon enough.

Archibald: Michael Mann – Check. Johnny Depp – Check. Christian Bale – Check. Yeah, I'm seeing this.

Gustafson: I've been excited about this since I heard about it. The reviews have been so-so and I'm curious if Bale will get any aftereffects from Terminator. Probably not, but you never know. Welcome back, Mr. Mann!

Lealos: Michael Mann can do no wrong. I know people don't like Miami Vice, but those people are dead wrong. While he is called style over substance, I disagree because he is all style and substance rolled into one perfect ball. Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Miami Vice, Collateral - this guy is a master filmmaker. Add three of my favorite actors in Christian Bale, Johnny Depp and Channing Tatum and this movie has can't miss written all over it.

Thomas: I've been giddy as hell about this movie since I saw the first shots of it. Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors between Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, Ali and Collateral all to his credit. (Miami Vice was far from great, but I think it was a fluke). With him in charge of a period crime piece I'm expecting big things. Add to that the efforts of Christian Bale and Johnny Depp as actors and my expectations have gone through the roof. The advance buzz has generally been quite good and if the film is successful enough, we could be looking at the first non-animated Oscar-buzz film of the year so far.

Brimfield: I'm just not as excited for this one as I should be, which is strange because all the right ingredients are there. Mind you, I didn't think Collateral was going to be that good and loved it, so I'll check this out just in case.

Ice Age 3D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Directed by: Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier
Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg
The plot: When Sid gets into some trouble, it's up to Manny, Ellie, Diego, and Scrat to save their friend. Their mission leads them to an underground world where encounter dinosaurs, flora, and fauna - as well as a one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named Buck.

Furious: First one was ok-ish. Second one was slighter better but not a huge improvement. I'm not that into the characters that I'm interested in a third one. They're just not great movies! It's disappointing to me that franchises sometimes spring up around a weak film that has a big audience. The inclusion of dinosaurs might spice up the action a bit but it probably won't do much for the average characters, which were at fault for the first two films being so mediocre.

Kristopowitz: I haven't seen the first two Ice Age movies, but I imagine that since this is the third movie in the franchise it's got a great shot of being a big hit right out of the gate. The trailers have been funny.

Archibald: I'll be honest – I liked the first Ice Age movie. It was cute, had a good voice cast and told a good story. Scrat was by far the star of the show, IMO. The second one was an obvious cash-grabber and this one looks no different. I will probably end up watching this on DVD when I need to babysit one of my nieces or nephews, though.

Gustafson: Ice Age has just been... there... for me. I don't hate it. I don't love it. If it's on, cool. I can't see this one being any different than the others. Expect a healthy return since the kids need a nice movie geared for them during the summer season. I'm surprised they haven't made any direct-to-DVD spin-offs to capitalize off the movies.

Lealos: I really enjoyed the first movie. I don't remember much about the second one (I might have actually not even seen it???) so I don't know what to expect with this one. I do know that it is in 3D, so that is the only way I will watch it in theaters if I do so. I probably will for the one simple reason that I am completely addicted to 3D animation right now.

Thomas: I've never been too keen on these movies, but I actually watched them last night on one of the cable channels and enjoyed them more than I remember initially doing. Part of my lack of enthusiasm comes from Ray Romano, who I have never thought was particularly funny, but the rest of the cast is good and after re-watching those two I actually think this one could be good. It's not the kind of movie I'm obsessed with seeing, but I'll check it out and probably have a pretty decent time.

Brimfield: I'm honestly surprised that everyone hasn't just given up and left animated movies to Pixar. They're so far ahead of the bellcurve it's just not funny any more when we have to suffer through four or five second-rate films like this to get to the next WALL-E or Up.

JULY 10TH

Brüno
Studio: Universal
Directed by: Larry Charles
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen
The plot: Flamboyant Austrian fashion reporter Bruno (Cohen) travels the world in search of the latest style trends.

Furious: The trailers I've seen look hilarious and if Sacha Baron Cohen can hit the same highs he did with Borat then the film will deliver. Bruno is the least of Cohen's three characters, which is why it's had to wait until last to get made into a film. A pity that Cohen had to learn his mistakes doing the Ali G movie, a terrible film, and wasted that character's potential. Now he's run out of characters and will have to try something new. He's a funny guy though so he'll be ok.

Kristopowitz: The biggest movie of the month bar none. It's got major buzz and it's looking like star Sacha Baron Cohen is going to have the world laughing again. I just hope that GLAAD's complaint about the lack of a "tolerance message" at the end of the movie and the recent Michael Jackson scene cut thing don't kill that buzz. The movie looks hysterical.

Archibald: So Borat was groundbreaking in how it depicted not only crude humor, but small-town America as well. I hope (sincerely) that this isn't a rehash of that idea, but actually takes the humor and analysis of Americana on a whole different level. Baron, I'm trusting you with this one! Don't let me down (like he reads any of this stuff...)

Gustafson: The Brüno juggernaut is coming and there's nothing anyone can do about it! Expect the talking heads of TV and radio to use this as an arguing point over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Sacha Baron Cohen will be laughing so hard that he loses count of all the money he will