Furious on Film 02.04.10: Hangover, DreamWorks & the Usual Jackie Chan

Posted by Arnold Furious on 02.04.2010

Looking at where the Hangover crew came from, pitting DreamWorks animation studio against Pixar and a look back at Young Master...

Normally when I go into writing a column I know what I want to talk about. This week I have a vague idea. I want to talk about where the people came from that suddenly made The Hangover this huge success. I also wanted to talk about Dreamworks animation and where they stood seeing as even their best films get blown away by Pixar. Also I have Jackie Chan to discuss.

Hungover



The Hangover. Where did that movie come from? It had no name stars, a director with a shaky history and went on to become one of the most successful films of 2009. It ended its cinematic run with a whopping $277M banked. Add another $190M from foreign markets and I think we can call this film a success. It broke Wedding Crashers box office record for R rated comedies and had incredible staying power in the charts. People were seeing the movie and going back for more. And telling their friends. It was the 6th highest earning movie of 2009 and even beat Star Trek and left blockbusters like 2012 in the shade. So where did the people come from that were responsible for this box office behemoth?

Todd Phillips (Director).



The New Yorker was Oscar nominated in 2007 for co-writing Sacha Baron-Cohen improv comedy Borat. However as a director his record was pretty weak. Only Old School can lay claims to being a good movie and that had Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell and one of the Wilson brothers starring. He's also made such schlock as Starsky & Hutch and School for Scoundrels. Based on his previous record I was not expecting a good movie. Or a successful one. His next movie is Due Date starring Bob Downey and he has 8 projects in development including a sequel to the Hangover. Suddenly he's Mr Popular. Amazing what a smash hit will do for your career. The only movies that beat The Hangover in the charts last year were sequels to established properties (Harry Potter, Twilight, Transformers) or Pixar (Up) or James Cameron fuelled box office juggernaut and most expensive movie ever made (Avatar). I think 6th place is quite the result.

Jon Lucas/Scott Moore (Writers). Previous work included Four Christmases and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Once again, only more pronounced this time, who saw these guys writing a good movie? They now have 5 projects in development including one that IMDB mysteriously entitles "Untitled Jon Lucas/Scott Moore Project". In other words; they got given their own movie because of the Hangover. Well played gentlemen.

Bradley Cooper (Star).



Cooper was the clean-cut pretty boy of the group of friends. Generally this is the one to hold things together and be the guy you want to be. Like Vince Vaughn in Swingers. He's so money. Cooper himself has been knocking around Hollywood for quite some time. He made his TV debut in 1999 on Sex and the City. Like many future stars his first big screen film was Wet Hot American Summer in 2001. He had a couple of largely unsuccessful TV shows before hitting back to back home runs with Alias and Nip/Tuck. Cooper has been forgettable in many of his roles, which is why his big break has been so long coming. He played the lead in Midnight Meat Train, which is a movie I've seen and yet didn't make the connection. Which should tell you how uninteresting his role is. He's also Jim Carrey's best friend in Yes Man, which is a film I've even seen quite recently and didn't make the connection. He has been quite bland! Hollywood clearly likes him though and he recently starred in All About Steve and will front The A Team this summer as "Face".

Ed Helms (Star).



My personal opinion is that Helms was the breakout star of The Hangover. I thought his role was the hardest to nail. He's the slightly geeky and oppressed dentist who gets a bit wild with a few cocktails inside him. He has less experienced in Hollywood having made his debut in 2004's Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story. He moved on to bit parts in major pictures like Evan Almighty, Walk Hard, Semi-Pro and Meet Dave. His break didn't come out of nowhere though as since 2006 he's been a regular star on the American version of The Office. This led him to a more prominent role in Jeremy Piven bomb The Goods. His next movie Cedar Rapids with Sigourney Weaver is already in post and will be out next year.

Zach Galifianakis (Star).



His Uncle was a senator but he's better known as a stand-up comedian. Galifianakis made his TV debut in 1996 on Boston Common. His first Hollywood movie was 2001's Heartbreakers starring Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love-Hewitt. He then had a reoccurring role on Tru Calling before writing his own show Dog Bites Man. He appeared in Sean Penn film Into the Wild in 2007, which seems to stand alone as a serious role in the midst of his usual wackiness. He's starting to pop up all over the place as his stand-up gets out there. TV shows like Bored to Death and movies like Up in the Air and Youth in Revolt. It's fair to say he's really starting to get ‘out there'. His lack of attachments to anything substantial (like the other two have/had TV shows) allows him the freedom to take whatever comes along. Seeing as his childlike Alan is the most memorable character in the Hangover there's every chance he'll be the one cast member to definitely go on to greater things. He's already signed up for a big role in Antonio Banderas' Shrek spin off Puss In Boots not to mention Due Date and Steve Carrell/Paul Rudd comedy Dinner for Schmucks.

Justin Bartha (Co-Star).



I recognised Justin Bartha the first time he was onscreen. I know that guy. He was the retarded brother in Gigli! Hell of a claim to fame. He's also Nic Cage's sidekick Riley Poole in the ludicrous National Treasure movies. He's working with Jesse Eissenberg on crime drama Holy Rollers, which comes out this year. Presumably he'll get a bigger role in the Hangover's sequel as he's already married. Or maybe they just won't invite him. After all he was the least interesting character and didn't appear in most of the film. Although I can no longer say "Justin Bartha has never made a good movie". Curses.

The Hangover was a success for a variety of reasons. I think the one that's most prominent is that none of the usual suspects were in starring roles. No Will Ferrell, Jack Black or anyone associated with them or Adam Sandler. Or any of the Judd Apatow gang. It seemed fresh as a result. Also the humour that's used is far more realistic than the usual Farrelly Brothers gross out stuff or the Apatow approach of putting swearing in a chick flick to make it seem more manly. Yeah, I went there! The Hangover is a man's movie. It's all about drinking and strippers and stealing tigers. Who hasn't had a night that got a bit lairy and out of control? This one is in Vegas. And credit to the fellas. It's not easy to shoot comedy in Vegas. Plenty have tried! There are only two I'm particularly fond of; Swingers and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. One taking the real approach of uncovering the underside of Vegas without really trying while the other goes OTT on a drug fuelled rampage. Everything else has been a bit fluffy by comparison. Vegas Vacation, for example, is by far the worst film in the series. I could go on. There are loads of comedies set in Vegas and most of them are rubbish.

DreamWorks; we're trying honest!

2001 was the year where DreamWorks decided they were throwing their hat into the animation ring. They wanted to compete with the likes of Walt Disney and Pixar. Pixar, by 2001, had already racked up three hit movies. Those being the two Toy Story films and A Bugs Life. When DreamWorks came out with Shrek in 2001 they forced Pixar to raise the bar. Pixar, the same year, did Monsters Inc. In my opinion Shrek is the better film although Monsters Inc is cute and has an entertaining concept. Shrek did a grand job of breaking down the fairy stories and trying to apply them to the real world. At this point I think DreamWorks had raced into a 1-0 lead in their war with Pixar.

2002 they were the company behind the mediocre Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. As Pixar has nothing going on that year we'll skip it.

2003 was the year Pixar put out Finding Nemo. Which is tough to compete with. It was probably their best movie at that point. Meanwhile DreamWorks put out a Sinbad movie and probably paid Brad Pitt a shitload of money to voice it. 1-1.

2004 was a big year in the battle because Pixar had heavily hyped their new film; The Incredibles while DreamWorks had their big hitter; Shrek 2 to go up against it. You'd think this would be great for animation fans but most projects felt a little rushed. The Incredibles is probably the better of the two movies with Shrek 2 being a bit of a disappointment compared to the original. 2004 also saw DreamWorks put out Shark Tale in response to Finding Nemo. Despite the all-star cast the film is best forgotten. 2-1 Pixar.

2005 was a year of rest for Pixar as they worked on future projects. It's the last year to date that Pixar have taken a break during. Their aim since has been to release one film every year. Unopposed DreamWorks put out Madagascar, which was another straightforward talking animals film. I think there was some disappointment about the quality of Madagascar. Not least from myself. I don't rate it at all. Despite their greater output DreamWorks Animation studio just doesn't seem to have a long term plan. Pixar had one. And at this point it showed.

2006 saw the release of Pixar's Cars, which is their worst film to date. It's not even a bad film but it's really not at their standard. Meanwhile DreamWorks released Over the Hedge. Yet another cute talking animals picture. And frankly; not even a very good one. So despite a poor outing, by their standards, for Pixar they still took 2006. 3-1.

2007. DreamWorks pushed on with Shrek The Third, which is absolutely dreadful. The film that, by all rights, should have sunk the franchise for good. Trying to squeeze in too many bland characters alongside existing franchise favourites. As if to apologise they then did Bee Movie, which is nothing special. Camp Pixar retorted with their own cute animal picture, about rats, Ratatouille. Which re-defined the concept of a cute animal picture. As if Pixar was saying to its rivals; "no, THIS is how you do it right". 4-1 Pixar.

2008 saw DreamWorks release their best feature film yet with Kung Fu Panda. It was brilliant! Well thought out and it used the voice skills of the overpaid leading actor (in this case Jack Black). Or rather Jack Black made that role his own. I thought it was terrific and that Pixar's weird sounding WALL-E would be up against it. I gave Kung Fu Panda ****1/2, which is the most I've ever given any DreamWorks film. Then I saw WALL-E. Wow. Ok. So Pixar raised the bar again. There's a short attached to the WALL-E DVD release called BURN-E detailing the efforts of another robot on the Axiom during the course of the film as he aims to change a broken light. This alone is better than anything DreamWorks have ever made. 5-1 Pixar.

2009 saw Pixar continue to raise the bar. This time with the universally acclaimed Up. DreamWorks had Monsters Vs Aliens. Which is decent. I'd say about ***1/2. But when you're up against the might of Pixar you can't make a movie that's "good" and hope to one-up Pixar. So 6-1 Pixar.

As you can see in years that DreamWorks has gone head to head with Pixar the latter has produced a better class of movie. Even when DreamWorks have a good movie; Pixar has a better one! They continue to keep raising the bar of excellence in the field of animation. But on the upside DreamWorks movies have constantly improved (Shrek franchise aside) as they strive to be on the same page as Pixar. This means a better class of animated film for the viewing public! Huzzah! We're the real winners in all of this. Animation is enjoying a Golden Age. Film fans will look back at now and say "they don't make them like that anymore". Enjoy it while it lasts!

CHAN-TASTIC –



The wife and I both enjoy the movies of Jackie Chan. I've seen a LOT of Chan movies over the years but I continue to be amazed at just how many there actually are. So I'll be trying to take a look at one Jackie Chan movie every week for you lucky people. This week's Jackie Chan movie is…

Young Master (1980)

Having established himself as a star Jackie now faced the daunting task of trying to break the mould of what was expected of him. Young Master shows how hard it was to break away from his early kung-fu films. Drunken Master was brilliant and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow was really strong. And then came Young Master, which is a bit of a mess. It starts out with some dragon fighting and treachery! Then there's another bad guy who is so badass all his fights are shown in fast-forward. Then Jackie gets into a spot of bother with the police, which leads to the best sequences in the film including a bench fight with Yuen Biao and a series of misunderstandings with the police chief's family where Jackie fights the chief, his son and his daughter. The film seems to lose the plot a bit after that and Jackie spends the last 20 minutes fighting the fast-forward guy in what seems like an endless kung-fu showdown. Having made his directorial debut on Fearless Hyena this was his second effort from behind the camera and could have used a more seasoned director helping him out. Not that Young Master is a bad film. It's just a little directionless for the majority of the run time. By the time he got around to reinventing the genre with Project A, Jackie was a much more rounded director. Able to see the bigger picture. Young Master seems to play out as three separate stories. The initial banishing of the "big brother" character and Chan's decision to track him down, the misunderstandings with the police chief and then the ludicrously long fight sequence to close the film out. The three don't feel like they're attached to each other. But there's still plenty of good action to be had. Jackie's confusion when fighting the girl in a skirt is a lot like his decision to incorporate cat's paw into his snake fist in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. Both result in some entertaining but daft looking kung-fu fights.



Until next time…I'm Arnold Furious and you're not!