411 Movies Roundtable: January 2009 (Part 1)

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 01.07.2009

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

Welcome to the monthly 411 Movies Roundtable. Now that everyone's New Years' hangovers have finally subsided and the 2008 recaps have begun in earnest, let's turn our attention to the coming month and see what January, typically that most frigid of all cinematic months, has to offer. Well, it's not looking to great, but we'll soldier on anyhoo. This month, Biggie Smalls struggles to cram his cadaverous girth onto the big screen, Daniel Craig turns Jew Bond, and Brendan Fraser solidifies his position as king of the mediocre kid-friendly action movie. Still, we've got a surprisingly solid turnout from the staff, so let's get to it!

This month's picture theme is jumping straight on the 3D bandwagon, just like this month's horror remake. As always, bragging rights to whoever can name the movie for every pic.

Let's get down to business...

Introducing this month's participants:

From "Alternate Takes", Shawn S. Lealos!

The Furious One himself, Arnold Furious!

Roundtable newcomer, the fresh blood of Steve Gustafson!

Gratuitous Bryan Kristopowitz!

Sim sim sala bim, Rick Tym!

A casting call for the role of Jason Chamberlain!

Master procrastinator Jeremy Thomas!

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

The Month That Was

Shawn S. Lealos

Biggest Winner of the Month: Mickey Rourke. Talk about a career revival. Rourke went from being an afterthought with memorable roles in niche films (Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) to a man being considered for a Best Actor Oscar for The Wrestler. He is also preparing for another older movie (Killshot) to be released in January and suddenly Mickey Rourke is relevant again Who woulda thunk it?

Biggest Loser of the Month: Baz Luhrmann and Australia - Was Australia supposed to be financially successful? I wouldn't think so, as it was a hard sell to mainstream audiences. It seemed more like a prestige picture such as There Will Be Blood. However, someone still gave Luhrmann $130 million to make his art picture and that person deserves to lose their money. That is a ridiculous amount for a man who has made niche pictures over his career. Worldwide, it was at $51 million at this writing and DVD sales won't help it break even. I wouldn't be surprised to see it shut out during awards season and that would make it an even bigger failure. As a fan of Luhrmann, I am disappointed in this turn of events, but there is no one to blame but the studios. Luhrmann made his dream project and now he needs to step back, take smaller stacks of money and make something beautiful again. That project is slated to be The Great Gatsby and might be what the doctor ordered.

Editor's note: I acutally got an email from Fox shortly after this column went live, asking if I could point out that worldwide takings since Shawn wrote his contribution are now $130m. Ten bucks says they were expecting more than that, though.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: That would be the announcement of Cheech and Chong's Smokin' Animated Movie. It's time a new generation of kids is introduced to the pot smokin' wizardry that is Cheech and Chong. The two guys are too old to be doing a drug movie now, and that would just be creepy anyway. However, if they lend their voices to animated versions of themselves, that would just be the most kick ass R-rated animated film since Fritz the Cat!

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: The Wrestler - Yeah, I know it came out originally in December but I won't get to see it until the weekend of January 23. Mickey Rourke is said to be amazing in this movie and it might be the first Darren Aronofsky movie I will actually enjoy watching. The guy is an amazing filmmaker, but he's pretty inaccessible if you're looking for a good time. I don‘t care if this movie is starting to get overhyped because a filmmaking wunderkind made a movie about pro wrestling. How cool is that?

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: The Last Emperor, Criterion on Blu-Ray - I'll go film geek here. How many of you know Criterion finally made the move to Blu-Ray last month, releasing Bottle Rocket, The Third Man, The Man Who Fell to Earth and Chungking Express? They are continuing to roll out the releases and January gives us a movie that might be the best looking Blu-Ray ever made with The Last Emperor. Sure, Pineapple Express is a funny movie, but I'll go with a prestige pick here.

Classic Movie of the Month: The Third Man - Since it was the first Criterion Blu-Ray I picked up, I'll go with it right here. Orson Welles was spectacular as the antagonist Harry Lime, whose novelist friend Holly Martins finds himself in a strange situation when Lime ends up dead, only to reappear from out of the shadows (literally) later in the film. Carol Reed created a masterpiece of American Film Noir at such a high level that it remains the backbone of the genre.

Movie Quote of the Month: "Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." - Harry Lime, The Third Man

Arnold Furious

Biggest Winner of the Month: Mickey Rourke. The movie world has been buzzing about half a dozen films in December but the main focus has been on the comeback kid. Rourke's return to form has been welcomed with open arms by the film community and rightly so! After all when he debuted he was hailed as the new Brando. He was supposed to be the character actor who'd lead us into the new Millennium. Didn't work out that way for him and his face shows a number of failures and interesting decisions that are perfect for that of a washed up wrestler. Rourke deserves all the respect he gets.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Baz Luhrmann. I've never liked his movies. Australia is a spectacular bomb. Appealing to apparently no market whatsoever it failed miserably to recoup it's budget. The stars of the movie will be fine because of their existing reputations. It's Luhrmann's mistake to believe that anyone would be interested in a movie called "Australia".

In a special extension I'd like to add that this came from the biggest loser studio of the year…Fox! Fox was the home of the bomb in 2008 with an assortment of disasters. Check these out; Australia, Day the Earth Stood Still, City of Ember, Space Chimps, Babylon AD, The Rocker, Meet Dave, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Jumper. It felt like Fox couldn't buy box office in 2008 and you get the feeling their dumbed down movies are playing to empty houses. Fox is a studio that routinely makes dumb movies and 2008 has been a microcosm of their overall strategy. Even the stuff that made money (What Happens in Vegas, Max Payne, Alvin and the Chipmunks) wasn't critically well received. Therefore they are the loser of the year for 2008. Better luck next year! Or perhaps just make some better films.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: The end of Narnia. The franchise was surely intended to run longer than two movies but now Disney has pulled the plug. Can't be a big surprise after the cinematic failing of Prince Caspian. Disney underestimated the power of The Dark Knight and opened right before it. With His Dark Materials getting canned after one film it certainly seems the risk behind high budget films is greater than ever with the world economy struggling. You just have to make big money or you're outta here!

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Defiance. Slow month, huh? I tend to go with the best director on one of those and that'd be Ed Zwick. He of Blood Diamond and Last Samurai. Plus the trailers are running on heavy rotation on TV, which gives it more hype than anything else this month.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Pineapple Express. This was, for me at least, the funniest and best comedy released in 2008. A definite purchase on DVD.

Classic Movie of the Month: Head. Written by Jack Nicholson Head was the finale of the Monkees. Not a traditional band movie by any stretch of the imagination it starts at the end and follows no kind of conventional storyline. There are themes as the genres switch from Western to war film to musical at the drop of a hat. Bob Rafelson intended to gloriously destroy his creation; the fake pop sensation and Head tears the Monkees down in bizarre fashion.

Movie Quote of the Month: "If the Earth dies, you die. If the human race dies, the Earth survives." – Keanu Reeves dumbs down the usual global warming message to his "whoa" version in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Steve Gustafson

Biggest Winner of the Month: Tina Fey. In a year that belonged to her (30 Rock, SNL/Palin, Baby Mama doing decent business, and her first acting Emmy), Fey was voted The Associated Press' Entertainer of the Year, an annual honor chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country. On top of that she garnered Entertainer of the Year awards/nominations from numerous other entertainment sources. Not too shabby for someone who chose glasses over contacts!

Biggest Loser of the Month: Warner Brothers. Heck, fans too. Now when comic book and movie fans hear the name Judge Gary Feess they seethe with righteous anger! He originally had set a mid-January start date for a trial, but instead issued an order stating that "Fox should prevail. Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture." The judge went on to suggest that both WB and Fox start talking immediately. Soon after all this was announced the sound (and smell) of millions of nerds jizzing in their pants in fear of their beloved movie rose up. Don't worry. This is all about money. It's all but guaranteed that Watchmen will no longer be a purely WB release. Expect to see Fox's logo on the screen alongside (or instead of) the WB's. Yes, the March 2009 date is in jeopardy, but Watchmen> is coming. Now clean yourself up.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Another strike in Hollywood! As dozens of A-list actors (and B & C-list too!) signed public letters both in support of and against the strike vote, the average person just rolled their eyes. Guild president Alan Rosenberg said, "Nobody wants a strike in this town or in this country less than I do, but I know damn well that we need a strike authorization if we're going to get our employers to move. They have not dealt with us in good faith, in my opinion, because they don't think we can get this strike authorization, and it is frustrating. This is not a vote for a strike. This is strike authorization. This is collective bargaining 101." TRANSLATION for the average person: "Blah, blah, blah, money, money, money, blah, blah, 101." Just dance monkey!

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Che. This is still coming out in January, right? Based on the life of revolutionary Che Guevara (played by Benicio Del Toro), this film follows the Argentinian from his beginnings as a doctor to his involvement in Cuban politics and his eventual murder in Bolivia. A small part of me thinks it's going to be a real life Medellin (POINTING OUT TO ENTOURAGE FANS), but I'm curious to see how they play it out.

[Editor's note: I honestly couldn't figure out when Che is actually being released, hence its absence from this month's RT. It was screened for a week last month purely to qualify for the Oscars, then split into two separate films to re-open in NYC and LA only on the 9th, then on limited release in the third week of January, goes to VoD on the 21st, and worldwide release shortly after. Fuck that.]

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Righteous Kill. Did it live up to the hype? No way. Still you have to respect any movie that has Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Here's hoping the extras on this puppy have commentary from both of them.

Classic Movie of the Month: That Thing You Do! (1996). Mock it if you want but I happened to switch this on and ended up watching the whole thing. What a fun movie that I totally forgot about. A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. Kind of flew under the radar but with a cast that has Liv Tyler, Steve Zahn, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, and Giovanni Ribisi, this is worth a look.

Movie Quote of the Month: "Why not? I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I've nurtured every sensation man's been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him. In spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man! I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist."
- John Milton (Al Pacino), the ALWAYS quotable Devil's Advocate (1997)

Bryan Kristopowitz

Biggest Winner of the Month: Hugh Jackman. Despite the absolute domestic box office failure of Australia Jackman's name still means something, and now he's going to host the Oscars, which is going to help build even more buzz for his big summer flick Wolverine. Jackman is show business.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Marvel Comics, Lionsgate, and fans of the Punisher comic book character, as the latest big screen Punisher movie, Punisher: War Zone, absolutely tanked at the box office. It shouldn't have, though, as the flick was awesome (check out my review here). Hopefully the flick will make more money than expected on DVD, which is where the movie was likely to make most of its money anyway.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Fox suing to prevent the release of the Warner Bros movie Watchmen A big, major movie from a big, major studio may actually not get released because another big, major studio claims to have the rights to the Watchmen story. You'd think cooler heads would prevail immediately and a "deal" would be made, but apparently that isn't going to happen. What's going to happen if Watchmen misses its release date because of this lawsuit? Will the movie nerd world explode?

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: My Bloody Valentine 3D is a must see, Paul Blart: Mall Cop looks hilarious, Underworld 3 is another must see, and Taken looks great, too. And, for those of you who actually get it where you live, "After Dark Horrorfest III." I hope I get to partake this year.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Pineapple Express will have a 2-disc set out, Babylon A.D. will be out (will we get deleted scenes on the disc?), Matlock: Season 2 comes out (Matlock is cool), the original My Bloody Valentine gets the special edition treatment (there were rumors that the gore cut from the flick way back in 1981 was being restored in some way, but, as far as I know, nothing has been confirmed), and Repo: The Genetic Opera comes out. Yeah.

Classic Movie of the Month: Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991): Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee team up to fight the Yakuza in this Mark L. Lester classic action flick from 1991. It's got plenty of butt kicking martial arts kung fu stuff, neck breaking, pseudo sex decapitations, a guy gets crushed in a car crusher in a junk yard, and Tia Carrere gets naked. What more could you want in an action movie, or just a movie in general?

Movie Quote of the Month: "Jane: How could you do something so vicious?
Vincent Ludwig: It was easy, my dear. Don't forget, I spent two years as a building contractor."
Jane (Prisiclla Presley) and Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban), The Naked Gun (1988)

Rick Tym

Biggest Winner of the Month: Mickey Rourke storming back to Hollywood prominence as Randy "The Ram" Robinson. While I have yet to see the film, I feel I can give a heartfelt "attaboy" to Rourke as all signs point to his resurgence as an actor deserving all the accolades being heaped upon him. It's simply fantastic to see him come back in a role so closely mirroring his own rise, fall and eventual acceptance of past career choices. Kudos as well to director Darren Aronofsky, who refused to compromise his vision and remained steadfast in the casting of Rourke as the titular character of his latest critically heralded work.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Frank Miller. The critical lambasting began about a week before The Spirit hit holiday screens and the box office gross wasn't much better. Released on over twenty five hundred screens, opening weekend numbers were a paltry $6.4 million. As of this writing, the film has pulled in almost $18 million domestic, and word on the street before the film's arrival in theaters stated that it would need to pull in around $70 million to break even considering production and marketing costs. Sin City redux this was not according to audiences and critics. While I am a fan of some of Millar's comics such as The Dark Knight Returns, I can only hope that he stays away from any attempt at a darker, grittier Buck Rogers.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Fox versus Warner Bros. in the great Watchmen legal debate. As much as I can fault Fox for pulling the carpet out from under Zack Snyder and the execs over at the WB, Warner should have made a better effort to cross their T's and dot their I's. This may result in anything from a delayed release date to a watered-down version of Snyder's adaptation, with fans being the biggest victims of all.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: God, anything that is finally getting a wide release. People that read my weekly column may be a little sick of me saying this, but while I like living where I do seeing new movies come awards season is damn near impossible. I envy guys like Chad Webb who get to see stuff like Slumdog Millionaire, Let the Right One In and The Wrestler during their limited-release runs. I know that studios release movies in New York and LA in December so they can be labeled "for your consideration," and I also am quite aware that such special engagements are aimed squarely at me as I sit around, curse my boondocks-surrounded existence and salivate as January marches on, knowing I am getting closer and closer to finally seeing some of these gems. Enough ranting, though - for movies that came out last month but are now getting wide release in the beginning of 2009, it's The Wrestler that I want to see the most. If I had to pick from true "new" releases, I'm hoping that The Unborn gives us some good heebie-jeebies; can it really be bad, with David Goyer writing and Commissioner Gordon starring?

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Battlestar Galactica – Season 4.0 Sure, I could continue to be mad at the bigwigs at the SciFi channel for milking it with this release, but such is the way of the world. Season 4.0 comes out right before the series-ending Season 4.5 hits the airwaves, so if you need to catch up on how many toasters have yet to be unveiled, here's your chance. All of the BSG season DVD releases have been great simply because of the show itself, regardless of special features. With Season 4.0 you get a nice little bonus, an uncut version of the TV movie Razor along with accompanying webisodes, making it a nice box set for completists.

Classic Movie of the Month: Since The Unborn seems to be stealing the spider-walk from The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen I recommend viewing this remastered edition of the horror classic. There's been enough fun and well-wishing over the past month, hasn't there? Let's get our scary on with one of the best of the bunch, William Friedkin's adaptation of William Peter Blatty's 1973 novel. Even better, notice the excellent and vastly unnoticed dramatic aspects of the film; it quite adeptly straddles the line between horror story and broken family exploration piece. While remembered by many of one of the scariest films of all time, the acting (especially by Ellen Burstyn) showcases equally scary scenarios not necessarily supernatural, such as the loss of a child and the tenuous grips we can have on loved ones when they are in harm's way.

Movie Quote of the Month: "Especially important is the warning to avoid conversations with the demon. We may ask what is relevant but anything beyond that is dangerous. He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that - do not listen." - the incomparable Max von Sydow as Father Merrin, The Exorcist

Jason Chamberlain

Biggest Winner of the Month: It's gotta be Mickey Rourke. The man has his career back on track thanks to what everybody is calling a great performance in a great movie. Good for him.

Biggest Loser of the Month: All of us innocent fans who are suffering because of...

Biggest Movie News of the Month: ...Fox being a bunch of douche bags about the upcoming Watchmen film. I can hardly believe that one studio could put all this effort into making a movie, get it this close to release, only for another studio to come in swinging with legal gripes that could very well torpedo the awesome looking flick before any of us fan boys see it. How does this happen? How does Warners get themselves into this situation? Where does Fox get off pulling this crap when they had their chance to make a Watchmen movie but let it go? If this is truly a case of Warners not crossing their legal t's, then fine, shame on them. BUT, what in the world was stopping Fox from taking issue with it sooner than, say, within mere months of the flick's release? I don't think Fox knows what they're getting into here. I'm not even a hardcore Watchmen fan, and I'm pissed about this. There will be a fan boy uprising, and it won't be pretty.

Oh, and Disney dropping the Narnia franchise sucks too.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Inkheart. Color me psyched about any movie that glamorizes one of my favorite hobbies; reading!

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Pineapple Express! Good stuff.

Classic Movie of the Month: Kung Fu Panda - Maybe it's too early to call this a classic, but I don't care! I love this movie. As a martial arts enthusiast, a lover of Eastern culture and a guy who flat out thinks pandas are adorable, this movie covers all the bases. It also wraps in a nice message about self acceptance and confidence. And the animation is stunning. Check it out!

Movie Quote of the Month: "I just ate, so I'm still digesting, so my kung fu may not be as good as later on." - Po tries to lower expectations for his kung fu demonstration in Kung Fu Panda

Jeremy Thomas

Biggest Winner of the Month: How can you not go with Mickey Rourke here? Even with the shocking (to me) success of Marley and Me and the surprising revenues of Valkyrie which was expected to bomb, Rourke's much-deserved praise for his performance in The Wrestler is THE success story of the year. He has to be considered a front-runner for Best Actor, considering how much Hollywood loves a redemption story, and if he wins it would be much-deserved.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Warner Bros. and comic book fans. A lot of people are pointing a lot of fingers for this whole mess around Watchmen, and deservedly so. The blame seems to fall on Fox and producer Lawrence Gordon by my reckoning, as he was the one who owed Fox the buyout on a second contract that Fox is suing over. I don't think this is over by a long shot and the movie may well see the light of day by its intended release date, but if it doesn't there are going to be a LOT of angry fans.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: The Watchmen lawsuit has to be considered the biggest news. There hasn't been anything like this in a long time, and it seriously sucks.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: It's a tough call for me. I'm a big Undeworld fan and the new one looks like it might be a rare prequel that doesn't suck; on the other hand, I've been wanting to see Taken since I first heard about it. I think Neeson barely wins this one out.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: I have to go with the Centennial Collection DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is a classic romance from Hollywood's Golden Era. Good stuff.

Classic Movie of the Month: Since My Bloody Valentine gets a 3-D remake, I have to go with another 3-D film; that's right, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. It's arguably the worst of the franchise (though I hate hackmaster Renny Harlin's Elm Street 5 more), but it's still a lot of silly fun.

Movie Quote of the Month: "Sticks and stones may break my bones... but nothin' will ever kill me. Well, let's see now. First, they tried burning me. [slices off thumb] Then, they tried burying me. [slices off index finger] But this... this is my favorite. [gives the bird with remaining finger] They even tried holy water! [slices off middle finger, drops hand out of frame and holds it up again with all fingers intact] But I just keep on tickin'."

- Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

Owain J. Brimfield

Biggest Winner of the Month: Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher in a two-way tie. For my money, these two are the most exciting directors working in the world today. While Fincher perhaps has the edge at the moment due to the neverending love for Fight Club, Aronofsky's The Fountain was arguably superior to that film in every way and the closest we've seen to a masterpiece this generation. And yes, I'm well aware that is a very contentious argument. Either way, both filmmakers scored superb hits in December with more than worthy additions to their respective catalogues, and two of the defining lead performances of the year contained within.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Frank Miller, for whom The Spirit represents perhaps the least effective sophomore movie from a director in history - take everything great about your first film, rehash it all and implement it with every aspect significantly worse than said debut, and serve to a cold, apathetic audience. Hey, I suppose at least it got Will Eisner's name out in the open. And Sam Jackson always needs the work, what with the alarmingly infrequent appearances he seems to make on our screens.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Probably the Watchmen debacle which has fanboys across the internetz frothing at the mouth. Chill out folks, it'll come out eventually.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: For the first time in a good while, I am genuinely uninterested in every single movie on release this month. At a push I'd rent Killshot, but only for the cast and the curiosity of seeing how Rourke follows up the acclaim of The Wrestler. Things can only get better in '09!

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Battlestar Galactica season 4 - is it better than Firefly yet? I'm not sure. Still, easily the best/second-best science fiction show of the last fifteen years, depending on your point of view, and the DVD release looks set to be a superb package with all the extras.

Classic Movie of the Month: If you're anything like me and are completely unable to work out when Che is showing anywhere near you, check out the Guerrilero Heroico in another film based on his life, 1969's Che!. Coming from completely the opposite end of the credibility spectrum, the movie stars Omar Sharif as the titular guerilla and, yes, Jack Palance as Fidel Castro. It has to be seen to be believed.

Movie Quote of the Month: "Thundercats are go!" - perhaps the most implausible pop-culture reference ever used to describe the moment of a pregnant woman's water breaking, in Juno (2007).

Continue over to PART TWO now!