Comedy audiences “Get Smart”
The movie version of the 1960s spy sitcom “Get Smart,” starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, didn’t miss the top spot at the box office over the weekend. The Warner Bros. comedy spied $39.2 million in its debut, according to studio estimates reported by the Associated Press.
Mike Myers didn’t have any Austin Powers-style mojo going with “The Love Guru,” the other new wide release that opened over the weekend. The Paramount comedy starring Myers as a self-help guru helped itself to $14 million for just a No. 4 spot. It’s hard to tell what was more damaging for the movie: the stupid “American Idol” promo, the incredibly unfunny trailers or the constant stream of e-mails from Hindu protestors.
But it certainly couldn’t help that the weekend featured a rare showdown of two big movies in the same genre opening simultaneously. It was a sure bet that one of them was going to lose in that head-on box office collision.
In limited release, “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” charmed her was to $222,697 in just five theaters, averaging $44,539 a cinema, compared with $10,012 in 3,911 theaters for “Get Smart,” according to the AP.
“Kit Kittredge,” released by Picturehouse and based on the popular line of American Girl dolls, stars Abigail Breslin as a 9-year-old aspiring newspaper reporter during the Depression. The film expands into wide release July 2, which means that the Will Smith superhero action-comedy “Hancock” will get some healthy competition.
DreamWorks Animation/Paramount’s “Kung Fu Panda” and Universal’s “The Incredible Hulk” battled closely for second place.
In its third weekend, “Kung Fu Panda” kicked up $21.7 million, raising its domestic total to $155.6 million. “The Incredible Hulk” was right behind, smashing to $21.6 million in its second weekend to lift its total to $96.5 million.
Since I’m on the road traveling, I caught in the old hotel standby “USA Today” that “The Incredible Hulk” has dropped 61 percent from its debut. That’s not as huge as the 70 percent drop for Ang Lee’s 2003 “Hulk,” the new film has scared up $96.5 million. That’s not horrible, but it’s well short of its $150 million budget, according to this USA Today story.
Hollywood’s summer surge continued, with total revenues climbing for the fourth straight weekend compared to last year. The top 12 movies took in $136.9 million, up nearly 10 percent from the same weekend in 2007, when Carell’s “Evan Almighty” opened at No. 1 with $31.2 million, according to the AP.
The industry is on track to beat the revenue record set last summer, when receipts topped $4 billion for the first time.
“While the country may be suffering with a so-called recession, people are finding movies a fairly inexpensive way to get their entertainment,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, in the AP story. ”This proves the conventional wisdom that, during tough economic times, the movies flourish.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC, released by the AP.
1. “Get Smart,” $39.2 million.
2. “Kung Fu Panda,” $21.7 million.
3. “The Incredible Hulk,” $21.6 million.
4. “The Love Guru,” $14 million.
5. “The Happening,” $10 million.
6. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” $8.4 million.
7. “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan,” $7.2 million.
8. “Sex and the City,” $6.5 million.
9. “Iron Man,” $4 million.
10. “The Strangers,” $1.9 million.
RIP George Carlin
I’m getting very tired of writing obituaries, but I couldn’t fail to pay my respects to comedy legend George Carlin. He died Sunday of heart failure. He was 71.
He leaves behind a long legacy as a comedian and as a champion of freedom of speech, mostly as a result of his controversial routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” which actually sparked a Supreme Court case.
As with my favorite British comic, Eddie Izzard, I didn’t agree with a lot of what Carlin had to say about religion, but I still found him very, very funny and thought provoking. I got a real charge out of some of his observational humor, including his famous line about gas station bathrooms: “Why do they lock them? Are they afraid someone might break in and clean them?”
I also absolutely loved his take on language, especially the bit that went along the lines of: ”Has anyone ever actually been fine and dandy? I’ve often been fine, but not dandy. I have on occasionally been dandy, but never at the same time as I was in fact fine.” I just thought the way he broke down some of the silly things we say without thinking was incredibly intelligent and insightful.
Of course, I can’t leave out a mention of his famous role as Rufus the time-traveling guide in the classic ’80s comedy “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” He made that whole telephone booth gag work with his sheer coolness. And you gotta love his turn as the voice of the hippy-dippy VW van in the Pixar hit “Cars.”
Carlin’s first wife, Brenda, died in 1997. He is survived by wife Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; son-in-law Bob McCall; brother Patrick Carlin; and sister-in-law Marlene Carlin. Our thoughts are with them.
You can read the full Associated Press obit for Carlin by clicking here.
-BAM
Return of the PSAs!
This week, the wacky minds at www.roosterteeth.com have delayed Episode 5 of the all-new popular Web series “Red vs. Blue: Reconstructed.” Instead, they have posted one of the series’ famed Public Service Announcements.
The new PSA craftily only features the characters that have been re-introduced in the first four episodes of “RvB:re,” so that who remains to be seen in fact remains to be seen.
The hilarious announcement centers on statements never before seen on Internet forums. Respect, particularly of others’ opinions and copyright laws, is mentioned with alarmingly – but not particularly surprising – frequency in this rather short time span.
Please enjoy this PSA, which is from the RoosterTeeth YouTube channel:
-BAM
Monday Catchy Quote
A catchy quote from a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Ghost: You mustn’t argue with those in the right. It’s pointless, and even tactless.
Ebenezer: Tact is a quality I despise.
Ghost: *That* I can see.
- Click here to learn the source
- BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on June 23
Today’s featured event:
Hear Texas troubadors Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen perform a show on their acoustic “Songs and Stories” tour at 9:30 p.m. today at the Wormy Dog Saloon, 311 E Sheridan. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $12. For tickets or information, call 601-6276 or go to www.wormydog.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on June 22
Today’s featured event:
Cheer on the Oklahoma RedHawks against the Round Rock (Texas) Express at 7:05 p.m. today at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark, 2 S Mickey Mantle Dr.
The RedHawks homestand against the Express continues through Tuesday.
For more information, call 218-1000 or go to www.oklahomaredhawks.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
What to do in Oklahoma on June 21
Today’s featured event:
Hear punk rockers Peaceable Jones and First Lady Assassins at 10 p.m. today at the Blue Note Lounge, 2408 N Robinson Ave.
For more information, call 524-5678 or go to www.myspace.com/okcbluenote.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Friday Featured Track
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Holiday Road,” by Lindsey Buckingham, from the soundtrack to the 1983 movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
My husband, Patrick, watched “Vacation” a couple of weeks ago in preparation for our family’s summer travels, and he was surprised to learn that this crazily catchy ditty was written and performed by the Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist. I wasn’t surprised, since it sounds just like him.
But Mr. BAM has been taking an informal survey in the past few days to determine if any other Fleetwood Mac fans were unaware of Buckingham’s apparent comedy leanings. I’m sure he’d be pleased to read your response in the comments below.
Between his constant reminders and our frantic preparations to leave town, this song has been circulating nonstop through my noggin.
Interestingly, I’ve noticed that our actual family vacations are never as chaotic as the Griswold family’s, but the days leading up to them could not only rival any of the “National Lampoon” films, they also could compete with most Greek tragedies. If you ever want to go on vacation with us, just avoid us until the last moment and jump in the car right as we pull out of the driveway.
And just so you know, dedicated BAM’s Blog followers, we’re hitting the road today en route to an undisclosed location. I’ll still have some content going up on the blog while I’m on holiday, but if things seem a bit quieter than usual ’round here, that’s why.
I should be back, bright-eyed and refreshed – or more likely sunburned and hyped up on caffeine – and ready to blog with intensity in a few days.
Happy trails!
-BAM
CD review: Donna Summer, “Crayons”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Pop
Donna Summer “Crayons” (Burgandy Records)
Donna Summer’s first studio album since 1991, “Crayons” creates not a colorful musical composition but a predictable paint-by-numbers pop album.
The “Queen of Disco” comes across less like singing royalty and more like a copycatting commoner subsisting on scraps left by Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado and Natasha Bedingfield. Summer co-wrote all 12 tracks, but the material sounds less suited to a still-vibrant 59-year-old diva than to a 20-something pop tart.
It also follows too closely a careful blueprint for pop success: It opens with the pep-rally inspired “Stamp Your Feet,” dabbles in reggae with a Ziggy Marley duet on the title track, and puts a Latin twist on “Drivin’ Down Brazil” and “I’m a Fire.”
Summer could always outsing the other disco-era divas, and her voice has lost none of its sultry power. But her strong voice is largely lost in layers of thudding bass lines, synthy sound effects and repetitive refrains.
She exudes enough attitude and vocal prowess on the “The Queen Is Back” and “Fame (The Game)” to make the dance-pop trappings work for her. A dash of Cajun-flavored Southern blues gives a spicy kick to “Slide Over Backwards.”
A pair of disparate love songs – the unabashedly romantic “Sand on My Feet” and danceable “Science of Love”- also help brighten up “Crayons.”
The album had the potential for vivid success, if only Summer had colored outside the lines of present-day pop convention.
-BAM
Kirk Ellis channels “John Adams”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Founding Father with foibles
‘John Adams’ screenwriter wanted humanity to show
When it came to penning the seven-part miniseries “John Adams,” screenwriter Kirk Ellis wanted to give the Founding Fathers life beyond the staid images on the backs of coins and bills.
In adapting David McCullough’s Pulitizer Prize-winning biography, Ellis tried imbue the real-life characters with real-life flaws and assets, instead of portraying them as romanticized heroes.
“David had already taken ‘em off the shelf and dusted ‘em, and we wanted to kick ‘em into the street and make sure that people understood that these were human beings,” Ellis said in a recent phone interview from his Santa Fe, N.M., home.
Of course, the epic but gritty series focuses on one America’s lesser-known Founders. Although he was elected the country’s first vice president and second president, Adams’ portly visage never appeared on U.S. currency until last year, when the U.S. Mint put him in the $1 coin series.
“Most people don’t know about John Adams. Their memory of our early presidency goes from Washington to Jefferson directly, skips over Adams,” Ellis said.
Still, the miniseries won wide acclaim and solid ratings when it debuted on HBO in March. It recently was released on a three-disc DVD set.
McCullough’s book helped many people become acquainted with Adams. It debuted in 2001 at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list for nonfiction hardcovers. It spent 68 weeks on the list; 2.7 million copies are in print.
Reading the biography was the beginning of Ellis’ education into Adams. Before, he knew of Adams only what he learned in primary and secondary school.
“When I read the book – and you’re always trying to read books for pleasure but when you work in the business as a writer you never can quite – I was a couple hundred pages in … and I thought, ‘Boy, this would be a great miniseries,’” said Ellis, who has worked on the TV projects “Into the West,” “Anne Frank: The Whole Story” and “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.”
About a year later, Tom Hanks’ production company, Playtone, optioned the book, and Ellis, who had worked with Hanks before, met with the actor/producer.
“And that was the beginning of a process that I didn’t know at the time would take five and a half years,” Ellis said with laugh.
While the miniseries is an adaptation of McCullough’s book, Ellis said he sifted through a vast amount of research, then constructed outlines, wrote scripts and did numerous rewrites. The series’ $100 million budget then had to be secured.
“Adams left the most complete record of his life and thought of any of the Founders. Jefferson burned many of his letters; we don’t even know what Thomas Jefferson’s wife looked like. The same is true of Washington’s papers: Many of them consigned to the fire after his death,” he said.
“Adams kept every single page of every single thing we wrote and every single thing he received. And if you take the microfilm record at the Massachusetts Historical Society and stretch it out, it’ll go about five miles.”
Those records were invaluable to Ellis in crafting dialogue.
“Although we don’t know the words that John Adams used when he argued the case for independence on July 1, 1776, we know what he was thinking, because he wrote about it in letters,” Ellis said.
Ellis knew he couldn’t use all of McCullough’s book, nor could he tell a “cradle to grave” version of Adams’ 91 years. The first episode introduces 40-year-old Adams as he becomes the defense attorney for the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, successfully arguing the redcoats were acting in self-defense.
“People who have watched the show realized that from the beginning they saw this guy … who would stake his reputation, his financial wellbeing, his family’s future on his belief in adherence to law,” he said.
Lead actor Paul Giamatti was able to convey Adams’ complex personality: Brilliant and dutiful, ambitious and stubborn. Critics who faulted Giamatti’s grumpy performance or uncomely appearance should read the biography, he said.
“I think his performance is remarkable, in how many different dimensions he brings to that character,” Ellis said.
His respect for Giamatti and the rest of the cast and crew grew over the 108-day shoot, which included filming in Colonial Williamsburg, Va., and Budapest, Hungary. In Hungary, record high temperatures reached 107 degrees.
“Imagine 200 people on the crew working in an un-air-conditioned sound stage, with actors who are clothed in 18th century woolen clothing. So that’s difficult,” he said.
He hopes people who watch the series come to know Adams as a man of integrity.
“This was somebody who really put his sense of rightness and responsibility above everything else. And he really did live that life of duty and sacrifice that we talk about today in the political scene but don’t really mean. He meant it, and he lived it,” he said.
-BAM
