This was a
week of counterprogramming. The two major films were The Great Gatsby and Iron Man
3. One for the ladies and one for dudes… or at least that’s what the
studios want us to think.
Movies Seen In Theaters This Week:
Mud, Iron Man 3 (again), The Great Gatsby
Lesson 5. Michael Shannon: Soon to Be Star
Do you know who Michael Shannon is? You will soon.
Michael
Shannon is an actor on the rise. He’s been a working film actor for about a
decade now, but he‘s about to make his breakthrough into popular culture as
well.
 |
| Michael Shannon, the scariest sorority mother ever. |
Currently
Shannon might be best known for HBO’s Boardwalk
Empire and last year’s Take Shelter
(which he was amazing in). He has a small part in the film Mud and steals all three of his scenes. Looking at his filmography,
it’s filled with popular films (some good and some bad) that he has small
character roles in, and before that a stellar stage career. He’s obviously been
on the make over the last few years, but now he’s ready to let loose.
So,
why is Shannon going to explode? Man of
Steel releases June 14, and Shannon gets to suit up as the villain General
Zod. Shannon has two lines in the trailer and they are by far the most
interesting part to watch. Man of Steel is
probably too big to be a flop, but it’s also not a guaranteed success. I’m
betting on mixed reviews, but I think the one thing that is guaranteed is that Michael Shannon will finally start getting
his dues and we should, hopefully, be seeing far more of him.
This
video of him reading an actual sorority mean girl’s email to her sisters is a
great way to get to know Michael and what we can all look forward to: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/4ad20b4edf/michael-shannon-reads-the-insane-sorority-letter
Lesson 4. The Next Big Thing
When looking
ahead to the summer, I saw the name of a little film called The Purge. Listed as a horror film
starring Ethan Hawke from the producers of the Paranormal Activity series, I happily skipped past this film
thinking nothing of it. (As usual at Nerd
5, we are of split minds when it comes to Hawke. Josh can pass while Jeff has
the never-ending ardor of a 13 year old girl.For him, Hawke is up there with
Cruise). The Purge didn’t even
have a national release date the first time I heard about it, but now the
release is set for June 7and it boasts a trailer that totally blew me away. The Purge focuses on a society where, for
one night a year, all crime is legal. Great for the poor, who have everything
to gain, not so great for the rich, who have everything to lose. A wealthy family
locks themselves inside their house for the night, but before they do so, their
teenage daughter let’s in a stranger. The stranger’s unknown past makes the family
this year’s target in The Purge. I
know, it sounds a little sketchy, but after watching the trailer (http://youtu.be/Lekx_ZlqyWk) we’re
giving this film a chance. The Purge
seems to be coming at just the right time (there is a lack of great horror
franchises currently) to find a large audience, and if the film is any good I
have a feeling we will be looking at the start of a long line of films in The Purge series.
Lesson 3. How to Jump off a Bandwagon
I (Josh) have
been a Tobey Maguire apologist for a long time (I, Jeff, have been a Tobey Maguire hater for nearly as long. He’s no
Ethan Hawke, y’all…) and I still will say that Maguire is a good Peter
Parker/Spider-Man and that he gives a fine performance in Pleasantville, but I have to draw the line there. Watching The Great Gatsby this weekend, I just
kept looking at him and thinking “Man,
I wish you were better.” At points it was as if Peter Parker was in his high
school play version of The Great Gatsby.
Maguire is an actor with a very limited range, and honestly Nick Caraway should
have easily fit into that range, but sadly what Maguire brings to the screen simply
doesn’t cut it. If he was in a more straight-forward adaption, he might possibly
have worked, but the milquetoast Maguire and bombastic Baz Luhrmann do NOT make
a good pair. However, Maguire isn’t the main problem, heck, he’s pretty far
down the list of problems with The Great
Gatsby. But we’ll get there. Bottom line, Tobey has one youthful, innocent character
that he can play well, but he’s past his prime. You can’t just be wide-eyed
forever. So Mr. Maguire I’m off the bandwagon. 38 isn’t too young to retire…
Lesson 2. Making Better Choices with Your Life
Matthew
McConaughey has figured out how to be a star.
A quick look at his recent films should give you an idea of what I’m talking
about: Mud (2013), Magic Mike (2012), Killer Joe (2011), Bernie (2011),
The Lincoln Lawyer (2010), Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). See a
pattern? For every big studio flick there’s a smaller film to match.
McConaughey seems to have figured out how to use his studio projects to subsidize
his forays into great smaller pictures. It’s a path that every well-respected
star finds at some point. Pick good smaller projects and give them your all,
proving that you’re a good actor, then use the rest (with moderation) to pay
the bills. Not all of his recent films are great – there are bad ones on both
sides of the studio/indie coin, but this is the winning formula and when actors
do it well, it leads to success.
This brings
me to Mud, which is an outstanding
film. It’s a modern day Tom Sawyer
(stealing that analogy from my girl, but it works). Mud is an examination of love – all sides of it – and what people
will do for the person they love. It explores the boundaries of how far is too
far, what is too much, and the love of a man and woman from different points in
the relationship. It questions the bonds of family explores the love between a
parent and child, all wrapped in the
story of a boy who finds a mysterious man on an island and what the boy will do
to save that man. Mud is so much more
than words can describe. It’s a wonderfully paced, visually imaginative story
that is grounded in character, with honesty and depth. McConaughey gives his best
performance yet and is the first true contender for best actor of 2013. Though
I think Mud was released too early to
be a serious contender, but it really should be.
Lesson 1. You Can’t
Can Judge a Book by its Cover – Two Mini-Reviews
Josh
I’m usually on the other side of this lesson,
but with Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby you
CAN judge the book by its cover. Actually… you know what… just read the book.
You’ll enjoy it more and at only 180 pages, you could probably read it as fast
as you can watch it. After you are done, you could prepare a book report for
your 9th grade English class and find the EXACT SAME LEVEL OF
ANAYLSIS! One of the many problems with Gatsby
is the metaphor is so very heavy handed, just like everything Baz does (I’m
on a first name basis with him, it’s cool).
The visuals are fun for a while, but when they
totally lack substance, story, or character (which is hard to do with one of
the most character-driven stories in all of American literature), all of the
mystery and intrigue Jay Gatsby disappears. All of subtly of the story is gone,
along with all of the thought and discussion that the novel inspires. Baz
answers every question for you, even the ones that are supposed to be left open.
The 2013 version of The Great Gatsby can
be boiled down to one statement: The
Great Gatsby, like the characters in this film, is pretty and fun to look
at, but ultimately shallow and disappointing.
Jeff
 |
| The Great and Powerful Baz |
As
critics, it’s fun to rip things apart, but the real goal is to look at a movie
on its own terms and to be able to answer the questions, “what was this movie
trying to be?” and “how successful was the attempt?” Looking at The Great Gatsby I can honestly say that
Baz Luhrman was completely successful in his attempt to bring HIS Gatsby to the
screen, and if that Gatsby happens to also be YOUR Gatsby, then the film is a
fabulous success. The trouble is, I don’t think this is many people’s Gatsby.
I
agree with Josh’s points. The movie is over-long, shallowly told, and abruptly spelled
out. I’m not a fan of Mr. Maguire’s efforts, though I can see how he does work
within that time period and within that character. The story is no longer a
mystery, and the film suffers because of it. However, I’m glad I saw this movie
on the big screen and will defend its value if only for the fact that it is
EXACTLY the film that a visionary director set out to make and it is stunning
to see.
Baz
has SUCH a distinct visual aesthetic that what his films lack in vision they
make up in style. I like to think of him as a French impressionist painter, like
Toulouse-Lautrec who was also a character in Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge. He has broad, vivid strokes of color that are a mess
when studied scene by scene, but can create a mood and the surface of a story
on the whole. It’s about the slap-dash and passion of throwing paint against a
wall, and like the impressionists of old, you can easily criticize this
flamboyant, indulgent, dramatic, and ultimately shallow style. But for all that
it does have a place and a power. There were elements of The Great Gatsby that I didn’t care for at all, and there were many
brush strokes that went awry, but when I left the theater I had felt something,
so I can’t write it off. If you want a well-rendered, detailed painting with
depth and purpose, look at Rembrandt or Vermeer, or their film equivalents,
Coppola or Scorsese. If you want a beautiful but shallow flash of excitement,
check out Baz or the painters of his ilk, Monet, Pissaro, and Gauguin.
Box Office Totals for
the Weekend of May 10-12
Rank
|
Film Title
|
Weekend Gross
|
Total Gross
|
Budget
|
Weeks in Theatres
|
1.
|
Iron
Man 3
|
$72.4
|
$284.8
|
$200
|
2
|
2.
|
The
Great Gatsby
|
$51.1
|
$51.1
|
--
|
1
|
3.
|
Pain
& Gain
|
$5.0
|
$41.6
|
$26
|
3
|
4.
|
Tyler
Perry Presents Peeples
|
$4.8
|
$4.8
|
$15
|
1
|
5.
|
42
|
$4.6
|
$84.7
|
$40
|
5
|
6.
|
Oblivion
|
$3.8
|
$81.6
|
$120
|
4
|
7.
|
The
Croods
|
$3.6
|
$173.2
|
$135
|
8
|
8.
|
The
Big Wedding
|
$2.5
|
$18.2
|
$35
|
3
|
9.
|
Mud
|
$2.3
|
$8.3
|
--
|
3
|
10.
|
The
Great and Powerful Oz
|
$0.8
|
$229.9
|
$215
|
10
|
All
Numbers are in Millions and numbers are from of Box Office Mojo.com
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