Just between you and me...
...I've hit sort of a creative roadblock at the moment. I've made no bones about still being a full time student in Baltimore, and in the last week or so, my work load has gotten so abundant that my time for banging out reviews has been few and far between. When I finally do sit down to write, at least in the last few days, not too much has been coming-- just a mental exhaustion from the work preceding it. Hell, I've been trying to write a review for the delightful "Lars and the Real Girl" for a good week now and have been struck with all sorts of difficulties.
Usually balancing the blog and the schoolwork is manageable, but it seems every one of my classes has a substantial paper due this week, and of course, it happens to fall on a week with an insane amount of noteworthy releases (eight, if my count is correct, including the "Nightmare" 3-D re-release). Anyway, I can't promise this will be the last time-- though I'll certainly try to do it minimally as possible-- but this Friday (10/19 UPDATE: this weekend), I'm just going to put up an "Opening this Weekend" post with 5 mini-reviews (for "Rendition," "Gone Baby Gone," "30 Days of Night," "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "Reservation Road"), rather than give a complete take on each of the 5. (10/19 UPDATE: since I won't get my reviews up till tomorrow or Sunday, for those of you who need help deciding, "Gone Baby Gone" is without a doubt the movie to see this weekend)
I apologize for the foreboding short shrift-- at least one of these movies deserves a longer analysis, and I might be able to give a belated one at some point-- but this week, the combination of excessive school work and excessive releases will result in a paring down of critiques. To give you an idea of how much work I have to do, Monday I decided to stay in to write an "Aesthetics of Film" paper rather than driving to D.C. for a second viewing of "The Savages" with Laura Linney present for a Q+A. *sigh* No matter. On the positive side, in the last week or so I've gotten to see a few of the upcoming fall releases I've been eagerly anticipating, and this weekend I'll be heading home to New York where (if I have time) I'll check out "Sleuth" and "Control."
To answer any hypothetical questions anyone might have:
(1) The paper is on Jon Brion's "Punch-Drunk Love" score and why it's the perfect musical representation of a character in a film.
(2) The "Sweeney Todd" trailer, while horrifically and incompetently assembled, inspires tremendous confidence in me about the actual finished product based on the footage glimpsed.
(3) "Across the Universe's" $4 million take this weekend in 900 theaters, in its 5th week of release, indicates that there is/was an audience for this movie and it could've been a significant grosser had it been given any sort of studio support (in terms of marketing and release pattern).
(4) Not having seen it yet--I'll get a look Thursday-- I'm saying right here, right now, that "American Gangster" will not be the Oscar contender that many are so prematurely dubbing it. (10/19 UPDATE: Now that I've seen it, I still don't think it's the stuff of Oscars, but I'm not as confident about it as I once was)
Oh, and just for fun, let me predict the #1 Movie in America for each weekend for the rest of the year:
Oct. 19-21: "30 Days of Night"
Oct. 26-28: "Saw IV"
Nov. 2-4: "Bee Movie" (alt. possibility: "American Gangster")
Nov. 9-11: "Fred Claus"
Nov. 16-18: "Beowulf"
Nov. 21-25: "Margot at the Wedding"... just kidding. "Enchanted"
Nov. 30-Dec. 2: "Enchanted"
Dec. 7-9: "The Golden Compass"
Dec. 14-16: "I Am Legend"
Dec. 21-23: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"
Dec. 28-30: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"
So, yeah. Thanks for understanding. Best wishes to all, and long live Tyler Perry (and yes, this post has been overstuffed as a means of apologizing).
Usually balancing the blog and the schoolwork is manageable, but it seems every one of my classes has a substantial paper due this week, and of course, it happens to fall on a week with an insane amount of noteworthy releases (eight, if my count is correct, including the "Nightmare" 3-D re-release). Anyway, I can't promise this will be the last time-- though I'll certainly try to do it minimally as possible-- but this Friday (10/19 UPDATE: this weekend), I'm just going to put up an "Opening this Weekend" post with 5 mini-reviews (for "Rendition," "Gone Baby Gone," "30 Days of Night," "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "Reservation Road"), rather than give a complete take on each of the 5. (10/19 UPDATE: since I won't get my reviews up till tomorrow or Sunday, for those of you who need help deciding, "Gone Baby Gone" is without a doubt the movie to see this weekend)
I apologize for the foreboding short shrift-- at least one of these movies deserves a longer analysis, and I might be able to give a belated one at some point-- but this week, the combination of excessive school work and excessive releases will result in a paring down of critiques. To give you an idea of how much work I have to do, Monday I decided to stay in to write an "Aesthetics of Film" paper rather than driving to D.C. for a second viewing of "The Savages" with Laura Linney present for a Q+A. *sigh* No matter. On the positive side, in the last week or so I've gotten to see a few of the upcoming fall releases I've been eagerly anticipating, and this weekend I'll be heading home to New York where (if I have time) I'll check out "Sleuth" and "Control."
To answer any hypothetical questions anyone might have:
(1) The paper is on Jon Brion's "Punch-Drunk Love" score and why it's the perfect musical representation of a character in a film.
(2) The "Sweeney Todd" trailer, while horrifically and incompetently assembled, inspires tremendous confidence in me about the actual finished product based on the footage glimpsed.
(3) "Across the Universe's" $4 million take this weekend in 900 theaters, in its 5th week of release, indicates that there is/was an audience for this movie and it could've been a significant grosser had it been given any sort of studio support (in terms of marketing and release pattern).
(4) Not having seen it yet--I'll get a look Thursday-- I'm saying right here, right now, that "American Gangster" will not be the Oscar contender that many are so prematurely dubbing it. (10/19 UPDATE: Now that I've seen it, I still don't think it's the stuff of Oscars, but I'm not as confident about it as I once was)
Oh, and just for fun, let me predict the #1 Movie in America for each weekend for the rest of the year:
Oct. 19-21: "30 Days of Night"
Oct. 26-28: "Saw IV"
Nov. 2-4: "Bee Movie" (alt. possibility: "American Gangster")
Nov. 9-11: "Fred Claus"
Nov. 16-18: "Beowulf"
Nov. 21-25: "Margot at the Wedding"... just kidding. "Enchanted"
Nov. 30-Dec. 2: "Enchanted"
Dec. 7-9: "The Golden Compass"
Dec. 14-16: "I Am Legend"
Dec. 21-23: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"
Dec. 28-30: "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"
So, yeah. Thanks for understanding. Best wishes to all, and long live Tyler Perry (and yes, this post has been overstuffed as a means of apologizing).
posted by Rob at 4:16 PM
1 Comments:
This was actually a good article, it's fun to see you writing about your life instead of just the flicks. Your predictions looked pretty solid, too. "Margot at the Wedding"- $50million dollars opening weekend, no less. :P
Incidentally, my prediction about $5mil total for Darjeeling is looking more and more accurate each day... sadly.
You'll have to fill us in on American Gangsta, I may have to fork over some cash to see that. But there's one thing I must know after you've seen the movie... Denzel = Botox? I swear, it's either that or he's got a painting of himself with gray hair and wrinkles in his attic somewhere...
Max
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