Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Did you enjoy Hancock? Too bad, Will Smith says a sequel is “definitely” happening, telling JoBlo that there are a lot of unexplored characters in the Hancock universe that would be ripe for a sequel. I’m actually one of the few who liked Hancock, or at least the first half of it. But I have absolutely no interest in a sequel. Unfortunately, Hancock grossed over $623 million worldwide, which solidifies the idea to movie studio executives. But the real question is: Will moviegoers pay for a second Hancock film? Answer: Yes, because all Will Smith films make huge bank.
This Week in DVD: Hancock, Fred Claus, 24: Redemption, and More
Posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 by Adam Quigley
This Week in DVD is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry’s.
Please don’t take the commentary on the movies and TV shows too seriously, as they’re meant not to be reviews but rather previews that include the general thoughts and ramblings of a twice-committed DVD addict. The categories represent solely the author’s intentions towards the DVDs at hand, and are in no way meant to be a reflection on what he thinks other people should rent or buy. So if he ends up putting a movie you like in the “Skip it” section without having seen it, please keep in mind that the time you could spend leaving a spiteful but ultimately futile comment could instead be used for more pleasant things in life. Like buying DVDs.
24: REDEMPTION
After all of the speculation and build-up surrounding news of a 24 movie, it was hard to be anything other than disappointed when it was revealed to be nothing more than a made-for-television prequel to the new season. But hey, after a year and a half long hiatus since 24 was last on the air, fans will probably just be happy to see Jack Bauer kicking ass again. And with season 6 referred to by many as one of the show’s worst to date, this 2-hour special event is a clever way to give the series a clean slate.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Extended Edition “Creator’s Cut” featuring over ten minutes of never-before-seen footage (not shown in the television broadcast version), “Making Of” documentary, “Children of War” featurette, Cast/Crew Commentary, “24″ Season 6 in Four Minutes featurette, Season 7 Sneak Peek – First 16 minutes of the premiere episode.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $15.99 | $17.99 | $14.99 | |
| Amazon – $15.99 | |||
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? 3-Disc ($22.99) includes: digital copy, behind the scenes footage and Rocco DeLuca music video.
Where? Best Buy.
HANCOCK
(Available as single-disc rated, single-disc unrated and 2-Disc Unrated Edition)
By far the most disappointing movie I’ve seen all year, Hancock fails just about every rule of filmmaking when it comes to delivering a cohesive narrative, likely due to constant script rewrites and studio meddling. The premise itself is very intriguing, and for the film’s first half, it works. But at about the halfway point, a completely random and arbitrary plot twist is thrown into play, and from that point onward the film continues its downward spiral of ridiculousness and irrelevance until finally concluding with a half-assed attempt at a dramatic and emotional climax. Not even Will Smith’s charisma could save this poorly-executed twist on the superhero genre.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: The single disc versions include the following featurettes: ‘Superhumans: The Making of Hancock’, ‘Seeing the Future’, ‘Building a Better Hero’, ‘Bumps and Bruises’, and ‘Mere Mortals: Behind the Scenes with Dirty Pete’. The 2-Disc Unrated Edition includes (among the aforementioned featurettes) a digital copy of the film and two additional featurettes (’Home Life’, and ‘Suiting Up’).
| BEST PRICE* | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $15.99 | $14.99 | ||
| Amazon – $15.99 | |||
*Does not include 2-Disc Edition, which costs $22.99 at each of the listed stores (including Amazon).
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Exclusive deluxe ($22.99) has pop-up packaging and collectible lithograph from film.
Where? Target.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Exclusive Steelbook for 2-Disc Edition ($22.99).
Where? Best Buy.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? 3-Disc Limited Edition ($22.99) includes bonus disc “How to be Super: The Users Guide to Hancock”.
Where? Circuit City.
FRED CLAUS
I’ve heard nothing but negative things about Fred Claus, which is a real shame considering how promising its premise is. With Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti in the leading roles and Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin in the director’s chair, I can only imagine the possibilities had this been an R-rated twist on the Christmas film genre (a la Bad Santa) instead of merely being a PG family-friendly entry in it. Just imagine it: weeks before Christmas, everything was going great for Santa… until his alcoholic, sex-addicted brother Fred Claus showed up to ruin it all. What do you think? Would you pay to see that?
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Director commentary and 25 minutes of deleted scenes.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $16.99 | $17.99 | $14.99 | |
| Amazon – $17.49 | |||
SPACE CHIMPS
In a year where we have Wall-E, Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who!, there’s just no room for such an utterly forgettable and dated-feeling animated family film as Space Chimps. Why bother wasting your time?
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session” featurette.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $16.99 | $19.99 | $15.99 | |
| Amazon – $19.99 | |||
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Save $5 when you buy both Space Chimps and Meet Dave.
Where? Circuit City.
MEET DAVE
Excluding Dreamgirls and voice work, here’s every film Eddie Murphy has done since the beginning of 2000: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Dr. Dolittle 2, Showtime, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, I Spy, Daddy Day Care, The Haunted Mansion, and Norbit. After all that, there’s no reason anyone should be surprised by the awfulness of Meet Dave, his latest entry in the “OH GOD PLEASE KILL ME NO I MEAN IT I CAN’T KEEP WATCHING I WAN’T TO DIE SO MUCH RIGHT NOW” genre.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Crew Confessions and a gag reel.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $19.99 | $15.99 | ||
| Amazon – $19.99 | |||
FREAKS & GEEKS (YEARBOOK EDITION)
Talk about a slap to the face for dedicated fans of the show. This DVD set originally came out in 2004 (along with the regular version of the complete series) as a Limited Edition that you could only buy online, with only 25,000 copies in print. It eventually sold out at the beginning of 2007. The fact that it retailed around $170 was ludicrous but somewhat justified by the DVD’s status as a collector’s item. Now though, Shout Factory is re-releasing the set without the “Limited Edition” label, and for the exact same price no less. That’s close to three times as much as you have to pay for the regular edition, and the only differences are the 40-page yearbook packaging and two extra discs of bonus material (which admittedly aren’t much better than what’s available on the previous 6 discs).
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: The first 6 discs are the same as the regular edition, so all those special features are included. The extra two discs include: Museum of Television & Radio Panel, Table Read, Deleted Scenes, Original Cast Auditions, Raw Footage, Mr. Rosso Live In Concert, Photo Galleries, NBC Promos, and Behind the Scenes footage.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| N/A | $119.99 | $109.99 | N/A |
| Amazon – $119.99 | |||
Other noteworthy DVDs available this week…
Bottle Rocket (Criterion Collection) – A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! – Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Criterion Collection) – Beverly Hills 90210 (Season 6)
Discuss: What are you planning to rent or buy this week?
NOTE: Some deals may be in-store only.
“Black Friday” Sales: You can view the “Black Friday” deals for Best Buy, Circuit City and Target over HERE. Scans of the ads can be downloaded in either .zip or .pdf formats.
$29.99 – The Simpsons (Season 11), The Office (Season 4), and more…
$74.99 – The OC (Complete Series)
$99.99 – Sex and the City (Complete Series)
$24.99 – 007: James Bond – Ultimate Edition (Volumes 1 – 4)
$3.99 – Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Reign Over Me, Jarhead, Breach, Underworld, Revolver, The Break-Up, Robots, and more…
$6.99 – Michael Clayton, The Kingdom, Bee Movie, Hairspray, Knocked Up, Blood Diamond, We Own the Night, Semi-Pro, Balls of Fury, The Golden Compass, and more…
$6.99 – I Am Legend (2-Disc Special Edition), The Departed (2-Disc Special Edition), 300 (2-Disc Special Edition), Ocean’s Thirteen, Michael Clayton, The Golden Compass, Hairspray, The Brave One, and more…
$12.99 – Oz (Seasons 1 – 6), The Venture Bros. (Seasons 1 – 2), Robot Chicken (Seasons 1 – 2), and more…
$2.99 – Borat, Road to Perdition, Catch Me if You Can, Tomb Raider, The Omen, The Talented Mr. Ripley, What Dreams May Come, Prime, Undercover Brother, The Manchurian Candidate, Planet of the Apes, Changing Lanes, Red Dragon, Be Cool, Coneheads, Johnny Dangerously, 48 Hrs., Tears of Endearment, Baseketball, Friday the 13th, Amistad, Rules of Engagement, The Ring, The Saint, Serpico, Joy Ride, Enemy at the Gates, The Truman Show, Kiss the Girls, and much more…
Someone supposedly took this photo while a Portland movie theater was in the middle of changing the marque from Hancock to The Dark Knight. Photoshopped or not, our inner voices still laughed like Beavis and Butthead when we saw it. Of course, on the outside, I gave it a rude look of disgust. Thanks to our friends at The Playlist for the tip.
via: Evil Beet
Step Up 2: The Streets Wins Best Dramatic Film of The Year!?
Posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Not that anyone really cares, but the Teen Choice Awards apparently took place tonight. I mean how can you take any award show seriously that has a category like “Choice Bromantic Comedy” and where Step Up 2: The Streets can win Best Dramatic Film of the year?! The show will air on Monday at 8:00pm et/pt on FOX, but we have the list of movie related winners below.
Action Adventure: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Drama: Step Up 2: The Streets
Chick Flick: 27 Dresses
Bromantic Comedy: What Happens in Vegas
Comedy: Juno
Horror/Thriller: I Am Legend
Action Adventure: Hancock
Summer Movie Comedy: Get Smart
Actor - Drama: Channing Tatum, Stop-Loss
Actress - Drama: Keira Knightley, Atonement
Actress - Action Adventure: Rachel Bilson, Jumper
Actor - Comedy: Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas
Actress - Comedy: Ellen Page, Juno
Actor - Horror/Thriller: Will Smith, I Am Legend
Actress - Horror/Thriller: Jessica Alba, The Eye
Villain: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Breakout Female: Ellen Page, Juno
Breakout Male: Drake Bell, Superhero Movie
You want a token joke in this post about The Dark Knight? We don’t joke about TDK here at Slashfilm. Will Ferrell is in talks to star in Two Face (also called 2-Face), a split-personality dramedy in which he’ll play one-part boisterous liberal and one-part racist. We imagine Ferrell sitting in a puffy chair enjoying a small cup of Chai tea, a craft of sweet tea and watching CNN and Fox News simultaneously. A riot!
No director is attached, but the script was written by Vince Gilligan, who scribed Hancock but also created and writes the AMC series Breaking Bad, currently one of the radder shows on TV. Ferrell’s interest in the script goes back sometime, and we’re expecting a nice bookend to Stranger Than Fiction rather than his 50th lesson in wrestling bears/John C. Reilly and belching. Ferrell recently signed to star as Watson in Sherlock Holmes for producer Judd “Attila of Comedy” Apatow, opposite the Borat guy.
Discuss: Ferrell serious, Ferrell funnay, Ferrell funnay-serious.
In this episode of the /Filmcast, Dave, Peter, Adam, and Devindra lament the damage that Joel Schumacher has done to the Batman series, get excited about the possibility of an Apatow-produced Sherlock Holmes, and try to make sense of Hancock. Also, Peter reports on the geekgasm that was his trip to LA. Special Guests include the illustrious Adam Kempenaar from the Filmspotting podcast as well as Andy Sorcini from The Drill Down.
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Since Tuesday, Hancock has grossed over $40 million domestically and is on track to stack $100 million plus by wke’s end. While early word from critics and geeks is decidedly mixed, that’s a lot of moolah for Will Smith, director Peter Berg (his first major hit), and Sony. How puzzling then that Nikke Finke says there are serious doubts circling inside the studio regarding Hancock’s franchise potential—she even compares the film’s buzz to Wild Wild West. Jab, Hook, Jab. With a reported budget of $150 million, Jeff Wells cries Feh if the film grosses $90 mill or less by Sunday. Meanwhile, Diddy swooned and probably received a nice paycheck. UPDATE 2: It’s on target for $110 million. Wells now says he’s “in pain.” Aww.
My take: the flow of flip-flops, Crocs and wheelies after the holiday will remain steady, less steady than I Am Legend, which received similar “third act was wack” laments, but so what? Will Smith’s “coasting” will outperform the equally pricey The Incredible Hulk. And judging from early viewer comments below, “light fun” beats out-and-out hate.
Discuss: So, what did you think? In a summer of superlative superhero outings, where does Will Smith’s gravity-defying, comic-less street gruff fall? What did you make of the twisteroo that’s drawing steely comparisons to the guy who made The Happening? Would the film have been cooler if it was freed up by an R-rating as originally envisioned and marked by the MPAA—click here to read Vincent Ngo’s leaked screenplay forTonight, He Comes. Was the 92-minute running time too short? Was the editing botched? Is a sequel warranted? What of the performances of Smith and Charlize Theron? Does the Hancock storyline/concept cancel out “Demon in a Bottle” for Iron Man 2 as some have prematurely suggested in the preceding weeks? Worth seeing in a theater?
Our friends at MovieMoron bring us today’s edition of LOL: a photo of a real life Hancock. And before you ask, I’m pretty sure this real life Hancock doesn’t actually have any super powers.
In this episode of the /Filmcast, Dave, Adam, and Devindra geek out about some brand new trailers, speculate on the future of The Office, and try to find some meaningful criticisms of Wall-E. Special Guests Kevin Buist from Filmcouch and Eric Vespe (AKA “Quint”) from Aint it Cool News join us today. Have any questions/comments/suggestions? Want to advertise with us or sponsor us? Feel free to e-mail us at slashfilmcast@gmail.com.
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The Day the Earth Stood Still Movie Trailer on Hancock
Posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
I have just confirmed that the movie trailer for Scott Derrickson’s The Day the Earth Stood Still remake will be attached to prints of Hancock, which hits theaters next week.
The contemporary re-imagining of the 1951 science fiction classic stars Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval. As governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor’s appearance, a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her young stepson (Jaden Smith) get caught up in his mission – and come to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described “friend to the Earth.” Kathy Bates also stars. The Day the Earth Stood Still scheduled to hit theaters on December 12th 2008.
Found in the subways of New York City, this Hancock advertisement has been remixed by Posterboy using clippings from Eddie Murphy’s face from Meet Dave. And this wouldn’t be a LOL posting if there werent some kind of stupid dick joke hidden in the website url.
via: Flickr
We we launched the LOL feature, we never thought it would degrade into dick and fart jokes. But so far we’ve posted two defaced Happening billboards which were transformed into “The CRAPening” and “The Penis”. When I first saw this unfinished Hancock billboard before quickly telling myself it was an easy joke not worthy of featuring on the site. Who are we? The Sun? Well actually the British newspaper did feature the photo… And then came the emails. /Film readers suggesting that we feature the Hancock billboard in LOL. So thanks to Oscar, Daniel, John C, and Will B, here it is. Next time we’ll bring you something that has subtle layers of hilarity, I promise!
