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If you can’t get enough of liquored up superheroes, then you’re probably going to be about as happy as I am to hear the news that Hancock will be coming back for a second round. And by current reports, both Will Smith and Charlize Theron will also be back. No word as of yet if Jason Bateman will be coming back also, though for all our sakes, I really hope so. Unless, of course, it interferes with the shooting of the Arrested Development movie.  Then and only then am I prepared to live without them.

There is no word yet on the simple things, like when they’ll start shooting this, or even what it’s about, but for right now, it’s news enough just knowing that it’s coming eventually.

I’m actually looking forward to it myself, because Hancock was definitely not the kind of superhero you ordinarily saw.  And any time Hollywood can manage to do something even vaguely original, I know I want to be in line for it.

Original in Hollywood is kind of like a comet– you just plain don’t see that many of them.

I confess, I knew when I grabbed a copy of Disaster Movie off the shelf at the local video store (yes, I still use the local video store from time to time) that I was probably in for a truly stupid ride.  After all, I’d seen Date Movie.  I’d seen Epic Movie.  I knew what I was in for.

What I thought I was in for was a cheesy plot that made little sense with a quantity of movie parodies thrown in throughout.  I got the cheesy plot in spades–a group of attractive twentysomethings are having a party when they’re besieged by a series of natural disasters.  What will follow is a series of half-baked movie parodies until they can figure out the cause of the natural disasters and fix it.

And yet, I really didn’t.  I really had no idea what I was in for.  For example, I had no idea I was in for quite this quantity of Mad TV alumns.

Like Ike Barinholtz.  Mad TV fans–all eight of us–might well remember the comedian from his various roles on that show.  And he’s all over Disaster Movie.  He’s got like seven, eight parts that I can remember off the top of my head.  Nicole Parker’s also in on this with three roles.  Same with Crista Flanagan at two roles.  I’m amazed they didn’t trot Michael McDonald out in the Speedo for a round of “Look what I can do!”

I also had no idea that they could fit quite so many movie parodies into one movie.  Disaster Movie really isn’t so much a movie as it is a kind of experiment to see just how many movies can be parodied in a single movie without the audience getting up and walking out.  I think the count is somewhere around fifteen or so.  When a movie can allocate five whole percent of the first ten minutes of a movie to an Amy Winehouse look-a-like (Nicole Parker in her first of three roles) belching and generating wind strong enough to rattle a caveman’s dreadlocks, you know they’re not concerned about things like “character development” or “a strong, coherent plotline”.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t some fun to be had in Disaster Movie.  It’s not so much funny as it is patently ludicrous.  A twenty five year old man having a super duper sweet sixteen party because he never had one?  Ludicrous!  His girlfriend cheating on him with Flava Flav, a midget named Jojo and a Calvin Klein model in the space of ten minutes?  Ludicrous!  Kim Kardashian actually having a speaking role in a movie?  Ludicrous!  Okay, maybe that last one’s not quite so ludicrous.  She actually got top billing on the video box, and that should’ve been the clearest sign something was gravely wrong here.

But you’ve got to hand it to these guys–they tried.  Man, did they try.  They probably tried TOO hard, in fact.  You’ve got Alvin and the Chipmunks recast as some kind of rabid psychopaths, and the last five minutes are devoted to a musical number that’s just…well…ludicrous.

Actually, that’s probably the best way to describe the whole movie.  Ludicrous.  Laughably unrealistic, for those who don’t want to go digging out the dictionary. It’s so wildly over the top that the top can no longer see it with the naked eye.  This may not make for a classic comedy romp, but it will make for a few cheap laughs.  And at the end of the day, is that really so bad?

You know, we’ve been taking a whole lot of new and interesting directions of late with the whole superhero concept, especially as it relates to filmmaking.  We’ve had the whole Watchmen thing that’ll be coming to a head this March, we’ve had the Mystery Men (even without the Flaming Carrot), we’ve had Hellboy, and plenty of others.

But none have been quite so…mundane…as John Hancock, the main character fuelling Hancock.

Hancock, a boozy, antisocial wreck of a superhero, has all the powers you’d expect from a true dyed-in-the-wool-longjohns superhero, but with absolutely none of the social graces or boy-scout morality.  Sure, he can fly, he’s bulletproof, he has superhuman strength, but he’d really rather be drinking.  And even as he saves lives, he does so with a shrugging disregard to property damage, meaning the appearance of Hancock on any particular scene means someone’s going to get their life saved, but there’s going to be a LOT of cleaning up to do afterward.

But when Hancock meets Ray Embrey, the so-called “Bono of PR”, things start to turn around for him as Ray sets out to remake Hancock’s image from public safety hazard / drunken loser who’s above the law he enforces  to dynamic public servant of justice.

One thing you might not necessarily expect, but will get, from a movie like Hancock is laughs.  There is a surprising abundance of funny bits in Hancock, a development that caught me by surprise when I first caught it.  I had never expected to see a superhero movie that made me laugh so much, but indeed, Hancock brought in the funny.

Not that Hancock didn’t also bring in the action–there was plenty of gunplay and lots of good old fashioned brawling going on in here.  Often, the two intersected, and the fistfights brought plenty of laughs while the punching went on.  For instance, keep your eyes open for when Hancock goes to prison.  I haven’t seen a movie whipsaw so quickly between funny and fistfight in a long time.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t some problems here also–let’s be honest, this IS just another superhero movie.  For crying out loud, there are so many of them that there’s a whole Wayans-esque parody named after the subgenre–Superhero Movie.  We’re not exactly looking at a dynamic leap forward in filmmaking here.

But what we ARE looking at is a solid and well-done example of the concept.  It’s funny, it’s action-packed, it’s literally everything a superhero movie should be and probably a little more.  It’s definitely up there toward the top of the heap.  But what you have to consider at this point is, is this a heap to be top of?

The plain and simple of it is, if you like superhero movies, if you like movies that make you laugh, if you like movies that get your adrenaline pumping, if you like any or all of the above combined, then you will enjoy Hancock.  But if you’re looking for some kind of new and innovative experience, then you can just about forget about Hancock being anything more than a crashing disappointment.

There’s a question every successful artist must ask themselves after a certain period: does s/he continue doing whatever s/he did to make successful in the first place, or explore new territories? To change may alienate your audience, but to remain the same may bore them. English director Mike Leigh has built up a reputation of social-realist kitchen-sink dramas. While these are a dime a dozen in the UK, Leigh displayed an understanding of the (usually) lower classes, often through his unscripted character development with talent actors such as Timothy Spall and Imelda Staunton (who got an Oscar nom for Leigh’s Vera Drake). But what are Leigh’s limits? Should he branch out (like he did in Topsy Turvy) or stick to his downbeat dramas? His latest film, Happy-Go-Lucky, asks and answers that question.

The film centres on Poppy, a relentlessly optimistic young woman. Indeed, the film starts with her bicycle being stolen, and rather than getting upset she sees it as an opportunity to learn to drive. In fact, the entire film seems to place poor Poppy in rather miserable situations, from one of her primary school pupils bullying another, to her flamenco teacher breaking down in the middle of class, to encountering a rambling tramp, and so on. The biggest trail for Poppy comes from her driving instructor, the aggressively officious Scott, who constantly berates Poppy for her attire and lack of silent concentration. Poppy, gets her revenge by constantly making small talk, breaking down Scott’s barrier of memorised facts, misanthropy, racism, and borderline religious dogmatism.

At an initial glance, the film is similar to Samuel Beckett’s play Happy Days, in which a woman, first buried in sand up to her waist, and eventually her neck, babbles herself into a sense of merriness despite the misery of the world around her and the people she knows. But while Beckett is highlighting the futility of existence and taking an ironic look on life, Mike Leigh’s film does something different. Every character Poppy lives with is hung up on some issue, while Poppy isn’t. Her optimism, however ignorant, seems to give her a fulfilling life. Read the rest of this entry »

No surprises at the box office this week.  We all knew Hellboy II would be at the top, but still Hancock is not too far behind in second place.  Perhaps Hellboy is a little too mature for the younger audience. 

      Movie                   Gross                      Total*

* in the millions

No surprises here with Hellboy 2: The Golden Army hitting the top of the box office this weekend with Hancock in the number two spot.  Journey to the Center of the Earth came in third, which is understandable by the limiting 3-D theaters; but still, just looking at the numbers, you know those theaters were packed.     The totals are for July 11, 2008 - July 13, 2008. (*millions)

                                                                          GROSS          TOTAL
1. Hancock                                                   $90,760,877     $132,034,444
2. WALL-E                                                    $49,575,487     $144,262,312
3. Wanted                                                     $30,322,560     $100,458,885
4. Get Smart                                                 $17,371,556     $104,362,800
5. Kung Fu Panda                                         $11,839,667     $197,742,899
6. Incredible Hulk, The                                $7,638,975       $127,581,090
7. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl                $6,163,972       $8,689,587
8. Indiana Jones Kingdom Crystal Skull       $5,573,573       $308,227,287
9. Sex And The City                                     $3,992,860       $146,501,747
10. Love Guru, The                                      $3,239,893    $30,861,198
Data provided by Rentrak from Variety

Hancock opened to an estimated $107.3 million from over 5½ days to become the third-biggest Fourth of July opener of all time after Transformers and Spider-Man 2.

         Film                         Gross in the millions

Hancock is Will Smith’s top grossing film on the 4th of July Holiday ever.  The movie about a flawed superhero brought in an estimated $18.8 million domestically. The total surpasses Independance Day $17.3 million in 1996.

Even though some reviewers seemed “so-so” about Hancock, it looks like movie goers are digging it. However, as I posted earlier in the week New Yorker film critic David Denby wrote a postive review.

With these numbers proves Will Smith has the box-office-bang touch.

“Hancock” triumphs the Fourth of July holiday with $41.3 million in box office before the fireworks light up the sky.

The tally goes like this: an estimated $17.1 million Thursday, following carts of $17.4 million on its first official release day, Wednesday, and $6.8 million from “preview” play dates on Tuesday night.

Inspired by a graphic-novel series, the action film seems totally on the mark to go beyond $100 million domestically through Sunday.