Joe Leydon
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - A deftly constructed, consistently engrossing and frequently flat-out-hilarious account of a controversial sporting event with geopolitical implications, "Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang" arrives just in time to serve as a stranger-than-fiction companion piece to "The Interview." Director Colin Offland strikes the perfect balance of bemused spectator and impartial commentator while offering an up-close, behind-the-scenes account of the much-publicized 2014 basketball tournament organized by the indefatigably flamboyant Dennis Rodman in the infamously repressive North Korea, during which Rodman and other retired NBA greats were pitted against a dream team of local basketballers as a kinda-sorta birthday tribute to dictator Kim Jong-un, arguably the world's least likely hoops fan. It's a slam-dunk certainty that this documentary will score in just about every platform where it competes.
Coming across as engaging eccentric, mellow voluptuary, drunken buffoon and political naif, Rodman is viewed with what might be called the documentarian's version of tough love as he braves criticism, censure and even death threats between and during a series of sorties to Pyongyang.
First, he agrees to play with the Harlem Globetrotters in North Korea for the amusement of local B-ball fans, only to find afterwards that, truth to tell, Kim -- affectionately known to millions as the Marshal -- doesn't think much of the Globetrotters' style of play. On the other hand, the Marshal views Rodman as a superstar and all-around good guy. This improbably paves the way for a basketball tournament that Rodman feels might be the modern-day equivalent of the 1970s Ping-Pong matches that led to President Nixon's historic visit to China.
Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" continued its box office dominance this weekend, picking up $64.4 million and steamrolling over everything in sight, including Johnny Depp.
Depp's latest exercise in cinematic oddities, "Mortdecai," left audiences cold, earning a paltry $4.1 million across 2,648 locations and coming in ninth on box office charts. It's an embarrassing performance for a star of his caliber and comes on the heels of box office disasters such as "The Lone Ranger" and "Transcendence."
"Something needs to click soon," said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. "It's a couple of misses in a row and that always stings."
Brent Lang
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - After a record-breaking wide-release debut over the Martin Luther King holiday, "American Sniper" will loom large at the box office for the second weekend in a row.
Analysts didn't see Clint Eastwood's look at the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle coming, so it's hard to figure out just how massive the film will continue to be now that it faces off against new projects from Jennifer Lopez and Johnny Depp.
If "American Sniper" has a sophomore weekend drop-off like the kind of traditional summer blockbuster it mirrored when it kicked off with $107 million and change over the four-day period, it should pull in roughly $45 million. In a sign of its dominance, "American Sniper" will have the biggest second weekend of any January wide release in Fandango history.
Lisa Schulz
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - "The Sound of Music," which earned five Academy awards in its 1965 debut, is returning to the bigscreen to celebrate its half century legacy.
"The Sound of Music" will show at the Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival on March 26, with Robert Osborne hosting a Q&A with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
Twentieth Century Fox has a yearlong global campaign in place for the film's golden anniversary, including a home entertainment release beginning March 10.
Guy Lodge
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Should the recent surge in male facial hair as a fashion accessory stall in 2015, barbers would be within their rights to blame "Mortdecai," a perky but obstinately unfunny heist caper with a hero irksome enough to make any happily mustachioed man reconsider his life choices. Directed (but, unusually, not written) by an off-form David Koepp, the film shoots for the swinging insouciance of '60s farce, but this story of a caddish art dealer enlisted by MI5 to assist in a knotty theft case is Only particularly dedicated devotees of Johnny Depp's latter-day strain of mugging -- here channeling Austin Powers by way of P.G. Wodehouse -- will delight in this expensive-looking oddity.
Eric Aronson's script -- his first feature-length effort since 2001's little-cherished Lance Bass starrer "On the Line" -- is based on Kyril Bonfiglioli's 1973 novel "Don't Point That Thing at Me," the first in a moderately popular comic series centered on the amoral trickster Charlie Mortdecai. Mortdecai's twitchy 'stache was enough of a character trademark to feature in the title of the series' final chapter; while it might be stretching a point to call Depp's daintily upturned walrus whiskers the film's best joke, it's certainly its hardest-working one, serving as the impetus for several long-running gags. (If auds aren't tickled the first time Mortdecai's upper-lip rug triggers a woman's gag reflex, the film reasons, they'll warm to the idea with repetition.)
If that's not much to build a comedy on, it's an even flimsier basis for a character: As presented here, at least, Mortdecai is certainly daft, but not in the singularly absurd way that makes Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster, say, a distinctly human figure of fun. Rather, he's an amalgam of easy-target toff characteristics -- a preening, lily-livered aristocrat of indeterminate provenance, forced to live by his unreliable wits as his fortune supposedly runs dry.
Cynthia Littleton
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - MIAMI -- Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons had harsh words about the business environment he has encountered in Hollywood now that he's turned his focus to producing movies, TV shows and digital content.
"The reality is the lack of integration is deafening," he said Wednesday during a Q&A at the NATPE confab. "The segregation in Hollywood is incredible."
In a candid 45-minute conversation with Variety co-editor in chief Andrew Wallenstein, the Def Jam founder was critical of Hollywood "progressives" who have no understanding of African-American culture, even if they are well-meaning and liberal in their political views. He said he's seen ample evidence of bias in the development process that tends to keep black creatives from working in an organically integrated way with white talent.
Todd Spangler
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Netflix will offer Sony Pictures Entertainment's controversial comedy "The Interview" to U.S. and Canadian streaming members beginning Saturday, Jan. 24, the company announced Tuesday.
As previously reported by Variety, Netflix in December entered into talks with Sony about licensing "The Interview" to streaming subscribers after Starz, which has an output deal with the studio, released pay-TV window rights.
But it seems that the studio wanted to maximize digital and VOD sales first before opening up to SVOD: "The Interview" as of Sunday had generated more than $40 million in revenue via more than 5.8 million rentals and sales through digital distributors like Google Play, YouTube and iTunes as well as cable, satellite and telco TV providers, according to Sony Pictures.
Ramin Setoodeh
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - One of the most talked about scenes from E.L. James' bestseller "Fifty Shades of Grey" -- involving Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele and a tampon -- won't be featured in the film version.
"It didn't make it into the movie," says director Sam Taylor-Johnson, in an interview with Variety. "It was never even discussed." The scene is a memorable moment between Christian (played by Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) on the page. Over the summer, MTV asked: "Should 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Include The Book's Grossest Sex Scene?"
The producers decided if it was best if it didn't. "The book needed to put you in Ana's shoes to be a successful experience," says producer Michael De Luca. "A lot of it was very literal. The movie didn't need to do that. It's a completely different medium."
- Jobs | Cars | Real Estate | Rentals | Marketplace | Celebrations | Print Offers Online | Weekly Circulars
