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Psychotic Reactions

-- John Shea

12 August, 2003

I guess it's time to talk about the weekend box office again. I have to tell you though, this kind of talk is exhausting. Despite an education in economics, I can't find much enthusiasm for talk of box office numbers. To me the thrill is in the movies themselves. Whether they find an audience or not is a side issue and that's where I'd like to keep it from now on. There are people talking at great length as to what it means that S.W.A.T. opened in first with $37.4 million and that Freaky Friday opened in second with $22 million. Am I shocked in any way by either film's success? Nope. That's a business issue and at the end of the summer, my interest in the topic is waning badly. The big numbers start showing up in May and by August, the will to care just isn't there anymore. My eyes glaze over and I stifle a yawn. Let's just leave it at those two numbers this week. Maybe in a few weeks I can find the interest to talk about this again but right now I've had enough.

To me, the most interesting thing about S.W.A.T. is that it has generally been well received by critics. Not a home run mind you but a solid single. I reviewed the script a while back and felt that the script was one of the weakest I had ever reviewed. But at the same time I fet that it was so vaguely written that solid direction and acting could salvage the project into something pretty watchable. That would seem to mean that Clarke Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell earned their paychecks.

There's an article on ABC News' website about the growing discontent with the MPAA's ratings system. The article comes from the angle of groups who have formed their own ratings systems to try and provide parents a more useful barometer of film content. Amusingly, the article finds support for the MPAA's system in the MPAA itself and in single people with no kids. In other words, the only people pleased with the system are people it isn't intended to be helping. I've said my peace about how I would overhaul the system but when it comes to groups rating movies for content on their own, I think hands down the best belongs to ScreenIt.com. The site breaks down the movies by category such as sex, violence or drug use. It lists how much of each can be found in the film and then provides detailed explanations. The site is almost clinical in its approach and comes from no religious angle so the review is as simple or detailed as anyone could want when deciding if the movie is appropriate for kids. Don't expect any such effort from the MPAA though. Quality information like this just can't be boiled down to a couple letters on the bottom of a movie poster.

News

The Crash Detectives: Barry Levinson is considering directing this film for Stratus Films and Angry Films. The movie is based on a New Yorker article about National Transportation Safety Board investigators who try and determine the cause of plane crashes. The story follows one such investigator who gets emotionally involved in one such investigation of a jet crash over the Atlantic with no survivors. He is fueled by his failure to solve a similar case years earlier. (The Hollywood Reporter)

The Lookout: DreamWorks is busily courting David Fincher (Fight Club, Panic Room) to direct their project. The story is that of a young man rendered somewhat disabled by short term memory loss suffered as a result of a car crash. A local gangster recruits him to help rob a bank. The script was written by Scott Frank and has drawn interest from a laundry list of A-list types. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Casting Couch

Into the Blue: Paul Walker (2Fast 2Furious) has taken the lead role in the John Stockwell directed thriller Into the Blue. Written by Matt Johnson, the film will be about a group of divers who uncover a sunken plane loaded with illegal cargo. That draws the attention of a drug lord and chaos ensues. The MGM production gets under way in October. (The Hollywood Reporter)

RIP

Gregory Hines, the classy and ultra talented dancer passed away on Saturday. He had been fighting cancer for some time before succumbing at age 57. He was dancing since he was a child and it led to amazing success on Broadway, followed by a successful run in movies like The Cotton Club, White Heat and Running Scared. He also had his own sitcom and recently a recurring role on Will and Grace.

I rarely mention sports here but I simply cannot go without mentioning the death of Herb Brooks in a car accident yesterday. Brooks was the head coach of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team that stunned the world by beating the Soviet team on their way to winning gold and becoming known as the Miracle on Ice. Brooks managed in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Star, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguin. He returned to coach the US Olympic team last year at the 2002 Salt Lake winter games, leading them to a silver medal. He was known as a master motivator, hand picking his teams and then getting more out of each player than anyone expected. It's hard to imagine someone more important to the sport in the US. He started his career playing for the US Olympic team in the 1960s when the sport was barely even alive in this country. He went quickly into coaching and spent the rest of his life developing American players and a system for them to develop in.

I can still clearly remember watching that game. Lake Placid was only a little bit north of us so we followed the whole event intently. The hockey team stole the show though. Hammered 10-3 just a week earlier by the Soviet Red Army team, the American team of college players was given no chance at all. But somehow they stayed in the game and then took a late lead. For the remainder of the game it seemed everyone stopped breathing, afraid to disturb this astounding event. Time seemed to slow as those kids held off the best team in the world. The actual gold medal game against Finland was almost anti-climactic. The American team had already beaten the very best, making the gold medal game seem almost a formality.

Herb Brooks was far more than that miracle victory but the magnitude of that upset is matched by his value to the sport. He refused the spotlight, always stepping away to let his players revel in their victories without him. He helped create a legend and that is how most will remember him. But more importantly he turned countless young American players into stars who could in turn help yet more find their way into the sport. He will be sorely missed.

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