Categories
Back Seat Producers Season 07 Shows

BSP Episode 202: The Name of the Rose

Hosts for this episode are:

  • Tony
  • David
  • Darrell

This episode was recorded: 10/26/11

Categories
Announcement

Theatrical Review: The Three Musketeers

Let’s just get this out of the way; if you’re looking for a faithful adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic, you should look elsewhere.  It’s pretty evident seeing the trailer for this latest version of The Three Musketeers that this wasn’t going to be like any past filmed adaptation.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to see something that’s just pure balls-out fun, then you might want to give director Paul W. S. Anderson’s version of The Three Musketeers a chance.  I know just saying the name “Paul W. S. Anderson” to some will automatically make them quiver.  I don’t get it, I’ve always had a good time with his movies and I did with this one as well.

As we get started, it’s 17th century France and the familiar Musketeers (Athos, Porthos and Aramis) have had better days.  They now find themselves obsolete with Cardinal Richelieu’s and Captain Rochefort’s guard replacing them as defenders of the king, though they still hold some favor with the very young and foppish King Louis XIII.  Enter a an eager D’Artagnan, ready to make a name for himself as a Musketeer.  D’Artagnan soon comes into contact with the Three Musketeers and through a conflict with Rochefort’s men, they soon come back into greater favor with the young king and eventually get involved to stop a plan that threatens to plunge England and France into war.

That’s a very broad description of the premise which I think is best said as “loosely” based on Alexandre Dumas’ story and as I said at the top, if you’re a purist and that’s what you want to see then don’t even bother.  I’m a big comic book fan and I’m used to seeing creators come in and give new takes on classic characters.  Some of them take, some don’t and I think the essential successful ingredient is at least maintaining some sort of flavor of the original.  Well, the original Three Musketeers always hit me as being a tale of swashbuckling derring-do with a sense of fun and I think that that’s what Paul W. S. Anderson has achieved here.  He’s taken this classic and given it a facelift as a Jules Verne-ish, steampunk-ish comic book that doesn’t take itself too seriously and I thought it was engaging as hell.  Oh, I won’t deny that it has it’s moments of clunky dialogue and borrowing from other movies (an airship battle that borrows heavily from Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan comes immediately to mind), but it’s mixed together with a great cast, a truly spectacular look and a satisfying fast pace.

The Three Musketeers has a terrific look with lavish production and costume design, and well-shot fight scenes and effects sequences.  I saw the movie in 3D, and personally, I think Anderson’s style is perfect for 3D.  While this isn’t the best 3D I’ve seen this year (that still goes to Final Destination 5), it’s still very well done especially with background depth and how the detailed design stands out.

No actor will win an Oscar for this film, but still I think the cast gives it it’s all in just presenting this in a fun way.  On the Good Guys side, we’ve got Matthew Macfadyen (Athos), Luke Evans (Aramis), Ray Stevenson (Porthos) and Logan Lerman (D’Artagnan).  These four just look cool together and I think they all play off of each other nicely.  James Corden plays Planchet, their servant and offers up moments of comic relief without getting obnoxious.  Freddie Fox as the young King Louis XIII also offers up comic moments that are a little more broad, but he still comes off essentially as a sweet character.  Juno Temple plays his equally young Queen and does a good job of giving off an air of regality.

On our villain side, we’ve got Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz (Cardinal Richelieu), the great Mads Mikkleson (Rochefort), Orlando Bloom (Duke of Buckingham) and Milla Jovovich (Milady de Winter).  I think all of them do a fine job with standout’s being Waltz and Mikkleson.  I have to say I was surprised to see Jovovich play a more villainous part, and pleased as well.  She has some great action moments and of course, she’s just absolutely gorgeous in every scene she’s in.

I had a ball with The Three Musketeers. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet it doesn’t laugh at the material either.  It really does have an awesome look that I think works well in 3D, but it’s not essential to your end enjoyment.  Last year, I saw Ridley Scott’s take on Robin Hood and just didn’t like it because it took itself way too seriously and gave off the sense that Scott just wasn’t interested in making something that was remotely fun or inventive.  Paul W. S. Anderson approaches The Three Musketeers in a way that I wish had been done with Robin Hood. The Three Musketeers ends with the promise of an inevitable sequel, though due to it’s poor domestic box office performance I doubt we’ll get to see it.  And that’s a shame, I’d love to see Anderson re-visit this again.  I certainly do recommend this if you’re looking for a fun ride, but if you’re looking for something that’s way more faithful, look elsewhere.

Categories
Announcement Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #58

Amongst the hosts, Tony was first this week with 21 points, Jonathan was second with 17 while Andrew was third with 13 points. Seven weeks into Season Two Tony is in first with 20.57 points, Andrew is in second with 18.57 points and Jonathan is in third with 18 points.

Visit our scoreboard for a comprehensive list of results as well as an explanation of our scoring system. Play along at home, email or call your picks in before noon on Saturday and get on the board.

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are In Time, Puss in Boots, and The Rum Diary.

Picks for the week:
Tony

  1. Puss in Boots
  2. Paranormal Activity 3
  3. In Time
  4. The Rum Diary
  5. Real Steel

Jonathan

  1. Puss in Boots
  2. Paranormal Activity 3
  3. In Time
  4. The Rum Diary
  5. Real Steel

Andrew

  1. Puss in Boots
  2. Paranormal Activity 3
  3. In Time
  4. Real Steel
  5. Footloose

Got something to say? Head over the the Back Seat Producers forum and let us know what you think.

Categories
Back Seat Box Office BSBO Results Shows

Back Seat Box Office #57 Results and Voice Mail

Sorry for the late episode.

Congrats to BD for getting the high score of the week with a 23.

Thanks to the following contributors for submitting voice mail or audio comments included in this episode:

  • Father and Mrs. Beast
  • Scott
  • Tad
  • William
Categories
News

Weekend Box Office: October 21 – 23

#1 Paranormal Activity 3 from Paramount debuts at #1 with an opening weekend gross of $52.5 million in 3321 theaters. Budget was $5 million.

#2 Real Steel from Buena Vista drops from #1 to #2 with a weekend gross of $10.8 million (-33.6%) in 3412 theaters (-28). Total gross to date is $66.7 million. Budget is unknown.

#3 Footloose (2011) from Paramount drops from #2 to #3 with a weekend gross of $10.3 million (-33.5%) in 3555 theaters (+6). Total gross to date is $30.3 million. Budget was $24 million.

#4 The Three Musketeers (2011) from Summit debuts at #4 with an opening weekend gross of $8.6 million in 3017 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#5 The Ides of March from Sony drops from #4 to #5 with a weekend gross of $4.8 million (-31.7%)in 2042 theaters (-157). Total gross to date is $29.1 million. Budget is unknown.

#6 Dolphin Tale from Warner Brothers drops from #5 to #6 with a weekend gross of $4.2 million (-32.3%) in 2828 theaters (-458). Total gross to date is $64.4 million. Budget was $37 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 Moneyball drops from #6 to #7 with a weekend gross of $3.9 million (-27.0%) in 2353 theaters (-487). Total gross to date is $63.6 million. Budget was $50 million.

#8 Johnny English Reborn debuts at #8 with an opening weekend gross of $3.8 million in 1552 theaters. Budget was $45 million.

#9 The Thing (2011) drops from #3 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.0 million (-63.9%) in 2995 theaters (-1). Total gross to date is $14.0 million. Budget is unknown.

#10 50/50 drops from #7 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.8 million (-33.4%) in 1932 theaters (-459). Total gross to date is $28.8 million. Budget was $8 million.

#11 Courageous drops from #8 to #11 with a weekend gross of $2.4 million (-24.5%) in 1195 theaters (-19). Total gross to date is $24.9 million. Budget was $2 million.

#12 The Big Year drops from #9 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.6 million (-48.3%) in 2150 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $6.0 million. Budget is unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $109.3 million (+42.0%).

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are In Time, Puss in Boots, and The Rum Diary.

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #19: The Three Musketeers (2011)

Hosting

  • Sam
  • Scott

Recorded 10/24/11 on whatever the steampunk equivalent to a mp3 voice recorder is.

Categories
Back Seat Producers Season 07 Shows

BSP Episode 201: The Machinist

Your Producers for this episode are:

  • Tony
  • David
  • Darrell

This episode was recorded 10/19/11.

Categories
Text Reviews Theatrical Review

Theatrical Review: Paranormal Activity 3

Paramount Pictures certainly knows when they have a good thing.  Two years ago, the first Paranormal Activity took audiences by storm and the studio was quick to follow it up with last year’s terrific Paranormal Activity 2, which also did quite well.  So of course it was clear, a third was going to be made and I suspect a fourth will be coming as well.

The one bad part about this is that Paranormal Activity 3 is (just like the second one) strictly for those that have followed this series. If you’re planning to see this without seeing the other two movies, then you’ll probably be lost.

In it’s promotion, this has been pretty clearly set up to be a prequel to both films.  It certainly is that.  I’m only going to describe what this is about in the broadest of ways, which is to say that this is about the origins of why the sisters Katie and Kristi have all of this weirdness that affects them.

After a quick introduction seeing the adult Katie and Kristi discovering a bunch of of video tapes taken of them in their childhood, the rest of the action of the film moves to 1988.  Katie and Kristi are small children living with their mom and her boyfriend, who just happens to be a videographer.  Dennis, the boyfriend is making a sex tape of himself and the girl’s mother, Julie, when a supposed earthquake hits.  After this has happened, Dennis reviews the tape and thinks that he sees a figure amidst the dust.  He’s naturally curious and now wants to investigate this further.  He does this by first setting up two video cameras in the house and eventually adds a third, and of course, hi-jinks ensue.

Like the previous films in the series, this uses “found footage” with this footage being entirely on videotape.  While all of the films use handheld footage, the discoveries are mostly confined to the footage used with stationary cameras.  With the first film, it was with one camera.  With the second, we had six cameras.  Paranormal Activity 3 uses three cameras and one of them is very inventive.  Dennis decides that the stationary footage from his first two cameras (both positioned in bedrooms) isn’t enough and so he adds a third.  He has the novel idea of using the base of an oscillating fan, mounting a camera on top of that and positioning it between the kitchen and the living room.  This is an absolutely terrific idea and many of the films best moments comes from the slow reveal of something happening in one room, then panning to the other.  The thing that all three of the movies do extremely well with this technique is that they make you examine the entire screen and always make you think you’re seeing something out of the corner of your eye.

I really enjoyed Paranormal Activity 3 though there are a few inconsistencies with things said in the first two movies.  Now by the end of this movie, some of these inconsistencies can be explained away, but that comes more from the viewer than it does the film.  This is a slight nitpick, but while this is set in 1988, there’s a couple of things that are said that would be more in line with what someone would say today.  It’s not a big deal, just a little observation.

Paranormal Activity 3 is very well made.  It’s paced the same as the others with escalating build-ups to a big finale that just doesn’t let up.  The visual effects are subtle and seamless.  All of the performances are terrific, in particular that of young Jessica Tyler Brown who plays the young Kristi.  Lauren Bittner (Julie), Christopher Nicholas Smith (Dennis) and Chloe Csengery (the young Katie) all do fine work as well and certainly keep this moving.  Keeping continuity with the other films, Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden and Brian Boland all reprise their roles during the introduction as the adult Katie and Kristi and Kristi’s husband, Daniel.

One thing that I’ve seen a few complain about is that none of the footage of the trailer actually shows up in the movie.  I applaud this for this type of film.  Everything that’s shown in the trailer still plays to what you can expect in the film regarding it’s overall flavor, but everything else is a big surprise.  When you see so many trailers that actually ruin things for some movies, this sort of marketing (for this type of film) is certainly welcome.

Paranormal Activity 3 is quite a bit of fun, and just falls a little short of the other two movies due to a few story inconsistencies.  Even though those can be explained away, it would’ve been better had they actually done so in the film itself rather than me coming up with my own solution.  Now I don’t necessarily think coming to my own reasons for this is necessarily a bad thing, but because of the matter of fact nature this uses with it’s found footage, it would certainly be more in line if those explanations were right there on-screen.  Regardless of that, Paranormal Activity 3 still succeeds at being quite the effective horror film and it’s ending is absolutely terrific.  Highly recommend, but only if you’ve seen the first two movies.

Categories
Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #57

Amongst the hosts, Andrew was first this week with 21 points while Tony and Jonathan tied for second with 16 points. Six weeks into Season Two Tony is in first with 20.5 points, Andrew is in second with 19.5 points and Jonathan is in third with 18.17 points.

Visit our scoreboard for a comprehensive list of results as well as an explanation of our scoring system. Play along at home, email or call your picks in before noon on Saturday and get on the board.

New movies debuting in wide release this weekend are Johnny English Reborn, The Mighty Macs, Paranormal Activity 3 and The Three Musketeers (2011).

Picks for the week:
Tony

  1. Paranormal Activity 3
  2. The Three Musketeers (2011)
  3. Real Steel
  4. Footloose (2011)
  5. The Ides of March

Andrew

  1. The Three Musketeers (2011)
  2. Paranormal Activity 3
  3. Real Steel
  4. Footloose (2011)
  5. Johnny English Reborn

Jonathan

  1. Paranormal Activity 3
  2. The Three Musketeers (2011)
  3. Footloose (2011)
  4. Real Steel
  5. The Thing (2011)

Got something to say? Head over the the Back Seat Producers forum and let us know what you think.

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #18: Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter

In the Backseat:

  • Sam
  • Scott

Recorded 10/17/11