Now that I’m thinking about it, “The Vampire’s Assistant” bombed. I mean it tanked hard. You had quite a weekend, American moviegoer: you gave the top two spots to interesting, high-quality fare (“Paranormal,” “Wild Things”), and ignored a slew of crappy, over-demographic-ed new releases. In all honesty, I feel legitimately bad for “Astro Boy” and “Amelia,” especially the former, whose production costs were easily in the $60 mill range. Who thought this was going to work, honestly? On this weekend? They spent an ungodly amount of money on a character no one in America has ever heard of (which would be fine, except they acted as if we had heard of him), and then shuffled the thing quietly out the back door. It was almost like a science experiment measuring failure.
As for “Amelia,” I think you needed killer reviews on that one, and they didn’t get them. We’re all a bit burned out on biopics. Also, if I can be quite blunt here: Hilary Swank does not draw an audience. I’m sorry, she doesn’t, have you looked at the returns on “The Reaping?” Or “PS I Love You?” Or “Freedom Writers?” Do you even remember all of those movies? We’ve already discussed the brutality women have to endure to become a box office draw, and Swank scuttled her chances by starting off playing a freaking dude, before following up with a series of decidedly masculine roles a la “Million Dollar Baby.” That means the men don’t lust after her, and the women don’t want to emulate her. I know, I know, it’s horribly unfair, especially because Hilary is gorgeous and very talented, but it is what it is. If you ask me, she needs to take some supporting roles on higher-end projects for awhile, get her credibility in a good place. Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, these are the names she needs to start getting next to hers on IMDb. Her leap for the top-line was clumsy and ill-advised.
Oh, and also, the following are all amazing:
1. Proem. A resident of Texas, this guy is a very recent discovery for me, but he’s been working in the IDM (intelligent dance music) scene since the late 90s. I love really experimental electronic music, but finding artists that really click with my sensibilities over the course of a full album has been difficult, since the medium is so punishing and idiosyncratic. Proem is one of the first really intense success stories, even more so than big celebrities in the genre like Autechre (whom I like a lot, but not as much). He works in an incredibly ambient space, quietly nudging the music forward with subtle pushes, and sticking in the tonal space between “bittersweet” and “menacing,” without ever committing to either. I don’t think this stuff is for everyone, but a lot more people seem to connect with it than you might think, so I’m putting this out there for you to try. Even if it doesn’t capture your attention like mine, it’s great background music:
2. Flashforward. Yup, the show now has me in full addiction mode. It’s not of the same caliber as “Lost,” there’s something sort of cartoon-y about it, but at the same time the inventiveness with which it explores its massive narrative conceits is consistently surprising. The show accurately gauges real-world reactions to the extraordinary titular phenomena, which is impressive because it can’t be easy to guess how all of humanity would react to blacking out simultaneously and witnessing about two minutes of their future. Those must have been some long bull sessions the writing team pulled to get this thing together.
3. This (not at all for the squeamish). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_8hJsgZSNA&feature=channel
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