The first week in March was okay. Madea proved she could still demand attention, racking up the #1 spot for the second week. Bruce Willis didn’t set the world on fire with his performance in 16 Blocks, but did his best as the paunch, police veteran. Eight Below remained steady, grossing another 10 million dollars. And Dave Chappelle had a block party that made its production buget back after one weekend. Not bad.
Here is what’s on tap for the weekend of 3/10 – 3/12/06.
Ask the Dust – March 10, 2006. Rated R (for some sexuality, nudity and language).
Academy Award winner Robert Towne (Chinatown) writes and directs Ask the Dust. Based on novelist John Fante’s masterpiece. Towne’s interpretation of Ask the Dust focuses on a city exotic and vulgar, glamorous and raunchy. L.A. is the city of first and last resort, where all dreams are supposed to come true. So it is for Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell), a son of Italian immigrants who dreams of becoming a famous novelist and marrying a beautiful blonde, and Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek), a Mexican who longs to marry a WASP and shed her last name. In a time when Anglo-Chicano relations hang by tattered threads, Bandini and Camilla collide with one another, fighting the city and themselves to make their dreams come true.
Failure to Launch – March 10, 2006. Rated PG-13 (for sexual content, partial nudity and language). The Tagline: To leave the nest, some men just need a little push.
Paramount Pictures pushed back the release date of this romantic comedy from February 10 to March 10, because its original release was too crowded with new releases. For this romance, Trip (Matthew McConaughey) has never been able to leave the nest. He’s always had some reason or other, but now, his desperate parents have had enough. They hire the gorgeous and talented girl of his dreams (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get him to move out of the house. The comedy has a wonderful array of supporting stars including Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw as Tripp’s parents, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha and Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers).
The Hills Have Eyes – March 10, 2006. Rated R (for strong gruesome violence and terror throughout, and language). The Tagline: The lucky ones die first.
Thirty years after Wes Craven wowed horror fans with The Hills Have Eyes, Hollywood, namely Fox Searchlight, thought it was time to remake the film for today’s audience. With Wes Craven attached as a producer, the remake comes from Alexandre Aja, the goremeister behind last year’s Haute tension (High Tension). The story is of a family road trip that goes terrifyingly awry when the travelers become stranded in a government atomic zone. Miles from nowhere, the Carters soon realize the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually the breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant family…and they are the prey. It should be known that the MPAA made the filmmakers cut the film to get it down to an R rating. In interviews, Alexandre Aja and Wes Craven say the NC-17 cut will make it to DVD. The director’s cut plus two extra minutes!!
The Shaggy Dog – March 10, 2006. Rated PG (for some mild violence and rude humor). The Tagline: Raise the woof.
Tim Allen, much like Eddie Murphy, has moved from his stand-up comic shtick to making kid-friendly entertainment. In 1994, he donned the red suit and played jolly St. Nick in The Santa Clause. He followed that with a sequel and voiced Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movies. His latest his a remake of a classic Walt Disney picture. For The Shaggy Dog Tim Allen transforms from family dad to family dog and back again in this fresh update. The kids, I bet, will be clamoring to see this one.
The Libertine – (Expanding) March 10, 2006. Rated R. The Tagline: He didn’t resist temptation. He pursued it.
Johnny Depp stars in The Libertine as the scandalously decadent John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester. The film follows the Earl’s adventures in London, from his passionate romance with a young actress, Elizabeth Barry (Samantha Morton), to the writing of a scurrilous play which blisteringly and bawdily lampoons the very monarch who commissioned it, Charles II (John Malkovich), leading to the Earl’s banishment and eventual downfall. Not quite the Pirates of the Caribbean, but look for Depp to flex is acting chops and add another odd character to his repertoire.
Romance vs. Horror. That will be the battle this weekend at the box office. While horror remakes are all the rage, I’m sure Mrs. “Sex and the City” and Mr. “Sexiest Man Alive” will attract just enough females to send the romcom to #1.
Best bet for your moviegoing dollar:
1. Failure to Launch
2. The Hills Have Eyes
3. The Shaggy Dog
4. The Libertine
All posters courtesy of www.impawards.com
