Jul 7 2008 Will Smith Shows He's Still Got It ('It' Being the Ability to Draw Crowds with Mediocrity)
It's weekend box office result time!
1. Hancock - In his version of a fireworks display, Will Smith dropped by once again this July 4th to deliver some primal entertainment to the waiting masses that ultimately left them saying, "Is that it?" ($66 million weekend, $107 million since Wednesday.)
2. WALL-E - $33.4 million as audiences flocked to see the riveting trailer to Fly Me to the Moon.
3. Wanted - $20.6 million for the Jolie-Pitt baby fund!!! (James McAvoy and Common probably also get a cut.)
4. Get Smart - A $11.1 million gross, finally earning back all the money spent on covertly adding mandarin orange artificial flavoring to Sierra Mist.
5. Kung Fu Panda - $7.5 million for the Jolie-Pitt baby fund!!! (Jack Black and computers probably also get a cut.)
Jun 23 2008 Weekend Box Office: 'Get Smart' Hopefully Destroyed Chances of Another 'Austin Powers'
1. Get Smart - $39.2 million, because $12 had to be spent on something new, and the newer iPods cost more than $12, and, give me a break, The Love Guru?
2. Kung Fu Panda - Another $21.7 million, thanks largely to Jack Black's fearless delivery of such lines as, "Who da man? Pan-da man!" I'm assuming that was a line in the movie.
3. The Incredible Hulk - Though it earned less than Ang Lee's Hulk in its opening weekend, the film's second weekend has fared better, grossing $21.6 million and inciting cries for director Louis Leterrier to make The Incredible Ice Storm.
4. The Love Guru - A sad, $14 million showing left Mike Myers wishing he could go back in time to write in a joke about how the ridiculously small audiences are sort of similar to how Verne Troyer is also very small. Oh well--save it for Guru 2!
5. The Happening - Still somehow clinging to the top five with another $10 million. I blame trees.
Jun 4 2008 'Get Smart' Trailer Has All The Classic Gags You Remember
It's nice to see some of the classic Get Smart gags have still made it into this updated version. Like the old To An Onlooker, It Looks Like He's Having Sex With A Man Even Though He Isn't gag, and the the old This Man Almost Died In A Gruesome Car Accident That Would Have Decapitated Him gag, and the old This Can't Really Be This Bad, Can It? gag. All the good ones.
Mar 20 2008 Yet Another 'Get Smart' Poster
As the trend of the previous Get Smart posters forebode, the most recent incarnation appears to now be completely devoid of any comedy at all. Sure, the line "...and loving it" is a direct cribbing of one of Don Adams' famed catchphrases from the original 60's show, but when no one younger than an 80's Nickelodeon kid would get the reference, let alone find it funny, there may be a problem. And how can Steve Carell appear so unenthused as he holds the legendary shoe phone?! I begged my parents to order me one during every Nick-At-Nite commercial for it for years. What an ungrateful asshole.
Get Smart Poster [Internet Movie Poster Awards]
Feb 28 2008 'Get Smart' Trailer Earns an Anger Downgrade
The latest offering in the Nick-At-Nite-programming-turned-broad-comedy genre, Get Smart, has a new trailer. Like in the previous trailers, it still looks bland and uninspired, relying on its impressive cast to pull off weak slapstick gags, but enough works that I'm willing to downgrade my anger level from fuming to annoyed ambivalence. My respect for the original series makes me want them to prove me wrong and make a decent film, but I'm also terribly fearful that might lead to a Green Acres movie (starring Will Ferrell and Paris Hilton?).
Continue Reading " 'Get Smart' Trailer Earns an Anger Downgrade "
Jan 25 2008 AM Poster Post: Agent 86 Is So Awkward It Hurts
Based on this poster alone, I would be forced to believe the international campaign for Get Smart is based largely on Maxwell Smart being physically awkward to the point of deformity. How was this even made? I know a human being doesn't look or move in this way, so rule that out. A mannequin, a headshot, and Photoshop, maybe? But even then, the designer must have picked up all of their knowledge of human movement from Mario Bros. if they think this is a possible way to run.
Luckily I saw the trailer yesterday, and I know that, aside from physical impossibility, the movie is also based on jumbled concepts.
Get Smart Poster [MoviesOnline]
Jan 24 2008 'Get Smart' Trailer Missed It By That Much
Thanks to Kyle for sending over the disappointing Portuguese trailer to Get Smart. Despite a respectable cast, I'm near abandoning hope for this. At times it looks referential to a fault, with Carell basically doing a half-assed impression of the late Don Adams. Other times, it feels like they let Carell playing himself to the point that the original character is completely abandoned. Either approach might work individually (and sometimes it does), but together it's a jumbled mess, never committing to a style in the fear of alienating either modern Carell fans or fans of the original series. In other words, it's something like you'd expect from the director of classics like Nutty Professor 2 and Anger Management.
They'd have done better to show off more of the supporting cast. The Rock, though distractingly foreheady, is a far more charismatic actor than the cute-but-lifeless Anne Hathaway, as is Carell's fellow Office star David Koechner. And did you realize they somehow got Bill Murray to play an agent? Neither did I, until I looked it up, yet that alone would have been a far more enticing feature to show off than the wink-wink catchphrases they've pieced together into a trailer.
Continue Reading " 'Get Smart' Trailer Missed It By That Much "
Dec 12 2007 Maxwell Smart Still Communicating Via Shoe
As Cinemablend has astutely noted, anyone even vaguely familiar with the Get Smart series remembers Maxwell Smart's iconic shoe phone. In a time prior to cellular technology, long before Verizon contemplated the idea of mass stalking as a phone-hocking gimmick, a shoe phone was the perfect blend of James Bond gadgetry meets absurdity. Aside from the door-opening intro credits, it's practically all I remember from the show.
There was a time when Nick at Nite was offering a real version of the shoe phone for use in homes, and though I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not (I'm still not sure), I begged for my parents to buy me it. Surely, a replica plot from a 30-year-old television series was the one element missing from my attempts at adolescent popularity. (I would later learn lack of athleticism and infrequent showering was also hurting my chances.) I still hold some resentment about the whole thing.
So it's nice to see that, despite advances in communications, the new Steve Carell/Anne Hathaway Get Smart is still willing to trade-in technological accuracy for nostalgic laughs by including the infamous device. We can only hope that, in spite of the invention of whispering, the Cone of Silence will make an appearance too.
Steve Carell Makes A Call On His Shoe [Cinemablend]
Nov 15 2007 AM Poster Post: 'Get Smart' Has Carell Hair-Lipped
Hey, if I were Steve Carell, I wouldn't mind Anne Hathaway's photoshopped hair in my face, either! Pubic hair, that is! Booyah! Particularly if, like in this poster, it's only the head of Anne Hathaway pasted on an unreasonably smaller body.
'Get Smart' Poster Premiere [Cinematical]
Jul 10 2007 Get Smart Teaser Trailer
The teaser trailer for the remake of '60s classic Get Smart has been released, leaving me at a loss as to how to best express my outrage at what they've done with it. It appears Steve Carell has sorrowfully reached the Jim Carrey level of stardom where he's given scripts that include pages of "Steve acts funny, etc."
I guess I should wait until the full trailer to completely shit on this, but I'm at least going to wipe with it for a while.
EDIT: I put up the YouTube version for easier viewing.
