cinemashadow

Superstar

Woody Allen took on this same subject in To Rome with Love, and in his wisdom understood that as a comedy, a 20 minute segment in a larger movie, was Sufficient; so the directors desire to construct a feature-length drama necessitated addressing the larger questions of why do we create tabloid “Superstars” and why do we so quickly, revel in their fall?
This film has moments that are laugh-out-loud funny, wrapped in a darker tale containing a subplot of who is really the puppeteer and how much control do they hold over the mess that swirls in the wake of their choices.

Superstar.

Unhung Heroes

Unhung Heroes.

Lone Ranger turns into Loan Disaster

There are films that start out small, opening up on a few dozen screens and then hopefully find an audience and grow- These are small-budget Indi films. Summer block-busters with price-tags as large as shopping malls, that open on thousands of screens, are dependent on box-office numbers taking in more than one third of their production costs in the opening week. Disney’s Lone Ranger experienced a disastrous opening weekend.

It seems as if the talent and star-power of Johnny Depp was not enough to carry this western to anywhere near the numbers needed. With production and marketing topping $225 million, the $29 million the film took in domestically in its opening weekend, sets Disney up for yet another major financial flop, joining John Carter and Battleship.

Now it is still possible for the film to gather viewers and move into the black, but that is clearly a long road.