Spring Break
Winter movie wrap-up
Holiday release dates are important for award nominations.
By: Ben Johnson
Issue date: 1/30/09 Section: Features
In Hollywood, many of the same trends from middle school and high school apply. There are cliques, popular kids and not-so-popular kids, assignments and most importantly, deadlines. Similar to school as well, there is often an unavoidable proclivity for procrastination when it comes to getting films in on time to make candidacy for the Oscars of any given year. This makes the Christmas holiday box office season one of the most important as many studios cram to get their "projects" in on time. This past holiday season was no exception.
As far as big budget popcorn flicks go, this Christmas season featured a moderately faithful retelling of 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Apart from some impressive special effects and dramatic cinematography, the film had little more to offer. In a similar vein, "The Spirit" failed to live up to the prestige and innovation of the comic book it was based on. Fans of Frank Miller's cinematic style are just as well served to wait for the release of "Sin City 2," which is listed as "in production."
In the realm of comedy, Jim Carrey's "Yes Man" fizzled. The movie featured a premise that was far too similar to another Jim Carrey film, "Liar Liar." Beyond that, the movie was simply not memorable. On the other hand, "Four Christmases" and "Nothing Like the Holidays" managed to offer some good laughs. Perhaps one of the best releases this Christmas season was "Marley and Me." Neither a typical Owen Wilson or Jennifer Aniston film, "Marley and Me" evoked as many laughs as it did tears. An extremely heartwarming piece, it was nonetheless perhaps one of the most tear-jerking films of the season.
This particular Christmas box office season featured a somewhat interesting recurring cinematic theme: the Holocaust. Beginning with "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and moving on to "The Reader," "Defiance" and "Good," it seems thoughts of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime were on the mind of several studios this season. All of these films featured top notch acting performances and cinematography thus emerging as some of the season's best movies.
As far as big budget popcorn flicks go, this Christmas season featured a moderately faithful retelling of 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Apart from some impressive special effects and dramatic cinematography, the film had little more to offer. In a similar vein, "The Spirit" failed to live up to the prestige and innovation of the comic book it was based on. Fans of Frank Miller's cinematic style are just as well served to wait for the release of "Sin City 2," which is listed as "in production."
In the realm of comedy, Jim Carrey's "Yes Man" fizzled. The movie featured a premise that was far too similar to another Jim Carrey film, "Liar Liar." Beyond that, the movie was simply not memorable. On the other hand, "Four Christmases" and "Nothing Like the Holidays" managed to offer some good laughs. Perhaps one of the best releases this Christmas season was "Marley and Me." Neither a typical Owen Wilson or Jennifer Aniston film, "Marley and Me" evoked as many laughs as it did tears. An extremely heartwarming piece, it was nonetheless perhaps one of the most tear-jerking films of the season.
This particular Christmas box office season featured a somewhat interesting recurring cinematic theme: the Holocaust. Beginning with "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and moving on to "The Reader," "Defiance" and "Good," it seems thoughts of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime were on the mind of several studios this season. All of these films featured top notch acting performances and cinematography thus emerging as some of the season's best movies.
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