HOLLYWOOD ON A HIGH - FULL OF HEROES AND ANIMATION!

No signs of recession if the yearly, Christmas day and year-end box-office tallies tell us anything.

Check out the top films  grosses in this Yahoo slideshow or read the excerpted list:

• 10. HORTON HEARS A WHO Total Gross: $154,529,439
• 9. TWILIGHT Total Gross: $158,461,000
• 8. QUANTUM OF SOLACE     Total Gross: $161,300,000
• 7. MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA     Total Gross: $172,332,000
• 6. KUNG FU PANDA   Total Gross: $215,434,591
• 5. WALL-E     Total Gross: $223,749,872
• 4. HANCOCK   Total Gross: $227,946,274 
• 3. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL Total Gross: $317,023,851
• 2. IRON MAN Total Gross: $318,313,199
• 1. THE DARK KNIGHT Total Gross: $530,750,228

To confess, I have seen 60% of the films on the list. 40% of the films on this list are in fact animated (while not in the traditional hand drawn sense still animated) and two that I saw were animated…one is even on my list of the 10 BEST of 2008 (TEASE: to be published here on this Blog in the coming weeks). 2008 was a fun year for audience films but it seems like the critical and thought provoking contenders really did (like the old days) come out in the latter half of the year. I enjoyed and rate high champs 1-3…but BATMAN and INDIANA JONES are my kinda heroes! Daniel Craig’s sophomore outing as another of my favorite heroes, “BOND, JAMES BOND”  was not up to par with 2006’s CASINO ROYALE.  Still it was fun minus the foiled opening sequence. I think the two latest 007 films CASINO ROYALE & QUANTUM OF SOLACE work inversely as sequels in the same way KILL BILL VOL. 1 (2003) & KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004) do. Whereas one represents “the story” the other represents “the action.” But as far as new heroes are concerned you can’t go wrong supporting WALL-E and IRON MAN was a welcome surprise amidst a glut of superhero-themed movies. I thought #10 was OK but prefer the old Chuck Jones’ 1970 verison of HORTON HEARS A WHO to the new one. Both TWILIGHT and HANCOCK  I have heard OK things about but probably won’t appear on many 10 best lists. 

Here’s to a great recessionless year in excellent movie attendance..may you spend your respective movie dollars on only the “creme de la creme!”

The new trailer for the re-launch of the Star Trek film franchise (see below) had me on the edge ready to see it. And it doesn’t even open until May 5, 2009. That is still six months away! As Mr. Spock might say, “fascinating!”  Which begs the question, “why is STAR TREK:TOS (The Original Series) so great?”

I think this trailer shows that even a series with legions of fans (Trekkies or Trekkers), like anything iconic, has the ability to attract a new audience. Maybe Gene Rodenberry’s characters and vision are like Shakespeare and given enough distance can prove that great writing and vision stands the test of time. Or maybe I’m just having flashbacks to the days when WDCA-Ch 20 announced that “Star Trek” was gonna be broadcasting every afternoon. For years it had looked boring to me but all of sudden, that summer, I saw it brand new.

Over the years, I got to meet James Doohan (Scotty) and Walter Koenig (Chekov). I once was walking down the street next to Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles, CA and saw Gene Roddenberry drive out in a Lincoln Continental (not the USS Enterprise). But nothing compares to the day in 1986 when I was riding down the 405 on a charter bus and looked out my window to see none other than Leonard Nimoy -Mr. Spock himself- driving a Mercedes-Benz.

You ask how is it to see the Enterprise crew grounded? REALLY REALLY COOL - like the Earthbound scenes in this trailer! These characters will forever take me where “no man has gone before” - back to my childhood!

I guess what I am trying to say here is that I hope folks - trekkies and newbies alike - will give the film a fare shake. It really looks like Paramount, J.J.Abrams, and all involved wanna please. “Failure is not an option.”