The Reject Hollywood Stock Watch (July)

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 11, 2007 Share

1. Transformers: “Transformers” got a mixed bag of reviews but it managed to rake in $284 million at the box office through the month of July. I think most of the general public liked it which is good news for Michael Bay. This was certainly a career lift for Shia LaBeouf.

2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: With having 10 days less than “Transformers” to work with, “Potter” made $242 million. Not only that, but I think it’s the best film of the year so far. Director David Yates, normally a TV director, has made one impressive spectacle of a fantasy film.

3. The Simpsons Movie: With just one weekend under its belt, “The Simpsons Movie” has grossed $74 million thus far. It’s also a big lift to the series that the film itself is a really good movie and it may, temporarily at least, quite some nay-sayers who say the idea is old.

4. Hairspray: It certainly didn’t do as well as the aforementioned films above but it is one of the best reviewed movie musicals of the decade (93% on rottentomatoes). Director Adam Shankman, who’s directed such trash as “The Pacifier” and “Cheaper By the Dozen 2,” has put his career in the right direction and new comer Nikki Blonsky certainly seems to have a future, giving an even more impressive performance than that of Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls.” Where Hudson was a supporting role, “Hairspray” is really Blonsky’s picture all the way.

1. Lindsay Lohan: She was in rehab while making “I Know Who Killed Me” and then manage to get arrested for a DUI four days before the movie opened. It doesn’t help that the movie was a total flop either.

2. Captivity: The movie that, according to FSR’s Kevin Carr, “gives torture porn a bad name” is one of the lowest of the low of 2007. Even James Berardinelli gave “Captivity” a zero-star rating. Elisha Cuthbert has taken a step down with every performance since “The Girl Next Door.” She and Lohan are too talented of young actresses to be playing in movies like these.

3. Goya’s Ghost: According to critics, this film is supposed to be the first ever to contain a bad performance from Natalie Portman. Damn, I never thought I’d see the day because she is the best actress of her age. Actually, she gives two bad performances because she plays two characters.

4. Rescue Dawn, Sunshine: These aren’t bad films but they’re having some marketing issues as they have been released in the same months as the first three movies mentioned in the stock up section. Not a particularly good movie, but not a bad one either, Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine” does have some of the most fascinating visuals of the year. I could put Christian Bale’s performance as Dieter Dangler in Werner Herzog’s “Rescue Dawn” in the stock up section. It’s a flawed, but interesting piece on an escape from a POW camp.

Matt Damon in the “Bourne Supremacy”
Disney’s new picture “Underdog”
SNL’s Andy Samburg in “Hot Rod”
Robert De Niro and Clare Daines in “Stardust”
Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan in “Rush Hour 3″
Cuba Gooding Junior in “Daddy Day Camp” (This doesn’t look like the wisest of career choices)
“Superbad” (Yes!)
Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman in “The Invasion”
Ben Kingsley in “The Last Legion”
Jet Li and Jason Statham in “War”
Scarlett Johannson and Paul Giamatti in “The Nanny Diaries”
Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett in “Resurrecting the Champ”

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