Friday, July 22, 2011
COOPER NIELSON WATCH: In recognition of the Friends with Benefits v. No Strings Attached box office showdown this season, New York magazine reviews past showdowns involving rival studios making the same movie at the same time, including dueling asteroid, volcano, bug, magician, Truman Capote, Steve Prefontaine and, yes, dance! films.
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I did appreciate the line from Friends with Benefits director Will Gluck in last week's EW guest column: "The other movie opening (July 22) is Captain America, which, if you think about it, is really just a retread of No Strings Attached.''
ReplyDeleteCenter Stage > Save the Last Dance.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever seen one thinking they were seeing the other? And not realizing you were watching the wrong one until it's a half an hour in and Christian Bale still hasn't shown up? And Edward Norton just is sitting there brooding? Because that hasn't happened to me.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/wYl4RhlI-9A&feature" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is old hat. But for the record...
And there are all these crummy CGI effects? And no real illusion work? Just glittery things and Paul Giamatti? I mean, that happened to a friend.
ReplyDeleteWait, I think you have that reversed.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteHow could they leave out The Truman Show and EdTV?
ReplyDeleteThey ended up being very different movies, yes, but the basic premise for both is strikingly similar (at least by late 90s standards, now, a movie about reality TV wouldn't seem like such a novel concept).
NYMag is incorrect. (And I say this as someone who saw Save the Last Dance in the theater.)
ReplyDeleteThe key difference between the two is that Center Stage was generally cast with dancers with questionable acting ability, while Save The Last Dance was generally case with actors with questionable dancing ability.
ReplyDeleteI've now seen both movies. No Strings Attached wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it might be - a decent DVD rental - but I probably would have been disappointed if I'd seen it in a theater. But I thought Friends with Benefits was a legitimately good movie. Nice soundtrack also.
ReplyDeleteThere were a number of clever cameos in FWB--in particular Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. Emma Stone, andy Samberg, and Woody Harrelson basically have cameos as well. (Though Shawn White's part makes completely zero sense.)
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen either, but on the one hand, Mila Kunis. There is no other hand.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the episode of The Office last night where Pam is explaining to Jim how she's watching this terrifying movie just hoping it'll get better when Sandra Bullock shows up. Jim cannot understand how she confused "28 Days" with "28 Days Later."
ReplyDelete