Cinderella Man - Ron Howard's Film

[Redlum]

i saw this today and i liked it.  if you arent interested, you wont like it.  if you think you might like it and dont mind ron howard, you will enjoy this.  he gets the job done, the cast is good unless you already hate some of them in which case you will find them annoying.  and only the most cynical among you will leave with your tearducts in tact.  damn, times was hard!  but, i really liked it.  obvious oscarbait aside, atleast its opening in june and not december even if that wasnt the original plan.  B

I'm gonna skip the cynics and say I very much look forward to seeing this. Albeit times are dry right now, after seeing the fantastic four trailer and some other piece of junk about some magic plane that threatens to put some pilots out of work. Are the Seabiscuit comparisons worthless? Not that its a bad story but I'd hope there was something new in this underdog story.

[Bethie]

Paul Giamatti steals the fucking show.

Yeah.


I saw it last night. I thought it was Capra-esque. You know the whole 'man on the down and outs and society pulls together for him' type story.

Craig Bierko the man that played Max Baer was in my dream.

[Finn]

I felt the same. It's good, but not great. Very sentimental and old-fashioned. Crowe and Giamatti were the best things in the movie.

[cron]

The Heavyweight



He's an Oscar-winning director, but gets flak for being a softie. With 'Cinderella Man,' it's time to rethink Ron Howard.



George Kraychyk
Heavy hitters: Crowe (left) and Howard on the set
By Devin Gordon
Newsweek
May 2 issue - Many directors have said it's a pleasure working with the famously mercurial Russell Crowe. Ron Howard is not one of them. "Directing Russell is like shooting on a tropical island," he says. "The weather is going to change several times a day, but you're shooting there for a reason. Sometimes those dark clouds are just what you need. And sometimes"—he laughs—"you wish it would stop raining so you can do the sunny scene." Still, Howard insists that he adores Crowe, and if he's lying, he must be a masochist. The men are already planning a third collaboration even though their second, "Cinderella Man," the true story of boxer Jim Braddock's improbable rise to glory during the Depression, doesn't open until June. It's a curious pairing. Howard, 51, is known as one of the most genial guys in Hollywood; Crowe is not. But it works. Crowe gets a director unfazed by his Vesuvian blasts and unintimidated by his talent. And Howard gets from the actor something that his movies, even the very good ones, have often needed: an edge.

To date, Ron Howard has made 17 films—a diverse portfolio of thrillers, dramas, comedies and zero sequels—that have grossed more than $1.3 billion in the United States alone. His fee is about $10 million per movie, which is just down the street from Mr. Spielberg's neighborhood. He's an Oscar winner (for 2002's "A Beautiful Mind," his first film with Crowe) and a two-time Directors Guild award winner. But among critics, cineastes and even some in Hollywood, he can't seem to shake his rep as a cruiserweight—one division shy of the big guns, more artisan than artist. "It's a bummer that it doesn't compute the way it should," says Brian Grazer, Howard's longtime producer at Imagine Entertainment. "There are many directors who get fussed over a lot more than Ron and who have had significantly less impact. But he's just such a no-fuss guy. He doesn't wear all black clothes. He's not Paul Thomas Anderson—he doesn't have three names. Maybe he should." "Cinderella Man," which costars Renee Zellweger, who won an Oscar for "Cold Mountain," and Paul Giamatti, whom we're prepared to nominate right now for his supporting role as Braddock's corner man, is a vintage Ron Howard film. Make that a vintage Ron William Howard film: a humble crowd-pleaser with more intensity and elegance than at first appears. Just like the guy who made it.

During his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes for "A Beautiful Mind," Crowe praised his director for his "honor as a man"—a comment that upended perceptions of Howard as an affable softie. He was now a lion tamer with the blessing of the biggest cat in the jungle. "I think Russell believes the world is divided between guys who are men and guys who are pussies," says Grazer. "His speaking up for Ron was really important. It was essentially him saying that Ron is a deeper person than anyone realizes. It was our Brando going, 'Hey, this guy is good'." Says Crowe: "I get involved in what I do, and that doesn't bother someone at ease with himself like Ron is. He knows I'll never be as hard on him as I am on myself on his behalf. And he's OK with that deal."

While filming "A Beautiful Mind," Crowe mentioned to Howard that he would next make "Cinderella Man" with director Lasse Halstrom ("Chocolat"). When the deal fell through, Crowe lobbied his new pal to step in. Howard, coincidentally, has had a lifelong interest in the Depression. As a high schooler, he made a 30-minute documentary about the subject for his social-studies class. "That was the end of dabbling for me, and the beginning of filmmaking," says Howard. He also admired the story of Braddock: a decent family man and gifted fighter who lost every penny in the Depression, got stripped of his boxing license and was reduced to accepting handouts to feed his family—then jabbed his way back to the top after getting one last chance in the ring. "Men felt utterly degraded in that era," says Howard. "So many of them disintegrated under the pressure. And Braddock didn't."

"Cinderella Man" may be an optimist's take on a bleak era, but it's not the Depression Lite. And its searing middle act should help answer the rap on Howard that he's not gritty enough to excavate the ugliness of real life. "Ron said to me when I first met him that he was interested not in a boxing movie per se, but in making a drama about a family living through the Depression," says Giamatti. The film's most vivid sequence isn't a fight but a quiet, tragic moment when Braddock's wife visits an old friend's massive Manhattan apartment, now stripped bare except for a few chairs and a rickety table. It's arguably Howard's specialty: an actors' moment.

Which explains why the best keep climbing in the ring with him. On his next film, a tiny, under-the-radar thriller called "The Da Vinci Code," for which he was hired by Columbia studio chief Amy Pascal and producer John Calley, he'll direct Tom Hanks for the third time, as well as Ian McKellen. "I'm just not willing to make adjustments to try to change how people categorize me," says Howard. "I guess that's the bottom line. Sure, I notice it. Would I love to be everybody's darling? Of course." Then he laughs. "Although, when you do this job long enough, you notice that it never really lasts." Howard's more concerned with making movies that will.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

[MacGuffin]

Money-back guarantee offered for 'Cinderella Man'

In a rare marketing ploy, the No. 2 U.S. movie theater chain, AMC Entertainment, is offering a money-back guarantee to customers for boxing picture "Cinderella Man," hoping to boost interest in the struggling film amid a record box-office slump.

Advertisements offering on-the-spot refunds to AMC patrons began running on June 24 in newspapers and on the exhibitor's Web site (www.amctheaters.com), AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase said on Tuesday.

The ads, welcomed by the film's distributor, Universal Pictures, say in part: "AMC believes Cinderella Man is one of the finest motion pictures of the year!"

Blase said AMC provides occasional rebates to dissatisfied moviegoers on a case-by-case basis. But the "Cinderella Man" offer marks the exhibitor's first money-back guarantee since "Mystic Pizza," Julia Robert's breakout 1988 film.

"This is highly unusual," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking service Exhibitor Relations Inc. "That's putting your money where your mouth is."

The major studios and theater owners have now posted 18 straight weekends of year-to-year declines in ticket sales, the longest slump since analysts began keeping detailed box office tallies. Some industry observers have attributed the slump in part to a string of films widely regarded as subpar.

Starring Russell Crowe as the Depression-era boxing hero Jim Braddock, "Cinderella Man" has received generally favorable reviews but fallen flat at the box office.

The movie, which cost a reported $88 million to make, opened the weekend of June 3-5 and has grossed a lackluster $49.8 million through its fourth weekend.

Executives at Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., have acknowledged they took a gamble releasing a period drama aimed at adult moviegoers early in a summer movie season awash in high-octane popcorn fare targeting younger audiences.

Blase said the AMC has not decided how much longer to keep "Cinderella Man" in theaters, a decision that Universal said was up to individual exhibitors at this point.

The number of refunds requested since the promotion began has been "minuscule," but no figures were yet available, Blase said. Nor was there any way to tell whether admissions to "Cinderella Man" have risen since the offer began, she said.

[Pubrick]

Executives at Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., have acknowledged they took a gamble releasing a period drama aimed at adult moviegoers early in a summer movie season awash in high-octane popcorn fare targeting younger audiences.

that's clearly not a factor since the "high-octane popcorn fare" is doing just as bad.

Nor was there any way to tell whether admissions to "Cinderella Man" have risen since the offer began, she said.

haha, doesn't that kinda defeats the whole purpose of the stunt..

[modage]

this reeks of desperation!  how delicious.

[Myxo]

Executives at Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., have acknowledged they took a gamble releasing a period drama aimed at adult moviegoers early in a summer movie season awash in high-octane popcorn fare targeting younger audiences.

that's clearly not a factor since the "high-octane popcorn fare" is doing just as bad.

Oh, it's a factor.

Who releases a boxing movie or prison drama right in the middle of the summer? I don't understand why studios can't be patient and market something like this when people will actually go see it. That means releasing it around November or December, right before Oscar season ramps up.

..gamble

[modage]

million dollar baby coming out first screwed this movie SO BADLY.

[Kal]

Or maybe the fact that people dont like to see Maximus playing a super nice guy after making headlines of being agressive...

I dont know really... I havent seen it yet... its supposed to be a really good movie... and its true that everyone that sees it (especially older people) love it. But the marketing failed, and somehow the whole thing doesnt atract people as it should... there is no excuse for launching this movie at this time of the year... its bullshit

[picolas]

it doesn't look like a good movie. if it looked good people would see it.

[hedwig]

it doesn't look like a good movie. if it looked good people would see it.

"That's right, the people don't come because you grandiose motherfuckers don't play shit that they like. If you played the shit that they like, then people would come, simple as that. " - Mo Better Blues

[MacGuffin]

Few Filmgoers Take Theaters Up on Refunds

A handful of viewers asked for a refund after catching "Cinderella Man," while most moviegoers went away satisfied, according to theater chains that offered a money-back guarantee.

Cinemark spokeswoman Terrell Falk said she did not have exact numbers Wednesday but that only a couple dozen people wanted their cost of admission back in the 26 markets where the chain offered the refunds over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Cinemark deal followed a similar program AMC Entertainment offered at theaters nationwide.

AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase said about 100 people have requested refunds since June 24, when the company began its money-back guarantee at 100 theaters.

AMC and Cinemark were seeking to spotlight director Ron Howard's acclaimed boxing drama that stars Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, a film that has been an underachiever with just $54 million at the box office. The film, which has been out for five weeks, made $3 million over the holiday weekend.

"It's in competition with films with lots of special effects and big action this summer. This is a quiet film," Falk said. "The whole effort was to focus attention on what is a beautiful film that deserves an audience but just hasn't gotten one."

[MacGuffin]

Since there are said comparisions to Seabiscuit (which I loved), I'll start by saying that it doesn't come close to that film in capturing what that era was like and how a particular event it gripped the country. But it does well in showing the relationships between the main characters. And that's what made it hard not to get caught up in the underdog story.

Cinematography and sound design were beautiful. My only gripe was the editing of the boxing matches, mostly, the final bout. When a series of shots got exciting, it would cut away to an audience reaction shot or how those not at the venue were responding. It killed the build-up of involvement. And boxing will always be compared to Raging Bull, which this film seemed to have "borrowed" a few things from. However, the shots that showed what was happening to the body internally were awesome.

[pete]

you should give "crying fist" a shot, I'm dead serious.