Email here for additions & corrections.

The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
The Fox
(Rydell, 1967)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)
Mike's Murder
(Bridges, 1984)
Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
'Doc'
(Perry, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing
(Pakula, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Running on Empty
(Lumet, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Men Don't Leave
(Brickman, 1990)
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

July 30

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Charlie St. Cloud

The Concert

Dinner for Shmucks

The Dry Land

The Extra Man

Get Low

Helen

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel

Smash His Camera

What's the Matter with Kansas?

Who Killed Nancy

Bad Timing?

email this story
read comments (18)
post a comment

"I'd also argue that Duplicity hit the zeitgeist slightly wrong," Variety's Anne Thompson wrote on 4.2. "Greenlit before the recession, the movie painted a portrait of rapacious uncaring corporations and workaholic ambitious untrusting spies that may have cut just a little too close to the bone at a time when anxious Americans are seeking escape, fun and comfort.

"[Director-writer Tony] Gilroy is a smart cookie whose next film I look forward to seeing. While he has every right to chase Hollywood budgets and status, I'd prefer to see him go back to the Michael Clayton model: lower budget, stars at a cut-rate price, and the freedom to throw off the shackles of trying to please the suits."

Sure Thing<< previous | next >>Frank-Out

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 4, 2009 at 12:07 PM

comment #1

Chase Kahn says ...

"Americans are seeking escape, fun and comfort".

Fast & Furious $30 million of Friday...

Posted by Chase Kahn at April 4, 2009 12:50 PM

comment #2

MickTravisMcGee says ...

Jesus, $30 mil in one day?

I don't want to live on this planet with these people anymore.

Posted by MickTravisMcGee at April 4, 2009 1:04 PM

comment #3

Arran says ...

Of course, it's impossible that people simply thought "that movie doesn't look appealing to me, let's see something else". No, it has to do with the zeitgeist.

Posted by Arran at April 4, 2009 2:39 PM

comment #4

mjevons says ...

here is why it failed: no stars (roberts is over). Clive is headed for cable or harry potter. too smart for its own good. lame ending. no one cares. what a waste of 60-80 mill. state of play is the next bomb.

Posted by mjevons at April 4, 2009 3:16 PM

comment #5

MAGGA says ...

Speaking of bad timing, is Don Murphy reading these boards and if so, what are the chances of him allowing a couple'a young writers with an idea on the level of groundhog day and a script as tight as Back To The Future to spend all the money they have in the world to buy a ticket to Hollywood to try to convince him to make the movie and actually get a meeting? Like, 15 minutes? Anyway, back to Tony Gilroy, maybe he has had the success he needed and rested on his laurels, unlike what two people with an idea on the level of groundhog day and a script as tight as Back To The Future would do if Don Murphy was actually reading this thread.

Posted by MAGGA at April 4, 2009 7:45 PM

comment #6

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

The trailers and ads were wank. It looked shit. Regardless of the end product, it looked like shit so nobody went to see it.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at April 4, 2009 7:46 PM

comment #7

MAGGA says ...

"Of course, it's impossible that people simply thought "that movie doesn't look appealing to me, let's see something else". No, it has to do with the zeitgeist."

The most contradictory statement ever.

Posted by MAGGA at April 4, 2009 7:56 PM

comment #8

MAGGA says ...

And the zeitgeist is with Don Murphy if he reads this post and realizes it's significance.

Posted by MAGGA at April 4, 2009 7:57 PM

comment #9

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I'd purchase your pitch, MAGGA. Unfortunately I'm not Don Murphy though. I am, however, Jerry Bruckheimer.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at April 4, 2009 8:00 PM

comment #10

MAGGA says ...

I love your name, BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey.

Posted by MAGGA at April 4, 2009 8:07 PM

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

Mick: If they turn Transformers 2 into a disappointment, I'll let it slide.

mjevons: If you want to be realistic, the only movie which made money solely on Roberts' name was Erin Brokovich. And most of her mid-90s stuff tended to bomb fairly frequently. So she was only a star in the sense that she could milk that wholesome Madonna persona better than other actresses. But she can't branch out into darker territory as well as other actresses, and that's kind of what audiences expect nowadays. And so no one's going to buy her as a con artist, which is probably what hurt Duplicity more than anything else.

Posted by D.Z. at April 4, 2009 9:51 PM

comment #12

D.Z. says ...

Anyway, congrats to Justin Lin for his first big hit and #1 opening weekend.

Posted by D.Z. at April 5, 2009 3:42 PM

comment #13

Gordon27 says ...

shut the fuck up, you stupid piece of shit.

"the only movie which made money solely on Roberts' name was Erin Brokovich."

Because everybody went to see 'My Best Friend's Wedding' for Dermot Mulrooney, and as for 'Sleeping With The Enemy', the crowd was coming mainly because it was a rip-off of a Chinese movie, "DZ is a Fucking Moron" (loosely translated title).

Posted by Gordon27 at April 5, 2009 8:10 PM

comment #14

Gordon27 says ...

And the reason nobody is going to see it is because it's even dumber than the trailer made it look, and has what it certain to be the stupidest and most nonsensical twist of the moviegoing year.

Posted by Gordon27 at April 5, 2009 8:11 PM

comment #15

D.Z. says ...

Gordon: "Because everybody went to see 'My Best Friend's Wedding' for Dermot Mulrooney,"

The ladies went for Roberts, the guys went for Diaz.

"and as for 'Sleeping With The Enemy', the crowd was coming mainly because it was a rip-off of a Chinese movie"

They probably went because it was cashing in on Fatal Attraction.

Posted by D.Z. at April 5, 2009 8:17 PM

comment #16

Gordon27 says ...

DZ: You are, with no hyperbole or metaphor, a miserably stupid piece of shit.

Posted by Gordon27 at April 5, 2009 8:25 PM

comment #17

actionman says ...

Duplicity was smart entertainment for people who like to actively engage their brains while watching a movie. Sadly, there aren't too many of us left. The comments in this thread are embarrassing.

Posted by actionman at April 6, 2009 6:06 AM

comment #18