Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Interview With Mr. Moviefone
Aired January 02, 2004 - 10:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is the first weekend of the new year. If it's one of your resolution to get out and see more movies, we have a list of the films you'll want to see first. For that we're joined by Mr. Moviefone, also known as Russ Leatherman. Good morning, Mr. Moviefone.
RUSS LEATHERMAN, MR. MOVIEFONE: Thank you, happy new year to you.
COSTELLO: Happy new year. So give us the list starting with No. 10.
LEATHERMAN: Well, here's what we'll do. There's no really good new movies that are opening right now. It's all sort of the build-up of Oscars, for the next two months. So I figured let's look at the top ten or at least some of the movies I thought touched me. Not in a Michael Jackson sort of way but movies I thought were pretty good.
Let's start with No. 10, "Master and Commander." I thought I was the best $135 million art film of the year. We're going to move through these very fast.
No. 9, "Kill Bill" basically because Uma Thurmond just kick ass.
Eight, "Whale Rider." This is a mystical, beautiful, respectfully done movie with fantastic performances by the young Keisha Castle-Hughes.
No. 7 "School of Rock" because Jack Black, well, he kicks ass too.
COSTELLO: Well, gee...
LEATHERMAN: No. 6, "In America." The best performance of the year came from two little girls, Sarah and Emma Bolger. The were fantastic.
No. 5, "Elf." I thought this was the funniest, probably most heartwarming film of the year.
No. 4, "Cold Mountain," the one Civil War film this year that delivered all the goods, I thought.
No. 3, "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King." Fantasy moviemaking at its very best.
No. 2, "The Station Agent," the best quiet movie of the year. And for my money, No. 1, "Finding Nemo," for pure moviegoing enjoyment. It probably doesn't get any better than this. I just loved this movie.
COSTELLO: It was a fabulous movie, wasn't it? For adults and kids. You just laughed through the whole thing. And Ellen DeGeneres, it really revived her career.
LEATHERMAN: It really did. This movie will get nominated in an animation category, but it's too bad that it wouldn't get nominated in a regular Oscar category for best picture. I thought not only the story was great, the visuals were stunning. Ellen DeGeneres was terrific as was the rest of the cast.
And these were really believable characters, these little fish. So I loved this movie. Like I said, over the next couple of months it's all about building up to the Oscars...
COSTELLO: Believable characters? They were talking fish.
LEATHERMAN: Come on! That's what movie going is all about.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: A question for you. I mean, either they spent a lot to make the movie like "Master and Commander" or they spent very little. Is this a weird trend that's starting?
LEATHERMAN: It's a trend that's been around forever. Either you have these big budget huge epic pictures like "Master and Commander" which is really sort of a relationship movie. It was like a $135 million art film. But then have you the little films like "The Station Agent" which I thought was a fantastic smaller film. Very low budget film...
COSTELLO: What was that about?
LEATHERMAN: It was really a character story about these three people who are from different parts of life and the world and they come together and it was really a quiet movie. It was a relationship movie about them and how they -- it starts Peter Dinklage, as you see right there. who was also in the movie "Elf."
Just fantastic performances. A movie that you go watch and say, Boy, I am so glad I spent my 10 bucks to see this movie.
(CROSSTALK)
LEATHERMAN: So you have so many great movies out there...
COSTELLO: Tell us what the biggest flop was.
LEATHERMAN: Well, I would say "Gigli" was certainly a disaster but I thought "The Cat in the Hat" was horrible, too. I thought that was another really, really bad movie. But we're not focusing on the bad. The new year's resolution is to focus on the good and that will last about a week or so.
COSTELLO: We like to talk about the bad in this country.
LEATHERMAN: We do. I think we do.
COSTELLO: Thank you Mr. Moviefone.
LEATHERMAN: I'll tee you next time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 2, 2004 - 10:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is the first weekend of the new year. If it's one of your resolution to get out and see more movies, we have a list of the films you'll want to see first. For that we're joined by Mr. Moviefone, also known as Russ Leatherman. Good morning, Mr. Moviefone.
RUSS LEATHERMAN, MR. MOVIEFONE: Thank you, happy new year to you.
COSTELLO: Happy new year. So give us the list starting with No. 10.
LEATHERMAN: Well, here's what we'll do. There's no really good new movies that are opening right now. It's all sort of the build-up of Oscars, for the next two months. So I figured let's look at the top ten or at least some of the movies I thought touched me. Not in a Michael Jackson sort of way but movies I thought were pretty good.
Let's start with No. 10, "Master and Commander." I thought I was the best $135 million art film of the year. We're going to move through these very fast.
No. 9, "Kill Bill" basically because Uma Thurmond just kick ass.
Eight, "Whale Rider." This is a mystical, beautiful, respectfully done movie with fantastic performances by the young Keisha Castle-Hughes.
No. 7 "School of Rock" because Jack Black, well, he kicks ass too.
COSTELLO: Well, gee...
LEATHERMAN: No. 6, "In America." The best performance of the year came from two little girls, Sarah and Emma Bolger. The were fantastic.
No. 5, "Elf." I thought this was the funniest, probably most heartwarming film of the year.
No. 4, "Cold Mountain," the one Civil War film this year that delivered all the goods, I thought.
No. 3, "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King." Fantasy moviemaking at its very best.
No. 2, "The Station Agent," the best quiet movie of the year. And for my money, No. 1, "Finding Nemo," for pure moviegoing enjoyment. It probably doesn't get any better than this. I just loved this movie.
COSTELLO: It was a fabulous movie, wasn't it? For adults and kids. You just laughed through the whole thing. And Ellen DeGeneres, it really revived her career.
LEATHERMAN: It really did. This movie will get nominated in an animation category, but it's too bad that it wouldn't get nominated in a regular Oscar category for best picture. I thought not only the story was great, the visuals were stunning. Ellen DeGeneres was terrific as was the rest of the cast.
And these were really believable characters, these little fish. So I loved this movie. Like I said, over the next couple of months it's all about building up to the Oscars...
COSTELLO: Believable characters? They were talking fish.
LEATHERMAN: Come on! That's what movie going is all about.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: A question for you. I mean, either they spent a lot to make the movie like "Master and Commander" or they spent very little. Is this a weird trend that's starting?
LEATHERMAN: It's a trend that's been around forever. Either you have these big budget huge epic pictures like "Master and Commander" which is really sort of a relationship movie. It was like a $135 million art film. But then have you the little films like "The Station Agent" which I thought was a fantastic smaller film. Very low budget film...
COSTELLO: What was that about?
LEATHERMAN: It was really a character story about these three people who are from different parts of life and the world and they come together and it was really a quiet movie. It was a relationship movie about them and how they -- it starts Peter Dinklage, as you see right there. who was also in the movie "Elf."
Just fantastic performances. A movie that you go watch and say, Boy, I am so glad I spent my 10 bucks to see this movie.
(CROSSTALK)
LEATHERMAN: So you have so many great movies out there...
COSTELLO: Tell us what the biggest flop was.
LEATHERMAN: Well, I would say "Gigli" was certainly a disaster but I thought "The Cat in the Hat" was horrible, too. I thought that was another really, really bad movie. But we're not focusing on the bad. The new year's resolution is to focus on the good and that will last about a week or so.
COSTELLO: We like to talk about the bad in this country.
LEATHERMAN: We do. I think we do.
COSTELLO: Thank you Mr. Moviefone.
LEATHERMAN: I'll tee you next time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
