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CNN Saturday Morning News

Films Battle at Box Office This Weekend

Aired March 02, 2002 - 08:47   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A film about the Vietnam War starring Mel Gibson does battle at the box office this weekend.

Joining us to talk about what's hot and what's not on the big screen and the latest Oscar buzz, of course, Paul Clinton, movie reviewer for cnn.com. He's in our L.A. bureau -- Paul, good to see you.

PAUL CLINTON, CNN.COM: How are you, Kyra? Good seeing you.

PHILLIPS: Hey, I can't wait to see this Mel Gibson movie. Is this just a hot number or what?

CLINTON: It's a really good movie. I was prepared not to particularly like it. I am of an age where the Vietnam War was going to, you know, really affect me. I had a high draft number, thank goodness. But it was, it's a really good movie. I was really surprised.

What really helps it, it takes place in 1965, before it became a "bad war." And it is really, really moving. And one of the thing is that it involves the people back home, the wives and the families, and also the men in the field in the battle. And it's really, really gritty, horrifying battle scenes along the lines of "Black Hawk Down" and "Saving Private Ryan."

It's based on a 1992 book by Colonel Hal Moore, he was a colonel at the time -- he retired as a general -- and journalist Joe Galloway. And it's very, very moving. It's very graphic, very violent. But Mel really carries it off.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's take...

CLINTON: He's a great actor.

PHILLIPS: Let's take a little sound full here.

CLINTON: OK.

PHILLIPS: Let's see if we can get a little bit of Mel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today ordered to Vietnam War, 125,000 men. Additional forces will be needed later.

MEL GIBSON: A determined enemy. I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear before you and before almighty god, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field and I will be the last to step off and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Definitely the mantra for every soldier, especially a soldier at war. Boy, he's pretty powerful.

CLINTON: He's something else. He really is a major movie star. He's a great guy, too. He's really nice. But there's something really ironic about him playing this role because he really, he was born in Peekskill, New York. He was not born in Australia. And his father moved the family to Australia in 1968 and one of the reasons was he didn't want his sons getting drafted into the Vietnam War.

So it's sort of ironic that he's playing this role. He spent a lot of time, though, with Colonel Moore and he really nails the part. And the two of them have a lot in common. They're both devout Roman Catholics. They're both married to the same woman that they've always been married to. Moore has five kids, Mel has seven. So they had a lot in common. And he really nails this. It's a very, very good movie.

PHILLIPS: I love flicks like this. I can't wait to go see it. All right, let's talk about the next one here, "Queen of the Damned." Of course, this was getting a lot of attention. Aaliyah, the singer/actress who was killed in the plane crash, her brother was brought in to finish the track, right, the narrative?

CLINTON: Yes, she, he came in to do some of the lopping and fill in some of the gaps in terms of her dialogue. It just doesn't make it. It's really, really stupid. It's an Anne Rice book, of course, of the vampire chronicles. But...

PHILLIPS: So read the book, don't see the movie?

CLINTON: Yes, read the book, don't see the movie. I mean it's really ridiculous and it's all special effects and it's all, everything, every mummy special effect you've ever seen, people crumbling, things blowing up over and over and over again. And it's just, you know, a vampire becoming a rock star.

Now he's, you know, skinny and hairless and doesn't wear a shirt half the time and he only lives at night and doesn't live in the daytime. He has all these groupies, so I'm not sure what the difference is between a rock star and a vampire. But it's just not worth your time.

PHILLIPS: All right, "Dragonfly" with Kevin Costner. I saw the trailer for this, a little creepy.

CLINTON: It is very creepy and bottom line, it's just, it's a bad movie. It's directed by the same guy that did "Patch Adams" and all the gooey stuff he had left over from "Patch Adams" he's now throwing into this. And "Patch Adams" also deals with kids dying of cancer. And in this movie Kevin's wife is a pediatrician/oncologist and she gets killed and she communicates with Kevin through her dying kid's -- the patients that are dying. So this director has an obsession with kids dying of cancer and I think he should get over it.

It's a really, really bad movie. And Kevin should really start taking a page out of Bruce Willis' book where he would do better to be in a movie with an ensemble, with a good strong role instead of playing the big center stage movie star in every movie.

PHILLIPS: All right, we don't have time to talk about "Crossroads," but you say good things about that. That's the Britney Spears flick. You say...

CLINTON: She's not that bad. She really isn't.

PHILLIPS: You say she's pretty charming. OK. "40 Days, 40 Nights," OK, I was so disappointed. Josh Hartnett is such a fox, OK? He's the hottest thing going right now, "Black Hawk Down." What is up with this movie?

CLINTON: It is stupid. It's a one joke pony and it is -- the joke is over in about 20 seconds. And it just goes on and on. It really is dumb. I mean it is aimed like a heat seeking missile at its demographic audience, and trust me, it's not you and it's not me. It, he's going without sex for 40 days and 40 nights and if that, you know, that's his goal, cut to the chase and get married, you know? You don't want -- it's just horrible.

PHILLIPS: Yes, bomb.

CLINTON: At one point he's supposed to be aroused and going through the office and he doesn't know it. Well, trust me, that can't happen.

PHILLIPS: We all know when we're aroused.

All right, moving right along, Oscars, campaigning of the Oscars. You had a couple things to say about this that I thought were pretty interesting, kind of save everything, all the good movies are saved for the end of the year? I never really knew this.

CLINTON: Yes, they save the movies, the good ones, for November and December because they don't trust the Academy to have any kind of memory, although that has not always been the case. With "Moulin Rouge," it was released very early and went on to win. And the same with "American Beauty."

But the studios spend more and more money every single year on the Oscar campaign and the bottom line is money because a movie can make $30 million after it's nominated, and especially the best picture. That's the big, big one. And I think there's a real battle going on right now between Miramax and Universal. Miramax has got "In The Bedroom" and Universal has "Beautiful Mind" and apparently somebody from Miramax leaked to the press that "Beautiful Mind" was not true to the book and the fact that they glossed over Nash's -- basically, the fact that he divorced his wife and then remarried, and trying to trash the movie.

And then Miramax has put out talking points to the stars that are in the film saying don't say this and say this and don't call it the little movie that could.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. The gossip, the gossip. Good. It just doesn't stop, does it, Paul?

CLINTON: And it's all about money, the bottom line.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

CLINTON: That's all it is. And the Oscars began as a publicity stunt by Louis B. Mayer and it's still a publicity stunt.

PHILLIPS: Paul Clinton...

CLINTON: That's what it's all about.

PHILLIPS: ... cnn.com. Thank you so much for your honesty and straightforwardness this morning. We appreciate it.

CLINTON: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.

CLINTON: All right.

PHILLIPS: Well, for more of Paul Clinton's reviews and the latest entertainment news, log onto cnn.com. It won't be boring, I promise. AOL keyword is CNN. And be sure to check out our Academy Awards special, "The Inside the Envelope Game." It allows you to pick the winners in every category and have a chance at winning a home theater system.

And you can catch more on Josh Hartnett and Mel Gibson later on CNN. They'll be featured on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" with Paula Zahn. Reba McEntire, Lauren Ambrose and Grammy award winners the Soggy Bottom Boys will also be profiled. "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" airs today at 11:00 Eastern time.

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