Ten Years Ago: DiCaprio shields his face but wins 1st and 2nd place at box office!

Welcome to the second edition of the 10 year retrospective.

What movies were we enjoying, avoiding and just plain old getting obsessed with ten years ago this weekend. How do the movies released then compare to the movies now? I will also make mention if I see this film in the theatre, and so should you in the talkback zone!

Don’t forget also to vote in our POLL… and let us know which year wins for this weekend… 1998 or 2008. (you can find last week’s article here, 1998 won the poll)

1998: THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, MEAN STREETS (re-issued), CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

2008: DOOMSDAY, HORTON HEARS A WHO, FUNNY GAMES U.S., NEVER BACK DOWN

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THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK

Directed by: Randall Walace

Written by: Randall Wallace from the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas pere

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Anne Parillaud, Judith Godreche, Edward Atteron, Peter Sarsgaard, Hugh Laurie

Opening on over 3,000 screens and with a big budget, this near three hour epic of the classic novel The Man in the Iron Mask would scare off the rest of any potential competition, leaving the MGM movie free reign to be the highest new release of the weekend.

Opening with a $17 million taking (which was actually a big flop), the movie would see a fresh faced Leonardo DiCaprio own the top two spots on the box office charts (Titanic was STILL first place after four months).

The Man in the Iron Mask went about the re-telling of this mysterious tale of a man who was locked up on the island of St. Marguerite in France, a prisoner who was kept in an Iron Mask to conceal his identity. Who was this man? No-one knows for sure but this film would leave us to believe it was the identical twin brother of King Louis XIV because the State of France did not want another contender for the throne. The film makes a compelling case for this (after all, the guy in the Iron Mask most have been someone we weren’t to know about, hence the frikkin’ mask).

It’s not a bad movie but it is hampered by it’s ass hurting length, a young DiCaprio who maybe wasn’t quite ready to do the dual roles (he played both the King, and the titular character) and the almost camp and “wink to the audience” musketeers (often played like a team of crazy drunk old farts by Irons, Depardieu, Malkovich, Bryne) who in this tale came out of retirement to save the King. There’s a moment towards the end of the movie that is plain old ridiculous for what was clearly attempting to be a serious film.

Not as good as Randall Wallace’s scripted Braveheart, but it’s playing with history was interesting though I do think there’s an awesome movie still waiting to be told from this material.

MEAN STREETS (re-issued)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Written by: Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin

Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus, Cesare Donova, David Carradine, Robert Carradine

It would only be released on three cinema screens but the cinematic celebration of Martin Scorsese’s 1973 masterpiece Mean Streets were all sold out, showcasing a historical classic of what would be the beginning of he one of cinema’s greatest ever partnerships.

What a great movie. De Niro, Keitel, Scorsese.
A movie full of life and truth, Scorsese was never able to make New York City looks a grim and dirty as this movie.

1972… what a time to be making movies.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Directed by: Alex Zamm

Written by Al Septein, Turi Meyer, Alex Zamm

Starring: Scott “Carrot Top” Thompson, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Larry Miller, Racquel Welch, M. Emmet Walsh

Listed on IMDB as the 37th worst film of all time, Chairman of the Board follows the annoying Scott “Carrot Top” Thompson as a surfer and inventor who gets to the top of a major company after a billionaire who takes a fancy for him, leaves everything to him in this will.

I’ve never seen the mega flop, but the poster and reviews make it look like a disgrace. Unbelievably Trimark pumped $10 million into this project, and it only made $306, 715 at the box office… but I’m baffled as to why even that many saw it.

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