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Details: Written by Matthew Toomey; Created: 09 April 2012

I hope everyone has made the most of the long weekend. It’s been pretty relaxing one from my end. I’d seen most of the Easter flicks and there’s only one major release this Thursday (Battleship).

There’s a magazine published in Australia called The Weekly which regularly takes quotes from my reviews. I’d prefer to be quoted for a good film… but I have to find their extracts from my review of Wrath Of The Titans a little amusing. You can check it out here. I don’t think Sam Worthington will be too happy with me.

Anyway, onto this week’s blog and realised that I haven’t done a box-office trivia challenge in quite a while. My day job is as an accountant and so I find box-office numbers more interesting than most. I like to see which films are performing and which ones are, for use of a better word, flopping.

So put your thinking caps on and see how you go. To get the answers to these questions, you can scroll down to the bottom. You may now open your exam booklet and get started…

1. What was the highest grossing film at the Australian box-office in 2011?

(a) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1

(b) Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

(d) Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

2. But all of the abovementioned films are sequels which can benefit from past knowledge and publicity. Which was the highest grossing non-sequel at the Australian box-office in 2011?

(a) Bridesmaids

(b) Thor

(d) Red Dog

3. Of the 9 films nominated for best picture at the 2012 Academy Awards, which one made the most money at the Australian box-office?

(a) The Descendants

(b) The Help

(d) War Horse

4. Which was the last film to spend 4 consecutive weeks atop the box-office chart in Australia?

(a) The Smurfs

(b) Fast Five

(d) The Hangover: Part 2

5. Australian films contributed to what percentage of the total box-office in Australia during 2011?

(a) 4%

(b) 8%

(d) 16%

6. The number of foreign language films released in cinemas has increased significantly over the past decade. Which one made the most in Australia during 2011?

(a) The Women On The 6^th Floor

(b) The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

(d) Potiche

7. With so many big blockbusters being released, it’s tough for any film to stay in cinemas and find an audience through good word of mouth. Of the 2011 releases, which film spent the most number of consecutive weeks inside the top 20 at the Australian box-office?

(a) Bridesmaids

(b) Mrs Carey’s Concert

(d) Hugo

8. What was the highest grossing animated flick in Australia for 2011?

(a) The Adventures Of Tin Tin

(b) The Smurfs

(d) Cars 2

9. Based on research from Screen Australia, who goes to the movies most often in Australia?

(a) Males

(b) Females

10. What is the highest grossing film of all time in Australian cinemas?

(a) Titanic

(b) The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

(d) Avatar

Answers…

1. (d) Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2. It obliterated the competition and grossed more than $52m. The next best was Transformers: Dark Of The Moon with a “mere” $37m.

2. (a) Bridesmaids. People have different tastes when it comes to comedy but Bridesmaids managed to hit the right notes with a LOT of people. It was in the top 10 for an amazing 9 weeks and finished with $27m. Not bad for a comedy with a predominantly female cast. Tangled was the closest pursuer with $22m.

3. (a) The Descendants. It pulled in $15m in Australia which was well ahead of Hugo and The Help who were next best with $10m. It seems that Aussie audiences have different tastes to those in the United States where The Help took in more than double that of The Descendants.

4. (c) Despicable Me. The other 3 films all came out during 2011 but could only manage 3 consecutive weeks atop of the box-office chart. Despicable Me was released back in September 2010 and remains the last film in Australia to spend 4 straight weeks on top.

5. (a) 4%. Yep, that’s it. Australian films grossed just $43m of the total box-office of $1.09b. We can thank Red Dog for doing a lot of the work. It reeled in 50% (or $21.3m) of the total take for locally made films.

6. (b) The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. Given the popularity of the books, it should come as no surprise to see it as the most popular foreign language film in Australia during 2011 with total of $2.4m. It wasn’t released until December 2011 but The Women On The 6^th Floor gave it a run by pulling in $1.7m.

7. (c) Red Dog. To use a saying - if you build it, they will come. In other words, if you make a good movie, people will eventually see it. Red Dog was the big local success story during 2011 and spent a phenomenal 17 weeks inside the top 20 at the box-office. Most the blockbusters were in and out in a flash but Red Dog went the distance. Worthy of an honourable mention is the Australian documentary Mrs Carey’s Concert which also spent 12 weeks inside the top 20.

8. (c) Tangled. It wasn’t the strongest year for animated films but Tangled narrowly took the honours in Australia by reeling in $23m. The Smurfs and Cars 2 made $21m with Kung Fu Panda 2 not far behind on $20m.

9. (b) Females. They account for 53% of all cinema goers. It provides plenty of food for thought when you consider how few films are directed by women and how few feature a woman in the leading role.

10. (d) Avatar. The size of Avatar’s box-office continues to astound me. It made $115.6m in Australia. Titanic is next best with $57.7m. Do the math. Not only is Avatar the highest grossing film in Australian box-office history, it has made more than DOUBLE the film which is in second place. Records are meant to be broken and there’s always the benefit of inflation… but you’d have to think Avatar will be on top for a long while to come.

Details: Written by Matthew Toomey; Created: 30 March 2012

The cast and crew of American Pie: Reunion were recently in Australia and I was lucky enough to get some time with the creative Eugene Levy to talk about his career and his famous character in the American Pie franchise. He was great to speak with and here’s how it went down…

You can download a 5 minute audio extract of the interview by clicking here.

Matt: He’s in Australia at the moment and I’m sure you’ll realise who I’m talking with based on his distinctive voice. I say good morning to Mr Eugene Levy. How’s it going?

Eugene: Good morning Matthew. It’s fun to be here.

Matt: How have you been finding Australia so far? Have you had a chance to do any sightseeing?

Eugene: Well, I’m in Melbourne now. We got in the other day but I haven’t been able to get around much. I’ve just been looking out my hotel room and the city is gorgeous.

I did get around in Sydney for a day and drove through the city. This is my first trip here and so I’m going nuts. I’ve heard so much about it and it’s all true. The people are the friendliest I’ve encountered and the cities are absolutely beautiful.

Matt: That’s very nice of you to say. I have to start by saying that it wasn’t until recently that I realised that you were in one of my all time favourite comedies which is National Lampoon’s Vacation.

Eugene: Oh boy.

Matt: You were the car salesman who sold Chevy Chase his family queen truckster wagon at the start of the film. How did you get that role way back then?

Eugene: Harold Ramis who co-wrote and directed the film was a friend. In fact, we started our TV show in 1976 up in Toronto – it was kind of like a Saturday Night Live but it was called SCTV. Harold was on the show with us and when he started Vacation, he plucked some of us for certain roles and I happened to get one of them.

Matt: I know another director you’ve collaborated with a lot is Christopher Guest. The skit you guys did at the Oscars with the focus group, how did that come about?

Eugene: That was great. I got a call from Billy Crystal and I was working in Atlanta at the time doing a movie. He called to say they were thinking of doing this idea on a focus group that had watched the movie The Wizard Of Oz. I’m thinking “well that’s kind of a funny idea” and he said he’d like to use some of the people from our group – Christopher Guest, Catherine O’Hara and Jennifer Coolidge.

That’s all I knew about it until I flew there for the weekend to record this little piece. It was really, really loose and very much improvised. The cameras were set up and we got the premise. Bob started asking questions and that was it. We were just kind of making it up as we went along. It was a great group to do it with – a very seasoned troupe.

Matt: I know you’ve done a lot of great work throughout your career but I’m guessing that the role you’ve become most famous for is in the American Pie franchise. Most people know you simply as Jim’s Dad. Is that the role you are most recognised for?

Eugene: Without question, it’s one of the roles that I get recognised for. Nosing right up in there along with American Pie is, believe it or not, Best In Show. I either get people on the street going “hey Jim’s Dad” or people on the street saying “hey Two Left Feet”. It’s amazing because American Pie had huge distribution and Best In Show did not.

Best In Show is one of my favourites. It was a lot of fun to write and it was great fun to film. No question.

Matt: Talking about the American Pie series, the first film came out back in 1999. I know we’ve got the benefit of hindsight but did you ever think it was going to become as big a series as it has?

Eugene: No. Nobody really knew what was going on. The odd thing was that when we filmed the very first American Pie, it was actually not called American Pie. The script had a different name which was East Falls Great High. At the same time, I was shooting another movie at that time which was called American Pie.

When I got East Falls Great High, they had to work out a shooting schedule with American Pie so I could come out for 3 or 4 days to shoot East Falls Great High… which of course turned out to be American Pie! That American Pie seemed to gobble up the other American Pie’s title and that eventually went out under a different name.

We didn’t know it was going to be a huge movie. It was a small budget movie. Nobody had a clue that it was going to be huge until just before it opened. We started hearing how excited the studio was about this movie and the rest is history.

Matt: Well I know there have been 8 films in the franchise. I confess that I didn’t see some of the direct to DVD ones like American Pie Presents The Naked Mile. Have I missed anything?

Eugene: Well to be honest, I have not seen the DVDs myself. I haven’t seen any of them so I’m with you. I really haven’t. Those movies were just kind of situations where the job and the money was too good to pass up. I did take great care to make sure that I had control over what my character did in those straight-to-DVD movies. I didn’t want the character in any situation that I thought would jeopardise his reputation or that of the American Pie franchise.

Matt: Back in 1999, all these actors you worked with like Jason Biggs, Sean William Scott and Alyson Hannigan, now, you get to be reunited with them. What was it like being on the set catching up with them all again?

Eugene: The great thing about this one is that we are spending more time with them as a group. I never really got to know the kids in the other films because we didn’t share a lot of scenes together. Most of my scenes were with Jim and pretty much still are. The fact that we’re now travelling around has allowed me to get to know everyone and they’re all getting to know me.

They’re a great troupe of exceptional actors. These kids are amazing. They really are. If you knew how Sean William Scott is so unlike Stifler, you would realise how brilliant an actor he really is.

Matt: And you and Jennifer Coolidge have appeared in so many films together but you’re not often in the same scene. That changes here and you actually get quite intimate late in the film.

Eugene: Again, one of the great parts of the story pitch when I first heard it for American Reunion is that Jim’s Dad runs into Stifler’s Mum and I thought wow, what a great direction for both characters. We did have fun working together and she’s hysterical.

Matt: I know you’ve been doing comedy for decades but how easy is it to do some of the scenes in this film? The conversations that you share with Jason Biggs left me cringing and so many others were too at the preview.

Eugene: My intent with this character from the very beginning was that I wanted him to be “the dad”. I didn’t want him to be his son’s friend. I wanted him to be to “square dad” that kids don’t want to spend a lot of time with and certainly don’t want to be talking sex with. That created the backbone to a very funny character.

There’s a lot of improvisation that goes into our scenes as well. The scripted scene is very good but the writers and directors really encouraged improvisation so Jason and I tried to keep it as loose as we could. Honestly, it makes the scenes double the fun to do.

Matt: I should wrap up by thinking about your career to this point. You’ve won an Emmy for comedy writing for SCTV, you’ve won a Grammy for song writing for A Mighty Wind and you’re also a Member of the Order of Canada. What achievement have you most been proud of?

Eugene: I guess I’ve had a few. I have to say that American Pie has been an amazing thing for me. I kind of considered myself a successful character actor before American Pie but it really turned my career around and introduced me to a young audience that probably would never have got to know me otherwise. That experience was a high point.

Winning the Grammy was a big kick for me because I’m not in the music business but we did write a pretty good tune for A Mighty Wind. I was actually shocked when we won it because it wasn’t a real song! It was kind of a fake song.

Certainly the Order of Canada for me, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Matt: Well thank you and I hope the film is a great success and we get to see you back down here in Australia.

Eugene: Thank you Matthew.

You can check out my review of the film by clicking here.

Details: Written by Matthew Toomey; Created: 24 March 2012

This week’s blog is the last of my three week series on my favourite directors (see here), actresses (see here) and actors.

In assessing each actor, I have only considered films they have starred in since 2002. To use a sporting term, I’m only looking at those who are “in form”. The two questions I ask myself are (1) how excited would I be if this actor appeared in a new movie? and (2) how many great films have they appeared in over the past decade?

Those just missing the top 10 were Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Ryan Phillippe, Paul Giamatti, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Spacey, Brendan Gleeson, Chris Cooper, William H. Macy, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Johnny Depp, Jeff Bridges, Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Sean Penn, Jim Broadbent and Mark Whalberg.

Here then are my top 10…

	10. Josh Hutcherson Best Recent Performance: Bridge To Terabithia (2007) Other Great Performances: The Hunger Games (2012), The Kids Are All Right (2010), Winged Creatures (2008), Zathura (2005), Little Manhattan (2005)
	9. Clive Owen Best Recent Performance: Closer (2004) Other Great Performances: Duplicity (2009), The International (2009), Children Of Men (2006), Inside Man (2006), Sin City (2005), The Bourne Identity (2002)
	8. Robert Downey Jr Best Recent Performance: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) Other Great Performances: Due Date (2010), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Tropic Thunder (2008), Iron Man (2008), Zodiac (2007), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
	7. Joseph Gordon-Levitt Best Recent Performance: 50/50 (2011) Other Great Performances: Inception (2010), 500 Days Of Summer (2009), Stop-Loss (2008), Brick (2005), Mysterious Skin (2004)
	6. Brad Pitt Best Recent Performance: Burn After Reading (2008) Other Great Performances: Moneyball (2011), The Tree Of Life (2011), Inglourious Basterds (2009), The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008), Ocean's Thirteen (2007), Babel (2006)
	5. Russell Crowe Best Recent Performance: A Beautiful Mind (2001) Other Great Performances: The Next Three Days (2010), State Of Play (2009), Body Of Lies (2008), American Gangster (2007), 3:10 To Yuma (2007), Cinderella Man (2005), Master & Commander (2003)
	4. Leonardo DiCaprio Best Recent Performance: Catch Me If You Can (2002) Other Great Performances: J Edgar (2011), Inception (2010), Shutter Island (2010), Revolutionary Road (2008), Body Of Lies (2008), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), The Aviator (2004), Gangs Of New York (2002)
	3. Ryan Gosling Best Recent Performance: Drive (2011) Other Great Performances: The Ides Of March (2011), Blue Valentine (2010), Lars And The Real Girl (2007), Half Nelson (2006), The Notebook (2004)
	2. Philip Seymour Hoffman Best Recent Performance: Capote (2006) Other Great Performances: The Ides Of March (2011), Moneyball (2011), Doubt (2008), Charlie Wilson’s War (2008), Before The Devil Knows Your Dead (2007), The Savages (2007), Cold Mountain (2003), Owning Mahowny (2003), 25th Hour (2002), Red Dragon (2002), Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
	1. George Clooney Best Recent Performance: Michael Clayton (2007) Other Great Performances: The Descendants (2011), Fantastic Mr Fox (2009), Up In The Air (2009), Burn After Reading (2008), Leatherheads (2008), Syriana (2005), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (2002)

Details: Written by Matthew Toomey; Created: 19 March 2012

In last week’s blog, I covered my favourite directors working today. This week, I’m turning my attention to my favourite actresses.

I always enjoy putting lists like this together. They tend to generate debate amongst some of my film-going friends.

In assessing each actress, I have only considered films they have starred in since 2002. To use a sporting term, I’m only looking at those who are “in form”. The two questions I ask myself are (1) how excited would I be if this actress appeared in a new movie? and (2) how many great films have they appeared in over the past decade?

Honourable mentions go to Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, Emily Watson, Marisa Tomei, Mia Wasikowska, Rosamund Pike, Viola Davis and Charlize Theron.

But my 10 favourite actresses based on my current, fragile state of mind are as follows...

	10. Natalie Portman Best Recent Performance: Closer (2004) Other Great Performances: No Strings Attached (2011), Black Swan (2010), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), V For Vendetta (2005), Garden State (2004), Cold Mountain (2003)
	9. Patricia Clarkson Best Recent Performance: Cairo Time (2009) Other Great Performances: Friends With Benefits (2011), Easy A (2010), Elegy (2008), Good Night And Good Luck (2005), Dogville (2003), The Station Agent (2003), Pieces Of April (2003), Far From Heaven (2002)
	8. Kate Winslet Best Recent Performance: Revolutionary Road (2008) Other Great Performances: The Reader (2008), Little Children (2006), The Holiday (2006), Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004)
	7. Marion Cotillard Best Recent Performance: La Vie En Rose (2007) Other Great Performances: Midnight In Paris (2011), Little White Lies (2010), Inception (2010), Public Enemies (2009)
	6. Michelle Williams Best Recent Performance: Take This Waltz (2011) Other Great Performances: My Week With Marilyn (2011), Meek's Cutoff (2010), Blue Valentine (2010), Wendy & Lucy (2008), Brokeback Mountain (2005)
	5. Rachel McAdams Best Recent Performance: Mean Girls (2004) Other Great Performances: Midnight In Paris (2010), Morning Glory (2010), State Of Play (2009), Wedding Crashers (2005), The Notebook (2004)
	4. Meryl Streep Best Recent Performance: Doubt (2008) Other Great Performances: Julie & Julia (2009), Mamma Mia! (2008), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2004), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Hours (2002), Adaptation (2002)
	3. Carey Mulligan Best Recent Performance: An Education (2009) Other Great Performances: Shame (2011), Drive (2011), Never Let Me Go (2010)
	2. Cate Blanchett Best Recent Performance: Notes On A Scandal (2006) Other Great Performances: Hanna (2011), I’m Not There (2007), Babel (2006), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), The Aviator (2004), Veronica Guerin (2003)
	1. Tilda Swinton Best Recent Performance: I Am Love (2010) Other Great Performances: We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), Burn After Reading (2008), Michael Clayton (2007), The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (2005), Broken Flowers (2005), Adaptation (2002)