The Best Director-Chapter 481 - : Fantastic Start

Chapter 481: Chapter 481: Fantastic Start

“A musical with lots of fun, but ABBA certainly wants Brosnan to keep his mouth shut.” — 3/4, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times. “Mamma Mia! is full of ABBA songs, and while they can’t sing them very well, it’s purely Streep’s radiance that carries the show.” — 3/4, Christian Toto, The Washington Times; “It might be the most fun movie of the summer.” — 4/4, Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter; “Logic is unnecessary in Mamma Mia!, it’s about escapism and fun, it never takes itself too seriously.” — 3/4, Claudia Puig, USA Today; “Mamma Mia! is a smart musical adaptation that gives moviegoers the fun they crave, like delightful sunshine.” — 3.5/4, Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post…

IMDB score 7.5/10 (20,016 users)! Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 89%, critics score of 85%, and an audience rating of a whopping 92% (82,129 users), the long-awaited MM! fans weren’t disappointed.

A strikingly fresh red tomato, the fiery new release Mamma Mia! received almost perfect critical acclaim, becoming the fourth highly popular new musical movie following Step Up.

Meryl Streep continues to be lauded by the media and the public, she simply can’t do anything wrong. With her full emotional investment, whatever she plays, she plays it emotionally, her heartfelt singing makes up for many shortcomings, and amazingly, it’s not far off from professional singers; other cast members also sang tunefully and pleasantly to the ear, only Pierce Brosnan fell far short, with Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com describing it as “the wrong sound comes out when Brosnan opens his mouth.” But more forgiving audiences mostly consider it barely passable.

The lead actress “Sophie” Amanda Seyfried’s fame surged rapidly. This 20-year-old star, who first came to the screen two years ago with Mean Girls and gained some recognition, had as her main job a supporting role in the CBS series Campus Beauties. Now she has suddenly become a shining new movie star, and it seems inevitable that she will become one of Hollywood’s future celebrities. Like many rising stars, Amanda had already expressed her favorite director is the magical Yang, having started with Paranormal Activity at age 12, and is looking forward to working with him one day.

Now, everyone such as Kramer, Catherine, and Lloyd is very pleased and excited. It was indeed a wise decision to collaborate with Firefly! Mamma Mia! did not screw up, and with its reputation and box office both reaping great rewards, more people will surely be aware of this story, and the popularity of the stage play will naturally become even hotter.

“This isn’t a great movie, it’s a pretty good vacation.” — 2.5/4, Elizabeth Weisman, New York Daily News; “An exuberant pop musical adaptation that brings a lot of good times.” — 3.5/5, A.O. Scott, The New York Times; “The joyous big screen and buoyant theater have the feel of a stage play, the songs have the excitement and energy of live performances, Mamma Mia! is top-tier fun.” — 3.5/5, Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times…

“Mamma-Mia! Mamma Mia! is really good,” acclaimed critic Wang Yang recently raved in his blog. His self-congratulatory post did not receive much mocking or jeering from the detractors, as the comment board was filled with messages of agreement. Lanning G said, “It’s really great! Effortless fun, brilliant music, and Amanda Seyfried’s voice is so sweet and tender, truly a lovely evening!” Xianglang M said, “A refreshingly new movie! No violence, just energy and music!” Alice T said, “Wonderful movie, I laughed until I had tears in my eyes!”…

Earlier on June 3rd, at the MTV Movie Awards, Firefly once again became the darling of the masses, sweeping 8 major awards including Best Movie, Best Performance (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Breakthrough Performance (Wang Yang), Best On-screen Team (entire crew of Serenity), Best Villain (Heath Ledger), Best Hero (Wang Yang), Sexiest Performance (Jessica Alba), and Best Fight (Battle of New Shanxi), hitting all 8 nominations.

In addition to Best Comedic Performance (Joseph Gordon Levitt, 500 Days of Summer), Best Thriller Performance (Chloe Moretz, Paranormal Activity 3), and Best Kiss (Jack Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain), Firefly’s films completely swept this year’s MTV Movie Awards!

Except for the mtvU Student Filmmaker Award (Joshua Caldwell, A Beautiful Lie, Fordham University), MTV Generation Award (Jim Carrey) and the Trailblazer Award (Do the Right Thing, 1989), Firefly’s films bagged all 11 major awards of the ceremony, truly making it the year of Firefly, one can’t help but marvel at how today’s youth have all been charmed by Firefly, and under the tremendous influence of the magical Yang, even a performance as non-comedic as Joseph’s can win an award.

The MTV Movie Awards also marked the 99% conclusion of the 05-06 awards season, and perhaps the only mention left is the Hugo Awards, which went from being unclear to the powerhouse night of the Oscars, then Firefly swept everything.

From June 2 to 8, North America’s box office champion was Jennifer Aniston’s new comedy, “The Break-Up,” which saw a solid opening week with $53.6 million in ticket sales. Yet, it scored only 34%/20%/52% on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating the ongoing struggle for comedies. Then, from June 9 to 15, the weekly champion was Disney’s release of Pixar’s “Cars” (with a production budget of $120 million), which took home $83.32 million and garnered a quality score of 74%/73%/80% on Rotten Tomatoes, maintaining Pixar’s reputation for excellence.

Upon arriving in New York, Wang Yang found himself closer geographically to Blue Sky Studios, and there was some new progress on “Robots,” which he was overseeing. Although Joss Whedon was also extremely busy with the first season of “Firefly,” Wang Yang still invited him to work on a fun and novel script for “Robots.” Whedon, one of the scriptwriters for “Toy Story,” seemed destined to be part of the project. With William Joyce gone, Joss Whedon stepped in.

At the same time, a new art team was gradually being formed. In addition to the previous requirements, Wang Yang proposed a potentially breakthrough idea: the male lead’s design could draw inspiration from ancient armor. It had to be youthfully handsome, even if a little worn out.

Since continuing preparations in the Big Apple, Wang Yang’s daytime life had become busier, no longer sitting in the office for meetings with various departments. Instead, he was running around, working with location scouts, set designers, and prop departments. “Multitasking” was an extraordinary feeling; he felt like he was traveling between different worlds, one moment at the Williamsburg Armory on Marcy Avenue, the next on the rooftop of an old building in Queens, gazing into the distance.

“Whoa—!!” Standing at the edge of the rooftop, looking at the blue sky and the expansive street views, Wang Yang couldn’t help but let out a contented shout, drawing sidelong glances from nearby Harry George, Nancy Reno, and others. They hoped it wouldn’t draw the attention of gangsters—they weren’t carrying guns… Wang Yang wasn’t finished yet; he pointed the director’s viewfinder, which he was holding like a gun, at Harry’s round face, and said seriously, “Sorry, I’m a cop.”…

When situated in an obscure yet busy section of Fifth Avenue, the idea of blocking off the area to shoot a film amidst the constant flow of cars and pedestrians felt a bit unbelievable. The streets in Wang Yang’s eyes slowly transformed into an apocalyptic world, overgrown with weeds and littered with abandoned cars. It was quite fascinating!

Just a few nights ago, he had been observing the area around the Brooklyn Bridge. No matter how busy he was, the Wang family’s Upper West Side Manhattan home was always filled with warmth. Having just finished some directorial work, Wang Yang left his study and entered the living room, only to see Jessica and Keke crawling around on the floor. He paused, bewildered: “Hey, what are you doing?” It couldn’t be that they were infected after being bitten by a zombie, could it? Shaking his head, he told “I Am Legend” to go away.

“HEY! We’re training,” Jessica said, turning around skillfully and looking up at him with a triumphant gaze that seemed to say, “I told you you’re not great at parenting!” She explained, “My participation can encourage her enthusiasm.” Keke stopped sitting and looked at him, waving her hands and babbling with a smile.

“OK…” Wang Yang scratched his head, participation to encourage enthusiasm, huh? But other families’ babies needed encouragement to start crawling. Keke had always been an excellent little athlete, starting to crawl well from an early age. Now just over six months old, she was scurrying around the house quickly. Did she still need encouragement? “Keke, Let’s go!” Jessica took command, starting to crawl again, and sure enough, Keke followed suit, making “oh-ah, oh-ah” sounds as she did.

Wang Yang shrugged. After all, crawling together was fun and would be a wonderful memory, plus it was safe—no risk of falling and injuring the baby. Smiling, he nodded and said, “Enjoy yourselves.” He headed toward the kitchen to find something to eat, adding, “I’ll take a picture to commemorate this in a bit.”

“Aren’t you going to join us?” Jessica turned her head to look at him, and immediately let out an “Oh—” of surprise. “Huh?” Wang Yang turned, puzzled, just in time to see her crash headfirst into the sofa…

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Soon, the week of June 16-22 passed, and the latest North American box office champion was revealed! “Mamma Mia!” took the top spot without a doubt, pulling in $75.73 million across 3,025 theaters, averaging $25,036 per venue. It also grossed $55.65 million in 21 overseas markets, achieving a magical opening week with a global box office of $131 million! (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to support it by voting for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)