Rounders, the 1998 Matt Damon film
CNN's Paul Tatara's review of "Rounders"
1/4/99 In spite of its fizzling out at the box office, Rounders is not without its followers. It is mentioned in a number of the Best Films of 1998 lists on the Internet. Here is one that showed up on today:
FILM YEAR IN REVIEW - THE BEST OF 1998
We're not planning on coming up with any numbered list of the best FILM YEAR IN REVIEW - THE BEST OF 1998
www.sfu.ca/~manojb/moviepage.html
We're not planning on coming up with any numbered list of the best films we saw this year. Rather, we thought we'd give you a sprinkling of what we thought were the best films this year and to watch out for them when they arrive on video or open up in your part of the galaxy. Thin Red Line never made it to theatres here in Canada until later this week, so it could not be included on our 1998 list. If there is a movie that was considered by us to be the one film that stuck out above the rest of the crowd, Fetthead and Ewok feel that this honour goes to Roberto Benigni's - Life is Beautiful. It was considerably the most moving film, digging into all your emotions without manipulating but rather taking you through an experience that makes you see why the title of this film was so appropriate. It did get a lot of flack from some critics and groups that felt it was making light of a dark situation, but I feel these are the people that didn't grasp what the film or what the character was all about. So here we go:
FETTHEADs PICKS FOR 1998
1998 has been a year of substantial hits for many as well as making many studios re-evaluate how much $$$ goes into which projects (Universal had it bad this year). Now here's my BEST OF LIST (***Mind you I'm not counting what I saw in January considering that 'boat' movie is what got all the attention until March, so I'm going from when Ewok started the site till now***)
...
ROUNDERS - Jon Dahl proves that there's more than Good Will Hunting in
Matt Damon. especially since he's got Ed Norton to work with!
...
EWOK's PICKS IN 1998
...
ROUNDERS - another impressive performance by Ed Norton. It also goes
to show you that Matt Damon is not a one hit wonder. This boy can act.
The seedy cracks of the underground gambling scene are exposed in this
drama directed by John Dahl.
...
* Frankenseuss Laboratories presents 1998 AD: THE YEAR IN FILM *
...
HONORABLE MENTION
Apt Pupil, The Avengers, The Big One, Bride of Chucky, A Bug's Life, Dirty
Work, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, He Got Game, Madeline, Mask of Zorro,
The Newton Boys, The Opposite of Sex, Prince of Egypt, Rounders,
The Truman
Show, John Carpenter's Vampires, The Wedding Singer, Zero Effect
...
MOST STRANGELY IGNORED: The Newton Boys and Rounders, both of which were well
crafted and enjoyable films that seemed like they would be comebacks and/or
mainstream hits for their respective directors.
...
9/19 Quote on http://www.roughcut.com: "I'm sure people will accuse me of having a poker face throughout the movie, but that's kind of the risky sign-on at the beginning." - Matt Damon on the risk of critics attacking his performance in Rounders (My comment: This quote doesn't sound like Matt's - and no critic I have read accused Matt of that, as far as I know.)
9/16 Yahoo News, 9/16
9/15
Couple of interesting items today;
In the Punchline section of L.A. Times: "Rounders" is the only movie in America that is guaranteed to have a full house.
This is from someone called Janie, in a posting to rec.gambling.poker:
Saving Matt Damon from media backlash - A promotional interview which appeared just before Rounders' open.
9/13
AP report: "Damon's Rounders Top Box Office".
Reuter report: "Rounders trumps box office", and "Rounders takes top spot at
box office."
Read the AP article here
and an excerpt from the boxofficeguru.com site
here
The Daily Variety has this to say in a 9/14 article "B. O. Card Trick":
Reviews, which generally ranged from fair to good, may not have been effisive
enough to convince older auds to ante up the price of a ticket.
... The weekned after Labor Day is traditionally a soft one for the
nation's theaters, as students settle back into school routines. Last
year, Warner Bros.' Steven Segal-starrer "Fire Down Below" led the time
period with just $6 million.
9/11
Rounders opened today. It is expected to be the top-grossing film of this week.
Reviews - synopsis and analysis
The online version of the 9/12 L.A. Times has an article headlined: Rounders or flounders? It went on
to urge the reader to read its review, look at the premiere photos (unfortunately
Matt wasn't there), and check out the audio clips.
The first Matt-Rounders interview - most likely done during the SPR promotion
back in July - appeared in the hollywood.com
site on 8/31. Thanks to an alert on
the Unofficial Matt Damon site.
It is mirrored here for keep sake. Read it at
the orginal source
or
the mirrored copy here.
A new positive review on
the Ain't-It-Cool site(AICN) which appeared on 8/28.
No sooner did Saving Private Ryan blew in than the thoughts of
Matt Damon fans turn to his next film, Rounders.
Matt is the star of
this little film, for which he reportedly settled for the measley salary
of $600K.
Although small in scale, this film will be a bit of a test of Matt's
star power, as he is the headliner and the main draw. Matt is fortunate
to be
backed by a stellar cast of supporting actors including Ed Norton,
Martin Landau, John Turturro, John Malkovich, and
Gretchen Mol. The director, John Dahl (The Last
Seduction), is well respected,
even if he has not been commercially successful (echoing another director,
Gus Van Sant, who until "Good Will Hunting" did not have a commercial
hit). Of note among the crew
is the Director of Photography, Jean-Yves Escoffier, who was
responsible for the beautiful cinematography of Good Will Hunting.
Matt was cast for the lead role of this film soon after the release
of Good Will Hunting, and
it was during its filming that he received his nominations
for the Golden Globe and the Oscars.
Matt, as we all know, is a Crimsonite (Harvard dropout), and Ed Norton is
a Yalie grad. Both were Oscar Best Actor/Supporting Actor nominees: Matt for
"Good Will
Hunting", and Norton for "Primal Fear", in a role that Matt also screened
for ("Ed smoked me," said Matt, referring to Norton's being chosen instead
of him).
So we can certainly expect some quality performance. Judging from the
photos, interviews, and previews, these two had pretty good chemistry.
The film is scheduled to open on September 11.
Miramax Pictures, the studio which produced the movie, thinks
highly enough of the work to have it entered for competition in the
upcoming
Venice Film Festival.
As more information of the film becomes available, I will be collecting
articles, announcements, etc., in this page. I hope you keep
looking in here.
If you hear of anything about Rounders, drop
me a line at
[email protected]
and I will see if I can add it to the collection.
"With Matt, it was just a tremendous experience," gushed Mol, who
also worked with Leonardo DiCaprio on "Celebrity" (she calls DiCaprio
"an accomplished actor.") "Matt's got such a knowledge of filmakeing.
He's really smart and sensitive, and he just made me feel comfortable."
Rounders Official Poster
And a report in Mr. Showbiz.
Rounders prospect looked particularly strong Friday, coming out of the gate
with nearly $2.8 million. But the John Dahl-helmed pic saw only a moderate
31% increase on Saturday night or Sunday. Those results jibe with pre-opening
tracking, which indicated interest in the film was strongest among young
females, probably attracted in large part by heartthrob Matt Damon.
Thus reports the 9/12 Hollywood Reporter (which incidentally gave Rounders
a bad review):
"Bet on Rounders to win big at the boxoffice this weekend. Audience
sentiment as registered in prerelease polls is equal to the best-performing
films issued during the just-concluded late-summer session. The Miramax
release holds all the cards in the game beginning tonight and should cruise
to an easy victory for the three-day period. Matt Damon adn Ed Norton
star ... Damon is, of course, the lightning rod for the sizzle surrounding
Rounders. The actor has achieved major-star status via his last two roles --
in "Good Will Hunting" and "Saving Private Ryan" -- and will with Rounders
gain entry into that elite cadre of performers whose presence alone
can successfully launch a project."
Read them here.
Did you know what Rounders mean? The best explanation came from John Dahl,
the director: A rounder is someone who makes the rounds at the poker clubs,
making money from skillful play.
8/27: In an article entitled
"Overwhelmingly large slate of movies for the fall season"
in the Toronto Sun Jam site, under a section headed by
"STAR POWER":
One of the most anticipated films of the fall is "Rounders," a snappy
Matt Damon vehicle with his first lead role since the overnight success
of "Good Will Hunting." Edward Norton makes a run for another Oscar
nomination as Damon's morally challenged, fast-talking friend, and
Gretchen Mol -- anointed in Vanity Fair this month -- plays Damon's
girlfriend.
8/26:
The Dark Horizon's site's Fall preview commented on this film thus:
"An interesting idea, teamed with some of the most talented actors around -
should be a definite winner."
Tristen's Rounders Page
Miramax now has a Rounders Page - nothing exciting though
Miramax finally put a page on their site http://www.miramax.com for
Rounders. It's nothing spectacular, but at least they've finally gotten
around to it.
Some thoughts:
Rounders photos on Al's Matt Damon site
Batch of Rounders photos on the All-Matt site: go to the photos
page and select "other movies" for now.
A Review, by Sean Dickson, of the Rounders screenplay
on the Unofficial Ed Norton
site.Major SPOILER WARNING.
Harry what's-his-name on Ain't-It-Cool-News had this to say about the "Rounders" trailer: "God I love John Dahl flicks, and I sure hope this film, with this excellent cast kicks ass. This trailer got me reday to se the flick. Good trailer."
8/24/98: An indirect thumb-up for Rounders, mentioned in passing in a review for "A Civil Action", by one "Agent G." on the AICN site today. Simply a praise of the script and that it translate into one of the writer's favorite films. Check out the first paragraph in the "Agent G checks out A CIVIL ACTION" column listed under the date of 8/24/98.
Two glowing reviews on the Ain't-It-Cool site(AICN) after a screening in California last night:
A fourth positive review on
the Ain't-It-Cool site(AICN) which appeared on 8/29.
Note: As with the review which appeared on 8/28, this one touts the performance of Ed Norton. This is understandable. Norton has a "juicier" role, playing a character who's not as "nice" as Matt's. Norton's character is the kind that reviewers favor (as with Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy"). So we should expect this kind of comments. For Matt to play a blander role and still comes out likeable is an achievement in itself.
A new positive review on the Ain't-It-Cool site(AICN) which appeared on 8/28.
Rounders premiered in Los Angeles on 8/25/98. Read
about it in my Matt TV appearances column.
and an article which appeared in
the 8/27/98 Daily Variety.
Yet another article
on the premier, MrShowBiz site, 8/27.
Also:
