• Home
• Appraisal Guide
  • Guidelines
  • How to Read the Appraisal Tables
  • Top Opener Samples
  • Top Closer Samples
  • Country Codes
• Package Calculator
  • Guidelines
• Tools
  • Starpedia
  • Phases of the Business Cycle
  • Production Tiers
  • Movie Ticket Prices Worldwide
  • Theatrical Release Patterns
  • Maturity Ratings
  • Satisfaction Ratings
  • Box Office Performance Benchmarks
  • 2009 Theatrical Films
  • Market Diagnostics
  • 2010 Marquee Stars Encores
• Archives
• About Us
  • About Marquee Stars
  • Team Tao Joenz
  • Contact Us
  • Our Marquee Appraisal System
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Corroborative Sources
  • Site Map
  • RSS Feed

Latest Bellwether Films: 11 July 2010

Bayside Shakedown 3: Set the Guys Loose (踊る大捜査線 THE MOVIE 3 ヤツらを解放せよ!) - Japanese police comedy action

SEVEN YEARS LATER.  As terrorists target locales within his jurisdiction, Detective Aoshima (Yuji Oda - 織田裕二) takes charge as the newly-promoted section chief.  He must immediately administer moving into a new headquarters, dissention among his subordinates and eight daunting cases - including murders, bomb threats and bus hijackings - as the terrorist chaos unfolds.  Upshot: This long-awaited sequel to the 2003 top-performing live-action domestic film, based on the Fuji TV series, plays like a routine police procedural. Satisfaction rating: BELOW AVERAGE - 37

Despicable Me - Hollywood domestic sci-fi animation

In the world of the wicked, arch-criminal Gru tries to out-dastardly his arch-rival Vector by shrinking then stealing the moon from the sky until three orphan girls melt his heart and turn Gru into a responsible dad.  Upshot: The voices of Steve Carell and Jason Segel in family-friendly fun.  Satisfaction rating: EXCELLENT - 85

I Hate Luv Stories - Bollywood work place situation romantic-comedy

While working on a romance film for a hot Bollywood director (Samir Soni), a playboy assistant director (Imran Khan) who abhors love stories must work with an irritatingly upbeat production designer (Sonam Kapoor) who lives for love stories.  Sparks fly when they meet and, soon, their own relationship unfolds in tandem with the screen story they’re filming.  Upshot: Cute premise, cute stars, but too predictable.  Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 45

Predators - Hollywood alternate world sci-fi action

Shanghaied to a forested planet, a black Ops mercenary (Adrien Brody) and an American commando (Lawrence Fishburne) lead an ad hoc team of notorious killers (including Alice Braga and Topher Grace) in a battle of survival against a group of human-eating advanced alien predators who hunt them for sport.  Upshot: A competent re-launch of the Predator serial from the late 1980s. Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 72

Triple Tap (鎗王之王) - Chinese crime action suspense

After winning a pistol competition with a triple tap (three bullets in the same hole), a successful fund manager (Louis Koo - 古天乐) happens upon a armored car heist in progress and saves the hostage policemen by shooting four of five perpetrators.  Later, once cleared by the law and proclaimed a hero by the public, the fund manager is attacked unsuccessfully by the escaped perpetrator (Chapman To - 杜汶澤).  The police investigator (Daniel Wu - 吳彦祖) on the case, also the fund manager’s chief rival from the pistol competition, now suspects that the fund manager may have been part of the robbery.  A cat-and-mouse battle of wits quickly develops between the two men filled with lies, traps, alluring women and perilous twists.  Upshot: A fresh cast, good action but uneven plotting follow-up on 2000’s local hit Double Tap.  Satisfaction rating: GOOD - 55

Welcome to Shamatown (決戰剎馬鎮) - Chinese domestic situation comedy

1931, NORTHWESTERN CHINA: The legendary bandit Shuanzi Hu (Honglei Sun - 孙红雷) appears in Shamatown with ancient artifacts that supposedly lead to a buried treasure.  2006, SHAMATOWN: In an attempt to promote his town as a bandit-themed holiday resort, the ambitious new mayor (Honglei Sun) takes these same artifacts onto a TV antiques show where the panel dismisses them as worthless.  Undeterred, the mayor bribes the TV moderator (Yuan Xie) to return with him to publicize their staged discovery of the buried treasure.  The mayor’s restaurateur girlfriend (Chiling Lin - 林志玲) doubts his wild scheme to turn their jerkwater village into a tourist boomtown.  Meanwhile, one of the TV panelists alerts a crooked Taiwanese-American art collector (Li-chun Lee) who descends on the village with a group of illegal dealers. Soon treasure fever grips the whole community.  Upshot: China’s Crazy Stone meets A Simple Noodle Story from award-winning commercials director Weiran Li.  Satisfaction rating: ABOVE AVERAGE - 62