For some reason, Scarlett Johansson is a wee bit pissed off at the producers of The Island for putting the blame for the film’s less than stellar box office on the shoulders of the stars and she has very good reason to be pissed . . . It’s Not Scalett Johansson’s Fault:

We find it incredible that the producers of ‘The Island’ have blamed the low box-office results on the film’s two lead actors. This is a clear-cut example of the producers’ passing the buck and not taking responsibility for their part in making calculated mistakes throughout the film’s marketing. Ms. Johansson is proud of her performance and the film. The film and the actors’ performances were overall well received by the critics. We put our trust in the professionals who sold and promoted this film. It is unforgivable that the producers continue to blame everyone but themselves.

The bit about calling her too good an actress to connect with today’s young audience is a bit off?

See . . . here, here, here, and here.

We took Kaye to see the film and we all enjoyed it quite a lot. While many of the concepts have been explored before, it is still very original and very entertaining . . . for folks into action and for folks looking for story and character. All in all it does not deserve to be panned off as a poor film or a failure. I suspect the marketing is indeed partially to blame.

It’s a little bit City Underground meets THX-1138 meets a grown up Paranoia (the original Role Playing Game, not the comic book, although this is most definately not comedy) meets 1984 meets Brave New World meets Soma (yes, Soma, and oldie that explored the ideas of clones for body parts for the rich long ago). It certainly has nothing to do with The Sixth Day though as this outing is an excellent film. We felt Johannson and Ewan MacGregor did a wonderful job as did the rest of the folks involved with the film (albeit, I should note that I thought MacGregor’s fakish smile in Down with Love was very fakish and very purposefully so but in this piece even his "real" smile looks fake . . . he’s a wonderful actor but really needs to lose the rakish smile when he’s not playing a rake).