As I've written before, whenever any movie not primarily involving white males and/or geek-friendly genres becomes a big hit, the moralizers come out in full force about how dangerous or unhealthy said movie is for the target demo in question.  Sex and the City: The Movie presents adult w… Read full post »

If you're a Batman fan or a general guy-centric geek, you're probably thinking "That was close... too close".  If you're a Twi-fanatic, you're thinking something along the lines of "We'll get you next time Batman, next time!" (Eclipse comes out June 30th, 2010).  Either way, Twilight… Read full post »

Based on my top-secret, patented box office estimation formula, I hereby state that Twilight Saga: New Moon will gross $81 million over its first three days.  No... wait, it will actually gross $91 million!  It will definitely gross $81 million and/or $91 million!  How do I know… Read full post »

Roland Emmerich's 2012 almost made back its $260 million budget in just three days. The domestic opening weekend was a whopping $65.2 million and the global total was a mammoth $225 million. This is the seventh-biggest domestic bow ever in November, and just shy of the $67 million that… Read full post »

2012
2009
158 minutes
Rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Shock of shocks, Roland Emmerich's 2012 is actually a relatively satisfying genre picture.  It avoids the over reliance on family melodrama and romantic entanglements that plagued The Day After Tomorrow.  Unlike that global warming epic… Read full post »

Precious
2009
109 minutes
Rated R

by Scott Mendelson

Precious, based on Sapphire's novel Push,  is a uniquely singular story.  Although it tells a tale of an abused and impoverished inner-city sixteen-year old girl, it does not claim to represent all who fall under that category.  It… Read full post »

As expected, Disney's A Christmas Carol opened at number one over the weekend.  If the opening weekend number of $31 million feels disappointing, it's only because of the film's excessive cost (about $200 million to make, probably another $100 million to market) and somewhat unreasonable… Read full post »

The Men Who Stare At Goats
2009
90 minutes
Rated R

by Scott Mendelson

The Men Who Stare at Goats is a miserable misfire, completely draining any and all life from the rather astounding narrative that it is trying to tell.  I have no idea if the stories contained are true, and that frankly shou… Read full post »

Guy Lodge and Jeff Wells have remarked about the new poster for A Single Man, which seems to be going out of its way to hide the fact that Colin Firth plays a (solitary) gay man.  This isn't a new thing. Marketing campaigns often go out of their way to hide… Read full post »

A Christmas Carol: The 3D IMAX Experience
2009
96 minutes
Rated PG (for scary sequences and images)

by Scott Mendelson

A Christmas Carol is, above all else, an astounding visual experience.  Other studios either use 3D to enhance already superior films or attempt to hide mediocrity.  Robe… Read full post »

First off, the facts.  Michael Jackson's This Is It grossed $34.4 million in five-days, which gives it a surprisingly high 4.64x multiplier on its $7.4 million opening Wednesday.  Its three-day weekend take was $21 million, more than enough to be number 01 for the weekend.  In j… Read full post »

This Is It: The IMAX Experience
2009
112 minutes
Rated PG

by Scott Mendelson

There is no getting around the obvious exploitation factor at play.  Regardless of how tasteful and respectful this film is, at the end of the day, Sony paid $60 million for the rights to this otherwise private footag… Read full post »

Saw VI
2009
91 minutes
Rated R

by Scott Mendelson

With Saw VI, we see the surprising sight of a long-running franchise trying to dig itself out of its own grave.  Clearly intended to either be the final Saw film or at least a finale to the second three-film arc, the picture goes out of its… Read full post »

In a somewhat shocking turn of events that played out like a season finale of a television series, the long roll-out of Paranormal Activity peaked with a wide-release debut that handily crushed the opening weekend of the long-running Saw franchise.  This may not be the end of the fall box… Read full post »

Last Halloween, I took you on a tour of the worst horror films that my wife had forced me to watch over the years.  This year, I'm staying positive.  Even before the HD boom allowed pretty much everyone to become a filmmaker in their back yard, low-budget horror was always considered… Read full post »

It was good news for everyone at the box office this weekend.  Not only did every major new release open within or above expectations, last weekend's wunderkind continued to astonish while the holdovers held just fine.  But here's the odd and encouraging note... every single film in… Read full post »

Where the Wild Things Are: The IMAX Experience
2009
100 minutes
Rated PG

by Scott Mendelson

It is often said that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a children’s novel that adults can enjoy, while The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an adult novel that children can enjoy. This statement in its… Read full post »

Paranormal Activity
2009
86 minutes (wrongly listed as 99 minutes on most websites)
Rated R

by Scott Mendelson

It is a rare thing to walk into a movie by choice expecting to dislike if not outright hate it.  Yet off I went to a Saturday evening showing of Paranormal Activity, praying that it w… Read full post »

There are two major surprises this weekend, both good news for those involved.  After weeks of four or more major releases opening over each weekend, this weekend inexplicably left but a single wide-opener, which led to bigger than expected numbers for the weekend's number 01 film and a d… Read full post »

Whip It
2009
111 minutes
Rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Whip It is a textbook example of how you do a formula picture.  The plot isn't the least bit original and you could chart the story using a Mad Libs puzzle.  But the film has style and intelligence to spare.  I wish it deviated… Read full post »

The most talked about movie is not the number one movie of the weekend. The number one movie is (shocker...) a well-reviewed 3D animated family adventure based on a classic childrens' book. Anyone who didn't see that coming... Anyway, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs opened to $30… Read full post »

In this current decade, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Steven Soderbergh, Peter Jackson, and Brett Ratner have all had four number one openings.  Tim Burton, Bryan Singer, Sam Raimi, and Christopher Nolan have had three.  Counting his first film on which he was the writer and produce… Read full post »

Before I get into the usual 'what movies grossed what and why', I'd like to take an opportunity to recount the best and the worst moments of summer 2009.  It was not the best of summers, and more movies disappointed than not over the May-August season.  But there were diamonds (The… Read full post »

"First Disney/Marvel collaboration: Hannah Montana refuses to reveal secret identity, she goes to war with Iron Man. Iron Man wins easily." -- Brian Lynch

Some random, somewhat rambling thoughts about what may be the biggest film-related news story of the year...

Chud's Devin Faraci did a… Read full post »

As expected, The Final Destination's franchise longevity, audience goodwill, and 3D gimmick overpowered the grim, painful, and much-distrusted Halloween II.  Both had rock-solid openings and both lost out on about $7 million apiece by choosing to open on the same day.  The Final Dest… Read full post »