Monday, December 28, 2009

Robert Downey Monday

Yeah, so I checked out that Sherlock Holmes movie. The short version is I was entertained, but mostly because of the awesome chemistry between Downey and Law. They do great work, the movie lets them down. But it wasn't nearly as dumb as it could have been.

Still, you know you're in trouble when in the cannon of Holmes literature and films at your disposal, the one this most closely resembles is Young Sherlock Holmes.

(Fun fact of 6 degrees: Guy Ritchie, director of Sherlock Holmes and Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels, cast Young Sherlock Holmes in Lock Stock, and I was so excited because I never saw that actor again until his movie. Watson, sadly, no clue...)

Also because it kicks ass, here's that Iron Man 2 trailer, which constantly melts my face off. May can't come soon enough....



Cheers to the good folk at /film for finding this one.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Box Office Report: Holiday Bonanza!!!

Dude here again. We've reached our final box office report for the year! It really has been a year of lunacy, and it's also been a year of record breaking, with ticket sales in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS! sadly, a large chunk of that came from the transforming robot picture. Regardless, it's still ten billion dollars and counting, with only four more days left in the year.

Still, ten billion dollars and they can't give me my $20 back for Terminator Salvation and Boondock Saints 2? C'mon!

This weekend, a close race to claim the number one spot in the beginning, but big blue prevails, as more records are broken. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. Avatar (Fox) $75.0, 3456 screens, week 2, $212.2 total

2. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $65.3, 3626 screens, week 1, $65.3 total

3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) - $50.2, 3700 screens, week 1 $77.0 total (Wed Open)

4. It's Complicated (Uni)- $22.1, 2887 screens, week 1, $22.1 total

5. Up In The Air (Par)- $11.7, 1895 screens, week 4, $24.5 total

6. The Blind Side (WB) - $11.7, 2766 screens, week 6, $184.3 total

7. The Princess and the Frog (BV)- $8.6, 3475 screens, week 5, $63.3 total

8. Nine (Wein)- $5.5, 1412 screens, week 2, $5.9 total

9. Invictus (WB) - $4.3, 2160 screens, week 3, $23.3 total

10. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Sum)- $3.0, 1593 screens, week 6, $280.9 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Sherlock Holmes new nemesis is of Na'Vi descent. Despite breaking the record for money taken in on Xmas day, Sherlock Holmes was unable to derail the Avatar juggernaut in the long run, a feat a lot of people did not see coming. Still, a $62 million opening is not to shabby, and given the lack of anything opening next week and a full week of opening on full throttle as if it were a summer release, it will be just fine.

(Not for nothing, but if you want a good Sherlock Holmes movie, do yourself a favor and put "Without a Clue" in your Netflix queue. It's got Michael Caine, and Ben Kingsley, and the whole premise is that Holmes is an idiot actor played by Caine to bring life to fictional Holmes, a creation of Dr. Watson who is the true brains behind everything. It's good fun).

How about Avatar, though? Retaining the number 1 spot and dropping only 2.6% of last week's take! The holiday time helped, and factor in the exorbitant costs of IMAX and 3-D ticket prices in raising that figure a bit, but that's an insane lack of drop for a blockbuster of this size. With an insane amount of Oscar buzz going, it seems that Cameron can do no wrong. Hopefully the success of this will not cause another twelve year hiatus.

Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Just writing it out depresses me. Writing out how much money it made depresses me even more. It's on par with the original's earnings, which means in Xmas 2011 we're going to have a terrible rodent-pun of the word "Trilogy" bestowing our cinemas. I hope you're proud.

There are far too many It's Complicated jokes to be made, so I'm going to leave that to far snarkier writers than I, and congratulate Meryl Streep on another spectacular year of acting. I mean that genuinely, I'll see anything she does.

Blind Side and Up In The Air are neck and neck as well, but I sincerely doubt that's the box office call too close to tell that anyone wanted or cared about. Regardless, you should still check out Up In The Air. Great movie.

The combined fgrosses of all the blockbusters might be enough to push this weekend into the record books as the most profitable weekend of all time, besting the record set by Dark Knight and Mamma Mia upon their release in July of 2008. Also worth noting: in the estimates for the day, they didn't even bother posting the take for Did You Hear About The Morgans. Hopefully one will be hearing from them shortly, but if they are gone will anyone know they were here in the first place? Kinda makes you think, huh?

Below the radar, the final movie of Heath Ledger (The Terry Gilliam one, not the one with the bat man), The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, opened up on 4 screens, and took in $130,000, which is the highest per screen average of the week! Take that, Avatar! Watch for it to expand, in the hopes of generating a fraction of Dark Knight dollars.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, begins the new year, and to celebrate no new movies are being released. So watch for not much to change on this list. Take that as a relief or a warning.

Until next year.......

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Box Office Report: Big Blue Edition

Dude here again. Only two more box office reports left for 2009, can you believe it? What a crazy year it's been, from the Mall Cop to the New Moon, and everything in between. It certainly has been a roller coaster ride, full of terrible movies making far too much money, while more deserving films got swept under the rug. It's all part of this ridiculous game that gets played out every week. A game which I bet on every week in Vegas, hoping to make a fraction of the Transformers 2 gross.

To date, I haven't made a dime, mostly because I insisted on betting obscene amounts on movies like Ninja Assassin.

This weekend, James Cameron came around to change everyone's game. Did he succeed? Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. Avatar (Fox) $73.0, 3452 screens, week 1, $73.0 total

2. The Princess and the Frog (BV)- $12.2, 3475 screens, week 4, $44.7 total

3. The Blind Side (WB) - $10.0, 3407 screens, week 5, $164.7 total

4. Did You Hear About The Morgans? (Sony) - $7.0, 2718 screens, week 1, $7.0 total

5. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Sum)- $4.3, 3035 screens, week 5, $274.5 total

6. Invictus (WB) - $4.1, 2125 screens, week 2, $15.8 total

7. A Christmas Carol (BV) - $3.4, 2070 screens, week 7, $130.7 total

8. Up In The Air (Par)- $3.1, 175 screens, week 3, $8.1 total

9. Brothers (LGF) - $2.6, 2009 screens, week 3, $22.0 total

10. Old Dogs (BV)- $2.2, 2630 screens, week 4, $43.5 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that James Cameron (and thousands of bloggers across the world reporting on this) can continue with the mantle of "King of the World". Avatar, the wildly hyped sci-fi 3-D immersion film set a record for Cameron's highest opening weekend, and ensured that Fox will make back the copious amounts of money it spent making and selling the Na'Vi to the human masses. The inflated ticket prices for 3-D and IMAX probably helped a bit too.

Did you hear about the Morgans? That's okay, apparently nobody else did either.

Blind Side, there is just no stopping you is there? Week 5, and you're increasing screens, despite stiff counter-programming of 9 foot tall blue creatures in a 3-D environment? That's ballsy, and exactly the kind of thing that makes this box office game so dang interesting.

And making it's first appearance in the top ten is Up In The Air, pulling in an impressive $3 million while only playing on 175 screens! Watch it to take more when it's released wide on Wednesday.

Below the radar, the final movie of the year with the word "Nine" in the title was released. After Cloud 9, District 9, and 9, we're treated to a musical based on 8 and 1/2, which wisely rounded it up to Nine. On 4 screens, it took in $247,000, taking in the highest per screen average of all, including Big Blue. Other Oscar hopefuls released limited this week are The Young Victoria, which I'm assuming deals with England in fancy dress time, taking in $148,000 on 20 screens, and Crazy Heart, featuring Jeff "The Dude" Bridges, also opening on 4 screens, but only taking in $84,200.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, we have a new Chipmunks sequel!!!! And Sherlock Holmes played by Iron Man! And we get to see if Avatar is a fluke or has a chance of coming within spitting distance of Titanic's records. (Which it won't).

Until next weekend.......

Friday, December 18, 2009

Victory

Reviews are back! Big Blue and Oscar Gold? (Too Tired to think of proper pun)


I went all nerdy and checked out the 3-D IMAX showing of Avatar last night. It's pretty freakin awesome. I mean this in a positive way, but it's like watching a really great version of The Phantom Menace. Check out my AVATAR review.

I also have a review for Up In The Air, which I saw several weeks ago, but spaced on writing the review. It's a great film, and one I think everyone and their mothers should see.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Finally getting on top of things, technologically speaking.

And I got myself an IMDB page. I'm working on bulking that up a bit. Don't know if I can find a way to put that Fantastic Mr. Anderson thing up there, but they don't have "Internet Video Interviews" sections on the IMDB.

Buncha jerks.

Speaking of jerks, if I got a Twitter account, would you lose respect for me?

Box Office Report: Really late, sorry

Dude here again. Long day of air travel yesterday, apologies, but this is a truncated report. Mostly because it's old news by this point, but that's what I get for pretending to live my life like I'm in a George Clooney movie. Next week I intend to gather my friends to rob a casino!

(I'm not really doing that)

This weekend, The Blind Side slows down a little, Twilight slows down a lot, and other things happen too. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. The Princess and the Frog (BV)- $24.2, 3434 screens, week 3, $27.0 total

2. The Blind Side (WB) - $15.0, 3388 screens, week 4, $149.8 total

3. Invictus (WB) - $8.6, 2125 screens, week 1, $8.6 total

4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Sum)- $7.9, 3635 screens, week 4, $267.3 total

5. A Christmas Carol (BV) - $6.8, 2402 screens, week 6, $124.4 total

6. Brothers (LGF) - $5.0, 2088 screens, week 2, $17.4 total

7. Old Dogs (BV)- $4.4, 3090 screens, week 3, $39.9 total

8. 2012 (Sony) - $4.3, 1838 screens, week 5, $155.2 total

9. Armored (ScrGms)- $3.5, 1919 screens, week 2, $11.7 total

10. Ninja Assassin (WB) $2.7, 2100 screens, week 3, $34.3 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Disney can claim they still make animated movies alright. No matter how racially insensitive the ads mislead you to believe.

Invcitus opened and showed that audiences don't care for rugby as much as they do North American football, even if Matt Damon is the one playing the rugby and Nelson Mandela is approving.

Everything else just remains in a holding pattern until the big holiday blockbusters come, so enjoy Ninja Assassin and Fantastic Mr. Fox while you still can, because they're gonna need to make room for Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 soon. Listen carefully to the winds for the loud sigh I'm going to bestow upon you.

Below the radar, some Oscar contenders opened in limited release. A Single Man opened up on 9 screens to take in $217,332, and The Lovely Bones opened on 3 screens and took in $116,616. If you just hear the titles of those movies, it sounds pornographic. Look for the inevitable XXX parodies shortly.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week a new movie from that guy who made the movie about the boat that sank.

Until next weekend.......

Monday, December 07, 2009

Box Office Report: Deja vu, kinda

Dude here again. I'm coming at you after a weekend filled with a little less movie viewing and a little more holiday shopping, alongside some brunch. Not to go on a rant here, but brunch is a pretty awesome creation. Mostly because I can get away with eating a sandwich in the morning that doesn't contain eggs, but does contain bacon! That right there is a reason for celebrating across the world and hailing brunch for all the glories contained within.

Unless you're a vegetarian, in which case you're boned, but hey, more bacon for me!

This weekend, a little switcharoo between the top two gorillas, while some smaller films try to make waves. Oh, and a record is broken! Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. The Blind Side (WB) - $20.4, 3326 screens, week 3, $129.2 total

2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Sum)- $15.7, 4124 screens, week 3, $255.6 total

3. Brothers (LGF) - $9.7, 2088 screens, week 1, $9.7 total

4. A Christmas Carol (BV) - $7.5, 2546 screens, week 5, $115.0 total

5. Old Dogs (BV)- $6.9, 3425 screens, week 2, $33.9 total

6. Armored (ScrGms)- $6.6, 1915 screens, week 1, $6.6 total

7. 2012 (Sony) - $6.6, 3220 screens, week 4, $148.7 total

8. Ninja Assassin (WB) $5.0, 2503 screens, week 2, $29.7 total

9. Planet 51 (Sony)- $4.3, 2904 screens, week 3, $33.9 total

10. Everybody's Fine (Mir) - $4.0, 2133 screens, week 1, $4.0 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that once again The Blind Side and Twilight: New Moon continue their struggle for dominance (and relevance) and retain the top two spots. Only this time they made far less, which means hysteria is dying down and we have a nice calm before the storm of nerds strike back in an attempt to have Avatar make New Moon numbers. Which it probably won't.

For those of you who wanted to see Spiderman square off against Donnie Darko while Natalie Portman watches on, Brothers is the movie for you, and it opened up to $9 million. Impressive for a movie that isn't based on audiences confusing the two actors with each other.

Armored impressed nobody this weekend. This puts a damper on all other heist flicks that don't involve 11 people and an ocean.

We've let Old Dogs make $33 million. You've also let Boondock Saints 2 make almost $7 million. And then we watch Ninja Assassin slowly wither away and die on the branch. Words can not convey...

Below the radar, Up In The Air, quite possibly the best movie this year, opened up on 15 screens, and took in $1.1 million. This will expand in the upcoming weeks, and I highly recommend it. It's a film both timely and timeless. And I promised you a record being broken, so here it is: Transylmania, a film that tried to capitalize on the vampire trend of late, took in $274,000 on 1007 screens. Which means it's the worst opening weekend of a movie released on more than 1000 screens! See kids? Sometimes not trying is a way to win recognition and awards, too!

There you have my amazing break down. Next week a 2-D animated Disney movie opens up wide, a new Clint Eastwood movie will try to wring our hearts and win awards, a few more limited openings of much anticipated award worthy flicks, and one more week of heavy nerd fanboy breathing!

Until next weekend.......

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Brian, the other roommate, is also an actor.

Brian, aka B-Spaz (to those in the hardcore community), hasn't had as much impact on the blog as Dan. For this I apologize, because the guy is even more chock full o' nuggets than Dan is. Although he appeared in this crazy foreign languaged commercial:



Anyway, Brian has passed along this message. He's been selected as one of 25 audition finalists to become a new cast member of an already established webisode series called "Showbizzle" for it's second season. Voting will end on December 10th, so he's kindly asked to visit the site and cast your vote for his video "I'm not an actor." (You may have to register, I'm not too sure yet)

http://showbizzle.com/announcement/2009-12-04/vote-for-audition-finalists-now

Do the man a favor and cast a vote his way, because the more work he gets, the more he can cover me when my unemployment checks stop coming.

And speaking of me, why not watch that video I did with Jason Schwartzman as Wes Anderson again? Now in the YouTube format. (For any HD viewers out there, I believe this satisfies urges.)



I promise I'll stop pimping it out soon, and start working on the next thing, of which I have no idea how I can top it. Any suggestions? Preferably ones that don't involve stop motion.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Remember that story about the meth?

The one that involved me transporting this bag:


This was the movie it was for:

(Trailer is not safe for working or youngster environment. Unless you have headphones, in which case, go buckwild)

Capital picture, Jim!

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Freakin Adorable Kitten Thing!

What? Not everything has to be about my shameless self promotion.



How flipping cute is that?

Fuck you for judging me.