Scream of the Bikini screenings this weekend!

ATTENTION L.A. READERS: SCREAM OF THE BIKINI SCREENINGS THIS WEEKEND!!!

Greetings gang. Sorry for the geographically localized post, but I wanted to let viewers in the greater Los Angeles area know of a few screenings of this ridiculous-hilarious-sexy-crazy movie I saw called Scream of the Bikini that will be playing in town this weekend!

A lost classic from South American director Fernando Fernandez, Scream of the Bikini is an action spy thriller thought lost to the ages in the 1960s, recently discovered, then translated into English by Germans where something obviously got lost in the translation. (Sort of like what they did with the Metropolis restoration, but with more bikinis and sexy intrigue). The film focuses on the adventures of supermodels by day/sexy secret agents by night Jasmine Orosco and Paola Apanapel who engage in intrigue, espionage, adventure, excitement, vespas, and pillow fights! Pajama-clad pillow fights! Between two gorgeous girls!

I feel the need to repeat the Hot Lady Pillow Fight Action, as that's pretty much all I ever want out of a movie.

Scream of the Bikini is winner of Best Comedy at the ThrillSpy International Film Festival AND 3 Maverick Movie Awards including Best Director. Scream of the Bikini is a hilarious bastard offspring of Barberella, Modesty Blaise, James Bond, and What's Up Tiger Lily.

The movie will be showing this Friday and Saturday, February 19th and 20th at the Laemmle Sunset 5 at midnight! It's a great flick to see with an audience (and with a little buzz, so feel free to have a cocktail beforehand). So if you're around and want to see the aforementioned hot chicks with pillows and vespas, please check it out and help support some indie cinema!

Here is the link to buy tickets at the Laemmle for Friday and for Saturday

And the Facebook Links: 
For the event: 
For the fan site

And the link to the official movie site

Dolph Sings!

Let's be honest, this is the greatest thing you will see all day. Probably the greatest thing this week, maybe of the month, and definitely in the top ten of the year.

More friends across the interwebz

Rob Grace, another friend of the blog (and featured extra in the Royal Tennembaums) is interviewed in this piece for Backstage. I actually saw the play he speaks of, and it was indeed a unique performance. And I admit, I am one of those who believed the play was written for the space. But then again, I also believed it to be a post-apocalyptic story, of which I am most certainly wrong.

Box Office Report: Valentine's Edition

Dude here again. It seems the reign of Avatar is crumbling slightly, and it's for the best. It's time to move on to new things, and progress forward. We've spent our time on Pandora, and it's a place we can always revisit on one way or another. But more movies need to come out, more unexplored worlds that require our attention. And that's okay.

Unless all these movies are in 3-D, because that's a trend ready to burn out fast. (And furious).

This weekend, a crowded "holiday" weekend slate comes in and cleans house.. 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. Valentine's Day (WB)- $52.4, 3665 screens, week 1, $52.4 total

2. Percy Jackson and The Olympians... (Fox) - $31.1, 3356 screens, week 1, $31.1 total

3. The Wolfman (Uni) - $30.6, 3222 screens, week 1, $30.6 total

4. Avatar (Fox) $22.0, 2685 screens, week 9, $659.6 total

5. Dear John (ScrGm) - $15.3, 2975 screens, week 2, $53.1 total

6. The Tooth Fairy (Fox) - $5.6, 2748 screens, week 4, $41.5 total

7. From Paris With Love (LGF)- $4.7, 2722 screens, week 2, $15.8 total

8. Edge of Darkness (WB)- $4.5, 2615 screens, week 3, $36.0 total

9. Crazy Heart (FoxS)- $4.0, 1005 screens, week 9, $16.5 total

10. When In Rome (BV)- $3.4, 2125 screens, week 3, $26.0 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means the shame of Dear John has NOTHING on the shame of Valentine's Day taking in that obscene amount of money. On the one hand, I'm happy for Garry Marshall, who is truly one of the nicest men on Earth. But this also means we'll be treated to more vapid romantic ensemble "comedies" centered around holidays. While this bodes well for my "Arbor Day" script, it does not bode well for humankind.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief wins the race for longest title, but failed to capture some of the Harry Potter magic Fox was hoping for. Despite hiring the latter film's director. Still, a very respectable opening, and better than previous attempts to cash in on Potter. (Which also never seem to work).

The Wolfman finally saw a release! And it seems to have attracted enough interested folk to also have a respectable opening! Not bad, considering everything it took to actually get that movie on a screen. Of course if it continues success, that means more updated (or rebooted) monster flicks. Most likely in 3-D, but only after the fact.

Everything else seems status quo, returning to normal box office patterns and routines. Nothing too shocking, nothing Earth shattering. I feel this is because Avatar broke almost every record out there already, so it's not going to make that much of a difference what comes out. Even though Avatar only dropped 3 percent from last week's take. That movie's unstoppable. Until it gets kicked off the 3-D screens for all the other 3-D fare we're about to be assaulted with.

Below the radar, My Name Is Khan, which could be a documentary about either Ghengis Khan or Ricardo Montalban (Ed. Note: It's Neither) opened up on 120 screens to take in $1.8 million. Impressive. as it's also the highest per screen average of the whole group. Even more impressive? I have no idea what this movie is.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, Scorsese finally gets to show us Shutter Island, which means I don't have to see that damn trailer anymore!

Until next weekend.......


(All Numbers courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Weekend Round Up!

There's a couple of things stirring up on the old internets that are worthy of your interest.



"IT'S A TRAP!"

First up, another wacky editorial over at Moviesonline, this time about bad date movies.

There's also a review for From Paris With Love and District B13: Ultimatum up there.



PARKOUR!

Next, friend of the blog Brian Dickett has finally granted an interview! Here's his press release:

This is Brian Dickett. I'm sending you all a quick update on some of the exciting projects I worked on over the past year. I was interviewed by an online magazine called "Eerie Digest," which showcases people who work in the film industry on projects of a supernatural nature. Among the topics I discuss are:

1. "Night of the Demons" - a feature film where I was the Lead Digital Artist.
2. "Monster Mutt" - a fantastic feature film for kids that I was delighted to be the Visual Effects Supervisor on.
3. "Ghost Writer" - a pilot for a TV show for which I was the Second Unit Director, Visual Effects Supervisor, and Editor.
4. PlasterCITY - An amazing Post-Production house in LA where I will be helping with their new visual effects department.

You can read all about it @:
www.eeriedigest.com
Scroll down to find the article, but I'd also encourage you to read the articles with Julian Moss and Joe Taranto. I worked with them on the "Ghost Writer" pilot and they're incredible people.

So check that out at the link provided. It's a fun read of a fascinating man.

(He's somewhere in this picture. At the very least, it's his house. the chap is quite elusive).

And finally, here's, uhhh... CUTE THINGS EXPLODING!!!



This comes courtesy of Andrew Bentler, the man responsible for the opening title sequence for Night 2 of THE STORM! (Also a major force in the Fantastic Mr. Anderson video I'm curiously not posting for once). He's an all around resident genius. They've even got shirts made! Check out his madness.

And why not one more weird thing? Here's a picture of my cup, after I drank most of the root beer that was in it. This picture is not doctored.



Made my day. Hopefully it does the same for you. Pay it forward!

Moviesonline stuff

Things have been starting up again over at the Moviesonline site, and I kicked things off this week with a list of what I consider the best sci-fi flicks of the past decade.

Check it out, why don'tcha?

I'm hoping to do more fun things for them, similar to the Fanastic Mr. Fox video I did some time ago.

What's that? You don't know what Fantastic Mr. Fox thing I speak of? Thankfully YouTube is here to enlighten you.



(There's also a semi-coherent review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus up, but it's ok because that's a semi-coherent movie).

Box Office Report: The unthinkable has happened!

Dude here again. Well, it finally happened. There are no records left for Avatar to break. It's technically the most successful motion picture in history. It broke the international take last week, and then this previous week, on the day it was nominated for 9 Oscars, it overtook the Titanic record. So there's nothing left to talk about regarding big blue, and it's time to move on.

Oh, and none of you give me that "Adjusted for inflation" bullshit, because that's stupid.

This weekend, a film least likely overtook the champ. And another release didn't overtake the champ. 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. Dear John (ScrGm) - $32.4, 2969 screens, week 1, $32.4 total

2. Avatar (Fox) $23.6, 3000 screens, week 8, $630.4 total

3. From Paris With Love (LGF)- $8.1, 2722 screens, week 1, $8.1 total

4. Edge of Darkness (WB)- $7.0, 3066 screens, week 2, $29.0 total

5. The Tooth Fairy (Fox) - $6.5, 3218 screens, week 3, $34.3 total

6. When In Rome (BV)- $5.5, 2456 screens, week 2, $20.8 total

7. The Book of Eli (WB)- $4.8, 2820 screens, week 4, $82.1 total

8. Crazy Heart (FoxS)- $3.6, 819 screens, week 8, $11.1 total

9. Legion (ScrGm) - $3.4, 2339 screens, week 3, $34.6 total

10. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $2.6, 1805 screens, week 7, $201.5 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means Dear John, a movie so cloying my ticket stub actually had sap dripping from it, managed to take in an impressive $32 million. It overtakes the Avatar and ensures that we'll have plenty more Nicholas Sparks' weepy adaptations. Hooray for that.

You know what's funny? Avatar arrives, this giant, 800 lb gorilla, and sits on top of the charts demanding money, and everybody pays until the records are broken, then it quietly leaves. At least, that's how I envision it.

John Travolta sent us From Paris With Love. Audiences replied "Return to sender". I love postal humor!

The Academy Award Nominations were announced this week, and the biggest boost given was to Crazy Heart, which actually opened on the same day as Avatar, and is now making an appearance in the top ten. The dude certainly does abide, doesn't he?

That Edge of Darkness flick probably didn't benefit from Mel Gibson calling a dude an asshole live on the air. However, that incident inspired me to actually go check it out now. I have a feeling in real life Mel's as crazy as Riggs. And that's just the tops.

What the hell is The Tooth Fairy still doing in the top 5?

Below the radar, The Red Riding Trilogy opened up on one screen. It took in $15,500 on that one screen. Pretty impressive, but I wonder how many people thought it was some sort of foreign fairy tale adaptation, and not Britain's answer to Zodiac?

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, a crap load of movies comes out, including the long awaited Wolfman, and a movie that looks even worse than Dear John AND He's Just Not That Into You COMBINED! It's going to be very exciting. Oh, Percy Jackson's next week, too! I'm willing to bet all the new releases cancel each other out, and Avatar reigns supreme once again. (It won't. That's a horrible bet. Avatar's done, moving on).

Until next weekend.......

(All Numbers courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Box Office Report: Mel Gibson tried

Dude here again. With your weekly Avatar report! Yes, I've decided to fully sell out and devote my entire article, and every writing from here on, to the magnificent splendor of James Cameron's Avatar. Sure there may be other movies out there, but can any of them match the wonder and beauty of the world of Pandora?

You know, besides the vampire movies with the sparkly emo kids?

This weekend, another film steps up to the plate and misses, as Mr. Cameron's masterpiece of technology and story continues its reign. 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) $30.0, 3074 screens, week 7, $594.4 total

2. Edge of Darkness (WB)- $17.1, 3066 screens, week 1, $17.1 total

3. When In Rome (BV)- $12.0, 2456 screens, week 1, $12.0 total

4. The Tooth Fairy (Fox) - $10.0, 3345 screens, week 2, $26.1 total

5. The Book of Eli (WB)- $8.7, 3075 screens, week 3, $74.3 total

6. Legion (ScrGm) - $6.8, 2476 screens, week 2, $28.6 total

7. The Lovely Bones (Par/DW)- $4.7, 2638 screens, week 8, $38.0 total

8. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $4.5, 2250 screens, week 6, $197.5 total

9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) - $4.0, 2526 screens, week 6, $209.2 total

10. It's Complicated (Uni)- $3.7, 2096 screens, week 6, $104.0 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means it's time to put down the District 9 prawn language lesson book, and embrace the language of Na'Vi, because that's gonna be the new language of the world, now that Avatar has become the biggest money maker of all time! Yes indeed, it's all part of Mr. Cameron's glorious vision!

Mel Gibson, you hilarious rapscallion! You tried to star in a movie after 8 years of being gone and directing subtitled movies about beatings and monkey fights. But you had the misfortune to open up against Avatar. Shame, but it's nice to see you back. Might I suggest giving Danny Glover a call and starring as Pandoran Cops for Lethal Weapon 5?

When in Rome...

(That works best if you realize I'm impersonating Ron Burgundy, and his inability to grasp the meaning and proper use of the phrase "When in Rome". I have so little to say about that movie, I resorted to just quoting Anchorman instead!)

No other movie dares compete against the might of Sam Worthington! And that's the way it should be! Until Iron Man comes out. I didn't say that...

Below the radar, the Steve Buscmei starring Saint John of Las Vegas opened up on 2 screens and took in $22,400, which is the highest per screen average for the week. ALthough, you have to take into account the high price of non-3D tickets to truly get a sense of how much money the film has made, but it should be ignored due to the absence of the color blue in any and all advertising.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, a sappy romantic drama and an action movie with John Travolta. Or maybe I mixed that up. Either way, it's probably still going to be Avatar on top. Because that's they way it should be! ALL HAIL CAMERON!!!!

Until next weekend.......




(All Numbers courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com)

Greatest Video of today

Bonus points for actually including Showdown in Little Tokyo!

(There's some swearing, so if you're at work or around children, pop in the headphones or become the "cool" parent).

Something on the interwebs you need to check out right now.

That is, if you haven't already discovered it.

Prepare yourself for the mind blowing brilliance of... AXECOP!!!

Many thanks to John Pavlus for showing me the light on this one.

Box Office Report: Deja vu 2

Dude here again. Earlier this week I was growing tired of reporting about Avatar breaking every conceivable record known to man. Then I saw it again. And I realized that this is a movie where we basically get to see a dinosaur fight a robot, and any movie that does that is ok in my book!

(Full Disclosure: I witnessed the dinosaur fighting a robot when I took the 3-D glasses off).

This weekend, Avatar inches closer to the magic record numbers, and other movies are dumped in a pathetic attempt to go up against this juggernaut. 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) $36.0, 3141 screens, week 6, $552.7 total

2. Legion (ScrGm) - $18.2, 2476 screens, week 1, $18.2 total

3. The Book of Eli (WB)- $17.0, 3111 screens, week 2, $62.0 total

4. The Tooth Fairy (Fox) - $14.5, 3344 screens, week 1, $14.5 total

5. The Lovely Bones (Par/DW)- $8.8, 2571 screens, week 7, $31.6 total

6. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $7.1, 2670 screens, week 5, $191.5 total

7. Extraordinary Measures (CBS)- $7.0, 2549 screens, week 1, $7.0 total

8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) - $6.5, 2973 screens, week 5, $204.2 total

9. It's Complicated (Uni)- $6.1, 2301 screens, week 5, $98.6 total

10. The Spy Next Door (LGF)- $4.7, 2924 screens, week 2, $18.7 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means Avatar is... Honestly, you could fill in the blank here and come up with a conclusion. Like a Mad Lib. Try it, I think you'll enjoy it!

Legion, the first TERRIBLE movie I've seen this year, managed an impressive second place haul of $18 million, proving that you can sell a movie as The Matrix meets The Prophecy, even if the only cool things are in the trailer. Can't wait for Priest!

The Rock was kind enough to give us a movie where he plays the Tooth Fairy. But not enough of us went to see it. Why is this so? C'mon people, Dwayne Johnson has done so much for us, isn't about time we give back a little?

(In all seriousness, if you can go to the Red Cross site and donate to the people in Haiti for the same amount of money that you would've paid to see The Tooth Fairy, you'd feel a lot better. About a LOT of things).

What happens when Indiana Jones meets... ummm, the guy from The Mummy? And they don't have any Nazis or mystical demons to fight, but instead a disease? You get Extraordinary Measures. It pulled in $7 million, has been compared to a Lifetime movie, but was still far better than the last half hour of Crystal Skull. go figure.

Below the radar, another Paul Bettany starring movie opened. Creation, the "controversial" motion picture about the boring old life and times of Charles Darwin opened up on 7 screens and took in $52,000. So let's just get this straight, when Bettany plays the founder of the theory of evolution, nobody watches, but when he plays a renegade archangel with a fetish for double fisting machine guns against possessed humans, he makes mint. Isn't it ironic?

Dontcha think?

Like rain. On your wedding day. I'm stopping now.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, Mel Gibson decides he needs to kick a lot of people's asses while sporting a wicked Bahston accent. Oh, and Avatar will become the most successful motion picture in modern history. Can't wait!

Until next weekend.......

Dr. Jones works hard for us.

Around the clock, even.

Box Office Report: The Book of oh wait, no it's avatar again.

Dude here again. I'm having issues with my interwebz connection, so this week's gonna be a bit truncated. Not that it matters, because you could pretty much take everything I said about Avatar last week and app;y it to this week.

Sometimes I think these numbers make me too jaded. Sometimes, not jaded enough.

This weekend, Denzel Washington attempts to lure viewers away from the Na'Vi. Does 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) $41.3, 3285 screens, week 5, $491.7 total

2. The Book of Eli (WB)- $31.6, 3111 screens, week 1, $31.6 total

3. The Lovely Bones (Par/DW)- $17.0, 2563 screens, week 6, $17.5 total

4. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) - $11.5, 3296 screens, week 4, $192.5 total

5. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $9.8, 3173 screens, week 4, $180.0 total

6. The Spy Next Door (LGF)- $9.7, 2924 screens, week 1, $9.7 total

7. It's Complicated (Uni)- $7.6, 2670 screens, week 4, $88.2 total

8. Leap Year (Uni) - $5.8, 2512 screens, week 2, $17.5 total

9. The Blind Side (WB) - $5.5, 2408 screens, week 9, $226.7 total

10. Up In The Air (Par)- $5.4, 2107 screens, week 7, $62.8 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? It means the same as it did last week. Avatar is now becoming the greatest motion picture in the history of space and time. Well, almost. But it surpassed Star Wars in terms of dollars, and that brings a small tear to my eyes.

The Book Of Eli had a pretty damn impressive $31 million take for three days. In January, this is considered a minor miracle, and if Avatar weren't out, it certainly would have been more noteworthy. Alas, we just live in the world, while James Cameron is our king.

Peter Jackson, a former "King of the World" saw his lovely bones expand this weekend, and I totally meant that double entendre. Opening up beyond the initial 3 screens it's been on for 5 weeks, Lovely Bones saw a modest take, but is far overshadowed this late in the game. And to think, they held it from March to the more prestigious Oscar-Bait month of January.

They just didn't count on one thing....

(that last sentence works best if you imagine it being said by the guy in movie trailers, usually before announcing that the one thing they didn't count on was Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme.)

Honestly, the less I say about The Spy Next Door, the better off we all are in the long run. Trust me. I'm a doctor.

Below the radar, I couldn't find anything because the server crashed.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, The Rock dons a tutu and some wings and thinks he can take on the Avatar. Sadly, he may be our only hope.

Until next weekend.......

Box Office Report: Same as it ever was...

Dude here again. I'm getting into the swing of this new year. I've even kept my New Year's Resolution and refrained from making "I haven't _______ since last year!" jokes! Well, I haven't made any in the column yet. And that example doesn't count.

And I haven't made a joke about that in my column since TWO years ago!

This weekend, new movies were released and none of them made any sort of impact upon the unstoppable blue monster. 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) $48.5, 3422 screens, week 4, $429.0 total

2. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $16.6, 3626 screens, week 3, $165.1 total

3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) - $16.3, 3641 screens, week 3, $178.1 total

4. Daybreakers (LGF)- $15.0, 2523 screens, week 1, $15.0 total

5. It's Complicated (Uni)- $11.0, 2955 screens, week 3, $76.3 total

6. Leap Year (Uni) - $9.1, 2511 screens, week 1, $9.1 total

7. The Blind Side (WB) - $7.7, 2880 screens, week 8, $219.1 total

8. Up In The Air (Par)- $7.1, 2218 screens, week 6, $54.7 total

9. Youth In Revolt (Dim/Wein)- $7.0, 1873 screens, week 1, $7.0 total

10. The Princess and the Frog (BV)- $4.7, 2620 screens, week 7, $92.0 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that now it's a matter of "when", not "if" regarding Avatar overtaking Titanic's record of highest grossing picture of all time, not adjusted for inflation, etc. It's really boring when a movie just keeps knocking over record after record. It's like your friend playing you in Mortal Kombat, and he just constantly beats you over and over again with a sweep kick. It's beginning to not be fun anymore.

Oh, but on a plus side, it overpassed Transforming Robots 2: Revenge of No Screenwriter as the #1 money maker of 2009. Mad props for that. (I still want my money back for that one...)

Daybreakers proves the recent movie edict: Though shalt only make vampire movies that make money only if the vampires sparkle. Although a decent-for-January opening, I wouldn't expect a Daybreakers 2: Newer Moon on the horizon.

Leap Year: I'll catch it on its' "leap" to the bargain DVD bin. I'm sorry Amy Adams, but I guess there's just some things I wouldn't do for you.

Oh, Youth In Revolt, will you ever catch a break? After multiple release delays, you finally opened to mediocre word of mouth and even less mediocre business. Someday, Michael Cera, you will prove to the world that you can play more than awkward shy funny boy. Too bad the public won't perceive you that way.

Below the radar, Crazy on the Outside, the directorial debut of Tim Allen, took in $75,400 on 75 screens. Avatar is trembling in shiny blue boots.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, Denzel Washington saves us from a post apocalypse, and we see if it has a chance against the mighty Avatar. (I'm betting no, but who knows?)

Until next weekend.......


(All numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo)

French Star Wars Interpretation

The French really know what they're doing, let me tell you.

The Best and The Best-Worst: 2009 Edition (With Bonus Materials!)

So I wrote up my best/worst round up. I initially wrote it the way I've been doing it on here for the past few years, breaking them down into categories other than best/worst. But then I decided to just focus on the top ones and post it on the Moviesonline site.

My editor broke it up into three separate pieces. The Best, The Worst, And The Craptastic! (Unfortunately, The Worst is not up yet, but when it is I'll let you know).

(This might be a hint as to one of the movies).

However, there were a lot of movies that didn't make the cut. And I decided to post those movies here. Here's what didn't make the lists:


SOLID (Good far outweighs the bad)
Outlander, Taken, Sunshine Cleaning, I Love You, Man, Skills Like This, Tokyo, The Escapist, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, State of Play, The Limits of Control, Next Day Air, The Brothers Bloom, Drag Me To Hell, Pontypool, The Hangover, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, In The Loop, Paper Heart, Cold Souls, The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard, 9, Pandorum, Whip It, The Invention of Lying, Where The Wild Things Are, House of the Devil, Pirate Radio, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Public Enemies, Carriers, World's Greatest Dad,


HONORABLE MENTION (Good enough to recommend to the curious, but flawed enough to make me hesitate)
Donkey Punch, Adventureland, 17 Again, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Dead Snow, Humpday, Thirst, Taking Woodstock, Extract, Jennifer's Body, Ong Bak 2: The Beginning, The Box, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Ninja Assassin, Sherlock Holmes.


MEH TO MOSTLY FORGETTABLE
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Killshot, Fanboys, The International, Race to Witch Mountain, Duplicity, Fast and Furious, Alien Trespass, Gigantic, Lymelife, Battle For Terra, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Big Man Japan, Surrogates (Even though it had that awesome scene where Bruce Willis punches a robot to death with his bare hands!)


INEXPLICABLE

The Final Destination,
It's not very good, but I saw it in 3-D, and my friend Larry and I were the only people in the theater. And we like being jerks sometimes, so I had a blast while seeing this, even though I don't think I ever want to see it again.

Antichrist
The opening scene is stunning. The movie looks gorgeous. There's certainly plenty of insane shit going on, and the movie works on numerous levels. Still, I feel bad recommending it to people because it is quite a polarizing movie and there are certain things in it nobody should see. They involve the words "Dafoe" and "nutsack".

HAVEN'T SEEN YET, BUT WANT TO (Mostly for my own records and for Netflix queue reference): Knowing, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Sleep Dealer, Tetro, Up, The Proposal, Bruno, Orphan, The Collector, The Cove, Flame & Citron, Julie & Julia,(though, I've tried to see it twice!), A Perfect Getaway, Ponyo, It Might Get Loud, Big Fan, Mystery Team, Gamer, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, The Informant!, Bright Star, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell (I hear it's AWFUL!), Paranormal Activity, An Education, Trucker, Law Abiding Citizen, Michael Jackson This Is It, Precious, The Blind Side, Me and Orson Wells, Broken Embraces, Red Cliff, The Road, the Princess and the Frog, Armored, Brothers, Invictus, A Single Man, The Slammin' Salmon, Crazy Heart, It's Complicated, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Lovely Bones.


STILL NOT GONNA SEE: The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Bride Wars,Love Happens, Old Dogs.

Box Office Repeat: Keep on rockin in the New Year!

Dude here again. It's a brand new year. And yet it's the same line up as last week. Nothing changed, really.

Or did they?!?!?

This weekend, was pretty much the same as last weekend, which is sort of remarkable. 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) $68.3, 3461 screens, week 3, $352.1 total

2. Sherlock Holmes (WB) - $38.3, 3626 screens, week 2, $140.6 total

3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox) - $36.6, 3747 screens, week 2, $157.3 total

4. It's Complicated (Uni)- $18.7, 2897 screens, week 2, $59.1 total

5. The Blind Side (WB) - $12.6, 2926 screens, week 7, $209.0 total

6. Up In The Air (Par)- $11.3, 1895 screens, week 5, $45.0 total

7. The Princess and the Frog (BV)- $10.0, 3328 screens, week 6, $86.0 total

8. Did You Hear About The Morgans? (Sony)- $5.2, 2718 screens, week 3, $25.6 total

9. Nine (Wein)- $4.2, 1412 screens, week 3, $14.0 total

10. Invictus (WB) - $4.1, 2170 screens, week 4, $30.7 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means Avatar is fast on the way to making more than several small nations. It crossed the billion dollar worldwide gross, a feat only accomplished by four other movies. The top one being Titanic, and with Avatar being a Cameron film, it all winds around itself intricately. Point is, it made bank. It was a gamble that paid off, and looks like it will continue to pay off.

For what it's worth, I'm really looking forward to the backlash against the film, much like the Titanic backlash from oh so many years ago. Plus, it's fun to see people who a month ago raved about the flick suddenly changing their opinion, to seem hip and relevant.

Honestly, is there anything else here that needs discussing? Alvin and the Chipmunks? It's Complicated? The Blind Side? Do any of these feature blue people? No. They don't matter. But they're certainly picking up a lot of cash over this 2nd holiday weekend. Avatar is what's on the peoples' minds and tongues, and that's all we're gonna talk about.

So there, you have my amazing break down. Next week, things will settle down a little bit, but watch for Avatar to continue Cameron domination of box office records. Also, Daybreakers and Youth In Revolt.

Until next weekend...


(Actual sign on Florida gas pump. This might be as cool as Bronson, MO!)

2010: The Future!

I haven't seen all the movies I want to, so a Best/Worst of last year/decade isn't quite in the cards at the moment, but hopefully I'll have one or the other ready in the near future.

In the meantime, why don't we live in the past and enjoy this timeless classic?

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.

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.......