MCN Weekend Archive for September, 2010
Box Office Hell – September 16
As Easy A and Ben Affleck’s The Town battle it out for the top of the box office charts, our pundits seem to have some disagreement over how the weekend numbers will balance out.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Town, Easy A, Never Let Me Go, Mademoiselle Chambon, and Catfish
There’s not a role here that could have been played better, not an actor, including the much-dissed Ms. Lively, who could have been cast better (though, for old time’s sake, we might have liked to see Matt Damon as Jem). I think both this movie and the withering Gone, Baby, Gone (from Lehane) prove director Affleck loves his actors and tries to do his best by them. He’s also pretty damned smart about local color and atmosphere.
Read the full article » 4 Comments »DVD Geek: City Island
Do not touch the ‘Eject’ button during the first 20 minutes of City Island, a wonderful film about a dysfunctional family that has been released by Anchor Bay Films. You may be sorely tempted to cut the movie short at the beginning, because to set things up it regurgitates seemingly tiresome stereotypes—the husband and wife, played by Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies, fighting; the son in his bedroom surfing porn; the daughter leading a secret life—but there is then a terrific and quite unexpected plot turn.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Casino Jack, My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done?, Breathless, Crumb and more …
Alex Gibney‘s Casino Jack and the United States of Money is the amazing, genuinely scary and totally sobering story of Jack Abramoff, the supreme Republican lobbyist/dealmaker/moneyman, and also the poster child for a decade crazed by greed and contemptuous of rules, regulations and the problems of the common man and woman.
Read the full article »DVD Wrap: Prince of Persia, Letters to Juliet, Killers, The Black Cauldron, Cemetery Junction, and more…
In Hollywood’s Cathedral of Concepts, the Reverend Jerry Bruckheimer presided over the marriage of a beloved amusement-park attraction to the classic swashbuckler. Nine months later, the fruit of their union arrived in the form of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Other children would follow. At the same church, seven years later, Reverend Bruckheimer would unite a popular action-packed video game with a direct descendant of Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad, with the result being Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »The Weekend Box Office Report
Weekend Estimates – September 10-12, 2010 Title Distributor Gross (average) change Theaters Cume Resident Evil: Afterlife Sony 26.9 (8,390) New 3203 26.9 Takers Sony 5.9 (2,710) -45% 2191 47.9 The American Focus 5.7 (2,020) -57% 2833 28.2 Machete Fox 4.1 (1,520) -64% 2678 20.7 Going the Distance WB 3.8 (1,260) -45% 3030 14 The…
Read the full article »Weekend Estimates – September 12
Resident Evil: Afterlife| 26.9|| 26.9 Takers| 509|-45% | 47.9 The American| 13.6| -57%| 28.2 Machete| 4.1| -64%| 20.7 Going the Distance| 3.8|-45%|14.0 The Other Guys|3.4|-35%|112.5 The Last Exorcism| 3.4| -54%| 112.5 The Expendables| 3.2| -51%| 98.5 Inception| 3.0| -35%| 282.4 Eat Pray Love| 2.9| -40%| 74.6
Read the full article »Friday Estimates – 9/10
Resident Evil: Afterlife|10.4|3203||10.4 The American|1.8|2833|-54%|24.2 Takers|1.8|2191|-42%|43.8 Machete|1.3|2678|-65%|18 Going the Distance|1.3|3030|-42%|11.4 The Last Exorcism|1.1|2731|-53%|35.8 The Other Guys|1|2246|-26%|110.1 The Expendables|0.95|3058|-43%|96.2 Eat Pray Love|0.9|2339|-33%|72.6 Inception|0.85|1583|-28%|280.3 Also Debuting (in thousands) Dabangg|0.2|67||0.2 L’Arnacouer|61,200|47||61,200 Legendary|42,700|178||42,700 I’m Still Here|31,300|19||31,300 The Romantics|16,100|2||16,100 Expecting Mary|12,400|56||12,400 De Mai Tinh (Fool for Love)|11,500|8||11,500 Bran Nue Dae|6,300|16||6,300 Ahead of Time |4,200|1||4,200 Le Refuge|3,100|4||3,100 Who is Harry Nilsson|2,400|1||4,200
Read the full article »Critics Roundup – 9/10
Resident Evil: Afterlife||||| I’m Not Here|||||Yellow Bran Nue Dae|||||Green The Virginity Hit||||| The Romantics||||| Heartbreaker||||| Soul Kitchen|||||Green
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: I’m Still Here, Soul Kitchen and Bran Nue Dae
Okay. Here’s my opinion. I think they had us on. Obviously. Totally. To me (and to lots of others) this looks like a Borat-style mix of a fake central character (Phoenix travestying himself) and a fake premise with some (maybe quite a few) real reactions from the real world around him. (How many, who can tell?)
Read the full article » 5 Comments »DVD Wrap: The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, That Evening Sun, Why Did I Get Married, Too?, The Exploding Girl, Solitary Man … and more
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond: Blu-ray That Evening Sun Movies put into limited release in the dead zone between December 26 and New Year’s Eve share certain traits. They tend to feature stars whose work has previously been recognized by the folks at AMPAS, but whose commercial prospects don’t warrant an expensive marketing campaign….
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on DVDs: Solitary Man, Crumb, THX-1138, Macgruber and Caravaggio
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Solitary Man (Three Stars) U.S.; Brian Koppleman & David Levien, 2010 The thing that fascinates people about a serial seducer like Ben Kalmen (magnificently played by Michael Douglas in A Solitary Man) is his speed of conquest. What could take the average man, even in our liberated society, several months…
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Weekend Estimates – September 6
Four Day Estimates| | | The American| 16.5| New| 19.6 Machete| 14.1| New| 14.1 Takers| 13.6| -47%| 40.1 The Last Exorcism| 8.7| -64%| 33.5 Going the Distance| 8.6| New| 8.6 The Expendables| 8.3| -46%| 93.9 The Other Guys| 6.6| -16%| 108 Eat Pray Love| 6.1| -29%| 70.2 Inception| 5.8| -6%| 278.4 Nanny McPhee Returns| 4.6|…
Read the full article »The Weekend Box Office Report — Four Day and Summer Charts
Summer of Our Discontent Domestic box office for the summer season dropped 3% from 2009 on an estimated gross of $4.05 billion. On an even graver note admissions sank at least 10% and possibly as high as 12%. Following a fast start in early May, movie going appeared to lose steam mid-stream and though the…
Read the full article »The Weekend Box Office Report
A trio of new national releases did little to bolster the overall picture with The American topping the charts with an estimated $13.1 million (all figures are for the 3-day portion of the holiday). It entered the weekend with an additional $3.1 million from a Wednesday pre-weekend launch.
Read the full article »Weekend Estimates – 9/5/10
The American| 13.1| New| 16.2 Takers| 11.3| -45%| 11.2 Machete| 11.2| New| 11.2 The Last Exorcism| 7.6| -63%| 32.4 Going the Distance| 6.8| New| 6.8 The Expendables| 6.6| -31%| 92.2 The Other Guys| 5.3| -16%| 106.7 Eat Pray Love| 4.8| -29%| 68.9 Inception| 4.6| -6%| 277.2 Nanny McPhee Returns| 3.6| -24%| 22.4
Read the full article »Friday Estimates – September 4
The American|3.8|2721|NEW|6.9 Machete|3.8|2670|NEW|3.8 Takers|3.1|2206|-59%|29.5 The Last Exorcism|2.3|2874|-76%|27 Going the Distance|2.2|3030|NEW|2.2 The Expendables|1.6|3398|-40%|87.2 The Other Guys|1.4|2607|-30%|102.8 Eat, Pray, Love|1.3|2663|-39%|65.4 Inception|1.2|1704|-19%|273.7 Nanny McPhee Returns|0.85|2798|-35%|19.7 Also Debuting (in thousands) We Are Family|64,300|71||64,300 A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop|6,900|5||6,900 Prince of Broadway|3,800|1||3,800 My Dog Tulip|3,500|1||3,500 The Winning Season|2,400|3||2,400 White Wedding|2,400|4||2,400
Read the full article »Critics Roundup – September 3
Machete|||Green||Yellow Going the Distance|Yellow||Green||Yellow The American|Yellow||Green||Green Mesrine: Public Enemy #1|Yellow||Green||Green Prince of Broadway|||Green||
Read the full article »MW on Movies: The American, Machete, Going the Distance, Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 and Lebanon
The American (Three Stars) U.S.; Anton Corbijn, 2010 I like George Clooney. No off-color psychological speculations, please. What I like about him is the easy-going “good guy” way he plays the Hollywood game. I like his politics, his philanthropy, his unpretentious smarts, his good-natured jock style, his taste in movie scripts, his daring as a…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Box Office Hell – September 2
It’s grindhouse versus rom-com over Labor Day weekend, as Machete tries to slash its way to the top of the charts over Drew Barrymore-led Going the Distance, leaving The American to battle it out for third with last week’s leftovers, Takers and The Last Exorcism.
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