MCN Weekend Archive for October, 2010
Weekend Box Office Report – October 31
The seventh annual edition of the Saw franchise was hoping for an exit with bite with the addition of stereoscopic imagery. But pre-release tracking indicated that with or without gimmicks the mania was fading and its mid-$20 million weekend tally was pretty much in line with pundit’s predictions.
Read the full article »Weekend Estimates – October 31
Apparently, there were enough unanswered questions from the first six Saw installments to boost Saw 3D above Paranormal Activity 2 on Halloween weekend, while RED edges out Jackass 3D for third.
Read the full article »Friday Estimates – October 30
It’s a tale of two horror flicks on Halloween weekend, as Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity battle for the top box office treats, while three very different films – Red, Jackass 3D and Hereafter – squabble over third.
Read the full article »MW on Movies: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Paranormal Activity 2, and CIFF Wrap-Up
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Three Stars) Sweden; Daniel Alfredson, 2009 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the third of the Steig Larsson “Girl” movie adaptations — about a leftist Swedish investigative reporter named Mikael Blomkvist, a dragon-tattooed Lesbian computer hacker/investigator named Lisbeth Salander, and the rat’s nest of government corruption, private…
Read the full article » 8 Comments »Box Office Hell – October 28
It’s a battle of the horror flicks for the top box office position over Halloween weekend, with pundits predicting Saw 3D will offer enough fake blood for the buck to grab the lead. Paranormal Activity 2 may have enough bumps in the night to be a contender, though.
Read the full article »Critics Roundup – October 28
Saw 3D||||| The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest|||Yellow||Green Monsters|||Green|| Shake Hands with the Devil|Green||Green|| Amer ||||Yellow| Nora’s Will |Green|||| Bellamy |Green||||
Read the full article »The DVD Wrap: Sex and the City 2, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Kisses, Alien Anthology, Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy
Sex and the City 2: Blu-ray After scoring a direct financial hit with the first feature-length adaptation of HBO’s Sex and the City, its producers naturally elected to push their luck with this sequel, which adds yet another 150 minutes to the saga. What, on television, could easily be digested in tidy 30-minute portions, now…
Read the full article » 2 Comments »The DVD Geek: Harry Brown
As they go over how the film was staged and what went on during the shoot, Caine shares many terrific anecdotes about his career, including marvelous stories about Charles Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock (who wanted Caine for Frenzy and was annoyed when Caine turned him down), and quite a few excellent insights to his craft.
Read the full article »Weekend Box Office Report – October 24
Critical response to sleeper sensation Paranormal Activity 2 was at best tepid with the more negative reviews viewing it as a cynical rehash of its inspiration. Nonetheless avids were cueing up to provide Thursday midnight shows a record preview for an R-rated film. It lost traction as the weekend proceeded but the fast start was sufficient to speed past tracking that suggested an opening salvo of not much more than $30 million.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Weekend Estimates – October 24
Paranormal Activity 2 exceeds pundits’ expectations with a solid opening weekend haul, while the rest of the pack performs pretty much in line with expectations.
Read the full article »Friday Estimates – October 23
Paranormal Activity 2 gets off to a solid start as we kick off the weekend, while Jackass 3D tries to hold onto second place, and RED and Hereafter battle it out for third.
Read the full article »Review: Paranormal Activity 2
Fans of surprise horror hit Paranormal Activity will find much to like in Paranormal Activity 2. This second round of things-that-go-bump-in-the-night-vision-cameras retains the slow-building, repetitive pace of the first film, while still delivering (for the most part) plenty of scares to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »MW on Movies: Hereafter
Eastwood is 80. Most of the evidence is in. Frankly, if he were as bad as his blasters seem to think, some perhaps still taking their cues from the late, renowned and brilliant Eastwood-hater Pauline Kael, he would probably have gone the way of all old macho-hunk stars and be costarring this year in The Expendables.
Read the full article » 6 Comments »Box Office Hell – October 21
In a light week for new releases, our box office pundits like the odds on audiences flocking back to theaters for more Paranormal Activity, while Jackass 3-D looks to hold on to second place.
Read the full article »Critics’ Roundup – October 21
Paranormal Activity 2||||Green| Boxing Gym|||Green|| Knucklehead|||Red|| Score: A Hockey Musical|Red|||| Kalamity ||||| Punching the Clown ||||| Rising Stars |||||
Read the full article »MW on DVDs: Disneynature Oceans, The Maltese Falcon, The Exorcist, Visions of Europe, Predators … and more
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW DisneyNature: Oceans (Blu-ray & DVD) (Four Stars) France-U.S.; Jacques Perrin/Jacques Cluzaud, 2009 A real gem, from France, where they love to watch the world through a camera eye. Made by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, the two directors of the magnificent birds-in-flight documentary Winged Migration, here’s an equally magnificent view…
Read the full article »The DVD Wrap: Psycho 50th Anniversary Edition, The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Limited Edition, Troll 2, Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure Edition … and more
Psycho: 50th Anniversary Edition: Blu-ray The Psycho Legacy The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Limited Edition Night of the Demon Assault of the Sasquatch Troll 2: Blu-ray Tales From the Darkside: Final Season Lest we forget, Halloween draws nigh. Psycho is one of those films that require absolutely no introduction. Anyone who considers him or herself…
Read the full article » 6 Comments »DVDs 10/19: UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH, PLEASE GIVE, FORBIDDEN LIE$, OCTOBER COUNTRY and HOLY ROLLERS
Hal Hartley’s first feature hits its unbelievable twentieth anniversary, and he’s self-releasing a new DVD edition. “The Unbelievable Truth was first released in North America by Miramax Films in 1990 following its highly successful screenings at the Toronto and Sundance film festivals,” reads the press release. “It was a popular release worldwide and came to represent…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Weekend Box Office Report – October 17
Industry trackers had pegged the stereoscopic version of Jackass at roughly $30 million prior to its opening. But they obviously were deaf to bygone wag Henry Mencken’s observation that “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Weekend Estimates – October 17
Don’t try this at home, kids … the stuntboys of Jackass 3-D far exceed pundits’ box office expectations, if not critical ones, with a rousing estimate of 49.3 for the weekend, leaving the rest of the pack to duke it out over the leavings.
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