MCN Weekend Archive for January, 2011
The Weekend Report: January 30, 2011
The debut of the ExoRcIsT-lite The Rite possessed the top of the weekend box office charts with an estimated $14.7 million. In another soft film going frame the other national opener The Mechanic ranked fifth with an $11.1 million bow.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Weekend Estimates: January 30, 2011
The Rite|14.7||14.7 No Strings Attached|13.6|-31%|39.7 The Green Hornet|11.5|-35%|78.8 The Mechanic|11.1||11.1 The King’s Speech|10.4|33%|71.5 True Grit|7.2|-1%|148 Dilemma|5.4|-40%|40.6 Black Swan|4.9|-17%|90.5 The Fighter|3.9|-7%|78.2 Yogi Bear|3.1|-20%|92.4
Read the full article »Friday Estimates — January 29
A pair of newcomers, The Rite and The Mechanic, hold first and third position as we head into the weekend, with No Strings Attached holding court in second place. Meanwhile, the awards contenders try to capitalize on post-Oscar nom buzz to squeeze out a few more bucks at the box office.
Read the full article »Box Office Hell: January 28, 2011
Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com The Rite|18.2|13.0|19.0|18.0|13.5 No Strings Attached|11.0|n/a|n/a|12.0|12.0 The Green Hornet|9.7|n/a|9.5|8.5|10.7 The Mechanic|9.5|11.0|10.0|9.0|8.5 The King’s Speech|7.3|11.0|11.0|8.0|10.5
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Rite and Nora’s Will
The Rite (Two and a Half Stars) U.S.; Mikael Hafstrom, 2011 Exorcism movies are intended to scare the hell out of you, and The Rite is a classy, but forgettable example. Purporting to tell us a true story, about the devilish experiences of a Chicago priestly novitiate — the not-that-sure-of-his-vocation Michael Kovack (Colin O’Donoghue), who…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The DVD Wrap: Red, Secretariat, Broadcast News, White Wedding, and more …
Red: Blu-ray There are so many holes stitched into the fabric of Red, it would make a wedge of Swiss cheese turn green with envy … or is that mold? No matter, because the whole point of Robert Schwentke’s comic thriller is to enjoy watching a veritable over-the-hill gang of retired CIA agents – played…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »DVD Geek: The Town
At one point in the movie, the robbers put on uniforms to escape detection because, Affleck explains, “People see a uniform and not a person. I always wondered about that until we had to shoot the piece going to the train on the end, and I actually decided to take the subway from where we were to South Station, where the train was, wearing this outfit, and not a single person said anything to me.” Except one old woman, who came up to ask him for directions.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Army of Crime, Nowhere Boy, Red, The Naked Kiss And More …
Army of Crime is one of those movies that takes history — in this case, the saga of the French Resistance in World War II — and makes it come blisteringly alive. The film also shines a light on a great contemporary French filmmaker who, apart from festivals and art-houses, has been somewhat ignored and neglected here in the U.S.: Robert Guediguian.
Read the full article »Weekend Report: January 23, 2011
Zonk Went the Strings of My Heart The debut of rom-com No Strings Attached led weekend box office sales with an estimated $20.3 million. It was the session’s only national debut in what proved to be a depressed marketplace. Also new were several late year Oscar hopefuls. The endurance saga No Way Back struggled to…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Weekend Estimates: January 23, 2011
No Strings Attached|20.3||20.3 The Green Hornet|28.2|-46%|63.6 The Dilemma|9.7|-46%|33.3 The King’s Speech|8.3|-9%|57.8 True Grit|7.8|-29%|138.5 Black Swan|6.1|-27%|83.5 The Fighter|4.5|-12%|73 Little Fockers|4.3|-40%|131.1 Yogi Bear|4.0|-26%|88.8 Tron: Legacy|3.8|-33%|163.4
Read the full article »Friday Estimates — January 22
Newcomer rom-com No Strings Attached, starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, leads the box office pack as we kick off the weekend, while The Green Hornet and The Dilemma battle it out for the place position. Meanwhile, the awards contenders jostle for their own piece of the box office pie.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Way Back, The Company Men and Blue Valentine
Filled with over-powering landscapes and spectacular desolation, Weir’s movie creates an often riveting vision of escape, of the wilderness and survival, with the seven men — a colorful, diverse group that includes an American, a Stalinist thief/killer, and an artist who keeps drawing pictures — sometimes pitted against each other, or hurled into wolf-infested forests, and vast scorching stretches of the Gobi desert.
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Critics Roundup: January 21, 2011
The Way Back|||||Green The Company Men|||||Green The Green Hornet|||||Yellow Barney’s Version |||Green|Green|Green Black Swan|Green|Green|Green|Green|Green The Fighter|Green|Green||Green|Green 127 Hours |Green|Green|Green|Green| The Social Network|Yellow|Green|Green|Yellow|Green
Read the full article »Box Office Hell: January 20, 2011
Our pundits predict Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher will lead the box office this weekend with No Strings Attached. The Green Hornet and Dilemma are both expected to drop around 50% while awards favorites True Grit and King’s Speech stay steady.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrap: Stone, Lebanon, Buried, Piranha 3-D, Death Race 2 … and more
Stone John Curran’s extremely creepy psycho-thriller, Stone, paints a portrait of a Middle America dominated by religious fanatics, talk-radio Cassandras, trailer trash, clandestine meth labs and two-bit criminals. Good people inhabit the same emotionally barren territory, but the potential for violence in their homes is as close as the nearest gun case, liquor cabinet or…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Lebanon, Shock Corridor, Dances with Wolves, Sherlock Jr. and more
We are inside an armored tank with four Israeli soldiers, in Beirut, in the throes of the Lebanon War. The battle is a raging hellfield punctuated with death, only barely comprehensible to the men or to us. Israelis battle Arabs battle Phalangists (Christian Arabs). The streets pop with gunfire. You can’t tell civilians from killers. The tank is hot and stinking and so small, the four can barely move around — tempers flaring, nerves frayed — as they roll though the streets, and peer through a periscope or gun sight seeking traps to avoid, enemies to kill.
Read the full article » 3 Comments »The Weekend Report — January 16
The Green Hornet leads the weekend by a substantial margin, with The Dilemma coming in second for the frame. Among the awards contenders, True Grit, The King’s Speech and Black Swan look to be keeping it a close race at the box office.
Read the full article »Weekend Estimates — January 16
The Green Hornet leads the weekend by a substantial margin, with The Dilemma coming in second for the frame. Among the awards contenders, True Grit, The King’s Speech and Black Swan look to be keeping it a close race at the box office.
Read the full article »Friday Estimates — January 15
The Green Hornet and The Dilemma battle it out for the top slot in this weekend’s box office, while jostling for position continues among the award’s contenders, with True Grit leading the pack and The King’s Speech having the most significant upswing .
Read the full article »Critics Roundup — January 13
The Green Hornet|||||Yellow The Dilemma |||Green||Green Barney’s Version |||Green|Green|Green A Somewhat Gentle Man |||Yellow||Green Black Swan|Green|Green|Green|Green|Green The Fighter|Green|Green||Green|Green 127 Hours |Green|Green|Green|Green| The Social Network|Yellow|Green|Green|Yellow|Green
Read the full article »
