MCN Weekend Archive for September, 2011
Wilmington on Movies: 50/50
50/50 (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Jonathan Levine, 2011 Your best friend looks you in the face and tells you that he’s dying. Wait a minue, it’s not quite like that…He tells you that he has a rare form of spinal cancer and that his chances of survival, according to the doctors, are 50/50….
Read the full article » 2 Comments »Box Office Hell — September 30
Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com Dolphin Tale|13.0|13.4|13.5|13.0|13.7 The Lion King 3-D |12.5|13.5|12.0|14.5|12.5 Moneyball|12.0|11.7|13.0|11.7|12.7 50/50|10.7|12.0|10.0|10.0|10.5 What’s Your Number?|9.3|7.0|9.0|n/a|7.0 Dream House|8.4|8.0|11.0|9.5|10.0 Courageous|5.9|10.0|8.0|11.0|8.5
Read the full article »Critics Roundup — September 30
50/50 |Yellow|Green|Green||Yellow What’s Your Number? |||Yellow|| Red Tucker & Dale vs Evil (limited)|||Green|Green| Take Shelter |Green|Green|Green|| My Joy (NY) |||Green|| Sarah Palin: You Betcha! (NY, LA) ||Green||| Bunraku (limited) |Yellow|||| Margaret (limited) |Red||||
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. Pick of the Week: Classic, Blu-ray. Strike
PICK OF THE WEEK: Classic/Blu-ray Strike (Stachka) (Four Stars) U.S.S.R./Russia: Sergei Eisenstein, 1925 (Kino Classics) 1. Eisenstein In 1925, Sergei Eisenstein, a rich architect’s son who had become a passionate convert to Communism during the Russian Revolution and afterward a brilliant theatrical director with the Proletkult Theatre of Moscow, directed two silent films…
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Transformers, Angel of Evil, Dumbo, Viva Riva!, Phantom Carriage, The Stool Pigeon, Hung, Kojak …
Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Blu-ray The third installment in the “Transformers” franchise, “Dark of the Moon,” locates the decisive battle for the preservation of mankind in downtown Chicago. The Windy City residents have experienced seen more than their fair share of disasters since Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over the lantern that triggered the Great…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on DVDs. The Rest: Transformers Dark of the Moon
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Also Blu-ray) (Three Stars) U.S.: Michael Bay, 2010 Mindless, soulless, heartless, mechanical, and shamelessly mercenary as it might be, director Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon — the latest in the often obnoxious movie series, starring Shia LaBeouf and a lot of Hasbro toys — is still one of…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. Pick of the Week: New. Carlos
Carlos (Three and a Half Stars) France: Olivier Assayas, 2010 (Criterion Collection) In his excellent political thriller/biographical drama Carlos, Olivier Assayas makes an epic of 20th century revolution, an incendiary subject, but a film hot at heart yet cool on the surface, out of the ugly, exciting story of the terrorist “Carlos,” a would-be political idealist who became a killer…
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Love Crime
Love Crime (Three Stars) France: Alain Corneau, 2010 Movie murder mysteries can sometimes get too tricky and convoluted for their own good, and that’s pretty much what happens in Love Crime (Crime d’Amour), a fine, itelligent, neatly made little French film neo-noir that would have been even better if it didn’t try so hard to outsmart us…
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Moneyball
(Four Stars) U. S.: Bennett Miller It’s not whether you win or lose. It’s how you read the spreadsheet. For many Americans, baseball is a great American game, and a great American sports myth as well — and it’s also, at times, a business, a gamble, a crud-boatload of media hype, and, last…
Read the full article » 2 Comments »The Weekend Report: September 25, 2011

The Lion King continued to roar with an estimated $22.1 million gross that placed it at the top of weekend viewing charts. Four debuting films ranked right behind. The critically acclaimed baseball opus Moneyball bowed to $20.4 million and the family targeted Dolphin Tale opened with $19.9 million. Movie goers were less enthusiastic for premiering action fare with Abduction garnering $11 million and Killer Elite trailing on a $9.4 million box office.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Friday Estimates: September 23, 2011

Brad Pitt launches on top of the weekend box office with strong reviews for Moneyball, but Klady’s estimates suggest that The Lion King 3D could come from behind for the weekend win. Suffering for the success of the Lion relaunch is WB’s Dolphin Tale, which opened to a respectable estimate of $5.1m. In 4th and 5th, two action movies that are also pulling off the same demographic at their own peril.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Killer Elite
(Two Stars) U.S.: Gary McKendry, 2011 There are lots of reasons to get irritated with Killer Elite — a big-bucks, big-star, mucho-macho, heavy-duty actioner that throws up several hours of murkily photographed violence, preachy dialogue and byzantine plot twists, while wasting three good actors — Jason Statham, Clive Owen and, sadly enough, Robert De…
Read the full article »Box Office Hell — September 23
Our Players|Coming Soon|Box Office Prophets|Box Office Guru|EW|Box Office . com The Lion King 3-D |18.0|n/a|16.5|n/a|21.0 Moneyball|17.3|n/a|16.0|n/a|19.0 Dolphin Tale|16.2|n/a|12.0|n/a|13.5 Abduction|13.0|n/a|15.0|n/a|13.0 Killer Elite|10.3|n/a|11.0|n/a|9.5
Read the full article »Critics Roundup — September 23
Killer Elite |Red||Red|| Red Moneyball |Green|||| Green Dolphin Tale 3-D |||||Yellow Thunder Soul ||||Green|Green The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby |Yellow||Green|| Pearl Jam Twenty |Green||||
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. The Rest: Captain America: The First Avenger, Dziga and His Brothers, The Killer is Loose, The Song of Songs,This is the Night
“Captain America: The First Avenger” (Two Stars) U.S.: Joe Johnston, 2011 I don’t mean to be a grouch, but Captain America — stalwart crime and monster-buster of the new Marvel epic Captain America: The First Avenger — struck me as one of the duller superheroes I’ve seen recently. That’s despite one of the more amazing special effects…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. Pick of the Week: Box Set/Blu-ray. Visions of Europe
(Three and a Half Stars) U.S.; Roy A. Hammond (aerial director/executive producer), Sam Toperoff (producer/editor/writer), 2001-9 (Acorn Media) One of the most visually stunning travelogue series ever, the “Visions” sets from WLIW in New York offer spectacular aerial tours of the great sights of Europe, shot in gorgeous high definition cinematography, accompanied by fairly typical…
Read the full article »DVD Geek: Source Code

There is a romantic component to the story, naturally, and more than one life affirming, love affirming conclusion, leaving a viewer feeling both happy and satisfied, several times, after a stimulating and exciting ride. Jake Gyllenhaal stars, with Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright. In that the film also evokes aspects of Quantum Leap, there is a cleverly chosen cameo appearance by Scott Bakula.
Read the full article » 1 Comment »The DVD Wrapup: HitRECord, The Tempest, Bride Flight, Inspector General, The Caller, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Claude Chabrol, Mike Hammer …
HitRECord Recollection, Volume 1 The entertainment industry has been trying to mine gold from the Internet for almost two decades now, desperately searching for ways to distribute movies, music and other formats safely and economically. Some have succeeded, while most others have simply failed or disappeared without a digital footprint left behind. The wiseguys say…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs. Pick of the Week: Classic/Box Set. The Complete Jean Vigo
(Two Discs) (Four Stars) France: Jean Vigo, 1930-34 (Criterion Collection) I. Jean Vigo, The Rebel He died at 29: Jean Vigo, in many ways, the spirit of youth, of art, of cinematic rebellion, of France between the wars. He was the sacred enfant terrible and the laughing rebel and grand martyr of French…
Read the full article » 1 Comment »Wilmington on DVDs. Picks of the Week: New. Bridesmaids, Le Quattro Volte
Bridesmaids (Three and a Half Stars) U.S.: Paul Feig, 2011 (Universal) Kristen Wiig is one funny lady, and Bridesmaids — in which she is both star and co-writer — is one funny movie. That’s hardly news. “Bridesmaids” is one of the best reviewed, best liked Hollywood comedies of the year. By current consensus, it’s…
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