The Top Tens: December 22, 2010

No surprises so far – The Social Network still dominates the top of the list with Winter’s Bone a strong second. The King’s Speech and 127 Hours are back into the top ten and Toy Story is moving up slow and steady.

MW on DVDs: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Romeo and Juliet, Salt, Easy A … and more

Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps returns us to one of Stone’s great subjects of the 1980s: the glamour and corruption of the American financial markets. A sequel to Stone‘s 1987 Wall Street, this show plunges us back into the seductions and pitfalls of the casino mentality on the trading floors and the stock market, of inside guys making huge, quick profits and the dangerous games and ruinous consequences of playing with other people‘s money, other people‘s lives — and not giving a damn about it.

The DVD Wrap: Salt, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Step Up 3, Soul Kitchen … and more

Salt: Deluxe Unrated Edition Angelina Jolie has proven time and again that she’s the only established actress — outside China, anyway – who not only can open an action film, but also carry it to the finish line at the box office, no matter how unfathomable the premise. If I had to boil her appeal…

Top Ten Feature Films 2010

I really struggled over my top ten list this year. There were maybe six films that were pretty hard locks early on, which only left four open slots for the rest of a field of strong contenders — not a lot of wiggle room in a year with a good many solid films rightfully in…

Frenzy on the Wall: No Country For The Coens’ True Grit Remake

True Grit is undeniably brilliant, but I didn’t love it. It’s a very good movie, better than most things you’ve seen this year and completely worthy of your time and money. But considering the talent in front of the camera and behind it, considering the themes on display and the moments of genius that burst…

Weekend Box Office Report — December 19

The animated-live action Yogi Bear was expected to gross in the low $20 million but came up short several pic-a-nic baskets. It won’t expand beyond the family market and should limp through the holiday season. How Do You Know is already hobbled and while there were low expectations of $10 million to $12 million it failed to meet an already low bar.

Friday Estimates — December 18

Heading into the last full weekend before Christmas, nostalgic action flick TRON: Legacy looks to have a firm hold on the top of the box office over nostalgic animated kiddie flick Yogi Bear. Awards contenders are also marking turf as we near the end of the year, with The Fighter and Black Swan expanding, and Rabbit Hole opening in a handful of venues.

The Top Tens: December 17, 2010

With almost 50 lists in, The Social Network still sits on top, but Winter’s Bone is gaining ground. Futher down the list, Black Swan dances into third, Toy Story 3 stays steady in fourth, with Carlos nipping at its heels.

MW on Movies: The King’s Speech and Yogi Bear

The King’s Speech (Four Stars) U. K.: Tom Hooper, 2010 The King’s Speech — which tells the story of King George VI’s chronic speech impediment, and of how he overcame it with the help of a boisterous Australian actor/therapist just in time to help Britain win World War II — is being touted as this…

Box Office Hell — December 16

TRON: Legacy seems poised to dominate the top of the box office heap this weekend, with Yogi Bear (in both 2D and 3D) expected to garner a significant chunk of the kiddie box office. Meanwhile, awards contenders The Fighter and Black Swan expand, hoping to see solid numbers as well.

The DVD Wrap: Despicable Me, The Town, Cyrus,The A-Team, Micmacs, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work … and more

Despicable Me: Blu-ray 3D Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’hoole: Blu-ray 3D Anyone old enough to remember such ancient cartoon evil-doers as Snidely Wipelash, Boris Badenov, Dishonest John and Crabby Appleton probably will enjoy Despicable Me as much as their kids and grandkids. For Boomers, especially, it will recall a time when villains didn’t…

Gurus o’ Golden Globes, Post-Nominations

The Gurus came through Globes Day with a new appreciation for The Fighter and worries about True Grit.

Also, with Globes nods in, a look at the Picture and Acting categories. Jolie, Berry, Wahlberg & Kunis all got nods without a single Gurus guessing they would. So what now? (And the ranking of the rest of the movie categories coming soon.)

MW on DVDs: The Town, Mother and Child, Despicable Me, The Other Guys, Nanny McPhee Returns … and more

The Boston, Massachusetts, of Ben Affleck‘s new movie The Town – and of The Departed, Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and other recent thrillers, Dennis Lehane-derived or not — is decades away from the morally bent city of that great under-seen 1973 neo-noir The Friends of Eddie Coyle. But it has a similarly chilly temperature, the same clipped sense of smart-ass New England doom and Kennedy-accented cynicism welling up from the mean, sullen streets.

Top Tens: December 13, 2010

The Social Network sits alone at the top of the chart, with Inception, Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3 battling it out in the next three spots. But it’s still early in the race…

Frenzy on the Wall: Black Swan

In the few days that have passed since my initial viewing of Black Swan – with an absolutely packed house in Union Square that audibly gasped and laughed like any other horror film – it has grown in my estimation. I have only seen two masterpieces of cinema in 2010, with two weeks to go, and Black Swan is one of them.

Weekend Box Office Report — December 12

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader winds up on top of the box office for the weekend, but with a considerably lower number than anticipated. Second-place The Tourist also falls a bit below expectations, while everyone else falls pretty much in line.

Digital Nation: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Too often, movies leave audiences scratching their heads in bewilderment over how some exceedingly well paid, college-educated Hollywood studio executive could have been dim-witted enough to green light such an inarguably bad picture. A critically lauded film can be equally perplexing, leaving viewers wondering if they fully grasped a director’s intentions or could articulate what…

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite of the Narnia books, so when Disney announced they were ditching the franchise after Prince Caspian, I was a bit miffed. I could do without the prequel, The Magician’s Nephew, being made into a film. I don’t care for Eustace Scrubb enough to be invested in…

DP/30s of Awards Season 2010: 55 & Counting…

DP/30 is a chance to spend some quality time with the people who bring magic to the movie business. You never know where the 30 minutes will take us.

We’ll keep shooting in the months to come and hope to fill in all the blanks on the awards season list. But here’s 30 hours worth of conversation to get you started…

Friday Estimates — December 11

As anticipated, the latest installment in the Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, leads the pack at the top of the weekend. Jolie-Depp thriller The Tourist has a good hold on second place, while Potter and Tangled duel it out for third. Black Swan, expanding to 90 screens, hits the ground running.