Wilmington on Movies: The Ides of March

The Ides of March (Two and a Half Stars) U.S.: George Clooney, 2011   Why in Great Caesar’s Ghost did George Clooney make a movie like The Ides of March now? That question kept needling me as I tried to enjoy this suave but dispiriting drama about a Democratic presidential primary gone rotten. I could never really…

Friday Estimates, October 7, 2011

Reel Steel easily beats up Clooney & Gosling, as expected. Dolphin Tale keeps on flipping with the best Friday hold in the Top 10. And in spite of the Blu-ray/DVD going on sale, people are still coming out to see the circle of life in The Lion King 3D. In limited release, IFC has an excrement-eating grin, as the very crappy Human Centipede 2 is making the most out of its notoriety.

Friday Analysis by David Poland can be found here

1 Week To 20 Weeks To Oscar: Counting Best Picture Ballots

So I’m a week from writing the weekly column… but the one issue that seems to keep cropping up is how the change in the Best Picture vote accounting rules really works. Steve Pond did a nice job trying to lay it all out when it happened. But people still seem to be unsure what is really up. So I had a chat with AMPAS’ Ric Robertson and Leslie Unger in the name of clarity. This is where I landed…

What I Learned in 48 Hours of Filmmaking Boot Camp

Did I mention we didn’t have a 1st AD? We didn’t, and that was a huge, huge lesson to learn: Never be without an experienced 1st AD on your set, because the director and the DP are focused on getting the shots they want. You need someone keeping everyone on task and a timeline.

Wilmington on DVDs. The Rest: Scre4m (Scream 4)

    (Also 2 Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (Three Stars) U.S.: Wes Craven, 2011 Weinstein Company/Anchor Bay. (Also Amazon Instant Video)   What’s your favorite scary movie? Excuse me? Who is this?   I said: What’s your favorite scary movie? Well, Psycho, of course. Though M and Vertigo and The Night of the Hunter and Nosferatu and…

Wilmington on DVD. Pick of the Week: New. African Cats

(Four Stars) U.S.-U.K.: Alastair Fothergill & Keith Scholey, 2011 (Walt Disney/Buena Vista) African Cats, a wildlife documentary from Disneynature, shot in Kenya on the savanna —  with real lions and cheetahs as its main characters — strikes me as 2011’s best family movie so far. But why be limiting? Why ghettoize this film by calling it a…

The Lion King, African Cats, Submarine, Fast Five, Buck, Nostalgia, Dust, Gamera, Bette Midler, Pee-wee Herman …

The Lion King: Diamond Edition: Blu-ray/Digital Copy/DVD/3D Disneynature: African Cats: Blu-ray/DVD Combo After 17 years in circulation, one way or another, it would be reasonable to think that the only people who would be interested in shelling out even more hard-earned money to see “The Lion King,” would be those viewers who collect their favorites…

DP/30 @ TIFF 2011: Crazy Horse, documentarian Frederick Wiseman

The legendary documentarian set his sights on an institution of a different color… a lot of color, really… and a lot of skin, Paris’ Crazy Horse, perhaps the longest running nude review in the world. Wiseman turned up for the latest reincarnation. The film is at NY’s Film Forum this week.

Wilmington on Movies: What’s Your Number?

  What’s Your Number? (One Star) U.S.: Mark Mylod, 2011 When an Anna Faris movie is so bad it makes you yearn for the good old days of Scary Movie 2, you know you’re in trouble. What’s Your Number?, a Faris rom-com of flabbergasting silliness and an awful smirking cheeriness that sets your teeth on…

The Weekend Report: October 2, 2011

Families continued to hold sway at the multiplex as Dolphin Tale ascended to the top of the weekend movie charts with an estimated $14.3 million. Holdovers dominated frame sales with a quartet of new national releases bowing to mostly fair to poor response. The exception was the inspirational Courageous that ranked fourth with $8.8 million from a modest run of 1,161 playdates.

Trailing behind were the Cancer comedy 50/50 with $8.7 million, the chiller Dream House with $8.1 million and the teen targeted What’s Your Number eking out $5.5 million.

Wilmington on Movies: Weekend

  Weekend (Three Stars) U.K..: Andrew Haigh, 2011 Weekend, a sometimes remarkable low-budget British movie about a pickup in a Nottingham disco bar and its aftermath, starts out as a movie frankly about sex and one (or two) night stands, and winds up being closer to a classic love story. I haven’t mentioned that the…

Friday Estimates, September 30, 2011

Much like last weekend, Moneyball takes Friday, but had the two family movies right on its heels, almost guaranteed to pass the adult drama on Saturday and Sunday.

There are four newcomers to the market, none of which is looking very strong. Top of the group, for now, is Courageous, the born-again title, followed by the abandoned Dream House, the highly touted 50/50, and the broad (in every way) comedy, What’s Your Number? And 3 new arthouse movies did over $5k per screen on Friday.