Movie Review: The Thing
As a long time fan of John Carpenter’s The Thing (at least, long enough to know I was way too young to see that movie for the first time), I approached the new version of The Thing with some trepidation. Sure, Carpenter’s The Thing was already a remake of the 1951 film (which is a decent film in its own right), and at the time of its release did poorly and was not well-received. However, it has si...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: Real Steel Punches Out The Ides of March
It was a knockout, a one-two punch, a…well, all boxing references aside, the big movie of the weekend was the sci-fi robot boxing spectacle Real Steel. While only garnering average reviews, it made a fine debut, earning an estimated $27.3 million. It more than easily won out over the rest of the list, including the George Clooney/Ryan Gosling political thriller The Ides of March. Ides only made ar...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: Dolphin Tale Surfaces
With its theatrical run coming to a close, The Lion King 3D finally fell out of the top spot, earning third place with an estimated $11.1 million and an impressive $79 million in three weeks. However, it was a down week overall, meaning the new winner, Dolphin Tale, still dropped in revenue, getting into first with only an estimated $14.2 million. Still, it was enough for the family drama to break...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: The Lion King 3D Has No Successors!
Even with four new films this weekend, apparently there’s no Disney like old Disney…The Lion King 3D stayed in the top spot, earning an estimated $22.1 million. The 17-year-old film did have some stiff competition, however, in the Aaron Sorkin-written Moneyball, which edged into second place with an estimated $20.6 million, and the kid-friendly Dolphin Tale, which picked up an estimated $20.2 mill...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: The Lion King 3D Reigns at the Box Office
Four films debuted in the Top 10 this week…but leave it to a 17-year-old animated film to claim the crown. The Lion King 3D took the top spot with an estimated $29.3 million. Whether it was the gimmicky 3D or just the film’s reputation, it easily bested everything else for the weekend, including last week’s top movie, Contagion. The Steven Soderbergh thriller weathered well enough, only dropping t...[Read More]
Movie Review: The Lion King 3-D
In an age where two-dimensional animation is no longer the theatrical draw it used to be (pun intended), finding its viewership in (often times crudely-drawn) Sunday evening prime-time comedies or late-night cable network shows, leave it to Walt Disney to reinvigorate the genre by theatrically re-releasing one of their most successful hand-drawn creations…ironically, cashing in on the 3-D craze in...[Read More]
Movie Review: Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
I admit it: I like the Happy Madison Productions. As silly and stupid as they might be, they usually contain a decent amount of surreal humor that elicits a few chuckles, and underneath all the bodily humor jokes the films tend to have a decent message behind them. But call it the casting, the script, or simply the law of averages, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star puts those elements together in a ...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: Contagion Stops The Help Cold
The Help finally appears to have met its match; the new Steven Soderbergh thriller Contagion lived up to its name and managed to outdo all comers this weekend, picking up an estimated $23.1 million, while The Help made a little over a third of that, an estimated $8.7 million. Nothing to feel bad about, though…in five weeks The Help has cleaned up at the box office with a $137 million gross (and li...[Read More]
Movie Review: Contagion
Let me get this out of the way first: ignore all the trailers and advertisements for this movie. They don’t really tell you what it’s really about. Contagion is not an action/horror film, nor is it a George Romero-esque tale of oppressive government fear mongers and shadowy dealings (or even zombies). It is a Steven Soderbergh film, meaning it is more of an ensemble piece with lots of dialogue tha...[Read More]
Movie Review: Creature
Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000, rejoice: the movie you’ve been waiting for all year has finally arrived. There have been some stinkers this year, ranging from the stupid to the disappointing…and I’ve sat through a few of them myself…but I don’t think there is one so far that has been this bizarre, this off-kilter, this so miraculously incompetent. This is a film of such epic badness that it ...[Read More]
Movie Review: Shark Night 3D
It was probably inevitable that I would review something that would draw comparison to Final Destination 5, but I thought it would at least have the decency to wait until the official horror film season. Instead, not more than a few weeks later we have Shark Night 3D. Why compare it to Final Destination 5? Well, setting aside the obvious 3D part of the movie (we’ll get back to that in a minute), i...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: The Help Shows No Sign of Slowing Down
The Help continues to hold the top slot for the third week in a row, adding an estimated $19 million to its running total of $123 million over the Labor Day weekend. It also makes waves in that, despite being at the box office for four weeks, it actually jumped in revenue from the previous week (even if one doesn’t count the holiday). The competition wasn’t even close: all three major newcomers ha...[Read More]