J.E.R.M.S.

The Woman in Black - Movie Review

2012-02-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer.
Directed by James Watkins.

★★½

I love ghost stories, and period ghost stories, and period ghost stories in giant creeky houses. I was prepared for this to be right up my alley, and for about an hour, it was. But after a while it occured to me The Woman in Black could also be called The Man Who Walked on Creaky Floorboards.

Daniel Radcliffe (you may know him from The Tailor of Panama) plays Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer who recently lost his wife, but he goes to a small town to help settle the affairs of an old rich woman who's recently passed away. Her house in an island that people can drive to when the tide is low. Love it. Isolated location, vines growing over everything. This is great!

Arthur is alone in the house, studying old papers by candlelight, looking at photographs that might contain clues...

What was that noise?

Arthur goes to investigate. We hear every heel-toe footstep he takes up the wooden stairs, slowly down the wooden hall, he comes to the door. Locked. He turns around when there's another noise at the other end of the house. Pause. Pause.

JUMP SCARE!

The Woman in Black pops out every once in a while, but sometimes not for his benefit. Sometimes it truly is for the audience. And I question a ghost's motives when she shows herself for a second but Arthur can't see her. Does she know she's in a movie?

This movie has all the ingredients to succeed and yet never gets there. I love it when actors like Ciaran Hinds get significant screen time. I love the art direction, the set, the mood, the atmosphere. But the mystery isn't that mysterious and the ending felt anti-climactic. The success of a horror movie tends to come through in the third act, like the final punches of The Sixth Sense, or The Others, or The Ring, or Insidious. This one doesn't quite get there.

Conan the Barbarian - DVD Review

2012-02-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Starring Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan and Ron Perlman. Directed by Marcus Nispel.

★½

At one point this was going to star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Mickey Rourke. Johnson decided not to because he felt it too similar to The Scorpion King. That's my basic memory of it. Conan's one of those properties I figured would be served well by a reboot. There are several Conan books to draw from for source material.

Alas, they gave it to Marcus Nispel, maker of Pathfinder and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So it never really had a chance to be good.

The plot's irrelevant, an excuse for a villain to kill most dastardly and a hero to kill most mercilessly. Everyone in this age is made of tomato soup, so splattery is their blood every time they get cut, chopped, sliced, nicked or breathed upon most hotly.

Momoa was better as Khal Drago on HBO's Game of Thrones. I can't complain about most of the others. Lang's found a career resurgance thanks to Avatar, and the women deliver about what I expected.

I just wish someone more imaginative had been hired to bring Conan to life. So much of it played like the first half of Pathfinder, and there were recognizable elements from numerous Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. As is, it's a waste of time and money.

Margin Call - DVD Review

2012-02-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

★★★½

Starring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgely, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Aasif Mandvi.
Directed by J.C. Chandor.

This does for millionaire financial analysts what Glengarry Glen Ross did for real estate. It's not based on any one company, but it wouldn't surprise me if the execs at Lehman Bros. or AIG went through the same thing.

Early in the movie there's a scene where a supervisor Eric (Stanley Tucci) along with 80% of the other workers on his floor. He passes off a thumbdrive to a co-worker Peter (Zachary Quinto) who opens and tries completing its formulas. He does that evening, and he calls Eric's boss Will (Paul Bettany) to come back to the office. Peter shows him the numbers, and Will calls his boss Sam (Kevin Spacey) who then calls other higher-up executives until finally the CEO helipcopters in.

Jeremy Irons is John Tuld, the CEO, and one of the bitings truths the movie captures is that the further up the chain, the less knowhow they actually have, the less work they actually do. They're there because they make the "hard decisions." Irons commands every scene he's in, and this is with an already outstanding ensemble.

The Vow - Movie Review

2012-02-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Jessica Lange, Scott Speedman, Wendy Crewson and Jessica McNamee. Directed by Michael Sucsy.

The Vow has a straight-forward concept with a "What would you do?" element for the audience. It's inspired by real events, and it was cool afterwards to read some of the details of the real couple.

This Hollywood spin has two lovebirds, happily married, Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum), when a car accident changes everything. He has some scrapes and bruises, but she has brain damage, and when she wakes up, she has no memories of the past five years, including ever meeting, let alone marrying, Leo. He must win her over all over again.

It isn't a very deep movie. The presense of Neill and Lange as her parents only emphasizes that these talents are capable of much more than the script asks them to do. And McAdams and Tatum, while good together, are no match for the chemistry McAdams and Ryan Gosling once made in The Notebook.

But on its own featherweight ambitions, I liked it, especially McAdams. It's a decent date movie.

Random Movie Stuff - 2/12/12

2012-02-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

- Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale) has died at age 48. Her last movie, Sparkle, is set to open Auguat 10 and co-stars Jordin Sparks, Derek Luke, Mike Epps and Cee-Lo Green.

- Steve Carell and Channing Tatum will star in Foxcatcher, based on the story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who killed Olympis wrestler David Schultz. Bennett Miller (Moneyball) will direct.

- At last, Harry Potter and Dexter unite! Daniel Radcliffe and Michael C. Hall will star in Kill Your Darlings. Hall will play a murder victim who inspires the Beat Revolution of 1944. Radcliffe will play Allen Ginsberg, Ben Foster (Contraband) will play William Burroughs, and Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) will play Jack Kerouac. Elizabeth Olsen, Kyra Sedgwick, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Dane Dehaan co-star.

- At one point there were three dueling Snow White movies. Two of them open this year (Mirror Mirror with Julia Roberts and Snow White & the Huntsman with Kristen Stewart) but the third was to take place in 19th-century China and star Natalie Portman. Now it appears Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) will star in what's now titled The Order of the Seven, about seven Shaolin monks who become outlaws, but they come to the rescue of a British expatriate fleeing an evil woman.

- The plug's been pulled on Alex Proyas's Paradise Lost, based on the John Milton classic. Legendary Pictures decided they couldn't keep the budget under control. It was to star Bradley Cooper and Casey Affleck.

Weekend Box Office - 2/12/12

2012-02-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

1. The Vow - $41.7 million - 1 wk (SG)
. . . 2958 screens / $14,097 per screen
2. Safe House - $39.3 - 1 wk (U)
. . . 3119 / $12,600
3. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - $27.55 - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 3470 / $7939
4. Star Wars Episode I - $23 - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 2655 / $8663
5. Chronicle - $12.3 ($40.17) - 2 wks (Fox) -44.1%
. . . 2908 / $4230
6. The Woman in Black - $10.3 ($35.46) - 2 wks (CBS) -50.7%
. . . 2856 / $3606
7. The Grey - $5.08 ($42.82) - 3 wks (ORF) -45.4%
. . . 2801 / $1814
8. Big Miracle - $3.9 ($13.2) - 2 wks (U) -49.7%
. . . 2133 / $1828
9. The Descendants - $3.5 ($70.73) - 13 wks (FS) -23.1%
. . . 1581 / $2214
10. Underworld Awakening - $2.5 ($58.9) - 4 wks (SG) -54.6%
. . . 1657 / $1509
11. Red Tails - $2.4 ($45.06) - 4 wks (Fox) -49.3%
. . . 1580 / $1519

Spectacular opening weekend for the top four.

Hesher - DVD Review

2012-02-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

★★

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Devin Brochu, Rainn Wilson and Piper Laurie. Directed by Spencer Susser.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, he of 3rd Rock from the Sun and 10 Things I Hate About You and Brick and 500 Days of Summer and Inception, is a really good actor, and here comes another character he can sink his teeth into, a headbanging, vandalous squatter, a dangerous grenade who throws himself into other people's lives. He's clearly having fun.

Add to that the touching work of Devin Brochu as TJ, the real protagonist, a quiet kid whose mom just died. He gets bullied at school, his father's too depressed to get off the couch, and they live at his grandmother's, who's suffering from the dementia. When TJ runs into Hesher, Hesher follows him home and moves in, like a much more assertive Nick Nolte in Down & Out in Beverly Hills.

Then comes the leap of faith the movie asks that I could never quite make. The dad's so depressed and beat up by life that he doesn't insist Hesher get out of his house, he doesn't call the cops, and he lets TJ go whereever with this clearly bad influence. The movie made me sympathetic and angry at the struggles that TJ's going through, but it made me more angry at the total lack of concern on the part of the dad.

The movie's very profane and goes back and forth between dark comedy and depressing drama, and while it has its elements, it's not worth wallowing through the ones that don't. But remember the name Devin Brochu.

HBO's Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

2012-02-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how the rules are for the Oscars. Maybe this was shown on a big-screen somewhere before it debuted on HBO. Nevertheless it is nominated for Best Documentary this year at the Academy Awards.

I have not seen the first two, but I didn't feel the need. This one does a good job of encapsulating what happened then, what happened since, and where things are now.

The story of the West Memphis Three has been one of those where I shied away from learning more because I knew I'd feel outrage the more familiar with the case I got. To me being falsely accused is one of the most violating feelings, and to know that these three boys were falsely accused of murder by an inept police department, a sensational media, a biased judge, and a jury foreman with an agenda, well... the blood boils.

For those who don't know the story, in 1993, three 8-year-old boys were found brutally murdered, and three teenagers were quickly accused of the crime. Somehow the police thought the murders might have been some sort of satanic ritual.

The injustices these three men suffered were aggravating, infuriating, and I can't believe that Judge David Burnett was able to stay a judge all these years and then get elected to Arkansas state senate. But their story is a cautionary tale. They may have ultimately been freed, but it never feels like justice was served.

Road to Nowhere - DVD Review

2012-02-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

★★½

Starring Shannyn Sossamon, Dominique Swain, Tygh Runyan, Cliff de Young, Waylon Payne, Michael Bigham and John Diehl. Directed by Monte Hellman.

This is a very sleepy movie-within-a-movie experiment, to the point where it often feels like a behind-the-scenes extra on the DVD about making the actual movie.

A young director is setting out to make a movie about a real-life double-suicide that also involved robbery. He casts an unknown actress (Shannyn Sossamon) in the lead, because she looks so much like the subject, Velma Durand. The movie is a series of scenes, without being clear if it's the movie, or the movie-within-the-movie, or even a movie within a movie within a movie.

For its byzantine aspirations, we get some long shots, whether it's gazing over a lake, or the actress doing her nails. So are the director (Hellman) and writer (Steven Gaydos) in sync? Well, sure. I actually found the cast to be its weakest element. I get its low budget, but I've never found Sossamon compelling, and some of the others just feel like college buddies giving this acting thing a try. But when vets like Cliff de Young or John Diehl show up, well, at least they know what they're doing.

It's not as cubist as The Limey or as seductive as Mulholland Dr., but it's a compliment to this movie that those others come to mind when I'm watching it. Would've loved to have seen the same story told with better actors and a bigger budget. As is, it's my first exposure to Hellman's work, and I'd like to see what he and Gaydos can do next.

(UPDATE: I asked Gaydos over Twitter about one of the ending plot elements that bothered me and he answered. I'm tempted to up it to three stars over just that fact.)

Random Movie Stuff - 2/8/12

2012-02-08T06:50:00.001-08:00

- Warner Bros. has hired a new team to rewrite its big-screen live-action Jetsons movie.

- Danny Trejo will return for a Machete sequel, tentatively titled Machete Kills. Most of the surviving cast members are expected to return.

- Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are in talks to star in 2 Guns, about a DEA agent and an undercover naval officer who unwittingly investigate each other while each steals mob money.

- John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) will star in Switch, a semi-sequel to Jackie Brown. They'd be playing younger versions of Louis and Ordell, played by Robert DeNiro and Samuel L. Jackson in the 1997 Quentin Tarantino movie.

- James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) will direct The Wolverine, now scheduled to open July 26, 2013. Hugh Jackman will reprise his role. He's currently filming as Valjean in Tom Hooper's Les Miserables.

- I Hate You Dad has had its title changed to That's My Boy. It stars Adam Sandler as a man who fathered a baby while in his teens, and he raises him until the boy turns 18 and leaves. They then don't see each other until his son's wedding day, and the dad faces the repercussions of his poor parenting skills. Andy Samburg, James Caan, Susan Sarandon, Leighton Meester, Will Forte, Colin Quinn and Vanilla Ice co-star. It opens June 15.

- Alex Cross will open October 26. It's based on a series of best-sellers from James Patterson. Morgan Freeman played the detective in two previous movies (Kiss the Girls, Along Came A Spider). This time, it stars Tyler Perry as Cross, as he hunts for a serial killer (Matthew Fox). Rob Cohen (XXX) will direct.

- Paul Brittain has left NBC's Saturday Night Live after joining the cast in September 2010. No official reason was given beyond he had the "opportunity to pursue other projects" and they parted ways "amicably." So if we don't hear from him soon, I say he was probably fired. Now they need to get someone else to play Ron Paul for their GOP debate skits.

Weekend Box Office - 2/5/12

2012-02-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

For the weekend of Feb 3-5.

1. Chronicle - $22 million - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 2907 screens / $7568 per screen
2. The Woman in Black - $21 - 1 wk (CBS)
. . . 2855 / $7356
3. The Grey - $9.5 ($34.76) - 2 wks (ORF) -51.7%
. . . 3208 / $2961
4. Big Miracle - $8.5 - 1 wk (Uni)
. . . 2129 / $3992
5. Underworld Awakening - $5.6 ($54.35) - 3 wks (SG) -54.7%
. . . 2636 / $2124
6. One for the Money - $5.25 ($19.67) - 2 wks (LG) -54.4%
. . . 2737 / $1918
7. Red Tails - $5 ($41.32) - 3 wks (Fox) -51.8%
. . . 2347 / $2130
8. The Descendants - $4.6 ($65.52) - 12 wks (FS) -28.2%
. . . 2038 / $2257
9. Man on a Ledge - $4.5 ($14.7) - 2 wks (Sum) -43.8%
. . . 2998 / $1501
10. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - $3.93 ($26.79) - 7 wks (WB) -43.8%
. . . 2505 / $1567
11. Contraband - $3.49 ($62.1) - 4 wks (Uni) -47.9%
. . . 2047 / $1705
12. The Artist - $2.57 ($20.58) - 11 wks (Wein) -22.6%
. . . 1005 / $2552

Many studios put their prestige pics in limited release in December, their entire strategy hinging on award buzz. For the most part, that's not happening. The Iron Lady and Albert Nobbs can boast Best Actress nods, but they're losing screens. The Artist is hanging in there, but it's not getting the word-of-mouth boost that benefitted the releases of The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire in years past.

Meanwhile the modestly budgeted genre pics are making their money back. Good reviews help. All three new wide releases rank at least 62% on the RottenTomato meter. Chronicle's telekinetic twist on the found-footage genre means we're going to get a lot more. Daniel Radcliffe's first headlining role post-Harry Potter shows the kid has a future. Big Miracle will need Dolphin Tale-level word-of-mouth to make its money back, but with four wide releases next week, I wouldn't hold my breath.

The Ides of March - DVD Review

2012-02-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle and Gregory Itzin. Directed by George Clooney.

I'm a political junkie, so it's fun for me to watch politically-based stories. When they're realistic or accurate, they can be exciting (Primary Colors), and when they're not, they still provide their own howling amusement (The Contender).

Based on a play, this movie focusses on the campaign managers, and the down-and-dirty politics they have to play for their guy to win in the primary. It's about Democrats but it could really go to either party.

Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, a highly-skilled campaign operative who's finally found an employer he can believe in - Gov. Mike Morris (George Clooney). But before he can win the presidency, Morris must win the crucial primary of Ohio. The movie is more about Meyers convening with campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) than it is the actual candidate. Meanwhile the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) for their opponent would like to figure out a way to get Stephen to switch sides.

I tend to like Gosling in everything he does, but when you have two heavywrights like Hoffman and Giamatti, I wanted to see more of them, wanted to see them face off.

Clooney's directing job is solid, but once the credits roll, it lingers more as a good movie than a great one.

Winnie-the-Pooh - DVD Review

2012-02-02T22:02:00.000-08:00

★★½

Starring the voices of Jim Cummings, John Cleese, Craig Ferguson, Bud Luckey, Tom Kenny, Jack Boulter, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Travis Oates.
Directed by Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall.

It has all the charm of all the other Winnie-the-Pooh movies and shorts. It's barely a movie itself; the closing credits started at the 54-minute mark. John Cleese is a fine substitute for Sebastian Cabot's gentle Narrator. Most of the voices sound the same, though I do like Craig Ferguson putting a little more mania in the pompous Owl. The plots involve finding a new tail for Eeyore and then the gang banding together when they think Christopher Robin has been kidnapped by a Backson. (They misread a note that says he'll be "back soon.")

It is what it is. Good for your 3-to-6-year-olds. Worth a rental for them; glad I didn't pay theater prices to see it.

CBS's Rob - TV Review

2012-02-02T07:18:00.001-08:00

I saw two episodes now, and the verdict is no. The writing's limp, and maybe Cheech Marin and Lupe Ontiveros could have made it work with different writers, but Rob Schneider's just not that funny. I was a fan of his on SNL. ("Steeeve. Steve-O! Makin' copieeeees.") This? No.

Random Movie Stuff - 1/31/12

2012-01-31T18:27:00.000-08:00

- Adam Sandler will star in the live-action big-screen treatment of Candy Land, based on the board game. Kevin Lima (Enchanted) will direct.

- Dennis Quaid has joined the cast of The Words, starring Bradley Cooper as a successful author who has to pay the price for stealing someone else's work. Jeremy Irons, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Ben Barnes and JK Simmons co-star.

- Clint Eastwood will act again in Trouble with the Curve. He will play an aging baseball scout who's losing his sight, who goes on one last trip to check out a hot prospect. Amy Adams will play his daughter, who joins him on the trip. It will open September 28, opposite Won't Back Down, a drama about two mothers (Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal) trying to make a difference at their local school, and Loopers, a sci-fi time-travel actioner where an assassin (Bruce Willis) runs into the younger version of himself.

- Taylor Lautner is now out of the Stretch Armstrong movie, dropped by Universal, and now Relativity has picked it up and has set aside April 2014 for a release date.

- Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, who'll appear in The Silver Linings Playbook later this year, will reunite for Serena, based on the Ron Rash best-seller about a husband-wife team lording over their new timber empire in 1929 North Carolina. When she finds out she cannot hanve children but he has fathered a son from an affair, she seeks to murder the boy.

- Patrick Wilson is reuniting with his Insidious director James Wan for another ghost story, this one about a haunted farmhouse. Vera Farmiga (Source Code), Ron Livingston (Office Space), and Lili Taylor (The Haunting) will co-star.

- The X-Men: First Class cast has signed back on for a sequel (including James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence), and Matthew Vaughn will return as director.

- Simon Cowell will not bring back host Steve Jones or judges Paula Abdul or Nicole Scherzinger for the next season of The X Factor.

- After being diagnosed as pre-diabetic, Alec Baldwin cut sugar out of his diet, and he claims he's lost 30 pounds in the past four months.

HBO's Luck - TV Review

2012-01-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

The acting, naturally, is very good. It's a powerhouse cast, with Dustin Hoffman front and center, but so many others (Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, Michael Gambon, Joan Allen, Jill Hennessy, Kevin Dunn, Kerry Condon, Jason Gedrick, Richard Kind, John Ortiz) makes it overflowing with talent, reminiscent of that other David Milch HBO drama Deadwood. But it's another show about unlikeable people doing dishonest things. Boardwalk Empire, for all its glossy glory, has no one to root for, and Luck may turn out to be the same way. The horse track, in some ways, is one of the seedier locations to center a show around, and it's clear we're going to see gambling addicts and mobsters and all sorts come and go.

I'm losing my free HBO soon, so it'll largely depend on other reviews of how future episodes go as whether or not I catch up with this.

Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

2012-01-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Movie
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Movie
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Outstanding Female Actor in a Lead Role in a Movie
Viola Davis, "The Help"

Outstanding Male Actor in a Lead Role in a Movie
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

Outstanding Cast in a Movie
"The Help"

Outstanding Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Kate Winslet, "Mildred Pierce"

Outstanding Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Paul Giamatti, "Too Big to Fail"

Outstanding Female Actor in a TV Comedy Series
Betty White, "Hot in Cleveland"

Outstanding Male Actor in a TV Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

Outstanding Ensemble in a TV Comedy Series
"Modern Family"

Outstanding Female Actor in a TV Drama Series
Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"

Outstanding Male Actor in a TV Drama Series
Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"

Outstanding Ensemble in a TV Drama Series
"Boardwalk Empire"

No real surprises. I would have guessed George Clooney would have won for The Descendants. I'm annoyed they gave it to Alec Baldwin for a sixth year in a row. It's the main reason I'd be glad 30 Rock is ending.

Contagion - DVD Review

2012-01-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, Bryan Cranston, Elliott Gould, Demetri Martin and Sanaa Lathan.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite editors of a director. His stories are very succinct and compact, with nary a wasted scene. This 21st century Andromeda Strain warns us that, yeah, after a few overhyped diseases, there could still be a big one that hits and spreads.

We meet a couple, Mitch and Beth (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow), but dearie-me, she has a cough. We all know what happens to pretty ladies who cough in movies. Just that quickly, Beth is gone, and Mitch is stunned. "Wait, what happened to her?" Dozens of people who came into contact with Beth drop dead. Mitch is fine.

There's a disease spreading quickly all over the world. Agents from the WHO (Marion Cotillard) and CDC (Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne) try to trace its origins, figure out how it started and how to stop it.

I like the use of several stars to tell the story. By having Paltrow die in the first ten minutes, we know no one is truly safe. This will really make you want to wash your hands when it's over.

Starz's Boss - TV Review

2012-01-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

I'd moved Boss down the viewing list so I just saw the last two episodes this week. Wow. Now I really get why Kelsey Grammer won the Golden Globe. His Tom Kane jumped from bad-guy protagonist to truly ruthless monster. Looking forward to seeing the fallout in Season 2.

For those who missed it (99.9% of you), Kane is the mayor of Chicago. His behind-the-scenes corruption is worse than anything Brotherhood's Tommy would have dreamed of. Kane is looking to push out the current governor, a long-time ally, in favor of an up-and-comer he can more easily manipulate. Meanwhile he discovers he has a degenerative brain disorder. He's cold and unfaithful to his wife (Connie Nielsen), but he's trying to reconnect with his disowned daughter, a former drug addict turned priest.

The first few episodes has this good-not-great vibe to them, akin to AMC's The Killing. But then as the primary drew nearer, the action ramps up, the betrayals mount, and Kane would give the Lannisters chills for how far he's willing to go to preserve his power.

I'm sure it'll be on DVD or Netflix in a few months.

Friday's Box Office

2012-01-28T14:57:00.001-08:00

1. The Grey - $6.5 million - 1 day
2. One for the Money - $4.1 - 1 day
3. Underworld Awakening - $3.43 ($36.05) - 8 days
4. Red Tails - $2.8 ($26.18) - 8 days
5. Man on a Ledge - $2.5 - 1 day
6. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - $2 ($15.96) - 34 days
7. Contraband - $1.9 ($51.77) - 15 days
8. The Descendants - $1.74 ($54.03) - 73 days
9. Beauty & the Beast 3-D - $1.23 ($37.03) - 15 days
10. Haywire - $1.17 ($12.45) - 8 days
11. Mission Impossible 4 - $.93 ($200.02) - 43 days

The Grey is yet another Q1 actioner for Liam Neeson that reinforces his star power. It should get around $19 million for the weekend. One for the Money shows that while her star is fading, Katherine Heigl still draws a crowd, even when she looks like Katie Holmes on the poster. It should get around $11 million. The other new release, Man on a Ledge, is the first Sam Worthington movie banking on his star power outside of a big-budget franchise (Terminator, Avatar, Clash of the Titans...), and he can take comfort he has Wrath of the Titans later this spring.

Some Oscar nominated movies expanded their screens, and they've been met with a collective yawn. The Artist and The Iron Lady had lower per-screen averages than Red Tails, and even the Best Picture nomination of a Tom Hanks-Sandra Bullock movie couldn't boost Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close much. (I think part of it is the kid's obviously the star and Hanks is dead for most of the movie.)

My Top Ten Films of 2011

2012-01-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

I have not yet seen The Artist, Drive, A Separation, Take Shelter, My Week with Marilyn, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Margaret, Meloncholia, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and a few of these others that have made some top-ten lists, and I'll probably edit this list as I do see them, but of the 109 titles I've seen in 2011, these were the best.

Enjoyed But Not in My Top 20:
The Adventures of Tintin, Beginners, Black Death, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Cedar Rapids, The Company Men, Contagion, Crazy Stupid Love, The Debt, The Descendants, Fast Five, Fright Night, Hanna, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Horrible Bosses, The Ides of March, Jane Eyre, Kung Fu Panda 2, Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer, Puss in Boots, Real Steel, Sons of Perdition, Terri, Thor, The Trip, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Unknown, Win Win

Overrated:
Meek's Cutoff, The Tree of Life, War Horse

Honorable Mentions (my 11-20, alphabetically):

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS - Destined to become a perennial holiday Christmas, like Polar Express, but this is better. It has the Aardman spirit infused in the Blue Sky look, with Santa Claus protrayed as a benvolent monarchy, a tradition that's handed down from father to son. It has some other original ideas which makes the journey seem fresh.

BRIDESMAIDS - Very funny Apatow-produced comedy with some drama sprinkled in. Kristen Wiig plays a more complex character than usual, and she's able to pull it off swimmingly. It help that she co-wrote the script.

INSIDIOUS - I have to acknowledge the most successful horror movie from last year, by which I mean I felt more suspense watching this than anything else from 2011. James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the team behind the original Saw, still have some tricks up their sleeve without relying on gore, and even when its low budget starts showing at the seams, well, that's part of its charm.

MARGIN CALL - This tightly-wound corporate thriller has a major powerhouse cast, all taking place over 24 hours when one of the largest investment firms in the world realizes they're on the verge of losing everything. Do they let the ship sink or do they let their toxic assets go ruin some other people's lives instead? These talks may well have taken place at Lehman Brothers or AIG one night. King among kings is Jeremy Irons as the CEO, probably my favorite work of his in years.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL - Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) shows his sense of pace holds true in the live-action world. Together he and Tom Cruise have made the best entry in the series.

OF GODS AND MEN - Very quiet French movie about grace under pressure. Based on a true story, it's about a group of monks who choose to stay in their monastery even while Muslim radicals are overthrowing the village around them. Most memorable for Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale as two of the chief monks.

SOURCE CODE - This nifty little Twilight Zone episode of a movie has a straight-forward conceit that never feels repetitive, even as we relive the same eight minutes over and over.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY - An old-fashioned spy thriller. Actually it's the one that defined the modern spy thriller. Gary Oldman is the outside observer in British Intelligence who must determine which colleague is actually a Russian mole. It never dumbs down its plot and it requires close attention to keep up.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS - I like how this reboot goes back to 1963, when the first x-Men comics originally appeared. You have two friends, Charles (James McAvoy) and Erik (Matthew Fassbender) who have mutant powers and are trying to figure out how to adapt in the world, but the plot spins along like a James Bond caper

YOUNG ADULT - This anti-romantic comedy has biting laughs, starring Charlize Theron as one of those shallow popular girls who hasn't matured twenty years out of high school. She goes back to her hometown to pursue her old boyfriend, and she won't let little things like his wife and baby stand in her way. Brilliant ending, too.

And now...

... My Top Ten

10. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - Sometimes superhero movies can be done right. Director Joe Johnston restores much-needed earnestness to the good guy (part of why Chris Reeve's Superman was so appealing). Chris Evans is actually pretty good as Steve Rogers, the 98-pound weakling who wants more than anything to serve his country, and gets that chance thanks to some experimental drugs that pump him up to a super-soldier. It handles the mythology right, the evolution of the costume, the dastardly villain Red Skull (Hugo Weaving, having fun). My only complaint is how it, like the other Marvel movies, in the end, has to tie itself to the upcoming Avengers movie.

9. HUGO - 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret' was a wonderful book, and Martin Scorsese was the perfect choice to bring it to life on-screen. His camera dives and swims through the inner workings of the Parisian train station, and the story glides into a tribute to early cinema.

8. THE HELP - Race relations are explored in 1960's Jackson Mississippi, when black women couldn't seem to get a job outside of the service industry. It's sweet and soluable, with several good performances from its mostly female class, including Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain.

7. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - Man, this came out of nowhere, didn't it? Motion-capture king Andy Serkis should have been nominated for his work here as Caesar, the ape that started it all. Perfect example of how big-budget summer movies can still be great.

6. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - I liked the Swedish version, but under director David FIncher's eye, Steig Larsson's pulp mystery is sleeker, more stylish, and places more emphasis on the procedure than the results. Noomi Rapace was great as Lisbeth Salander, but Rooney Mara owns the role with equal grit and poise. Really hoping Fincher's able to make the next one.

5. THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER - I don't want to overhype this one, but this quiet gem just worked for me. Its thin night-in-the-lives-of plot is deliberately drawn from American Graffiti and Dazed & Confused, but all the kids and situations feel so real, it could have been a documentary.

4. WARRIOR - I'd heard good things, I wanted to see it in theaters, but I just never did. I repented by renting it on DVD, and I'd recommend others do the same; it deserves to find an audience. Outstanding acting from the three leads - Tom Hardy as the ex-Marine, Joel Edgerton as the family man, and Nick Nolte as the regret-filled father of both. The MMA choreography and sound is as bone-crushing as any fight movie can be.

3. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - I've seen most of Woody's movies and this is the best movie of his in the past couple decades. Owen Wilson is the Woody stand-in here, as a Hollywood screenwriter who longs to make art, lounging around Paris with his fiancee until something magical happens and he runs into literary heroes of his from the 1930's, including Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), but the highlight is Corey Stoll's Ernest Hemingway.

2. RANGO - I love this homage to cinema old and new, where it can switch from a High Noon feel to Sergio Leone to John Huston to Apocalypse Now. Much of that might be over the heads of kids, but they can still appreciate the critters dressed like cowboys. Johnny Depp is Rango, a pet lizard who finds himself stranded out in the desert, where he comes across a small town called Dirt. I loved the details, like the turtle in a wheelchair, or the voice work that sounds like Andy Devine and Pat Buttram. I loved every minute.

1. MONEYBALL - Brad Pitt at his movie-star best. He and director Bennett Miller make spreadsheets and statistics exciting, with Pitt as Billy Beane, manager for the Oakland A's, a ball-club that can't spend as much as its competitors, so he has to see where he can get the most value for the cheapest price. Jonah Hill's work here reminded me of Jamie Foxx's in Collateral, by which I mean he puts away his ticks and quirks and plays it boringly-straight, except it's actually more interesting. And the dialogue crackles like any good Aaron Sorkin script should.

The 84th Academy Award Nominations

2012-01-24T20:02:00.000-08:00

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

Best Actor
Demian Bichir - A Better Life
George Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Best Actress
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants - A. Payne & N. Faxon & J. Rash
Hugo - J. Logan
The Ides of March - G. Clooney & G. Heslov & B. Willimon
Moneyball - S. Zaillian & A. Sorkin & S. Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - B. O'Connor & P. Straughan

Best Original Screenplay
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

Best Foreign Film
Bullhead, Belgium
Footnote, Israel
In Darkness, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar, Canada
A Separation, Iran

Best Animated Film
A Cat in Paris, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss In Boots, Chris Miller
Rango, Gore Verbinski

Best Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Best Cinematography
Guillaume Schiffman - The Artist
Jeff Cronenweth - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson - Hugo
Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life
Janusz Kaminski - War Horse

Best Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Best Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball

Best Documentary Film
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Best Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
The Iron Lady

Best Original Score
John Williams - The Adventures of Tintin
Ludovic Bource - The Artist
Howard Shore - Hugo
Alberto Iglesias - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John Williams - War Horse

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets
"Real in Rio" from Rio

Best Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Best Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Best Documentary Short
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Best Animated Short
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live-Action Short
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Nomination Totals:
Hugo - 11
The Artist - 10
Moneyball - 6
War Horse - 6
The Descendants - 5
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 5
The Help - 4
Albert Nobbs - 3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - 3
Midnight in Paris - 3
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - 3
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 3
The Tree of Life - 3
Bridesmaids - 2
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - 2
The Iron Lady - 2
My Week with Marilyn - 2
A Separation - 2
My thoughts:

PICTURE - I'm surprised Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close got in, since it received such poor reviews. Stephen Daldry must be friends with many powerful people. His fourth movie in a row has been nominated for Best Picture (Billy Eliott, The House, The Reader), though he didn't get a Director's nod. I'd have to say it's a race between The Artist, The Descendants and Hugo.

DIRECTOR - No David Fincher, no Bennett Miller, no Steven Spielberg. If Scorsese hadn't already won for The Departed, he'd be 100% lock to win, but I think this one's between Hazanavicius and Payne, edge to Payne.

ACTOR - Thrilled for Oldman, happy for Bichir. I haven't seen A Better Life, but it's cool when struggling actors get a sudden boost like that. For the 21st century Frat pack leaders, I'd give the edge to Pitt over Clooney, but overall Dujardin has to be the front-runner.

ACTRESS - Glad to see Rooney Mara made it. Close and Williams take comft in adding more nominations to their resume, but I think this is a battle between Doubt co-stars Meryl Streep and Viola Davis. Davis was the heart of The Help, but it's been, what, thirty years since perennial nominee actually won an Academy Award? Really surprised Charlize Theron didn't make it, or Tilda Swinton, from what I've heard.

SUPPORTING ACTOR - Branagh, Hill and Nolte have the honor of being nominated, but this is a showdown between two legends - Plummer and Von Sydow. Edge to Plummer. Would have liked to see Andy Serkis get in here for Apes.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Showier roles tend to win here (Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost, Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny, Renee Zellweger for Cold Mountain, etc.) so Octavia Spencer could pull it off, but it wouldn't surprise me if Melissa McCarthy's fearless performance was rewarded. Also, Chastain was in six movies this year and could have easily been nominated here for The Tree of Life.

SCREENPLAY - It's between The Descendants, Hugo and Moneyball for Adapted, and I view Original at this point as anyone's guess.

FOREIGN - A Separation is the one making all of the top-ten lists.

ANIMATED - I'm rooting for Rango. I would have put in Arthur Christmas or The Adventures of Tintin before Kung Fu Panda 2.

VISUAL EFFECTS - Would have liked to have seen Captain America get a nod for the way they transformed Chris Evans from 98-pound weakling to the First Avenger.

Win Win - DVD Review

2012-01-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynsky, Alex Shaffer and Margo Martindale. Directed by Tom McCarthy.

Nice to see a middle-America comedy-drama come along that doesn't condescend and doesn't go for the obvious. Paul Giamatti plays a lawyer whose firm is in financial dire straits. He finds an opportunity to get some extra money by becoming the guardian of one of his elderly clients. Meanwhile he's a part-time wrestling coach. His plans grow more fragile when the grandson of his client shows up.

The movie's a nice balance between humorous situations and the dramatic fallout. It's a good showcase for Giamatti, and it makes for a pleasant rental.

Fox's Napoleon Dynamite - TV Review

2012-01-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

Voices of Jon Heder, Aaron Ruell, Tina Majorino, Diedrich Bader, Jon Gries.

I actually liked this show. It's better than Bob's Burgers or The Cleveland Show or Allen Gregory; it's actually a very suitable replacement for the gaping hole where King of the Hill once resided. Most of the original actors are back to provide the voices, and I actually chuckled out loud at a couple jokes.

The show is true to the spirit of the movie, and the universe is slightly expanded, and allowed to go to places where only cartoons can go. (Like Kip being an expert on stilts.) It makes a good pairing with The Simpsons on Sunday night.

The Hangover Part II - DVD Review

2012-01-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

★½

Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zack Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Paul Giamatti, Justin Bartha, Jeffrey Tambor, Mason Lee, Jamie Chung and Nick Cassavetes. Directed by Todd Phillips.

When I think of the best sequels, they contain elements of the first movie, but they stand up solidly as their own story. Aliens, Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight. Some of the worst try to be carbon copies, hitting all the same beats but with tiny tiny differences. This unfortunately falls into that latter camp.

The movie begins the same way the first one did. Phil on the phone letting a bride-to-be know they've really messed up this time. Flashback to one week earlier.

Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug are together again, going to Thailand for Stu's wedding. They take Stu's future brother-in-law Teddy with them for "just one drink" on the beach. Cut to the next morning. Phil, Stu and Alan wake up in a trashed apartment with no idea what happened. But it's Bangkok instead of Vegas. And the surprise animal in the bathroom is a monkey instead of a tiger.

And it keeps going and going just like that, right down to the slide show of their wild night during the closing credits. It is basically the same movie as the first one, but far less funny.

Golden Globe Award Results

2012-01-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

Best Picture Drama
The Descendants

Best Picture, Musical/Comedy
The Artist

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Best Actor, Drama
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress, Drama
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Best Actor, Musical/Comedy
Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Actress, Musical/Comedy
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation

Best Animated Film
The Adventures of Tintin

Best Original Score
Ludovic Bourse - The Artist

Best Original Song
"Masterpiece" by Madonna - W.E.

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Morgan Freeman

　

Best Television Series - Drama
Homeland

Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series - Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series - Drama
Kelsey Grammer, Boss

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Modern Family

Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Laura Dern, Enlightened

Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
Downton Abbey

Best Performance By An Actress In A Mini-Series Or A Motion Picture
Made For Television
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Performance By An Actor In A Mini-Series Or A Motion Picture
Made For Television
Idris Elba, Luther

Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series Or
Motion Picture Made For Television
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series Or
Motion Picture Made For Television
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Weekend Box Office - 1/15/12

2012-01-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

For the weekend of Jan 13-15.

1. Contraband - $24.1 million - 1 wk (U)
. . . 2863 screens / $8418 per screen
2. Beauty & the Beast 3D - $18.49 - 1 wk (BV)
. . . 2625 / $7044
3. Mission Impossible 4 - $11.5 ($186.75) - 5 wks (Par) -42.1%
. . . 3346 / $3437
4. Joyful Noise - $11.35 - 1 wk (WB)
. . . 2735 / $4148
5. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $8.41 ($170.01) - 5 wks (WB) -38.6%
. . . 3155 / $2666
6. The Devil Inside - $7.9 ($46.25) - 2 wks (Par) -76.6%
. . . 2551 / $3097
7. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - $6.8 ($87.98) - 4 wks (Sony) -40%
. . . 2674 / $2543
8. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $5.8 ($118.78) - 5 wks (Fox) -38.9%
. . . 2849 / $2036
9. War Horse - $5.61 ($65.78) - 4 wks (BV) -35.4%
. . . 2856 / $1963
10. The Iron Lady - $5.39 ($5.97) - 3 wks (Wein) +2953.7%
. . . 802 / $6716

Disney & Pixar have a few 3D rereleases lined up, and I'm sure they'll get diminishing returns with each one, but hey, it's a profitable move. Meanwhile Mark Wahlberg re-established his action-star cred with Contraband.

Contraband - Movie Review

2012-01-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, Caleb Landry Jones, JK Simmons, Diego Luna and David O'Hara.
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur.

Mark Wahlberg is cool. He just is. He can do your art-house flicks (I Heart Huckabees), your comedies (The Other Guys), your Best Pictures (The Departed), and then he's an action star. His action movies serve as a reminder that Jason Statham could do better.

Wahlberg in action mode isn't much different than Eastwood in the 1980's or Bruce Willis in the 1990's. When I watch movies like this, I always have John Malkovich in True West come to mind. "It's not a film, it's a moo-vie."

Here he's Chris Farraday, former smuggler gone legit, with his wife Kate (Kate Beckinsale) and two kids. When Kate's little brother Andy has a job go bad (throwing some drugs in the ocean when customs boards), he's threatened with his life unless he pays the amount the score was expected to bring - $700,000.

Chris tries to appeal to his boss, a little psycho named Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi, in Bruckheimer villain mode), but Briggs wants the full amount and threatens to kill Chris and Kate and their kids as well unless he gets his money. So Chris comes out of retirement for one last job - smuggling counterfeit money from Panama.

The movies goes back and forth from hard-hitting action drama to light-hearted heist flick. Of course Chris's best-laid plans fall apart in Panama. If it all went smooth we'd have a dull 60-minute movie.

This is based on the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavik-Rotterdam. The producer and star of that movie, Baltasar Kormakur, serves as director here, and he has a sleekness to his style. Reminded me of the Scott brothers at times.

(P.S. My wife's biggest complaint? Wahlberg never takes his shirt all the way off.)

Killer Elite - DVD Review

2012-01-13T13:11:00.001-08:00

★★

Starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert DeNiro, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Directed by Gary McKendry.

Jason Statham plays an expert assassin brought out of retirement who must kill a group of war criminals in exchange for the life of his mentor/friend (Robert DeNiro). But an ex-SAS agent (Clive Owen) is on his trail to stop him.

Thoughts I had through the movie:

"Jason Statham was born to play characters named Danny."

"Don't know who this guy is they've tied to the chair, but to me, he's the British Daniel Baldwin."

"Alkaseltzer Akawaka-Ajablahblah would probably have a more successful movie career if he'd use a more pronouncable name. I've seen it spelled out dozens of times and can never remember it. He was cool as Eko on Lost."

"Nice to see Yvonne Strahovski getting work outside of the Chuck universe."

"Wait a minute, that guy with the long hair and mutton chops is the guy from Prison Break! Wow, he looks different. Good for him."

"Why is this being lit like it's a sequel to Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever?"

"Clive Owen's mustache looked silly in the trailer, but it's actually working for me here."

"This setup is very similar to Munich, but these two movies are worlds apart. Which makes me wonder if this movie would be leagues better if Spielberg had directed it."

"Very cool car-chase sequence marred by one guy on the team doing two very stupid things in a row. One, okay. Two? How did he wind up on the team?"

"Gotta love it when movies pretend to be over at the 80-minute mark. Who they foolin'?"

"100-minute mark. Really ready for this muddled movie to be over."

"I wonder how much DeNiro was paid for what looks like about a week of work. More of an extended cameo than a supporting role."

"Ugh, Statham actually had to say 'You just don't get it, do you?' to someone."

Cowboys & Aliens - DVD Review

2012-01-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

★★½

Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Paul Dano and Walton Goggins.
Directed by Jon Favreau.

The first fifteen minutes or so work really well. It's a real Western. Daniel Craig is a cowboy who wakes up with amnesia. He goes to the nearest town where he gets recognized as a thief. He fights back, but he gets jailed. The townsfolk gather when the chief cattle baron of the region (Harrison Ford) shows up to spring his own wayward son out of prison.

And then the aliens show up, kidnapping about half of the people we meet. Somewhere in there the fun factor should kick in, but the movie plays it straight the entire time.

So as an alien movie, the aliens don't seem that threatening, which is to say, despite their technology, the aliens are poor tacticians and shockingly easy to kill. Their design isn't that creative, straight out of the gray-skinned, many-limbed playbook. They actually reminded me a lot of the creature from Super 8.

Now I've read the source material. It was a comic-book written with the intent of being made into a movie. Its story wasn't great either. In fact Favreau's really fleshed it out. I just don't see a reason why no one seemed to realize they were making a summer movie called Cowboys & Aliens. Let's have a blast, why don't we.

Are You There Chelsea? - TV Review

2012-01-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

NBC's ARE YOU THERE CHELSEA? - Laura Prepon plays Chelsea Handler, and Chelsea plays her grouchy sister in this sitcom based on Handler's life. The laughs from the studio audience are half-hearted at best. It's about on the level of Whitney.

The first episode centers on Chelsea getting a DUI. There are tons and tons of jokes about how Chelsea drinks too much, to the point that her sister decides she doesn't want her to be there for the birth of her child. It all works out.

Other news shows:

ABC's WORK IT - It is about as stupid as you'd expect. Two men, in tough economic times, dress in drag in order to get a job, and they're completely unconvincing as women, so all the other actors have to pretend like they don't notice. Almost as glaring as White Chicks.

ABC's CELEBRITY WIFE SWAP - Same old, same old. The one I saw had Carnie Wilson and Tracey Gold swap. Carnie's a wild messy mom with a ships-passing-in-the-night relationship with her husband; Tracey's a neat organized mom that spends a lot of quality time with her family.

Warrior - DVD Review

2012-01-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

★★★★

Starring Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn, Maximiliano Hernandez, Denzel Whitaker and Kurt Angle.
Directed by Gavin O'Connor.

If you put a hundred different writer/director teams into a hundred different rooms and told them to make a movie about mixed martial arts, I believe Gavin O'Connor's team would win.

Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a family-man/school-teacher whose personal finances are suffering. He was a former UFC fighter, and an upcoming MMA tournament has a $5 million winner-take-all purse attached.

Tommy (Tom Hardy) is an ex-Marine, stalled in life, bitter against his formerly alcoholic father (Nick Nolte) and his brother Brendan. He's also a great fighter and wants to join the tournament.

The family dynamics and father-son issues ring true and run deep, even if it's hitting familiar notes. It hits thems skillfully, where it doesn't even feel like a formula.

Also, the choreography of the matches are fantastic. They're brutal and exciting, and more than once it seems like people are really getting hurt.

It's really a shame this flopped at the box office. It deserves to find new life on DVD.

Random Movie Stuff - 1/10/12

2012-01-10T21:53:00.000-08:00

- Robert Downey Jr. is Tim Burton's top choice to play Geppetto in his new version of Pinocchio, a semi-sequel (like his Alice in Wonderland) where Geppetto is on a quest to reunite with his missing wooden son.

- Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and Jordi Malla (Knight & Day) are in talks to join Riddick, the third movie starring Vin Diesel as the sight-enhanced fugitive, following Pitch Black and The Chrnonicles of Riddick.

- Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy) is in talks to join the cast of Inside Llewelyn Davis, the next movie from Joel & Ethan Coen. It's about folk music in the 1960's and stars Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac and John Goodman.

- Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) has been hired to rewrite Thor 2, which reunites Chris Hemsowrth, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins, and will be directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones).

Old Movie I Saw:

SKIDOO (1968) - Check out this cast: Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Groucho Marx, Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith, Frankie Avalon, Cesar Romero, John Phillip Law, Michael Constantine, Austin Pendleton, Peter Lawford, Mickey Rooney, George Raft, Slim Pickens, Robert Donner, Richard Kiel, Arnold Stang. That movie has to be seen, right?

This is in the same boat as Casino Royale, in that it's a cultural oddity. Otto Preminger doesn't embrace the anarchic sloppiness of Casino. He's a meticulous director, and he just can't do comedy well. This movie was dated the moment it was released. It's very much the movie of an old guy in 1968 trying to be cool with "the hippies." How can you have Groucho Marx and not unleash him?

So yeah, I sat through the whole thing, but I would advise, if anyone wants to seek it out at this point, if you watch 20 minutes of it - any 20 minutes - you will have gotten the idea. Gleason plays a long-retired gangster dragged back into action for one last job by the big boss. The boss's name is God, and he's played by Marx. This movie has the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), but none of them are really allowed to go wild, except when Meredith and Gorshin have to pretend they're on an acid trip.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Movie Review

2012-01-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

★★★½

Starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Hurt, David Dencik, Kathy Burke and Simon McBurney.
Directed by Tomas Alfredson.

Gary Oldman made his name by playing frenetic, over-the-top personalities (Sid & Nancy, Dracula, Immortal Beloved, True Romance) but he's reintroduced himself to a new generation as the mild-mannered Jim Gordon in the Dark Knight movies, and now here he is as George Smiley. Smiley barely moves, speaks low. He's a British gentleman. He's also one of the best spies in the world.

Smiley is brought out of retirement to help out. Seems there is a mole at the top. The boss is named Control (John Hurt), and Smiley is the only man he can trust with the job. Control knows it's one of his top four agents, and he gives each of them a nickname. Perhaps you've seen the title of the movie?

Smiley never shows what he is thinking, but to the scrutinizing audience, we can catch those glimpses of him locking information away.

It's based on the classic John le Carre spy novel, and it rewards the audience members that pay attention and leaves behind those that don't. As glued as I was to what was going on, even though there's very little actual action, I must admit that the reveal of the mole didn't have the emotional impact for me I'd hoped, I guess because it didn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things who the mole actually was.

Gary Oldman has never been nominated for an Academy award. That is not right.

Weekend Box Office 1-8-12

2012-01-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

For the weekend of Jan 6-8.

1. The Devil Inside - $34.5 million - 1 wk (Par)
. . . 2285 screens / $15,098 per screen
2. Mission Impossible 4 - $20.5 ($170.2) - 4 wks (Par) -30.3%
. . . 3555 / $5767
3. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $14.06 ($157.42) - 4 wks (WB) -32.7%
. . . 3603 / $3901
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - $11.3 ($76.84) - 3 wks (Sony) -23.8%
. . . 2950 / $3831
5. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $9.5 ($111.59) - 4 wks (Fox) -42%
. . . 3425 / $2774
6. War Horse - $8.6 ($56.83) - 3 wks (BV) -40.4%
. . . 2783 / $3091
7. We Bought A Zoo - $8.45 ($56.54) - 3 wks (Fox) -36.2%
. . . 3170 / $2666
8. The Adventures of Tintin - $6.6 ($61.88) - 3 wks (Par) -42.3%
. . . 3006 / $2196
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - $5.77 ($10.42) - 5 wks (Foc) +431.3%
. . . 809 / $7129
10. New Year's Eve - $3.27 ($52.03) - 5 wks (NL) -48.5%
. . . 1864 / $1752

The Devil Inside is getting terrible reviews, but the marketing was good and there was no genre competition.

Mission Impossible 4 is going to pass the $200 million domestic mark. Sherlock Holmes 2 has an outside chance of doing that as well. Those naysayers who tried to paint it as a flop the first week are eating crow.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is showing strong legs. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy had the second best per-screen average in the top twenty.

SNL's White People Problems

2012-01-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

The funniest sketch from last night's Saturday Night Live.

The Adventures of Tintin - Movie Review

2012-01-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring the voices of Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

There's one scene in here that keeps coming back to me. It's a chase sequence that's done as if all in one take. Since it's animation we know that's probably not how it happened, but I like that I really don't know how they did. I just know how I felt as it kept going and going... It's Spielberg at his finest.

Tintin, created by Herge many decades ago, is not a character I'm that familiar with. I read a couple comics of his in my 9th grade French class, but that's about it. And any good movie based on other source material should not require familiarity with said source material for it to be enjoyable. Well, this was Spielberg in Indiana Jones mode.

Intrepid investigative reporter Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys a model ship, that others are willing to pay a high price for. His home is eventually burglarized by those seeking the ship, and he learns it's the key to finding a large amount of lost treasure. With his dog Snowy, and the drunken Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis, the mo-cap king), Tintin travels the world looking for clues that will lead him to the treasure before the bad guys get there.

This is a motion-captured animated movie, like the Zemeckis trilogy (Polar Express, Beowulf, Christmas Carol) and the Mars Needs Moms bomb. I liked that Spielberg kept just enough animated quality to the characters' faces (bulbous noses and such) that we don't get that dead-soul look, but there's still expression in the eyes.

What surprised me about Tintin is that for a smaller guy, he's apparently an incredibly effective fighter, and he's really good with a gun.

Cancer sucks

2012-01-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

I have a couple reviews I was going to write tonight but I just found an old theater friend of mine - Colleen Hansen Weigand - died of cancer. Her funeral was this morning. I knew she'd been battling it off and on for years, but it was still a shock to see that she's gone.

Sauron

2012-01-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

http://xkcd.com/712/

MCN's List of Top Ten Lists

2012-01-04T21:53:00.001-08:00

Compiled from 188 different critics' top-ten lists by the good folks at MCN.

1. The Tree of Life
2. The Descendants
3. The Artist
4. Drive
5. Hugo
6. Melancholia
7. A Separation
8. Certified Copy
9. Moneyball
10. Martha Marcy May Marlene
11. Take Shelter
12. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
13. Midnight in Paris
14. Shame
15. Beginners
16. Bridesmaids
17. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives
18. Margaret
19. Meek's Cutoff
20. We Need to Talk About Kevin

Man, I've only seen eight of them.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil - DVD Review

2012-01-04T21:42:00.001-08:00

★★★

Starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon McLaren and Chelan Simmons.
Directed by Eli Craig.

The rural citizen has achieved a brutal reputation thanks to the magic of cinema, largely designed by them coastal dwellers. You have Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance, and that's let to the numerous Hills Have Eyes/Wrong Turn parade of murderous hillbillies. This movie picks up where the Scream franchise fizzled out, and we get the best horror comedy of the year.

Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are two country boys who've purchased a cabin in the woods. A vacation home. Meanwhile they come across some beer-drinking college kids out for a little fun, the kind of good-looking two-dimensional students just waiting to find out where they fit in the inevitable body count. A series of misunderstandings leads the kids to believe the hillbillies are serial killers, and darned if the kids don't keep accidentally dying around them. This is not what it looks like.

Tudyk (Serenity) and Labine (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) make a good team, and the ways the kids keep dying would make the fates of Final Destination proud. This barely had a theatrical release, but for fans of the genre, it's a hoot.

Random Movie Stuff - 1/3/12

2012-01-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

- Demi Moore will cameo as Gloria Steinem in Lovelace, the Linda Lovelace biopic starring Amanda Seyfried.

- Julianne Moore will star in The English Teacher, about a small-town teacher with no personal life who decides to help a former student put on his unproduced play at their high school. Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, Michael Angarano and Nathan Lane co-star.

- Sony is moving forward with plans to film The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second book in Steig Larsson's trilogy. Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara will reprise their roles as Mikhael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is currently in theaters.

- Ben Lyons, who single-handedly destroyed all credibility for any film critic on TV anywhere again ever when he took over one of the seats on At the Movies, has been let go as a correspondent on E! channel.

Online Film Critics Society Awards

2012-01-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

Best Picture
The Tree of Life

Best Animated Feature
Rango

Best Director
Terrence Malick, The Tree Of Life

Best Lead Actor
Michael Fassbender, Shame

Best Lead Actress
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Tree Of Life

Best Original Screenplay
Midnight In Paris

Best Adapted Screenplay
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy

Best Editing
The Tree Of Life

Best Cinematography
The Tree Of Life

Best Film Not in the English Language
A Separation

Best Documentary
Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Special Awards (previously announced)
To Jessica Chastain, the breakout performer of the year
To Martin Scorsese, in honor of his work and dedication to the pursuit of film preservation

(h/t Deadline)

War Horse - Movie Review

2012-01-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

★★½

Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Niels Arestrup, David Kross and Toby Kebbell. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg has always had one foot in the past and one foot in the future when it comes to his films. He likes the old-fashioned melodrama, the sweeping spectacle of cinema, and generally I like the idea of this movie. But Spielberg can't help himself. This movie almost collapses under the weight of its own schmaltz.

The movie is about Joey, a horse. A special horse. One day he is purchased by a proud Irish farmer who owes rent to one of those evil-smug "owns half the town" types. But the farmer's teenage son Albie (Jeremy Irvine) trains him. When World War I breaks out, the farmer, despearete for money, sells the horse to the army. And so Joey's journey begins, like Homer's The Odyssey. Joey goes from one adventure to another, somehow staying alive, all the while hoping he can get home.

I liked most of this movie. It's never boring, and I was interested to see where Joey's journey might take him. But the movie tries too hard to tug our heart-strings, and without resistance nor effort, it never tugged at mine. There's an earnestness that feels forced.

I saw a YouTube essay recently on what they call the "Spielberg face." The Spielberg face is a common shot he uses, where he zooms in on the face of an actor reacting with awe at whatever they're looking at behind the camera. It's been a trick of the trade since the silent era, but Spielberg uses it often, and I've never been more aware of it than in this movie. Way too many shots of people marvelling. "Wow. What a miracle. What a horse."

My favorite moments came from Niels Arestrup, the criminal godfather from Un Prophete, now here a kindly French grandfather trying to raise his orphaned granddaughter in peace as war rages all around them.

Some people this might work for, and they'll find it a rewarding cinematic experience. I thought it was fine. A shrug. A thumbs sideways.

Weekend Box Office

2012-01-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

For the weekend of December 30-January 1.

1. Mission Impossible 4 - $31.25 million ($134.14) - 3 wks (Par) +5.9%
. . . 3455 screens / $9045 per screen
2. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $22.1 ($132.1) - 3 wks (WB) +9.1%
. . . 3703 / $5967
3. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $18.25 ($94.61) - 3 wks (Fox) +45%
. . . 3724 / $4901
4. War Horse - $16.94 ($42.97) - 2 wks (BV) +125.4%
. . . 2547 / $6651
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - $16.3 ($57.1) - 2 wks (Sony) +27.8%
. . . 2914 / $5594
6. We Bought A Zoo - $14.3 ($41.79) - 2 wks (Fox) +52.8%
. . . 3163 / $4521
7. The Adventures of Tintin - $12 ($47.84) - 2 wks (Par) +23.6%
. . . 3087 / $3887
8. New Year's Eve - $6.74 ($46.37) - 4 wks (WB) +103.7%
. . . 2225 / $3030
9. The Darkest Hour - $4.3 ($13.2) - 2 wks (Sum) +43.3%
. . . 2327 / $1848
10. The Descendants - $3.65 ($39.68) - 7 wks (FS) +76%
. . . 758 / $4815
11. The Muppets - $2.59 ($82.46) - 6 wks (BV) +20.6%
. . . 1541 / $1679
12. Hugo - $2.53 ($49.54) - 6 wks (Par) +18.8%
. . . 951 / $2655
13. Young Adult - $2.2 ($12.17) - 4 wks (Par) +25.7%
. . . 987 / $2229
14. Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 - $2 ($275.45) - 7 wks (Sum) +36.3%
. . . 1411 / $1417

Doing really well in limited release are A Separation, The Iron Lady and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol has passed MI3 and is on course to pass the first MI movie to become the second-highest grosser in the series. It probably won't pass MI2, but it's made the franchise still relevant and justifies an MI5, should Cruise want to do it.

After disappointing openings, Sherlock Holmes 2 and Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 have shown strong legs and will be profitable.

Steven Spielberg has cannibalized himself by having two of his movies (War Horse and Tintin) opening less than a week apart, though I've always said Tintin was made for overseas audiences first.

Young Adult - Movie Review

2011-12-31T23:04:00.000-08:00

★★★½

Starring Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elisabeth Reaser, Jill Eikenberry and Collette Wolfe. Directed by Jason Reitman.

This is anti-romantic comedy, a nice counter-argument to the usual fluffy "find a man" comedies where the preview shows him running to her in the rain at an airport, or the girl and her friend dancing to an oldie in their living room. This is about Mavis (Charlize Theron), an author of young-adult novels who's never grown up herself. One day she decides to win back her old high-school boyfriend Buddy. The fact that he's married and just had a baby is a mere obstacle.

When Mavis arrives in town, she runs into former classmate Matt (Patton Oswalt) the nerd who's still suffering from a savage beating at the hands of some fun-loving jocks. Mavis doesn't really care, unless Matt can somehow help her in her quest to land Buddy.

This comedy goes to some dark, sad places, and it's almost exhilarating how our heroine refuses to grow up, refuses to repent. There's a real sadness to Mavis underneath, and she's doing everything she can to make sure she stays shallow. To take a good look at herself might destroy her.

Acting nominations are deserved from Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt. This movie is good reminder that Theron is still a force to be reckoned with.

The Worst Ten Movies of 2011

2011-12-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

I'll do my Top Ten after I've caught a couple more titles.

I have not seen such alleged stinkers as Big Momma 3, Beastly, Hoodwinked Too, Something Borrowed, The Art of Getting By, Zookeeper, Spy Kids 4, One Day, Shark Night, Apollo 18, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Creature, I Don't Know How She Does It, Abduction, Dream House, Human Centipede 2, Three Musketeers, Like Crazy, Jack & Jill, I Melt with You, New Year's Eve, The Sitter or The Darkest Hour, but of what I've seen, these were the worst:

Dishonorable Mentions:

ATLAS SHRUGGED PART I - Maybe fans of the book will find some things to appreciate, but this rushed, unfinished production does Ayn Rand no favors.

THE GREEN HORNET - Seth Rogen tries to remake the superhero movie in his own image, and the results are mediocre. Watching Jay Chou trying to speak English is akin to watching a cat trying to get peanut butter off the roof of its mouth. Christoph Waltz can't find the comedic notes for his villain role. If Jack Black tries to tackle the Green Arrow, someone tackle him.

GREEN LANTERN - You have Peter Saarsgaard as your villain, and yet he's made the subplot to the main villain - a giant cloud of evil. The overabundance of CGI does not compensate for the lack of thrills. Ryan Reynolds needn't worry about donning the green ring a second time.

KABOOM - Microbudgeted yawner about a party boy who wonders if, gee, maybe the end of the world is coming. But first, let's do drugs and dance!

THE OTHER WOMAN - An aftermath movie. Natalie Portman plays the second wife to a successful businessman, having snagged him by being his mistress. Then the baby they had together dies. Her marriage is becoming more and more loveless, and her stepson is the weapon his parents use against each other. Lisa Kudrow conveys deep bitterness as the first wife who had her life torn apart, but these are such awful selfish people to spend time with, I'd recommend it only as a cautionary tale for young woman thinking of sleeping with a married man. "Do you want this to become your life?"

THE ROOMMATE - This twist on Single White Female shows that Leighton Meester has talent and deserves better. No one else involved does.

SEASON OF THE WITCH - As corny and silly as you'd expect a medieval movie to be starring Nicolas Cage.

THE TREE OF LIFE - A gorgeous 2 hour 25 minute slideshow. No real story. Just three boys living in 1950's Texas. And we go back to the creation of the world, and time passing, and waves crashing, and trees growing, and stars twinkling, and wind blowing through the grass, and the cosmos winking, and critics closing their eyes and chanting "Ohmmmmmmmm...." through the whole bloody thing. The Emperor has no clothes.

And now...

... the Worst Ten

　

10. DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK - The creepy-crawly creatures of this "from the mind of Guillermo Del Toro" effort are never scary, but that's not even the main problem. When Katie Holmes takes pictures of them to prove they're real, and the photos are all over the ground, it just cuts ahead to the next scene with still no one else believing her. Why did no one look at the pictures? I don't mind leaps of logic if they're not Herculean leaps.

9. PASSION PLAY - A drifter (Mickey Rourke) finds a woman with literal angel wings. An offbeat quirky comedy could have sprung from that premise, but instead we get a forlorn ponder-drama, where melancholy is chosen over mirth. Bill Murray wastes his time as a gangster who wants to keep her for himself, and the finale's terrible special effects make for the perfect exclamation point on why this film is such a mess.

8. YOUR HIGHNESS - This would-be parody never captures the quick wit of the Pythons nor the underlying sweetness of The Princess Bride. I think even Cheech & Chong would disown it. The R-rated stoner humor mixed in with medieval tropes never meshes, and it made me resent actor/writer Danny McBride and director David Gordon Green for getting this much money with this talented a cast, and this was all they could churn out.

7. SANCTUM - If you're going to make a movie about a group of people stuck in underground caves, it's imperative to always give the audience a sense of place. The whole thing was shot on sound-stages for all I know. It features paper-thin caricatures of people shouting and trudging down damp corridors and then dying one by one when they make incredibly stupid decisions.

6. DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT - One of those genre mashups that succeeds at none of its targets, not at horror nor comedy nor noir nor entertainment, with Brandon Routh completely miscast in the lead.

5. JUST GO WITH IT - Adam Sandler has lost it. I used to look forward to his movies, but what worked for him 10-15 years ago isn't working now. Between this, Grown Ups, and (what I've read about) Jack & Jill, he needs an intervention, and yet whenever he takes risks (Funny People, Reign Over Me), it's not as successful at the box-office. This comedy is about a man who pretends to be married to get one-night stands, but when he meets a woman he wants to continue seeing, his lies about his marriage expand and grow. There's so much effort put into the contrived premise that it kills whatever laughs might have been achieved.

4. RED RIDING HOOD - Well, the opening credits were cool. Other than that, director Catherine Hardwicke (the first Twilight) indulges her worst instincts in this ethereal medieval romance/murder-mystery where a werewolf is killing the townspeople at night. Our heroine Red (Amanda Seyfried) is torn between two village hunks, either of whom could be the killer lycanthrope, neither of whom have chemistry with her. Giant lanterns are hung on each red herring to the point it becomes obvious who the wolf is because the movie's tried to hard to make us think it's anybody else.

3. SUCKER PUNCH - Teen girls clad themselves scantily in fetishized costumes while fighting creatures in some dreamscape video-game of a movie pretending to be about female empowerment. Director Zack Snyder has had financial success adapting other people's work (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen) but in doing his own, he shows he really is all style and no substance.

2. THE RITE - Deathly dull exorcism flick with Anthony Hopkins in paycheck mode as the older priest who winds up getting possessed himself. Colin O'Donoghue is the black hole where an engaging protagonist should be.

1. BREAKING DAWN PART I - I've been fine with the first three movies. I take them at face value. But this... this plunges new depths of cheese. The actors aren't improving. If anything it highlights their weaknesses. Taylor Lautner has never been worse. The first half-hour is about the wedding, the second half-hour is about Bella's pregnancy, and the final act is about vampires and Jacob patrolling to keep Bella safe while she delivers whatever a vampire-human hybrid baby is. Even die-hard Twihards will have to admit how bad this movie is.

Atlas Shrugged Part I - DVD Review

2011-12-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

★½

Starring Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler, Matthew Marsden, Edi Gathegi, Nick Cassavettes, Jon Polito, Michael Lerner, Patrick Fischler, Graham Beckel and Rebecca Wisocky.
Directed by Paul Johansson.

The first rule of adapting a book into a movie is to make the movie accessible to people who haven't read the book. I have never read Ayn Rand's 1957 1100-page novel, but this movie is written with the seeming presumption that everyone watching the movie has read the book.

Now maybe if this had been made with a Hollywood budget, with better actors, a best director, etc., that wouldn't matter as much, but the holder of the rights had to get moving on this or lose them. The result is not unlike the first episode of Fox Business Channel's first attempt at a mini-series.

Angelina Jolie was once looking at starring in an Atlas Shrugged movie, but here we'll have to settle for Taylor Schilling, known to me as one of the leads of NBC's short-lived nurse drama Mercy. She plays Dagny Taggart, a 26-year-old running the largest railroad company in the US in 2016, along with her brother James (Matthew Marsden). The country's in turmoil since gas and oil prices have skyrocketed, and several talented successful businessmen are disappearing. And about every six minutes, someone asks the mysterious question, "Who is John Galt?"

But here's the thing. Why should I care who John Galt is? Who is Mortimer McGillicuddy? Who is Joe Shlobosky? Context, people!

The Taggarts are bumping up against Hank Reardon (Grant Bowler), who's developed a new type of steel that's twice as strong at half the weight.

The movie is obviously made on the cheap, yet it's about the rich and elite few who make the country run by the power of their own brilliance and general awesomeness. It's nothing but esoteric conversations between two or more people about events and ideas, in corridors, in lobbies, at parties.

Some of these ideas are worth discussing, some of these ideas might make more sense on the page, some of these ideas might be antiquated now that it's not 1957. But another big problem with this movie is these ideas need to build to something, and after 91 minutes of conversations about things happening we never get an emotional connection to, it ends with a cliffhanger.

The Trip - DVD Review

2011-12-28T21:28:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.
Directed by Michael Winterbottom.

I remember watching a clip from this movie four or five times about a year ago. The movie actually didn't hit US theaters until the summer, and now it's on DVD and Netflix Instant. The clip was of the two stars both doing their Michael Caine impression, and it was pretty funny.

If I'm understanding this right, the two actors did it as a six-episode series for BBC, but this is a two-hour edit-down for theatrical release. They play versions of themselves, two actors touring the countryside, reviewing restaurants for an article Streve will write. Steve is longing to get back to Hollywood movies, while Rob is perfectly happy with his career in British TV.

It's not much more than an excuse for the two to riff and play off each other, but that is enough. it made me laugh a few times, and there's a nice undercurrent of regret from Steve as he reflects on his career and where he wants to be in life, even as he digs at the annoying but content Rob. It's a trip worth taking.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD Review

2011-12-27T16:07:00.000-08:00

★

Starring Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, Anita Briem, Taye Diggs, Peter Stormare and Kurt Angle.
Directed by Kevin Munroe.

Whatever problems Superman Returns had, I didn't think Brandon Routh was one of them. I liked him as Clark Kent/Superman. But here he is completely miscast. Or maybe Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, X-Men) is better at getting performances out of his actors than Kevin Munroe (TMNT).

Routh is Dylan Dog, a sardonic, conflicted private investigator who specializes in the undead. The role requires someone with star-power and charisma to pull off, and Routh can't. I kept thinking how much more salvageable this might have been had it starred Timothy Olyphant.

Dylan works in New Orleans, home of vampires, werewolves and zombies. It combines noir cliches with horror and comedy, and none of it works. The mystery's uninteresting, the comedy's flat, the creatures are about as scary as a community church's hell house.

Any random episode of HBO's True Blood or WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer is better. At least Jonah Hex was twenty minutes shorter.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Movie Review

2011-12-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

★★★½

Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Steven Berkoff, Joely Richardson, Geraldine James and Goran Visnjic. Directed by David Fincher.

I've read the book and seen the Swedish movie, and yet I was still enthralled by this version. David Fincher is a slick director, one of the most reliable working today, and he knows how to piece together a procedural. The dense story of Steig Larsson's murder mystery would need over three hours to not feel rushed, but Fincher managed to do it in two and a half.

Daniel Craig is Mikhael Blomkvist, disgraced editor of Millenium magazine, who resigns after losing a libel case. He gets a call from an eccentric millionaire Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, who's always great). Henrik's niece was murdered forty years ago, and he wants Blomkvist's help to solve it once and for all.

Blomkvist needs a research assistant and he gets one in Lisbeth Salander, one of the great recent female characters. Here she's embodied by Rooney Mara (The Social Network), and she makes the role her own.

I love the fact Fincher kept this in Swden and didn't try to Americanize it by putting in in New England. It's faithful to the source material and yet makes the right adjustments to streamline the storytelling aspects. It was as satisfying to me as Fincher's Zodiac.

I'm saddened this isn't doing better at the box-office. It means we won't be able to see Fincher do the other two books.

Monday's Box Office Estimates

2011-12-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

For December 26.

1. Mission Impossible 4 - $16.71 million ($78.65) - 11 days
2. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $11.55 ($90.56) - 11 days
3. War Horse - $7.51 ($15.03) - 2 days
4. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $7.35 ($56.94) - 11 days
5. The Girl w/ the Dragon Tattoo - $6.65 ($27.78) - 6 days
6. Adventures of Tintin - $6.4 ($24.11) - 6 days
7. We Bought A Zoo - $6.15 ($15.6) - 4 days
8. The Darkest Hour - $2.5 ($5.5) - 2 days
9. New Year's Eve - $1.64 ($34.29) - 18 days
10. The Descendants - $1.33 ($33.72) - 41 days
11. The Muppets - $1.21 ($76.91) - 34 days
12. Hugo - $1.18 ($44.93) - 34 days

For a 2 1/2 hour movie with no stars beyond "director Steven Spielberg", War Horse is doing quite well and domestically outgross Steve's other December movie, The Adventures of Tintin.

Box-office for December is still down overall compared to last year. (I like to think it's because audiences are protesting the movie studios behind the internet-censoring bills SOPA and PIPA.) But Mission Impossible 5 is likely.

Random Movie Stuff - 12/26/11

2011-12-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

- Here's the first photo from Magic Mike, a male-stripper comedy from director Steven Soderbergh. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer (Beastly), Matthew Bomer (USA's White Collar), and Joe Manganiello (HBO's True Blood). It's loosely based on Tatum's experiences as a stripper before his acting career took off. The movie's scheduled to open June 29. Soderbergh also has Haywire opening next month.

- Dan Aykroyd has joined the cast of Dog Fight, a political satire starring Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis as two warring candidates. It also stars Jason Sudeikis, John Lithgow, WIll Forte and Brian Cox.

- Alan Taylor, whose directorial efforts mainly comprise of HBO fare like Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, will be the new director for Thor 2. Kenneth Branagh directed the original.

- Seth Rogen will star in The B Team, about a master spy who is kidnapped, so his support team must go in to save him.

- What do Tom Hulce (Amadeus), Jon Polito (Miller's Crossing), Derek Jacobi (Anonymous), Wesley Eure (TV's Land of the Lost), Guillermo Diaz (TV's Weeds), Sean Maher (Serenity), Roger Rees (TV's Cheers), Denis O'Hare (TV's True Blood), Jonathan Slavin (TV's Better Off Ted), and Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) have in common?

- The Top Ten Movies according to Christy Lemire, of Ebert Presents At the Movies:

1. Martha Marcy May Marlene
2. 50/50
3. The Myth of the American Sleepover
4. The Tree of Life
5. Bellflower
6. Melancholia
7. Take Shelter
8. Hell & Back Again
9. Beginners
10. Bridesmaids

The Help - DVD Review

2011-12-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

★★★½

Starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Ahna O'Reilly, Sissy Spacek, Cicely Tyson, Chris Lowell, Mary Steenburgen, Mike Vogel, Brian Kerwin, Aunjanue Ellis, Anna Camp and Nelsan Ellis.
Directed by Tate Taylor.

The story begins and ends with Aibileen (Viola Davis), a long-time maid in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. She's been raising white kids her entire career while suffering the condescending racism from her employers. She runs into Skeeter (Emma Stone) an aspiring writer who comes back home from college and is furious to learn her family's maid Constantine (Cicely Tyson) had been fired. Skeeter looked at Constantine as the one who really raised her, and she starts thinking about a story, a book about the injustices suffered by "the help."

Now this is not a Spike Lee tackling of racial turmoil. We don't see any burning crosses. This is more of a Fried Green Tomatoes-flavored take on the South. It's funny, it's touching, and it's buoyed by a great cast. Davis and Stone are stand-outs, as is Octavia Spencer as Minny, a maid with attitude who will suffer no fools when treated poorly. Also really good is Bryce Dallas Howard as the villainous Hilly, the town's central socialite, the main Heather.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams - DVD Review

2011-12-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

★★★

Directed by Werner Herzog.

In southern France, there is Chauvet Cave, closed now to the public because it has cave drawings on its walls that they estimated are 30,000 years old. It was a remarkable archaelogical discovery, but before France had it sealed, they allowed filmmaker Werner Herzog in with his cameras to document history.

Looking at cave drawings might seem like something you catch on the History Channel anytime, but these drawings are thousands of years older than any discovery in history. Herzog's a fine host, inviting us to ponder our existence, wondering what these ancestors might have thought if they'd known their works would be so immortalized.

Fright Night - DVD Review

2011-12-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

★★★

Starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant and Imogen Poots. Directed by Craig Gillespie.

I don't remember much about the original. I remember liking it. I remember liking William "Herman's Head" Ragsdale, Amanda "Married with Children" Bearse, and Roddy MacDowell taking on vampire Chris "Prince Humperdink" Sarandon. And the poster was cool. That's the main thing I remember. That poster.

Everything old is new again, and the movie gets a very fitting update. Jerry the vampire (Colin Farrell) lives in Las Vegas, where everyone's up at night and no one stays too long so no one can keep track of who's coming and going. Charley (Anton Yelchin) is doubtful when his friend Evil Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) approaches him about Jerry's true nature, but it isn't long before Charley sees the proof.

Charley then goes to visit Las Vegas showman Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a cross between Van Helsing and Criss Angel, to see what he knows about fighting real vampires.

What's nice about this version is it pulls off the balancing act between horror and comedy. There's laughs to be had throughout but Colin Farrell's Jerry is one dangerous creature, and I liked the all-in-one-take car chase when Jerry's going over and under the car to try to kill the people inside.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - Movie Review

2011-12-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

★★★½

Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Josh Holloway, Tom Wilkinson, Anil Kapoor, Samuli Edelmann and Lea Seydoux.
Directed by Brad Bird.

Tom Cruise has turned the Mission Impossible movies into his own James Bond franchise, and while I've enjoyed all of them, I can't say I've loved any of them. The first one was a fun mystery, the second one was John Woo's parody of himself, and the third one was fast and fun, but all three were pretty disposable. This one's easily the best in the series.

Cruise, for the couch-jumping hullabaloo and the Stepfording-of-Katie-Holmes kerfuffle and the Scientology bruhaha, is still one of the coolest movie stars working today. He's back as superhuman spy Ethan Hunt, a Jason Bourne with a perfect memory. This time around he has to stop a nuclear activist trying to start World War III so Earth can be rebuilt from the ashes.

Movies on one level are supposed to transport the viewer, and here we go from the Kremlin to Dubai to India. Director Brad Bird brings a lot of sensibilities he displayed in The Incredibles, and that's a good thing. We get sweeping shots of the cities, we get heroes barely avoiding sudden death. I saw it in IMAX, and when Cruise has to step out of the world's tallest building in Dubai, it feels like we've gone out on the ledge with him. That's exactly what I would want.

And it's funny. The makers have Cruise, they have co-action-star Jeremy Renner, they have the sexy Paula Patton, and they make full use of the comic potential of Simon Pegg's chatty Benji. One thing Iv'e appreciated about the MI franchise is while Cruise is the star, Ethan can never accomplish his missions without a team.

This was Bird's first live-action directorial effort (he also did Iron Giant and Ratatouille), and the transition is seamless. I look forward to whatever he does next (which happens to be about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.) ((Wow, he's younger than me. Man, I've made some wrong choices in life.))

Random Movie Stuff - 12/23/11

2011-12-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

Thursday's Box Office:

1. Mission Impossible 4 - $6.42 million ($32.44) - 7 days
2. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $4.75 ($58.75) - 7 days
3. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $3.97 ($36.94) - 7 days
4. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - $3.31 (8.37) - 2 days
5. The Adventures of Tintin - $4.43 ($8.01) - 2 days
6. New Year's Eve - $1.17 ($29.34) - 14 days

Tom Cruise is back. Mission Impossible 4 looks like the movie of the season, on pace for a $45 million weekend. It's also doing well overseas. The other movies could all qualify as "disappointing." Sherlock Holmes 2 and Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 opened under expectations, and now so has The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If US box-office were all that mattered, The Adventures of Tintin could be called a bomb, but since it's already made $237 million otherwise, it'll be fine.

In Other News:

- Amanda Seyfried will star in the Linda Lovelace biopic called Lovelace. She will be joined by Sharon Stone, Wes Bentley, Hank Azaria, Chris Noth, Bobby Cavanale, Juno Temple and Robert Patrick.

- Woody Allen's next film has had its title changed to Nero Fiddled and will take place in Rome. It will open in limited release in May. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz and Roberto Benigni.

- Director Spike Lee may reunite with Clive Owen (Inside Man) for his remake of Oldboy. It stars Josh Brolin as a man who's kidnapped on his daughter's birthday and held prisoner for 15 years without explanation. Once freed, he seeks revenge on his captors, if he can figure out who they are. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre) has also been offered a role.

- Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, has been pushed off its March 2nd release date to sometime in the fall.

- Remember when Disnay Animation said they were done with fairy tales? Then they saw the receipts for Tangled. Now they're making Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, due for release on November 27, 2013. They're titling it Frozen.

- Dax Shepard (NBC's Parenthood) will write, direct and star in Outrun, an action comedy that will co-star Bradley Cooper, Kristen Bell, Kristen Chenoweth and Beau Bridges.

- HBO has cancelled Bored to Death, Hung, and How to Make It in America. It has renewed Enlightened, starring Laura Dern.

My Top Ten of TV 2011

2011-12-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

1. BREAKING BAD (AMC) - Last year's heartbreaking finale, where Jesse has to kill Gale in order to save Walter White, led to a full season of suspense where Walter keeps trying to figure how he can kill Gus before Gus kills him, and Gus is one smart man. Giancarlo Esposito created in Gus one of the great all-time menacing TV villains. Few things are scarier when Gus's smile disappears. He gave Emmy-worthy work, but so did Aaron Paul as the tormented Jesse, and Mark Margolis as the silent old cartel man who gets one last stab at revenge. In the first season, Walter was a chemistry teacher just trying to make ends meet. Now his transformation into Heisenberg is complete, with that final revelation that Walter is just as capable of Machiavellian maneuvers as Gus. Next season, the final one, will surely be an epic showdown once Jesse realizes how Mr. White manipulated him.

2. COMMUNITY / PARKS & RECREATION (NBC) - Any other year I might have put The Office here too, but I must acknowledge it's lost a step without Steve Carell's Michael Scott. But Community's surreal study group and P&R's misfit public servants are the best hour-block of ensemble comedy on TV.

3. JUSTIFIED (FX) - This Kentucky law show upped its game in the second season by casting Margo Martindale as the drug-dealing matriarch Maggie presiding over her three dangerous sons, throwing up new roadblocks for Raylen (Timothy Olyphant). This show is 1/3 procedural and 2/3 building drama, one of the most satisfying on TV.

4. GAME OF THRONES (HBO) - I'm a fan of the books, and I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of bringing them to life than what they've done here. Sean Bean and Mark Addy were spot on as old friends and soldiers now serving as the two most powerful men in the kingdom. There was scheming, backstabbing, heartbreaking betrayals, and mesmorizing performances. Tyrion's my favorite character from the books, and Peter Dinklage has played him as exactly as well as I could have hoped.

5. THE GOOD WIFE (CBS) - Julianna Margulies has just about erased my memories as nurse Carol Hathaway. She was born to play Alicia Florick - lawyer, lover, mother, wife. Each week there's an interesting case, but also each week the intrigue increases, especially now with Alicia's estranged husband (Chris Noth) as the state district attorney.

6. HOMELAND (SHO) - Remember how good Damien Lewis was in Band of Brothers? Now he's an Iraq War vet returned home and under deep suspicion by the CIA that he might be a sleeper-cell terrorist. Claire Danes gets to showcase what she can do as a bipolar agent, really really good at what she does, as long as she's on her meds.

7. AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX) - It was trippy, campy, and one heck of a Halloween roller coaster ride. Jessica Lange's Constance was a Tennessee Williams delight.

8. TOO BIG TO FAIL (HBO) - William Hurt was front and center as Hank Paulsen, scrambling behind closed doors when he realized the entire world's economy might collapse on his watch. Also good were Billy Crudup as the buck-passing Tim Geitner and Paul Giamatti as the horrified Ben Bernanke.

9. THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES - "Oops." Come on, I bet you $10,000 they're frankly fundamentally grotesquely great!

10. LATE NIGHT with JIMMY FALLON (NBC) - I don't watch that much, but he has the best YouTube clips of any late-night talk-show host. I must have watched his and Colbert's cover of "Friday" ten times.

　
Honorable Mention:

V FINALE (ABC) - This show suffered toward the end of its second season, with every episode being another where the Fifth Column fails against Anna. But that last episode, where the action ramped up and no less than three major characters died, was an excellent springboard for the next season. That never happened.

Other good stuff:

DEXTER (SHO), MODERN FAMILY (ABC), BIG BANG THEORY (CBS), BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO), HELL ON WHEELS (AMC), BOSS (STARZ), NEW GIRL (FOX), SURVIVOR (CBS), THE WALKING DEAD (AMC), TRUE BLOOD (HBO), THE AMAZING RACE (CBS), THE MIDDLE (ABC), CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO), LOUIE (FX).

I'd also add THIS WEEK (ABC) when Jake Tapper hosts, THE OFFICE (NBC) when Steve Carell was still on there, the Red John finale of THE MENTALIST (CBS), the work of Scott Caan on ENTOURAGE (HBO) and HAWAII FIVE-O (CBS), the new blood of Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Jay Pharaoh on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (NBC), and any time Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart appear on each other's shows.

My Worst Ten of TV 2011

2011-12-21T23:36:00.001-08:00

1. KIM KARDASHIAN - The fact that Kim can get paid $17 million to televise her wedding to Kris Humphries only to divorce him 72 days later is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and the worst.

2. MAN UP! (ABC) - The six-hundredth sitcom about immature, emasculated guys. It was obnoxious and unnecessary.

3. NICK SWARDSON'S PRETEND TIME (COM) - I tried an episode. It mixes his stand-up with sketches starring him. Neither the sketches nor the stand-up are funny, so I don't see this Sandler coattail-rider lasting much longer.

4. THE PLAYBOY CLUB (NBC) - This series never had a chance (why make a show about the notorious club as a soap opera, a female-centric genre?) but for me it was brought down by Eddie Cibrian's laughable Don Draper impression. It's akin to one of those Syfy movies where they take the same plot as a blockbuster but replace Tom Cruise with C. Thomas Howell.

5. JAMES FRANCO at THE ACADEMY AWARDS (ABC) - They tried to go young, and Anne Hathaway was game, but her co-host froze her out. Franco looked like a guy who regretted saying yes to the gig but couldn't figure out how to get out of it.

6. MEET THE PRESS (NBC) - Tim Russert was king, so that was a big chair to fill, but David Gregory just can't do it. It's the least lively, least informative of the Sunday morning news shows. I watch parts of ABC's This Week, FNC's Fox News Sunday and NBC's Chris Matthews Show almost every week, and sometimes CBS's Face the Nation. Meet the Press? Irrelevant.

7. PERFECT COUPLES (NBC) - Another Friends/Coupling clone, with two semi-charming leads surrounded by two-dimensional duds.

8. HARRY'S LAW (NBC) - Exhibit A that David E. Kelley is going senile. Kathy Bates's performance can only cover so much of the silly plotting and grandstanding lawyer monologues, with some of the least convincing closing arguments ever.

9. I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER (FOX) - Jaime Pressly deserves better than this vehicle about two neglectful moms who've spoiled their daughters, and now they're reaping the benefits of their daughters being monstrous mean girls.

10. DONALD TRUMP - Not only was his the worst Comedy Central roast ever (thanks, The Situation), but he raised his vulgarity to new heights by teasing a run for the presidency, and trying to moderate his own debate where he'd pick someone to endorse. Stick to Celebrity Apprentice, Don.

Dishonorable Mention:

FRED ARMISEN as OBAMA - I will bring it up every year until Saturday Night Live rightfully gives the job to Jay Pharaoh.

Sasquatch Wrangler

2011-12-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

I came across this job posting for Executive Senior Vice Director of Sasquatch Wrangling, so I applied. (Plus I know a couple guys at their company.)

Action Team,

I am the perfect candidate to cover any and allsasquatch-wrangling duties. I lived in the Northwest for a time, whereits family roamed, even shook hands with one upon occasion. (We bondedover how poorly they’d been depicted in Harry & the Hendersons.) Ihave reviewed your requirements and can answer each.

- I have two rats, two dogs, and eight children,so I am proficient at feeding live creatures.

- I also have plenty of experience at cleaningcages. (See previous sentence.)

- Who doesn’t love a walk through the forest?

- I can comb anything out of any place. (See threesentences ago.)

- I own THREE snow-scrapers.

I am also a daily-challenge relisher, a short-time-frameproject-driver, and I’ve been known to show pictures of my girl back home rightbefore gunfights. Oh, and I’m always three days away from pension.

As to the right-hand column requirements:

- I have worn night-vision goggles before.

- Is identifying an M-16 blindfolded andunderwater close enough?

- I have mad written and furious verbalcommunication skills.

- I did P90X about a year ago and came up with akiller body and play tackle football every Saturday on the MVHS practice fieldwith a bunch of guys ten years younger than me. (Join us if you wish; weusually start around 12:30.) So I’d have no fear in a bar fight, despitemy killer body going to complete goo in the past four months.

- Can drive stick.

- MicroSoft Suite is my prison wife.

- Can play harmonica, but only songs I wrotemyself. They sound great blindfolded and underwater.

- I actually did win the gold-looking medal in thesteeplechase. It looks suspiciously like a James Garfield $1 coin, butthey tell me it counts.

Your perks and benefits sound awesome.

I have attached my resume. I hope I have made itsufficiently boring in case the person reading it is wearing a tie.

And tell Joel I said “Hi.” Then add something afterthe “Hi” he finds so hilarious, he wipes a tear and then talks about missingme.

The Descendants - Movie Review

2011-12-20T22:40:00.000-08:00

★★★
Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Nick Krause, Judy Greer and Matthew Lillard.
Directed by Alexander Payne.

I'll start by saying my wife didn't like it. She said it was too slow and she was bored.

I liked it. But I went in expecting a movie that would live up to all the award buzz it's been receiving. I've seen more than one critic call it the best movie of the year. It's good. It's fine. The acting is terrific. But this won't make my top ten, let alone my best movie of the year.

George Clooney plays a real-estate lawyer whose wife is in a coma after a boating accident. He's used to being the backup parent, letting his wife deal with their two daughters (Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller) so he can focus on work. But with her out of the picture, he has to reconnect. He also, with his cousins, owns a trust of a million acres on one of the Hawaiian islands. They're trying to decide if they should sell and to who.

The movie does a good job of displaying how the personal and professional life blends and overlaps, and it has some funny moments, but overall I'd call it a drama. You can tell it's from the man behind About Schmidt and Sideways. And it could trim the ruinning time by ten minutes and not lose a thing.

Random Movie Stuff - 12/18/11

2011-12-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

- Ben Kingsley may reunite with his Hugo co-star Asa Butterfield in Ender's Game.

- Reese Witherspoon will star in Devil's Knot, about the West Memphis Three. It's the true story of three young men who were convicted of killing three boys in 1993, but after several years and a couple documentaries made demonstrating their innocence, they were finally freed. Witherspoon would play the mother of one of the victims, who was sure they were guilty but over the years came to believe them and fought for their release.

- Rachel McAdams is in talks to reunite with her Sherlock Holmes 2 co-star Noomi Rapace in Passion for director Brian DePalma.

- James Frain (Water for Elephants) has joined the cast of The Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Tom Wilkinson.

- David Fincher (Se7en, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is still working on developing an animated film based on the Dark Horse comic-book character The Goon. He's also still looking at doing an origin story of Captain Nemo, a prequel/reboot of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Weekend Box Office

2011-12-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

For the week of December 16-18.

　
1. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $40.02 million (WB) - 1 wk
. . . 3703 screens / $10,807 per screen
2. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $23.5 - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 3723 / $6312
3. Mission: Impossible 4 - $13 - 1 wk (Par)
. . . 425 / $30,588
4. New Year's Eve - $7.42 ($24.83) - 2 wks (WB) -43%
. . . 3505 / $2117
5. The Sitter - $4.4 ($17.72) - 2 wks (Fox) -55.3%
. . . 2752 / $1599
6. Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 - $4.3 ($266.4) - 5 wks (Sum) -45%
. . . 2958 / $1454
7. Young Adult - $3.65 ($4.09) - 2 wks (Par) +1076%
. . . 986 / $3702
8. Hugo - $3.63 ($39.07) - 4 wks (Par) -40.1%
. . . 2532 / $1432
9. Arthur Christmas - $3.6 ($38.54) - 4 wks (Sony) -44.7%
. . . 2929 / $1229
10. The Muppets - $3.45 ($70.93) - 4 wks (BV) -50.5%
. . . 2808 / $1230
11. The Descendants - $3.35 ($28.73) - 5 wks (FS) -23.5%
. . . 878 / $3815
12. Jack & Jill - $1.23 ($70.5) - 6 wks (Sony) -60.3%
. . . 1910 / $641

The real winner here is Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. In opening in IMAX-only a week before its wide release, it's generated buzz as the event film of the winter. Not so fortunate were the two sequels for Sherlock Holmes and Alvin & the Chipmunks. Depends on the legs they have through Christmas, but with all the competition coming, it doesn't look good.

To put the numbers in perspective, the top four grossers this weekend were $83.94 million.

In 2010 - $85 million (Tron Legacy, Yogi Bear, Chronicles of Narnia 3, The Fighter)
In 2009 - $105 million (Avatar, Princess & the Frog, The Blind Side, Did You Hear About the Morgans)

Now next week, you have Mission Impossible expanding, The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, We Bought A Zoo, War Horse and The Darkest Hour. It means movies like The Sitter and jack & Jill cannot be expunged from theaters fast enough.

The Myth of the American Sleepover - DVD Review

2011-12-17T22:45:00.000-08:00

★★★★

Starring Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen, Nikita Ramsey, Jade Ramsey, Annette DeNoyer and Wyatt McCallum.
Directed by David Robert Mitchell.

This beautiful night-in-the-life-of ensemble piece among Michigan teenagers is the best debut for a director since Richard Linklater with Dazed & Confused. Mitchell takes unknowns and amateur actors and puts them together in a sweet timeless piece that feels so real it could be a documentary at times.

The movie follows four threads. There's Maggie (Clare Sloma), who plays the Peppermint Patty to her friend's Marcie, as the two go from party to party looking for the right boy to kiss on the last night of summer. There's Rob (Marlon Morton), who spotted a cute girl in the supermarket and spends all night trying to find her. There's Claudia (Amanda Bauer), a sophomore who wonders if her boyfriend's been faithful to her. And there's Scott (Brett Jacobsen), a college student who's trying to find the cute twins he had a crush on in high school.

Like most low-budget indies, not much happens, and yet I loved following these characters around, hoping for each to find their desires. It makes one nostalgic for those times, not for what actually happened, but for what we deserved to happen

Sympathy for Delicious - DVD Review

2011-12-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

★★

Starring Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Orlando Bloom, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, James Karen, Noah Emmerich and Robert Wisdom.Directed by Mark Ruffalo.

Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut is a thorny one. It asks philosophical questions but offers no answers, and based on the premise it goes down some unlikely, not necessarily believable paths.

Christopher Thornton plays Dean, a paraplegic DJ. Hard times and bitterness have left him stuck unemployed on skid row, but one day he discovers he has the power to heal people. The local priest who works with him exploits him to gin up donations for the local shelter, but all Dean wants to do is DJ in a band, and he gets his wish from the local obnoxious star (Orlando Bloom).

Ruffalo uses the same techniques many a low-budget mumblecore director have employed, like hand-held camera movements and several shots of the hero staring off and thinking while soft music plays. The movie really small. I had a hard time believing that he could heal so many people and not have it become a national story.

(*P.S. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this since I'm almost finished with my own screenplay about a guy who can heal people. I was relieved to see that other than that, they have nothing in common.)

2011 Golden Globe Nominations

2011-12-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

Best Motion Picture - Drama

The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "J. Edgar"
Michael Fassbender, "Shame"
Ryan Gosling, "The Ides of March"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis, "The Help"
Rooney Mara, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Tilda Swinton, "We Need To Talk About Kevin"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Jodie Foster, "Carnage"
Charlize Theron, "Young Adult"
Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"
Michelle Williams, "My Week with Marilyn"
Kate Winslet, "Carnage"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Joseph Gordon Levitt, "50/50"
Ryan Gosling, "Crazy Stupid Love"
Brendan Gleeson, "The Guard"
Owen Wilson, "Midnight in Paris"

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Kenneth Branagh, "My Week with Marilyn"
Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Viggo Mortensen, "A Dangerous Method"
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Best Director - Motion Picture

Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
George Clooney, "The Ides of March"
Michael Hazanivicius, "The Artist"
Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

"Midnight in Paris"
"The Ides of March"
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Moneyball"

Best Animated Feature Film

"The Adventures of Tintin"
"Arthur Christmas"
"Cars 2"
"Puss in Boots"
"Rango"

Best Foreign Language Film

"Flowers of War"
"The Land of Blood and Honey"
"The Kid with A Bike"
"A Separation"
"The Skin I Live In"

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

"The Artist"
"W.E"
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
"War Horse"
"Hugo"

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Gnomeo and Juliet"
"Machine Gun Preacher"
"Albert Nobbs"
"The Help"
"Masterpiece," "W.E"

Best Television Series - Drama

"American Horror Story"
"Boardwalk Empire"
"Boss"
"Game of Thrones"
"Homeland"

Best Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

"Enlightened"
"Episodes"
"Glee"
"Modern Family"
"New Girl"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama

Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Kelsey Grammer, "Boss"
Jeremy Irons, "The Borgias"
Damian Lewis, "Homeland"

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Claire Danes, "Homeland"
Mireille Enos, "The Killing"
Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Madeleine Stowe, "Revenge"
Callie Thorne, "Necessary Roughness"

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

Laura Dern, "Enlightened"
Zooey Deschanel, "The New Girl"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Laura Linney, "The Big C"
Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
David Duchovny, "Californication"
Johnny Galecki, "The Big Bang Theory"
Thomas Jane, "Hung"
Matt LeBlanc, "Episodes"

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
"Cinema Verite"
"Downton Abbey"
"The Hour"
"Mildred Pierce"
"Too Big to Fail"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Romola Garai, "The Hour"
Diane Lane, "Cinema Verite"
Elizabeth McGovern, "Downton Abbey"
Emily Watson, "Appropriate Adult"
Kate Winslet, "Mildred Pierce"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Hugh Bonneville, "Downton Abbey"
Idris Elba, "Luther"
William Hurt, "Too Big To Fail"
Bill Nighy, "Page Eight"
Dominic West, "The Hour"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"
Kelly MacDonald, "Boardwalk Empire"
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"
Evan Rachel Wood, "Mildred Pierece"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Peter Dinklage, "Game of Thrones"
Paul Giamatti, "Too Big to Fail"
Guy Pearce, "Mildred Pierce"
Tim Robbins, "Cinema Verite"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

2011 Screen Actors Guild Nominations

2011-12-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

18th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
DEMIAN BICHIR / Carlos Galindo - "A BETTER LIFE" (Summit Entertainment)
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King - "THE DESCENDANTS" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO / J. Edgar Hoover - "J. EDGAR" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JEAN DUJARDIN / George - "THE ARTIST" (The Weinstein Company)
BRAD PITT / Billy Beane - "MONEYBALL" (Columbia Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
GLENN CLOSE / Albert Nobbs - "ALBERT NOBBS" (Roadside Attractions)
VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark - "THE HELP" (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
MERYL STREEP / Margaret Thatcher - "THE IRON LADY" (The Weinstein Company)
TILDA SWINTON / Eva - "WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
MICHELLE WILLIAMS / Marilyn Monroe - "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN" (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
KENNETH BRANAGH / Sir Laurence Olivier - "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN" (The Weinstein Company)
ARMIE HAMMER / Clyde Tolson - "J. EDGAR" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JONAH HILL / Peter Brand - "MONEYBALL" (Columbia Pictures)
NICK NOLTE / Paddy Conlon - "WARRIOR" (Lionsgate)
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER / Hal - "BEGINNERS" (Focus Features)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
BERENICE BEJO / Peppy - "THE ARTIST" (The Weinstein Company)
JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote - "THE HELP" (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan - "BRIDESMAIDS" (Universal Pictures)
JANET McTEER / Hubert Page - "ALBERT NOBBS" (Roadside Attractions)
OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson - "THE HELP" (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE ARTIST (The Weinstein Company)
BERENICE BEJO / Peppy
JAMES CROMWELL / Clifton
JEAN DUJARDIN / George
JOHN GOODMAN / Al Zimmer
PENELOPE ANN MILLER / Doris

BRIDESMAIDS (Universal Pictures)
ROSE BYRNE / Helen
JILL CLAYBURGH / Annie's Mom
ELLIE KEMPER / Becca
MATT LUCAS / Gil
MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan
WENDI McLENDON-COVEY / Rita
CHRIS O'DOWD / Rhodes
MAYA RUDOLPH / Lillian
KRISTEN WIIG / Annie

THE DESCENDANTS (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BEAU BRIDGES / Cousin Hugh
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King
ROBERT FORSTER / Scott Thorson
JUDY GREER / Julie Speer
MATTHEW LILLARD / Brian Speer
SHAILENE WOODLEY / Alexandra King
THE HELP (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)
JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote
VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD / Hilly Holbrook
ALLISON JANNEY / Charlotte Phelan
CHRIS LOWELL / Stuart Whitworth
AHNA O'REILLY / Elizabeth Leefolt
SISSY SPACEK / Missus Walters
OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson
MARY STEENBURGEN / Elaine Stein
EMMA STONE / Skeeter Phelan
CICELY TYSON / Constantine Jefferson
MIKE VOGEL / Johnny Foote

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Sony Pictures Classics)
KATHY BATES / Gertrude Stein
ADRIEN BRODY / Salvador Dali
CARLA BRUNI / Museum Guide
MARION COTILLARD / Adriana
RACHEL McADAMS / Inez
MICHAEL SHEEN / Paul
OWEN WILSON / Gil

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
LAURENCE FISHBURNE / Thurgood Marshall - "THURGOOD" (HBO)
PAUL GIAMATTI / Ben Bernanke - "TOO BIG TO FAIL" (HBO)
GREG KINNEAR / Jack Kennedy - "THE KENNEDYS" (REELZ CHANNEL)
GUY PEARCE / Monty Beragon - "MILDRED PIERCE" (HBO)
JAMES WOODS / Richard Fuld - "TOO BIG TO FAIL" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
DIANE LANE / Pat Loud - "CINEMA VERITE" (HBO)
MAGGIE SMITH / Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham - "DOWNTON ABBEY" (PBS)
EMILY WATSON / Janet Leach - "APPROPRIATE ADULT" (Sundance Channel)
BETTY WHITE / Caroline Thomas - "HALLMARK HALL OF FAME: THE LOST VALENTINE" (CBS)
KATE WINSLET / Mildred Pierce - "MILDRED PIERCE" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
PATRICK J. ADAMS / Mike Ross - "SUITS" (USA)
STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch "Nucky" Thomson - "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" (HBO)
KYLE CHANDLER / Eric Taylor - "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS" (DirecTV)
BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White - "BREAKING BAD" (AMC)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan - "DEXTER" (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
KATHY BATES / Harriet Korn - "HARRY'S LAW" (NBC)
GLENN CLOSE / Patty Hewes - "DAMAGES" (DirecTV)
JESSICA LANGE / Constance - "AMERICAN HORROR STORY" (FX)
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick - "THE GOOD WIFE" (CBS)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Dept. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson - "THE CLOSER" (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy - "30 ROCK" (NBC)
TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy - "MODERN FAMILY" (ABC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott - "THE OFFICE" (NBC)
JON CRYER / Alan Harper - "TWO AND A HALF MEN" (CBS)
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron Tucker - "MODERN FAMILY" (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy SeriesJULIE BOWEN / Claire Dunphy - "MODERN FAMILY" (ABC)
EDIE FALCO / Jackie Peyton - "NURSE JACKIE" (Showtime)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon - "30 ROCK" (NBC)
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria Delgado-Pritchett - "MODERN FAMILY" (ABC)
BETTY WHITE / Elka Ostrovsky - "HOT IN CLEVELAND" (TV Land)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch "Nucky" Thompson
DOMINIC CHIANESE / Leander Cephas Whitlock
ROBERT CLOHESSY / Ward Boss Jim Neary
DABNEY COLEMAN / Commodore Louis Kaestner
CHARLIE COX / Owen Sleater
JOSIE & LUCY GALLINA / Emily Schroeder
STEPHEN GRAHAM / Al Capone
JACK HUSTON / Richard Harrow
ANTHONY LACIURA / Eddie Kessler
HEATHER LIND / Katy
KELLY MACDONALD / Margaret Schroeder
RORY & DECLAN McTIGUE / Teddy Schroeder
GRETCHEN MOL / Gillian Darmody
BRADY & CONNOR NOON/ Tommy Darmody
KEVIN O'ROURKE / Mayor Edward Bader
ALEKSA PALLADINO / Angela Darmody
JACQUELINE PENNEWILL / Lilian
VINCENT PIAZZA / Lucky Luciano
MICHAEL PITT / Jimmy Darmody
MICHAEL SHANNON / Agent Nelson Van Alden
PAUL SPARKS / Mickey Doyle
MICHAEL STUHLBARG / Arnold Rothstein
PETER VAN WAGNER / Isaac "Icky" Ginsburg
SHEA WHIGHAM / Sheriff Elias Thompson
MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS / Chalky White
ANATOL YUSEF / Meyer Lansky

BREAKING BAD (AMC)
JONATHAN BANKS / Mike
BETSY BRANDT / Marie Schrader
RAY CAMPBELL / Tyrus Kitt
BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White
GIANCARLO ESPOSITO / Gus Fring
ANNA GUNN / Skyler White
RJ MITTE / Walter White, Jr.
DEAN NORRIS / Hank Schrader
BOB ODENKIRK / Saul Goodman
AARON PAUL / Jesse Pinkman

DEXTER (Showtime)
BILLY BROWN / Chicago Mike
JENNIFER CARPENTER / Debra Morgan
JOSH COOKE / Louis
AIMEE GARCIA / Jamie Batista
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan
COLIN HANKS / Travis Marshall
DESMOND HARRINGTON / Joey Quinn
MARIA DOYLE KENNEDY / Sonya
RYA KIHLSTEDT / Michelle
C.S. LEE / Vince Masuka
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS / Professor Gellar
JAMES REMAR / Harry Morgan
LAUREN VELEZ / Lt. Maria LaGuerta
PETER WELLER / Liddy
DAVID ZAYAS / Sgt. Angel Batista

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
AMRITA ACHARIA / Irri
MARK ADDY / King Robert Baratheon
ALFIE ALLEN / Theon Greyjoy
JOSEF ALTIN / Pypar
SEAN BEAN / Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark
SUSAN BROWN / Septa Mordane
EMILIA CLARKE / Daenerys Targaryen
NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU / Ser Jaime Lannister
PETER DINKLAGE / Tyrion Lannister
RON DONACHIE / Ser Rodrik Cassel
MICHELLE FAIRLEY / Lady Catelyn Stark
JEROME FLYNN / Bronn
ELYES GABEL / Rakharo
AIDEN GILLEN / "Littlefinger" Petyr Baelish
JACK GLEESON / Joffrey Baratheon
IAIN GLEN / Ser Jorah Mormont
JULIAN GLOVER / Grand Maester Pycelle
KIT HARINGTON / Jon Snow
LENA HEADEY / Queen Cersei Lannister
ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT / Bran Stark
CONLETH HILL / Lord Varys
RICHARD MADDEN / Robb Stark
JASON MAMOA / Kahl Drogo
RORY McCANN / Sandor Clegane
IAN McELHINNEY / Barristan Selmy
LUKE McEWAN / Rast
ROXANNE McKEE / Doreah
DAR SALIM / Qotho
MARK STANLEY / Grenn
DONALD SUMPTER / Maester Luwin
SOPHIE TURNER / Sansa Stark
MAISIE WILLIAMS / Arya Stark

THE GOOD WIFE (CBS)
CHRISTINE BARANSKI / Diane Lockhart
JOSH CHARLES / Will Gardner
ALAN CUMMING / Eli Gold
MATT CZUCHRY / Cary Agos
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick
CHRIS NOTH / Peter Florrick
ARCHIE PANJABI / Kalinda Sharma
GRAHAM PHILLIPS / Zach Florrick
MAKENZIE VEGA / Grace Florrick

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

30 ROCK (NBC)
SCOTT ADSIT / Pete Hornberger
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy
KATRINA BOWDEN / Cerie
KEVIN BROWN / Dotcom
GRIZZ CHAPMAN / Grizz
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon
JUDAH FRIEDLANDER / Frank Rossitano
JANE KRAKOWSKI / Jenna Maroney
JOHN LUTZ / Lutz
JACK MCBRAYER / Kenneth Parcell
TRACY MORGAN / Tracy Jordan
MAULIK PANCHOLY / Jonathan
KEITH POWELL / Toofer

THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS)
MAYIM BIALIK / Amy Farrah Fowler
KALEY CUOCO / Penny
JOHNNY GALECKI / Leonard Hofstadter
SIMON HELBERG / Howard Wolowitz
KUNAL NAYYAR / Rajesh Koothrappali
JIM PARSONS / Sheldon Cooper
MELISSA RAUCH / Bernadette Rostenkowski

GLEE (FOX)
DIANNA AGRON / Quinn Fabray
CHRIS COLFER / Kurt Hummel
DARREN CRISS / Blaine Anderson
ASHLEY FINK / Lauren Zizes
DOT MARIE JONES / Coach Beiste
JANE LYNCH / Sue Sylvester
JAYMA MAYS / Emma Pillsbury
KEVIN McHALE / Artie Abrams
LEA MICHELE / Rachel Berry
CORY MONTEITH / Finn Hudson
HEATHER MORRIS / Brittany Pierce
MATTHEW MORRISON / Will Schuester
MIKE O'MALLEY / Burt Hummel
CHORD OVERSTREET / Sam Evans
LAUREN POTTER / Becky Johnson
AMBER RILEY / Mercedes Jones
NAYA RIVERA / Santana Lopez
MARK SALLING / Noah �Puck� Puckerman
HARRY SHUM, JR. / Mike Chang
IQBAL THEBA / Principal Figgins
JENNA USHKOWITZ / Tina Cohen-Chang

MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS / Lily
JULIE BOWEN / Claire
TY BURRELL / Phil
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON / Mitchell
NOLAN GOULD / Luke
SARAH HYLAND / Haley
ED O'NEILL / Jay
RICO RODRIGUEZ / Manny
ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron
SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria
ARIEL WINTER / Alex

THE OFFICE (NBC)
LESLIE DAVID BAKER / Stanley Hudson
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER / Kevin Malone
CREED BRATTON / Creed Bratton
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott
JENNA FISCHER / Pam Beesly Halpert
KATE FLANNERY / Meredith Palmer
ED HELMS / Andy Bernard
MINDY KALING / Kelly Kapoor
ELLIE KEMPER / Erin Hannon
ANGELA KINSEY / Angela Martin
JOHN KRASINSKI / Jim Halpert
PAUL LIEBERSTEIN / Toby Flenderson
B.J. NOVAK / Ryan Howard
OSCAR NUNEZ / Oscar Martinez
CRAIG ROBINSON / Daryll Philbin
JAMES SPADER / Robert California
PHYLLIS SMITH / Phyllis Lapin-Vance
RAINN WILSON / Dwight Schrute
ZACH WOODS / Gabe Lewis

SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)
COWBOYS & ALIENS (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (WARNER BROS. PICTURES)
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (PARAMOUNT PICTURES)
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (20TH CENTURY FOX)

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
SOUTHLAND (TNT)
SPARTACUS: GODS OF THE ARENA (STARZ)
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Screen Actors Guild Awards 48th Annual Life Achievement Award

MARY TYLER MOORE
(h/t ComingSoon.net)

Noticeable Snubs:

No Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
No Albert Brooks for Drive
No mention of Corey Stoll in the Midnight in Paris ensemble

Rock of Ages trailer

2011-12-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

It's here.

I'm excited about this one for a few reasons.

1. It's from Adam Shankman, who did a great job on Hairspray.
2. Tom Cruise tends to knock it out of the park in supporting roles (Magnolia, Tropic Thunder).
3. I love the 1980's.

The overall cast looks pretty good, although Alec Baldwin looks out of place with the bad longhair wig. I'll reserve judgment on that one.

Arthur Christmas - Movie Review

2011-12-11T21:23:00.001-08:00

★★★½

Starring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton and Ashley Jensen. Directed by Sarah Smith.

Here's the hundredth take on how the North Pole really works, and what do you know, it has some fresh ideas.

Santa is a title that has passed from father to son for over 1500 years like a monarchy. As the world's population expanded, so has Santa's operation, and now with his army of elves and high-tech spaceship, he is still able to cover all the children of the world in one night.

The current Santa has had his 70th Christmas, a jolly good run. His oldest son Steve, the heir apparent, is a militant efficiency machine. His younger son Arthur is a clumsy, well-meaning kid with his heart in the right place. When one child's present is not delivered, Steve argues the percentages, Santa accepts it, and Arthur is appalled. "No child left behind." So Arthur makes a deal with his Grandsanta to deliver the present on their own.

I like the idea of a royal Santa line, and the issues the movie raises with grandparents, parents and children. It's also pretty funny. It's from Aardman, the studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Flushed Away, and it has that British edge to the humor.

Hugo - Movie Review

2011-12-11T07:01:00.001-08:00

★★★½

Starring Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlberg, Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths.
Directed by Martin Scorsese.

"I address you as you are: wizards and mermaids, travelers, adventurers; come and dream with me!"

In many ways, this "kids" movie is the one Martin Scorsese was born to direct. Based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, it's about a boy who winds the clocks at a Parisian train station long after his drunkard uncle has disappeared. He must avoid the station inspector, who likes to catch orphans like rats. Which is understandable. After all Hugo shoplifts his meals every day.

Hugo also steals parts here and there from the toy shop of Georges (Ben Kingsley). Hugo has an automoton from his late father, and he hopes when he fixes it, it will have a message for him.

The movie starts out with kid-movie trappings but the deeper into the story, the deeper the emotions run, and it becomes a tribute to the magic of moviemaking.

Jane Eyre - DVD Review

2011-12-08T08:28:00.001-08:00

★★★

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Fassbender, Judi Dench, Jamie Bell, Sally Hawkins and Simon McBurney.
Directed by Cary Fukunaka.

Somehow I've made it this far in life without ever reading or seeing a filmed version of Jane Eyre. (I hear the musical's good.) But now I have.

It begins and ends with Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) as Jane, and she does amazing work here. There are times her face blanks out and she is truly plain Jane. And then we can see her heart breaking by the smallest twitch of the lip or blush of the cheek.

I enjoyed getting enveloped in the foggy moors of 19th century England in Bronte-land, where everything's restrained and proper, but underneath, there's those pesky emotions dying to get out. Jane has the typical Dickensian childhood. Orphaned, abandoned, raised in a strict and heartless school, but once free as an adult, she acquires valuable employment as a governess for the wealthy Mr. Rochester.

Something felt missing, and my wife explained how the movie trimmed most of God out. Jane's faith is what sustains her, what motivates her, what drives her, at least on the page. The movie gives Jane that solid character; it just doesn't clarify where it comes from. She's Jane Eyre. Enough said. Regardless, I found it a fine introduction to the story, which is understandably classic.

Random Movie Stuff - 12/7/11

2011-12-07T20:00:00.001-08:00

- William Hurt is in talks to join Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) and Max Irons (Red Riding Hood) in The Host. Based on the Stephenie Meyer best-seller, it's about post-apocalyptic world where a girl has an alien soul controlling her brain.

- Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren will play husband and wife in Alfred Hitchcock & the Making of Psycho. Hopkins will play Hitchcock, the profilic director who had to scrounge for financing in order to make Psycho, which no studio wanted to touch.

- Angelina Jolie, whose directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey opens later this month, has her next two acting projects lined up. First is what's described as a scientific thriller for director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element), and then she'll star in a biopic about Gertude Bell for director Ridley Scott (Robin Hood).

- Chris Columbus's 1492 Pictures have acquired the movie rights to Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya M.) will direct.

- Tom Wilkinson will play the main villain in The Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer (The Social Network, J. Edgar) as the Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp as Tonto. Director Gore Verbinski is working on getting the rest of those originally cast reassembled, including Helena Bonham Carter, Barry Pepper, and Dwight Yoakum.

- NBC is looking at Ryan Seacrest as a possible replacement for Matt Lauer on The Today Show.

- Harry Morgan has died at the age of 96. He's been in movies ranging from High Noon to The Apple Dumpling Gang to Dragnet, but he's best known for his Emmy-winning turn as Col. Potter on M*A*S*H.

Has The Office jumped the shark?

2011-12-05T21:39:00.001-08:00

I thought the ensemble was strong that it might be able to survive without Michael Scott (Steve Carell), but it occurs to me that it's lost so much more than that. Gone is the byzantine upper management that gave us leaders like Jan and David, gone is the soul-crushing feel of the daily cubicle drudgery. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) doesn't have the fragile ego that made Michael do impulsive, selfish things. Andy started off as a jerk who had to go to anger management. Now he's a puppy-dog who just wants to please everyone, and all of his co-workers want him to succeed. Where's the comedy in that?
Now with Sabre CEO Robert California (James Spader) I thought we'd get some darkness to rock the boat, but Robert's been hit and miss. This week's episode, where we meet his wife (Maura Tierney) may have been the best use thus far of the potential of this mind-gaming genius. I enjoyed Andy twisting himself into a pretzel trying to do what he thought Robert wanted him to do.

These characters are still fun and funny. Dwight, Jim, Pam, Ryan, Kelly, Toby, Angela, Meredith, Stanley, Creed, Erin, Oscar, Daryl, Phyllis... I just hope the show can find some consistent Michael-free magic. Or maybe they should quit while they're ahead.

Watts & Wright as Grandmothers, Benoit biopic, etc.

2011-12-05T04:35:00.001-08:00

- Naomi Watts and Robin Wright have signed on for The Grandmothers, about two lifelong friends who wind up falling for each other's teenage sons.

- SRG Films will be making Crossface, a biopic of pro-wrestler Chris Benoit, who after years of drug use, depression and head trauma, murdered his wife and son before taking his own life.
- Remakes of RoboCop and Total Recall are on their way, and now Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers is getting the remake treatment.

- Speaking of RoboCop, Peter Weller has joined the cast of Star Trek 2 for director JJ Abrams. He joins new cast members Benecio Del Toro and Alice Eve, and the returning seven of Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin.

- This week's Super Bowl halftime show performer: Madonna.

Breaking Dawn still #1

2011-12-04T16:54:00.001-08:00

The box-office for the weekend of December 2-4.

1. Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 - $16.9 million ($247.3) - 3 wks (Sum) -59.5%
. . . 4046 screens / $4177 per screen

2. The Muppets - $11.2 ($56.14) - 2 wks (BV) -61.7%
. . . 3440 / $3256

3. Hugo - $7.63 ($25.19) - 2 wks (Par) -32.9%
. . . 1840 / $4144

4. Arthur Christmas - $7.35 ($25.29) - 2 wks (Sony) -39.1%
. . . 3376 / $2177

5. Happy Feet Two - $6 ($51.79) - 3 wks (WB) -55.2%
. . . 3536 / $1697

6. Jack & Jill - $5.5 ($64.31) - 4 wks (Sony) -45%
. . . 3049 / $1804

7. The Descendants - $5.2 ($18.09) - 3 wks (FS) -29.2%
. . . 574 / $9059

8. Immortals - $4.39 ($75.59) - 4 wks (Rel) -50.5%
. . . 2627 / $1673

9. Tower Heist - $4.1 ($70.8) - 5 wks (U) -42.9%
. . . 2404 / $1705

10. Puss in Boots - $3.05 ($139.52) - 6 wks (DW) -59.4%
. . . 2750 / $1109

First weekend of December tends to be low, but Hugo and Arthur Christmas have to be rethinking their strategy of opening against The Muppets and each other, and just a week after Happy Feet Two. Puss was wise to open Halloween weekend.

Movie Award Season

2011-12-03T15:27:00.001-08:00

I saw Beginners the other day. It was really good, and Christopher Plummer was great in it. It wasn't exceptional for him; it just showed that if you give him a quality part, he will nail it. He's a worker. He'll keep appearing in movies like Priest so he can make a Beginners. Nevertheless, he has to be the favorite right now to win Best Supporting Actor.

Most of the award-buzzed movies either haven't come out yet, or if they have, it's only on a limited basis. I want to catch George Clooney in The Descendants as soon as I can, because I get the feeling it may not stick around long. I'm looking forward to The Artist, The Iron Lady, My Week with Marilyn, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, etc., opening at a theater near me. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and War Horse are the other big award-bait ones coming. I hear Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will be in the mix, but I can't say its trailer appealed to me.

Oh yeah, and Hugo. Still gotta catch Hugo.

I missed Drive and The Ides of March. Hopefully they're at a $1 theater somewhere soon.

Exclusive! San Andreas 3-D movie, Ender's Game, etc.

2011-12-02T12:40:00.001-08:00

- New Line is prepping a big-budget earthquake movie for 2012. San Andreas 3-D will be produced by Beau Flynn. Here's the exclusive from the L.A. Times, and here's Deadline Hollywood pretending they have the scoop. (h/t @TheInSneider)

UPDATE: After I commented twice there and they deleted my comments, Deadline has removed the word "Exclusive."

In Other News:

- Kyle Chandler (Super 8) has joined the cast of Broken City, starring Mark Wahlberg as a detective hired by the mayor (Russell Crowe) to investigate his wife's lover. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Barry Pepper, Jeffrey Wright and Justin Chambers co-star. (VO)

- David Ayer (Training Day) is going write another version of Scarface, and it's said he's studying the 1932 and 1982 versions. (DHD)

- Asa Butterfield (Hugo) will star in Ender's Game for director Gavin Hood (Wolverine). Harrison Ford and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) are also being sought for roles.

Hugo win NBR's Best Film

2011-12-01T12:25:00.001-08:00

The National Board of Review gave out their awards.

Best Film: Hugo
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay: Will Reiser, 50/50
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants
Best Animated Feature: Rango
Breakthrough Performance: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Breakthrough Performance: Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Debut Director: J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Best Ensemble: The Help
Spotlight Award: Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)
NBR Freedom of Expression: Crime After Crime
NBR Freedom of Expression: Pariah
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Special Achievement in Filmmaking: The Harry Potter Franchise – A Distinguished Translation from Book to Film

Top Films
(in alphabetical order)

The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Ides of March
J. Edgar
Tree of Life
War Horse

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
(In Alphabetical Order)

13 Assassins
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Footnote
Le Havre
Point Blank

Top 5 Documentaries
(In Alphabetical Order)

Born to be Wild
Buck
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Project Nim
Senna

Top 10 Independent Films
(In Alphabetical Order)

50/50
Another Earth
Beginners
A Better Life
Cedar Rapids
Margin Call
Shame
Take Shelter
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win

Conspicuous by their absense: Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Iron Lady.

After its mixed reviews, I'm surprised J. Edgar made their top ten.

Crazy Stupid Love - DVD Review

2011-11-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

lll 1/2

Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, John Carroll Lynch, Beth Littleford and Josh Groban.
Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa.

This "romantic comedy" has more going for it than most. It has a great cast, it has multiple storylines that we don't mind juggling until it comes together in one whole, and it has moments of genuine emotion.

Steve Carell plays Cal, a suburban dad whose wife suddenly asks for a divorce. Turns out she slept with a co-worker. Cal's been out of the dating scene for 25 years, so he goes to bars and gets drunk and makes a fool of himself until ladies-man Jacob (Ryan Gosling) takes pity on him and gives him the Pygmalion treatment.

Everyone here is good. In fact, I thought Marisa Tomei had the biggest laugh of the movie. Okay, Kevin Bacon is wasted. It's as though he saw the cast and said, "I don't care how small my part is. I'm doing this for the good of the Six Degrees game."

P.S. Annoying product-placement watch: One guy says, "Sorry I was late; I had to pick something up at Macy's" and holds up the bag for the camera.

Weekend Box Office

2011-11-27T10:56:00.001-08:00

For the weekend of November 25-27.
1. Breaking Dawn - $42 million ($221.3) - 2 wks (Sum) -69.6%
. . . 4066 screens / $10,330 per screen
2. The Muppets - $29.5 ($42) - 1 wk (BV)
. . . 3440 / $8576
3. Happy Feet Two - $13.4 ($43.77) - 2 wks (WB) -36.9%
. . . 3606 / $3716
4. Arthur Christmas - $12.7 ($17) - 1 wk (Sony)
. . . 3376 / $3762
5. Hugo - $11.35 ($15.38) - 1 wk (Par)
. . . 1277 / $8888
6. Jack & Jill - $10.3 ($57.42) - 3 wks (Sony) -12.3%
. . . 3029 / $3400
7. Immortals - $8.8 ($68.63) - 3 wks (Rel) -28.8%
. . . 2677 / $3287
8. Puss in Boots - $7.45 ($135.36) - 5 wks (DW) -31%
. . . 3005 / $2479
9. Tower Heist - $7.32 ($65.38) - 4 wks (U) +3.1%
. . . 2474 / $2960
10. The Descendants - $7.2 ($10.74) - 2 wks (FS) +505%
. . . 433 / $16,628
11. J. Edgar - $4.95 ($28.82) - 3 wks (WB) -16.5%
. . . 1947 / $2542
12. My Week with Marilyn - $1.77 ($2.08) - 1 wk (Wein)
. . . 244 / $7266

The Artist and A Dangerous Method did well on 4 screens apiece.

Thanksgiving weekend is a time for disappointing openers to redeem themselves. Witness the low drop-off for most of the titles.

If Hugo had opened on 1800 screens, it would've been third. On just 1277, it was on-par in per-screen averages with The Muppets.

Breaking Dawn part 1 - Movie Review

2011-11-26T09:47:00.001-08:00

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Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellen Lutz, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Anna Kendrick, Maggie Grace, Sarah Clarke and Michael Sheen.
Directed by Bill Condon.

I really don't mind the Twilight movies. I find them enjoyable enough to see with my wife. But we're supposed to be building toward an epic showdown and this is easily, handily, by far the worst one in the series.

Let's start with the acting. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner have not, to put it politely, improved. Lautner in particular reveals he doesn't really know how to act when he keep his shirt on the whole time. The supporting cast varies with their skills. Most of the Cullens are good at what they do, and Anna Kendrick's a good sport for still popping up, but the scenes with Lautner talking to his fellow werewolves is on part with something you'd see on Canadian TV.

Let's look now at some of the approaches to the story. Where I knew we were doomed was the third time that we're watching Bella brood and another folk-pop song starts playing. Other times the scene may have been suspenseful, but the soundtrack said mournful-melodrama.

There's also the problem with breaking up a book into two parts. The pacing for this is all wrong. Act 1 is the wedding and honeymoon, Act 2 is the pregnancy, and Act 3 is supposed to be a werewolf-vampire showdown that doesn't really pay off.

Maybe when Michael Sheen's vampires re-enter the scene in Breaking Dawn Part 2 it'll all make sense. But if Bill Condon's directing that one too, I have very little hope.

Wednesday's Box Office 11/23/11

2011-11-24T21:13:00.001-08:00

For November 23.

1. Breaking Dawn - $12.5 million ($171.48) - 6 days
2. The Muppets - $6.6 - 1 day
3. Happy Feet Two - $2.92 ($28.32) - 6 days
4. Arthur Christmas - $2.4 - 1 day
5. Jack & Jill - $1.93 ($45.23) - 13 days
6. Immortals - $1.81 ($57.91) - 13 days
7. Hugo - $1.67 - 1 day
8. Puss in Boots - $1.64 ($126.62) - 27 days
9. J. Edgar - $.84 ($22.9) - 20 days

Breaking Dawn continues to rule them all. The Muppets has a decent opening and should do well throughout the weekend. In Hugo's defense, it's on one-third of the screens as Arthur Christmas, but it's still a disappointing showing for both.

Dark Knight Rises tidbits, etc.

2011-11-22T21:59:00.001-08:00

- Empire magazine has more behind-the-scenes info on The Dark Knight Rises, but the most surprising revelation is that it picks up eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. The first six minutes will also air in front of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in IMAX theaters.

- Reese Witherspoon will star in Wish List. Written by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda 2), it's about a child who makes ten wishes on a single coin. Unbeknownst to her, the coin never reached the bottom of the magical well. Then 25 years later, the coin jostles free and reaches the ground, and all ten wishes are granted in her adult life.

- ABC has cancelled Pan Am and Man Up.

- Wyatt Knight, who played Tommy in the Porky's movies, has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Family members said he'd been suffering from stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma and decided he was tired of the pain. He was 56.

Terri - DVD Review

2011-11-21T21:58:00.001-08:00

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Starring Jacob Wysocki, John C. Reilly, Bridger Zadina, Creed Bratton and Olivia Crocicchia.
Directed by Azazel Jacobs.

This tiny slice-of-life high-school com-dram has its own small rewards. First is Jacob Wysocki's unique protagonist Terri, who feels much more real than any Glee-k. It conveys nicely the general depressing teen routine of the outcast, with glimpses of hope and insight.

Terri is an overweight student who has to deal with a demented uncle at home and typical bullies at school. He develops a friendship with a cute girl after she's ostracized by her crowd, and he also has an enthusiastic guidance counselor/principal (John C. Reilly) who wants to be down and connect with the kids. It's not done in a condesecnding way; it's done in a believably unhip way.

The Emperor's New Groove quotes

2011-11-20T21:20:00.001-08:00

"Why do we ever have that lever?"

"No touchy."

"Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives...I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say! Or, to save on postage, I'll just poison him with this. "

"Reason number two... look what I can do!"

"It's called a 'cruel irony,' like my dependence on you."

"For the last time, we did not order a giant trampouline!"

"Um, I turned into a cow. Can I go home?"
"You're excused. Anyone else?"

"Kronk! Why did I think you could do this? This one simple thing! It's like I'm talking to a monkey. A really, really big stupid monkey named Kronk!"

We bought a VHS copy the other day. Now if I can find a Robin Hood on VHS, I'll be content with our collection.

Breaking Dawn record #1

2011-11-19T15:12:00.001-08:00

For Friday November 18.

1. Breaking Dawn Pt I - $72 million - 1 day
2. Happy Feet 2 - $5.9 - 1 day
3. Immortals - $3.82 ($44.55) - 8 days
4. Jack & Jill - $3.5 ($32.53) - 8 days
5. Puss in Boots - $3.42 ($115) - 22 days
6. Tower Heist - $2.1 ($48.6) - 15 days
7. J. Edgar - $1.81 ($16.61) - 10 days
8. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas - $.92 ($26.35) - 15 days

That's right. $72 million in one day for the latest Twilight movie. Expect $150 million for the weekend, over $300 million domestic, over $600 million worldwide.

Movie Trailers - 11/19/11

2011-11-19T07:48:00.001-08:00

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson in THE HUNGER GAMES
- I've read the book and it looks like a faithful adaptation.

Dwayne Johnson, Josh Hutcherson and Michael Caine in JOURNEY 2 THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

- This semi-sequel to Journey of the Center of the Earth swaps out Brendan Fraser for The Rock, and it looks like a similar CG 3-D visual dessert buffet.

Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Nathan Lane in MIRROR MIRROR

- While Snow White and the Huntsman is going for a more serious Lord of the Rings type feel, this is going the comedic route more in the vein of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or even the live-action 101 Dalmatians.

...and the Pixar gang returns with BRAVE

- Reminded me a lot of How to Train Your Dragon, but it's nice that Pixar's finally made a movie with a female protagonist.

Tower Heist - Movie Review

2011-11-18T22:35:00.001-08:00

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Starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Michael Pena, Tea Leoni, Judd Hirsch and Gabourey Sidibe. Directed by Brett Ratner.

The heist movie can be a fun genre. Look at The Town, The Bank Job, Ocean's 11, Inside Man, or the brilliant opening sequence of The Dark Knight. There's the suspense of whether or not the plan will be executed as designed. Will they actually get away with it?

This movie makes itself relevant by centering on a Bernie Madoff-type mogul under house arrest in his penthouse suite. That he's played by Alan Alda is a stroke of genius. He's a kind old man who connects with everyone else. Of course he's successful. Why should we suspect he's achieved this through ill-gotten means?

Unfortunately for the hotel staff at which he resides, all of their pensions were lost in his Ponzi scheme. They were initally put there by Josh (Ben Stiller), the manager of the hotel. But he gets a tip that millions in cash may be hidden in the suite somewhere. Josh and some of the staff, with their knowledge of the hotel's security system, determine that can sneak in there and find it themselves.

But none of them are criminals, and that's a nice take on the genre. These are ordinary people driven to desperate measures. They need help. Josh enlists his old pre-school friend Slide (Eddie Murphy), now a career thief, to help train them on the art of stealing.

Murphy is the highlight of the movie and gives his funniest performance in about a decade. It's a return to form for him, and I hope he sticks with it. (I'm hoping A Thousand Words is his mute Liar Liar, but we'll see.)

There are some nice twists along the way, and most of the actors get their moments. Gabourey Sidibe's Jamaican accent is ill-advised, but I liked Matthew Broderick as a suicidal former Merrill Lynch employee now squatting in the building.

Brett Ratner's reviled industry-wide for his lack of skill, and I think part of that is because of his success. He's not bad, he's just workmanlike. His directing here is stronger in the comedic scenes than the action. The third-act finale might have been better had it been smaller. (Does it really need to happen during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?)

I will say somewhere along the way, some key story elements must have been edited out. There's one event that happened where we're informed it was part of the plan, and I had to think about it. "Wait a minute. How did they do it?" Like there was a plot device someone put a pin in so they could get to the section of the story and they never revisited it.

Contrivances aside, it's a decent comedy which made me chuckle a few times. Glad I saw it.

Puss in Boots - Movie Review

2011-11-17T17:01:00.001-08:00

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Starring the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zack Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Directed by Chris Miller.

Shrek is nowhere in sight, and the movie is better off for it. I don't know if it's a sequel or a prequel, but it's nice to see Puss, the best thing about the Shrek sequels, get his own movie.

Antonio Banderas owns the movie as this feline Zorro. He's always staying one step ahead of the law, but he's reunited with his former friend Humpty Dumpty (Zack Galifianakis). Theres was a bitter falling-out, but with the aid of gato burglar Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), they aim for the big score: the magic beans that will grow the beanstalk to the Giant's castle in the sky.

The movie plays with pop culture and fairy-tale expectations as them Shrek movies do, but it's not near as intrusive about it. The soundtrack features stirring southern guitar strings, rather than radio's biggest hits from five years ago. I would take Puss 2 over Shrek 5 any day.

Meek's Cutoff - DVD Review

2011-11-16T22:07:00.001-08:00

**

Starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson and Rod Rondeaux.
Directed by Kelly Reichardt.

This has all the trappings of a critically-praised low-budget indie, and I'm as big a fan of low-budget indies as the next guy. Good acting, beautiful cinematography, a stripped-down story. This does a very good job of conveying what it must feel like to be part of a pioneer wagon train in 1845. Tedious and repetitive, with long stretches where nothing happens.

The movie is from the viewpoint of the female characters. If only the men are talking, we can only hear as much as the closest woman can. They're all following their guide Stephen Meek, who claims to know a shortcut to Oregon, but it becomes quickly apparent he has no idea where they are.

This movie most reminded me of Gus Van Sant's Gerry, which was about two guys who get lost in the desert, and nothing really happens. I hated that movie. This one at least has more people.

Director Kelly Reichardt also worked with Michelle Williams on the equally minimalist Wendy & Lucy. That movie conveyed the despair of being poor in a rich country and made me feel for its heroine. We never get close enough to anyone here to care.

Bad Teacher - DVD Review

2011-11-12T17:17:00.001-08:00

***

Starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins, Phyllis Smith, Thomas Lennon, Molly Shannon and Eric Stonestreet.
Directed by Jake Kasdan.

"IT'S THE ONLY ARGUMENT I NEED, SEAN!"

I enjoy the popularity of that line from the trailer. It doesn't have much to do with anything else in the movie, except reveal a little of the character of the gym teacher (Jason Segel), who seems to be the only person in the movie who sees Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz) for what she really is. A spoiled, selfish, shallow woman who deep-down inside might have a little soul if the right guy came along.

She's not looking for the right guy; she's looking for the rich guy. Some man she can sink her hooks into so she can be one of those Hollywood wives who wear big hats and sunglasses and have her servants follow her with her shopping bags.

But Elizabeth can't seem to land that man. They tend to see through her before she's able to get to the wedding altar. She managed to smile and coast through her first year of teaching and had every intention of getting married and leaving, but when her fiance dumps her, she goes back to her old job, and she has no regard for her students.

But hey, the new substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake) happens to be the heir of an expensive-watch empire. Elizabeth lays forth her plans - raise money to get breast enhancement surgery in order to land him.

This movie owes a lot to Bad Santa, but what's really interesting about this movie is the bad guy is the protagonist. Were this movie from the peppy good teacher's point of view, we'd see how evil Elizabeth is.

Diaz is great in the role, and Segel and Lucy Punch (as the good teacher) are solid as well. It's a pitch-black comedy that never goes the sentimental route. Maybe she'll grow up. No. No, she won't.

Movie Trailers 11/11/11

2011-11-11T21:38:00.001-08:00

Eddie Murphy in A THOUSAND WORDS
- When I heard that Brian Robbins was directing it made me think it was going to be one of those skippable Eddie Murphy exercises in the Meet Dave / Just Imagine vein. But I actually chuckled at some of the gags. It has good potential.

Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth in SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN
- This actually looks pretty good, a serious Lord of the Rings style take on the legend. Charlize Theron looks like she's having a lot of fun at the Evil Queen. it was smart of Universal to get this preview out before Mirror Mirror (which opens three months earlier) got theirs.

Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in SAFE HOUSE
- It's a very Tony Scott-looking thriller, and it looks like a reliable Denzel flick, the type that grosses about $75 million in the US and double that overseas.

Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh and Emma "Hermoine" Watson in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
- I've heard good things about the central performances of Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe and Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier.

Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Bryan Cranston in RED TAILS
- I really wanted to like this trailer, but other than some cool aerial footage, I have no faith than it being any better than Flyboys, but with black pilots.

...and then there's the Coraline of 2012 called PARANORMAN

Paranormal Activity 3 - Movie Review

2011-11-10T19:59:00.001-08:00

** 1/2

Starring Lauren Bittner, Chris Smith, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Katie Featherston and Sprague Grayden.
Directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman.

I loved the first Paranormal Activity. I found it be perfectly paced and suspenseful, with a satisfying payoff. The second one wasn't as good, but it had some good jolts and jumps.

The law of diminishing returns applies here. Yes, it still has some good scares, but the pacing isn't as tight, and I found the middle section much more effective than the somewhat anti-climactic ending.

This one's a prequel, going back to the childhood of the two grown sisters who are the subjects of PA 1 & 2. For all the events that happen in this movie, I can only assume their memories were erased.

Katie and Christy have a stepdad who edits wedding videos for a living and set up video cameras around their house when things start going bump in the night. This movie does have several effective stretches where we're glued to the screen, wondering where our eyes should focus. What might jump out?

I suppose the franchise could figure out how to do a PA 4, but at this point, Katie and Christy have been done to death. Don't turn into the Saw franchise.

Cinematically Speaking 11/8

2011-11-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

Old Movie I Finally Saw

BADLANDS (1973) - I'd seen three Terrence Malick movies, and while I liked A New World okay, I wasn't wowed by it. Thin Red Line I found overrated, and then I found Tree of Life to be the most beautiful slideshow I'd ever seen, but it was a slideshow. Everyone loves Malick, so I decided I'd go back to the beginning and make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Well, from this movie, I can see why he's so beloved. It was really good, holds up really well. Martin Sheen is great as the young 1950's killer, polite to those he's shooting, with Sissy Spacek along as his naive, guileless girlfriend accomplice. I see where inspirations were drawn for True Romance and Kalifornia.Badlands is also Malick's most solid narrative accomplishment I've seen. Since it was his first movie, it looks like he's fallen more in love with cinematography and impressions and less so with cohesive narration. Now when I eventually rent Days of Heaven, my first Malick viewing will be complete. But yes, Badlands holds up just fine and is worth seeking out, whether you love or hate what he's putting out now.

The Academy Awards

I'm not heart-broken Brett Ratner's not producing the Awards now. I just wonder who they're going to get that Eddie Murphy's still comfortable working with. Each year I root for a good show, and last year, the gamble with James Franco and Anne Hathaway flopped when Franco worked stiff all night.

Brett Ratner out as Oscar producer

2011-11-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

- Brett Ratner had been hired to produce the 2011 Academy Award show (held in 2012) and he'd snagged his Tower Heist star Eddie Murphy to be the host, but after an off-the-cuff "Rehearsal's for fags" remark, pressure grew for him to resign. And he did.

- Eric Bana (Funny People) will play Elvis Presley and Danny Huston (30 Days of Night) will play Richard Nixon in Elvis & Nixon, about the time the two met in the White House in December 1970. It'll be the directorial debut of actor Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw).

- Mimi Rogers (former Mrs. Tom Cruise) will play the mother of Ashton Kutcher (current Mr. Demi Moore) on CBS's Two and a Half Men. Haven't heard if A Few Good Men will be rerunning anywhere anytime soon.

HBO's Enlightened - TV Review

2011-11-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

I watched the first four episodes. That's probably good enough. Laura Dern gives a highwire performance as a woman who's suffered a nervous breakdown, gone to a wellness center for three months, and has returned to her workplace with a new sunny attitude. But her sunniness is a forced thing, for if she runs into too many obstacles, she can crack.I recognize this character. I've felt like this character at times, trying to have a good attitude, even when life sucks. But it's one of those series where I feel like it's going to end with her committing suicide, with a big grin on her face.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - DVD Review

2011-11-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

**

Starring Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin R. McNally, Sam Claflin, Stephen Graham and Richard Griffiths.
Directed by Rob Marshall.

I would have been just fine to never again revisit the world of Jack Sparrow after the bloated At World's End, and now that On Stranger Tides is here, even with a shorter running time, a different director, the Bloom/Knightly subplot scuttled, two interesting new castmates (Cruz, McShane), maybe new life can be breathed into this franchise...

No, not really.

The joy I felt at Depp's new spin on the pirate genre is diminished and extinguished. I still hold that the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie is a blast, the second one's fine, and the third one wore out its welcome. The fourth one is some ways might be better than Part 3, but if I never really care what's going on, that can't really be true.

The plot of this centers around several powers that be pursuing the famed Fountain of Youth. Jack's still wanted for various charges, but now Barbosa (Rush) is working for the crown in seeking to obtain the fountain before those dreaded Spanish can get there. You also have the villainous Blackbeard (McShane) looking for it.

There's a mild romantic subplot between a missionary and a mermaid. Far less screen-time than if it'd been Bloom & Knightly, and the movie's better for it.

This made a billion dollars worldwide, so a fifth Pirates movie is inevitable. I'll probably treat that one the way I've treated this one. If I see it, I'll wait for the DVD.

Puss in Boots #1 again

2011-11-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

For the weekend of Nov. 4-6.

1. Puss in Boots - $33.04 million ($75.51) - 2 wks (DW) -3.1%
. . . 3963 screens / $8336 per screen
2. Tower Heist - $25.08 - 1 wk (U)
. . . 3367 / $7450
3. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas - $13.07 - 1 wk (WB)
. . . 2875 / $4544
4. Paranormal Activity 3 - $8.53 ($95.31) - 3 wks (Par) -53%
. . . 3286 / $2594
5. In Time - $7.7 ($24.21) - 2 wks (Fox) -36.1%
. . . 3127 / $2462
6. Footloose - $4.55 ($44.8) - 4 wks (Par) -17.3%
. . . 2811 / $1619
7. Real Steel - $3.41 ($78.75) - 5 wks (BV) -28.8%
. . . 2438 / $1397
8. The Rum Diary - $2.99 ($10.42) - 2 wks (FD) -41.8%
. . . 2292 / $1303
9. The Ides of March - $2 ($36.8) - 5 wks (Sony) -28.7%
. . . 1391 / $1438
10. Moneyball - $1.9 ($70.33) - 7 wks (Sony) -20.4%
. . . 1278 / $1487

An incredible second-week hold for DreamWorks's Puss in Boots helped it win the weekend.

Tower Heist, meanwhile, was a surprise underperformance. Maybe the Ben Stiller-Eddie Murphy teaming would've been a bigger deal eight years ago, but Universal execs still have to be scratching their heads.

The third Harold & Kumar movie opened lower than their last one.

Opens Friday
JACK & JILL with Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes, Al Pacino and Dana Carvey.
IMMORTALS with Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff and Freida Pinto.

Benecio Del Toro as Star Trek villain

2011-11-05T19:07:00.001-07:00

Word has it JJ Abrams is set to offer Benecio Del Toro (The Wolfman, Traffic) the villain role in his next Star Trek movie. Details are kept under wraps, naturally, but Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) are all expected to return.