Dark Phoenix - Movie Review

Starring James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Jessica Chastain, Tye Sheridan, Evan Peters, Alexandra Shipp and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Written & Directed by Simon Kinberg.

★★½ 

We’ve had three X-Men movies, three Wolverine movies, and this is the fourth X-Men First Class movie. Between this and Apocalypse, it’s a good argument for the franchise to hibernate for a few years and come back rebooted in the MCU.

Why is this movie retreading the plot from X-Men: The Last Stand? For one, I’d argue it was the worst movie of all of them so they wanted to retell this story right. For another, the events of Days of Future Past screwed up the timeline, so the events of the Patrick Stewart trilogy wouldn’t have happened that way in this timeline.

I did find it strange this movie takes place in 1992. That means it’s been 29 years since McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, etc. were in X-Men: First Class, and there’s no effort to age them accordingly. Oh well.

So how is it? Well, for starters, maybe the producers thought Sophie Turner’s big from Game of Thrones so it’d pay off to make her the star of the show. But this means other, more famous actors take a back seat to her in the action. Jennifer Lawrence seems like she’d rather be anywhere else than doing another one of these movies. Michael Fassbender doesn’t show up until a good 45 minutes in (but when he does show up, the movie is better for it.)

I liked it a little more than X-Men: Apocalypse. The third act final battles are more satisfying, especially the part on the train. But ultimately I’m glad this was the last outing.

Secret Life of Pets #1 at Box Office; Dark Phoenix Fizzles

For the weekend of June 7-9, 2019, The Secret Life of Pets 2 managed to win the weekend. The sequel opened far below the $104 million the original opened to, so maybe this is not going to be the next Ice Age level franchise, but it’ll still ultimately be profitable.

Dark Phoenix, meanwhile, is the lowest opening ever for an X-Men movie, including the different Wolverine spin-offs. It’s also the worst reviewed of them all. Maybe they shouldn’t have taken the plot from X-Men: The Last Stand and made Sophie Turner the star while making James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, etc., take backseat roles. Perhaps it’s a good thing this will be the final outing for this cast. Expect the X-Men to lie dormant for a few years, then circa 2023, they’ll be introduced into the MCU.

Late Night opted to open on only 4 screens before going wide next week, and with a $62,000 per-screen average, it’s poised to do well in expansion, albeit against a couple other comedic offerings in Men in Black International and Shaft.

Of the holdovers, Godzilla’s dropping like a stone. Godzilla v. Kong is still the plan for 2021, but WB has to be wondering if they’ll be able to break even on the project. Rocketman hasn’t really caught fire the way Bohemian Rhapsody did. Perhaps the R-rating can be blamed, although A Star Is Born seemed to manage with one.

Many films seem to be underperforming what studios had expected, but the real overperformer has been Aladdin. And Disney still has Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and The Lion King on the way.

Opens June 14

MEN IN BLACK INTL. with Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Liam Neeson.

SHAFT with Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse T. Usher, Regina Hall and Richard Roundtree.

mother! - Movie Review

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Brian Gleeson, Kristen Wiig and Stephen McHattie.
Written & Directed by Darren Aronofsky.

★★★★

This is a balls-to-the-wall tour-de-force by Darren Aronofsky. He had a vision and he dives right in.

We know something wild's going to happen because we see the movie start with a woman on fire. It zooms back to a burned house being restored, until everything is pristine, and then Jennifer Lawrence wakes from her bed to go make her husband (Javier Bardem) breakfast. Surely this will be a lovely day. Then strangers show up unannounced. Her husband just lets them in, lets them stay, and she's too polite a hostess to say anything, but why exactly are they here?

No one is ever given a name in this movie. In the credits she is referred to as "mother" and Bardem as "Him." The movie drops several clues where it's going, and I just watched with a giant grin when the action amps up to its psychotic, Biblical, uncompromising conclusion.

I'd say more than half the people in our audience hated it. When I started explaining to some people, I could tell their enjoyment increased. (Except for one guy, who tried to argue Appeal to Authority to me because he works in TV.) I think it's best an experience knowing as little as possible, and it's one I love debating and discussing with people.

**

**SPOILER SECTION**

**

This is what I believe the movie meant.

It reimagines God as a selfish male deity who creates life for his own ego. The beginning shows the ending of a cycle. The female deity/Gaia/Mother Earth destroys herself, and when all is renewed, she comes back with no memory and in the form of Jennifer Lawrence.

She serves him, and he is a poet, an artist who can't think of what next to create. Then the man (Ed Harris) shows up. He has nowhere to go. He has a rib injury. He's Adam. He goes to see Bardem's den, his place for creation. He shows him a molten rock that he keeps on display, the soul surviving item from the previous fire. It is forbidden fruit that Adam may not touch. Then the man's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) shows up. She wants to see the rock more than Adam does. She finally touches it and accidentally breaks it. Bardem banishes them from the den and boards it up so no one may re-enter. (Cherubim and a flaming sword.)

Later the couple's two sons show up, arguing over a will. They fight, and the older brother kills the younger one. Cain and Abel. The older one even winds up with a mark on his forehead after the fight. Then dozens of people show up to mourn with the grieving parents. Bardem just lets them all in, and naturally, since they all seem to be familiar with his poetry and sing his praises. The more people that come, the ruder and more entitled they get. They also keep sitting on a sink until it bursts from the wall and floods the kitchen. This gives Lawrence the courage to yell "Get out!" and all of the people leave. Noah's flood. The humans are gone. She can now repair the damage done.

They fight and then have sex. She wakes up in the morning and knows she's pregnant. She's delighted. This inspires Him to write. He writes something beautiful. Scripture. People come from far and wide to hear and read his words. They come too quickly. They come with zealotry. He eats up the praise. She can't believe he keeps letting all of these people in. They start destroying the house. She goes into labor, and with each labor pang, the whole house shakes. The house is Earth, and she is tied to the Earth in ways He is not.

The baby is Jesus, and he wants to show the baby to the world, but she does not. She refuses to let Him hold the baby. She tries staying awake, but as soon as she nods off, her baby is gone. The houseguests carry the baby like a rock star over the crowd but someone accidentally kills him. Jesus is dead. Then they rip the baby apart and eat of his flesh. This is the sacrament of communion. The people start putting ashes on their foreheads to mark their devotion.

The movie speeds ahead until we finally get to the Book of Revelation. The apocalypse. She cleanses the earth with fire, killing everyone. In the end, only He and she remain. She's given everything. He wants the last drop of love in her. In the end, she's Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. She gives the last part of her existence to him. Her heart. He pulls it from her ribcage. It looks exactly like the molten rock we saw at the beginning. We gets all of the opening imagery again. The burning woman. The rock on a pedestal. The house being renewed. A different young woman waking up in bed. The cycle has started over.

Passengers - Movie Review

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne.
Written by Jon Spaihts.
Directed by Morten Tyldum.

★★

I had the blessing of seeing this with low expectations. After the savage reviews came out, I thought I might just skip it altogether, but I'm a fan of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt and it seemed like an okay gamble on $5 Tuesday.

Overall, I liked most of the movie. It all takes place aboard the spaceship Avalon, which is heading toward Homestead II, a colony planet. There are 5000 passengers on board and 230 crew members, but they're all put in hibernation for all but four months of a 120-year journey.

A system malfunction wakes up Jim (Pratt) 90 years too early. He does everything he can to figure out how to put himself back in hibernation or look up what to do in case of emergency but to no avail. For a year, he lives by himself, with only an android bartender (a terrific Michael Sheen) to talk to. The loneliness makes Jim suicidal.

He ultimately decides to wake up another passenger, Aurora (get it?) He claims it was a malfunction like his, and slowly, as the only two people on the ship, they fall in love. Until she learns the truth.

I liked the design of the ship. I liked the performers. I liked its leisurely pace. I liked how you could see both sides, where Jim's selfishness isn't necessarily excused, and Aurora reacts with the horror of someone who realizes their life has been stolen. All of that was fine.

But I hated the ending. Absolutely hated it.

And as a side note, maybe Andy Garcia had a bigger part in the first draft, but he gets fifth billing, and he has no lines, and about ten seconds of screen time.

Rogue One still #1, Sing #2

For the weekend of December 23-25, 2016, Rogue One stayed #1 to the surprise of no one. The real suspense was in what order the other new releases would come in, and the unquestionable winner was the animated Sing.

When you consider budgets, the biggest disappointment has to be Assassin's Creed. It was not only the worst-reviewed new movie of the week, but the most expensive. Why Him? has to be happy they came ahead of them. Also disappointing, but to a lesser degree, was Passengers, starring two of Hollywood's hottest young stars in Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.

It's also important to remember with Fences' numbers, it expanded on Sunday. Had it expanded Friday, it could have finished as high as third.

In limited release, the new releases in order of per-screen average: Silence, Patriots Day, Hidden Figures, Julieta, Live By Night, A Monster Calls, Toni Erdmann.

No new releases next week, save for a couple Oscar-qualifying limited releases like 20th Century Women.

2013 Golden Globe Winners

BEST PICTURE DRAMA - 12 Years a Slave
BEST PICTURE COMEDY - American Hustle
BEST DIRECTOR - Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
BEST ACTOR DRAMA - Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST ACTOR COMEDY - Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
BEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Amy Adams, American Hustle
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
BEST SCREENPLAY - Spike Jonze, Her
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - The Great Beauty
BEST ANIMATED FILM - Frozen
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - “Ordinary Love,” by U2, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - All is Lost

BEST TV DRAMA - Breaking Bad
BEST TV COMEDY - Brooklyn Nine-Nine
BEST ACTOR DRAMA - Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
BEST ACTOR COMEDY - Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
BEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Robin Wright, House of Cards
BEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation
BEST MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE - Behind The Candelabra
BEST ACTOR MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE - Michael Douglas, Behind The Candelabra
BEST ACTRESS MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE - Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Jacqueline Bisset, Dancing on the Edge
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Cecil B. DeMille Award - Woody Allen

The Golden Globes are known for being a little wacky, the speeches a little looser, the winners a little cool-kids. When they announced they were giving the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Woody Allen, I thought, "Wow, are they really going to get him to attend an awards show?" but no, Diane Keaton comes out and accepts for him in intentionally surreal fashion.

Movie-wise the love was spread.  The Globes have been looser in what they consider a comedy to help strengthen the category. American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street have a lot of funny stuff in them, but are they really comedies? Eh, I'm not complaining. Happy about all the results, at least for the ones I've seen.

TV-wise, I was shocked that Brooklyn Nine-Nine won, but very happy for the show. It's the best rookie comedy out there, and it could use the boost. Also thrilled Amy Poehler finally won.

American Hustle - Movie Review

Starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Shea Whigham, Alessandro Nivola and Elisabeth Rohm.
Directed by David O. Russell.

★★★★

The true story would have been meaner and more black and white. I like that Russell took the basic elements and made it a lot more ambiguous and gray.

Russell's now directing three great films in a row - The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, and now this. This might be his best yet.

It comes down to the actors, and under a director who clearly gives them a lot of freedom, they all step up. Bruce Wayne and Lois Lane make a great team. If Christian Bale didn't already have an Oscar, he might be getting front-runner chatter for his work here. And Amy Adams hasn't won one yet but I'll be rooting for her.

Bale plays Irving, a con man caught by the FBI, who then work a deal with him to use his con skills to help him catch some bigger frauds. It eventually leads to a web of corruption that may land some US congressmen.

The movie has those gloriously scuzzy details of the 1970's, and Bale's belly and combover are characters in themselves. Every scene crackles. It's lively and vibrant and a lot of fun.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Movie Review

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Lenny Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields and Amanda Plummer.
Directed by Francis Lawrence.

★★★½

I liked the first movie. I read the books, felt the first book was the strongest, and the movie was a pretty faithful adaptation. I had reservations about how the rest of the franchise would go, but I was impressed at how they were able to improve not only on the second book but on the first movie.  Yes, it is one of those rare sequels where it's better than the first one.

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is living in District 12, almost a year since the Games. She's having nightmares and other symptoms of PSTD, but before the next Hunger Games begin, she and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are supposed to do a victory lap through the districts before meeting back at the Capital.

Pres. Snow (Donald Sutherland) isn't happy with their being two winners from the last Hunger Games, and he doesn't like the symbol of hope that Katniss is becoming. He and new gamesmaster Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman) devise a way to crush her. They change the rules of the Hunger Games and make the next one an All-Star edition, where 24 previous winners will be forced to fight.

I was grateful to see the shaky-cam style of Gary Ross gone. Director Francis Lawrence knows how to direct spectacle. The story also benefits from having adults in the Games. No chance for a scared kid to get offed here; these are all experienced winners.  Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer are among the contestants, and they do great.

The movie's success still hinges on its leading lady, and Jennifer Lawrence once again shows she's going to rule Hollywood for the next decade.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire sets November box-office record

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has the new record for highest box-office opening in November. It out-opened the original by $9 million, and the original went on to gross $400 million domestic and $691 million worldwide.  It looks to go about even on the domestic front but they're expected more success overseas this time around.

Delivery Man was the alternative title, and it just showed Vince's days of carrying a picture are behind him.  Dallas Buyers' Club, hailed as containing the best performance of Matthew McConaughey's career, did okay in expansion, but it could use the Golden Globe nominations being announced right about now, as could 12 Years a Slave.

From BoxOfficeMojo.com:

Random Movie News - 3/1/13

- David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter) will next direct Abscam, about a con artist (Christian Bale) and his mistress/partner in crime (Amy Adams) forced to work with a federal agent (Bradley Cooper) to take down other con artists, mobsters and politicians, and they center on the leader (Jeremy Renner) of the New Jersey state assembly.  Jennifer Lawrence and Louis C.K. also star.

- Russell will then direct The Ends of the Earth, based on the true story of an oil tycoon who lost everything after he began an affair with his adopted daughter. Lawrence will play the daughter, and it'll be the third film she and Russell make together.

- Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) has joined the cast of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, starring Andy Serkis and Jason Clarke. The sequel starts 15 years after the events of the first film.

- The Wolf of Wall Street will now open November 15.  Based on a true story, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, a New York stockbroker who became entangled in a securities fraud case.  It's directed by Martin Scorsese and co-stars Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Jon Bernthal and Kyle Chandler.

- Would I bring Seth MacFarlane back to host the Oscars?  No.  For every funny bit, like Flight retold with sock puppets, there was something haltingly inappropriate, like the sexist "We Saw Your Boobs" number. He wasn't the worst host; I'd actually put him somewhere in the middle overall, but I agree with the sentiments expressed elsewhere: get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to host next year. Or maybe they'll look at the ratings and say, "Let's give it to Trey Parker and Matt Stone."

2012 Academy Award Winners

BEST PICTURE - Argo
BEST DIRECTOR - Ang Lee, Life of Pi
BEST ACTOR - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
BEST ACTRESS - Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - Chris Terrio, Argo
BEST FOREIGN FILM - Amour
BEST DOCUMENTARY - Searching for Sugar Man
BEST ANIMATED FILM - Brave
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - "Skyfall" by Adele
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
BEST MAKEUP - Les Miserables
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Life of Pi
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - Lincoln
BEST FILM EDITING - Argo
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - Anna Karenina
BEST SOUND MIXING - Les Miserables
BEST SOUND EDITING (tie) - Zero Dark Thirty & Skyfall
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - Life of Pi
BEST ANIMATED SHORT - Paperman
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT - Curfew
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Inocente

The wealth was spread tonight.

4 for Life of Pi
3 for Argo, Les Miserables
2 for Django Unchained, Lincoln, Skyfall

Seth MacFarlane's opening number - I enjoyed seeing Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron dancing, Flight as done by sock puppets, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt soft-shoeing, the Sally Field bit, but by the time we got to "Be Our Guest", whew.  Just start the show.

Pretty amazed that Waltz won.

The "Jaws" playoff music was pretty funny for the Life of Pi visual effects team.

Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" number was a nice surprise.

Wow, John Travolta's hairpiece is looking particularly vampiric.

Brave was at best the fourth-best animated film nominated. Shocked that it won.

I'm happy for Russell Crowe. He sounded better at the Oscars than he did in the movie.

I love In Memoriums, but it bugs me every year when publicists and marketing executives get in, and they snub big names.  How about Andy Griffith?  Ben Gazzara?  Larry Hagman?  Richard Dawson?

I love how Adele sings like a sultry songstress but talks like a cockney housewife.

Awesome speech by Ben Affleck to end the night.

Silver Linings Playbook - Movie Review

Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Julia Stiles, John Ortiz and Shea Whigham.  Directed by David O. Russell.

★★★½

This movie is essentially a well-made romantic comedy.  Quirky characters trying to find happiness.  But it's so well-made, it doesn't feel formula until we get to the finale and then go "Ah." But by then we're really rooting for everyone to succeed.

Cooper gives a career-best performance as Pat, a bipolar man who's just been released to his parents' care after eight months of institutionalization.  He went in for violently beating his wife's lover after catching them in the act.  But "he's better now" and determined to win his wife back.

He winds up becoming friends with Tiffany (Lawrence), sister-in-law of his best friend.  Tiffany has her own issues, having dealt with the death of her husband by sleeping with everyone at her office and getting herself fired.

The bizarre relationship of Pat and Tiffany works because the chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence is electric.  Not only that, but Robert DeNiro as Pat's father gives his best performance in about fifteen years.

It's just a terrific feel-good movie done with more skill than usual.

2012 Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

Movies
BEST CAST - Argo (Affleck, Cranston, Goodman, Arkin, etc.)
BEST ACTOR - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
BEST ACTRESS - Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Television
BEST CAST COMEDY - Modern Family (O'Neill, Bowen, Stonestreet, etc.)
BEST CAST DRAMA - Downton Abbey
BEST ACTOR COMEDY - Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
BEST ACTRESS COMEDY - Tina Fey, 30 Rock
BEST ACTOR DRAMA - Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
BEST ACTRESS DRAMA - Claire Danes, Homeland
BEST ACTOR MOVIE/MINISERIES - Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
BEST ACTRESS MOVIE/MINISERIES - Julianne Moore, Game Change

Friday's Box Office - 9/22/12

1.  House at the End of the Street - $4.64 million - 1 day
2.  End of Watch - $4.6 - 1 day
3.  Trouble with the Curve - $4.17 - 1 day
4.  Finding Nemo 3D - $2.39 ($22.92) - 8 days
5.  Dredd - $2.23 - 1 day
6.  Resident Evil: Retribution - $1.95 ($28.72) - 8 days
7.  The Master - $1.39 ($2.44) - 8 days
8.  The Possession - $.82 ($43.47) - 22 days

Jennifer Lawrence's name might be enough to keep House at the End of the Street #1 for the weekend, but it'll be a low grosser.  End of Watch opened on fewer screens and is doing a little better than it had been tracking.

The Hunger Games - Movie Review

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Amandla Stenberg, Willow Shields and Paula Malcomson. Directed by Gary Ross.

★★★½

I went to see this with my wife. I'd read the books; she hadn't. The movie provided equal enjoyment.

Based on Suzanne Collins's best-selling dystopian YA novel, this movie takes us to a distant future where the rich and powerful live in a central Capital City in the country of Panem, while the 99% toil in districts under extreme poverty and working conditions. We learn that 74 years ago there was an uprising, and the might of the Capital slammed back hard. From that point on, each of the twelve districts, once a year, must send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 to compete in a fight-to-the-death reality show called The Hunger Games. 24 go in, and 1 comes out, and that winner is able to bring extra food and rewards back to their district for the year. It's a way to keep those peasants under control.

In many ways, the movie hinges on the central performance of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the resourceful girl from District 12 who volunteers to "play" in the Games after her younger sister is drafted. She's in almost every scene, and she's great. She had a similar role in Winter's Bone that garnered her an Oscar nomination.

The movie does keep its PG-13 by not being gratuitous with the violence, but it doesn't skimp on it either. Blood splatters and kids get killed, all for the entertainment of the colorful Capital dwellers, following the natural digression of reality TV.

Fans of the book can rest assured it's about as faithful to it as any adaption can be (no Avox though), and for those who haven't read it, you won't be lost.

Hunger Games breaks box-office records

1.  The Hunger Games - $155 million - 1 wk (LG)
 . . . 4137 screens / $37,467 per screen
2.  21 Jump Street - $21.3 ($71.05) - 2 wks (Sony) -41.3%
 . . . 3121 / $6825
3.  The Lorax - $13.1 ($177.3) - 4 wks (U) -42.5%
 . . . 3677 / $3563
4.  John Carter - $5.01 ($62.35) - 3 wks (BV) -63.1%
 . . . 3212 / $1561
5.  Act of Valor - $2.06 ($65.94) - 5 wks (Rel) -44.8%
 . . . 2216 / $931
6.  Project X - $1.95 ($51.75) - 4 wks (WB) -51.8%
 . . . 2065 / $944
7.  A Thousand Words - $1.93 ($14.93) - 3 wks (DW) -47%
 . . . 1787 / $1077
8.  October Baby - $1.72 - 1 wk (Gold)
 . . . 390 / $4405
9.  Safe House - $1.4 ($122.6) - 7 wks (U) -48.5%
 . . . 1330 / $1053
10. Journey 2 The Mysterious Island - $1.37 ($97.16) - 7 wks (WB) -42.5%
 . . . 1340 / $1025
11. Casa De Mi Padre - $1.1 ($3.95) - 2 wks (LG) -51.9%
 . . . 475 / $2316

The Hunger Games had the third highest opening weekend of all time, and its the highest non-sequel debut of all time. (It's behind only Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Dark Knight).  Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen should now have her pick of any script she wants.

Movie Trailers - 11/19/11

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.

The Beaver - DVD Review

ll 1/2

Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence and Cherry Jones. Directed by Jodie Foster.

This film looks at the effects of deep depression, and it does so in a way that you'd think it would be a comedy. It takes its subject matter more seriously than that.

Mel Gibson is Walter Black, the CEO of a toy company. (Oh, great. Another rich-people-with-problems movie.) But Walter is suicidal. One day he sees a discarded beaver puppet in the trash, and he picks it up and puts it on his hand. He starts talking to himself through it.

His estranged wife (Jodie Foster) and angry son (Anton Yelchin) don't know what to make of it. I really liked the family dynamic and the tension. I also liked the subplot where the son develops a relationship with the popular girl who's secretly hurting. She's played by Jennifer Lawrence, pre Winter's Bone/X-Men: First Class/Hunger Games fame.

What made my thumb go from up to sidways was the third act where Walter becomes a national sensation, turning his toy company around and landing on the cover of every magazine in America one week. Really? Really?

The four main performers are good. I just wish it hadn't gone there.