Hobbit easily #1

1.  The Hobbit - $84.78 million - 1 wk (WB)
 . . . 4045 screens / $20,958 per screen
2.  Rise of the Guardians - $7.42 ($71.36) - 4 wks (DW) -28.7%
 . . . 3387 / $2191
3.  Lincoln - $7.24 ($107.9) - 6 wks (BV) -18.8%
 . . . 2285 / $3170
4.  Skyfall - $7 ($272.37) - 6 wks (Sony) -35.1%
 . . . 2924 / $2394
5.  Life of Pi - $5.4 ($69.56) - 4 wks (Fox) -35.2%
 . . . 2548 / $2119
6.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 - $5.18 ($276.87) - 5 wks (Sum) -43.5%
 . . . 3042 / $1701
7.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $3.27 ($168.78) - 7 wks (BV) -32.6%
 . . . 2249 / $1455
8.  Playing for Keeps - $3.25 ($10.84) - 2 wks (FD) -43.5%
 . . . 2840 / $1143
9.  Red Dawn - $2.39 ($40.89) - 4 wks (FD) -43.5%
 . . . 2250 / $1064
10. Silver Linings Playbook - $2.08 ($16.95) - 5 wks (Wein) -4%
 . . . 371 / $5617
11. Flight - $1.94 ($89.45) - 7 wks (Par) -38%
 . . . 1823 / $1064

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was more than expected to open huge, and it did.  All other movies will be fighting to stay in theaters since seven movies are scheduled to open wide by Christmas (Jack Reacher, This is 40, Les Miserables, Django Unchained, The Guilt Trip, Parental Guidance, Monster Inc. 3D).

The Expendables 2 - DVD Review

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Terry Crews, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, Nan Yu and Chuck Norris.
Directed by Simon West.

★½

I don't remember much about the "plot" of the first one, but the second one has less of it.  Stallone and company are hired mercenaries who go in to fortified headquarters in whatever country, shoot down a hundred henchmen, blow stuff up, then leave.

Then they get a job that is supposed to be easy, but "one of their own" is killed, which makes it personal.

It's inspired that they bring in Jean-Claude Van Damme to play the main villain.  Most of the rest of it is tired rehash.  They fire a lot of guns, they exchange one-liners, they fire more guns, they make in-jokes (Arnold and Bruce say each other's catchphrases at one point), and nothing else about it justifies its existence.  Chuck Norris shows up? Huh. Does he do anything cool?  Not really.

So maybe when they make Expendables 3, they'll get Carl Weathers, Gerard Butler and Dwayne Johnson, and they'll invade North Korea and overthrow Kim Jong-Un.  Might as well.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - DVD Review

Starring Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Idris Elba, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, Fergus Riordan and Christopher Lambert.
Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor.

★½

Silliness is the name of the game here.  Nicolas Cage returns as Johnny Blaze, the motorcycle daredevil who occasionally turns into the Ghost Rider.  He learns of a way to finally free himself from the Rider from a silver-eyed monk (Idris Elba), but first he must stop the Devil from taking over a boy's body.

First time around, the Devil was played by Peter Fonda.  Now he's Ciaran Hinds, a step up in my book.  Its actors like Hinds and Elba that made me think this sequel might be an upgrade, but it's more like an opportunity for those two to ham it up and get paid good money to do it.

Cage gets wild and crazy with the role, and he kills a lot of generic Euro-trash henchmen on the way up to his showdown with the Devil.  It has CG-splashiness, and it's the most unnecessary sequel of the year.  I never had any sense from anyone in the movie they were doing this for anything more than cash. It's not like they actually believed in this project, nor care if it was any good.

2012 Golden Globe Nominations

Best Motion Picture — Drama

Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Richard Gere, Arbitrage
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Best Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Maggie Smith, Quartet
Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
Jack Black, Bernie
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bill Murray, Hyde Park on Hudson
Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Alan Arkin, Argo
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Director — Motion Picture
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture
Argo, Chris Terrio
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Original Score — Motion Picture
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Cloud Atlas, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimet & Reinhold Heil
Life of Pi, Michael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams

Best Animated Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
A Royal Affair
Rust & Bone

Best Television Series — Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields and McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Toby Jones, The Girl
Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gellhorn

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gellhorn
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Ed Harris, Game Change
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series — Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Lena Dunham, Girls
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series — Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis C.K., Louis
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Television Series — Drama
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfield & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Jodie Foster

2012 Screen Actors Guild Nominations

Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture
"Argo"
"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
"Les Misérables"
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
John Hawkes, "The Sessions"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Helen Mirren, "Hitchcock"
Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
Marion Cotillard, "Rust and Bone"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
Javier Bardem, "Skyfall"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Nicole Kidman, "The Paperboy"
Maggie Smith, "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
"The Dark Knight Rises"
"Skyfall"
"The Bourne Legacy"
"The Amazing Spider-Man"
"Les Miserables"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
"Boardwalk Empire"
"Homeland"
"Mad Men"
"Breaking Bad"
"Downton Abbey"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
"30 Rock"
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Glee"
"Modern Family"
"Nurse Jackie"
"The Office"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Damian Lewis, "Homeland"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Michelle Dockery, "Downton Abbey"
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"
Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story: Asylum"
Julianna Marguiles, "The Good Wife"
Claire Danes, "Homeland"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"
Louis C.K., "Louis"
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Amy Poelher, "Parks and Recreation"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"
Betty White, "Hot in Cleveland"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Kevin Costner, "Hatfield and McCoys"
Woody Harrelson, "Game Change"
Ed Harris, "Game Change"
Clive Owen, "Hemingway and Gellner"
Bill Paxton, "Hatfields and McCoys"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Nicole Kidman, "Hemingway and Gellner"
Julianne Moore, "Game Change"
Charlotte Rampling, "Restless"
Sigourney Weaver, "Political Animals"
Alfre Woodard, "Steel Magnolias"
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
"Game of Thrones"
"Homeland"
"Breaking Bad"
"Sons of Anarchy"
"Walking Dead"
"Boardwalk Empire"

Biggest surprise snubs?  Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams for The Master, Zero Dark Thirty for Ensemble.

Weekly TV Ratings

For the week of Nov. 26- Dec. 2.  Ratings are from the 18-49 demo.

1.  Sunday Night Football (NBC) - 7.4
2.  The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 5.5
3.  Modern Family (ABC) - 4.7
4.  The Voice Mon.(NBC) - 4.2
5.  2 Broke Girls (CBS) - 4.1
6.  Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 4.0
7.  The Voice Tue. (NBC) - 3.8
8.  Football Night in America (NBC) - 3.8
9.  Mike & Molly (CBS) - 3.6
10. NCIS (CBS) - 3.6

Skyfall is #1 in 5th week

1.  Skyfall - $11 million ($261.62) - 5 wks (Sony) -33.6%
 . . . 3401 screens / $3234 per screen
2.  Rise of the Guardians - $10.54 ($61.91) - 3 wks (DW) -21.3%
 . . . 3639 / $2896
3.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $9.2 ($268.74) - 4 wks (Sum) -47.2%
 . . . 3646 / $2523
4.  Lincoln - $9.12 ($97.34) - 5 wks (BV) -31.9%
 . . . 2014 / $4526
5.  Life of Pi - $8.3 ($60.92) - 3 wks (Fox) -31.7%
 . . . 2946 / $2817
6.  Playing for Keeps - $6 - 1 wk (FD)
 . . . 2837 / $2115
7.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $4.9 ($164.45) - 6 wks (BV) -29.4%
 . . . 2746 / $1786
8.  Red Dawn - $4.26 ($37.27) - 3 wks (FD) -34.4%
 . . . 2754 / $1547
9.  Flight - $3.13 ($86.2) - 6 wks (Par) -30.1%
 . . . 2431 / $1288
10. Killing Them Softly - $2.75 ($11.77) - 2 wks (Wein) -59.7%
 . . . 2424 / $1134

Playing for Keeps, the one new wide release, flopped.

Skyfall is now Sony Pictures' biggest worldwide grosser of all time.

Expect everyone to get crushed by The Hobbit next week.

Lincoln - Movie Review

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, Hal Holbrook, Gloria Reuben, Bruce McGill, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael Stuhlbarg, Walton Goggins and Lee Pace.  Directed by Steven Spielberg.

★★★★

Daniel Day-Lewis may be the best actor on the planet.

So, what else to say?  This movie captures nicely the galaxy of the man, the saint, the politician, the president.

This all takes place in the last four months of his life, when they're trying to get the 13th Amendment passed, banning slavery.  It's a behind-the-scenes look at the handshaking, promise-making, and compromising that go into getting anything done in DC.

Sally Field's really good as Mary Todd Lincoln, the grieving mother who does more harm than good in her role as First Lady; Tommy Lee Jones is great as Thaddeus Stevens, the Radical Republican who doesn't think the 13th Amendment goes far enough; and I also liked the three-man persuasion crew of James Spader, John Hawkes and Tim Blake Nelson, charged with finding some Democrats to help support the Amendment.

I appreciated the humanization of Lincoln here.  We see him mourn with his wife, dote upon his youngest son, glare at subordinates, spin homespun yarns as a passive-aggressive way of making his Cabinet listen to him.  I loved when Secretary of War Stanton interrupted him. "No! NO! You're about to tell a story!"

There's more I would have liked to have seen (Frederick Douglass, Stephen Douglas, Andrew Johnson, and Jefferson Davis are some of the players we never see) but this is the window that Spielberg wanted to focus on, and it's rich, rewarding, and never dull.  This could have felt like one of those period Oscar-bait "homework" movies, but I'd like to see it again down the road.

And I can't say enough about Daniel Day-Lewis. There's nothing he can't do.

American Reunion - DVD Review

Starring Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Chris Klein, Eugene Levy, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Mena Suvari, Tara Reid, Jennifer Coolidge, John Cho, Natasha Lyonne, Dania Ramirez, Katrina Bowden and Jay Harrington.
Directed by Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg.

★★

On one hand, there's something nice about seeing the gang back together.  On the other hand, I'm watching these guys all complain about getting old at age 31.  Maybe I should just rewatch the first one instead?

There is something to be said about seeing Jim, Michelle, Stifler, Finch, Oz, Vickie, etc. back together.  In some ways, it's comfort food with favorite characters. In other ways, it's a reminder that most of these actors didn't have their careers take off the way they imagined.

The Class of 1999 is getting together for their 13-year high school reunion.  Apparently the 10-year didn't happen.  It's an excuse for everyone to come back to their hometown and hang out and get stuck in some awkward situations while juvenile potty humor abounds.  Coming off the best, I suppose, is Stifler (Seann William Scott), who puts the id in idiot.  He still wants to play pranks, get drunk, pick on dweebs, and sleep with teenage girls, keep his high-school glory days alive.

There's a reason the Porky's gang never went to their high-school reunion.

Savages - DVD Review

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Benecio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch and Demian Bichir.
Directed by Oliver Stone.


★★


Stone, finally, has gone back to make a movie absent of political polemics.  He's just here to make some pulp fiction, a flashy, violent tale about a pair of small-time, successful marijuana dealers who find themselves at war with the Mexican cartel when they refuse to join them.

Even though the title makes me think of Pocahontas, it's fitting for this story, as this cartel is brutal in their punishments and scorched-Earth in their approach.  In a twist, the big mob boss is played by Salma Hayek, and she is where she is due to her willingness to kill people quicker than Scarface.

Kitsch (Battleship) and Johnson (Kick-Ass) are okay as the two "heroes." When their mutual girlfriend is kidnapped, they must hatch a plot to get her back, and it involves a shady federal agent (Travolta) who allows the drug war to flourish as long as he gets paid.

It's the kind of movie where there's little redeeming social value, and everyone deserves to die, but it loses the courage of its convictions in the last few minutes and offers a cop-out instead.

Breaking Dawn's still #1

For the weekend of Nov. 30 - Dec. 2.

1.  Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $17.41 million ($254.59) - 3 wks (Sum) -60%
 . . . 4008 screens / $4344 per screen
2.  Skyfall - $17 ($246.03) - 4 wks (Sony) -52.1%
 . . . 3463 / $4909
3.  Lincoln - $13.51 ($83.7) - 4 wks (BV) -47.4%
 . . . 2018 / $6694
4.  Rise of the Guardians - $13.5 ($48.95) - 2 wks (DW) -43.2%
 . . . 3672 / $3676
5.  Life of Pi - $12 ($48.36) - 2 wks (Fox) -46.6%
 . . . 2928 / $4098
6.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $7.02 ($158.26) - 5 wks (BV) -57.6%
 . . . 3087 / $2274
7.  Killing Them Softly - $7 - 1 wk (Wein)
 . . . 2424 / $2888
8.  Red Dawn - $6.55 ($31.32) - 2 wks (FD) -54.1%
 . . . 2781 / $2355
9.  Flight - $4.54 ($81.53) - 5 wks (Par) -46.3%
 . . . 2603 / $1744
10. The Collection - $3.41 - 1 wk (LD)
 . . . 1403 / $2430
11. Silver Linings Playbook - $3.34 ($10.99) - 3 wks (Wein) -23.8%
 . . . 371 / $9005
12. Anna Karenina - $2.23 ($4.08) - 3 wks (Foc) +148.8%
 . . . 384 / $5807
13. Argo - $2.03 ($101) - 8 wks (WB) -47.6%
 . . . 1043 / $1942

The new releases were dead on arrival, while the holiday holdovers kept raking in the dough.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 is on track to be the most profitable in the Twilight series. It's passed the $700 million mark in worldwide gross.  Skyfall has passed $869 million worldwide and is now the highest-grossing Bond movie in franchise history (unless you adjust for inflation).

Lincoln should have been a tougher sell, but the Spielberg name combined with Oscar buzz for the movie and for Daniel Day-Lewis has kept it strong.

I don't know how you screw up marketing a Brad Pitt gangster movie but the Weinsteins found a way.  Killing Them Softly's a bad title opening on a bad weekend for new movies.

Rise of the Guardians - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law and Isla Fisher.
Directed by Peter Ramsey.

★★★

With childhood heroes like these, who needs the Avengers?

Okay, Avengers was a better movie, but this is a decent entry into the animated Christmas movie sub-genre.  I liked it about as much as Polar Express.

Santa Claus (Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Fisher) and the silent Sandman have been defending the children of the Earth for hundreds of years.  They answer to the Man in the Moon, who somehow telepathically communicates to them.  When the Boogeyman (Law) regains some of his long-dormant strength, a new Guardian is selected to join them: Jack Frost (Pine).

Frost is more about mischief than protection, and he has to learn to play nice with others and find his inner strength, believe in himself, etc. (Ever notice how many kids' movies have the message "Believe in yourself?")

It's missing a lot of the pop-culture references and cynicism that's marked so many DreamWorks Animation's efforts.  There's some amusing stuff there for adults, but it's mainly aimed at kids.  I found it a bit strange to have Santa be this tattooed Russian sword-fighter, and the Easter Bunny's a bit of an Aussie thug. I'm guessing one of his inspirations was Rabbit from Winnie-the-Pooh.  The Tooth Fairy's more bird than Tinkerbell, and Jack Frost is just your regular teenage boy.

The Campaign - DVD Review

Starring Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Katherine LaNasa, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox.
Directed by Jay Roach.

★★

Sure, there's a couple laughs. It's impossible for Will Ferrell to make a movie without some.  It takes the exaggerated nastiness typical in election campaigns and has fun with it.  But its main target is so thinly disguised, it loses its edge.

Will Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a North Carolina congressman in a safe, safe district.  But after getting caught having an affair, his puppermaster donors decide they want someone else in his place.  They handpick Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to challenge him.

Hijinks ensue.

This movie is a giant commercial against Citizens United and the Koch brothers.  In the movie, they're the Motch brothers, two rich guys in smoke-filled rooms who plot how to control government.  A smarter satire might have made them a little more subtle, made them more reminiscent of Randolph & Mortimer Duke from Trading Places.  Here they're a parody of an MSNBC caricature of capitalistic evil.  And if you're going to do that, please be smart about it.

Breaking Dawn still #1, Skyfall #2

1.  Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $43.07 million ($226.95) - 2 wks (Sum) -69.5%
 . . . 4070 screens / $10,582 per screen
2.  Skyfall - $36 ($221.72) - 3 wks (Sony) -12.4%
 . . . 3526 / $10,210
3.  Lincoln - $25.02 ($62.18) - 3 wks (BV) +18.9%
 . . . 2018 / $12,398
4.  Rise of the Guardians - $24.03 ($32.61) - 1 wk (DW)
 . . . 3653 / $6577
5.  Life of Pi - $22 ($30.15) - 1 wk (Fox)
 . . . 2902 / $7581
6.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $16.76 ($149.51) - 4 wks (BV) -9.8%
 . . . 3259 / $5143
7.  Red Dawn - $14.6 ($22) - 1 wk (FD)
 . . . 2724 / $5360
8.  Flight - $8.6 ($74.88) - 4 wks (Par) -2.3%
 . . . 2638 / $3260
9.  Silver Linings Playbook - $4.62 ($6.45) - 2 wks (Wein) +943.6%
 . . . 367 / $12,597
10. Argo - $3.88 ($98.11) - 7 wks (WB) -4.2%
 . . . 1255 / $3088

Hollywood had a great weekend to make up for the sluggish fall.  Twilight and James Bond are both delivering, Steven Spielberg's back in $100+ million grossing territory after competing against himself last year with Tintin and War Horse, and movies like Wreck-It-Ralph, Flight and Argo are stretching their long legs.

Of the new releases, DreamWorks may actually be a bit disappointed in the opening for Rise of the Guardians. They'll be hoping for strong word-of-mouth and they'll be glad there's no more animated competition until the December 21 re-release of Monsters Inc. (in 3D!!!)  Life of Pi had good reviews, and it seems geared toward making its profits overseas.  Red Dawn did well for a movie that's been sitting on a shelf for three years.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Movie Review

Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellen Lutz, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Maggie Grace, Lee Pace, Joe Anderson and Christopher Heyerdahl.

Directed by Bill Condon.

★★½

At the very least, this movie is a nice apology for Breaking Dawn Part 1, the low-point in the series.  Bella is now a vampire, and so we see her go through the discovery process, learning her abilities, and seeing this world from her new sparkling point of view.

Ah, but the Volteri are still the ruling vamps, and when they get word of Bella's daughter, it ignites a showdown between them and the Cullens.

This movie has several problems, from the CGI baby, to Bella's ability to feed without getting a drop of blood on her, to her Dad not noticing her eyes are yellow now.  I could go on.  These are problems you can't blame on the book; they could have been caught and cleaned up.

The book has some gifts to the screenwriter, namely an action climax that's actually pretty good.

I've always taken the Twilight movies at the level they are, and so I can enjoy them.  Except for Breaking Dawn Part 1.  This one may well be the best one in the series, for what that's worth.

Wreck-It-Ralph - Movie Review

Starring the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling and Dennis Haysbert.
Directed by Rich Moore.

★★★½

Wreck-It-Ralph is the villain in a video game, a game programmed somewhere between Burger Time and Rampage.  Fix-It-Felix Jr. is the name of the game, and when it's over, the townspeople throw Ralph off the building.  But after 30 years, Ralph's tired of his role as the bad guy.  He wants to be the good guy.

This provides continued evidence of the Pixar influence on Disney animation.  The movie has real heart, with Ralph just trying to know what it's like to do good.  He bounces from game to game, trying to find a way to be the hero.

One of the highlights for me was Alan Tudyk as King Candy, the Ed Wynn-like ruler of a racer game in a CandyLand-esque world.

DVD Reviews: Bernie, The Innkeepers, Lockout

These are all 2012 releases now available on Netflix.

BERNIE (★★★) Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey. Directed by Richard Linklater.  Black does his best acting job in years as Bernie, a mild-mannered mortician who befriends all the old ladies of his small town, but finds himself the object of affection of one rich spinster (MacLaine).  The Texas humor is gentle, and it's another great turn by Linklater alum McConaughey, doing a new twist on his Southern lawman character.

THE INNKEEPERS (★★½) Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis.  Directed by Ti West.  I'm enjoying West's continuing contribution to old-school style horror movies.  This one suffers from being just a little too slow and a little too willing to get its heroine out of danger as soon as she's put in it.  But it is a great lesson how much more effective a thriller can be when we get to know and care about the characters.

LOCKOUT (★★) Starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace and Peter Stormare.  Directed by James Mather & Stephen St. Leger.  Here's an example of an old-school style action movie but it feels more like a retread than a revisiting.  Pearce's wiseguy antihero deserves a better movie than this Escape from New York ripoff, where he must rescue the President's daughter, being held hostage in the world's first supermax prison in outer space. Most of it takes place in hallways and corridors, and it kept making me wish a xenomorph would show up and start picking off everyone.

Weekend Box Office - 11/18/12

1.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - $141.3 million - 1 wk (Sum)
 . . . 4070 screens / $34,717 per screen
2.  Skyfall - $41.5 ($161.34) - 2 wks (Sony) -53%
 . . . 3505 / $11,840
3.  Lincoln - $21 ($22.42) - 2 wks (BV) +2124%
 . . . .1775 / $11,831
4.  Wreck-It-Ralph - $18.31 ($121.48) - 3 wks (BV) -44.5%
 . . . 3622 / $5056
5.  Flight - $8.62 ($61.34) - 3 wks (Par) -41.7%
 . . . 2612 / $3298
6.  Argo - $4.07 ($92.02) - 6 wks (WB) -38.5%
 . . . 2210 / $1842
7.  Taken 2 - $2.1 ($134.62) - 7 wks (Fox) -47.7%
 . . . 2063 / $1018
8.  Pitch Perfect - $1.26 ($62) - 8 wks (U) -51%
 . . . 1122 / $1123
9.  Here Comes the Boom - $1.21 ($41.02) - 6 wks (Sony) -52.4%
 . . . 1350 / $889
10. Jab Tak Hai Jaan - $1.2 ($1.9) - 1 wk (Yash)
 . . . 161 / $7580

The Twilight Saga is going to end as one of the most profitable in history.  It is to Summit what Lord of the Rings was to New Line.  Skyfall is also on pace to be the highest-grossing Bond movie yet.  Wreck-It-Ralph should do well over the Thanksgiving weekend, even with Rise of the Guardians opening.  Lincoln did well in its expansion.  Everyone's doing great in November!