Weekend Box Office Report July 30-Aug 1

The weekend was full of little surprises, as I said last week it was a weekend where either Dinner for Schmucks would pull up with a win somewhere between 30 and 40 or Inception would pull in with the same amount.   Dinner didn’t quite pull in thirty but it did pull in almost twenty-five million, so lets look at the week and see how things went.

Not too surprisingly but in its third weekend of release Inception has once again dominated the box office though it wasn’t a run away success that it was in its first two weeks of release.   Inception has proven for the third weekend in a row that people want something fresh and different at the box office.   The success story that is Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece which no one thought would do much at the box office has managed to prove this fact pulling in another 27.5 million bringing its three weekend total up to nearly 200 million.    In at second place the new release Dinner for Schmucks starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd managed to pull in 23 million (it might pull in a little more or less with final estimates if it’s a big change I will update this).   The comedy did really well for its first weekend coming in at second place.

In third this week the Angelina Jolie starring movie Salt managed to get some positive buzz and stay in the top three with another 19.2 million, the film about a government agent who is accused of being a spy will end up reaching close to its budget but probably not much more than that.   In at fourth place Despicable Me continues to have a strong showing, and Steve Carell does indeed have two movies in the top five this week, but probably only for this week.   The family film has been one of the strongest family movies of the summer only falling behind Toy Story 3 in that department, when its finished at the box office I think it has a real chance of pulling in more than Shrek and that’s impressive which is why I think Universal has already greenlit a sequel to the film.

In fifth, and surprising me Cat’s and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore managed to pull in 12.5 million, does anyone else beside me think that this is because the movie was primarily released and promoted in 3-D and thus the tickets cost more.   Every week that goes by Toy Story 3 gets less and less 3-d screens and that is so that new 3-d movies like Cats and Dogs can take those screens.   The movie if it had been released in 2-d only would probably have managed just barely to pull in 6 or 8 million…so once again thanks to 3-d it managed a stronger showing.   In at sixth the romantic drama Charlie St. Cloud came out with 12.1 million, the movie stars the heart-throb Zach Efron and this is probably the thing that has attracted young women and girls to go see the movie and help it have such a strong opening for its first weekend.

Rounding out the top ten we come to Toy Story 3 which added another 5 million to it’s already staggering total bringing it up to 389.6 million which brings it ever closer to 400 million at the box office which it will manage to do in a few more weekends if not sooner.   In at number eight this weekend was Grown Ups which has finally started to fade away and will be out of the top ten next weekend though it did managed to pull in another 4.5 million and has now made a 150 million at the box office.   AT number nine The Sorcerer’s Apprentice continues to fade it has just barely made 50 million at the box office and is still missing another 100 million to make back its budget, that’s not going to happen.  At number ten and closing out the top ten was Twilight Saga: Eclipse the movie faded almost as quickly as Sorcerer’s Apprentice but it managed before its fade to bring in nearly 300 million at the box office.

Next Week will be interesting to see what happens, it’s really all touch and go at this point.  Can Inception pull off a four weekend in a row dominance or will people be going to the theater to see something else?   The past weekend was a comedy release weekend along with some family films, this coming up weekend we will see another big comedy coming out The Other Guys stars Mark Whalberg and Will Farrell as two cops who are envious of the other cops, the more famous and well put together cops.    It’s a comedy that looks to have some really funny moments in it, but its hard to say if it will really pull in a lot of money or not.  The other new wide release Step Up 3-D is coming out as well, does anyone really think this movie will make any money at all?   I am betting it won’t really make a dent, but I’ve been wrong before.   Here is how I think the top five will round out:

1. The Other Guys-25 to 30 million
2. Inception- 15 to 20 million
3. Dinner for Schmucks– 10 to 15 million
4. Step Up 3-D– 5 to 10 million
5. Salt– 5 to 10 million

What I want to know is who do you think will dominate this weekend?  Do you think people are going to go out in droves to see the new Step up movie?   Let me know:

Trailers of the Week

Most of the trailers this week come hot off the heels of Comic-Con where a lot of new trailers were revealed for people to enjoy and to start the hype for movies coming out next year.    This year’s Comic-Con was less about comics and more about movies and games which isn’t a bad thing really…but isn’t a good thing either for comics which didn’t seem to have their game faces on at the con this year.

Sucker Punch

I will be honest I hadn’t heard a single thing about this new movie from Zack Synder (Watchmen, 300) which is about a young woman who is trapped in a life that she doesn’t want to be in and can enter a dream world where things are not the same as they are in the real world, but when the two get twisted things happen and the consequences are not what you expect.   The movie’s first trailer looks impressive and looks like its got lots of ambiance and set pieces as well…what you would expect from the guy who brought us 300 and Watchmen.

Priest

Coming from Scott Stewart (Legion) is the action/thriller movie about a Priest in the far future after a war has ravaged the planet between vampires and humans for centuries who is hunting the vampires that kidnapped his niece.   The movie looks very stylish with a lot of great action sequences, not too surprising it also looks far more low-budget than other movies coming out next summer as it is made with the same kind of budget that was given for Legion Scott Stewart’s previous movie which was decent but not great.   It even stars the same actor: Paul Bettany (not that it’s a bad thing).  The movie looks decent but I don’t know how many people its going to attract.

Let Me In

One of the most promising remakes I have seen in a long time of a foreign film (probably since the first Ring movie) is coming out in October, it’s called Let Me In and is a remake of Let the Right One In which was based on a novel.  The original movie was fantastic with a dark undertone regarding vampires and mature themes about alienation and also being a young kid from a rather not well off family among other social issues.   The americanized remake is being directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and I think looks as equally impressive and also stars Chloe Moretz who has jumped up in fame since her part in Kick-Ass.   This is one I will be going to see when it comes out.

That’s it for this week….I wanted to post the Thor video for the trailer which was really cool looking but it’s already been pulled from everywhere and probably won’t be posted back up for a while until Marvel decides they want to release it probably.   Same goes for Green Lantern footage shown at Comic-Con.    So I’ll be back monday with the box office report and next week with more trailers plus perhaps a movie review!

Weekend Box Office Report July 23-25

The weekend has come and gone and little surprise on what happened.  Sorry the report is late going up, got caught up in other things.   This week was the release of two movies, a family movie: Romona and Beezus along with the action film Salt starring Angelina Jolie, neither of them managed to put a dent in the Christopher Nolan movie Inception.   This week was all Inception along with a little bit of news about what the next Batman movie could be about.   Inception is a monster film of the summer, already it has dominated the box office two weekends in a row and has proven that Nolan is a really good director and at the fore-front of directors right now.  After he’s done with the next batman movie I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Hollywood studios don’t start knocking down his door wanting to produce his films.

Inception came in at number one with another 43.5 million for the weekend dropping only 30%  from the weekend before, proving that people are hungry for original good properties over remakes or movies based on other properties.  Inception has made a 143 million and will make over 200 million by the time that it runs out of the box office.   The movie is a strong film as my review shows and it will continue to do well at the theater through the rest of the summer season.   In second place with 36.5 million was the Angelina Jolie movie Salt which is an action film about an agent for the United States government who is accused of being a spy and has to go on the run.  The movie cost about a 110 million to make and it will make it back during its run but it won’t be quick.   For me Salt is one of those films that you see on DVD not in the theaters.

In at third retaining a strong presence is Despicable Me.   Steve Carell knows how to pick movies and this one proves it as well as the other movies that he has done.  Look at his last film: Date Night with Tina Fey, that one did far better than anyone thought it would do at the theaters.   Despicable Me is a really good family comedy along the lines of Toy Story 3.  It managed to pull in 24.1 million over the weekend bringing its three weekend total to 161 million almost making a 100 million more than its budget.   Coming in at number four is the Disney movie: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage.    This is the third movie from Bruckheiemer for Disney that has shown his magic has worn off and no one is really going to see his Disney produced big action films that appear to be nothing but knock offs of other movies.  The movie has little hope of making back its budget while in the theater.

IN at number five retaining its top five status is the Pixar movie: Toy Story 3 which has now pulled in 380 million and will probably pull in over 400 million or close to it.  Toy Story 3 is the biggest success in Pixar’s history and they will not be repeating it next year with the second Cars movie which I am still not sure about a sequel at all.  In at number six the new release Ramona and Beezus starring Selma Gomez and the new comer Joey King.   The film looks light-hearted and funny for families and is on my list to see once it comes out on DVD.  It managed to pull in 8 million and only cost 15 million to make so it’s not like Fox is loosing money on this one.

Rounding out the top ten was Grown Ups in at number seven with another 7.6 million bringing its five weekend total up to 142 million proving that Adam Sandler and his group of friends can still make comedies that people want to go and see and will go and see.   AT number eight Twilight Saga: Eclipse made 7 million and has quickly fallen off of the top five list and has not retained anywhere near the audience that other movies that have been out longer than it have managed.  Then again the movie has made nearly 300 million, but I can be hopeful that the whole series is waining on people can’t I?

In at number nine The Last Airbender has faded faster than even Twilight only pulling in 4.1 million and still has not managed to make back its budget at the domestic box office.   The movie is a flop but the studio and the director won’t admit it. In fact M. Night still claims that he is going to make two more movies in the series even though this one was not received well by fans or critics.   IN at number ten Predators came in with another 2.8 million and has pulled in over 45 million at the box office.  Predators is an action horror film and thus no one not even the studio expected it to be a 100 million dollar box office opening film.   It is hard to say if it will get a second film or not though judging by how quickly the film has faded at the box office compared to other releases that came out in the same month.

Next Week we will see the release of three movies and just by judging from their trailers and how little one of them has been promoted at the theaters and on the television I can tell you how I think the weekend will go.   Up first coming out is Cats and Dogs: The Revenged of Kitty Galore which is the sequel to a mildly medium first film and is also in 3-D. There are a lot of other family films in the theater this week and they will be making the money more than this one will in my opinion.   Also coming out is the movie Charlie St. Cloud which is a romantic drama film that has been promoted zero times on television (unless they are promoting it on Lifetime or a network that I don’t watch).   The movie will make even less money than Cats and Dogs I do believe.   Lastly coming out: Dinner for Schumucks the movie stars Paul Rudd and Steve Carell and looks very funny to the point that I think it will bring in the audience.   Here is how I think the weekend will stack up:

1. Dinner for Schmucks- 30 to 40 million
2. Inception- 25 to 30 million  (these two could flip around it is possible)
3. Despicable Me– 15 to 20 million
4. Toy Story 3– 9 to 15 million
5. Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore– 5 to 8 million

Its going to be a slow weekend at the theaters and I do believe that two movies from Steve Carell will manage to be in the top five.  It is also possible that Inception retains its first place spot for a third week in a row.    Let me know what you think:

Five Movies from the 80’s Everyone Should See (no matter their age)

This list of movies isn’t the huge blockbusters from the 80’s like Back to the Future anyone can pick a movie like that and say that you should see it if you haven’t seen it.  These are five movies that I love and that for whatever reason a lot of people just overlooked or have never seen before.  They are also movies that I think even people today could enjoy even though its been 20 or more years since the films on this list came out.   Here they are in no particular order.

1. Monster Squad

Released in 1987

I don’t remember when I first saw Monster Squad it wasn’t in theaters because I would have remembered that and in 1987 I was 9 and at the whim of what my parents let me go see.  I remember watching it on television and by now the movie does have one famous line that most people do know: “Wolfman’s got nards.”  The thing about Monster Squad that makes it a classic is simply that the movie is fun from beginning to end.  The premise of the movie is that it begins with these monsters from our past: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf-Man, among others all get pushed into a portal in ancient days leading them into the modern days.   The movie is about a group of boys who form a club known as the Monster Squad and they talk about these monsters until suddenly they come to life right before their eyes.  THe movie has a lot of spots of comedy that kids of all ages (that includes adults yes) will enjoy.   There are moments of family as well and times when action is called for.

There’s also a “scary german guy” subplot that leads to some very interesting things throughout the movie.   I remember when watching this movie how good Dracula is every time, Duncan Regehr who plays Dracula does so with a great sense for the character.  He makes Dracula truly scary for young kids and I think that is a good thing because it’s always enjoyable to be scared a little bit.   The film never truly scares you though and you never get the sense that any of the good guys are going to die which is okay by me in a family film.  There are parts of the movie that always make me laugh out loud and other parts that are light-hearted.   IF you want to enjoy some fun family comedy one night I highly suggest this movie.

2. Explorers

Released in 1985

Like the movie above it Explorers is a family film, although I view it more as a film for young boys somewhere between six and fourteen who are adventurous.    Explorers is about a group of young boys who start getting messages from aliens up in space and build a ship to join them.  There is the bad boy, the smart one, and the leader (Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix both got their first movie roles with this film).  Explorers doesn’t have a family vibe to it, as I said before to me it is more of a film made for boys, its got that sense of exploring and adventure that all boys seem to think about and imagine.   The film does have some wonderful set pieces as well and the three main characters are all very well thought out and fleshed out different versions of boys that exist in the world.    There are a few really cool dream sequences in the movie that really tie things together and more than that when the three of them do finally take off into space in their homemade ship we get to really experience what that is like with them.

In this movie you get that sense of adventure, and I really do think that boys, girls, even adults would all really enjoy this movie, and if you have seen it before when you were a kid and are kind of not sure about showing it to your own kids, I say show it to them because it truly is a timeless classic that should be viewed by all even if you’ve forgotten about it over the years.    I recently saw it and it is still as good as it was when I was a kid.  Sure it’s not up to date technology wise, but the movie’;s other parts are so good that you don’t have to pay attention to that part.

3.Willow

Released in 1988

Some people will tell me that I am wrong for putting this movie on this list, they are wrong.   Willow is a true classic, it is actually one of those films about good and evil that you cannot go wrong with.  There is darkness in the world and a young baby chooses a halfing wizard named Willow to protect her from the darkness of Queen Bavmorda who wants nothing more than to kill the child and take over the entire world while sending it into darkness.   Willow along with a human named Madmartigan are both charged to protect the child and also bring down the evil that is Bavmorda along with her rival Raziel, among others.   Willow is a story of magic and mysteries but also a true message that good does conquer evil.

Willow is one of the few movies that George Lucas has done that is not a Star Wars film. It is also like those other movies a very unsuccessful film.  It has become a classic as the years went on and has been viewed as such by many.  Willow is a great movie with a lot of adventure and fun moments.  Val Kilmer is at his best in this movie truly making some great wisecracks and being funny while also serious at some points.  There is one point in the film when Madmartigan is hit with a love spell and falls heads over heels in love with Sorsha who is also the daughter of Bavmorda.   The movie ends with a good clean ending but Lucas has sense written along with another writer a trilogy of books that take place after the movie but are nowhere near as good as the movie.

4. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Released in 1989

Bill and Ted are of course bumbling fools who believe that they are going to be famous rock stars one day and change our world, but if they don’t pass their history class final they won’t ever become famous.   The movie stars Keanu Reeves before he was hugely famous for his “Whoas” and this movie here establishes that whole tradition.   On top of that the movie is a true mix of comedy and action, and probably has George Carlin’s best role in it as Rufus the man from the future that has come to the past with the time machine to save the boys from disaster.   Bill and Ted go through time and collect historical figures from the past and bring them back to San Demas (I think I spelled that correctly) to give an interview on who they are and what they mean to the world.

The fact that Bill and Ted decide to bring historical figures from the past to the present shows that they aren’t exactly the brightest but still it all works out perfectly.   There are some great sequences with Napoleon when he comes to the present and he gets on Bill’s brother’s nerves to the point that he abandons him and thus Napoleon goes to a water park and decides that when he gets back to the past he’s going to make one there!  There are other moments like this as well, when all of the historical figures are in the present at the mall where they all get a little crazy.   If you haven’t ever seen Bill and Ted or if you’re trying to figure out a movie from your past to show to your kids this is one of the top ones that I would pick for various reasons…it is a timeless film really.

5. Big Trouble in Little China

Released in 1986

When Jack Burton goes to Little China to visit with a friend of his after dropping off a load there as well things go from worse to worse until he’s embroiled into a plot by a man who has lived for centuries and only wants to become flesh again so that he can become all-powerful and rule the world (or something like that).   Big Trouble in Little China is probably one of the best movies that John Carpenter has ever made and there were always people asking him if he will ever make a sequel.   The movie is about these group of people who get caught up in an ancient ritual to bring Lo Pan back to life from his undead existence.    There is a lot of action in the film and it is easy to just sit back and enjoy it.

The comedy is timeless, and the film is a cult classic though I am sure that a lot of people would never think of showing it to the new generations and them enjoying it.  There are the three storms in the movie who I think are under-used but are also fun and add a lot to the story and the action.  The movie also happens to be one of Kurt Russell’s best and most memorable characters, and again this is because of John Carpenter’s directing and also the writing and music all of which was done by Carpenter.   It’s really sad what Carpenter has become, making only halfway decent movies as opposed to the kinds of films he used to make in the 70’s and 80’s.    Maybe he could go back to those kind of movies again one day in the future?

This is my list of 5 films that I think everyone should see, rather they are 10 or 20 or 30 or even older.  Do you have a list of five films from the 80’s that are classics in your eyes?

Trailers of the Week

It’s comic-con this weekend and that means new movie trailers!  This week also starts a new feature for me on Friday’s, Trailers of the Week where I will be posting trailers for movies that look interesting.

Tron: Legacy-releases in December.

Its been forever since the rumors started flying that Disney was going to be making an updated sequel to the great classic film Tron, what we were expecting was of course that they would remake the movie instead of give us a real sequel.   In the end we got a sequel, with Jeff Bridges starring in it as well.  The movie looks slick and full of great action pieces.   It also appears in this trailer as if they are finally starting to show a little bit more  of the plot though lets all face it…Tron has always been about the visuals and crazy action more than the plot.

Buried

In the movie Buried, Ryan Reynolds plays a man who is buried alive in a box and he has only a  cellphone and nothing else.   He’s going to die while buried alive and doesn’t believe that he is going to be saved.   The entire movie takes place with Ryan Reynolds in that box buried alive, it will be interesting to see if this movie can actually keep people entertained for an hour and a half or so, or if it will be one of those films that people are too scared to go see because they are afraid that it might not be interesting enough.  I think the movie sounds original and everyone that has seen it has said that it is a wonderfully deep and disturbing film.

Saw VII: Saw 3-D

The final movie in the Saw franchise is soon to be upon us.   In the final movie they are supposedly closing out all of the loose ends, tying up the entire storyline from the first six movies and are going to explain everything that we have been wondering about.  Hopefully they can actually close out the series in a decent way with a final show down full of interesting traps and maybe they really will come alive…yeah I doubt that…hey at least the dropped the whole The Traps Come Alive subtitle to the movie.

I’ll be back next week with more interesting trailers if any show up!

A Heist of Dreams

Inception

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, and Pete Postlethwaite

Directed by: Christoper Nolan

Written by: Christopher Nolan

Every once in a while a movie comes along that helps redefine what we can expect at the cinema when we sit down and watch a film.  Last year that movie was Avatar, which helped change the way that we think of 3-D films and of course since then perhaps only one or two other movies have gotten what it was that made Avatar such a great 3-D movie.  This year the movie that will make you stop and realize just how great cinema is and how much it is an art-form is the unexpected hit from Christopher Nolan: Inception.   Inception is the classic heist film, but you wouldn’t know it is a heist movie going into it because well it’s not like anything you have ever imagined or seen before.  While watching it I couldn’t help but want to be in this world where entering others dreams was possible, where we could go in and change things and get things from within their reality for those that are seeking them.

Inception doesn’t just make you sit and think about what is going on while you’re watching it, but it also makes you forget that you’re even watching a movie in a theater surrounded by others because every second is captivating.   Even when nothing much is really happening Nolan manages to put interesting moments on the screen.   This is after all the man who made The Dark Knight and Momento.  Nolan knows how to make us think while watching his films but he also knows how to make it an enjoyable ride from beginning to end.   That is what he achieves the most with Inception is it a perfect ride from beginning to end? No, but it is so close that you won’t even notice the small subtle flaws while watching the movie.  The real thing about this movie is it makes you think after the credits start rolling, it makes you wonder….that is what the best movies always do.

Our dreams are powerful, in them we become who we want to be, and do things that are never possible.   There are moments in Inception that truly do feel like  a dream, there are sequences in the film that make you wonder why do we dream and what do our dreams mean.  On top of that there are some excellent action pieces in the movie, some amazing special effects that help pull you into this world that Nolan created.  There is even a sequence in the film with slow motion movement and battles that bests the sequences in The Matrix, not a sequence, EVERY sequence, its something that the Wachowski brothers would never have thought of doing in a million years and it just makes you want to see the movie again and again.

More after the trailer…but be warned spoilers follow heavily if you don’t want to know what Inception is about or what happens in it do not read.

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Inception begins in the dream, some would argue that this is where the movie is the entire time from beginning to end, some argue that this is just a bookend to help draw us into the movie.   Neither is wrong, and on that note neither is right.    Nolan stated many times that he left the movie open to interpretation on purpose, he wants us to think while sitting there watching the movie.   The opening sequences make you wonder what is going on, it’s not that its hard to follow its just that you don’t know the rules of this world that Nolan has created yet.  Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) helps us by sort of explaining things quickly while in the room, but basically at first we are left to wonder what is going on.   There is  a sequence here in the beginning with Cobb and Saito  that makes us realize that we’re not really in reality but in a dream within a dream and then finally we get to witness reality.

Nolan doesn’t shove a lot of things in our faces, he doesn’t make us wonder how is this possible or how does it work.  Instead he just sets the rules quickly of how it works.  Someone somewhere discovered shared dreaming and now it’s started to spread and has become a way for men like Cobb and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to make a living by slipping others into their dream reality and using it to twist them and get them to reveal their secrets.   The dream world is created by the architect and only they have control of it yet the dreamer is the one that they are seeking to draw information out of so the architect has to be careful not to make the world unreal.    All of this is explained to us but it’s never forced down our throats in a way that we cannot digest.  That is the pure genius of the movie, it works on this level because it doesn’t say: this is possible and this is how its possible.  It just assumes that we understand the first rule and leaves the second part up in the air.  You see its not importnat how it is possible….its just important that we believe it is possible.

We quickly learn that Saito (Ken Watanabe) wants to use Cobb and Arthur to help him, not steal a secret but implant a thought instead.  This is what the movie is about: Inception or the creation of a thought that was not in someone’s head before but now needs to be.   They say that Inception is impossible but Cobb of course believes that it is possible, we begin to learn quickly that Cobb is perhaps not the most stable of men.    He agrees to help Saito and that is when things really start to get twisted because they need to hire a team, a team of experts.  They get a group of men that they have used before and then there is the new one, the start-up the young protegé: Ariadne (Ellen Page) who becomes the new Architect.

There is a sequence in the movie when Ariadne is just learning how to use her ability in the dream world that is truly amazing, it’s when she knows that she’s dreaming and she starts to mess with the world in such a way that everyone in Cobb’s subconscious starts to question her being there and think of her as threatening.   That is the most important rule that you learn: every living person in the dream is in fact a part of the subconscious of the dreamer, not the architect but the one that is dreaming the dream that the architect designed for them.  This rule becomes important once the heist starts because it’s the only way that they manage to actually succeed in what they are trying to do.

Cobb has a twisted and deep story, he’s a tortured father who lost his wife we learn quickly that they dreamed together, a dream so deep that they spent an entire life together within the dream.   In the world of dreams things happen much faster than in real life, if you sleep for an hour you can dream weeks and days even depending on how deep you are in the dream.   In one such place Cobb and his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) spent and entire lifetime together, but when they awoke she was not the same even though he tried to bring her back she was different and Cobb forever blamed himself for what happened to her.   Because of this Mal appears in Cobb’s dreams even when he’s not the dreamer.   She’s a powerful influence on him and its slowly driving Cobb towards the edge in his conscious mind.   Ariadne is the only one who is aware of how deeply Mal has effected Cobb and that’s because she sneaks into his dream one night and learns just how deep his obsession with his wife has gone.

We don’t learn much about the others, it’s mainly the story of Cobb, Ariadne, Mal, Saito, and Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy).   These are the characters that we learn the most about, and there is nothing really wrong with that for they drive the story the most.   Murphy is really good in this movie as Robert Fischer, in fact I think this is probably his best performance ever even better than what he did in 28 Days Later.   People over look Cillian Murphy a lot I wish that he wasn’t over looked because he is a very good young actor.  Fischer is interesting because he’s not some weak spoiled child that doesn’t like his father, in fact he is the exact opposite a child who loves his father but his father never really loved him.

In Fischer’s first dream level we learn that there is such thing as security, rich people like Fischer are aware of what can happen to them in the world of Inception and thus are trained to make their subconscious mind realize when it’s dreaming and thus defend against those that have invaded the dream.    This becomes very important as we get deeper into the dream, but it is one of the things that doesn’t live up the potential in all of the way.    In this part of the dream though we learn that you can also change how you look if you’re good enough at disguises such as Eames (Tom Hardy).   Here he disguises himself as Browning (Tom Berenger) who is Fischer’s father’s best friend and also most loyal employee.   Things get crazy from here on out, if it wasn’t already insane enough with them in one dream they work it so that they slip into a second dream.

In this dream Cobb convinces Fischer that he is in fact the head of his in the head security and is working with him to stop those that have invaded his head, this works to their advantage as they slip into the third level of the dream.   It’s the fact that things in the real world or higher dream worlds actually do effect the dream world as well, the shifting of the van that Yusuf (Dileep Rao) is driving actually affects the deeper dream world in the hotel.  The numbers that Fischer picks in the higher dream actually effect the lower two levels of his subconscious mind to the point that they are used over and over again.   It is here in the hotel that Arthur has three really cool sequences dealing with gravity and the loss of such a thing when the van first flips over while he is fighting a group of men and then the second time when gravity is lost as the van heads towards the lake below the bridge.

I cannot describe these sequences they have to be seen, but both of them are so well done that it makes you want to see them again.   At the same time in the deeper dream Fischer gets shot and actually “dies” though you don’t really die in the dream, you just slip further into your subconscious (when sedated when not you just wake up) into a place known as limbo.   It is here that we go in the last few minutes of the movie, here in limbo we see the world that Cobb and Mal created and everything comes head long into a conclusion that you won’t believe until you actually see it.    At the end once everyone has been pulled from the dream and Cobb is heading home it all seems to real to be true, the one phone call to make the things that were keeping him from going home, the arrival at his parents house to see his two kids who look just as they did in his dream.

It all seems too much like a dream, but is it a dream?  Does Cobb never wake up from his dream?  Was he dreaming all along throughout the entire movie?   Or did he wake up and he’s now back in the real world and the spinning top is actually going to topple just after the credits roll?   I can’t tell you what to think, I can only tell you that I believe he woke and is back in the real world, I believe that they pulled off Inception and that Cobb finally has his life back, why do I believe this? Because I like to believe that he made it back and in the end that’s what I believe, it might not be what you believe and that is the genius of Inception it’s all about our perceptions on what happens, it never forces its own perception on us, but instead lets us decide for ourselves…..

What they Did right: The dream sequences are amazing, the special effects are real and never invading.  The plot is pure and simple a heist movie within a dream movie that is also science fiction but you’d never really guess it was while watching it.  The characters are believable and the action is tight and deeply thought out as you would expect from the man who brought us Dark Knight.

What they did wrong: The only real fault I had with the film was that the whole three layers of the dream were not long enough or complex enough for all of the work that went into setting it up.   It is true that they went in thinking that they were just cracking his mind and implanting but not expecting security, still I would have loved to have seen more of those dreams than what was there…..maybe I’m just being selfish wanting a 3 hour movie?

Overall: 99/100

A must see, one of the best movies ever made plain and simple.  This one has become one of my top favorites of all time a film that I could watch over and over again and not only never get bored but always see something new as well each time I watch it….

Weekend Box Office For 7/16-7/18

The weekend has come and gone once again and this time we’re finally seeing something interesting.  People are speaking with their wallets this summer, to hollywood that they are tired of the retreaded remakes and sequels along with unoriginal ideas that have all infected hollywood for too long.  They spoke this weekend with their pockets going to see a movie that no one thought would pull in much money, just to show hollywood that it is time again to take risks on new original properties and stop with the remakes and retreds, to try to put something original out in the theaters.   Perhaps Hollywood will listen but my guess would be that we’re still going to see a lot of remakes and sequels over the next few years.

This weekend Inception came out to rave reviews and on top of that people actually went out and saw the movie as well and word of mouth spread to their friends saying how good the movie was.  Inception is from Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and the speculation was that despite how good it was no one was going to go see it because it was so full of big ideas about dreams and the idea behind the film of being able to go into another person’s dreams is treated like a heist movie but at the same time it has a deeper more broad story and is probably one of the best films that Leonardo DiCaprio has done.    The movie was either going to be a hit or it was going to do so little at the theaters that it was going to be confirmed that Nolan’s only successful movies would be his batman movies.  Instead Inception showed its legs this weekend, pulling in an estimated 60.4 million for the weekend, easily taking first place.   Proving that people want original ideas and that really good ideas will always translate into good returns with people going out to the theaters to see the movie.

Coming in at second place the Steve Carell starring movie Despicable Me another original property with a really good story and some heartwarming moments managed to pull in another 32.7 million at the box office bringing its two weekend total up to 118 million which puts the movie on a good pace to pull in over 200 million at the box office.   In third place showing once again that people aren’t interested in half-baked ideas with generic characters and ideas is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice which managed to pull in 17.3 million not coming anywhere near what Disney thought it would do.   Like Prince of Persia another Bruckheimer production that came out earlier this summer Apprentice looked like a fun movie but ultimately it’s just their attempt to cash in on the whole Harry Potter thing and it failed because it looked only like half of an idea instead of a full idea.  People are tired of seeing movies like this and they are tired of seeing Bruckheimer’s ideas translated to the big screen, maybe Disney will get that now and step back from just making every movie the man and his production company brings to them.   After all they have two failed movies at the box office this summer.

In fourth Twilight: Eclipse managed to bring in another 13.5 million bringing its total closer to 300 million. Twilight is a big property for Summit Entertainment and they only have one more movie (its being split into two parts) before the saga is over, which is actually a good thing because they don’t have to worry about people getting tired of it before the final film comes out.   They have actually been really smart putting these movies out one year apart from one another before the trend of vampires wears on people and they are no longer interested.  In at fifth Toy Story 3 managed another 11.7 million bringing its five weekend total 362 million nearly 400 million which it will reach before the summer is over.

Rounding out the top ten in at number six was Grown Ups the Adam Sandler family comedy has done surprisingly well and was entertaining to all but critics of course.   Grown Ups after this weekend has managed to pull in 129 million making almost twice as much as its budget.  At number seven The Last Airbender which has crossed the 100 million mark but its been out for three weekends now and still hasn’t made back its budget.  It will make it back before leaving theaters but just barely.   I don’t think we’ll be getting a sequel even if M Night seems to think he’ll be making two more.   In at number eight was Predators the Adrien Brody starring film was really good with a tight script and quick-moving pace, it was enjoyable and I quite liked it and hope for a sequel.  It managed to pull in another 6 million this weekend bringing its two weekend total up to 40 million which means its made its budget back already.  In at nine Knight and Day which stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, came in with another 3.7 million, the movie has no hope of being a success and word is out that Tom Cruise’s next big movie Mission Impossible IV will be re-written to bring in a younger hot star that he will be mentoring.   At number 10 The Karate Kid which will be getting a sequel in a few years there is no doubt as the movie has managed to pull in 170 million at the box office during its run.

Next Week is a hard one to call, two new movies come out: Ramona and Beezus about two sisters and the movie does look like family fun although its hard to say how well its going to do.   It does star Selma Gomez who is a hot tween property right now so I know that will help attract an audience to see the movie.   Also coming out is the Angelina Jolie movie Salt personally I don’t see this movie tracking very well, it does look interesting but I barely was even aware it was coming out and I love watching movies and their trailers.  I have only seen trailers for this film on-line and in a few television spots, I have never seen a trailer for it in theaters, not a good sign.  Here is how I think the weekend will stack up:

1. Inception- 40 to 50 million (word of mouth is going to help this movie immensely)
2. Ramona and Beezus– 30 to 40 million ( never underestimate the power of kids.)
3. Despicable Me– 20 to 30 million (see above)
4. Salt- maybe close to 20 million
5. Sorcerer’s Apprentice– 15 million or less.

Let me know what you think by taking this fun poll:

August Movie Release Preview 2010

It is almost time for the final month of the summer, only a few weeks of July remain and I think its high time we set August into preview and remember that the closing month of Summer is usually a slower month than the months of June and July.   July is already closing out with a slow week so lets see how August looks!

Weekend of August 6-8

The Other Guys-Opening August 6th nationwide

The Other Guys centers around two cops named Allen (Will Ferrell) and Terry (Mark Wahlberg) who are basically the kind of cops that you don’t usually see in movies.  They are two regular cops who mainly sit behind the desk and are over shadowed by the two biggest and most impressive cops in the precinct, Highsmith (Samuel Jackson) and Danson (Dwayne ‘the rock’ Johnson) who are everything that you are used to a cop being when watching a cop movie.   What happens is a shake up and the two regular cops both suddenly are caught up in something and have to take care of business like a badass cop instead of the kind of cops that they both usually are.

Starring: Will Farrell, Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Michael Keaton, and Lindsay Sloane

Directed by: Adam McKay

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: The week before this movie comes out we get the release of another comedy for adults: Dinner for Schmucks so its hard to say how well this movie will draw.  The good thing going for this movie is that there hasn’t been a cop comedy this summer and there isn’t one coming out anywhere near where this one is coming out at.   Another good thing going for this movie is it looks like both Will Farrell and Adam McKay are back to their form from Talladega Nights instead of the horrendous and forgettable Step-Brothers (which they should not have promoted at all in the trailers).  Another good thing going for The Other Guys is that it is coming out against the joke that is Step Up 3-D.

Opening Weekend Gross: 40 to 50 million more than likely this will be the biggest movie of the weekend, drawing in a nice crowd of those that want to go see a laugh…unless people want to see the other release for a different kind of laugh.

Step Up 3-D Opening July 6th Nationwide in 3-D

The first time I heard of the movie Step Up I thought it might be interesting and fun, and the movie was a decent film about dancing and the art of street dancing.   Of course it did a lot of money and thus it got a sequel and now another Step-Up movie is about to come out and all because well 3-D is the hot thing and why not make a 3-D dance movie about a tough gang of street dancers who happen to live in New York.  If the rehashed plot from the first and second Step Up movies about a group of people who have to Dance to save their lives or resolve their personal problems is to your liking then I am sure you will enjoy this movie and all that it has to offer.  Of course there is also the possibility that you just can’t resist 3-D films and thus you want to see a dance movie 3-D film.   Personally this movie looks like someone is playing a joke…just like the Cats and Dogs movie from July.

Starring: Alyson Stoner, Sharni Vinson, Harry Shum Jr., and Rick Malambri

Directed by: Jon Chu (he directed the second one too fyi)

Opening Box Office Draw: Personally this movie is a dud, but I am trying to look at this towards the audience that it is trying to attract.   This movie has a good shot of attracting mainly teen and preteen girls that like fast-moving dance films and even some boys perhaps as well.  Its got the appearance of gritty and thus some of them will be drawn to it thinking it is the next hot thing out there, plus its in 3-D which means its got to be at least partly interesting.  This movie will attract teeny-boppers to it and even some people who just like dancing in their films.

Opening Weekend Gross: 30 to 40 million, and this will be mainly because the movie is in 3-D and there will be enough draw of people who liked the first two as well.

Weekend of August 13-15

Eat Pray Love-Opening August 13th nationwide

This is the first Julia Roberts movie that I have wanted to see in a while.   The movie basically deals with a woman who one day realizes that her life is anything but full of meaning other than who she is with and why she is with them.   She decides to set out on a quest, spend a year traveling and just learning about the world and also herself at the same time.    The story looks interesting and the best thing is it looks like Julia Roberts is back to doing the kind of character that she does really well once more.   Its not the kind of movie that I see in theaters, but I am interested in seeing it once it comes out on dvd just because it looks like a movie with real heart and soul.    The film is going to attract people just because it has Julia Roberts, but like The Other Guys in the week before this movie knows where its audience is and is pushing itself towards them.

Starring: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Billy Crudup, and Richard Jenkins

Directed by: Ryan Murphy

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: This movie will pull in a lot of women, there is no way to be PC about it, the movie is designed to pull women in to see it and there is nothing wrong with that.   The draw of the film though is simple enough there hasn’t been any romance movies of the type that this one is released all summer and thus this one has a really good potential of drawing in a lot of women to see it and with them will come their boyfriends and husbands.

Opening Weekend Gross: 20 to 35 million.

The Expendables-Opening August 13th nationwide

If there is one thing that Sly Stallone knows its action and this one looks to be a movie full of action and really good action at that.  The Expendables is about a group of mercenaries who get hired to take down a dictator of a third world country, only things don’t go as the thought it would and everything gets more complex once they are over there.  They have to abandon one of their own and things go crazy from there when they learn the truth of what really happened and who set them up.   The trailers show the movie as being one full of action and the best thing of all a bunch of older action stars all once again showing that they can live up their roots of being action stars.  Stallone has shown that he’s not done with action yet and this movie truly does show that he might be able to keep doing it for years to come if he chooses to do so.

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, and Dolph Lundgren

Directed by: Sylvester Stallone

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: This is one of the slickest looking action movies of the entire summer, it’s going to draw a lot of people in to see it because by the time this one comes out it will have been nearly a month since another action movie has been in theaters and more than that this is one of those big tent pole action films that will draw both younger and older men to see including even boys just because of how much action and crazy things look to be happening in this movie.

Opening Weekend Gross: 30 to 40 million.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World-Opening August 13th nationwide

Scott Pilgrim is a young man who finds a really wonderful woman that he’s in love with, the only thing is well….she’s got these ex-boyfriends who won’t let him date her until he proves it to them.   The movie has style and substance, and also all of these strange special effects and video game like atmosphere.   The movie is based after a comic series of course (most original properties in hollywood are now).   The movie looks like it was made for Michael Cera to play and he looks really good in the movie as well.  This summer has shown us a lot of different and strange film but this one is perhaps the strangest of them all.

Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, and Brandon Routh

Directed by: Edgard Wright

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw- I would have to say not much, honestly the movie trailer has some really cool substance to it and its very comic like in apperance, but the film is not goign to draw a lot of people.   The trailer is pointed towards one sort of person, and the movie is pointed to that same person.   Scott Pilgrim is not going to be the huge hit that Universal seems to think that it will be and I don’t see it pulling in more than The Expendables and Eat Pray Love so I could be wrong but I don’t think that I am.

Opening Weekend Gross- 20 to 30 million.

Weekend of August 20-22

Lottery Ticket-Opening August 20th nationwide

Lottery Ticket is one of those easily forgettable comedies that come out around this time of the year.   This is where comedies that might do decent get a release date and this one does look like it has some moments that are going to make you laugh and enjoy yourself.  I can’t say there is one type of audience that this movie is directed towards, as it is a comedy that could have a lot of really good moments that will make you laugh out.   The premise behind the movie is that a young man and his mom win the lottery but when he goes to collect the money hilarity ensues because the lottery office is of course closed due to it being July 4th weekend.   Then somehow it gets out that he one the lottery and everyone is out seeking his money.

Starring: Terry Crews, Keith David, Ice Cube, Mike Epps, and Bow Wow

Directed by: Eric White

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: Movies of this nature (dealing with someone winning the lottery) do okay when they are released but they never really push the envelope and surely never draw but a few people here and there into the theater to watch them.   There is an audience that this movie is speaking towards and that is the audience that will go see the movie.   I don’t think its going to be a huge draw at the box office but it will be big enough to pull into the top five for the weekend.

Opening Weekend Gross: 20 to 30 million.

Nanny McPhee Returns-Opening August 20th nationwide

Never saw the first one, but I got the premise behind the movie and this one the second one has much the same.  Nanny McPhee returns once again to teach some kids that are spoiled and have never had any real fun the true meaning of what it means to be kids and also to be a part of a family.   Strange things happen and you cannot but help compare Nanny McPhee to another famous caretaker of young kids Marry Poppins its hard to say if either of them is based off of the other or not for me but I can see the likes right away when I watch the trailers for this movie.    Nanny McPhee is going to be a really good family movie of that I have no doubt, families will enjoy seeing it but that is about all.

Starring: Emma Thompson, Maggie Smith, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ewan McGregor, and Ralph Fiennes

Directed by: Susanna White

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: The movie will draw in families, especially those with young kids.  This is the kind of movie that you can safely take a kid under the age of nine to and not have to worry about missing something if they have to get up to go to the bathroom or if the kids are talking throughout most of the movie or not sitting still.   It will draw in famlies and those that want to take a kid to a film just so that they can be entertained and I am sure that it will be entertaining for them as well.

Opening Weekend Box Office Gross: 20 to 30 million.

Piranha 3-D-Releasing August 20th nationwide

Piranha 3-D is basically a 3-D remake of a classic horror movie released in 1978.  The movie was well-known for its cheese but has become a classic standing cult favorite and thus Hollywood felt it was time for a remake, an updated one with 3-D of course as well.  The premise behind the movie is anything but original but hey its in 3-D so of course scores of people will go out and see it.  What happens is an earthquake releases Piranha’s that are supposed to be extinct but of course they are hungry for….yeah you guessed it….human flesh in 3-D! GASP!  The movie doesn’t look exactly horrible and it has a decent cast so it might end up being  a fun watch but my bet is on it not being a big money-maker though it is coming out at the right time, end of August through October is usually when you have a good shot of making money on horror.

Starring: Elizabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Christopher Lloyd, Richard Dreyfuss, and Eli Roth

Directed by: Alexandre Aja

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: Depends on how thrilled people are at the chance of seeing another 3-D horror movie.  It is coming out at a good time, there isn’t much else that will get teens and young adults in the theater this weekend and this one could really do it.   It all depends on how people feel about it and if they aren’t tired of seeing movies in 3-D as this one is only coming out on 3-D (I think that’s the plan anyway).

Opening Weekend Gross: 30 to 40 million perhaps less if no one wants a 3-d horror movie or find a sudden interest in something else like Nanny McPhee.

The Switch-Releasing August 20th nationwide

There are some who say that Jennifer Aniston is not a box office draw yet she keeps getting to make movies even though most of her films have done nothing much at all.  This summer she’s getting a second shot this year with the romantic comedy The Swtich which is about a woman who wants to get pregnant and she uses a sperm donor the thing is, the donor’s sperm was replaced with a friends sperm by the friend so that it’s actually his baby that she has.   Yeah it sounds horrible and it looks horrible, but it might draw some in with its quirky plot line and the fact that Jennifer Aniston is starring in it.  Otherwise you might best stay away, like the baby movie earlier this summer with Jennifer Lopez this is another movie that most will just forget even comes out until its been out in theaters for two or three weeks.  They of course say it from the people who brought us Juno, by that they mean the producers that brought us Juno because neither the writer nor the director of the movie are actually involved, it’s just a trick to get people to go see the movie.

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldblum, and Juliette Lewis

Directed by: Josh Gordan and Will Speck

Weekend Box Office Draw: There are three bad signs for this movie and it making any money at all.  The first is that it stars Jennifer Aniston who has not proven at all that she can draw people into the box office lately or ever.   The second is that it is being billed as a movie from the people who brought us Juno as an attempt to get people into seats even though the movie is not written or directed by the people who did Juno.  The third and finale one is always a bad sign: it was directed by two people who also directed the Cave Man show.   I don’t think this movie is going to draw a lot of people in.

Weekend Box Office Gross: 10 to 15 million.

Vampires Suck-Opening August 18th nationwide

The battle for who will suck all of the life out of the vampire craze comes to a final conclusion with the movie Vampires Suck a straight up mash-up of vampire cliché’s and making fun of the Twilight Movies.   The film looks like it’s trying to be funny but doesn’t quite get how to be funny and thus it fails on many fronts.   They are trying to capitalize on the Twilight Saga craze, but on the other side instead of the side that loved the movies.  They are going for the people who hated the twilight films and are trying to be hip with those people by agreeing with them on the fact that the movies are horrible by making their own horrible comedy spoof of the movies.    It’s not really a good idea, but it could finally be the movie that ends the current vampire craze, its only downhill from here.   Trust me.

Starring: Matt Lanter, Ken Jeong, Anneliese van der Pol, and Jenn Proske

Directed by: Jason Friedberg, and Aaron Seltzer

Weekend Box Office Draw: Are you kidding me?  This movie has no draw at all.  Its directed by the same guys who wrote all of the Scary Movie movies, Date Movie, Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie, and even Spy Hard. It amazes me that these guys still get funding to direct and write these horrible movies.  They stopped being anything other than jokes after the second Scary Movie and they are horrible movies to watch in theaters and do not draw anyone in to see them.  Then again they are cheap to make so they usually make all of their money back.

Weekend Box Office Gross: 5 to 10 million if they are lucky.

Weekend of August 27-29

Going the Distance-Releasing August 27 nationwide

This one is a true romantic Comedy that I haven’t seen in a long while, its more focused on the romance and the comedy than most romantic comedy trailers lately.  Its the story of two people who meet one another but she lives half way across the country and was only visiting her sister when she met him.  They fall in love during the two weeks or so that she is there and decide to try long distance dating, thus the name of the movie.   Things happen, the two of them realize they miss one another and thus begins a quest to meet again.   It looks charming and funny plus it has a really good cast.   This one has a good chance of being a good romantic comedy.

Starring: Drew Berrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate, and Ron Livingston.

Directed by: Nanette Burstein

Weekend Box Office Draw: the movie looks like it hits all of the right parts quickly and truly does look funny and sweet as well, because of this a lot of people especially couples who want to have a romantic night out will be seeing this one.   It looks like a really good and fun film with a lot of funny moments along with romantic ones.   It will pull people into the box office though I don’t think it will a huge draw.

Weekend Box Office Gross: 25 to 30 million (really good for a romantic comedy)

The Last Exorcism-Opening August 27 nationwide

The Last Exorcism is about a exorcist who goes out to a farm to help a father with his daughter whom the man believes is possessed  by the devil.   The Exorcist is in fact a fake, he’s always faked these things before, but out on this farm with a documentary crew things go terribly wrong, something dark gets called forth and things take a quick turn for the worst for all of them on that farm.  The trailer looks sick (in a good way) and the documentary style of the movie seems to add something more realistic to the movie this time around.  They are really doing a good job of showing the dangers of what can happen during an exorcist and it harkens back to the classic movie The Exorcist in a very good and disturbing way.

Starring: Patrick Fabian, Ashely Bell, and Louis Herthum

Directed by: Daniel Stamm

Opening Weekend Box Office Draw: The time is right, late August, people are tired of the summer block buster season and want to see other kinds of movies, and this is why Horror usually does better in the fall than in the spring when people are starting to get pumped up for more action movies or comedies.   This would have been a good time for Splice to come out, but this weekend we get this one instead.  The movie looks good and I think it will draw in even more people than Piranha from the week before did.

Opening Weekend Gross: 20 to 30 million.

Takers–Opening August 27 nationwide

Its the story of a group of men who are all “takers” as one of them points out.  They are bank robbers and work hard at their jobs, but something happens during their latest “take” and they are suddenly in trouble and have to deal with it.    The story is hardly original and while the cast is decent the movie looks like a re-tread of much better bank heist movies that were released years before it.  There is a decent plot though and some of the action looks really tight and interesting, its hard to see how the movie will move along through a short trailer, but doesn’t really hold the attention for very long.

Starring: Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker, Idris Elba, and Matt Dillion

Directed by: John Luessenhop

Weekend Box Office Draw: not very high, it will all depend on how many people want to see another heist movie as opposed to those who just want to see something different.   These types of movies can either do really good or do really poorly.  The last heist movie Armored did not do very good at all, and it looked like a superior movie to this one, though that doesn’t mean this one won’t make a lot of money.   My guess though is that this movie is only going to appeal to some not to all and it’s going to do significantly less than the studio that made it thinks it will do.

Weekend Box office Gross: 10 to 20 million.

That is the month of August, like most months of August its the end of the summer and the blockbuster season is over as kids start to focus on school again and parents start to focus on helping them get ready for school again.  The fun of summer ends and the movie season kicks into one of the two doldrums (the other is late winter/early spring) of the year before another ramp up during the holiday season.   I will be back in August for September…till then keep reading and I’ll keep writing.

It’s a Hunting Perserve

Predators

Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, and Laurence Fishburne

Directed by: Nimrod Antal

Back in 1987 the original Predator movie came out with Arnold Schwarzenegger starring as a big man out on a mission seeking to stop a strange alien creature that has hunted him and his whole platoon to death until only he is left alive.  The movie was a really good action film filled to the brim with action and adventure along with some good special effects.  It also launched a series of films and video games along with some decent vs’ movies that were only okay but still interesting in some parts.   Now in 2010 its time for the predators to be reborn and this time its being done correctly not like the aliens vs. predators movies that were released in the 2000’s.   Predators is a direct sequel to the first movie, Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger and doesn’t mention Predator II the Danny Glover film that was decent but nowhere near as good as the original movie.   Predators even refers to the original movie and uses some ideas from it to make this movie a really stand out film in the series that really does help redeem the series and start it off on the right path once again.  From the really good cinematography to the tight story that always keeps things going and the surprises coming the movie really does a great job of putting you not only into the atmosphere of this world but into the action of it as well.

Predators starts out with a man that we do not know the name of landing in a jungle played by Adrien Brody.   What surprises me the most about this movie is that Adrien Brody pulls off his action military mercenary character really well which was my main fear that he wasn’t going to be able to pull off the tough guy role but he did a really good job with it.   The film really gets going quickly here as well, we don’t just sit there and get to know these people who all land in parachutes pretty close to one another, they are constantly moving from one place to another all of them together.    We are quickly introduced to our band of players, there is the doctor Edwin (played by Topher Grace) Isabelle the woman military sniper, Stans a prisoner who is one of the worlds most deadliest killers, Nikolai a military man as well, Hanzo who is a member of the Yokuza, and Cuchillo a mercenary of some kind and Mombasa from somewhere in africa.

We really don’t get to know the characters, just their archetypes for most of them, which is okay by me we don’t need to know a lot about Cuchillo or Hanzo or even Stans we get right off the bat who they are and what they represent.  All of them are killers of some kind though the movie does a really good job of keeping us wondering exactly how Edwin fits in with the others as he is a doctor and that is usually not a profession that we think of as killers.   We learn about his back story at just the right time and I’ll get into that a little later.   The thing about this movie is it’s always moving so even though most of the characters have little back story it’s not important because it’s about what is happening to them now rather than what happened to them before.

We learn quickly that they are on another planet, and that they are being hunted like game.  We get to see former game that has been hunted in fact even other humans that have been hunted.   The humans all band together as they see little or no other choice but to do so.  It is obvious that once they realize they are on another world their only choice is to somehow survive and get off of the world.   It is about here that we get our first glimpses of the Predators themselves though it is only slightly short and then we move on to some strange dogs that attack and help the predators figure out what the weak links are in the group.   This is where Cuchillo gets killed off and we don’t even get to see how he gets killed, this is the first of some mistakes that the film makes.

As always the movie moves on very quickly and this is a good thing but it is also where things start to get a little thrown out the window.  We are introduced quickly to another player the insane Noland who has been on the planet for so long by himself that he has gone crazy.  Noland basically sets everyone up to die so that he can take their stuff and that is when things back fire for him but we also learn a little history from him as well.  Basically there are two types of predators, the weaker smaller ones who are fighting a war with the larger stronger ones who have set up a game preserve on a planet and are hunting people and other creatures from other planets for fun and sport.   This is what is basically been set up about these Predators in the years before through comics and movies and the new movie doesn’t break from the mold.

After Noland is killed things go crazy, Royce (whom we don’t learn the name of until the end of the film and is played by Adrien Brody) decides that the only thing to do is to get off of the planet, and the only way to do that is to steal the ship that the Predators landed on the planet with.   He concocts a plan to free the captured smaller Predator and have him help them escape.  We loose everyone but three people by the time they get close to the camp.  Only Royce, Isabella, and Edwin are left alive, Edwin gets caught in a trap and Isabella stays with him splitting from Royce who goes on his own and frees the captured predator.

The captured predator is actually of the smaller group who are fighting with the bigger ones and also looks just like the one that was in the original Predator movie.   They did a great job when he puts his outfit on showing us this fact, thus we know that neither the first nor the second groups are that much different than one another.   They are both bent on hunting and it is what they do with their lives hunting other species for sport and fighting with one another.    The coolest fights in the entire movie are all three right here together.  The first one involves the Yakuza man Hanzo using a samurai sword to fight with one of the predators to the death.  They both end up killing one another with sword strikes, right behind it two predators fight one another.   The fight is really interesting they fight one another and for a minute there it looks like our hero predator might win but he doesn’t.

We also think that Royce has abandoned the others as the ship that he was supposed to escape on explodes and we learn the truth about Edwin right then and there as well.   He is a serial killer who has killed dozens of people but has never been caught, how the Predator’s knew about him who can say but it is still interesting that he is there and that he is trying to kill Isabella even though they are in a pit trapped and about to be killed by the Predators.   What happens instead is he is used by Royce as bait to try to kill the last of the three predator’s  the final battle between Royce and the predator leader is really good and comes to a final conclusion with the predator being killed in spectacular beheading action.

The film leaves itself open at the end with Royce and Isabella walking into the jungle as more people are crashing to the forest in parachutes trying to find another way off of the planet.  IT is possible that there could be a sequel to Predators and the movie is a really good film.

What they did Right: The action, the characters all of it felt like a Predator movie down to he last moment.  The final fight sequences are all edge of your seat exciting.   There is a lot of Rodriguez in the film even though he did not direct it, you can tell that he had a hand in helping Nimrod or that Nimrod learned a lot from working with Rodriguez in the past.

What they did Wrong: I have to say that the entire Predator thing was not used enough.   We barely see the Predators in the film and never really get a good feel that they are hunting the humans at all besides a few shots here and there.   The surprise is that we learn about two different races of predators but it’s never used too much except to drive the story.    The movie went too long with us thinking it was just a bunch of people trekking through a forest without anything really happening with the predators themselves…perhaps the sequel?

Overall: B

The movie hits the right spots and is a fun ride from beginning to end….but with a name like Predators I was expecting more predator action instead of more human trekking through woods and being hunted by dog like creatures.

One Ugly Mother

Box Office Report for 7/9-7/11

What a weekend with a surprise on top of that.  I usually like being right but this week I will be happy to be wrong because I was also right.  Although I wasn’t fully wrong I came close to what I thought Despicable Me would make, the movie ended up pulling in just a little more than the 60 million that it managed to pull in.   But that’s not what I’m talking what I am talking about is Predators.   The movie pulled in less than I thought it would, but it still managed to finish in the top three even though I thought it would come in fourth.   Now onto the report:

In first place this week was Despicable Me the movie managed to bring in 60.1 million dollars over the weekend which is great news for an animated feature with a small budget.  The movie managed to show that people were ready for another family comedy that the kids could enjoy after having Toy Story 3 out for three weeks.   Despicable Me stars Steve Carell who has yet to not be box office gold in the movies he does.   Recently he was in Date Night which also managed to pull in a lot of money over its run at the theaters.   So Despicable Me will continue that trend.    In second place was Twilight: Eclipse not a real surprise at all considering that this is the big teen movie of the summer, it did drop a huge 48 percent from the week before, but this is understandable when the week before was a four day weekend and it was also released on a Wednesday as well.   The movie is well on its way to a 300 million plus release at the box office and will definitely put the saga in a good place for the last part which is being filmed as two movies.

In at third this week was newcomer Predators with Adrian Brody among others.  The movie has gotten really good word of mouth as being the best movie in the series since the first one with Arnold.   Predators was made relatively cheap as well with a budget of 40 million and I really think it would have made all of that back if it had been released somewhere other than the middle of July.   It managed to pull in 25 million for a third place berth and looks to perhaps retain some of that next weekend though there is tough competition for people’s money then.   In forth came Toy Story 3 which was only down by 27 percent from the week before which means it maintained its audience even though Despicable Me came out.   That brought its weekend total up to 22 million and its box office run is now up to 340 million making it Pixar’s biggest movie released yet.

In fifth falling a full 57 percent from last weekend is the movie with the biggest fall in audience The Last Airbender managed only another 17 million over the three day weekend.  It will make back its entire budget of 150 but that budget probably doesn’t count other costs for the film either, its had to say sometimes with hollywood.   Airbender should have made more money over the weekend but it probably didn’t due to word of mouth from fans of the cartoon series.  Most people who went to see Airbender in the first place were probably fans of the series on Nickelodeon and were disappointed to such a point that they didn’t recommend it and thus it has no one really going to see it.   I doubt a sequel will be greenlit by Paramount and who can really blame them.

Rounding out the top ten we come up with at number six Grown Ups which has pulled in an impressive 111 million over its three weekend run so far, another Adam Sandler movie with a low budget that managed to pull far up beyond that because people like his brand of humor.  In at seven Knight and Day the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz movie has done okay at the box office considering it came out during a tough time of the summer.  If I was a Fox executive I would have put Knight and Day out sometime in March or April the returns probably would have been better.  As it stands it has barely managed to pull in 60 million.   In at eight was The Karate Kid which has an astounding total of a 165 million now proving that most everyone was wrong about this one, as it turned out to be a really decent re-imagining of the classic.   Ninth place was The A-Team which has managed to pull in 73 million but has no hope of making back its budget by now.   The thing about A-Team wasn’t that it was a bad movie, it was that it wasn’t good enough to draw people into the theater to see it during the same weekend that The Karate Kid came out.   Rounding out the top ten once again was Cyrus a low budget movie that has made most of its budget back.

It was all in all another impressive week at the box office.  All we needed was something to kick start the box office going and we got that with The Karate Kid since then the box office has not been quiet but loud and thunderous with movie after movie making people go into the theaters.

Next Week looks to continue this trend, two movies coming out look to put people in the theaters, one with magic and the other dealing with dreams and the human mind.   Inception the latter not the former, deals with a man who can enter into people’s minds and alter things and stars Leonardo DiCaprio which usually helps put people in the seats.   Inception is also from Christopher Nolan the man behind The Dark Knight and The Prestige both incredible films that did really well at the box office (Dark Knight especially).  Inception might continue this trend, right now its hard to say for sure.   Also coming out is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Nicholas Cage, this one is harder to judge really, the movie looks fantastical and has a lot of really cool special effects in it.  The first early reviews for it have been favorable although not all of them have been great, the movie though could track good just because of who stars in it and who is releasing it.   This is how I think the weekend is going to stack up:

1. Inception With 60 million (I hope I am right about this but I still get teh feeling i could be wrong.
2. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice- with 50 million
3. Despicable Me- with 30 to 40 million
4. Twilight: Eclipse- with 20 to 30 million
5. Predators – with 15 to 20 million.

Let me know who you think will finish at number 1 in this handy pole!

Coming later this week: The August Movie Previews!