For me, the biggest news of the week was the confirmation that Joss Whedon will write and direct the sequel to The Avengers. It didn't make any sense, of course, for Marvel and Whedon to part ways after the ridiculous success of the first film but then again, Marvel has been known to be stingy with their profits so it was far from a done deal before now. In other news, it appears Whedon is also developing a live-action Marvel TV series. So there's that.
DC Comics countered all the Whedon-related news by offering their prospective Justice League film to Ben Affleck as director. That's a weird rumor right there. CinemaBlend sums up what we know so far about the Justice League movie.
Robert Zemeckis continues his resurgence with news that he will develop and possibly direct a movie about the Barefoot Bandit. If you don't know who the Barefoot Bandit is, it's worth Googling. Very interesting story.
Will Ferrell and Steve Carell will re-team for Justin Theroux's comedy Swear to God. Anything good enough for those two is good enough for me.
The long-rumored third film in the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure saga has officially been given the green light. So that's...exciting?
In light of the collective "meh" critics and audiences issued in the direction of Total Recall, Player Affinity gives us 10 sci-fi movies that should be remade. Check it out!
Programming note: I will be moving this week into a newly purchased home (yay for real jobs, I guess). There's a good chance this will result in little to no content making its way to this space during the week. My apologies.
Programming note: I will be moving this week into a newly purchased home (yay for real jobs, I guess). There's a good chance this will result in little to no content making its way to this space during the week. My apologies.
Weekend Box
Office Results
Well it took solid openings for three different films but
The
Dark Knight Rises has been bumped off the top spot after perching there
for three weeks. The Bourne Legacy probably underperformed a bit thanks for less
than stellar early reviews but I’m sure Universal isn’t worried considering how
well the film will undoubtedly do overseas. The Campaign performed
above expectations with both critics and audiences and took in a respectable
second place finish. And Hope Springs did well with the
geriatric crowd it was so readily targeted toward. Not to be forgotten,
however, The Dark Knight Rises moved into 15th place on the
all-time domestic box office list. If its trending patterns hold, it will
probably find up somewhere between 9th and 12th all-time
when it’s all said and done. Not too shabby, though perhaps not the worldwide
sensation we might have expected earlier this year.
1. The
Bourne Legacy - $40.26M
2. The
Campaign - $27.44M
3. The
Dark Knight Rises - $19.54M ($390.14M)
4. Hope
Springs - $15.6M
5. Diary
of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - $8.2M ($30.55M)
6. Total
Recall - $8.1M ($44.18M)
7. Ice
Age: Continental Drift - $6.75M ($144.06M)
8. Ted -
$3.29M ($209.91M)
9. Step
Up Revolution - $2.85M ($30.16M)
10. The Amazing
Spider-Man - $2.2M ($255.54M)
What I’ve Seen
and You Should Too
The Hunger Games – Jennifer Lawrence,
Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson
I won’t spend much time writing on this one since pretty
much everyone, including many of your deceased relatives, has already seen The
Hunger Games. I am interested, though, to see how it holds up with multiple
viewings as it has gained a bit of steam within my own head since its release.
In that time I’ve become more and more convinced that film version of The
Hunger Games is much better than the book, which I’ve browsed through
again since my viewing. Hoping I’m right because I’m not as sold on the book as
I used to be.
What I’ve Seen
and You Should Too – TV Edition
Community: Season 3 – Joel McHale,
Alison Brie, Donald Glover
Hey, you know what was the best sitcom on television last
year? That’s right, friends, the answer is Community! Don’t believe me? Well,
read this very scientific column and then go check it out for yourself.
Seriously, the progression of Community from a somewhat middling
comedy half way through its freshman year to one of the greatest seasons in
recent sitcom history in season three has been fascinating to watch. If you’re
a fan of Arrested Development and for some reason you haven’t been
watching Community then you’re doing it wrong.
Also New
The Raid – Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray
Sahetapy
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Damien Echols,
Jessie Misskelly, Jason Baldwin
Kill List – Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring,
Harry Simpson
Hick – Chloe Grace Moretz, Blake Lively,
Eddie Redmayne
Glee: Season 3 – Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison,
Jane Lynch
Dexter: Season 4 – Michael C. Hall,
Jennifer Carpenter, Desmond Harrington
Happy Endings: Seasons 1 and 2 – Eliza Coupe,
Zachary Knighton, Elisha Cuthbert
New to Blu Pick
of the Week or Whenever I Feel Like It
Jaws (1975) – Roy Schneider, Robert
Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
The original summer blockbuster FINALLY makes its way
onto blu-ray. I’ve been waiting for this one for a while now as Spielberg
continues his ingenious and maddening method of releasing his bigger hits in
this format with all the hurry of a turtle trying to cross a busy highway. Jaws is
one of the greatest blockbusters of all time, has some of the best acting you’ll
ever see in this sort of film, and represents the rare horror flick that has
the ability to genuinely scare the crap out of people. This is an incredible
film that I can’t wait to relive in full HD.
Also New to Blu
Fallen (1998) – Denzel Washington, John
Goodman, Donald Sutherland
Royal Tenenbaums: Criterion Collection
Edition (2001) – Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray
New Jack City (1991) – Wesley Snipes,
Ice-T, Chris Rock
Shaft (1971) – Richard Roundtree, Moses
Gunn, Charles Cioffi
Coming to a
Theater Near You
Well I feel sheepish. It is unlikely that I could have
screwed up last week’s Rotten Tomatoes predictions any worse than I did.
Critics didn’t care for The Bourne Legacy (Rotten, 54%
actual versus Fresh, 80% prediction), they weren’t quite as bullish on Hope Springs
as I expected (74% actual versus 84% predicted), and somehow The
Campaign was a billion times better than it looked (Fresh, 67% actual
versus Rotten, 25% predicted). These mistakes have kept me up at night (no they
haven’t), I am deeply sorry for the misinformation I have fed you (no I’m not),
and I will strive to put in the appropriate research to make sure that this
never happens again (highly unlikely). This week represents the dumping ground
for the summer, the weekend on which every studio drops off their movie that
wasn’t quite up to challenging the big boys on the summer block but won’t fit
in with the typical fare of the fall.
Expendables 2 – Sylvester Stallone,
Jason Statham, Every other action star ever
The world’s greatest group of mercenaries reassembles for
what should be an easy paycheck on a job that turns out to be far more
dangerous than they originally thought. The Expendables was the PERFECT end
of summer film: it was absolutely absurd, an incredible amount of fun, and 100
percent forgettable as soon as you left the theater. For me, it doesn’t have
any of the reviewing value that other action films (or comedy-action mashups
like the unmatchable MacGruber) but for two hours, it was
bloody good fun. I expect this sequel will be up to par and perhaps surpass the
original. Beefed up roles for Willis and Schwarzenegger and the addition of
Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme give The Expendables 2 a
little extra juice and I expect it will be nearly impossible to watch without
smiling. Rotten Tomatoes prediction:
Rotten, 53%
ParaNorman – Kodi Smit-McPhee,
Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck
A nerdy kid (KSM) with an ability to see ghosts must
bring a hodge-podge team together in order to save his town from a curse. This
will be the first of several kid-targeted films that focus on the supernatural
in the back half of this year and in truth, I have no idea what to expect from
it. I will say two things about ParaNorman: 1.) This is an inventive
concept for which I give the studio credit for and 2.) I’m so excited for this
film to open simply so I don’t have to see another trailer for it. Good grief,
talk about overkill. Rotten Tomatoes
prediction: Fresh, 61%
Sparkle – Jordin Sparks, Whitney
Houston, Carmen Ejogo
A trio of sisters becomes a Motown sensation in the
1960s. My question about Sparkle is simply this: would anyone
care about this film if not for it being Whitney Houston’s final film? Dreamgirls,
which holds many similarities to this movie, made a chunk of money when it opened
in 2006 but then again, it was expected to make waves with award shows in ways
that Sparkle
is not. Personally I’m not interested but it will be intriguing to see how many
people are. Rotten Tomatoes prediction:
Fresh, 70%
The Odd Life of Timothy Green – Jennifer Garner, Joel
Edgerton, CJ Adams
After failing to conceive, a couple (Garner, Edgerton)
literally buries their hopes for their future child in the garden as a form of
therapy. They are surprised, then, to find that a rainstorm has grown an
elementary aged boy (Adams) from their box of hopes. Well, it’s an interesting
idea. So interesting that I’m shocked it isn’t based upon a book. The problem
is, it’s such a weird concept that I don’t know what to expect, I think other
viewers don’t know what to expect, and therefore, I think the box office return
is going to be bad, though it could find favor with critics. Rotten Tomatoes prediction: Fresh, 65%
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