Originally titled “Master Killer” when it was released in the USA on VHS at some point after its Asian theatrical release in 1978, the film follows the story of San Te, a young student who is naïve about human nature and man’s domination of man; his insulated upbringing gives him no understanding as to why the Manchus wish to dominate the Han Chinese.

However, eventually he has no choice but to understand—his teacher is a revolutionary, and challenges them to understand what it means to be dominated and why one should fight to be free. Later, when San Te publicly remarks that Han Chinese rebel crucified in the town square was a hero, he—under the threat of being imprisoned himself, has to apologize to the Manchus for his transgression.

This event strikes him to his core, and he begins to ask questions. He involves himself in the revolution as an errand boy. During this short period, his teacher remarks that if only the Shaolin would teach kung fu to the people, they could fight the Manchus.

Soon, San Te’s teacher becomes the target of the Manchus—fellow students are killed, and even San Te’s own father becomes the victim of his associations with Han rebels.

On the run, San Te is determined to get to Shaolin temple to learn kung fu, and seek refuge from the Manchus hunting him.

What has been summarized thus far is roughly a half-hour of exposition mostly to serve the purpose of the rest of the film—to show the world of martial arts training, self-discipline, and self-discovery.

While the story is relatively straightforward and uncomplicated, it achieves a remarkable technical realism. This is thanks to Lau Kar Leung, the director more famous for Jackie Chan’s “Legend of Drunken Master,” who keeps his comic sensibilities to a minimum here to weave a no-nonsense tale for the very purpose of introducing people to authentic Hung Gar training, discipline, and values.

Fans of extremely realistic films will enjoy this picture—even in spite of its 70’s Hong Kong set-piece feel. The realistic aspects of the film have everything to do with the execution of martial arts and what training is involved. It is said that Lau Kar Leung wanted to make a film that actually showed martial arts training in its entirety–not the five minute sequences training occupied next to sequences of kung fu fantasy in films by earlier Hong Kong directors like Chang Cheh.

The film is uncompromising in achieving this vision, which may make non-martial arts enthusiasts yawn, but is deeply rewarding for viewers seeking films about martial arts, films about fighters in general, or even the psychology of fighting.

Fight films are few and far between. Good fight films are even fewer. “36^th Chamber of Shaolin” is in that small pantheon of fighter-flicks that deliver.

#2 Brooklyn’s Finest from Overture debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $13.3 million in 1936 theaters. Budget was $17 million.

#3 Shutter Island from Paramount drops from #1 to #3 with a weekend gross of $13.2 million (-41.6%) in 3178 theaters (+175). Total gross to date is $95.7 million. Budget was $80 million.

#4 Cop Out from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #4 with a weekend gross of $9.2 million (-49.0%) in 3150 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $32.5 million. Budget was $30 million.

#5 Avatar from Fox drops from #4 to #5 with a weekend gross of $8.1 million (-40.5%) in 2163 theaters (-293). Total gross to date is $720.6 million. Budget is unknown.

#6 The Crazies from Overture drops from #3 to #6 with a weekend gross of $7.0 million (-55.9%) in 2479 theaters (+3) . Total gross to date is $27.4 million. Budget was $20 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief drops from #5 to #7 with a weekend gross of $5.1 million (-46.5%) in 2994 theaters (-308) . Total gross to date is $78.0 million. Budget was $95 million.

#8 Valentine’s Day drops from #6 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.1 million (-54.2%) in 3040 theaters (-538). Total gross to date is $106.3 million. Budget was $52 million.

#9 Crazy Heart jumps from #10 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.3 million (+34.5%) in 1274 theaters (+126). Total gross to date is $29.5 million. Budget was $7 million.

#10 Dear John drops from #7 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.7 million (-42.1%) in 2496 theaters (-510). Total gross to date is $76.6 million. Budget was $25 million.

#11 The Tooth Fairy drops from #9 to #11 with a weekend gross of $1.6 million (-50.8%) in 1734 theaters (-515). Total gross to date is $56.2 million. Budget was $48 million.

#12 The Wolfman drops from #8 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.6 million (-61.6%) in 1829 theaters (-1214). Total gross to date is $60.4 million. Budget was $150 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $185.8 million (+74.4%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

That’s the premise to director Antoine Fuqua’s latest movie, Brooklyn’s Finest. Fuqua is best known for his previous movie of police corruption, Training Day, a terrific film that I think actually gets a little edged out by Brooklyn’s Finest.

Fuqua is real adept at weaving together these three stories. He gives you enough on each character and then knows when to move on to his next. You never really feel like he’s getting lost in these three stories. For the first part of the film, there’s a more leisured pace to seeing their stories unfold, but then at some key points of action, he’ll pick up the pace with quicker cuts to each of the three stories. The flow feels very nice.

It’s for a mature audience to be sure, and not just because of it’s dealings with sex and violence in the film. These characters are really well-drawn, and while their surface stories might give off singular motivations, there’s more to each of these men than just that and it’s there on the screen thanks to some really nice performances.

Ethan Hawke plays Sal, Don Cheadle plays Tango and Richard Gere plays Eddie and all three deliver some exceptional work here. I particularly found myself drawn to Gere and Eddie Dugan’s story the most. Gere’s performance really does feel lived-in and like that of a man who’s withdrawn himself because of things that he’s experienced over time. That doesn’t slight what either Hawke or Cheadle does here. I like how Hawke plays his corruption here which is apart from how it might be conventionally portrayed, he’s riddled with guilt over what he’s done and has an obvious hard time dealing with it. Cheadle’s a powder keg waiting to explode, especially when dealing with his superiors and when it does happen, it’s actually pretty harrowing in it’s own right.

There’s a lot of good support here as well. It’s very nice to see Wesley Snipes in something like this. Snipes plays Cas, Tango’s friend who’s been away to jail and is just now released and getting back into the life. though he doesn’t have as much time on the screen as the three leads, Snipes still does really well here and even with this part, it still feels multi-faceted. Will Patton and Ellen Barkin play Tango’s superiors. Patton is solid, this is the sort of character thing that we’re used to from him. Barkin is a big surprise though and it’s one of the more vicious performances that I’ve seen her do. I can’t tell you how long that it’s been that I’ve seen Lili Taylor in a movie, but it was certainly nice to see her here as Sal’s wife, and while it’s not a flashy performance you can see by her work who’s the rock in this relationship. Brían F. O’Byrne plays one of Sal’s team, who’s basically Sal’s clarity even though Sal doesn’t know it. Shannon Kane plays Chantal, a hooker that Eddie Dugan sees. Dugan thinks she could be one way of him finding something for himself in the world, and she’s certainly adept at giving him that further illusion.

Brooklyn’s Finest is really a terrific movie. The three stories are all handled very well, really making you involved with their characters and the way they come together in the end feels logical, though there is some coincidence to it, it still feels right. For me, this one is one of those that already I’ll have to look back on at the end of the year as one of the best films of 2010. Highly recommended.

#2 Cop Out from Warner Brothers debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $18.2 million in 3150 theaters. Budget was $30 million.

#3 The Crazies from Overture debuts at #3 with an opening weekend gross of $16.0 million in 2476 theaters. Budget was $20 million.

#4 Avatar from Fox drops from #3 to #4 with a weekend gross of $13.6 million (-15.9%) in 2456 theaters (-125). Total gross to date is $706.5 million. Budget is unknown.

#5 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief from Fox drops from #4 to #5 with a weekend gross of $9.5 million (-37.2%) in 3302 theaters (-94) . Total gross to date is $70.9 million. Budget was $95 million.

#6 Valentine’s Day from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #6 with a weekend gross of $9.0 million (-45.6%) in 3578 theaters (-87). Total gross to date is $99.9 million. Budget was $52 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 Dear John drops from #6 to #7 with a weekend gross of $4.8 million (-32.6%) in 3006 theaters (-56). Total gross to date is $72.4 million. Budget was $25 million.

#8 The Wolfman drops from #5 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.2 million (-56.9%) in 3043 theaters (-180). Total gross to date is $57.3 million. Budget was $150 million.

#9 The Tooth Fairy drops from #7 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.4 million (-21.3%) in 2249 theaters (-274). Total gross to date is $53.8 million. Budget was $48 million.

#10 Crazy Heart drops from #8 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.4 million (-16.9%) in 1148 theaters (+59). Total gross to date is $25.0 million. Budget was $7 million.

#11 The Blind Side jumps from #13 to #11 with a weekend gross of $1.2 million (-14.7%) in 945 theaters (-115). Total gross to date is $248.7 million. Budget was $29 million.

#12 The Book of Eli drops from #11 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.1 million (-41.1%) in 975 theaters (-480). Total gross to date is $92.5 million. Budget was $80 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $106.5 million (-12.7%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

That’s the premise to The Crazies, a re-make of an early 70s film from director George Romero. This new version is helmed by director Breck Eisner, and while it’s well-made, there’s still something that’s a little lacking for me. I’ve never seen the original film, so I can’t really draw any comparisons to that. I see that a lot of people are calling it a “zombie” movie, but it’s not technically. It’s an infestation/virus film, though I doubt that will make much of a difference to the naysayers of horror movies out there.

There’s solid tension here right from the start. It does a nice job at showing this more through the eyes of an everyman and the chaos that would result from that. Where it falters are in areas after the military moves in and a lack of consistency as to just what their presence is. One moment, they’re all over the place and the next they’re mysteriously gone, which seems more for the convenience of moving our main characters forward in the story more than anything really logical. Now I don’t necessarily need there to be a strict adherence to logic throughout a movie like this, and if it’s made with enough of a brisk pace, then normally I wouldn’t even bring it up. Here, though, there are moments when things relax enough that I did question that.

For the most part though, it’s pretty well made. No problem with any of the performances though. Timothy Olyphant plays Sheriff Dutton and Radha Mitchell plays his wife Judy and they’re both rock-solid, as is the work of the supporting cast.

There’s nothing really offensive here though, just a few moments where that paced is relaxed enough to question a few things and some added “hero” moments at the end of the film which are more padding than anything else. Not a bad little diversion, and if you like these sort of films (and I do), then you might have a good time with it. I don’t think this is one though that you have to run right out to see in a theatre and it actually might play better later on for home viewing.

#2 Valentine’s Day from Warner Brothers drops from #1 to #2 with a weekend gross of $16.6 million (-70.4%) in 3665 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $86.9 million. Budget was $52 million.

#3 Avatar from Fox jumps from #4 to #3 with a weekend gross of $16.2 million (-31.2%) in 2581 theaters (-104). Total gross to date is $687.9 million. Budget is unknown.

#4 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief from Fox drops from #3 to #4 with a weekend gross of $15.2 million (-51.2%) in 3396 theaters (+40) . Total gross to date is $58.7 million. Budget was $95 million.

#5 The Wolfman from Universal drops from #2 to #5 with a weekend gross of $9.8 million (-68.6%) in 3223 theaters (+1). Total gross to date is $50.3 million. Budget was $150 million.

#6 Dear John from Screen Gems drops from #5 to #6 with a weekend gross of $7.1 million (-55.6%) in 3062 theaters (+87). Total gross to date is $65.8 million. Budget was $25 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Tooth Fairy drops from #6 to #7 with a weekend gross of $4.3 million (-28.1%) in 2523 theaters (-225). Total gross to date is $49.7 million. Budget was $48 million.

#8 Crazy Heart jumps from #9 to #8 with a weekend gross of $2.9 million (-30.5%) in 1089 theaters (+84). Total gross to date is $21.5 million. Budget was $7 million.

#9 From Paris with Love drops from #7 to #9 with a weekend gross of $2.6 million (-51.6%) in 2311 theaters (-411). Total gross to date is $21.3 million. Budget was $52 million.

#10 Edge of Darkness drops from #8 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.2 million (-53.7%) in 2118 theaters (-497). Total gross to date is $40.3 million. Budget was $80 million.

#11 The Book of Eli holds at #11 with a weekend gross of $1.8 million (-48.0%) in 1455 theaters (-370). Total gross to date is $90.7 million. Budget was $80 million.

#12 When in Rome drops from #10 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.7 million (-52.8%) in 1627 theaters (-498). Total gross to date is $29.3 million. Budget is unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $122.0 million (-35.4%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Yeah, that description of the initial premise of Shutter Island is really cryptic. I don’t like to spoil movies at all, and hopefully here I still won’t though I’m afraid this review isn’t going to be favorable to Martin Scorsese’s newest movie. But still I don’t want to spoil it, for those that want to see it for themselves.

Now, Scorsese is certainly one of my favorite directors working today, and certainly considered one of the greatest overall working in films, but even the greatest have their failures, and unfortunately, Shutter Island doesn’t really hold up as well as most of Scorsese’s past movies.

The movie certainly looks great, and featuring some pretty exquisite production design by Dante Ferretti, certainly a veteran of making movies look terrific and authentic. That’s readily on display.

And there’s no faulting the terrific cast that’s been put together for this movie. This is Leonardo DiCaprio’s fourth outing with Martin Scorsese, and it’s easy to see why these two have developed a very good working relationship with each other- Scorsese’s movies always have much more going on beneath their surface and DiCaprio has certainly shown that he’s an actor who’s capable of showing much more than surface detail in his performances. DiCaprio is the star here, but he’s backed up with an A-list of talent, including Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams and Emily Mortimer. This also features Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine, Elias Koteas and Jackie Earle Haley in some smaller but key roles into putting together what’s really going on here. And everyone here is good, no doubt about that, I expect they’re delivering exactly what Scorsese wants.

The fault here is in the script and in the very languid pace of the movie. Now I know this an adaptation of a novel (I’ve never read it), and as a novel, it’s unfolding probably works, but as it plays out here, and further because of the movie’s slow pace, it’s pretty easy to see what’s coming and that includes the “secret” of Shutter Island, and as such, it’s revelations don’t have too much impact, or at least they didn’t for me. Now this is being sold as a bit of suspense and a bit of horror, and certainly the trappings are there, but Scorsese has never really been known for fully delving into those realms and his movies more play out as some intense character studies, and that’s certainly the case with Shutter Island. And as a character study, this one is pretty loaded with detail, but because of being able to see where the “twist” was to this in the film’s first half, it’s left with no impact whatsoever.

Your own mileage may vary of course, and as far as I know, this might improve much more for me on a second viewing, but while I found this really well made from a production standpoint, and really well-performed it didn’t quite come together for me in such a way by it’s end where I really cared one way or the other, even though I still admire the detail that went into it.

#2 The Wolfman from Universal debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $31.4 million in 3222 theaters. Budget was $150 million.

#3 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief from Fox debuts at #3 with an opening weekend gross of $31.2 million in 3356 theaters. Budget was $95 million.

#4 Avatar from Fox drops from #2 to #4 with a weekend gross of $23.6 million (+3.3%) in 2685 theaters (-315). Total gross to date is $661.2 million. Budget is unknown.

#5 Dear John from Screen Gems drops from #1 to #5 with a weekend gross of $16.0 million (-47.3%) in 2975 theaters (+6). Total gross to date is $53.9 million. Budget was $25 million.

#6 The Tooth Fairy from Fox drops from #5 to #6 with a weekend gross of $6.0 million (-8.7%) in 2748 theaters (-470). Total gross to date is $41.9 million. Budget was $48 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 From Paris with Love drops from #3 to #7 with a weekend gross of $5.4 million (-32.6%) in 2722 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $16.6 million. Budget was $52 million.

#8 Edge of Darkness drops from #4 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.8 million (-29.4%) in 2615 theaters (-451). Total gross to date is $36.3 million. Budget was $80 million.

#9 Crazy Heart drops from #8 to #9 with a weekend gross of $4.2 million (+19.6%) in 1005 theaters (+186). Total gross to date is $16.7 million. Budget was $7 million.

#10 When in Rome drops from #6 to #10 with a weekend gross of $3.6 million (-33.6%) in 2125 theaters (-331). Total gross to date is $26.2 million. Budget is unknown.

#11 The Book of Eli drops from #7 to #11 with a weekend gross of $3.6 million (-23.0%) in 1825 theaters (-995). Total gross to date is $87.5 million. Budget was $80 million.

#12 The Blind Side drops from #11 to #12 with a weekend gross of $2.2 million (-9.6%) in 1175 theaters (-565). Total gross to date is $244.7 million. Budget was $29 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $188.8 million (+89.7%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

That’s a real nutshell premise to The Wolfman starring Benecio Del Toro and directed by Joe Johnston. I mean with a title like The Wolfman there really isn’t any doubt as to what Talbot will become, is there? No, there isn’t, but the ride along the way is pretty fun to take.

The biggest thing that I like about The Wolfman is that it doesn’t try to make the werewolf genre as “precious” as what the vampire genre does these days (though I do give films like Twilight and others like it their props at least in the fact that their fan base is so willing to come in and embrace it, unlike other genre films which more often than not get savagely attacked their fans even before their release- anyway that’s the way I see it, but I digress…) and instead, it really embraces the whole Universal Horror Film aspect. That’s a real breath of fresh air, and when the film is as artfully made as what Joe Johnston has done here, it’s even better.

While I don’t think this has the impact of more contemporary set pieces as An American Werewolf in London or The Howling (this is a period piece), it still has good moments and good set pieces, and to Johnston’s credit, he moves it all along at a pretty brisk pace.

The visual effects are pretty nice, especially the transformation scenes, which are, at least to me more handled as live in camera and sweetened with some CGI more than anything else. And while the transformation is good here, it lacks some of the impact that you’ve seen in the above-mentioned films, that’s not a knock at the movie by any means, it’s just more a commentary on how far things have come and how so many fantastic scenes are now much more commonplace.

Another thing that I really liked was retaining the name of Lawrence Talbot for our main character. Larry Talbot was the name of the character played by Lon Chaney Jr. all those years ago, and I had no idea that they were going to use the same name here. the thing that really struck me odd though is that, upon hearing this, I started to see some resemblance between both Benecio Del Toro and Lon Chaney Jr., not just physically but also in their cadence. Del Toro’s solid here, though his Talbot is really underplayed, but considering his childhood emotional trauma, that can certainly help explain some of that. He really seems to eat it up, so to speak, when he’s playing the Wolfman though, and for that, I do appreciate it.

He’s backed up with Anthony Hopkins playing his father, Emily Blunt playing his childhood friend and Hugo Weaving as a Scotland Yard inspector who’s come to investigate the savage murders. Now I didn’t know much about this movie in advance, but I did know that Hopkins was playing Del Toro’s father, and sort’ve rolled my eyes at that from the start, considering Hopkins is definitely British and Del Toro is definitely Latin in origin, and figuring this was just going to be some sort’ve cocked-up explanation just to get someone of Hopkins’ caliber in the film. But their relation is actually handled quite credibly in some flashback scenes, and so that became a moot point. Hopkins is solid, as is Blunt, nothing to complain about and nothing that really stands out. To me though, Weaving is solid gold and of all the characters actually seems to have the most fire and passion about him.

In the end, I found The Wolfman to be solidly entertaining and a nice throwback to the heyday of Universal horror films. It doesn’t carry the same impact as some more contemporary set pieces, but it’s still nicely crafted and delivers a nice diversion.

#2 Avatar from Fox drops from #1 to #2 with a weekend gross of $22.8 million (-26.9%) in 3000 theaters (-74). Total gross to date is $629.3 million. Budget is unknown.

#3 From Paris with Love from Lionsgate debuts at #3 with an opening weekend gross of $8.1 million in 2722 theaters. Budget was $52 million.

#4 Edge of Darkness from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #4 with a weekend gross of $6.8 million (-60.2%) in 3066 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $28.9 million. Budget was $80 million.

#5 The Tooth Fairy from Fox drops from #4 to #5 with a weekend gross of $6.6 million (-33.7%) in 3218 theaters (-127). Total gross to date is $34.4 million. Budget was $48 million.

#6 When in Rome from Buena Vista drops from #3 to #6 with a weekend gross of $5.5 million (-55.1%) in 2456 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $20.9 million. Budget is unknown.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Book of Eli drops from #5 to #7 with a weekend gross of $4.7 million (-47.0%) in 2820 theaters (-255). Total gross to date is $82.0 million. Budget was $80 million.

#8 Crazy Heart jumps from #14 to #8 with a weekend gross of $3.5 million (+54.5%) in 819 theaters (+580). Total gross to date is $11.1 million. Budget was $7 million.

#9 Legion (2010) drops from #6 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.4 million (-51.9%) in 2339 theaters (-137). Total gross to date is $34.7 million. Budget was $26 million.

#10 Sherlock Holmes drops from #8 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.5 million (-43.9%) in 1805 theaters (-445). Total gross to date is $201.4 million. Budget was $90 million.

#11 The Blind Side holds at #11 with a weekend gross of $2.5 million (-17.1%) in 1740 theaters (-11). Total gross to date is $241.5 million. Budget was $29 million.

#12 Up in the Air holds at #12 with a weekend gross of $2.2 million (-18.5%) in 1547 theaters (+117). Total gross to date is $76.6 million. Budget was $25 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $99.5 million (-9.3%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Fortunately, the weather turned out to be not bad at all and I did get to see From Paris With Love and man, I’m glad I did.

From Paris With Love is the latest movie from producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel who last year gave us Taken (which I haven’t seen yet, though that will change later tonight) and it’s one very entertaining ride.

James Reece is an American in Paris working as the assistant to the United States’ ambassador in France. He performs all of the mundane tasks for the ambassador and makes sure he’s ready to carry out his duties for the day. But Reece is much more, he’s also a lower level espionage operative who performs preparatory tasks for other operatives and he does them really well. He has ambitions to move up in that aspect of his job. He’s also a young man in love and has just become engaged to his girlfriend in Paris, and as he’s ready to celebrate with her, he gets a call that’s going to give him his opportunity to move up, by assisting one of the best operatives the U.S. has in one unorthodox agent named Charlie Wax…

That’s all I’m going to say about the story here, and while there’s nothing really new that’s done here, what is done is done really well and it’s pretty obvious (or at least it was to me) that all concerned were having a hell of a time making this movie. The action is top notch, the character’s are engaging, and while there are aspects to the story a that are a little over-the-top, it’s not in a way that I didn’t want to go on the ride with the film. One of the things that helps with that is the movie’s brisk pace, which certainly puts our heroes in some rough situations that makes them bond pretty quickly and certainly made me watching this give a damn about them.

the other thing that helps is the fact that you have two actors as capable as John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in the lead roles and their chemistry is really nice. Rhys-Meyers plays James Reece, and he’s pretty stoic in the part, but also pretty engaging. He’s our doorway into this story, and he does a nice job with it. John Travolta… well, I have to say, when I first saw the trailer for this, I did a double take when I realized this was John Travolta as he certainly looks quite a bit different than he has in most of his movies, with his clean-shaven head, and by the trailer, you get the feeling that his Charlie Wax is going to be a wild character, and one that could’ve worked negatively for me. The thing is, when we’re introduced to Wax, he does seem like he’s going to be an unlikeable guy, but by about a half hour in, I was fully taken with him and it’s real evident in Travolta’s performance. You can sort’ve tell when an actor is really having a good time with a part and it’s all over Travolta’s performance here, whether it’s in his line delivery or his genuine joy in the action scenes, it’s there and it’s infectious.

It really is a fun ride, far more entertaining than I thought it was going to be and by it’s end, I was ready to see Wax and Reece together again in another adventure and thinking back to other buddy action movies that I’ve seen, I hadn’t really felt like that since being introduced to Riggs and Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon. and that’s a pretty high compliment to pay to From Paris With Love. This one really took me by surprise and I enjoyed every minute of it. Now I can’t wait to see Taken later tonight…

Hosts:

Tony
Darrell
Chris
Tee

Drink Check: Nothing! Was there an intervention? We hope not.

0:00:00 Intro-D’AWW-ction
0:00:45 Support Tee and Sonic Boom @ TheBoomEffect.org
0:03:14 Welcome to the IMDT
0:03:33 Font of useless knowledge? Or font of AWESOME!
0:04:50 The Worst Taglines for Movies Ever Made. My personal vote: “Laugh. Cry. Share the pants.”
0:05:10 Chuck Norris - Silent Rage
0:07:00 A Beginners Manual for The Backseat Producers. Don’t listen too closely– it doesn’t matter once Tee gets going.
0:08:13 Teaser for the Tee Morris Unified Theory of Avatar, District 9, and The Hangover. I wish I’d been let on the show–I have my own theory uniting Megan Fox and Keira Knightly… it has been researched thoroughly. Every night.
0:09:00 High Level Thoughts: Darrell, Tony, and Chris moderately like it; Tee hates it with the power of a burning sun.
0:09:56 Addendum to the drinking game - One Drink whenever Tee mentions being in New Zealand.
0:10:45 Tee - “It is pretty. Very, very pretty.”
0:12:30 Chris - “In the hands of a better writer, and a director less focused on visuals…”
0:13:15 Darrell - “It’s fun to watch.”
0:14:00 Tony - “Jazz Singer, Wizard of Oz, and Star Wars.”
0:14:08 Tee chokes.
0:15:00 3D has arrived.
0:15:15 Our boys debate the numbers–isn’t News from the Back Seat supposed to cover this?
0:17:30 The IMAX InExperience
0:18:25 The Theater Experience - Good luck recreating that at home.
0:20:40 Tee busts out a parable.
0:21:20 The Tee Critique - “It Lacks Heart.”
0:22:07 Tony vociferously defends Titanic.
0:22:58 “That is so un-Cameron.”
0:23:40 “That’s an insult to cookie cutters.”
0:24:20 The Dreamer’s Thread by Starla Huchton!
0:25:10 Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell
0:25:45 Mini-spoiler warning.
0:26:15 “I would say it’s plagiarism!” There’s a difference between homage and derivative.
0:27:00 Podcast RAGE!
0:27:25 Whedon and Cameron–Dollhouse and Avatar
0:28:20 Tee is still holding back. Chris is scared.
0:28:55 Darrell tries to interject.
0:29:40 Chris almost gets killed via Skype.
0:29:45 Star Wars RAGE!
0:30:30 Looking forward to Glee and SG:U coming back.
0:30:45 Glee is brilliant. The commercials didn’t do it justice.
0:31:30 Glee and the Art of Mashups–Weren’t we talking about a movie? Abba Tart or something like that?
0:32:35 We’re bringing it back to Avatar? The hell you say!
0:33:30 Oh look, Tony’s disagreeing. Take a drink everybody!
0:34:00 This is a SciFi movie for people who don’t like SciFi movies–wasn’t that Star Trek?
0:35:40 Star Wars achetypes: Virginal Princess, Young Hero, Rogue, Villain, Mentor, Abbott & Costello
0:35:55 I wonder if the Virginal Princess’s Walking Carpet matches the drapes…
0:37:15 Can the man on the street name a third Cameron film?
0:38:30 Tee - Terminator was better than expected. Aliens was better than expected.
0:39:45 Agreed: Alien solved the problem of the haunted house.
0:40:55 Do you think Tee didn’t care for the characters in Avatar?
0:41:15 Nobody loves General Badass. Even though he doesn’t need air to kill you.
0:41:45 Tony liked the Corporate Douchebag.
0:42:45 Cameron dropped Michael Bean to avoid ripping off Aliens too much. Too little too late?
0:42:10 Speaking of Aliens, why didn’t the military just nuke the site from orbit? Its the only way they could have been sure!
0:44:00 Tony skips around Tee’s point.
0:44:40 The Russian film is The Battleship Potemkin. Check out the Odessa Stair scene–it’s film history!
0:45:30 “It was so stupid on so many levels….”
0:46:05 There was so much in the script that would have made this film better, but was cut in the interest of…. We’re not sure, actually.
0:46:50 Exciting Behind-The-Scenes Information!
0:48:00 This isn’t a white guilt movie, but a corporate greed movie.
0:48:45 District 9 enters the fray!
0:49:00 Tee - District 9 is the better version of Avatar.
0:51:00 Less money makes for better movies? Wait for the TMUTAD9TH.
0:52:20 Tee wants more District 9.
0:52:50 Tony votes for Up for Best Picture.
0:53:30 Tony tries to dive into uncharted waters. Chris pulls us back from the edge.
0:54:20 Cameron’s got a standard baddie.
0:55:10 Another Tee Morris drinking game addendum: One drink–”Kingdom of the Crystal Suck”
0:56:00 Avatar didn’t give Tee any fun moments.
0:57:40 It’s decided that Tee isn’t the market for this movie.
0:57:50 Here comes the TMUTAD9TH!
0:58:00 Actually, I guess we’re just gonna wank about The Hangover for a bit.
0:59:00 IT’S HERE! The TMUTAD9TH!
0:59:30 Holy crap! Avatar cost a lot of money.
0:59:45 Holy crap! Avatar made a lot of money.
1:00:15 Analysts are surprised. Again. Who are these people, and why do we listen to them?
1:00:45 District 9 didn’t cost much, but made a lot. Percentage-wise, anyway.
1:01:25 The Hangover followed the D9 theory of money-making.
1:02:00 It seemed like The Hangover was in theaters FOREVER!
1:03:00 Tee wants to see Hollywood focus on story and character, and less on over-the-top production costs. The other hosts politely withhold hysterical laughter.
1:04:45 Tee’s skipping Cloverfield because he’s worried about The Avatar Effect.
1:05:45 Tee was pleasantly surprised with The Gamer.
1:07:00 Looking forward to the Tee Morris Rant™ if Avatar gets Best Picture.
1:07:30 LENS FLARE!!!
1:09:00 This show-note writer isn’t shovelling out the money.
1:10:00 Good on Cameron for bringing back the Theatrical Event.
1:11:25 The District 9 short film.
1:12:00 The Hangover beat Star Trek last year by $20,000,000.
1:13:00 Didn’t get to the Deep Geeking, Tony? Really?
1:13:30 Darrell closes the night by inciting the wrath of Tee.

Hopefully someone on wave.google.com will help me by working up some show notes for this episode (hint, hint)

#2 Edge of Darkness from Warner Brothers debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $17.2 million in 3066 theaters. Budget was $80 million.

#3 When in Rome from Buena Vista debuts at #3 with an opening weekend gross of $12.3 million in 2456 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#4 The Tooth Fairy from Fox holds at #4 with a weekend gross of $9.9 million (-28.6%) in 3345 theaters (+1). Total gross to date is $26.1 million. Budget was $48 million.

#5 The Book of Eli from Warner Brothers drops from #3 to #5 with a weekend gross of $8.9 million (-43.4%) in 3075 theaters (-36). Total gross to date is $74.5 million. Budget was $80 million.

#6 Legion (2010) from Screen Gems drops from #2 to #6 with a weekend gross of $7.1 million (-59.0%) in 2476 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $29.0 million. Budget was $26 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Lovely Bones drops from #5 to #7 with a weekend gross of $4.7 million (-43.8%) in 2638 theaters (+67). Total gross to date is $38.0 million. Budget was $65 million.

#8 Sherlock Holmes drops from #6 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.5 million (-31.9%) in 2250 theaters (-420). Total gross to date is $197.6 million. Budget was $90 million.

#9 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel drops from #7 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.9 million (-37.6%) in 2526 theaters (-447). Total gross to date is $209.2 million. Budget was $75 million.

#10 It’s Complicated drops from #9 to #10 with a weekend gross of $3.8 million (-34.5%) in 2096 theaters (-205). Total gross to date is $104.1 million. Budget was $85 million.

#11 The Blind Side holds at #11 with a weekend gross of $3.0 million (-27.5%) in 1751 theaters (-181). Total gross to date is $237.9 million. Budget was $29 million.

#12 Up in the Air holds at #12 with a weekend gross of $2.8 million (-28.2%) in 1430 theaters (-277). Total gross to date is $73.2 million. Budget was $25 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $109.7 million (-14.3%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Edge of Darkness is the newest film from veteran director Martin Campbell and star Mel Gibson and it’s of special note for Gibson because it’s his first lead-starring role in eight years. It’s also a pretty darn good little movie.

Previously, Edge of Darkness was a television mini-series (that Campbell also directed), which unfortunately, I haven’t seen so I can’t compare it to that. What’s here though is pretty tight, though Campbell is willing to relax his pace and let it unfold fairly naturally. It’s a pretty dialogue heavy piece, but it also features it’s fair share of action and when that action is used, it’s pretty effective, in particular with a scene where Craven meets with a friend of his daughter’s out on a country road.

It’s a pretty familiar idea for a movie, there’s really nothing here that you haven’t seen before, but that can be said for the vast majority of movies that come out now. That’s fine, I know that it’s a rare thing to find something that’s totally original out there, and it really doesn’t matter to me as well as the parts are all put together in an interesting and compelling way, and I think Edge of Darkness does that.

I’ve been a big fan of Gibson’s ever since The Road Warrior (I didn’t see Mad Max until later), and for me, he doesn’t disappoint. He manages to play a man with nothing to lose quite well, but all along there’s still a mind at work in the part. I hope its not another eight years before we see him again on screen. He’s got some impressive support here, with Ray Winstone playing a government “fixer” named Jedburgh, who even though finds himself at some odds with Craven, also has empathy for what he’s doing. Danny Huston is one of the better actors who excels at playing villains these days and he does just as well as the head of Northmoor, the company for which Emma Craven works for. Bojana Novakovic plays Emma Craven and though she’s here real briefly, she and Gibson do a solid job in establishing a father-daughter relationship.

Edge of Darkness doesn’t really do anything new, but it doesn’t do anything wrong either and presents a relaxed paced thriller and a welcome return to the big-screen for lead actor Mel Gibson, who shows that he’s still as engaging a leading man as he’s ever been, though a few years older. It’s certainly worth seeing, if not in a theatre then at least eventually in it’s home video release.

#2 Legion (2010) from Screen Gems debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $17.5 million in 2476 theaters. Budget was $26 million.

#3 The Book of Eli from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #3 with a weekend gross of $15.7 million (-52.0%) in 3111 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $60.7 million. Budget was $80 million.

#4 The Tooth Fairy from Fox debuts at #4 with an opening weekend gross of $14.0 million in 3344 theaters. Budget was $48 million.

#5 The Lovely Bones from Paramount drops from #3 to #5 with a weekend gross of $8.4 million (-50.5%) in 2571 theaters (+8). Total gross to date is $31.2 million. Budget was $65 million.

#6 Sherlock Holmes from Warner Brothers drops from #5 to #6 with a weekend gross of $6.6 million (-33.0%) in 2670 theaters (-503). Total gross to date is $191.0 million. Budget was $90 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel drops from #4 to #7 with a weekend gross of $6.4 million (-44.9%) in 2973 theaters (-323). Total gross to date is $204.1 million. Budget was $75 million.

#8 Extraordinary Measures debuts at #8 with an opening weekend gross of $6.0 million in 2549 theaters. Budget was $31 million.

#9 It’s Complicated drops from #7 to #9 with a weekend gross of $5.8 million (-28.4%) in 2301 theaters (-369). Total gross to date is $98.2 million. Budget was $85 million.

#10 The Spy Next Door drops from #6 to #10 with a weekend gross of $4.5 million (-52.9%) in 2924 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $18.5 million. Budget is unknown.

#11 The Blind Side drops from #9 to #11 with a weekend gross of $4.1 million (-25.0%) in 1932 theaters (-476). Total gross to date is $233.6 million. Budget was $29 million.

#12 Up in the Air drops from #10 to #12 with a weekend gross of $3.9 million (-28.3%) in 1707 theaters (-400). Total gross to date is $69.2 million. Budget was $25 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $128.1 million (-18.4%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

That’s the premise to the new movie Legion from a relatively unknown director, Scott Stewart, which he also co-writes with a relatively unknown collaborator, Peter Schink. This follows right on the trail of the release of the Hughes Brothers extremely well done The Book of Eli and has at least in a couple of places inspired some to write articles that these two seem to mark a trend of Hollywood looking to the good book for a message of hope to it’s audiences, to which I think it’s just a matter of coincidence, but that’s just me. Yes, there is a message of faith in both films, but the difference is that The Book of Eli is a really good movie, and Legion is a really bad one…

Watching this, I was put in the mind that Stewart and Schink probably read a lot of Garth Ennis’ comic Preacher and were big fans of movies like Constantine, The Prophecy and Kevin Smith’s Dogma and thought “Wow, we could make something really cool along those lines as well.” But that’s all it has, the idea that they could fill this thing with scenes and visuals that they thought would look really cool, but doesn’t have any sort of real thought put into it. For something like this to work, it needs some rules to go by, and those seem to be made up here on the fly, simply because they think it would look cool on screen. Yeah, we have angels coming to wipe the Earth clean, but they use humans to do it, either seeming like zombies or demon-posessed, but why? If we have a child here who is supposedly being seen as the salvation for humanity, why would God then want to wipe the planet clean? And the whole meaning of the child is something that’s never given a proper explanation, basically being unresolved by the time this ends.

Like I said, it looks to me like this is being done because they think it looks really cool and they really don’t have any conviction behind their ideas whatsoever. It even filters over to all of the atrocious dialogue which all seems written in mind for what would sound cool in a trailer more than anything else. On top of that, all of the characters are simplistically written cliches that behave in mostly a one or two dimensional manner, with little or no smarts amongst any of them, only asking questions when it’s convenient to the script.

On a technical level though, this is pretty well shot and the effects are serviceable, helping them get their “cool” moments, but it’s story reads like it’s written by someone who’s read a lot of DC’s Vertigo line of comics without any real life experience to bring to the whole thing.

And that’s a real shame considering the impressive cast this thing has- Paul Bettany as the angel Michael, backed up by guys like Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, and Charles S. Dutton should be a combination for something pretty good. And to their credit, Lucas Black plays Quaid’s son, and that’s something I could actually buy here, it’s just a shame that they’re all of one note (though I also have to give credit to Dutton as well, who in his brief scenes really does try to inject something genuine here even without the base material to do so. Most laughable though is Quaid, and I really do like Dennis Quaid, but he doesn’t do himself any favors here, playing his character with pretty much the same tone all the way through and with a forced expression on his face that’s a cross between the cartoonish and the constipated.

The trailer was pretty good for this, and it certainly sold the movie to me before seeing it. I paid my own money to see it, so naturally, I wanted to like it- but, oh… when this is filled with this many inconsistencies and simplistic characters, it’s real easy to hate it, though I have to admit to some fun making some MST3K comments along the way. Just as I’ll remember The Book of Eli at the end of 2010 when putting together a list of the best movies that I saw, I’ll remember Legion as one of the worst…

In this episode we discuss:

• Netflix has entered into an agreement with Warner Bros. to delay the release of New DVDs for rental in exchange for opening up the Warner’s back catalog for streaming.
• Frank Darabont is going to write and direct the pilot for the  new AMC adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead.
• Spider-man 4, Sam Raimi, and Tobey Maguire have all been cut.  A relaunch of the series is being planned with Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) in the director’s seat.  Rumor has it that it’s going to take Spidey back to being a teenager and might be based on the ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ comic books.

Thanks for listening!

#2 The Book of Eli from Warner Brothers debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $32.7 million in 3111 theaters. Budget was $80 million.

#3 The Lovely Bones from Paramount jumps to #3 with a weekend gross of $17.0 million (+43,986.7%) in 2563 theaters (+2560). Total gross to date is $17.4 million. Budget was $65 million.

#4 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel from Fox drops from #3 to #4 with a weekend gross of $11.6 million (-29.9%) in 3296 theaters (-345). Total gross to date is $192.7 million. Budget was $75 million.

#5 Sherlock Holmes from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #5 with a weekend gross of $9.8 million (-40.4%) in 3173 theaters (-453). Total gross to date is $180.0 million. Budget was $90 million.

#6 The Spy Next Door from Lionsgate debuts at #6 with an opening weekend gross of $9.7 million in 2924 theaters. Budget is unknown.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 It’s Complicated drops from #5 to #7 with a weekend gross of $8.1 million (-26.3%) in 2670 theaters (-285). Total gross to date is $88.6 million. Budget was $85 million.

#8 Leap Year drops from #6 to #8 with a weekend gross of $5.9 million (-35.6%) in 2512 theaters (+1). Total gross to date is $17.6 million. Budget was $19 million.

#9 The Blind Side drops from #7 to #9 with a weekend gross of $5.5 million (-26.2%) in 2408 theaters (-472). Total gross to date is $226.7 million. Budget was $29 million.

#10 Up in the Air drops from #8 to #10 with a weekend gross of $5.4 million (-23.9%) in 2107 theaters (-111). Total gross to date is $62.8 million. Budget was $25 million.

#11 Daybreakers drops from #4 to #11 with a weekend gross of $5.1 million (-65.8%) in 2523 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $24.3 million. Budget was $20 million.

#12 Youth in Revolt drops from #9 to #12 with a weekend gross of $3.0 million (-56.4%) in 1873 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $12.1 million. Budget was $18 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $157.0 million (+5.7%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Now I would’ve seen The Book of Eli regardless because this is a movie that I’ve really been looking forward to, but it’s just really rare that I see a movie released during the start of a calendar year, that might already qualify to be one of the best movies that I’ll see during that calendar year, and that’s the case with The Book of Eli- already I have seen something this year that will be up there with the most special movies of 2010.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, The Book of Eli tells the story of a lone man, Eli, who’s had a calling and must follow that calling. Because of the great war that caused this apocalypse, nearly all of the Bibles have been destroyed as a result of that (as well as a good deal of other books). One bible remains and it’s in Eli’s possession, and his calling is to go West and from there decide what to do with the book. But Eli runs across others during his travels, and along the way he comes across a town that’s controlled by a man named Carnegie, and Carnegie is desperate to get a hold of a Bible because he knows what power the Bible has and what it can inspire amongst people who have no more hope.

This is the fifth movie from The Hughes Brothers and like James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow before them, their first major release in a long period of time (their last film being their adaptation of Alan Moore’s and Eddie Campbell’s graphic novel, From Hell). And like Cameron and Bigelow, the time away certainly hasn’t hurt their chops at all and in fact, they’ve just gotten better if The Book of Eli is any indication, and for me anyway it is, as I think it’s their best movie yet.

First, it’s just a beautiful movie to watch. Yes, it is set against an all too bleak backdrop, but the composition of every shot is almost a work of art in itself. There’s heavy duty action elements in the film, and the Hughes Brothers buck the trend that a lot of others shooting action go for now, which is a lot of in-close stuff with quick cuts, and instead, they’ll pull their camera back and let you take in what they’re doing, which just makes the scenes even more impressive. One action scene in particular is just really fun to watch and it simulates a single camera shot that travels all around the action. Like Kathryn Bigelow with The Hurt Locker, they’re also not afraid to let a scene play out longer than what another movie might do, and thus add even more weight to what you’ve just seen.

In particular though, this movie deals with faith and they’re not afraid to take it as far as they do. There’s a particular point in the movie that really illustrates this (and I expect for some, this will be the turning point in the movie where they’ll either love it or hate it, depending on whether you want to go with them on it- I went with them on it). This same point is also like ones seen before in The Sixth Sense or Fight Club, the type of scene that makes you want to go back and re-watch the film to see where their “tells” are.

All of this wouldn’t mean anything though if you didn’t have a cast with the same conviction to carry it out, and fortunately, the Hughes Brothers have that with Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman as their leads. With Denzel Washington, you always get an actor who just gives the right amount of credibility to every part he plays, and Eli is no exception- his conviction is there, and I just wanted to follow him all the way through this. Oldman is the same way, once he’s been cast in a part, you know you’re in good hands, and while his Carnegie is the villain of this piece, it’s not just played single-mindedly and you do get the feeling that this is man who knows he’s done some pretty foul things to keep his life and his town going, even if it is starting to go further than what he might’ve planned. They’re backed up with some real nice turns from Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Tom Waits, Michael Gambon and Jennifer Beals amongst others (really nice to see Beals doing something like this) and the entire cast makes sure that the Hughes Brothers vision follows through.

It’s a pretty profound story of faith told against a spaghetti western post-apocalyptic backdrop that’s masterfully made and certainly, at least to me, worth more than one viewing. It’s terrific to see the Hughes Brothers back in action and now I just hope it’s not another nine years before their next movie. Without a doubt in my mind, very much recommended, and already something that I’ll certainly be thinking about for the best that I’ve seen in 2010.

And the second.

Hosts:
Tony
Darrell
Darren
Adam David

Drinking Game Preparatory Count: 9 Drinks (You don’t get much when they’re on topic.)
Drinking Game Participants Final BAC Estimate:

Beer - .02
Wine - .04
Shots - .14

Note: This is a non-scientific estimate and shouldn’t be used as a goal.

1:25 David shows off how prepared he is for the upcoming shows.
1:45 Darren has interesting ideas of “The Perfect Date.”
2:40 High level reviews.
2:45 Chris did not edit him out.
2:55 David feels Darrell. Darrell is conflicted.
3:15 Darren fails to impress with his movie re-watching ability.
3:40 Tony used to disagree with everyone.
4:15 David thinks it’s the third greatest.
5:55 David drops the F-bomb! Then forgets his next point.
6:10 Actor reviews.
6:12 Brad Pitt elicits another F-bomb from David.
6:50 Edward Norton also elicits an F-bomb.
7:05 Death to Smoochy was a great movie, Tony.
7:35 Helena Bonham Carter does not elicit an F-bomb, though everybody liked her performance.
8:10 Meatloaf gets an F-bomb in his introduction!
9:10 David is more informed than everyone else!
9:55 <Censored> <censored>.
10:00 Plot synopsis.
12:00 “Greek chorus?” Darren’s classing up the joint.
12:20 We start talking about spoiling the movie.
13:00 We’re still talking about spoiling the movie.
13:30 We’re still talking about spoiling the movie.
14:00 We’re still talking about spoiling the movie.
14:30 We’re still talking about spoiling the movie.
14:45 We actually spoil the movie.
15:25 “Primal manliness?”
23:10 Darren finally derails the conversation with a sidetrack into Zodiac.
23:40 Darrell gets ‘em back on track.
29:30 David wants to get revolutionary! But leave him his couch.
31:15 Tony goes grunge.
32:15 I want you to punch me as hard as you can.
34:00 We’ll get there.
34:20 Chris calls shenanigans.
34:50 Darren gets very excited about a G4 report.
35:30 My wife leaves the room.
36:10 I say this counts as a “sprung” moment.
36:40 Darrell sticks to the plan.
37:50 “The buffet of manliness.”
38:10 Darren really gets into the rules.
42:40 In a movie about punching, the first punch is pulled.
44:30 David and his terrorist beard, then the guys get sexist.
44:45 Sarah drops an F-bomb!
46:10 Tony tangents.
50:00 Go for the knee and get out.
52:30 Drugs are bad! Move on.
53:05 Darren is weird.
54:00 The second punch is pulled.
54:30 Kudos to random guys.
59:40 “Jack’s sense of having nothing to add to this conversation.”
1:08:00 The Marla conspiracy gathers steams.
1:10:00 Watchmen is discussed in relation to Fight Club.
1:11:00 Timeliness is discussed.
1:13:00 You’re special, just like everyone else.
1:13:50 Tony disagrees about fulfillment.
1:16:00 Chris edited part of it out.
1:18:00 The griping about the jobs is done.
1:19:00 Marla is proven to be really, because we don’t see Edward Norton whacking it.
1:20:00 That’s it!

(Thanks, Stingray02!)

#2 Sherlock Holmes from Warner Brothers holds at #2 with a weekend gross of $16.5 million (-54.7%) in 3626 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $165.1 million. Budget was $90 million.

#3 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel from Fox holds at #3 with a weekend gross of $16.5 million (-52.9%) in 3641 theaters (-106). Total gross to date is $178.4 million. Budget was $75 million.

#4 Daybreakers from Lionsgate debuts at #4 with an opening weekend gross of $15.1 million in 2523 theaters. Budget was $20 million.

#5 It’s Complicated from Universal drops from #4 to #5 with a weekend gross of $11.0 million (-41.5%) in 2955 theaters (+58). Total gross to date is $76.3 million. Budget was $85 million.

#6 Leap Year from Universal debuts at #6 with an opening weekend gross of $9.2 million in 2511 theaters. Budget was $19 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Blind Side drops from #5 to #7 with a weekend gross of $7.5 million (-36.8%) in 2880 theaters  (-46). Total gross to date is $218.9 million. Budget was $29 million.

#8 Up in the Air drops from #6 to #8 with a weekend gross of $7.1 million (-33.2%) in 2218 theaters (+323). Total gross to date is $54.8 million. Budget was $25 million.

#9 Youth in Revolt debuts at #9 with an opening weekend gross of $6.8 million in 1873 theaters. Budget was $18 million.

#10 The Princess and the Frog drops from #7 to #10 with a weekend gross of $4.6 million (-52.7%) in 2620 theaters (-708). Total gross to date is $92.5 million. Budget was $105 million.

#11 Invictus drops from #9 to #11 with a weekend gross of $1.7 million (-55.9%) in 1340 theaters (-830). Total gross to date is $33.5 million. Budget was $60 million.

#12 New Moon drops from #11 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.7 million (-50.5%) in 1167 theaters (-460). Total gross to date is $290.7 million. Budget was $50 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $148.4 million (-29.0%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

That’s the basic premise to Daybreakers a new movie written and directed by Australia’s Speirig Brothers, and for me, this is a welcome addition to what seems like a spate of vampire movies that more romanticizes the field. Daybreakers plays with the concept in some interesting ways, especially with the way life is lived after the condition strikes, but at the same time fully recognizes that it is a horror movie, but laced with some science fiction and speculative fiction ideas. Some of the cooler ideas are being cars that are customized so that vampires can drive during daylight hours, or in the cities, the construction of underground Subwalks that still let the vampires travel from building to building during the day.

But this is a vampire movie, and it doesn’t shy away from the violence inherent within the genre, so in addition to these ideas, you can certainly expect to see a good level of good old R-rated violence that goes with it, and the Speirig’s are quite adept with it as well, even being involved with some of the films more technical aspects.

They’ve got a nice cast here, headed up by Ethan Hawke as Ed Dalton. Hawke plays this quite earnestly and is pretty rock solid. And that pretty much is true for the rest of the cast as well, which includes Claudia Karvan, and always welcome appearances by guys like Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill.

Daybreakers does some fresh stuff with the genre as well as giving it it’s teeth back so to speak. It’s a briskly paced film that recognizes that it is a B-movie and has some fun with it’s genre, and it certainly entertained me. This may not be the best movie that I’ll see in 2010 (and by that, I mean the type of thing that really sticks with you), but I certainly thought it was a good start and a nice little diversion.

And that’s where I’ll leave off with the basic premise of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus both famous for being the newest movie from director Terry Gilliam and the last movie for the late Heath Ledger. I really, really wanted to like this movie, I’m a fan of Gilliam’s, though for me he really hasn’t delivered a really good movie since Twelve Monkeys, and unfortunately, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is another big miss in a string of misses, but one where it might also be impossible to think of it purely on it’s own on it’s first viewing, because of the obvious death of Heath Ledger and what was done to fill in for that. This might improve in later viewings, but I have to say for myself, those viewings would be much later than sooner, as still this didn’t grab me in the way that would make me want to see it again right away.

If Terry Gilliam isn’t the most cursed filmmaker out there, he’s certainly in the top five. After some very public problems with the making of some of his movies from the past (Brazil and the so far yet to be completed properly The Man Who Killed Don Quixote) he’s plagued yet again with the unfortunate death of one of his stars for this movie, and has come up with a way to finish it, by having other actors replace heath Ledger in some of the key scenes within the Imaginarium, at least on the surface… but there would have to have been other changes made as well (I’m thinking of an introductory scene where a young man goes into the Imaginarium and see’s his face has changed, which doesn’t happen for everybody that goes through), as well as what I though had to be some sort of tonal shifts that seem to undermine Tony’s involvement with the group. In addition, these changes seem to make it so that there aren’t really any rules for the use of the Imaginarium proper and while some could write that away as “Well, it’s a fantasy, anything can happen,” fantasy, at least o me is only really good when there are established rules that are stuck to. And in the end, what you get is something that, again to me, was patchy at best.

There’s nothing wrong with the main performances, Christopher Plummer plays Parnassus, and he’s certainly right for the part. Lily Cole is quite good (and attractive) as his daughter and I actually really like Verne Troyer here as Percy, and think there’s something both odd and quite cool about his interplay with an actor of Plummer’s stature. Tom Waits plays the Devil and of course brings those parts of himself that you’d expect him to for the role, making the character untraditionally creepier than what someone else might’ve done. Heath Ledger is also quite good in his last performance, though this isn’t anything near what he did in The Dark Knight it’s still quite solid, but it leaves the question of what would this film had been like had he lived through it’s completion. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all take the part of Tony as he enters the Imaginarium three times and I don’t think they’re seamless performances at all, and I’m sure there had to be some changes made that altered what the Tony character was originally supposed to be in order to finish this up, and unfortunately, those changes are felt.

There’s also nothing wrong with the visual style of the film, which is Gilliam running on all cylinders and certainly making the most of the technology in front of him to give you worlds within the Imaginarium that are like Gilliam animations from the Monty Python days, but this time working in three dimensions.

At present, like the movie Lost in la Mancha which is about all of the problems that Gilliam went through to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, it almost seems that the background of the making of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus might make for a more interesting piece than the actual film itself. As I said above, this might change for me with a later viewing, but after the first viewing, I’m not really that inclined to readily give this one another chance. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is an unfortunate mess, it means well and I’m sure Gilliam did the best with what he had in front of him (and probably more in desperation to just maintain his financing), but it left me more wondering in the end just what this could’ve been had he not made the changes that he obviously had to make.

Well, This posting is going to be a bit different.

Tee Morris has been a part of this podcast from the beginning.  When Tony #2 and first sat down in front of his computer with one of those free stick microphones that you used to get with computers (Do they still give those away with new PCs?), we had a copy of Podcasting For Dummies sitting right there next to us.  Tee co-wrote Podcasting for Dummies.  I’ve since been able to get Tee to sign that copy.

Tee has come on the show a few times each time is more epic than the time before.  From the insanely long ‘interview’ we did with Tee and Pip to promote Double Trouble to Tee’s astounding work on Episode 100 to help us blast through reviewing 100 movies in 100 minutes.  Just Tuesday I got a tweet from Tee offering himself up for an episode on Avatar.  He had apparently seen it the night before and was itching to talk about it.

Wednesday brought shocking news.  Natalie Morris, the woman Tee married and mother to their daughter, Sonic Boom, died suddenly.  It was completely unexpected.

I’ve known Tee for a couple of years now.  We’ve shared amazing scotch, he gave me dieting tips for Tony’s Losing It and talked to me on a number of occasions during the stressful period that I was going through when Julie was in the Hospital for a month leading up to the birth of Erin.

You might know Tee as a podcaster, author, actor or showman.  I add to that list friend.  Tee is a great guy. Very giving and as genuinely nice a person as I’ve ever known.

Friends, fans… I’m making a request.  Show Tee that he is appreciated, not only as a podcaster, author, movie reviewer… but as a parent.  Because that’s a gig that he’s got to do solo now.  As you can imagine there are immediate bills that need attended to and the community has already come together and, from what I gather, taken care of the immediate needs.  Anything more that will be donated to Tee and Sonic Boom will go into a trust fund for SB.

If you have enjoyed what we do here, and especially if you’ve had 1/10th of the fun listening to the episodes that Tee has been on with us as we had recording them, please give.

Thanks, Tony

#2 Sherlock Holmes from Warner Brothers holds at #2 with a weekend gross of $36.6 million (-41.2%) in 3626 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $138.7 million. Budget is unknown.

#3 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel from Fox holds at #3 with a weekend gross of $35.1 million (-28.0%) in 3747 theaters (+47). Total gross to date is $155.9 million. Budget is unknown.

#4 It’s Complicated from Universal holds at #4 with a weekend gross of $18.8 million (-14.9%) in 2897 theaters (+10). Total gross to date is $59.1 million. Budget is unknown.

#5 The Blind Side from Warner Brothers holds at #5 with a weekend gross of $11.9 million (+3.4%) in 2926 theaters (+160). Total gross to date is $208.4 million. Budget was $29 million.

#6 Up in the Air holds at #6 with a weekend gross of $10.7 million (-4.9%) in 1895 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $44.3 million. Budget was $25 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Princess and the Frog holds at #7 with a weekend gross of $9.8 million (+9.1%) in 3328 theaters (-147). Total gross to date is $85.8 million. Budget was $105 million.

#8 Did you Hear About the Morgans? jumps from #9 to #8 with a weekend gross of $4.9 million (-1.4%) in 2718 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $25.3 million. Budget was $58 million.

#9 Invictus jumps from #10 to #9 with a weekend gross of $3.9 million (-3.9%) in 2170 theaters (+10). Total gross to date is $30.5 million. Budget was $60 million.

#10 Nine drops from #8 to #10 with a weekend gross of $3.9 million (-28.5%) in 1412 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $13.7 million. Budget was $80 million.

#11 New Moon holds at #11 with a weekend gross of $3.4 million (+13.1%) in 1627 theaters (+34). Total gross to date is $287.9 million. Budget was $50 million.

#12 3 Idiots holds at #12 with a weekend gross of $1.4 million (-9.2%) in 132 theaters (+13). Total gross to date is $4.7 million. Budget is unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $208.9 million (-20.0%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

#2 Sherlock Holmes from Warner Brothers debuts at #2 with an opening weekend gross of $62.3 million in 3626 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#3 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel from Fox debuts at #3 with an opening weekend gross of $48.8 million in 3700 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#4 It’s Complicated from Universal debuts at #4 with an opening weekend gross of $22.1 million in 2887 theaters. Budget is unknown.

#5 The Blind Side from Warner Brothers drops from #3 to #5 with a weekend gross of $11.4 million (+14.5%) in 2766 theaters (-641). Total gross to date is $184.1 million. Budget was $29 million.

#6 Up in the Air jumps from #8 to #6 with a weekend gross of $11.2 million (+251.2%) in 1895 theaters (+1720). Total gross to date is $24.0 million. Budget was $25 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 The Princess and the Frog drops from #2 to #7 with a weekend gross of $9.0 million (-26.1%) in 3475 theaters (no change). Total gross to date is $63.6 million. Budget was $105 million.

#8 Nine jumps from #20 to #8 with a weekend gross of $5.4 million (+2019.7%) in 1412 theaters (+1408). Total gross to date is $5.8 million. Budget was $80 million.

#9 Did you Hear About the Morgans drops from #4 to #9 with a weekend gross of $5.0 million (-24.4%) in 2718 theaters (no change). Budget was $58 million.

#10 Invictus drops from #6 to #10 with a weekend gross of $4.0 million (-3.8%) in 2160 theaters (+35). Total gross to date is $23.0 million. Budget was $60 million.

#11 New Moon drops from #5 to #11 with a weekend gross of $3.0 million (-30.9%) in 1593 theaters (-1442). Total gross to date is $280.9 million. Budget was $50 million.

#12 3 Idiots debuts at #12 with an opening weekend gross of $1.6 million in 119 theaters. Budget is unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $259.9 million (+100.2%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot to Sherlock Holmes, the latest attempt to revitalize Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic characters, it’s also the latest film from director Guy Ritchie and uber-producer Joel Silver as he attempts to start another franchise.

To tell the truth, I was a little hesitant to readily see this one. Here’s the deal- I’m actually a fan of Holmes and Watson and read some of Doyle’s stories back in the day. Hell, in high school for my English class, I even did a paper on Holmes complete with comic style illustrations that I did for it (got an A for that paper by the way and even got a little recognition from my teacher for going above and beyond with drawing illustrations for it). On paper, the idea of Guy Ritchie making this movie, with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson sounds pretty good, but once I started to see some of the trailers for it, I thought it was being turned a little bit into a smart-ass snark-fest, and so wasn’t exactly sold on seeing it. But after reading a few things about it, I was opening up more to it and of course it helped that I got a free ticket to see it as well (thank you Microsoft and the special deal with Best Buy to buy an Xbox 360 Microsoft points card, which I needed anyway).

And even if I didn’t get to see it for for free, I’d still say this: it really is an overall good time at the movies and I’m really surprised at just how much they got right.

After he made RocknRolla, it was a least apparent to me that Guy Ritchie had his “legs” back after a long period of not making a good movie while he was Mr. Madonna, but how would his style translate to what a period piece this was obviously going to be? Well, he actually reins it in a little bit, in comparison to some of his other movies, though there are some cool hyper-kinetic moments in it, but those moments are used to good effect (primarily when Holmes’ mind is at work) and don’t get in the way at all, making for a cleanly told story.

I have to give the writing team a lot of credit here, because they do pay homage to the books a great deal, and I’ll even go so far as to say that if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was alive in this day and age, and creating Holmes for the first time, this is probably closer to the way he’d be written (taking into account audiences tastes today). Also, huge kudos to Hans Zimmer for a very kinetic and violin-heavy music score that really works well in the film’s cool action sequences.

Downey and Law are really good as Holmes and Watson respectively, especially Law as Watson, who usually gets a little short-changed in the process. Downey plays Holmes as though he does have a bit of a disorder to him, but the trade-off is of course with his brilliant powers of deduction and his rapid-fire thought process. The only beef that I have is in some of the private moments with Holmes and Watson (and these are a couple of the moments where there are no other characters in the scene) and the relationship from the two comes off more as a little campy and gay in a small way. Now this isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, and you may not even see it at all, as I know the others that I was with to see this didn’t think that was even there- so your mileage may vary (and mine may change as well, as I see this again in the future). Other nice turns though come from Rachel McAdams and Eddie Marsan as familiar Holmes’ characters Irene Adler and Inspector Lestrade and Mark Strong, playing Lord Blackwood, who’s certainly good here, though not as powerful as he was in RocknRolla.

Really, Sherlock Holmes is a lot of fun and hopefully this will be the start of a new franchise- I have no doubt that Downey and Law will be back for a second, but the people I really hope are part of it are director Guy Ritchie, composer Hans Zimmer and the screenwriters who really made this more fun, even more so than it’s stars (and they do a damn fine job for the most part their own selves. Highly recommended…

#2 The Princess and the Frog from Buena Vista drops from #1to #2 with a weekend gross of $12.1 million (-49.7%) in 3475 theaters (+41). Total gross to date is $44.7 million. Budget was $105 million.

#3 The Blind Side from Warner Brothers drops from #2 to #3 with a weekend gross of $10.0 million (-33.4%) in 3407 theaters (+19). Total gross to date is $164.7 million. Budget was $29 million.

#4 Did you Hear About the Morgans from Sony debuts at #4 with an opening weekend gross of $6.6 million in 2718 theaters. Budget was $58 million.

#5 New Moon from Summit drops from #4 to #5 with a weekend gross of $4.4 million (-44.6%) in 3035 theaters (-600). Total gross to date is $274.5 million. Budget was $50 million.

#6 Invictus from Warner Brothers drops from #3 to #6 with a weekend gross of $4.2 million (-51.2%) in 2125 theaters (no change) Total gross to date is $15.8 million. Budget was $60 million.

Rounding out the top 12 are:

#7 A Christmas Carol (2009) drops from #5 to #7 with a weekend gross of $3.4 million (-49.6%) in 2070 theaters (-332). Total gross to date is $130.8 million. Budget was $200 million.

#8 Up in the Air jumps from #11 to #8 with a weekend gross of $3.2 million (+34.1%) in 175 theaters (+103). Total gross to date is $8.2 million. Budget was $25 million.

#9 Brothers drops from #6 to #9 with a weekend gross of $2.8 million (-42.4%) in 2009 theaters (-79). Total gross to date is $17.4 million. Budget was $26 million.

#10 Old Dogs drops from #7 to #10 with a weekend gross of $2.3 million (-46.9%) in 2630 theaters (-460). Total gross to date is $43.6 million. Budget was $35 million.

#11 2012 drops from #8 to #11 with a weekend gross of $2.2 million (-49.3%) in 2242 theaters (-596). Total gross to date is $159.0 million. Budget was $200 million.

#12 Armored drops from #9 to #12 with a weekend gross of $1.2 million (-63.3%) in 1538 theaters (-381). Total gross to date is $14.2 million. Budget was $20 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $129.8 million (+48.7%).

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

And that’s where I’ll leave off with the premise to Avatar the first dramatic movie from writer/director James Cameron since he made Titanic. Cameron’s had this idea for a movie since he was a kid, and has waited for the technology to catch up for him, and it’s been well worth the wait. He’s always been right on the cutting edge of technology with his previous movies, but this one raises the bar considerably with it’s motion capture work and the idea of creating computer-rendered characters that you do actually give a damn about. But it’s just not that, he’s created an entire world here with many wonders and pitfalls, and it still doesn’t stop there, as even the man-made elements of the story are also at the peak of what you can do in today’s movies.

It’s a technical achievement to be sure, but of course, it’s story is what matters the most, and fortunately the technology is used well enough to make the story really convincing. I’ve seen a lot of comments in places that bag on the film for not being original enough, and it certainly does borrow from a lot of other sources, but really, for me that didn’t matter. If the story is well-told, then I could care less if it does borrow from other things… and this is pretty well-told (though I do have one little beef with it, but we’ll get to that soon).

It really is something that deserves to be seen on a big screen, and of course in some theatres this is being seen in 3D as well. I saw it in a 3D theatre, and if you have the chance to see it that way, that’s what I’d recommend- but… the 3D isn’t overwhelming and not the point of the film. It’s really well done here, but not for jolting effects but more for actualizing this world. it’s not necessary to see this in 3D to enjoy this experience, but it’s fun nonetheless.

Cameron’s cast is terrific for the most part, and this is where my one beef is, but that’s not necessarily due to the actor but more to Cameron’s story, but I digress… Sam Worthington really impressed me in Terminator: Salvation and he’s here as Jake Sully and even more impressive, serving a double duty with both his human performance as Sully and his motion capture performance in the avatar body, and he’s really good, demonstrating a natural growth of character as this unfolds Sigourney Weaver reunites with Cameron in this film and also serves the same double duty that Worthington does, and again pulls it off real nicely. The pure motion capture parts though- wow, Zoe Saldana (seen earlier this year in Star Trek) really impresses as Neytiri, the Na’vi who is given the task of teaching Jake the ways of the Na’vi. Other members of the Na’vi are performed by veterans like CCH Pounder and Wes Studi, and again they make you believe what they’re doing. The rest of the human cast is filled out by Joel David Moore (who also does some double duty here- not to the same extent as Worthington and Weaver though), Michelle Rodriguez, the always rock solid Stephen Lang and Giovanni Ribisi. Ribisi plays the corporate head of this expedition and he’s where my one real problem with the movie is (though in the big picture, it’s a moot problem). Basically, he’s just a little too cartooned here for what the rest of the movie does- this isn’t really Ribisi’s fault, it’s what he’s been given to do by Cameron, but still compared to everyone else being a little more three dimensional, this character is purely stuck in one dimension, and again considering the scope of this movie, I’d like to think that even a character that’s performing actions as vile as he does here, might still have a little more depth to him.

But still, this is very much worth seeing- it’s big spectacle filmmaking from a master of big spectacle filmmaking who also always manages to go for some heart in his films as well. Cameron hasn’t missed a beat in his long absence from dramatic films and Avatar is the proof. Do not miss this if you have the chance- for me, even with my one beef, it’s right up there with the best of the year…