 You and me both, babe. Sadly, “Talk Sex” featuring host Sue Johanson will end its run on Oxygen this Sunday. The show has been on for six seasons. “I have been on television for 32 years,” [Johanson] said. “I think it’s time. I figured if we haven’t got it by now, we’re not going to get it. We’ve got to make room for somebody else.” “I’m going to miss it terribly,” Johanson told The Associated Press. “It’s been part of my life and I just love it. I’m going to miss writing scripts. I’m going to miss having to read books. I’m going to miss playing with sex toys.” Yeah, Sue always was good at showing gals of all ages how to play with various thingamajigs in a variety of ways. |
Even with my lousy record, I feel no compunction in calling the winner of this week. For once, we’ve got a sure thing. *If “Iron Man” is not the #1 movie at the U.S. boxoffice this weekend, then there’s also an excellent chance that Mike Gravel and Ron Paul will be duking it out for the Presidency this fall as the Republican and Democratic nominees. With solid buzz, astonishingly good reviews, and little or no real competition for the young to middle-aged male movie dollar there is no bigger sure thing. The only question now is how much of a blockbuster we’re talking about. Both Carl DiOrio and Nikki Finke are talking about figures of $75, $80, $85 million or more, apparently based on “Iron Man” “tracking” better than the “The Hulk” back in ‘03, which made $62 million its own opening weekend, and, well, lots of people actually seem to like this movie. Also, there is some concern about women given that it’s a superhero/action flick and that there’s lots of estrogen-fare on tap at the nation’s theaters, last last week’s winner, “Baby Mama.” On the other hand, as with the “Spider-Man” franchise, this film has more female appeal than usual with a stronger than usual character orientation and a bit of romance courtesy of well cast stars Robert Downey, Jr., playing a more troubled than usual superguy, and the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow as his woman Friday. Also, the light touch of director Jon Favreau (”Elf“) reminds us that once young writer-star of “Swingers” has shown some real chops when it comes to fashioning solid, mainstream entertainment. Frankly, if this movie doesn’t pack ‘em in, I’m not sure there’s hope for any of us. Meanwhile, in Indiewood.…They’re just starting to be rolled out in a very small number of theaters, but this week has two fairly major, nominally indie, films with some actual potential for mass appeal. Specifically, we’re talking about the latest from supermacho playwright-turned writer-director David Mamet, “Redbelt.” Though I’ve blogged about my issues with Mr. Mamet’s announced political conversion, I’m still looking forward to this one. On the other hand, the reviews are consistently kind, if muted, for the festival hit, “Son of Rambow,” reportedly inspired by the now legendary case of three middle-school boys making a homemade shot-by-shot remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but switching locales to England and the source flick to a much darker action movie. This PG-13 entry one also has my favorite MPAA rating explanation in a while. “For some violence and reckless behavior.” Could be fun. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 And we’re not at all surprised. What, you didn’t know Gary had tied the knot? Well he did, and along with losing his wife now, he at least finally got to lose his oft-discussed virginity as well (yay). Anyway, Coleman is 40…his soon to be ex Shannon Price, 22. And like any good celeb still needing to get whatever amount of publicity they can long, long after anyone’s cared about them, Coleman’s taking the divorce to TV on May 1 and 2 on “Divorce Court.” So why the split? Let’s lisen to Shannon’s side of the story. “If he doesn’t get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a five-year-old does,” Price says, according to a transcript of the show provided to The Associated Press. “He like stomps the floor and yells, ‘Meehhhh,’ and starts throwing stuff around. He bashes his head in the wall, too.” “Bashes his head in the wall, too.” Simply awesome, Gary. Yet Coleman doesn’t completely fault his wife. “It’s not her fault,” he says. “I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. … There are days I don’t even want to get up.” And now Gary has finally learned that the world truly don’t move to the beat of just one drum. Or Drummond. |
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You mean already? Shocker! But yes, Star Jones has filed for divorce from hubby Al Reynolds. All this after one of the most criticized public weddings ever. Said Jones, “Several years ago I made an error in judgment by inviting the media into the most intimate area of my life. A month ago I filed for divorce.” An error in judgment by inviting the media, or an error in judment in getting married? |
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Hey, get those memoirs outta the way when you’re young, I say! Apparently, Miley Cyrus has taken my advice, as the 15-year-old is doing just that. The book is slated to come out next year and will feature lots of anecdotes, tales, photos, and smiling. Might as well do it before those also-ran years are just around the corner, right? |
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Oof! Once again, my sorry prognostication skills are naked before the world. Fortunately for me, it’s not like anyone really expects me to eat William Shatner’s toupee. I mean, it’s not like I could actually obtain the thing — he still needs it for “Boston Legal.” (I’m damn glad I didn’t suggest Tony Curtis’s apparently retired piece.) So, quickly forgetting my ignoble defeat, let us move to the cold, hard numbers from the number crunchers of Box Office Mojo…. * “The Forbidden Kingdom” earned a healthy $20,870,000 at some 3,151 cinema dojos, more than doubling both Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s most recent vehicles, with the exception of the still powerful (for some reason) “Rush Hour” franchise. Considering the international appeal of the its stars and subject matter, this one seems on-track to make a healthy profit for its relatively modest rumored budget of $55 million. (Considering Chan and Li’s fame, one has to imagine they’re taking a lot of their compensation on “the back end.” $55 million would barely pay for the vegan lunch of two similarly powerful Hollywood heavyweights.) * “88 Minutes,” this weekend’s critically reviled, geriatricly pitched, Al Pacino starrer, did badly and failed to make it into third place. (That honor went to last weekend’s top film, the PG-13 slasher remake “Prom Night“). Still, it did better than you might think, netting some $6,800,000 from unsuspecting adults easily lulled by a familiar name and a premise that dates back to 1950. Whoo-ha. * “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” was booked into 1,052 theaters — as far as I know, a post-”Fahrenheit 9/11″ record for any documentary. Despite some controversy, the buzz on this doc — which only got two Tomatometer-adjudged “fresh” reviews, including a mild endorsement from Mark Moring of Christianity Today — was basically non-existent, though it was able get positive blurbs from Christian far-right heavyweights James Dobson and Pat Robertson, as well as lousy film critic turned annoying rightwing radio host Michael Medved. Presumably a mostly conservative evangelical audience was able to put $3,153,000 in the collection plate, and a not horrible per screen average of just under $3,000. Nevertheless, it looks like the Beast (aka Michael Moore) remains by far the king of the documentary box-office. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies and Documentaries and External Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Like it or not, the Soul Train Music Awards will not be happening this year. Why? No one knows. No one is saying. It’s just a completely undefined thing. It may have something to do with the show actually being defunct for two years now, or it may be something completely different. Either way, don’t bother tuning in. It won’t be there. The train and its awards gala is no more, alas. |
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Don’t ever let anyone tell you that any reality-based show isn’t doctored with in post production. Such is the case of a recent episode of “Deadliest Catch” on the Discovery Channel. It seems that a recent episode was doctored in regards to a scene boat that had sunk a month before it appeared in said episode featuring the vessel being caught in a storm at sea. Not that it truly matters, but not even the great DC is above using what some may see as slightly nefarious editing methods. |
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While it would have been killer had the opposite been true, Bill Cosby is not going to be doing the rapping on his new hip hop album project. He’s instead leaving that up to guest stars, and the lyrics will deal with “The value of an education. The value of respecting one’s self and … giving (listeners) a chance to raise their self-esteem and confidence,” Cosby said. |
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Naomi Campbell. Will she ever get a break? The country of Brazil recently stated that they did not want the supermodel’s blood. Campbell was trying to donate her flow of life to help fight a denuge fever outbreak, but officials said “nay” as she recently had an operation for a cyst back in February. Damn those things! |
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Expect to keep on waiting. The show, which gave celebs from all walks of entertainment the opportunity to spotlight talents that most people might’ve been unaware that they possessed, was so inordinately unsuccessful in its debut last week that CBS yanked it permanently! Originally intended for a six-episode run, the first / last episode gave George Takei the chance to perform a well-intentioned but nonetheless quite terrible rendition of “On the Road Again,” allowed Clint Black to prove surprisingly adept at stand-up comedy, showed Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen attempting to be a circus contortionist, and let Grammy-winning singer Mya tap-dance her cute li’l heart out. We should’ve known something was up when Cohen beat out Mya as one of the two finalists (the other was a well-deserved win for Black), but we never would’ve imagined that the show would earn a pitiful 4.6 million viewers, with thousands retreating with each passing commercial break. Damn! Now where will I ever see Ben Stein dancing the jitterbug?!?
Ben Stein: Dancing Machine®…supposedly. Filed under: TV and News and External TV and Reality TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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I was wrong, oh, so wrong. As the good folks at Box Office Mojo demonstrate, “Prom Night” seriously outperformed the last non-pre-screened horror film, “The Ruins” and grabbed up some $22.7 million over the weekend, perhaps partially aided by the unseasonably hot weather out here on the west to some degree. In any case, audiences didn’t seem to hold a spate of recent PG-13 horror remakes against “Prom Night” — presumably because it wasn’t based on a Japanese ghost story from the last few years, but an R-rated American slasher film from when Jamie Lee Curtis was playing teenagers. “Street Kings,” on the other hand, soaked up an anemic $12 million, just barely edging out “21,” which continues to perform so well at a healthy $11 million that I feel not quite insane in my suggestion that it actually had a shot at winning this rather lame weekend. At least “21″ appears to have an interesting story, so the world might not be ending, even if the weather makes it feel as if it is. As for the indies, the drama “The Visitor” opened strong with a $22,000 per screen average in four theaters. The senior-centric comedic documentary “Young@Heart” opened with a reasonably spry, if not quite exuberant, $13,000 average in the same number of theaters. Kind of an uninspiring week all around, but next week promises to be a bit more fun, with a buzzworthy new release from the Judd Apatow gag-factory and with a cinematic summit meeting of martial arts titans Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Let’s hope there’s not a whole lot of CGI action. I don’t think martial arts fans are wanting another “Bullet Proof Monk.” Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Horror Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
So, once again, my optimistic world view is crushed. 
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A sorry weekend seems to be in store at America’s mainstream mansions of mass entertainment this week. So sorry, in fact, that a movie nobody seems to particularly care for, the youth-oriented gambling drama, “21,” has a chance of staying at the #1 spot for a third week, but more likely not. Also, an unusually strong supporting cast would seem to help, including a couple of personal favorites — Oscar winner (and fellow Daniel Webster Junior High alum) Forrest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie (”House” to most, charming twit Bertie Wooster and ultra-twit Prince Regent from “Blackadder” to BBC America fans and me), plus Jay Mohr and Cedric the Entertainer, who just seem to make sense in this context…I’d love to hear those guys enunciating some of Ellroy’s poetic, blood-spattered profanity. But, with his original screenplay rewritten by two other credited writers, the reviews are not discussing dialogue that snaps, crackles and pops like it comes from Satan’s own furnace, just another average-to-below-average violence-packed thriller that, at least, doesn’t sound like it’s extremely boring. The bar is set awfully low right now, and this one might just jump over it. * But the smart money at both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter says I’m wrong about “Street Kings.” (Okay, I’m not all that smart and if I was into money, do you think I’d be doing this?) It’s entirely likely this weekend will be won by another in a recent string of review-protected horror flicks, this one a remake of a a movie that wasn’t all that much liked the first time around, “Prom Night.” (The original was a “Halloween” follow-up with Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielson back when people thought he took this stuff seriously.) The trick here is that this a slasher film that’s rated PG-13, which strikes me as a bit wrong, like showing the pre-sex intros from a gonzo porn film to twelve year boys. Still, while “wrong” often works in show bidness, there has been a glut of horror, both PG-13 and R, lately. Without some real buzz behind it, “Prom Night” may pleasantly disappoint. In fact, the reviews, can get pretty negative, but one did remind me of a grammatical fine point I’d become hazy on. Here’s what Rick Groen of Canada’s Globe and Mail said:
I’m embarrassed to admit this took me a second. Yes, it’s not “I’ll loan you the money.” It’s “I’ll lend you the money.” After all, the soon to be Hamlet-stabbed Polonius didn’t advise Laertes, “Neither a borrower nor a loaner be.” A good reminder.
Meanwhile in Indiewood….I’m happy to say, things are looking much more interesting on the arthouse side of things this week. The big indie this week may be “The Visitor,” the new film from writer-director Tom McCarthy — creator of the 2003 Sundance hit, “The Station Agent,” which made Peter Dinklage a household name…well, assuming your household is in Santa Monica or Tribeca. Anyhow, when I went to Sundance with a bunch of critics for another website, one of my cohorts reported writing the phrase “unlikely friendship” in four separate reviews. And so, like its predecessor, “The Visitor” is a star-free tale of an unlikely friendship, this time between an depressed professor and a young immigrant couple. On the strength of McCarthy’s prior film, I’m wiling to say this one is worth a look and may do some decent business with older filmgoers seeking gentle but smart fair. Other than that, most of the action is on the documentary front. By far the most high profile doc with solid critical buzz is “Young@Heart,” about a senior citizen’s chorus dealing with a repertoire that includes the words of Sonic Youth, the Clash, James Brown, and Coldplay. Speaking of buzz, but showing up in only four theaters, is “Super High Me,” a film which takes pothead comedian Doug Benson and gives him the Morgan Spurlock treatment. Aside from appearances by such comic luminaries as Sarah Silverman, Bob Odenkirk, and Patton Oswalt, I’m mentioning this one because it’s directed by a guy who played the straight man in this great comedy short a few years back. I maybe shouldn’t, because it’s only playing at New York’s Film Forum, but I can’t resist bringing up the mega-Freudian documentary “Stalags,” about pornographic Israeli novels, which started popping up during the 1961 trial of German Holocaust planner Adolph Eichmann. The subject of this porn: Nazi she-wolves administering what we’d now call “enhanced interrogation techniques” (nudge nudge wink wink) to brave British and American soldiers. Let me repeat, these books were written and consumed by Israelis. I’m also plugging the well-reviewed documentary “Bra Boys,” about Australian surfing hooligans. If I don’t, narrator Russell Crowe might beat the crap out of me. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Reviews and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Horror Movies and Action Movies and Documentaries and External Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 TV Guide has revealed that the April 21st episode of “How I Met Your Mother” will feature not only a trifecta of guest-stars but also the return of Robin Sparkles! If you’re not familiar with the lady in question, dig this: Looks like we’ll get to meet Robin’s dad this time (Alan Thicke) as well as one of her girlfriends from back in the day (Tiffany), both of whom appear in the video for the classic Robin Sparkles ballad, “Sandcastles in the Sand,” which was written upon her break-up with her former back-up dancer (James Van Der Beek). So. Psyched. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and TV Comedies and External TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Okay, so this is more like what I expected…me being wrong.
For the #2 spot, it turns out we have a photo finish. As per the estimates linked to above, “Leatherheads” managed $13,485,000 while, in a somewhat surprising turn, the apparently pretty lame family picture “Nim’s Island” grossed $13,300,000. So close are the two films’ grosses, in fact, the big V’s Pamela Mcclintock warns us that we may have a reversal in store and the queen of schadenfreude, the one they call Nikki Finke, using different numbers, promises as much, reporting that Hollywood insiders are “aghast” that George Clooney can no longer “open” a film. I presume, therefore George is subject to immediate banishment to the island of misfit toys. (She also chooses to make the reviews for the film sound even more disappointing than they were by using the Rotten Tomatoes “Cream of the Crop” rating, which selects only reviews by “Top Critics” — a designation that includes only the best known critics from the largest outlets.) To me, all this portends is that, these days, getting people over thirty or forty into a movie theater has a higher bar. Multiplexes have become increasingly hostile surroundings for non-teens, and there’s no doubt that Clooney’s films skew to an older audience. I mean, isn’t he like 75 or something now? At least Ms. Finke and I seem to agree that reviews actually do matter for some films. In other news, “Superhero Movie” isn’t doing great, but at the #6 spot, it’s doing better than it probably deserves. Also, “Under the Same Moon” may not quite be “My Big Fat Undocumented Tearjerker” after all. It made the #12 spot, but its grosses have finally begun a modest decline even after expanding into 47 more theaters. And there may be more disappointing news for fans of quality movies with perhaps more appeal to the middle-aged set. “Shine a Light” opened on 273 screens, many of them IMAX, extracting about $1.5 million from Rolling Stones fans. It’s per screen average of $5,474 sounds okay — it’s just a couple hundred shy of the per-screen of “21″ — but IMAX theaters typically charge about five dollars more per ticket and may often have more seats available than other screens. I know I’m new at this, and I may be missing something, but it looks like the film might not be hitting expectations. On the other hand, this kind of release pattern allows time for word of mouth to have an impact, so there’s still hope. AND IN INDIEWOOD…. There’s hope here as well, as two crossover films by arty Asians did strong business in very limited release, netting by far the highest per-screen averages of any films this week. Hou Hsiao-hsien’s remake/expansion of a French children’s classic, “The Flight of the Red Balloon” grabbed a paltry sounding $37,000 — but did it on two screens only. Wong Kar-Wai’s Norah Jones’s starring “My Blueberry Nights” had a per-screen average of over $12,000 on six screens, more than double that of “21.” And, finally, totally ignoring a very sound Bullz-Eye review, according to the Hollywood Reporter some people are seeing the John Lennon assassination drama “Chapter 27” anyway. It has managed to eke out an acceptable per screen average in nine theaters, and has netted $34,377. Hey, folks, it’s your money.
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On 
 Let us enjoy a few of his greatest moments. Soylent Green… …Planet of the Apes… …and, of course, 10 Things I Hate About Commandments: R.I.P. Mr. Heston. Now, as Mark Evanier has already suggested, let’s go pry the gun from his hands! Filed under: Movies and Actors and News and External Entertainment and External Movies Comments: 1 Comment Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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As you’ve no doubt guessed, the subject line are the exact quotes offered up by Hank Hill, Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Boomhauer upon being asked if they were excited about the renewal of “King of the Hill” for a 13th season.
Per Fox’s press release, “‘King of the Hill’ has received numerous accolades over the past 12 years, including an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 1999, a Nancy Susan Reynolds Award in 1997, a Women’s Image Network Award in 2004 and Environmental Media Awards in 2001, 2003 and 2005. The series has also garnered numerous nominations for Annie Awards, Prism Awards and Shine Awards.” Funny, then, that it’s so clearly the redheaded stepchild of the network’s Sunday night animation block. Have you seen the show’s DVD sets? After Season 2, someone apparently decided that the series didn’t warrant the cost of compiling special features, and as of the most recent season to receive release - Season 6 - the studio’s idea of a special feature was to put a puzzle on the back of one of the DVD cases. Are you kidding me?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally psyched that the series is coming back; not only is it hilarious, but it’s remarkably sweet and sentimental, and it’s no less than a minor miracle that they’ve been able to maintain their level of quality for so long. I just wish Fox would show it more love beyond the annual cursory renewal. Filed under: TV and TV DVDs and News and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Once again Naomi Campbell has been arrested. Why this time? Because she assaulted a British officer on a BRitish Airways flight waiting to leave to Los Angeles. According to the story, Campbell has blamed her temper on abandonment issues dealing with her father. Somehow I don’t think that’s going to play out too well this time around. Not that it did last time around, either. Guess it’s time to go back to mopping some jail cells, Naomi. |
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Michael Franti once described television as “the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation.” As such, we’re guessing he isn’t nearly as excited as we are that we’re finally beginning to see the fruits of Hollywood’s writers at last being able to put pen back to paper. CBS clearly got the jump on everyone else with the premiere of their new episodes, but as you can see, the other networks will soon be joining in the fun as well, offering up all the fresh new comedy and drama we’ve been craving for so very long. Okay, maybe it hasn’t been that long – as soon as the strike wrapped up, you probably noticed how some series magically “found” a few episodes they’d unabashedly been sitting on – but it’s damned sure been long enough. Check out our coverage here, then head back over to tell us what shows you’re most psyched to see return!
Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and TV Comedies and TV Dramas and TV Action and Desperate Housewives and Lost and The Office and My Name Is Earl and External Entertainment and External TV and Heroes and TV Sci-Fi and Reaper Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Shockingly, terrifyingly, it turns out that most of my predictions in the Friday post turned out to be correct.
*”21” earned a respectable $23.7 million for the film’s budget ($35 million), winning the weekend though not doing much to reverse the modest box-office trend right now. As for theories about why it won, here’s a quote from Variety
Yes, “cool, fresh and different.” It’s not just a movie, it’s a salad dressing. (I also gotta say, I know some folks hate the Variety lingo, but I get a kick out of the word “prexy” for “president.” It sounds so non-threatening and sort of like a Keebler elf. On the other hand, I don’t think I’d want to entrust thermonuclear launch codes to a “prexy.”)
*I doubt the Mighty Fanboy boycott can truly take credit for it (though I can’t blame them for claiming it), but as predicted/wished, “Superhero Movie” came up with a fairly lousy third place showing for this kind of movie of $9,510,000 on 2,960 screens (more than 300 more screens than “21″ opened on), despite the demonstration-disbanding efforts of the non-galactic storm troopers of mall security. “Just like Beggar’s Canyon back home”? Well, we take our triumphs where we find them, even if, to be fair, there’s some indication “Superhero Movie” might be at least a tiny bit better than other recent spoof films, as Cinematical’s Eugene Novikov schools us on the gradations.
Nevertheless, while its earnings of $4,525,000 were dismal, the per-screen average of “Stop-Loss” was $3,505 — actually nearly $300 bucks higher than “Superhero Movie,” so there’s that. Even, so, audiences bear the ignominy of being slightly more kind to both “Shutter” and “10,000 B.C.“, proud owners of 7 and 9 percent ratings on the RT meter. (Of the former, a PG-13 remake of a Thai horror film — points for originality since it wasn’t Japanese or Korean — Bullz-Eye’s own Jeff Giles wrote: “This will not be a theatrical hit. It will not find a new audience on DVD. You can officially pretend it was never made.”) *Meanwhile, good ol’ Simon Pegg has had his cult status confirmed in the harshest way possible with the drubbing of his David Schwimmer-directed “Run, Fatboy, Run” which netted only $2,390,000 and had the lowest per-screen average of any new film this week. On the plus side, it also had the lowest budget, a mere $10 million, so there’s something to be said for thrift. Meanwhile in Indiewood…. And, here too, yours truly seems to have called it. The immigration weepie, “Under the Same Moon” came in just below “Run, Fatboy, Run” with $2,251,000 — but did so while being in only 390 theaters (”Fatboy” was on over 1,100 screens, far too many for a modest comedy.) Its growth seems strong and this one could be headed for something like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” territory, driven, no doubt, by the eternally under-served Latino audience. The only film I was sort of wrong about was that the highest per screen average of any film this week was “My Brother is an Only Child,” an interesting sounding, politically driven Italian film with great reviews, about which I made a crack implying I’d be the only person reading this column who would consider seeing the movie, nevertheless managed a whopping $10,500 per screen average. Of course, it’s only on one screen in NYC, but still…. And, finally, I was appalled to realize only too late that I had not mentioned the opening in limited release of the boxing-themed Adam Carolla vehicle, “The Hammer” because it wasn’t mentioned, well, anywhere, but last week’s “Ebert and Roeper” and perhaps some L.A. area local media, and so it had completely slipped my mind. Now, some of you will be hooting in derision because you think of Adam as the slightly less unfunny guy on the early seasons of “The Man Show” and others will be perking up because he’s the even funnier guy on the early seasons of “The Man Show,” but radio fans, especially out here in SoCal, know Adam as the host of the only-ever listenable iteration of “Love Line,” and something of an actual comedy genius in terms of mastering the art of the impromptu rant about idiots who try to argue that they cheated on their signifant other’s “on accident,” or garbage collectors who refuse to pick up certain types of garbage. After he left “Loveline,” I feared that he’d never find a format as amenable to his particular skills. Certainly a well-reviewed movie was about the last place I expected to find him. However, in perhaps the most shocking development in filmed entertainment history, critics seem to like this movie, more or less, netting a very healthy 72% Fresh rating on the Tomato Meter. But here’s the really strange part — even though it entirely failed to even register at Box Office Mojo, according to RT, “The Hammer,” which also got “two thumbs up” from Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips, did a very respectable per screen average of $4,857 for a total of approximately $97,000+ at twenty theaters. Not bad for a movie even confirmed movie-geeks aren’t hearing about just yet. Could “The Hammer” wind up doing better than “Run, Fatboy, Run,” with a similar sports/rom-com set-up, but with possibly far better, old fashioned slow-roll-out release pattern? Weirder things have happened. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Reviews and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and External Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
*Not one bit to my surprise, “
*Of the other new movies this weekend, I’m not all that happy to report that Kimberley Peirce’s “| previous posts » |
