Category: Horror Movies (Page 38 of 96)

Midnight movie news

March 3, 2010 /

Well, depending on how long this takes.

* The Oscar voting deadline passed today and the big story ’round the town was on the punishment meted out to producer Nicolas Chartier, whose over-aggressive e-screeds against “Avatar,” and in favor of his own, “The Hurt Locker.” He’s banished from the ceremony. Still, as Nikki Finke reports, don’t feel too bad for him, if you feel bad at all, and I’m not sure why you should.

Wouldn’t it be nice — and naive — to think that stuff like this actually affected no one’s vote, in any direction?

* I like Tim Burton‘s work and dislike Timur Bekmambetov’s films, but the two nevertheless insist on working together to produce “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter” based on the book by the author of the also soon to be filmed “Pride and Prejudice with Zombies.” The reportedly erratic but extremely talented writer-director David O. Russell, who infamously got into a scuffle with George Clooney over the treatment of extras while making 1999’s “Three Kings,” is “circling,” Mike Fleming says.

* Hef on Bogie. And, when you think about the Playboy mansions, almost everybody really does come to Hef’s, or wants to, anyway.

Joseph Gordon-Leavitt* James McAvoy leaves a “cancer comedy” for mysterious reasons and Joseph Gordon-Levitt jumps on board, reports THR‘s Gregg Kilday. McAvoy’s pretty good, but that still might be an improvement.

* Martin Scorsese is so busy these days I get tired just reading about him. Oh, and that gangster film with De Niro is starting to take shape, alongside at least three documentaries about Fran Lebowitz, George Harrison, and the history of British cinema, including much, I’m sure, about his old friend and mentor/influence, Michael Powell — the greatest director even many cinephiles barely know. Oh, and elsewhere he discusses the possibility of making films “like ‘Precious‘” in 3-D. I see his point about how the technology could theoretically be used to enhance intimate stories. I guess. Maybe.

* I meant to mention this days ago, but this lawsuit over the fictional destruction of the “Christ the Redeemer” statue in “2012” is based on the fact that the statue is covered by copyright — something one usually doesn’t think about for iconic statuary. In any case, I really just wanted an excuse to quote Matthew Belloni‘s opening to the story:

With apologies to the Coen brothers, Columbia Pictures is learning the hard way not to f— with the Jesus….

Action Movies, Actors, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

“Shutter Island,” “Cop Out,” and “The Crazies” mine money from mayhem for an R-rated weekend

February 28, 2010 /

Pretty much everything happened this weekend the way it was supposed to. As discussed here late Thursday (or very early Friday if you’re on the East Coast), Martin Scorsese‘s cop-psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, “Shutter Island,” was expected to come in at the #1 spot after having a drop of something in the 50% range. Meanwhile, the new Kevin Smith-directed Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan buddy-cop comedy, “Cop Out,” and the quasi-zombie horror remake, “The Crazies,” were supposed to fight it out for the #2 spot and do reasonably well. That’s precisely what happened.

As per the filmic bean coutners of Box Office Mojo,  “Shutter Island” suffered only a lower-than-usual 45.9% drop. It therefore stayed on-top with a healthy estimated $22.2 million for Paramount, which won’t hurt the Scorsese/DiCaprio brand any.

Tracey Morgan and Bruce Willis I thought “Cop Out” was, at heart, a moderately lousy movie but also had to admit to almost kind of enjoying a lot of it. That was a rave compared to most critics. Still, as I suspected, the movie delivered the cop comedy goods just enough to keep audiences coming  and it netted Warners a perfectly acceptable estimated $18.5 million in the #2 spot for a modestly budgeted ($30 miillion) comedy.

“The Crazies,” which actually got its share of decent reviews, scored a solid estimate of $16.5 for the weekend for Overture. That’s actually a bit better than it sounds for the George A. Romero remake, because it was in nearly 500 fewer theaters than “Cop Out” and its per screen was average was nearly $700 higher than the comedy. Also, with stars Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell presumably asking less upfront than Morgan and Willis, it’s budget was $10 million cheaper.

The highest per screen average this week was, as usual, for a limited release film. Still, considering that it expanded this week from four to 43 theaters this weekend and managed a really good $20,233 per screen, Roman Polanski’s political thiller, “The Ghost Writer” did very well for itself.

As for poor little “Avatar” it made only a measly $14 million estimated this week in the #4 spot. But do not cry for the Na’vi, it’s still on top in the international box office sweepstakes. Nor should you shed tears for Hollywood overall. As Nikki Finke points out, revenue is up, even if attendance is just a tad down.

http://www.bullz-eye.com/mguide/reviews_2009/avatar.htm

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Weekend box office: “Cop Out” and “The Crazies” may duke it out for #2 (updated)

February 26, 2010 /

Leonardo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams in As far as I can tell and certainly the way THR’s jolly Carl DiOrio sees it, “Shutter Island” is likely to enjoy a second weekend atop the nation’s box office. Earning some $41.1 million last weekend, it would take a much bigger than average drop for it to be within range of the two new major films debuting this week, but then anything is possible.

And so it’s a showdown for the second spot between an R-rated violent horror remake and an R-rated and fairly violent if wacky homage, of sorts, to eighties buddy cop films. On his weekly video, DiOrio spectulates that either or both could make “mid teen millions or a little bit better.”

The first of these I saw myself last night. As you can see in my review of the Bruce Willis-Tracy Morgan vehicle directed — but not written — by Kevin Smith, “Cop Out“, I found the movie more bad than good. At the same time, I couldn’t deny that, as bad action comedies go, it was kind of fun. I have a feeling that audiences might be a bit less particular than me and since the movie delivers reasonably on laughs and moves along at a nice enough clip (Smith edited it himself), they may be more satisfied than not.  Still, my overall negative reaction puts me in line with the critical majority, with “Cop Out” netting a rather dismal 13% “fresh” reading on the Tomatometer, not that this kind of comedy has much to fear from critics.

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan in

Interestingly enough for a horror remake, “The Crazies,” based on a relatively little seen personal favorite of zombie-master George A. Romero, is getting what are at least numerically better reviews on the Tomatometer than the original film. The new version, directed by Breck Eisner, previously something of a critical punching bag with “Sahara” and “A Sound of Thunder,” is getting by far the best reviews of his career with a healthy 74% “fresh” rating. [UPDATE: I failed to double check this. Turns out long-time directorial hack Peter Hyams helmed the failed Ray Bradbury adaptation, so Breck Eisner doesn’t get the blame for that one since he was only an executive producer on the film. According to his IMDb page, Eisner was also a production assistant on “Tango & Cash” and I guess he shouldn’t get the blame for that, either.]

The original version only gets 60%, though a number like that can be misleading in that it doesn’t really measure a critic’s level of passion. Also, most of the top venues seem to have skipped reviewing it at all, so the results could be skewed here by reviews from horror-friendly venues. In any case, horror films are really not critically driven, but stronger-than-average reaction could still bring a few extra bodies into the theaters from folks who enjoyed Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s somewhat similarly-themed, critically praised disease/zombie hit, “28 Days Later.”

Action Movies, Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Cinephile alert: Denmark’s harrowing new tourism ads directed by Lars von Trier

February 25, 2010 /

Via Christy Lemire comes word of a new series of commercials from the aging enfant terrible of Nordic cinema and the director of “Dancer in the Dark,” “Breaking the Waves,” “Dogville” and this year’s genital-mutiliation smash-hit, “Antichrist.”


Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier

How do you say “The Onion is freakin’ awesome” in Danish anyhow?

External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Humor, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

Blu Tuesday: The Informant!, The Damned United and The Vampire’s Assistant

February 23, 2010 /

There haven’t been many great Blu-ray titles released recently (at least, not enough worth discussing anyway), and while today’s selection is just as lackluster as those in past weeks, it’s been so long since my last post that I’ve finally decided to write one anyway After all, while many of these week’s releases likely won’t end up in your library, there’s a good chance you’ll want to catch them at least once before making up your mind.

“The Informant!” (Warner Bros.)

I’ve never been a very big fan of Steven Soderbergh’s work, so I was bit surprised at how much I enjoyed his latest effort. Though it didn’t get the attention it deserved during its theatrical release, “The Informant!” is the kind of whimsical dark comedy that Joel and Ethan Coen have been making for years. Granted, the lead character isn’t quite as memorable as anyone in their rogue’s gallery, but Matt Damon still delivers one of the best performances of his career as a schlubby biochemist who turns informant on the agricultural megacorp he works for. The supporting cast isn’t as strong as you’d hope, but between Damon’s hilarious turn as the real-life snitch, the whip-smart script from Scott Z. Burns, and the memorable score by veteran composer Marvin Hamlisch, there’s more than enough to love about this movie. Warner Bros. hasn’t included much in the way of special features, but the director commentary is definitely worth a listen, and the deleted scenes are fairly amusing.

“The Damned United” (Sony)

It may have only received a limited theatrical run in U.S., but for those looking for a solid drama with yet another great performance from Michael Sheen at the center, look no further than “The Damned United.” Based on the novel by David Peace about real-life football manager David Clough, the film follows Clough’s (Sheen) rise to the top of the English First Division with provincial side Derby County, only to see it all fade away due to a jealously-fueled rivalry with Leeds United manager Don Revie (an underused Colm Meaney). Though fans of the sport will likely enjoy “The Damned United” for the history lesson, football is merely the background setting to what is ultimately a very character-driven story. The actor-writer team of Sheen and Peter Morgan can seemingly do no wrong, because while it might be their first movie not to focus on politics (at least, not in the traditional sense, anyway), “The Damned United” is every bit as good.

“Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” (Universal)

Yet another movie based on a series of young adult novels, “The Vampire’s Assistant” is certainly no “Harry Potter,” and from a purely vampire-themed angle, no “Twilight” either. Though the story, about a teenager (Chris Massoglia) who becomes indebted to a mysterious vampire (John C. Reilly) after he saves his friend’s life, is actually rife with potential for a continuing franchise (especially when you factor in the cast that makes up the titular Cirque Du Freak), the movie is hampered by a remarkably bad performance from its young star. I’m not exactly sure what director Paul Weitz saw in the kid, because he’s so dull and unappealing that he sucks the life out of nearly every scene. Reilly at least makes the movie watchable, and Willem Dafoe has good fun in his brief role as a fellow vampire, but unless they plan on recasting the lead, this is one book-based franchise without much of a future.

Also Out This Week:

“Sorority Row” (Sony)
“The Box” (Warner Bros.)
“Nurse Jackie: Season One” (Lionsgate)
“Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” (Warner Bros.)

Action Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, TV, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV DVDs

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