Movie Review: What Just Happened

My review of Robert De Niro's Hollywood-skewering What Just Happened, a movie that doesn't quite live up to the greatness of its source material but it nonetheless worth a look, is available here.

Weekend Box Office: February 20-22

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

Nothing too crazy, although Tyler Perry had his biggest opening ever with Madea Goes to Jail. Taken continues on its path toward becoming a $100 M domestic hit, a rare feat in February, while Friday the 13th took a major drop to end up at 6th place - it's still over $55 M in two weeks, not bad for a low-budget horror film, even one with major brand recognition (although I imagine the marketing budget was pretty steep for this one, so the listed budget of $19 M is kind of misleading).

Next weekend, expect Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire to get a nice bounce. I would expect that one to be heading for DVD in the near future to take advantage of the eight Oscars it was awarded last night.

Guess who's taking home Oscar

While there are perhaps more 'sure things' at this year's Academy Awards ceremonies than usual, Oscar is notoriously fickle, and the unexpected should always be expected.  That said, here are my wholly unscientific predictions for the big night:

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire (I continue to vacillate between this and Benjamin Button as my pick for the top prize)

Best Director - Danny Boyle, for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor - Sean Penn, Milk

Best Actress - Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress - Viola Davis, Doubt

Best Adapted Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

Best Original Screenplay - Milk, Dustin Lance Black

Best Animated Feature - WALL-E

Achievement in Art Direction - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Achievement in Cinematography - Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight

Achievement in Costume Design -  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Documentary Feature - Man on Wire

Best Documentary Short Subject - The Final Inch

Achievement in Film Editing - Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film - Waltz with Bashir

Achievement in Makeup - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Achievement in Music - A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Music (Original Song) - 'Down to Earth' from WALL-E, Peter Gabriel

Best Animated Short Film - Presto

Best Live Action Short Film - The Pig

Achievement in Sound Editing - Iron Man

Achievement in Sound Mixing - The Dark Knight

Achievement in Visual Effects - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Movie Review: Changeling

My review of Clint Eastwood's latest gift to cinema lovers, Changeling, is now available here.

Weekend Box Office: February 13-15

Pardon my tardiness - fighting a bad cold - but here're the weekend stats, courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

The big news is the remake/reimagining of Friday the 13th killed (pun intended) over the weekend, taking in an estimated $45 M, despite the film costing a mere $19 M to produce. Horror movies are always a pretty safe bet, but this is phenominal - in one weekend, it has become the 13th (ironically) highest grossing slasher film of all time. All this and, by accounts from genre fans, they did it right too, preserving what people love about the series but putting an updated spin on it. I am very excited (as I'm sure the studio is) for the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street from the same people behind this Friday and the excellent (if you like that sort of thing) remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Other story from these numbers is that Taken actually increased its weekend gross by 8%, despite losing a handful of theatres and being around for three weeks.

Movie Review: Pretty Woman [Blu-ray]

My review of the spanky new Blu-ray of Pretty Woman is now available here.

Weekend Box Office: February 6-February 8

From Box Office Mojo.

He's Just Not That Into You predictably takes top spot, proving once again that romantic comedies are one of the safest bets in Hollywood (and are virtually critic proof).

But the bigger news is the mere 18% drop that Taken took - Liam Neeson, while certainly popular, has never been the secret to a big opening weekend (I don't think the money Star Wars: Episode 1 brought in can be attributed to his role...), yet people continue to show up in droves to see him punish those who took his daughter. I haven't seen it, what appears to be a fairly standard genre entry is also the first surprise hit of the year. Watch for a rash of kidnap-and-rescue/revenge movies in the next couple of years, because studio heads are certainly paying attention.