Seth McFarlane’s name is gold, whether its on his three TV shows on FOX or in the theaters, as his comedy Ted did quite well for itself in its debut weekend. The adventures of the walking, talking, R-rated teddy bear made an estimated $54.1 million (already making back its $50 million budget), and is getting positive reviews as well. So is the second place finisher, Magic Mike, which made an even ...[Read More]
In recent years, the mash-up novel, a work of fiction which combines a pre-existing text, often a classic work of fiction, with elements of popular genres such as vampire or zombie stories, has become quite popular. The first and arguably most successful of these was Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Now the mash-up novel has been brought to movie screens with a...[Read More]
Put Pixar’s name on practically anything and you are guaranteed success at the box office…even the critically panned Cars 2 made over $550 million worldwide. So it should be no surprise to see their newest entry, Brave, make a solid opening weekend with an estimated $66.7 million. Though not earning quite the high praise of earlier Pixar efforts, it is far and away better reviewed than the aforeme...[Read More]
Vampires are so commonplace in entertainment these days that I cannot fathom how anyone could find them mysterious, otherworldly, or especially frightening. In our narcissistic age, people romanticize vampires because the idea of staying young forever trumps any of the existential sadness of such a proposition. Furthermore, the horror aspect of the undead has been entirely co-opted and taken to ex...[Read More]