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Interview with Hollywood Legend Marion Ross, Star of A Reason
When you think about someone like Marion Ross, I suspect your mind is immediately taken back to memories of watching Happy Days on television. What you may not know is that Ross has been in show business since the mid-1950s and is showing no signs of stopping. Her latest role, in director Dominique Schilling’s A Reason, is a departure of sorts. Ross plays Aunt Irene, an elegant, yet villaino...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Simon Pegg is a Hapless Assassin in Kill Me Three Times
Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope you all enjoyed your preferred end-of-year holidays, and are ready to ring in 2015. And to mark the occasion, the Trailer Trashin’ column is back with a look at the Australian black comedy/thriller Kill Me Three Times. Premise: Professional assassin Charlie Wolfe (Simon Pegg) is hired to kill Alice Taylor (Alice Braga), the singer wife of the wealthy Jack...[Read More]
The Music of Into the Woods Featurette
Into the Woods is a modern twist on several beloved fairy tales, intertwining the plots of a few choice stories and exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. This humorous and heartfelt musical follows the classic tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), all tied...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Hobbit On Top for a Third Time
The numbers have spoken, and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is still the lowest earning of the Peter Jackson Middle Earth films…still, when the lowest earner remained in first at the box office for the third week in a row, picked up an estimated $21.9 million, and has earned $220.8 million in domestic box office alone, it is not a particularly bad track record. However, 2015 is off to...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Hobbit Stays On Top
While it may have had a comparatively rough ride (and remains the lowest-earning of the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings movies), The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies proved Hobbits can still be surprising, earning an estimated $41.4 million, losing a little less than a quarter of the opening weekend audience and raking in $168.5 million in domestic earnings (and a hefty $573.6 million in worldwide take,...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Final Hobbit Looms Large Above the Competition
After a long road, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies brings the latest Peter Jackson trilogy to an end. Weathering both praise and criticism (especially in comparison to his previous Lord of the Rings films), it may be somewhat understandable that, while it took first place at the box office with an estimated $56.2 million, it falls below the revenue of any of his previous Middle Earth-based f...[Read More]
Boyhood Dominates the 2014 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards
The most distinguished film critic group in Michigan, the Detroit Film Critics Society, released their Best of 2014 nominees and winners in ten categories. The society was founded in Spring 2007 and consists of a group of eighteen Michigan film critics who write or broadcast in the Detroit area as well as other major cities within a 150-mile radius of the city including Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Ka...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Exodus King for Now, But May Abdicate Soon
Director Ridley Scott may be pleased about his Exodus: Gods and Kings is in first place at the box office with an estimated $24.5 million; however, it is an extremely weak start to the $140 million epic (even with overseas box office), and with a critical slamming it cannot compete with the likes of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Even at only an estimated $13.2 million in its fourth week, ...[Read More]
The 2014 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards Nominations
The most distinguished film critic group in Michigan, the Detroit Film Critics Society, released their Best of 2014 nominees in ten categories. The society was founded in Spring 2007 and consists of a group of eighteen Michigan film critics who write or broadcast in the Detroit area as well as other major cities within a 150-mile radius of the city including Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lan...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Mockingjay Only Good Part of a Bad Weekend
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is certainly having fun laughing at the competition; as it picked up a comparatively paltry estimated $21.6 million in its third week of release (and consequently, third week as box office champ), it is very likely to become, by next weekend, the second highest grossing domestic release of the year. Ironically, it presides over the second worst-earning weekend...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: The Galactic Saga Continues in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Yes, dear readers, I must again apologize for making you go so long between installments of this column. But I’m finally back, because last week brought us a trailer far too big to ignore. Without further ado, join me as I examine the first look at what’s sure to be one of next year’s biggest films, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Premise: Set approximately thirty years...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Mockingjay Remains Top Flyer
Leave it to two birds to soar high at the box office over a handful of turkeys this Thanksgiving weekend. In only its second week, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is already the seventh highest grossing domestic film of the year, and while its estimated $56.9 million is well below its $121.9 million opening weekend (which is almost as much as it cost to make, it has been revealed), it is sti...[Read More]