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Box Office Weekend: Revenant Comes Back to Take the Top Spot
Fortunes are reviving for The Revenant. After a stint in second, it bypassed the competition to hold the top spot of the weekend with an estimated $16 million. While it is a rough victory (this weekend is the slowest weekend of 2016 so far), Oscar buzz and word of mouth are giving the film some much-needed revenue here and abroad. In second this week, Star Wars: The Force Awakens needs no help as ...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: What’s Happening in the 10 Cloverfield Lane Trailer?
Hello again, dear readers. We’re in the middle of January, and it’s still slim pickings in terms of new movies, although I plan on checking out the new horror movie The Boy this weekend. But there are still cool new trailers for me to watch and analyze. This week’s column takes a look at the first trailer for the upcoming science-fiction mystery thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane. Premise: Waking up fro...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Ride Along 2 Finally Derails Star Wars Juggernaut
It took the weekend, but not the hearts of critics. Ride Along 2, the sequel to the surprise comedy hit of 2014 (though equally lambasted by critics), opened to lower numbers than the previous film with an estimated $34 million, enough to keep away The Revenant (estimated $29.5 million), which still flags behind its costs despite getting good business here and overseas. However, Star Wars: The For...[Read More]
Interview with Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Co-directors of Anomalisa
The Academy Award-nominated Anomalisa (Best Animated Feature) tells the story of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), husband, father, respected author, and a man crippled by what he considers a mundane life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible...[Read More]
Ten Reactions to the 2016 Academy Award Nominations
The 88th annual Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday morning and just about everyone has an opinion. Although most of the nominations are what we expected, there were still some surprises and a few snubs that got the internet chatting. Here is a list of our ten biggest reactions to the 2016 Academy Award nominations. [divider] 10. Inside Out Is both Snubbed and Surprised Disney/Pixar’...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: More Fact-Based Period Horror in The Conjuring 2 Teaser Trailer
Hello again, dear readers. I hope the year is off to a good start for all of you. It’s coming to you later than I intended, but here’s the first Trailer Trashin’ column of 2016. Now let’s take a look at the teaser trailer for director James Wan’s upcoming horror sequel The Conjuring 2. Premise: Husband and wife paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) travel ...[Read More]
Eight Things We Want From Star Wars: Episode VIII
In only its fourth weekend of release, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues to demolish box office records and demand most of the chatter on the internet. As fun as The Force Awakens is, it does leave many of its characters in interesting places and sports a lot of unanswered questions. Star Wars: Episode VIII may not be arriving until May 2017, but it’s never too early to start our wish list fo...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Star Wars Wins Again, Though Revenant Strong Competition
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has had a busy week, surpassing Avatar as the highest-grossing domestic film of all-time as well as having a $51 million opening in China, and it shows little sign of slowing down with an estimated $41.6 million weekend take. Leonardo DiCaprio had a strong wide release weekend as well, with an estimated $38 million for The Revenant. However, the well-regarded frontier ...[Read More]
Exploring the Humanized Puppets of Anomalisa
From writer Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Duke Johnson (Moral Orel, Frankenhole) comes Anomalisa. Now, you can watch and share the new “Peopling Anomalisa” featurette (see above) on how Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson humanized the puppets of Anomalisa. Anomalisa tells the story of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), husband, father, and respected au...[Read More]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Becomes Highest Grossing Domestic Film Ever
As of Wednesday, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the highest grossing film of all time in the domestic market, surpassing the $760.5 million lifetime gross of Avatar (2009) in a record-shattering twenty days of release. In addition, the film crossed the $800 million mark at the international box office. The Force Awakens still has a ways to go to topple Avatar’s overall $2.78 billion at the gl...[Read More]
Life & Death: Ranking the Films of Alejandro González Iñárritu
Most filmmakers spend the duration of a career emphasizing one walk of life over the infinite others, but occasionally there is an artist who seeks the truth through universality: the common thread that unifies a Mexican intersection, a Moroccan village, or an American theatre into a snapshot of what it truly means to be alive. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu is one such artist, pursuing the ...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: The Force Awakens to Boast Highest Domestic Gross of All Time
Happy New Year! And it looks to be a very happy new year for the box office as well. Star Wars: The Force Awakens remained in first place, to likely the surprise of no one, though its success is far and away going to put Avatar to shame…in its third week, it earned an estimated $88.3 million, and is only about $20 million shy of being the highest earning domestic grosser in history…and...[Read More]