Looper
Box Office Weekend: Paranormal Activity 4 On Top, But Only Finds Ghosts of Its Former Success
For a movie costing only $5 million, a weekend estimate of $30.2 million would normally be a phenomenal thing…and to be fair, it still is…but for Paranormal Activity 4, that is a drop from the record-setting October release of the previous film, which did $52.3 million during the same weekend last year. Despite the lackluster reviews and diminished returns, the fourth film in the franchise stood a...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: Taken 2 Holds Box-Office Captive for Second Week
The critics say Taken 2 is a simplistic rehash, but that has not stopped the movie-going public from making the Liam Neeson-helmed actioner top at the box office for a second week in a row. Its estimated $22.5 million puts the film into a domestic total of $86.8 million, a strong performance not only over its reported $45 million budget, but against almost any film during this quarter…with the exc...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: Taken 2 Abducts Box Office
With October underway, it may be a little surprising that the horror film season kicks off with the first-place winner at the box office being an action thriller whose only horrific element may be its reviews. Taken 2 stood tall over the rest with an estimated $50 million, enough to already show net earnings over its $45 million budget, despite being much less well-received than the original film....[Read More]
Movie Review: Looper
Don’t go into Looper expecting to see a thinking person’s time travel movie. If so, you’ll be disappointed. But if you like your science fiction packed with suspense and action, then you’ll love Looper. Featuring excellent performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Pierce Gagnon, and especially Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. Writer/director Rian Johnson delivers an intelligent, m...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: Critics May Have Put the Bite on It, but Audiences Made Hotel Transylvania a Hit
From director Genndy Tartakovsky and Adam Sandler comes…the highest grossing September release of all-time? Apparently so, as the critically panned CG comedy Hotel Transylvania defied its reviews and earned an estimated $43 million…not enough to top its $85 million budget, but a fine start to its theatrical run and more than surpassing the original high-grosser of September, Sweet Home Alabama, wh...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Looper Sports a Confusing Premise in a Terrific Teaser
Another week, another column-sized dose of trashing a trailer. On the docket this time is the first teaser for writer/director Rian Johnson’s upcoming sci-fi action film Looper. Premise: In the future, time travel will be invented, but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When mobsters in 2072 want to get rid of someone, they send the victim back to 2042, where hired gu...[Read More]