Snow White & the Huntsman is based on the classic fairy-tale complied by the Brothers Grimm. It is directed by Englishman Rupert Sanders...
A fairy-tale with a style of its own
Tim Burton (the director) is best known for his dark-themed movies and this film itself has the dark word in the title. He is also well-know...
Dark Shadows - a Burton vampire movie
I haven't watched many of his films but Edward Scissorhands (which launched Depp's career) is my favourite of his. Dark Shadows was written by Seth-Grahame Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) with a story by him and John August.
Based on the 1960s soap opera of the same name, Dark Shadows follows Barnabas Collins, a 200-year old vampire who awakens in the 70s to find the atmosphere completely changed. Much of the movie is based on Collins' new-found relationship with his dysfunctional descendants and confrontations by his ex-lover.
DS is a typical Burton film although you could guess that by the poster and trailer. Eerie settings and witty dialogues all play homage to his originality. Depp plays Collins unsurprisingly to the depth. And the co-stars also play their roles well. Apart from the acting, the best part is Depp's reactions to the changed American town. That quirkiness saved the feature from utter disappointment. Furthermore, the lines are brilliantly written and the America of the 70s is actually quite well depicted by Burton who usually lets his own gloominess rule the settings.
However, the film has its cons. None of the other characters are fully exploited. The plot does not have a particular storyline and you wonder whether there are several distinct episodes of a series being played at random. And the end is not too unpredictable. There is not much depth showcased in the story and this leaves it unbalanced.
Second-best performance was by French actress Eva Green who really brought out the psycho in her hopeless romantic demeanour. She was sexy and seductive and rightfully cast outshining the other lady thespians.
Also, being a horror comedy this is much more focused on horror than comedy and never fighting the right equilibrium for the two. It co-stars Eva Green (the ex-lover), veteran Michelle Pfeiffer, Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Hayley and Bella Heathcote.
Finally, Dark Shadows was released with The Avengers and due to that competition the Burton film amounted to a final theatrical cumulative of $238.5m off $148m although it should've made a more decent $400m. DS is not the best of vampire movies and I favour last year's Fright Night remake over it but it's also not the worst.
IMDB: 6.5/10.
Roger Ebert (Top Critic): 2.5/4.
BO101: 2/4.
Men in Black 3 is directed by Barry Sonenfield who shot the last 2 features and written by Etan Cohen. The supposed action-comedy is based o...
MiB 3 - latest and the least
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week # 1 N The Possession LG...
The Possession possesses Labour Day Weekend
TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
1 | N | The Possession | LGF | $17,700,000 | - | 2,816 | - | $6,286 | $17,700,000 | $14 | 1 |
2 | N | Lawless | Wein. | $10,000,000 | - | 2,888 | - | $3,463 | $12,100,000 | - | 1 |
3 | 1 | The Expendables 2 | LGF | $8,900,000 | -33.7% | 3,334 | -21 | $2,669 | $66,259,000 | $100 | 3 |
4 | 2 | The Bourne Legacy | Uni. | $7,327,000 | -21.5% | 3,131 | -523 | $2,340 | $96,325,000 | $125 | 4 |
5 | 3 | ParaNorman | Focus | $6,570,000 | -24.0% | 3,085 | -370 | $2,130 | $38,044,000 | - | 3 |
6 | 6 | The Odd Life of Timothy Green | BV | $6,249,000 | -12.3% | 2,635 | +37 | $2,372 | $36,126,000 | - | 3 |
7 | 5 | The Dark Knight Rises | WB | $6,100,000 | -15.5% | 2,187 | -419 | $2,789 | $431,416,000 | $250 | 7 |
8 | 4 | The Campaign | WB | $5,665,000 | -24.2% | 2,941 | -361 | $1,926 | $73,242,000 | - | 4 |
9 | 7 | 2016 Obama's America | RM | $5,587,000 | -14.2% | 1,747 | +656 | $3,198 | $18,686,000 | - | 8 |
10 | 9 | Hope Springs | Sony | $4,700,000 | -17.9% | 2,441 | +39 | $1,925 | $52,057,000 | - | 4 |
My favourite genre is horror but I was surprised Lawless did not lead the weekend. It stars good actors like Shia LaBeouf (Transformers trilogy) and Gary Oldman. The Possession was inspired by The Exorcist and any supernatural buff could guess it by the poster. The story is based on the allegedly haunted Dybuxx box and how father and ex-wife must save their daughter from its curse. Typical yes, but if a top critic like Roger Ebert can give it 3.5/4 stars it must have some perspective to look forward to.
Furthermore, the flick stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan whose world-renown for starring in the TV series Supernatural as father of the main characters. Ironically, his father figure role here has already earned domestic fame. The Possession is co-produced by Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi.
Lawless is a western gangster film based on a 2008 novel by Matt Bondurant and also stars Tom Hardy, Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Guy Pearce. The former who starred as Bane in the last Batman movie. The trailer is gritty and it follows a bootlegging gang being threatened by a new deputy and other authorities wanting a cut of their profits.
The Expendables 2 will eventually end up with $150m-$160m worldwide which is very less than its predecessor's. The Expendables grossed $103m domestically and the sequel will probably end up with $73m. The Colorado shooting was a major reason for hesitating theatre goers. Thought it isn't hesitating Sly Stallone on a 3rd part that has Nicolas Cage already signed up.
The Dark Knight Rises rises one place higher than The Dark Knight on 12th with an approximate $8m higher than the former. My accepting of this I might explain later on in a full-fledged review. It won't beat The Dark Knight domestically but will rise up to the 8th spot next week replaced Steven Spielberg's E.T.
The Bourne Legacy will not beat its budget nationwide although it has worldwide. In other news, The Avengers rises up to 13 from 39! So Marvel is still trying to compete with DC's Batman haha.
That's all from me folks. The Possession hasn't beaten Rob Zombie's Halloween in the Labour Day debut. Halloween still has $30.9m at the start-up. Below is the trailer for Lawless:
(Chart by Box Office Mojo)
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week # 1 1 The Expendables 2...
US box office August 24-26 weekend
TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
1 | 1 | The Expendables 2 | LGF | $13,423,579 | -53.1% | 3,355 | +39 | $4,001 | $52,237,523 | $100 | 2 |
2 | 2 | The Bourne Legacy | Uni. | $9,336,005 | -45.3% | 3,654 | -99 | $2,555 | $85,522,220 | $125 | 3 |
3 | 3 | ParaNorman | Focus | $8,639,288 | -38.7% | 3,455 | +26 | $2,501 | $28,261,577 | - | 2 |
4 | 4 | The Campaign | WB | $7,472,397 | -43.1% | 3,302 | +47 | $2,263 | $64,575,569 | - | 3 |
5 | 6 | The Dark Knight Rises | WB | $7,222,317 | -34.4% | 2,606 | -551 | $2,771 | $422,255,218 | $250 | 6 |
6 | 7 | The Odd Life of Timothy Green | BV | $7,122,552 | -34.2% | 2,598 | - | $2,742 | $27,077,042 | - | 2 |
7 | 13 | 2016 Obama's America | RM | $6,509,433 | +423.0% | 1,091 | +922 | $5,966 | $9,347,309 | - | 7 |
8 | N | Premium Rush | Sony | $6,030,164 | - | 2,255 | - | $2,674 | $6,030,164 | $35 | 1 |
9 | 8 | Hope Springs | Sony | $5,725,107 | -37.2% | 2,402 | +41 | $2,383 | $44,806,571 | - | 3 |
10 | N | Hit and Run | ORF | $4,526,222 | - | 2,870 | - | $1,577 | $5,719,256 | $2 | 1 |
I'd seen TE2 last weekend and it is far better than the first part, and also has a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Compared to The Expendables, the sequel has made $52m in 10 days on $100 million compared to the $65m of the former. The Expendables 2 will probably end up with $210m-$250m which is lower than The Expendables' $274m worldwide gross that too on a lower budget of $80m.
The Bourne Legacy is a reboot of the popular spy series that contained big worldwide hits. The reboot has made $85m in 12 days compared to The Bourne Identity (first in the series). But it won't gross higher domestically or internationally than the last part Ultimatum that has the greatest cumulative ($227m) in national markets.
The Dark Knight Rises makes a surprise jump up the charts at no.5 from the 6th spot. The film's lack of a good villain is also a factor in its lesser cash in-flow in contrast to the predecessor. Many of my friends missed the presence of The Joker.
The greatest surprise this weekend is the 7th spot. 2016 Obama's America takes a giant leap from being 13 last week. It already the top-grossing politically conservative documentary ever. It is co-directed by Indian American conservative political commentator and author Dinesh D'Souza. The co-director describes the film as a vista of Obama's earlier life, following his childhood from Hawaii to Indonesia and a visit to Kenya (Obama's father's birthplace). 2016 OA further aims to show how the future might unfold should Barack Obama be elected a 2nd term as President.
The budget of $2.5m has already been surpassed by $9.5m and is an optimistic outlook on the weekend's chart.
Two new releases on the top 10 are Premium Rush and Hit and Run on 8 and 10 respectively. PR is critically-acclaimed and stars Joseph-Gordan Levitt who has had vital roles in Christopher Nolan films such as Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. Directed and co-written by David Koepp, who is the 4th most financially successful screenwriter of all time, the flick follows a bike messenger on the run from a dirty cop who will do anything necessary to get an envelope from him. It was filmed in NY City. On a $35m budget is had already officially flopped, and Hollywood is surprised it didn't gross higher than Obama's America.
Hit and Run is a low-budget rom-com starring blondie Kristen Bell in the lead and Bradley Cooper in small role (no wonder it opened at last).
That's all from me folks! Thanks for the read and leave a comment if you can. Below is the trailer for Premium Rush:
(Chart by Box Office Mojo)
Being the fourth theatrically-released installment in the AP series of films I didn't expect much. But it made me laugh in some places a...
American Reunion - not a grand comeback
Overall it is the eight film in the series if you include the 4 straight-to-DVDs that weren't all bad. Two of them (Naked Mile and Beta House) being better than this flick.
Unlike its the last part where much critisism was made over several characters not to have reprised their roles. AR does not make that mistake and features original characters in interesting scenes bringing back memories of the first two theatrically-released parts (that sucked). The four best friends are readying up for their high school reunion whilst also bumping into the original Stifler in the way. Sean William Scott proves that he is the epitome of Stifmeister by his latest performance. And as my fav. top critic Roger Ebert noted that the film wouldn't have been as funny if it were without Scott. It would've been nothing without him.
For starters, the film relies on the same generic sex-humour formula and although the hard-written parts are notable the others were too repetitive. Hell, they were worse than those from the limited-released features. AR also fails to entertain in the last 30 minutes where a typical American Pie movie would do so much better in balancing funny, sex and emotion.
Fortunately, there are pros too. The formula does have high-octane parts. The first scene is the best, in my opinion, than any other in the franchise. Sean W. Scott stars as an example that some would only watch AR because of him. Also, there is Eugene Levy who is legendary for starring in all 8 APs who plays Jim's Dad and does it to perfection - as always. Dialogues are only few that are laughter-inducing most from the previously mentioned characters. And the sex-humour is not overdone as in most comedies of this type.
In the end, American Reunion is definitely not a must-watch. It may please AP fans and some might even love it but as a non-fan I was unimpressed. Still if you wish to pass the time with some nude jokes and reminiscence of high school buddies' reunions give this one a watch. That is, a one-time one.
IMDB: 7.1/10.
RT:
BO101: 2.5/4.
The Hunger Games set a new US record for best opening with $153m off a budget of just $78m. It also made the largest worldwide opening for a...