More Quick Take Movie Reviews~ The Fighter, Country Strong, True Grit, etc.

As 2010 winds down to a close, I’ve caught up on a bunch of movies and awards contenders. In fact there are really only two big movies I need to see to complete my list of likely Oscar nominees  (127 Hours, Rabbit Hole) and I’m planning on seeing them this week…. So, here are a few quick snippet reviews on some of the rest of the films I’ve seen this season… Oh, and yes, The Social Network and The King’s Speech are still the best movies of the year.

The Fighter: in this true life rocking boxing drama, Mark Wahlberg gives one of his best performances to date as an up and coming fighter in the early 90’s saddled with an overbearing mother (the amazing Melissa Leo), a gaggle of big bad hair sisters and the shadow of his once promising prize-winning boxer brother who has since fallen into drug addiction (Christian Bale who is simply astonishing). Add in Amy Adams as a sexy tough love interest (unlike any role you’ve ever seen her in) and you have a strong entertaining film. The direction gets a little wonky at times and the script is nothing new, but the performances are so good, you can’t help but really enjoy the film. Also look for Oscar noms for Picture, Supporting Actress (Adams and Leo~ who could win), Supporting Actor (Bale who will win) and Editing, plus possible nods for Screenplay and Direction. And if they gave a hairdo Oscar, this film would win hands down for the ghastly and totally appropriate ‘dos worn by the ladies in the film. Grade: A-

Tron Legacy: Oh what a mess! Jeff Bridges returns for this sequel to the video game sci-fi film from 1982. Unfortunately, like the first one, this one has a horrible script that makes no sense. Add to it unexciting visuals (no need for 3D~ Tangled was more exciting in 3D with its floating butterflies), stilted lame action, cardboard characters and moments of utter boredom, and you have a big ole bust of an event film. At least the soundtrack by Daft Punk is awesome. Grade: C-/D+

I Love You Phillip Morris: Jim Carrey is fantastic in this true story about a con man who kept breaking out of prison for love. It’s a hilarious and fascinating look at the lengths to which one man will go to achieve the life he wants and the ingenious things he does to make it happen. Plus, Ewan MacGregor is utterly adorable as his love interest. The movie will move you and make you bust a gut laughing at the same time. Grade: A

Morning Glory: Lucky for this generic comedy that it possessed two incredibly strong weapons in its arsenal in the form of Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams as a veteran news man and his fledgling morning show producer. Both actors are at the top of their game and help the film rise above its simple (Devil Wears Prada in a news room) script. It’s breezy, funny and utterly predictable. Nonetheless, it’s enjoyable and Diane Keaton (as a fellow veteran morning show host) is at her goofy best. Grade: B

Made in Dagenham: Sally Hawkins shines in this true story of a group of female Ford factory workers who fight for equal rights and equal pay in England in the 60’s. It’s an inspiring film that moves you to laughter and tears and features some great supporting work by Rosamund Pike and Miranda Richardson. Grade: A-

True Grit: This movie is a lot of things~ It’s a western, but it’s also a story about a young girl (Halee Steinfeld in a wondrous debut performance) searching for revenge for her slain father. Plus it has the wacky touch of the Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men, Fargo) as writers and directors. So, you would think it could be quite an interesting fun ride. Well, you’re half right. It’s interesting, but it’s not that fun…. What’s good: Steinfeld’s Oscar worthy performance and the gorgeous cinematography. What’s bad: it gets boring, a horribly miscast Matt Damon and an odd turn by Josh Brolin who both don’t really fit in the film with their contemporary styles and Jeff Bridges basically just does a more mush mouthed Crazy Heart part 2 performance that is certainly not award worthy… Despite, all the things that bothered me about it, I still found it decent in this year of a lot of crap. Grade: B

Another Year: in his latest super talky British independent film, director/writer Mike Leigh bores you to tears with his take of one long-lasting couple (Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen) and the lonely people who inhabit their lives. The film moves at a glacial pace, nothing happens, and you get the theme of the film in the first 5 minutes (in a great cameo by Imelda Staunton). The thing that raises the grade of the film by leaps and bounds is the extraordinarily good performance of Lesley Manville as one of those lonely souls~ an incredibly desperate and boozy middle-aged woman hanging on to her fading looks and delusions of the past. I found myself begging for Manville to be in every scene. Unfortunately, she wasn’t and I had to pound some more Diet Coke to stay awake. Grade: C-

Country Strong: in this surprisingly good music movie, Gwyneth Paltrow is an alcoholic and drug addled country superstar trying to make a comeback at the behest of her manager/husband Tim McGraw. She goes on tour with an upstart young beauty queen (Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester) and her rehab buddy/love interest/aspiring singer (Tron Legacy’s Garrett Hedlund who is like the second coming of Brad Pitt here). This quadrangle, loves, fights, sings, cries and reels you in. While the direction and script are pedestrian at times, the performances by all four actors are impressive as are the vocals of Paltrow, Hedlund and Meester. (Interestingly, Grammy winning country superstar McGraw’s character doesn’t sing in the film, but he does his best acting to date). If you like good music and good acting, I recommend this one. Grade: B+

Oh, and I caught up on 2 dvds as well…

The Other Guys: this awful cop buddy comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell is neither fun nor funny. It’s stupid, offensive and homophobic at times and a wasted opportunity. Grade: D

Wall Street 2~ Money Never Sleeps: this sequel to the 80’s film is a bit slow and pedantic at times, but it’s relevant and Michael Douglas and Carey Mulligan are quite good. Unfortunately, Shia LeBeouf is completely unconvincing in his central role of an upcoming Wall Street trader dealing with deceit, financial fallouts, familial upheaval and romantic relationship problems (with Mulligan’s character who’s also the daughter of Douglas’s Gordon Gecko~ the role that won him an Oscar in 1988). Overall, it’s a decent film, but at the end leaves you a little empty. Grade: B-

Little Fockers win the Xmas weekend despite a Lackluster Bow…

Those Fockers are baaaaaaaaack. The Little Fockers that is, as the third film in the Meet The Parents franchise debuted at # 1 over the weekend with $34 million. While that may have been the top grosser over the weekend, it was only about half of what the last film in the series, Meet the Fockers, did on it’s opening weekend and $20 mill less than the first film did. Looks like this may be the last round for the Robert DeNiro/Ben Stiller films. At least, it will probably cross the century mark when all is said and done, but that’s a far cry from reaching profitability for the film once marketing costs are added in… Two more films entered the film nationally this weekend as the western True Grit surprised in second place with $25.6 million holding off Jeff Bridges other movie Tron Legacy which had to settle with another underwhelming take of $20 million for the pricey sci-fi film. Following the outright bomb of How Do You Know? last week, Gulliver’s Travels one ups that films low take by grossing a paltry $7.2 million…. With so many big films disappointing, smaller releases like Black Swan, The King’s Speech, and The Fighter took up the slack with strong grosses. For all your box office needs, head to Box Office Mojo here, and check out the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Little Fockers Uni. $34,016,000 – 3,536 – $9,620 $48,302,000 $100 1
2 N True Grit (2010) Par. $25,600,000 – 3,047 – $8,402 $36,818,000 $38 1
3 1 Tron Legacy BV $20,107,000 -54.3% 3,451 – $5,826 $88,296,000 $170 2
4 3 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Fox $10,800,000 -12.8% 3,350 -205 $3,224 $63,929,000 $155 3
5 2 Yogi Bear WB $8,800,000 -46.4% 3,515 – $2,504 $36,785,000 $80 2
6 4 The Fighter Par. $8,500,000 -30.0% 2,511 +8 $3,385 $27,574,000 $25 3
7 N Gulliver’s Travels Fox $7,200,000 – 2,546 – $2,828 $7,200,000 – 1
8 7 Black Swan FoxS $6,600,000 -21.3% 1,466 +507 $4,502 $29,031,000 $13 4
9 5 Tangled BV $6,519,000 -25.7% 2,582 -619 $2,525 $143,779,000 $260 5
10 6 The Tourist Sony $5,700,000 -33.1% 2,756 – $2,068 $41,178,000 $100 3

More underwhelming debuts at the Weekend Box Office

It was another underwhelming and disappointing weekend at the box office as three newcomers couldn’t spice up movie grosses for a second week in a row. After the poor showings for the latest Narnia and The Tourist last week, Tron Legacy and Yogi Bear both opened to lackluster numbers and How Do You Know? out-and-out bombed. Faring best was the Tron reboot which took in $43 million, but considering the massive marketing and huge production budget, Disney had to be expecting more. I say the fact that it’s not really good is probably the main reason for these numbers. Opening in second was Yogi Bear which took in only $16.7 million. We’ll see if either film can hold up in the weeks ahead after the Christmas rush ends. One film that better pray to stay afloat is the new romantic comedy from James L. Brooks (As Good as it Gets), How Do You Know? which tanked with only $7.6 million for 8th place. Poor Reese Witherspoon may not be the romantic comedy pull many thought she was. I say the movie is probably just that bad and Reese will bounce back no problem…. It wasn’t all bad news at the box office as Oscar contenders The Fighter and Black Swan expanded into national release with very strong numbers following their Globe and SAG noms. Take a look at the new top ten below and for more numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Tron Legacy BV $43,600,000 – 3,451 – $12,634 $43,600,000 $170 1
2 N Yogi Bear WB $16,705,000 – 3,515 – $4,752 $16,705,000 $80 1
3 1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Fox $12,400,000 -48.3% 3,555 – $3,488 $42,764,000 $155 2
4 19 The Fighter Par. $12,200,000 +3,966.5% 2,503 +2,499 $4,874 $12,634,000 $25 2
5 2 The Tourist Sony $8,700,000 -47.2% 2,756 – $3,157 $30,791,000 $100 2
6 3 Tangled BV $8,676,000 -39.5% 3,201 -364 $2,710 $127,819,000 $260 4
7 6 Black Swan FoxS $8,300,000 +151.1% 959 +869 $8,655 $15,708,000 $13 3
8 N How Do You Know Sony $7,600,000 – 2,483 – $3,061 $7,600,000 $120 1
9 4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 WB $4,845,000 -42.9% 2,860 -717 $1,694 $265,546,000 – 5
10 5 Unstoppable Fox $1,800,000 -51.4% 1,874 -1,093 $961 $77,343,000 $100 6

Susan Boyle takes out T.I.

He may have hit the top with his last couple of releases, but recently incarcerated rapper T.I. couldn’t withstand the power of a little middle-aged lady from the U.K. as Susan Boyle’s The Gift held on to the top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Boyle sold another 243,000 copies for a total of 1.43 million. Boyle is a selling machine! … T.I. could only muster sales of 159,000 copies for his new disc, No Mercy, which debuted at # 4 also behind the enduring power of Taylor Swift and the Glee kids (who have two albums in the top ten). The only other big debut came from the Daft Punk Tron Legacy soundtrack which landed at # 10 giving them their highest charting album ever. Take a look at the new top ten below and head to Billboard for more chart news here.

Official Billboard Results for Week of 12.06.10

1. Susan Boyle, “The Gift” (last week~ 1)
2. Taylor Swift, “Speak Now” (lw~ 2)
3. “Glee: The Christmas Album” original television soundtrack album (lw~ 4)
4. T.I., “No Mercy” (DEBUT)
5. Jackie Evancho, “O Holy Night” (lw~ 3)
6. Nicki Minaj, “Pink Friday” (lw~8)
7. Josh Groban, “Illuminations” (lw~ 9)
8. “Glee: The Music (Volume 4)” original television soundtrack album (lw~ 5)
9. Rihanna, “Loud” (lw~ 10)
10. Daft Punk, “TRON: Legacy” original soundtrack album (DEBUT)

The New Tron Trailer!

If you haven’t heard, the 80’s cult hit sci-fi yarn Tron is getting a sequel, Tron Legacy,  which hits theatres this December starring Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and recent Oscar winner Jeff Bridges reprising his role from the first film They just had a big panel for it at Comic Con and the new trailer is just hitting the web. I have been skeptical about my interest in the movie, but they’re starting to get me with this one. Check it out below. Will you be playing along with Tron this holiday season?

Tron Legacy trailer

Revenge of the 80’s Movies

This weekend brings the latest “re-invention” of an 80’s horror movie staple, The Nightmare on Elm Street. This time it stars Oscar nominee (Little Children) Jackie Earle Hayley and a bunch of TV teens, not to mention the hot underwear model from Twilight, Kellan Lutz. It’s just another in a long line of film franchises from the 80’s getting new life in recent years. Witness the reinventions of Friday the 13th and Halloween along with another installment of the Indiana Jones series. Now, Hollywood is going back to the 80’s again for a series of remakes of movies and TV shows that don’t necessarily scream for a makeover. Nonetheless, Hollywood rarely has a new idea, but sometimes they do succeed with a re-invention every now and again (ie: The Dark Knight). So what’s headed your way? Check out these previews for 4 films hitting theatres this year and watch for a new take on Red Dawn in early 2011.

A Nightmare on Elm Street:

The Karate Kid (starring that Will Smith tyke and Jackie Chan!)

The A Team (ok, I kinda wanna see this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofSAt9r2Gek

And for Xmas, it’s Tron Legacy!