Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!

State of Play - Picture-perfect U.S. congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) seems to be the rising star in the world of politics -- until his research assistant, who was also his mistress, is murdered. And then the secrets start coming out... It's up to star reporter Cal McCaffrey (Russell Crowe) and his co-hort Della (Rachel McAdams) to uncover the truth, but there are three things that complicate matters: 1) Cal's friendship and loyalty to Stephen; 2) their ruthless editor (Helen Mirren); and 3) a conspiracy that goes far, far deeper than they thought.

Crank: High Voltage - When we last saw Chev Chelios (Statham), it appeared as though the assassin had met his maker. Wrong. As his story continues, Chelios hunts down the mobster who stole his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.

17 Again - Mike O'Donnell (Perry) has lived a life full of regrets. Suddenly, he reverts back to his 17-year-old self (Efron) who looks to navigate high school and create a path that leads to a better adult existence.

Movies coming out on DVD and Blu-ray this week!

The Spirit DVD
The Reader DVD
Splinter DVD
Mean Girls Blu-ray
8 Mile Blu-ray

Box Office results for the weekend!

1 Hanna Montana The Movie$34.0 M

2 Fast & Furious $28.7 M

3Monsters vs. Aliens $22.6 M

4 Observe & Report $11.1 M

5Knowing $6.6 M

6 I Love You, Man $6.4 M

7 The Haunting In Connecticut $5.7 M

8Dragonball Evolution $4.6 M

9Adventureland $3.4 M

10Duplicity $3.0 M

Damn! Well, there are a lot of girls out in there that just love "Hanna Montana." I bet there are some guys too. So guess what? Another seal for the apocalypse has been broken. The end is nigh.

Not as many people went to see "Observe and Report" as people did for "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." Aren't they both about mall cops? Is it the R rating that did it? I think it did.

"Dragonball Evolution" bombed. That is all. Other movies are just kicking back until the big summer hits come our way. "Fast and Furious" is furiously making money fast and I will have news later on a possible fifth movie already in the works.

Next weekend has the new "Crank" movie. Finally!

The Spirit

A bad marketing campaign plus very campy acting creates the film "The Spirit," a story of a nearly indestructible hero who is also a womanizer.

What I expect out of s superhero film is the conflict between the identities of the person and the hero he or she tries to be. This is no hero film because the identity of The Spirit, Denny Colt, is dead. Instead the question of the hero is not really who is he, but what is he. A ghost or a phantom? He likes to call himself the Spirit of his city (he really loves his city, and one of my friends referred to the Spirit not being the spirit of the city, but the b*tch of it). So the story is set-up, but it just goes in wrong directions.



The marketing campaign for this film made it look like a hero movie, or something that might be in the style of "Sin City." Now I know the whole back story about Frank Miller, his writing, his work on "Sin City" and how he became involved with "The Spirit." So what I was expecting was not at all what I saw.

"The Spirit" is visually great and lots of eye candy, but that ends the decent package of the film. The story runs very thin (Sam Jackson wants to become immortal by drinking an ancient Greek hero's blood) and the characters aren't really that interesting. I never felt for anyone when they were sad or happy. A good film should make characters have a range of emotions, a great film has the audience have a range of emotions for the characters.



There are many flaws to this film, and it could have been made very differently. I will not claim to know much about the Spirit (a character from the WWII era), so maybe making a movie of an unknown wasn't such a great idea (though Marvel has banked on B-list characters from the comics). I am not going to say it is worth a watch or don't see it. It is a judgement that you should make on whether you like really campy stories (that have everything but the kitchen sink, which this film does have) or whether you prefer the other kind of hero tales.

4.6/10 "I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead."

Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this Friday! Nothing! Just one limited release!

Defiance - In 1941, a group of Jewish brothers organize the largest armed rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

Movies on DVD and Blu-ray!
An American Carol
Surfer, Dude
Movies on Blu-ray!
Serenity
Wedding Crashers


Box Office Results for the weekend (3 day and 4 day)!

Three day weekend (Dec. 26-28)

1 Marley & Me$37.0 M

2 Bedtime Stories$28.0 M

3 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button$27.0 M

4 Valkryie $21.5 M

5 Yes Man $16.5 M

6 Seven Pounds $13.4 M

7 The Tale of Despereaux $9.4 M

8 The Day the Earth Stood Still $7.9 M

9 The Spirit$6.5 M

10 Doubt $5.7 M

Four day weekend (Dec. 25-28)

1. Marley and Me $51.6 M

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button $39.0 M

3. Bedtime Stories $38.5 M

4. Valkyrie $30.0 M

5. Yes Man $22.3 M

6. Seven Pounds $18.2 M

7. The Tale of Despereaux $11.4 M

8. The Day the Earth Stood Still $10.6 M

9. The Spirit $10.3 M

10. Four Christmases $7.2 M

Box Office Results and Weekly Movie News

Movies coming out this week!


Bedtime Stories - Somehow, someway, the lavish bedtime stories that a hotel handyman (Sandler) tells his niece and nephew start to magically come true.

The Spirit - A rookie cop (Macht) returns from the dead to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His main opposition is a former lab technician who has reinvented himself as The Octopus (Jackson), an elusive criminal mastermind who knows the secrets behind his nemesis.

Valkyrie - Near the end of WWII, Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) leads to group of fellow German army colonels in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler; the event would later be called the July 20 Plot of 1944.

Marley and Me - An impossibly cute, but impossible-to-live-with yellow Labrador retriever named Marley teaches his newlywed owners a thing or two about patience and parenthood.

Movies coming out on DVD!

Death Race
The Duchess
Eagle Eye
Ghost Town
Saving Grace

Box Office results for the weekend!
1 Yes Man$18.2 M

2 Seven Pounds$16.0 M

3 The Tale of Despereaux$10.5 M

4 The Day the Earth Stood Still $10.2 M

5 Four Christmases $7.7 M

6 Twilight $5.2 M

7 Bolt $4.3 M

8 Slumdog Millionaire $3.2 M

9 Australia $2.3 M

10 Quantum of Solace $2.2 M

"Yes Man," "Seven Pounds" and "Tale of Despereaux" take the top three spots as the newest movies for the weekend while other films stay alive even with a really dull turnout to the theaters. Next weekend has many anticipated movies coming out and shall definitely fare better than this past weekend.

Spirit is a Comic Rookie

Sci Fi Wire had the chance to interview Gabriel Macht, who will be donning the mask and red tie for the holiday hero film, "The Spirit." In the interview, Macht explained how he had never read any "Spirit" comics before.

“I went out and bought ‘The Best of The Spirit,’ which has the color versions of the old comics,” said Macht in the Sci Fi Wire story. “When I came to visit with Frank, he said, ‘So, what have you done?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ve immersed myself in The Best of…’ He goes, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m not a fan of the coloring that they did for those comics. Let me give you my picks.’ So he gave me a massive binder of his favorite Will Eisner work, but all in black and white.”

Macht immersed himself into the comic history of "The Spirit" and also into the legendary writer, Will Eisner.

“I was not familiar with ["The Spirit" creator] Will Eisner, but as soon as I did my research I found that he is a legend in the world of comic books and graphic novels, and I think it was he who invented the term ‘graphic novel,’” related Macht. “He was one of the great innovators of the genre.”

How do you feel about Macht being a comic rookie and taking on the role of "The Spirit?"
Read the rest of the interview here!

Meeting Michael Uslan, Batman Producer

I met Michael Ulsan today. Who is he you may ask? I shall tell you.

Michael Ulsan is the world's first professor to teach a class about comic books. This made the news back in the 70's at Indiana University.

Two weeks into his classes he got a phone call.
"Hi, is this Michael Ulsan,' said the voice on the phone. Ulsan replied yes. "This is Stan Lee," continued the voice. Stan Lee wanted to congratulate Ulsan on his job and success for the comic industry. A few hours after that the head of DC comics called and gave Ulsan a job (more like an internship).

Ulsan then helped pen a story for the comic "The Shadow," (which is another comic-to-movie adaptation, "The Shadow") and later got the job to write for Batman.

After that he went to law school and then worked for United Artists and learned about the film industry. He knew what he wanted to do. On Oct. 3, 1979 he bought the rights to Batman, quit his job, and began to start his dream of bringing a dark Batman to the silver screen.

He has produced an amazing list of films including: "Batman," "Batman Returns," "Batman Forever," "Batman and Robin," Constantine," "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," and the upcoming "The Spirit."

After his speech I went up to him and shook his hand and got his autograph. I asked him where he got his tie (which was a full on Spider-Man tie) and he asked where I got my shirt (Joker from "The Dark Knight"). I replied, "I bought it at Hot Topic."
He replied, "Stan Lee gave me this tie." My jaw dropped.

I managed to ask him one brief question. What were his thoughts about Marvel building the "Avengers" franchise and about a possible "Justice League" movie being made. He said that DC had to do it right by making solo films of all the characters, just like what Marvel was doing (he loved "Iron Man"), but that Nolan's Batman might not get along with other superheroes (I did mention an interview with Nolan where Nolan thought his Batman vision wouldn't work in a Justice League world).

Another note of interest that Ulsan said was that the idea to take away from "The Dark Knight" is not to make heroes dark, but to let directors be creative and to stay true to the hero. If all heroes end up being dark, serious, and violent, it would be terrible.

It was a momentous night for me....and I shall not forget it anytime soon.

Also he let out a bit of movie news. He said he is partnering with Sam Raimi (of "Spider-Man") and making a new "The Shadow." You heard it here first folks!

Special Features

Frank Miller breaks down all the women in "The Spirit."

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Zack Snyder tells us that "Watchmen" is going to be dark.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Source: MTV Spoilers

Gort decides who lives in the new "The Day the Earth Stood Still" trailer.



Can you feel the darkness in the new "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" trailer?



Jason Statham kicks butt in "Transporter 3." Even his clothes are weapons.



Watch the story of BURN-E,a little robot that had a different adventure during "WALL-E."

December 2008

After a dull Fall line of movies, Winter comes along to pick things up.
This month has Quantum of Solace and Twilight out there, which are sure to bring their desired audiences. My eyes are already looking at December which is sure to look like a good month.
Here are some choices!

Punisher: War Zone 12/5/08



The Day the Earth Stood Still 12/12/08



Gran Torino 12/17/08(limited), 1/16/09(everywhere)



Yes Man 12/19/08



The Spirit 12/25/08



Valkrie 12/26/08



The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 12/25/08

Frank Miller talks Spirit

Lots of fans are skeptical of the upcoming film The Spirit, coming out Dec. 25 and being directed by Frank Miller, one of the most influential comic book writers of all time (Sin City, 300).
Miller made some changes to The Spirit, a comic written be legend Will Eisner.

According to MTV News, " Among those changes to the story was Miller’s decision to have the character return from the dead with a Looney Tunes-esque level of invulnerability and a special pheromone that makes him irresistible to women — two elements that didn’t exist in the original Eisner stories.

“The old Eisner comics were loaded with romance, beautiful and dangerous women, and that was a way to explain the sparks flying between the Spirit and every woman he meets,” Miller explained.

“I’m sure when this movie comes out it will stir up a fiery debate . . .,” Miller said. “People have been loving the way comic books have been reaching the screen, but I don’t like when everybody drinks the Kool-Aid. I like to shake things up and tell the story the best way possible. And I can tell you firsthand, that’s what Will Eisner liked too.”

Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the villain Octopus in the film, let people know that the fight scenes will be like they came right out of a comic book.

“['The Spirit'] is a comic book,” said Jackson. “You can call ‘The Dark Knight’ a comic book, but no, it’s a graphic novel. There’s a difference between a comic book and a graphic novel.”

“‘The Spirit’ is funny. It’s tongue-in-cheek, wry humor,” continued Jackson. “It’s sort of Wile E. Coyote with real people. We hit each other with big things [and] we’re both kind of indestructible, so it’s funny in that way. We get shot up, we get stabbed up, we just don’t die.”

The movie comes out Christmas. Check it out!

New Spirit Featurette

A new feature shows Frank Miller's take on The Spirit.



Enjoy!

300 sequel: 301?

Latino Review got the scoop on the latest news about a sequel (or prequel) on 300.

"So when does the second 300 film take place?

In short, Snyder says he's spoken with Frank Miller who will be writing and drawing the graphic novel that the second film will be based upon. Upon Miller's completion of the book, then, and only then, will they delve into writing a script for the movie.

Snyder continued and said he would not have any input into the novel and wants it to be a creation of Miller's 100%."

Right now Zack Snyder is working on Watchmen and Frank Miller is working on the film The Spirit.
So more news on this to come! Catch ya' later!

Kratos ain't got nothing on me!

New Spirit Trailer

The Spirit gets a new trailer.
I must say this movie is starting to look pretty ridiculous.



"I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead."

The Spirit

Coming out during Christmas time is another comic-based movie, but this time it is directed by Frank Miller, the comic genius behind 300, Sin City, and most of Daredevil.
The Spirit is about a rookie cop named Denny Colt who returns from the dead as The Spirit, a hero who fights the forces of evil in his city. And if you haven't heard, he loves the ladies and the ladies love him.
Filmed in the same style as Sin City, the film is very eye-catching, but can it catch the attention of audiences this December? I think it has a very good chance.



And you can't forget about Samuel L. Jackson in there. No you can't.