Sep 8 2009 'The Final Destination' Somehow Still Really Popular
Box office totals for Friday through Monday, our day of labor:
1. The Final Destination - $15.5 million. Good to see I'm not the only one who enjoys spending a leisurely weekend watching teenagers die strange, elaborate deaths.
2. Inglourious Basterds - $15 million. Did you realize inglorious and glorious aren't the same thing? It's not like flammable/inflammable. Just in case you haven't seen the movie yet, I don't want you to go in confused.
3. All About Steve - $13.9 million. A 5% Rotten Tomatoes rating does little to tarnish the glistening star power of Miss Congeniality.
4. Gamer - $11.2 million. Look, I know Gamer looks stupid, but does it really look this much stupider than The Final Destination? Yeah, I guess it probably does.
5. District 9 - $9 million. This film's clear allegorical message really taught me something about not letting alien fluids spray in my mouth.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
May 21 2009 'Gamer' Trailer: In This Game, There Are No Little Power-Ups with Red Cross Symbols on Them!
Imagine: a future based on someone's dim recollections of The Running Man and Death Race--a future where death row inmates are given a shot at freedom if they agree to compete in a ridiculous form of neo-entertainment. And imagine that the neo-entertainment is much like a first-person shooter video game, but also sort of like virtual reality, wherein outsider "gamers" mind-control the actions of the incarcerated. And pretend that the role of "gamer" would not be limited to the few privileged elite (probably Richard Branson and Moby) able to afford the surely expensive price of getting to control a man's fate; let's just say kids got to make criminals like Gerard Butler, John Leguizamo, and Ludacris jump and shoot their way to freedom.
That future is now!:
May 8 2009 'Gamer' Poster: There is a Boy Inside 300
In the future, all movie posters will react to your mouse movement by revealing a boy underneath the face of Gerard Butler, but we're not in the future--we're in the future's past--so for now only this poster for Gamer has such a stupid level of interactivity (interactive version under the cut). Only your filthy trackpad can Tetris his identity back together!
The film's official synopsis almost helps it make sense. People are playing people!!!:
GAMER is a high-concept action thriller set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multi-player online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle has created the controversial form of entertainment, "Slayers," a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies - online- in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension...mind control... manipulation... people playing people!At the center is Kable, the superstar and cult hero of "Slayers," the savage, ultraviolent first person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology.
So it's The Running Man by way of Doom. I'm with you there. But how will Kable escaping the game allow him to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology? Unless gets loose, then shatter the "mother chip." I will accept anything involving a "mother chip" as an explanation.
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