Jun 15 2009 'The Hangover', Like Actual Hangovers, Not Affected by John Travolta
For your copybooks, the weekend top five:
1. The Hangover - $33.4 million, another victory for insobriety repercussion comedy!
2. Up - $30.5 million. Thankfully, few tickets were sold to the elderly, saving the group from getting a false, fleeting sense of hope, whimsy, and adventure.
3. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - Only $25 million. I knew they shouldn't have included the poorly-received twist ending where you find out John Travolta is both the villain and the Denzel Washington.
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - $9.6 million. Now can we stop all this senseless warring over historical exhibit territory?
5. Land of the Lost - $9.2 million, damning Imagine That to 6th place and an afterlife with Meet Dave in an Eddie Murphy Bundle Pack.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Jun 12 2009 Will You Watch Eddie Murphy and His Magic Daughter, or Something Else?
Forget that number you call to find out what movies are playing (I've already forgotten it)--HERE are the new releases this weekend. I guess you'll still have to call for showtimes, but whatevs.
Imagine That
Director: Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Yara Shahidi, Thomas Haden Church
Good if you want to see: the notable rarity of a single Eddie Murphy; something where a girl experiences financial premonitions through elaborate, metaphorical fairy tale hallucinations? Honestly, who approved this as a concept?
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta
Good if you want to see: Sleepless in Seattle reworked into a subway-hijacking film; John Travolta chew the scenery so hard it will give you TMJ syndrome.
Moon
Director: Douglas Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey's voice
Good if you want to see: a small-scale sci-fi film that relies more on ideas than flashy effects; the sights of New York or LA, because I'm pretty sure those are the only places it's playing.
Food, Inc.
Director: Robert Kenner
Starring: Talking heads, cattle
Good if you want to see: why you should feel crippling guilt about buying food from anyone but farmer's market people and relatives; an audience full of the kind of people who make it a point to mention they don't watch television.
Feb 23 2009 A Few Seconds of a Bunch of Upcoming Movies
If you made it to the end of the Oscars--or more likely, if you dozed off and were awakened by the credit sequence's jamming guitar--the night's reward was a three-minute movie preview sequence. For some of the films (Public Enemies, Whatever Works), it was a first look at scenes from highly-anticipated projects. For others (Old Dogs!), it was the warning: oh god, Robin Williams and John Travolta made some kind of boot camp comedy, and it's called Old Dogs. Here it is:
Continue Reading " A Few Seconds of a Bunch of Upcoming Movies "
Feb 13 2009 'Taking of Pelham 1 2 3' Trailer Needs Less Travolta
Everyone can learn something today from this Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 trailer: if you're going to make one of those good guy versus criminal mad-man psychological battle movies, you've got get a good actor for both roles. A De Niro and a Pacino, maybe a Kevin Spacey and a Samuel L. Jackson if you're desperate. A Travolta does not work. It's an honest mistake, but one we should have known to avoid post-Battlefield Earth.
Now on to the bigger issue: does the subway control center look anything like this representation? A giant screen with all the tracks and trains lit up and moving around is actually the image I've had in my mind for some time (either that or all the tracks connecting to a giant brain under Grand Central), but I recognized I'm an idiot and that it probably looks nothing like that. MTA.info doesn't seem to provide this particular info.
Continue Reading " 'Taking of Pelham 1 2 3' Trailer Needs Less Travolta "
Feb 10 2009 'Taking of Pelham 1 2 3' Poster a Sea of Blue, Gold, and Goatees
When did Denzel Washington become Morgan Freeman? Answer: around the same time John Travolta became a leather daddy. I think it was last year some time.
Pelham poster! [JoBlo]
