25th Anniversary of Poltergeist!

I'm probably not the first one to report this, but this coming Thursday, October 4th, Poltergeist is returning to theatres for ONE NIGHT ONLY!!! One of the great American classic horror movies!

I saw this movie for the first time as a midnight movie the year I moved into college. Or maybe it was the second year. Anyway, I had never seen it before, and it had a subtle kind of horror At first I thought it was a little weird, but I would be interested in seeing it again. I don't think I'm gonna get the chance to, though. However, this is your chance to go out and see this movie again!

Is anyone interested in seeing this? Have you seen it? If you did, what did you think about it? Anyway, this is just a reminder for anyone who might have been thinking about seeing this movie. Hard to believe it came out for the first time in 1982! What else happened in 1982 in the movies?

The Top 5 Grossing Movies were:

1. ET: The Extraterrestrial
2. Tootsie
3. Porky's
4. An Officer and a Gentleman
5. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

#6 was Poltergeist! Not bad huh? It grossed about 75 million, which is pretty ridiculous considering the year it was released! ET shattered things with over 450 million though. That's all for now, apologies about the lack of posting this weekend!

This video below is for my babe, you don't have to watch it if you don't want to, but it's pretty funny. (Probably NSFW)

Halo: The Movie (with Trailer)

According to IMDB, a Halo Movie is scheduled for release in 2009. According to Rotten Tomatoes, however, it could be 2008. Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings Trilogy) will be serving as executive director to the film, in an joint video game/movie venture with Microsoft (from Rotten Tomatoes). The movie is set to be directed by visual effects veteran Neill Blomkamp, who is responsible for the effects for shows such as Stargate SG-1 and Smallville. The movie adaptation of the extremely popular video game franchise is highly anticipated, especially with the recent release of the 3rd installment. (Halo 3) Jackson's special effects studio, WETA, will be working on the project. The estimated budget is $100 Million.

The hype for this movie will only grow as the months go along, with much speculation as to who will be casted for the role of Master Chief. Many fan made trailers have also been produced. Because of the high budget, the film will likely be rated PG-13. However, Jackson is apparently pushing for an R-rated version for the DVD release, and for the hardcore fans of the gaming franchise.

I suspect that this film will perform better than the recent Resident Evil film adaptations, especially with Jackson on the project. He has already started working with it, releasing a semi-live action trailer called "Arms Race" promoting both the movie and the game release. You can check it out below:



Enjoy! Are there any other video games you'd like to see made into a movie?

Random Things Meme

My first meme. I've been tagged by Mrs. Mandypoo. 8 Random things about myself! Well, here we go....

1. My season tickets for BU hockey came in today! I'm really excited about that. :-)

2. I just set up a second blog which I will start working on shortly. (To Infiniti and Beyond) The link does not work yet, but it should soon.

3. I really like Apple Computers.

4. I've banked $16.54 from Adsense!

5. I am a twin. He does not have a blog. I have a little sister too. She has a blog.

6. I am a stats freak and I spend hours every day reading and commenting on blogs and checking on my stats. I really want this to be successful for me and everyone else! I like blogging a lot. :-)

7. I really like pasta.

8. I watch a TON of FOX TV. It's pretty much the only channel that's on my TV, since I don't have cable.

Probably more than 8 random facts about me in there, but I made it into 8. Anyway, here's the point where I tag some people to take on this. I'm gonna tag Matt, Kay, Pelf, DP, & Fletch!


Hopefully you guys have fun doing this! I'll throw in another random fact here! It's my girlfriend's birthday today!

Happy Birthday Babe!!!!

How Much is Your Blog Worth: Volume 2, Part 2

My blog is worth $7,339.02.
How much is your blog worth?

I've found that Wednesdays are my "fun" blogging days, where I don't necessarily blog about movies. Not that blogging about movies is not fun! This is one of those fun things that I like to update weekly. I'm up about double in worth what I was from last week, and that's thanks to you guys linking to my posts! I really appreciate it! I've got a meme that I've got to tackle on later, but I'd like to know how your blogs are doing using this system to determine worth! As always, I'm open to sharing links, and providing those technorati bumps that blogs love to get! Also, if you haven't already updated my link.. I'd appreciate it you could! I'm now at Intermission at Work or http://www.intermissionatwork.com.

My subscribership has also gone through the roof! I'm up to 23 today. Has anyone else noticed drastic changes in their subscribership recently?

On another note, if anyone is looking to buy a domain using GoDaddy, I suggest you search online for "godaddy coupons". That will usually provide you with some sort of code that lets you gets savings towards your own domain. It's my way of staying committed to blogging! Well, that's all for now.. gonna tackle that meme in a bit!

Movies this Weekend!

Finally got through that fiasco of what happened with my blog earlier. Just in time to get this post. Three major releases this week, and a few limited releases that are pretty highly touted. Without further ado, here we go!

The Kingdom - When a terrorist bomb goes off in a western housing compound in Saudi Arabia, an international incident is ignited. While the diplomats are slow to work, FBI Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) and his team (Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner) attempts a secret trip behind enemy lines to find the people behind the bombing. Upon their arrival, they find the Saudis to be unwelcoming to them, as they consider it an internal issue. The Saudis want to find the terrorist themselves, without the FBI's help. However, with the help of a Saudi Colonel, they weave through the politics and find themselves in a deadly confrontation with the killer.

How I think it will do - Pretty major star power behind this one, and everyone I've spoken to is excited about this movie. I think it's going to be great, the number one movie this weekend. It's a powerful topic, which will only help it at the box office. Reminds me of Black Hawk Down, which I also really enjoyed.





The Game Plan - The "greatest quarterback of all time" Joe Kingman has it all. A great career, a great home...... and a new daughter?!? A family comedy showing the antics of a man who might not be ready to be the father to a girl who claims to be his daughter.

How I think it will do - Like Vin Diesel in "The Pacifier", this is The Rock's foray into family comedy. Having a great sense of humor, I think he can make this movie succeed. The previews are decent, though I am afraid it may have shown all the funny parts. However, he does play for the Boston Rebels, and Boston is awesome. So this movie will do well.








Feast of Love - A modern version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Selma Blair, and more. Local professor Harry Stevensen watches as love causes mischief among the people of the town. All of their stories intertwine into one romantic tale. From acclaimed director Robert Benton.

How I think it will do - I think this one could do ok. From the synopsis I've read, it reminds me most of Love Actually. Without the holiday theme though, I don't know how well this one will do. I don't think it will do as well as Love Actually. My prediction is #3 for the major releases.






In addition to these movies, the Darjeeling Limited is opening. Also opening is the controversial Lust, Caution. From director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), this one scored an NC-17 rating, which means that it won't show up at most theatres. If anyone does see it, let me know how it is, and I will even post your review here. Another highly anticipated film opening limited is In the Valley of Elah, which stars Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and is directed by Paul Haggis.

Well, that's all for now! I'm going to continue trying to recover the lost elements of my blog.. and try to catch up on reading! See you all at the movies!

Changes being made

I was dumb and tried to change my theme, but didn't save my widgets. Trying to make everything work again, please bear with me.

EDIT: Alright.. I got most of it back and I tried to get it looking as good as I could. Most of the ads are in one spot now so hopefully that will ... make some people happy. It was a pretty nice wordpress like theme that I was going to try. Maybe another time when I have a chance to back up EVERYTHING. On to write my post for the day :-) and work on this thing some more.

Top 5 Ways to get.....

the Boot. From a movie theatre. That I can think of right now anyway. Luckily, I've only had to do this a few times, but sometimes, its just that satisfying. :-) We'll start with an honorable mention, being the one that I kicked some kids out for yesterday!

Honorable Mention: Pulling the plugs on the video games, then running into a movie you didn't have tickets for. When you're the only ones in the lobby.

How far did these kids make it? They didn't even get to sit down. I was going to let them get away with the video games until they ran into a Rated R movie. Me and one of my staff leads kicked them out so fast, they barely had time to get a refund. The high point of this one is that just before this happened, one of the girls decided to run across the lobby, tripped on her own feet, and face planted, spraying the contents of her purse across the lobby. The 14-16 year old crowd remains some of my least favorite ever. Now onto the list:

1. Start a Fight - I'm not going to have any sympathy for someone that does this. Once (I wasn't working) and a guy decided that the guy behind him was kicking his seat and decided to show off. Threatening someone by taking off your belt while your girlfriend is screaming stop is not cool. Then going out to blame it on the other guy doesn't help either. You're outta there, buddy.
2. Be on drugs - You always know these people before they even approach you. Hey.. note to those out there who decide to do this... we can SMELL it on you. Now this one won't directly get you kicked out, but it's one of the main things that leads to trouble, and thus, getting you kicked out. Hint: Go to midnight movies. Everyone is drunk or high.
   
3. Sneaking into a movie - These people might think its really cool to get their friends to sneak em in the back but guess what... you usually get caught. And that's an automatic boot, sometimes sans refund. Running and lying will not help you either. I boot a few every month for this very reason.
   
4. Talk during the movie - Sometimes this is ok, but most of the time its not. If you're one of those people who need to do this, find either a show that is not busy, or a really good home theatre system and invest in Netflix. I hate booting these people because they usually cause a scene in addition to the trouble they already caused. Same for the drunks.
   
5. YOUR CELL PHONE - The granddaddy of em all. I don't care if you have a cool cell phone with a cute ring tone. Leave it in the car or turn it off before you get in. At least use vibrate or something that won't cause a lot of noise. And for chrissakes... don't TALK ON IT DURING THE MOVIE.

There's my short list.. I'm sure there's more that I haven't thought about, but I'll leave that up to you! What would you kick someone out of the movies for?

Deedubya over at The Blog of Lists has added this one...



I guess I'll also provide my update on TV shows here too. Can't wait for House to start tomorrow, and Bones too. I've been getting into those two a lot. House is from before, and Bones is new.. just started watching the reruns over the summer. I also really enjoyed Kitchen Nightmares, but you guys already know about my thing for Hell's Kitchen. K-ville is not bad, and neither is Prison Break.

I should be watching Monday Night Football, but alas no cable.

I've been moving things around and getting rid of some things on this site. Hopefully I haven't thrown people off too much. I've also been trying to keep up with the blogs, but there are so many to read, while trying to promote my own. (Sometimes I'm selfish, I know)

Has anyone had any hits through Blogrush yet? It's supposedly helping some people out, but I always see negative credits.

That's all for now, more soon! Like.. tomorrow or something :-)

Review: Good Luck Chuck

Two movies in one week, really livin on the edge now! This time it was Good Luck Chuck. Have to say that I did enjoy this one, it reminded me a bit of 40 year old Virgin, but with Jessica Alba and Dane Cook. And we all know that Jessica is nice to look at. :-)

The basic premise is that our pal Chuck Logan (Dane Cook) is cursed. Any girl he goes to do the deed with will end up finding true happiness.... with the next guy she finds. Soon enough, the ladies are lining up to get their hands on him, so that they can find that next guy. Chuck, however, wants to find real love, but his curse prevents him from doing that.

Not gonna spoil it for anybody planning on seeing it, but I think you can predict what happens. There are some slight twists, but nothing too crazy. Alba is delightfully klutzy and her character is easy to like. I think Cook overacted at some points, but that might have been what the director wanted. And you can't have one of these without a foul mouthed sidekick, and that was Chuck's pal Stu (Dan Fogler). Being rated R, this movie also had its fair share of nudity for people looking for that, and no, Alba does not.

Overall your typical romantic comedy. It has a good premise, and delivered what I wanted. Seeing Cook and Fogel's characters as children was hilarious! Having Alba in this film certainly helped, and the crowd was roaring with laughter at some points. Not extremely vulgar and potentially offensive like Superbad, this is one people should enjoy! It should also make you think differently about grapefruit.

I forgot to mention, the homemade tape at the end is really cute! :-P

Just Bought This :-)

Now I know some of you are going to think this is probably spam, but I actually just bought this and I'm really happy about it. What's best about it is that in addition to these items, I'm also getting 5 HD-DVDs free! Hmm.. how best to not make this sound like spam... lol. Well, I'm not really sure how to do that, but I thought I'd throw this one on here because I think it's a good deal. I'm not going to get into that whole format wars thing, because personally I don't know what's going to happen. This is just a solid deal, if you're looking to upgrade to HD and you have an Xbox 360. If you're interested, check it out, if not, no biggie! :-) I'll let you guys know how it is when it comes in on Tuesday! Sorry if I've annoyed anyone with this!

Re-releasing Transformers... in IMAX!

Transformers is coming back to theatres.. in IMAX! I'm sure some of you know about this. I, unfortunately did not get a chance to see Transformers. (And I work in a movie theatre, I know, I know.) That being said, I'm pretty excited about it, and thinking about how I can convince the girl to go see it with me!

Re-releasing movies has been been a pretty popular thing to do, though it doesn't always get done on the scale that Transformers is. Crash, for example, was re-released after its upset win at the Oscars. However, there are always hinderences to doing this, as some movie companies will not play movies that are available on DVD, as it states here in Variety.

This re-release of transformers is different though. They're opening it up to a different format, where viewers will really be able to take advantage of the special effects on a monstrous screen. There is also going to be additional footage not included in the original release. It would've been cool if they could've done some of the movie, or perhaps all of it in 3-D, like Harry Potter 5. Regardless, I do like how they are putting this movie in IMAX now, after the original run is just about over. Transformers did very well, having grossed over $300 million in the US alone. It will be interesting to see what this re-release will do, as Transformers grossed a paltry $605,328 (USA) on 607 Screens two weeks ago, and a pending DVD release (Oct 16). I expect the IMAX version will be accepted quite well and perform.

Transformers in IMAX opens today! Do you plan on seeing it? I'm lookin forward to seeing these guys on the BIG screen:

Review: Resident Evil - Extinction

The third incarnation of the series is in the books, and the reviews are.. eh. For anyone who hasn't seen the previous two films, here's a quick recap:

SPOILERS OF FIRST TWO MOVIES HERE, PLEASE SKIP IF YOU HAVE SEEN THEM!!!! SCROLL DOWN TILL YOU SEE MORE BOLD TEXT!!!!

The Umbrella Corporation has created a mutagenic biological weapon known as the T-Virus. Being researched at the hive underneath Raccoon city, the Red Queen (intelligent computer running Raccoon City) decides that the only way to save the whole is to kill those inside the hive. It also wipes the memory of Alice (seen left). Alice ends up in the hive, where all of the staff are now infected, and undead. After destroying the Red Queen, Alice and one other manage to escape, though they are captured by the Umbrella Corporation to be used for additional research towards the T-virus. Alice later awakens to find Raccoon city in ruins, and seemingly abandoned.


In the second installation, an Umbrella Corporation returns to the hive (roughly half a day after the first one ended) to open it up and find out what happened. They are quickly slaughtered by the T-virus infected zombies inside. With the doors to the hive now open, the undead quickly overrun Raccoon City. As citizens attempt to make their way to the quarantine areas, the infection reaches them, and they are ordered to go back into the city or be killed by the Umbrella Corporation. Meanwhile Alice awakens, and having been experimented on by the Umbrella Corporation, has developed superhuman abilities from the T-virush. Inside the city, several STARS and Umbrella soldiers realize that Umbrella has betrayed them. They strike a deal with the scientist who developed the T-virus, rescuing his daughter in exchange for escape. Alice aids them, but as they are about to be extracted, Nemesis appears and tries to kill them. Alice defeats Nemesis, and they escape. Raccoon city is then destroyed by a nuclear warhead. Alice's escape helicopter is caught in the blast, and she is impaled, presumably dead. The film continues to show her brought back to Umbrella and again experimented on. She is "rescued", but her eyes flash the Umbrella logo, setting up the next film.

PLEASE CONTINUE READING HERE-----

The third film picks up where the second one left off..duh. Umbrella is unsuccessfully trying to use Alice's blood to create a cure for the T-Virus. Lots of blood and gore ensue. I'm not going to spoil it because there are some of you out there who WILL see the movie.

I will tell you that I did enjoy the movie. It wasn't the greatest, but the director did a good job of creating moments where you knew you would jump. It has a sense of predictable fear to it. You kind of know what will happen before it does, but it works. The story is decent, nothing spectacular, and does work to explain more what is going on with Umbrella. This third installation does keep the "feel" of the other films, so if you didn't like those, its likely you won't like this one. However, there is some good blood and gore, and Milla does a decent job.

Good movie for getting the ladies to jump into your arms guys. ;-). Ladies, an excuse to get close to that special guy, ;-).

I'm giving it a 6 out of 10. If you see it, let me know what you think! Oh, and at the end of the credits, there is something that is somewhat creepy... kinda creeped me out a bit.

Let's Make Someone Famous: Blog Cabins!

All right, I dropped the ball on making someone famous this week, I was so excited about writing for Film School Rejects! Anyway, this week I thought I'd give a shout out to a fellow movie blogger, Blog Cabins!

As you can tell from the banner picture above, he writes insanely important film reviews. So insanely important in fact, that they rival my own. For his most recent review, Fletch took on Two Days in Paris. Not to be confused with a movie of similar name. Please don't. To go along with his reviews, he's got an extremely innovative rating system! Here's an image of it:

Isn't this great? It's awesome to be able to visualize how good a movie should be after you've read the review! I mean, if a movie is insanely awesome, and Fletch gives it a "Best of the Best", you get to relate it to Karate Kid! I think its pretty incredible. Only wish I thought of it first. :-\

Anyway, besides insanely important film reviews, Fletch also provides commentary on dvds, movies that should and shouldn't be made, and an analysis of movies that are coming out! The latter is known as TGITDNMAR. Classic. Some other recent stuff includes an interesting analysis on the poster for the Game Plan, and some insight on one of the first movies my family owned, Kindergarten Cop!

One of this other articles that I really liked was on Full House. Could this be made into a movie! Visit Blog Cabins to find out!

Well, that's all for now. Let's congratulate Blog Cabins on becoming famous by taking a gander over to his blog!

Disclaimer: Becoming Famous, while awesome, does not guarantee any results. I'm working on methods of getting these peeps tons of hits, so bear with me!

Film School Rejects!

Hi Everyone! I've just been included as a writer over at Film School Rejects! Don't worry, I won't be neglecting this blog at all, but this is an exciting opportunity for me. A chance to get my writing out there, and hopefully bring some more popularity to this blog.

For anyone who doesn't know, Film School Rejects is a site that provides movie reviews and movie news, and is quite an authority on the subjects! There are many contributing writers providing many opinions on any movie you could possibly want. Check them out for movie reviews, if I haven't provided one here first! Just kidding, feel free to visit both of us!

They always say one of the best ways to market yourself is to write on someone else's site. Well I'm grabbing that bull by the horns now!

Anyway, I hope you guys are as excited about this as I am, I can't wait to get my work out there! I just had to post about it before I went to bed. More tomorrow everyone!

Green Lantern: The Movie?

There have been a ton of Superhero movies coming out recently. Superman, the Spiderman Franchise, Fantastic Four, and the upcoming Iron Man movie. There is one franchise that has been hotly discussed and debated online, even though many have yet to consider it as a potential movie: Green Lantern. Jack Black is reported to be very interested in this franchise.

From this forum, it appears that there is potential for a movie to be made by 2009. While it has not been cast yet, there are many potential candidates to play the various Green Lanterns, and the obvious Justice League characters that would be present in the film.

So who could possibly play the Green Lantern? There is a lot of speculation about this. Personally, I could see Ioan Gruffudd playing him. You might remember Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic from Fantastic Four. So he's got an advantage there in that he's already done the whole superhero thing. But there have been more than one Green Lantern. I see Gruffudd as Kyle Rayner. So how about the other two?



I think Chris Evans (from Fantastic Four as well) looks like a good Guy Gardner. What do you think?

How about for John Stewart? I was thinking maybe Laurence Fishburne, but then that wasn't it. I can't quite think of the name, but I've seen him in some movies before. Maybe you can check out the image below and help me out....
If you can think of someone, let me know and I'll add it in, and give you credit for it!








I really think this is a great idea, and so do many others. Are you hearing this Hollywood? We want a Green Lantern movie! Hopefully you'll deliver by 2009 as predicted.

Now I'm not an expert on the Green Lantern, and I know there are plenty of other people out there who are bigger fans than I am, but you can't disagree that this could be the next big superhero movie... it's just got to get made! If we can get the word out there, then maybe hollywood will listen! Who knows, stranger things have happened before right? Well, if you agree, feel free to pass the word along, either on your own blog or by any other means you can think of.

For anyone looking for a trailer... here's what we have so far....

How Much is Your Blog Worth: The Return!

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

Well, I've decided to bring this back. Things have changed since I've picked up the new domain. As some of you may know, this little quiz is based on your technorati ranking. Unfortunately, technorati does not change your ranking when you updated a domain name. If you didn't know, I've recently changed the domain of this blog to www.intermissionatwork.com. I figured this would be a way to keep me dedicated to this! If you haven't already, please update my link if you have the chance! Matt, you're in the lead once again! I will try to catch up to your greatness again.

Has anyone else had a positive result since the last time they checked their blog? Let me know how you're doing, maybe we can post our results or have a friendly contest, lol.


Just an update here on Blogrush. As you can see from the little image here on the side, your links actually do appear on other people's blogs! I found this one at Chaseblogger's website. So if you're looking to promote your website, this could be a decent way to do it. I haven't generated any clicks yet, but it could happen, especially with more exposure. So give Blogrush a try if you're looking to get the word out there!

Sorry, I was just excited to see my link actually appear here... heh. I didn't think it would actually work.. but I guess it does show up. Now clicky click!

More interesting news that is not enough to create a new blog post about. Today is International Talk like a Pirate Day! I saw this on my work schedule (company wide) and thought that it was just a huge joke from the kids over in development. Then I headed over to digg and saw it there. I almost hit the floor laughing! Y'ar Mateys!

Movies this Weekend!

Again, we have quite a plethora of movies opening this weekend. I've always wanted to use that word in writing. Plethora. Anyway, hope I haven't kept you waiting too long for a movie post here.. don't forget to vote on my poll! (Scroll down two posts to see it) Also, I was mistaken on the opening of Eastern Promises. It opened in limited release last weekend, and is going wide this weekend. Please check out my Movies this Weekend post last week for a synopsis and how I think it will do. Sorry if I confused anyone! I'll try to be as accurate as possible this time around.


Sydney White - Starring Amanda Bynes. A college comedy about acceptance, and adjusting to the cutthroat atmosphere of sororities. Sydney White (Bynes) has come to Southern Atlantic University, ready to pledge for her mother's esteemed sorority. While making it through the pledging class, White finds that the sorority life is not what she expected it to be, and ends up kicked out. Finding her way to a condemned house on Greek Row, she links up with a group of misfits, and organizes them to revolutionize "the system".


How I think it will do - I think this one will do fairly well. This is a very Amanda Bynes movie, and if you enjoyed She's the Man I'm pretty sure you will enjoy this one. It'll have some decent laughs, and some eye candy for both sexes. This'll be the one to bring the younger crowd to, and also the one people that are trying to sneak into movies will buy tickets for. The younger "date movie". :-)




Resident Evil: Extinction - The final part of the Resident Evil Trilogy. Starting off where the last one ended, Alice (Milla Jovovich) joins forces again with Carlos Olivera and other survivors in the Nevada desert as they try to eliminate the virus that is turning mankind into zombies. After being captured by the Umbrella Corporation, and experimented on, Alice now has superhuman strengths, senses and agility. She will need all this and more to destroy the virus and seek justice.

How I think it will do - Resident evil fans have been widely disappointed by the first parts of the trilogy. (Right DP?) Having seen the trailer for this one I'm actually looking forward to it. This one is going to try to satisfy all the people looking for a good horror/action flick. The curiosity factor as to how they're finishing out this series and the extensive marketing campaign should push it to decent success.





Good Luck Chuck - Starring Jessica Alba and Dane Cook. Charlie Logan (Dane Cook) is cursed. As a child, he refused to kiss a demented goth girl while playing spin the bottle, who in turn cursed him. This curse has carried on to his adult life, where even as a successful dentist, he can't find the girl of his dreams. Logan discovers that strangely enough, every woman he sleeps with finds true love.... with the next man they meet. Before long, word of his "power" spreads and women are lining up to be with him. But this is not what Charlie Logan wants. When he discovers Cam (Alba), a hopelessly klutzy penguin specialist, he knows he has to find a way to break the curse as they develop a true romance.

How I think it will do - I think this is going to be the date movie for the older crowd this week. With stunning Jessica Alba and funnyman Dane Cook anchoring this one, I think it has a decent shot at being #1 at the box office. It's definitely my pick for it. I don't know which date movie I'll be seeing though.... Being rated R, this one is sure to bring some laughs.

Well, those are our major releases for this week. Opening in limited release are The Assassination of Jesse James by that Coward Robert Ford, Into the Wild, Antonia, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Last Winter, and Trade. Lots of selection this week! Again, be sure to vote in the poll (two posts down)! I'll see you at the movies!

Movie News and Tidbits!

Hi Everyone! So instead of calling this writer's block, we'll give a little look into what's happening in the movies today. Of course, I'm no expert at doing this, most of my information comes from IMDB.com. However, for a daily dose of hollywood news, feel free to check out It's all good... Gossip! That site is updated several times daily with the latest happenings in Hollywood. That being said, here we go!

My Canadian readers out there, did any of you happen to check out the Toronto International Film Festival? If you did, and feel like writing a post about it, I can feature it here on my blog if you'd like, or link to it on yours! At the Festival, (From IMDB) Canadian film director David Cronenberg's homecoming was a winning one - he scored the top prize at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Cronenberg's new movie Eastern Promises was honored with the People's Choice Award - which is elected by film fans. Festival director Piers Handling says, "It's great that it's a Canadian film by one of our monsters." Cronenberg was at the film's festival premiere with his leading man and lady Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts.

Anyone been following the battle between Kanye West and 50 Cent? Well... looks like they're both just looking for ammunition to use against each other.

Rapper 50 Cent has hit back at Kanye West for criticizing Britney Spears' lackluster performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, insisting the hip-hop star should not take out his anger on the troubled singer. West recently slammed MTV's decision to let Spears open Sunday's awards ceremony ahead of himself, claiming the hitmaker was "not ready" to make her pop comeback. But 50 Cent believes West is just jealous of all the attention Spears has been receiving. He tells radio host Ryan Seacrest: "(West) was upset, he's not used to being recognized. Period. Kanye expressed that he felt that Britney shouldn't be actually opening the show - almost like he forgot that Britney Spears sold 50 million records. She did. He is not thinking about her full body of work. She deserved to headline the show better than anybody else that was on it - even in the state that she is in. (IMDB)

Maybe Harry Potter fans will be getting some wild pictures and stories online of their favorite hero:

Daniel Radcliffe regrets not going wild when he turned 18 - vowing to make sure his 21st birthday will be a "a more raucous affair." The Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix actor's 18th birthday in July was a low-key celebration - he spent the day watching the cricket. But admits his next milestone birthday will be wild. The star told British radio station Heart: "I'm certain my 21st will be a more raucous affair than my 18th, I hope so anyway, why not? I'm not going to go off the rails though. I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing and won't get embroiled in any of that."

Should be a great party! How about an invite Daniel?? I promise I will live blog if I am there! Just kidding, as famous* as I am, I probably won't get that invite :-(.

On another note, I just saw on the news that a child recently had "Red Sox Suck" written on an autograph from a Yankee player. I'm a huge Red Sox fan, and while I don't like the Yankees, I don't see any Red Sox players doing this. This kid was a Red Sox fan, and a kid at that. What kind of player gets kicks from writing that on a CHILD's autograph. Despicable.

Well that kinda really got me going off topic, but movies aren't the only thing I'm passionate about, I guess. This weekend looks to be a lot better for movies, with some bigger movies heading out to theatres. It's kinda sad when I look at my box office widget and see 13.5 million for the #1 movie on the weekend. There are so many factors that go against the industry when it comes to getting people in there! Don't you want to see my smiling face? :-D Well, if any of you stop by the Boston area, I'll see what I can do for you! Just drop me a line before you come :-).

AAAANNND for anyone who missed the Emmy's:



My fire alarms have been going off. Guess this blog is too hot to handle. Better stop here before the house burns down.

*Please see previous post for disclaimer. 2 in a row! :-)

How to Popularize your Blog

I know there's a huge waiting line for people waiting to be famous on this site, but if you can't wait to get your blog out there, there's another way to do it! Blogrush launched today, with an easy to install widget! Check it out here! When you've installed it, you'll get a widget like the one I have on the right. Your blog could be appearing on hundreds of other blogs every day!

Of course, you could always get on the list to be made famous here. It's had huge impacts. Just ask whatagem, Mrs. Mandypoo, and Skittle. They'll vouch for me. One day they'll make a movie about all the blogs I make famous. :-) Make sure you get in line before its too late!

In anticipation of this week's movie openings, I thought I'd run a little poll:




More later on tonight! Bye for now!

Disclaimer: Becoming Famous, while awesome, does not guarantee any results. I've always wanted to have a disclaimer. I wonder if anyone will read this. I am working on ideas to get these people tons of hits though, so just bear with me! As always, if you want to become famous, just drop me a comment!

Busy Weekend! Food and Fun!

Not at the movie theatre, but for myself personally. I don't know if people will like that I'm not talking about movies that much in this post, but only time will tell. I did work my normal two days this weekend, and both were extremely slow. There's just no good movies out, and when you're in the Boston area, and the Red Sox are playing the Yankees, forget about it. Add the Patriots on Sunday night and my staff and I are left twiddling our thumbs. Go Sox and Patriots!

On my day off, I considered working the Boston Film Festival, but I decided I needed a day off, and I went to watch the Red Sox play at Boston Billiards. Great atmosphere for watching a baseball game, though its not quite Fenway Park. Afterwards, we ended up at The Cheesecake Factory. Any of you eaten there before? Do you like it? I had the Thai Chicken Pasta, which was excellent. I also have a piece of strawberry cheesecake still waiting to be eaten. :-) Yum.

That kinda gets me thinking about the theatre a bit. We all know theatres serve popcorn, soda, hotdogs, etc. Are things any different around the country? How about in other countries, for my international readers? I've been to Canadian theatres and they have some different toppings for popcorn! Yum. Let me know and I'll compile a post of all the various types of food they serve in movie theatres throughout the world! (And locally, if there are some non-traditional things you've seen)

Continuing on the weekend, for anyone who's still reading, went to the Casino this morning. Didn't come out ahead though :-(. Hopefully my blog will someday make up for that, but not quite yet. I've been trying though! Here's a another question for you readers! How do you feel about me trying to monetize this blog? Is it offensive? Are you ok with it? Does it turn you off completely from my content or do you only notice if there is something that interests you? I know reactions can go either way with monetized blogs, and I'd like to hear from everyone!
Back to the casino though, I did have fun! They have an incredible buffet there, so I got my fill of great food and desserts two days in a row! The casino gave me free food for my birthday too, so that took out the sting of losing a bit.

Anyway, I'll try to provide a more movie oriented post tomorrow. I'm still drained from the weekend.... hope it was a great one for you too!

Halloween 2007: An Experience

I'm sure of many of you have at least heard of Rob Zombie's remake of the horror classic, Halloween. We've all got our own opinions of it, and whether you think its great or terrible is really up to you. If you have seen it, I would like to know what you thought of it. I've seen about half of it myself, and it was definitely a gore-fest.. not particularly scary, but definitely really messed up.

Digging around, I stumbled upon The Last Psychiatrist. In his blog entry, he's basically telling about his experience when he saw Halloween. He too, thought that the movie was quite messed up, not really staying true to spirit of the Halloween franchise. However, it was not the movie that was the scariest thing he saw in there. What he did see I might consider even worse than what was being shown on the screen. Children in the theatre. And we're not talking 12-13 year olds here. He said they looked 3 and 5. Now I'm no judge of parenting, but that could really mess up your kids. Leave them at home for those movies... they disrupt the people in there if they cry and you are really messing with their heads.

Now as you guys know I've had to deal with people sneaking into the movies, and that can be an annoyance, but its nothing like what we recently had a complaint about. A guest and her boyfriend recently came to my theatre to see Halloween. However, they had to leave because of the style of filming. It made them motion sick. That's fine with me, I can understand that shaky filmwork can be sickening at some point, and added to the gore and other stuff in that movie.. it can really make sense.

However, she couldn't leave it at just that. She stated that as a company, we should be responsible for posting warnings about movies that may cause motion sickness. She also stated that we refused her refund (untrue) AND asked for more money back than her tickets were worth!! That just pushes the limit! We will not refuse a refund unless you have seen more than half the movie, and even then we will probably offer passes. In addition, how are we supposed to know what will make people motion sick? If we posted warnings like that people might buy less tickets, and what incentive is there in that? We can't know what will make you motion sick.. its not like an Omni theatre where you're surrounded and can get overwhelmed.

It makes me a little angry that she would say we are responsible for her experiencing motion sickness. And to ask for more money than you paid is unreasonable. Some people just love to complain. I'm sorry that she got sick during the movie, but don't put the blame on us, all we were doing is showing a movie.

Let's be reasonable folks.

Review: Mr. Woodcock

If you're looking for a quick, feel good comedy then Mr. Woodcock might just hit the spot. As I said before, I wasn't particularly looking forward to this, and I think that really helped me enjoy this movie for what it was.

John Farley was tormented by his P.E. Teacher when he was a child. Farley wasn't exactly the smallest kid on the block, and Mr. Woodcock let him know that. He always pushed Farley hard, and it haunted him as he grew up. However, John managed to get past it and become a successful writer and motivational speaker.

Returning to his hometown in Nebraska, John finds that his mom (Susan Sarandon) is engaged to Mr. Woodcock, his childhood nightmare. Not wanting to allow this marriage to happen, Farley does everything he can to break them up. He digs up dirt on Woodcock's ex wife, tries to humiliate him, even tries to talk him out of marrying his mom. Of course, you'll have to watch the movie to see the results of his efforts! In addition to the main characters, Amy Poehler does a great job as Farley's agent. I always liked her on SNL, and she did well in her role here.

This movie did have some points that I didn't like. It was a little disjointed, and didn't flow as well as it could have. The ending was also rather abrupt. I felt like they were just trying to reach an ending as quickly as they could. Overall I was slightly more impressed than I thought I would be. It's a "cute" comedy, and Billy Bob really delivers his role as Mr. Woodcock quite well. It was kinda weird seeing Stifler act like he did in this movie, but I guess that's because SWS's reputation precedes him!

This one gets a 6.5 out of 10. If you're looking for something fun, go out and see it!

Happy Birthday!

Just throwing a Happy birthday shout out to my little sis! She turns the big 15 today! I've still got to get your gift though, sis. It'll come as soon as this site pays me. Right sis? Just kidding, I'll be getting it to ya.. don't worry. Hey readers, why don't we all stop by her blog today to wish her happy birthday! Intermission at Home.

I wish they could always stay this cute:

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Let's Make Someone Famous: Whatagem!

It's that time of the week again, and we've got Whatagem in the spotlight! The picture we've got here on the left is actually from one of her blogs, and I love seeing it each time. Definitely shows what I'd like to do while promoting my blog, lol. She's got another blog over at The Battle Against Bootleg, which is a great read for anyone who's ever had trouble selling something on Ebay.

I'm gonna focus on the one that I found from her first, You Only Thought You Were Funny. Quite a name huh? I really like it...makes you think twice about yourself before you even start reading and chuckle. Another thing I like is how personal her blog is. Recently she's been blogging about a knee surgery that her husband has been dealing with, and how difficult it is. I mean, she couldn't even get out to see Superbad!

Another thing I can relate to is her recent post about blogging. It's a tough world out there in the blogosphere. I've even received some criticism for trying to monetize my blog. It definitely takes a lot of effort, and I can see that Whatagem is trying to put the time in to make it successful! She blogs about a lot of stuff, and a majority of it is pretty interesting, so let's all stop by and give her some love. If you like it, you can even stumble it and get her some good traffic! Feel free to do the same here :-)

As always, let me know if you'd like to be famous! I'd be more than happy to write something for you! Also let me know if you like the redesign on this page!

Movies this Weekend!

Alright, apologies for the lateness of this entry.. I know everyone looks forward to knowing what movies come out on Tuesday! Couldn't pass up the Red Sox game though! Lots of choices this week, so lets get started.

The Brave One - For Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) the streets of New York are her home and what she lives for, as the host of a radio show, "Street Walk". However, when she and her husband are caught in a violent attack which leaves him dead and her close to it, everything changes. Driven by fear and devastation from her loss, the streets are no longer welcoming. Armed with a gun, she kills first for self defense, but that changes as she tries to reclaim what she lost. As stories of her killings arise, the NYPD begins to go after her. Bain must decide if her quest for vengeance is what she really wants.

How I think it will do - Receiving an 80 on the tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes always helps. This movie really reminds me of a recent one, Death Sentence, except with Jodie Foster instead of Kevin Bacon. That being said, I think it will do ok. It doesn't interest me as much, but I think it will be better than expected.



Mr Woodcock - What do you do when your most hated gym teacher starts going out with your mom? Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton) specializes in the mental and physical humiliation of his students. Nothing can protect the students from his wrath, running gym more like boot camp than PE. Having overcome the mental and physical abuse of Mr. Woodcock, John Farley (Seann William Scott) has become a national bestselling writer and motivational speaker. Upon returning home to receive his town's prestigious corn cob key, Farley finds his mom has fallen in love with the bane of his childhood. Forced to spend time with him, Farley begins regressing to the insecurities of his childhood. Against the recommendation of his publicist, he extends his stay at home to try to break up the pending nuptials.

How I think it will do - This movie looks funny, but will it actually deliver? It has a chance, but I don't think it will. The cast seems a bit thrown together, and even the poster isn't that appealing to me. I'll probably end up seeing it, but won't be expecting much. That could help this film, the less you expect, the more it could end up being. Superbad will still be better than this one.

Eastern Promises - Starring Viggo Mortensen, and from the director of "A History of Violence", these two once again team up to explore the nature and psyche of their main character Nikolai Luzhin (Mortensen). A driver for one of London's most famous crime organizations/families, Luzhin carefully controlled life begins to fall apart when he meets Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a London Hospital. Khitrova is deeply affected by the death of a young teenager during childbirth, and delves into the history of the young girl through her journal. Khitrova's uncle urges her caution as the story is unraveled and the Vory come after her. Caught in the middle, Luzhin finds his loyalties divided, not knowing who to believe.

How I think it will do - A History of Violence was an excellent movie, and director David Cronenburg would be hard pressed to duplicate it. Receiving a 77 on the Tomatometer, it looks like he has, at least to some extent. I don't think that this will match his previous work, but it will do well. Word of mouth will help this one out if it lives up to its predecessor. Probably #2 at the box office this weekend (in my predictions).

Dragon Wars - A fantasy/sci-fi film starring Amanda Brooks and Jason Behr. A young woman is blessed with the power to transform a legendary giant serpent into a dragon who can only ascend with her ultimate sacrifice. However, the forces of darkness are out to claim her for their own. Her reincarnated lover and his mentor stand in their way.

How I think it will do - The commercials for this movie look pretty cheesy, with dragons taking out modern day war machines. I am a fan of fantasy/sci fi movies though, so this might make it to my viewing list. A couple of points to note are that it's already raked in $70 million overseas, and it being the most expensive Korean production yet. It may have a Godzilla effect over here.. but I doubt it. Probably gonna end up more like Godzilla 2000.




Opening in limited release:

In the Valley of Elah
Silk
Fierce People
December Boys
Ira and Abby
Angels in the Dust
Moving McAllister
Across the Universe

Of these, I might go see Silk, because Keira Knightley is one of my favorite actresses. Not my usual type of movie, I think it could still be decent. Of the movies that come out this week, I want to see Eastern Promises, followed by The Brave One, then Dragon Wars. Mr Woodcock could be a screening movie, as I'm not expecting much, but we'll see! More later tonight, I've gotta make up for my lack of posting!

Review: Death Sentence

A nice unplanned visit to see the girl today. Where did we end up? Why at the movies! :) Actually went to go visit the old theatre, guess they're really paranoid about their jobs cuz they wanted us to pay. C'mon, I worked there for 3 years! And the girl for 7! Luckily we had passes, though Regal decided to be uncool and go against their policy to accept all competitor coupons at this particular location. Actually, that might make a good consumerist article. They're afraid of competition, since 70% of the passes they were getting were from AMC. But they've ALWAYS taken all passes, so why take it back now that the competition is hitting hard? Oh well.

Anyway the girl decided she wanted to see Death Sentence today. I have to admit this movie surprised me. It was surprisingly emotional, and kept me on the edge of my seat several times. The much coveted single camera scene in the parking lot was excellent. Kevin Bacon delivered as the main character, though I think his transition from caring parent to ruthless killer was somewhat abrupt.

Directed by the maker of Saw, Death Sentence did not leave out the violence. Plenty of shootings and action scenes to go around. Bacon's character, in a word, was bad@$$. The action was not realistic, but the movie did convey its' message, that revenge is not always the best solution. There was also an unexpected twist in the movie... right when I thought it was over, it continued on. It caught me off guard a bit, gave me the "did that just happen?" feeling.

Again, this film is not recommended for the weak stomach. It has its share of blood and violence. However, it did surprisingly hit a nerve with me and got me a bit emotionally. There was a definite way to understand the anguish Bacon's character was going through. I won't spoil what causes it, but it made me feel like I would never put my family in that situation, when I do end up having one.

I thought this was a pretty good movie. Out of 10, I'd give it a 7. Go to see it if you're looking for a good action flick that hits close to home. Well, as close as a war with a gang that is trying to kill your family would get.

Digital Cinema: The Saving Grace of Movie Theatres?

Sorry about the long hiatus in blogging (almost 2 whole days!), but it was my birthday weekend, and my friends would not let me spend it strapped to my computer blogging, as much as I would've liked to! ;-).

Here's a question for our moviegoers out there: Does digital cinema affect your decision when you go to the movies? How about 3-D digital movies?

Personally, I thought that it wouldn't until this weekend actually. The girl and I were driving around in this behemoth of a car (Honda Element) that I had rented. We ended up by a Jordan's Furniture, which happened to be showing Harry Potter 5 in digital. I had heard great things about it, with something like the last 30 minutes (or 15) being completely in 3-D. I really wanted to go, though the idea was squashed by the girl pretty quickly, as it would entail paying for a movie, which neither of us have done in years. That was ok with me, but it really got me thinking.

The theatres that I have worked at have mainly been traditional, 35mm film based theatres. Digital projection wasn't something that was considered, as they were expensive and apparently didn't create much more traffic. As the years pressed on (I sound old right now), I noticed that more and more people began to inquire if movies would be playing in digital. When the theatre I worked for finally got a digital projector, I did notice some people asking specifically for showings in digital, and did see part of a cool 3-D movie, but there were some problems.

• It wasn't in our biggest theatre. In fact, the technology did not allow it to project onto our largest screen. It would've become too pixelated to cover the whole screen.
• Unless you were a big time cinema buff (or watching a 3-D movie), you couldn't really tell the difference between a traditional and digital movie.
• One of our movies expired halfway through, causing us to shut the particular theatre down.
• It cost way more to see a movie in digital 3-D.
  

The last one wasn't a huge issue as it only happened once. But it did bring in a problem that you might not have with traditional cinema. Of course, there are many reasons why it would be beneficial for theatres and production companies to switch to digital cinema.

• No more cost of shipping films to theatres.
• No more cost of printing films to ship out. (These first two cost nearly 1 billion in 2003)
  
• Less staff required to run the projection booths.
• No more projectors shaking through movies.

Then I read this article in Wired about how digital cinema can help prevent bootlegging of movies. (From Wired Article)Traditionally, movies are protected in a few ways (even I didn't know about this):

1. Tones in movie soundtracks that are out of traditional hearing ranges. (old school)
   
2. Speeding up the refresh rate of frames and adding in frames. Not viewable to the human eye, but it can mess up the sensors of recording devices.
3. Other encoding techniques to show what reel and movie are playing (again undetectable to human eyes)

The techniques are much more complicated than what I've stated above, but not much is written about them since part of their usefulness is lack of knowledge in how they work. Digital cinema can aid in the effectiveness of these techniques. Besides the ones used above, there are ways to encode what movie, what location, and even the time of the show onto the screen in an invisible manner, only detectable to cameras. This will make it much easier to track down where bootlegs come from.

Christie, a leader in digital cinema, plans to deliver 4000 units to theatres by the end of 2007. Who knows, your local megaplex may already have one!

This is obviously beneficial to theatres. But what about the benefits of digital cinema for the moviegoer? The images are definitely clearer and brighter. And 3-D digital cinema works much better than traditional 3-D movies. Some benefits and other things to know about digital cinema are discussed in this post from 2blowhards.com. Some good points are made here, especially about cost of transition and the feel of movies.

I know a lot of people don't go to the movies anymore. Does digital cinema create the kind of buzz people need to get out of their homes and into theatres? I think that movie quality will always matter the most, but with less cost into printing, the movies just may get better on the same budget. Only time will tell, but I think the transition into digital cinema will make the experience better for everyone.

Review: Shoot 'Em Up

Shoot 'Em Up. You're probably thinking.. oh great... just another shooting movie. Well, you're right! And it was excellent. From the very beginning, it had a Sin City feel to it, and Clive Owen delivered an excellent performance as the nearly unfeeling hero, Mr. Smith.

Needless to say, there is a LOT of shooting in this movie, and its definitely not for the weak of stomach. Mark Davis, the director of this film, manages to have our hero use some very interesting implements in disposing of his enemies. From the title, you'll expect guns. And you'll get a lot of them. Then there are the things you don't expect. Like carrots. Yes. Carrots. You'll have to see it to believe it.

Davis also did an excellent job in creating a great feel to the movie. Like I said before, it really reminded me of the atmosphere of Sin City. There were more colors in this one, but it really brought out the emotion in the characters, and also a nice sense of humor.

With pretty much non-stop action from beginning to end,many scenes leaving you with a feeling of "did that just happen?" or actually making you cringe with what just happened, this is a gritty, awesome action thriller. Monica Belluci was nice to look at, but her accent did make her part seem a little unbelievable. Giammatti surprised me as a well thought out, sinister villian. He also brought quite a bit of humor into the movie, as subtle as it may have been.

I definitely recommend this movie for anyone who's looking for a lot of action. At a paltry 86 minutes, this movie won't take up much of your time, nor does it feel short, but will leave you talking about afterwards. It gave me quite the adrenaline rush. If you liked Sin City, I think there is a good chance you will like this movie. Some of the things they do are just freakin incredible! If you see it, let me know what you think!

On a different note, for anyone who is trying to monetize their blogs, Auction Ads is offering $25 to new publishers! You do have to make it to $50 for the first payout, but it can't hurt to try, and that $25 is great incentive to start publishing. I had to try something new on my birthday, so try it out if you're interested. I'll let you know how it works for me!

Well, I'm off to celebrate my birthday, by working!

Popcorn Lung?

Oh man. I am concerned for my life now. I found this article this morning on popcorn lung. Having worked at a movie theatre, I think that I've more than inhaled my fair share of popcorn fumes, and I continue to get them every day I come to work! Hopefully this only applies to the microwave popped corn, I don't THINK we have the same chemicals in our popcorn. I know that I've been eating it more lately, and it's actually been tasting better to me. Maybe its because its been so long since I've really eaten it. Back to the article, I don't know how this guy could really eat microwaved popcorn twice a day for the past 20 years.

I'm actually feeling a little sick now, but this is a cold, not popcorn lung. At least I hope not. I want to get over it before my birthday. Thanks for all the early birthday wishes by the way! Glad to know that there are people who read my ramblings out there. :-P.

Anyway, just thought I'd keep you updated on some of the other reasons why you should go to the movies! If you let us pop your popcorn, you won' t have to worry about popcorn lung! C'mon.. that's a good reason right? Anyway, I'm off to get some rest.. gotta work tomorrow night. Later, folks!

Let's Make Someone Famous: Mrs. Mandypoo!

We're off to our second edition of making someone famous. This week, we've got Skittle's sister, Mrs. Mandypoo. Mrs Mandypoo actually has three different blogs, one by her name, one about recipies, and one about her new baby, which will be updated after he or she is born! For the purpose of this though, we'll focus on her main blog, the one by her name!

Mrs. Mandypoo's got a lot going on in her life! She writes about so much stuff. As I write this blog entry, she's written a blog about one of her favorite TV shows, Scrubs! About to be a new mom, she offers quite a few looks at things she may be getting, such as beds and clothes. She's also introduced us to a few other members of her family.

Overall, she's got a great looking site, with a nice custom header, and a bright theme. Very upbeat, and fun to read! She's also got a really cool animation showing the progress of her pregnancy. Always a good read, I stop on by expecting to laugh or smile, or to find a video to watch! She's also tried several monetizing methods on her site, like mine!

So let's head on by and give Mrs. Mandypoo some congratulations on becoming famous! Again, let me know if you want to be featured!

Movies This Weekend!

All right folks, its time for another edition of Movies this Weekend! It's a special weekend though, since its my birthday weekend. Let's see what Hollywood has to offer us! It better be good.

Three "major" movie openings this week, and quite a few smaller openings. This post will focus on the more major releases, but feel free to discuss or ask me about the others! You can also check out IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes for information, as well as my buddy over at Blog Cabins!

3:10 to Yuma - I've been seeing a lot of ads for this movie (on this blog anyway!) and its been getting a bit of hype. This film nearly got the axe when everyone's favorite Scientologist, Tom Cruise, dropped out. However, with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale stepping in, it finally got off its back. This movie takes place in Arizona in the 1800s. Civil War Vet Dan Evans (Bale) trying to survive through a terrible drought, agrees to deliver the recently captured outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) to the train by the same name as the title, which will bring him to trial. Through the dangerous journey to the rendezvous, the men gain each other's respect, and tackle what may end up being an impossible journey together.

How I think it will do - Receiving an 88% on the Tomatometer, the market has been craving a good western. The last one I remember being good was Open Range. This could satisfy that craving. Looks to be a real strong performace for the two. Some are saying that it could be the movie of the year. I think this movie will do well, especially with such rave reviews. It's different than a lot that's come out recently, so that will set it apart. It's going to compete for the top spot this weekend.

Shoot 'Em Up - An action thriller starring Clive Owen, Monica Belluci, and Paul Giamatti. Caught in the middle of a gunfight, Owen's character helps to deliver a baby. Forming an ally with Belluci's character, he is forced to help protect the baby he delivered from the gunmen who are trying to kill it, and the crime boss (Giamatti) who hunts them throughout the city.

How I think it will do - This movie also performed well on the tomatometer, receiving a 70. Another shoot-em up (as the name states) coming to the market, this movie could drive it home where War did not (Even though I liked War!) The star power in this movie is better, though I don't know how believable Giamatti will be as a crime boss. On the flip side, I really like movies with Monica Belluci in them, and she's in this one, so that is a plus for me. I think that this will make a strong showing, and is the only other candidate to go for #1 at the box office this weekend.




The Brothers Solomon - A comedy about two good hearted but romatically challenged brother, and their dream to fulfill their dying father's last wish: to have a grandchild. However, having been home schooled by their father in the remote arctic, their social skills are .... lacking. Hilarity ensues as their attempts to find a fit mother go disastrously wrong.

How I think it will do - This one follows on the coattails of Superbad and Knocked Up. I think that its a little too late, and the premise reminds me of Stuck on You. That movie fell short of predictions, and though I liked it, it didn't perform very well. I think that its going to be a valiant effort, but people looking for a comedy may find themselves disappointed. The star power is not there to drive a comedy like this.

Wow.. this post took forever to write. Unfortunately my internet access has been less than desirable lately. C'mon neighbors, don't you want to support my blogging effort! I guess with more support, this blog will be able to support my own addiction to the internet. Hehe, hopefully that will be in the future for this. I've been trying various things, though I can't seem to get Kontera links to work. Does anyone have any information on that one? EDIT: They work now :-)

That's all for now, what are you going to see this weekend?