Hop over to our bff’s at Box Office Mojo for the weekend box office report. Yet another blah weekend. If Enchanted is going to be the biggest movie of the holiday season, then that would just be sad. But as I wrote before, the holiday season starts Friday, when the opus Golden Compass comes out. It’s already getting tons of hype as anti-Christian and anti-Catholic, not a good sign, since there is a definite argument that the pro-Christian raves of Chronicles of Narnia is what drove its box office over $200 million and then some. But what’s worse for Compass is the early reviews, coming in at just a shade over blah. On the TV teaser, the esteemed reviewers are from Dark Horizons (a fantasy Web site) and not much more. Another one of those weird KABC reviewers. Not a good sign. That’s the other thing that brought Narnia and the Lord of the Rings franchise from fan-boy freakdom to monumental events: Good reviews. I like Chris Weitz a lot, both About a Boy and Chuck and Buck are two of my favorite movies of the last 10 years. But it looks like he might have been over his head on this one.
On the other hand, the reviews for Juno are going through the roof, and that’s a good thing, based on the hysterical trailer. Its screenwriter Diabalo Cody was also just named one of the 50 smartest people in Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly — even if it was one of the weirdest lists you’ll ever see.
Caught Paris, je t’aime this weekend on DVD. Very interesting concept, very interesting execution, but seemed to be missing something. There are 14 neighborhoods of Paris, so a bunch of top-shelf directors — The Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne, Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron — got together with some A-list talent — Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nick Nolte, Elijah Wood, Gena Rowlands, Willen Defoe, Juliette Binoche — to make a bunch of short films, one set in each of Paris’s 14 different neighborhoods. What resulted is some pretty nifty filmmaking, with Tom Tykwer’s Faubourg Saint-Denis, the Coen’s Tuileries and Tour Eiffel from Sylvain Chomet being three of the biggest highlights. Don’t know yet if it’s top 10 worthy, but it will come close to making the cut.
You have to know the back story of this fight to know why it’s such an issue, and I don’t know why reporters are shying away from this. Perlman apparently had a deal with Barkin that if they were married more than 10 years or something, then she would get half of his fortune if they divorced. Guess what day he filed the paperwork for divorce? After nine years and 364 days of marriage. I just can’t understand why guys get a bad name. Then again, I think Ellen Barkin ranks with Sarah Jessica Parker as the unsexiest women on the planet, so maybe it wasn’t the worst of decisions.
Three reasons I’m linking to this truly incredible story. First, it’s remarkably interesting. Second, it’s good warning yet again to guard your identity with your life. Third, this is how stories from the cops beat should be written. I spent two years on the cops beat, and I couldn’t even dream of doing something this good. Granted, she had three days to do it and apparently made some kind of mistake, but it’s spectacular storytelling nonetheless.
Another day of striking, another day of no progress on the writers strike. The wikipedia page seems to be a good place to get breaking news on it. I’ve been lobbying to end the strike before reality shows like Duel, American Gladiators and Moment of Truth start polluting our sets. The problem is, every time we see a new one, my wife says she’d watch these shows. What if everyone is saying that? What if reality shows become the lifeblood of TV? What if networks start thinking they don’t even need the writers? Could that seriously happen?
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Mike Sadowski is pretty boring, but here's the quick scoop: Lifelong NEPA resident, Abington Heights grad ('93), Elizabethtown College grad ('97), sports reporter ('97-'99), news and cops reporter ('99-'04) and pretty much doing everything at the Read Full
weekend box office and early reviews
Hop over to our bff’s at Box Office Mojo for the weekend box office report. Yet another blah weekend. If Enchanted is going to be the biggest movie of the holiday season, then that would just be sad. But as I wrote before, the holiday season starts Friday, when the opus Golden Compass comes out. It’s already getting tons of hype as anti-Christian and anti-Catholic, not a good sign, since there is a definite argument that the pro-Christian raves of Chronicles of Narnia is what drove its box office over $200 million and then some. But what’s worse for Compass is the early reviews, coming in at just a shade over blah. On the TV teaser, the esteemed reviewers are from Dark Horizons (a fantasy Web site) and not much more. Another one of those weird KABC reviewers. Not a good sign. That’s the other thing that brought Narnia and the Lord of the Rings franchise from fan-boy freakdom to monumental events: Good reviews. I like Chris Weitz a lot, both About a Boy and Chuck and Buck are two of my favorite movies of the last 10 years. But it looks like he might have been over his head on this one.
On the other hand, the reviews for Juno are going through the roof, and that’s a good thing, based on the hysterical trailer. Its screenwriter Diabalo Cody was also just named one of the 50 smartest people in Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly — even if it was one of the weirdest lists you’ll ever see.
Caught Paris, je t’aime this weekend on DVD. Very interesting concept, very interesting execution, but seemed to be missing something. There are 14 neighborhoods of Paris, so a bunch of top-shelf directors — The Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne, Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuaron — got together with some A-list talent — Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nick Nolte, Elijah Wood, Gena Rowlands, Willen Defoe, Juliette Binoche — to make a bunch of short films, one set in each of Paris’s 14 different neighborhoods. What resulted is some pretty nifty filmmaking, with Tom Tykwer’s Faubourg Saint-Denis, the Coen’s Tuileries and Tour Eiffel from Sylvain Chomet being three of the biggest highlights. Don’t know yet if it’s top 10 worthy, but it will come close to making the cut.
You have to know the back story of this fight to know why it’s such an issue, and I don’t know why reporters are shying away from this. Perlman apparently had a deal with Barkin that if they were married more than 10 years or something, then she would get half of his fortune if they divorced. Guess what day he filed the paperwork for divorce? After nine years and 364 days of marriage. I just can’t understand why guys get a bad name. Then again, I think Ellen Barkin ranks with Sarah Jessica Parker as the unsexiest women on the planet, so maybe it wasn’t the worst of decisions.
Three reasons I’m linking to this truly incredible story. First, it’s remarkably interesting. Second, it’s good warning yet again to guard your identity with your life. Third, this is how stories from the cops beat should be written. I spent two years on the cops beat, and I couldn’t even dream of doing something this good. Granted, she had three days to do it and apparently made some kind of mistake, but it’s spectacular storytelling nonetheless.
Another day of striking, another day of no progress on the writers strike. The wikipedia page seems to be a good place to get breaking news on it. I’ve been lobbying to end the strike before reality shows like Duel, American Gladiators and Moment of Truth start polluting our sets. The problem is, every time we see a new one, my wife says she’d watch these shows. What if everyone is saying that? What if reality shows become the lifeblood of TV? What if networks start thinking they don’t even need the writers? Could that seriously happen?