Well, the Dark Knight is still number one and breaking record after record. Now it’s the first film to cross the $300 mill mark in only 10 days. Money, money, and more money. Step Brothers had a decent opening, while The X-Files crew is probably crying right about now. All the shows fans and the creepy theme song was not enough to draw in the crowds. He’s your weekends top 10 at the box office.

1. The Dark Knight | Weekend Gross $75,630,000 | Total Gross $314,245,000
2. Step Brothers (New) | Weekend Gross $30,000,000 | Total Gross $30,000,000
3. Mamma Mia! | Weekend Gross $17,865,250 | Total Gross $62,713,990
4. The X-Files: I Want to Believe (New) | Weekend Gross $10,200,000 | Total Gross $10,200,000
5. Journey to the Center of the Earth | Weekend Gross $9,415,000 | Total Gross $60,185,000
6. Hancock | Weekend Gross $8,200,000 | Total Gross $206,371,000
7. WALL-E | Weekend Gross$6,349,000 | Total Gross $195,235,000
8. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army | Weekend Gross $4,934,430 | Total Gross $65,894,050
9. Space Chimps | Weekend Gross $4,375,000 | Total Gross $16,005,542
10. Wanted | Weekend Gross $2,727,470 | Total Gross $128,616,325

Just saw this leaked online from Con. It is in two parts and it will flow through you like pure adrenaline. Watch it NOW!

• Part 1
  
• Part 2

And YES, that was spanking Gambit.

Friday morning, Zack Snyder (featured right), Dave Gibbons, and the cast of The Watchmen sat down in front of an audience of 6,500 people and braced themselves. They’ve undertaken the Herculean, or perhaps Sisyphean task of adapting one of the most beloved graphic novels of all time. The trailer, released with The Dark Knight, seemed to lift the spirits of a lot of wary, on the fence fans, and gained a lot of new fans, drawn in by the gigantic and iconic imagery. But with the release of the trailer a full week before the Comic Con, what could they have to offer the rabid fans? How would people respond in the presence of the people responsible for this production? Is the movie going to be as good as the trailer? Will it be as good as the book?!?

Continue Reading

Do you ever have the yen for a good Mexican domestic melodrama? I certainly do, which is why I very much enjoyed Une Mujer sin Amor (1952), and I’m sure you will too. Adapted from a Maupassant story (’Pierre et Jean’) it tells of the brief, idyllic liaison between bourgeois wife and mother Rosario and a handsome young engineer, Julio. When Rosario’s husband Carlos has a heart attack, their plans to run away to Brazil are put on hold as she tends to her husband, and Julio departs alone.

Flash forward twenty years or so and her son, Carlitos, has a brother Miguel. Both are graduating as doctors and with their father’s financial support they plan to open a clinic. But Carlos is comically obsessed with not being cheated in his business transactions and fails to raise the funds. A large and unexpected inheritance for Miguel appears to be the stroke of luck they need, but instead sows discord, resentment and jealousy amongst the family.

Continue Reading

WARNING: The following article reveals several of The Dark Knight’s plot twists. If you have not yet seen the film and would like to maintain the element of surprise, please refer to our spoiler-free review.

We are living in anxious times. We have lost faith in our government, where the executive branch has scammed us repeatedly, and a new Congress has failed to bring the change we need. Add to the toll the crushing spike in gas prices and a new economic disaster each week, and our nation is quickly becoming desperate for good news. It seems that what we need now, more than ever, is a morale boost, a chance to escape into a better outlook for a while.

Continue Reading

It’s dark. It’s late. It’s quiet. You’re in a cabin deep in the woods, ten miles from any major road, trying to sleep in spite of the silence. All you hear is the sound of your own breathing, growing shorter and faster. You have that feeling, that every moment you keep your eyes closed someone draws closer. You to calm down, remind yourself you’re alone. You take a look, and find a silhouette in the window.

It’s a man with a bag on his head.

Whether or not this image is frightening is questionable. Whether or not it’s a good idea for a thriller is up for debate. For filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass, the question “is a man with a bag on his head scary?’ started as an inside joke, an ongoing survey on a movie set. Some said yes, some said no, some wanted to know what kind of bag they were talking. The string of responses got the Duplass’ thinking, but that’s just half the story.

Continue Reading

Lord of the Rings fans (nerds) your time has come! The crowning event of the Old Pasadena Film Festival is this Saturday’s all-night screening of Peter Jackson’s three-movie masterpiece The Lord of the Rings, concluding with a sunrise Hobbit breakfast at approximately 6:00 A.M. Sunday morning. That’s right, you got The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. They will start the magical event at 8:30 P.M. on Saturday night, will run for nine wonderful hours straight. The outdoor showing in the One Colorado Courtyard is presented in part by the American Cinematheque. The screening and breakfast are free and open to the public.

Chairs will be set up for the film presentation, but attendees are invited to bring their own comfortable deckchairs, blankets and midnight snacks for this marathon screening.

The One Colorado Courtyard is located at 41 Hugus Alley in the heart of Old Pasadena. One Colorado is an open courtyard spanning one city block in the heart of Old Pasadena. This award-winning destination unites the dynamic urban environment of 17 historic buildings with 25 contemporary fashion and dining attractions. Its famous Courtyard and pedestrian alleys are consistently filled with high-quality art markets, film festivals, music and large-scale site-specific art installations.

For further information, the public is asked to please call 626.564.1066 or visit www.oldpasadenafilmfestival.com

The Aero:

• Thu 24 at 7.30: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
• Fri 25 at 7.30: Fistful of Dollars (1964) / For A Few Dollars More (1965)
• Sat 26 at 7.30: Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
• Sun 27 at 7.30: Once Upon A Time In America (1983)
• Wed 30 at 7.30: Duck You Sucker (1971)

What a great little filmography Sergio Leone has. This is basically it, aside from his first, The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), one of the popular sword and sandal epics that Italy churned out in droves in fifties. But to describe it as little is to belie its stature since it includes at least two pictures with claim to the title of “Best Western Ever”. Having virtually invented to spaghetti western with the Dollars films, making a star of TV actor Clint Eastwood along the way, he broadened his canvas to take in a detailed Civil War backdrop for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That film’s archetypal bent in turn laid the foundations for the operatic Once Upon A Time In The West, Leone’s first close examination of the progress of American history, and the motives that drive it (also an overwhelming quotefest of almost every classic western ever made).

Continue Reading

Well I’m sure plenty of you will still be going out to see the Dark Knight, but for those of you who have seen it nine times and are thinking about possibly trying something new there are plenty of good films to choose from this week. First of all you have Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly doing what they do best, acting like idiots in Step Brothers. I’m so in. These two are like peanut butter and jelly, when combined they’re f-ing amazing. For those of you looking for something smart, edgy, and oh so English, Brideshead Revisited is the perfect pick. I have a crush on Emma Thompson, which means I’m so there. The one thing I won’t be seeing is, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, just the theme song brings me back to not being able to sleep when I was younger. But I’m a chicken. You go and tell me all about it! American Teen is well, the real life Breakfast Club, most likely you as a teen! Should be fun.

So without further ado this weeks movie releases with reviews, cast and crew info, showtimes and tickets, and of course, trailers!

Continue Reading