Box Office: Green Seeking Green

It takes money to make money. But in some cases, green seeking green cannot ever find enough of it. Warner Bros and DC bet big on Green Lantern shelling out $200 million for production and another $125 million in advertising to build awareness but the $53 million opening is not going to convince anyone to greenlight (haha) a sequel. Unless the Lantern Corps has legs. Three fantastical f/x movies opening soon Transformers, Harry Potter and Captain America are probably feeling like huge Yellow villains to Hal Jordan at this point. Maybe he shouldn't have played it so smug and arrogant?

HIS CONSTRUCTS ARE WEAK!

U.S. Box-Office (Actuals)
figures via box office mojo

01 GREEN LANTERN new $53.1 [review]
02 SUPER 8 $21.4 [thoughts] (cum. $73)
03 MR POPPER'S PENGUINS new  $18.4
04 X-MEN FIRST CLASS $11.9 (cum. $120.3) [review, top ten X-moments]
05 THE HANGOVER PT II $10 (cum. $233.1)
06 KUNG FU PANDA 2 $9 (cum. $143.6)
07 BRIDESMAIDS $7 (cum. $136.4) ♥
08 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES $6.6 (cum. $220.7) [review]
09 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS $4.8 (cum. $21.4) [podcast]
10 JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER $2.1 (cum. $11)

11 THE TREE OF LIFE $1.1 (cum. $3.9) [My thoughts and "Overheard"]
12 THOR $1.1 (cum. $176.1) [review]

In other box office news: Midnight in Paris (just discussed) will become Woody Allen's highest grosser since the 1980s this week. Bridesmaids continues to have miniscule drops each week and I suspect it'll have the longest top ten run this entire summer. And aside from the documentary smash Fahrenheit 9/11,  The Tree of Life is the biggest grossing Palme D'Or winner from the past several years.

What did you see over the weekend? Did you love it?

Haiku for Nicole

For Nicole Kidman on her 44th birthday...

Oh Sparkling Diamond
bewitching bohemians and
moviegoers, too.

Your breakthrough triumph
"She sings! She dances! She dies!"
Still thrills us. But then...

Grace with figurines
Anna at the opera
Suzanne on TV

Margot's chilled wine
Virginia's "violent jolt"
Becca with her grief...

These conjured women!
We would give you ten Oscars
Were they ours to give.

Your turn. If that 5/7/5 rhythm is too much effort this morning... feel free to compose a limerick or a simple rhyme.

Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Hours (2002), Birth and Dogville (2004), To Die For (1995), Margot at the Wedding (1997), Rabbit Hole (2010)

Point Pretty

Podcast: "Midnight in Paris" and Oscar's New Rules

Since I never officially reviewed Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, I thought we'd have to at least cover it in discussion form. So for the newest podcast, Kurt from Your Movie Buddy and first-time guest Mark Blankenship from The Criticial Condition joined me to discuss Woody Allen's biggest hit in some time as well as Oscar's new "up to 10 nominees for Best Picture" ruling, which I recently discussed with Katey for her Kino Katey podcast.

But, you know, we can't ever shut up about Oscar, can we?

Other topics: Best Original Song and first and favorite Woody Allen pictures seen. Two articles that you might want to read that we mention are Fandor's list of movies about movies and Mark's investigation of the 1980s in the Best Original Song category.

As always please join the conversation in the comments.

PODCAST: Midnight in Paris

Take Three: Carla Gugino

Craig here with Take Three. Today: Carla Gugino

Take One: Snake Eyes (1998)
Gugino was underused as the social worker in The Lookout, underdressed and all too briefly seen as the parole officer in Sin City, and under De Niro as a delectable detective in Righteous Kill. But one of her earlier roles as the mysterious ringside blonde in Brian De Palma’s Vegas boxing noir Snake Eyes gave her plenty of room to make a dent. There’s a killing about to happen at a big boxing match but is she in on the missile-based murder conspiracy? She’s certainly the focus of maniacally charged Nicolas Cage’s attention – and, by association, ours. Snake’s tricky structure and multiple viewpoints (especially the famous opening tracking shots) allow Gugino to play fast and loose with her character, Julia Costello, who ultimately, like all desperate women of noir, isn’t quite who we think she is.

Gugino’s evasive vixen is a ‘90s variant on the femme fatale or the ‘mysterious blonde’ (aroused via De Palma’s acknowledged love for Hitchcock). Julia Costello should perhaps be filed alongside the likes of Melanie Griffith in Body Double, Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct and Annette Bening in The Grifters as revisionist takes on old noir staples. Gugino brings  sly, slinky qualities and a perfectly deceptive approach to the part. Later on in the film she offers nicely-conveyed and unguarded emotion. It’s a key role in the movie, and she has the ideal voluptuous physique and versatile acting skill to carry it off. Outside of Cage’s OTT presence and De Palma’s bravura camerawork, Gugino was the one to keep your (snake) eyes on.

See also this 8-minute 2010 short, Tell-Tale, where she does actually play ‘Femme Fatale’.

Take two: Sucker Punch (2011)
Outside of its central gang of delusional madhouse girls, Sucker Punch had a few notable faces peppering the supporting cast list.

Click to read more ...