Box Office: Family Fare Wins Again

Given the ease with which family fare always tops the charts whether animated or live action -- this time the story of a dolphin with a prosthetic tale (?) flipper (?) fin (?) I don't know these terms -- you'd think taking the family to the movies didn't cost as much as people always claim it costs when they complain about how much it costs (whew): parking, food, multiple tickets.

Also: Dolphins are cute and all but I'm only seeing Dolphin Tale if you can promise me that it contains a musical sequence in which Olivia Newton-John reprises her treacly "Promise (The Dolphin Song)" from the 80s.

With Morgan Freeman on back-up.

Anyway, don't mind me. I'm just bitter because I'd prefer it if adults went to movies for adults in droves. That way TV wouldn't be able to hog all the entertainment intended for adults. (Moneyball is doing well but people really should be queuing up in droves, you know?)

Box Office (U.S.) Baker's Dozen -estimates
01 DOLPHIN TALE  $14.2 (cum $37.5)
02 MONEYBALL [review] $12.5 (cum $38.4)
03 THE LION KING 3D [review] re-release $11 (cum $408.1)
04 50/50 [review] new $8.8 
05 COURAGEOUS new $8.8 
06 DREAMHOUSE new $8.2 
07 ABDUCTION [review] $5.6 (cum $19.1)
08 WHAT'S YOUR NUMBER? new $5.6 
09 CONTAGION $5 (cum $64.7)
10 KILLER ELITE $4.8 (cum $17.4)
11 DRIVE [review] $3.3 (cum $27)
12 THE HELP [review] $3.0 (cum $159.3)

Michael Shannon Sees Storms ComingTalking Points
• In limited release land the apocalyptic visions of Michael Shannon in TAKE SHELTER had the best opening weekend at just 3 theaters but with a sturdy $18,000 per screen (in other words the houses were four times as full as those of the top films in wide release). The extremely well reviewed gay romance WEEKEND did a tiny expansion from 1 theater to 6. It also became available On Demand so one suspects it'll make a hefty percentage of its revenue there.

• The Help finally left the gold-lined interior of the top ten list in its 8th week, falling just short of Bridesmaids staying power (which fell the same distance in its 9th week). The sole advantage of The Help (#12 of the year right now) if it hopes to topple Bridesmaids (#10 of the year) for bragging rights of "Highest Grossing Non-Franchise Film of 2011" is that it's in more theaters than Bridesmaids was at this point. The Help is still $10 million behind. It might be a squeaker or it might be all over if Real Steel and The Ides of March rip most of its screens away next Friday.

•Somehow Dream House opened to $8.2 million even though you can see the whole movie from start to finish in the trailer. If people keep buying tickets to movies whose trailers reveal every detail, Hollywood will keep making trailers filled with more egregious spoilers than even the laziest and most bitter critics would dare type. Sigh. At least Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz found each other in the process. 

•I don't want to make too much of a point about what could merely be a coincidence but Contagion's numbers week to week are very similar to Crazy, Stupid, Love.'s numbers (to the point where they both hit $64 million on the 4th weekend!) Will their twin performance be the new standard for what happens when you just cram your movie full of multiple well-liked stars who aren't always bankable on their own?

What did you see over the weekend?
If it wasn't Dolphin Tale, what could convince you to see that movie?
If it wasn't Moneyball what are you waiting for?

List-Mania: Goodbye Summer 2011

Before we move on to our new and hopefully joyous Fall Movie Season (which begins September 13th here at TFE) let's look back briefly on the season that was... the movies that opened from May to August. How do we look back? With lists of course.

Three Best Uses of 3D

• Glee: The 3D Concert Movie - Heather Morris's boobs. ("Brittany S. Pierce" has long since surpassed "Coach Sylvester" as Glee's comedic MVP. If only the Emmys had noticed for their season 2 specific nominations).
• Transformers Dark of the Moon - the top of that building cracking and tipping over... and that time that Shia Labeouf almost fell to his death.
• Every Movie That Opted Not To Use It.

Ten Performances That Made the Summer

• Vera Farmiga and Dagmara Dominczyk all sisterly sensual with palpable chemistry in Higher Ground [INTERVIEW]
• Andy Serkis continues to elevate mo-cap into a new acting artform in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
• Viola Davis helps The Help overcome its limitations.
• "I also have an announcement!" and that's this: Kristen Wiig is awesome in Bridesmaids.
• Michael Fassbender moves metal and hearts in X-Men: First Class.
• Powerfully moving father/son relations were the story in both Beginners and The Tree of Life courtesay of fine direction and the efforts of Ewan McGregor & Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Brad Pitt & Hunter McCracken (The Tree of Life).

Three Movies I'm Relieved I Didn't Have To See

• The Smurfs (22% RT rating), Zookeeper (12% RT rating), and The Change-Up (22% RT rating).

Most Terrible Twosome I Did See

• Green Lantern (27% RT rating), and Cars 2 (37% RT rating).

Eight Movies I Feel Weirdest About Missing and I'll Get To ½ of Them Eventually...Or Sooner

• One Day, The Whistleblower, The Future, The Devil's Double, Winnie the Pooh, Horrible Bosses, Trollhunter and The Beaver

 Two Quickest Memory Fades

• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and that's the actual truth and not meant as a diss on franchises which overstay their welcome. I'm using a spreadsheet of all screenings for this list and barely remember any single exciting moment from either picture... though the mermaid attack in On Stranger Tides lingers the most from these two pictures.

Delicious Looking Edibles

• Minnie's pies in The Help (well, excluding the one with a co-starring role)
• All "Cake Baby" items from Bridesmaids
• Ryan Gosling "Seriously? It's like your photoshopped."

Great Moments in Movies That Didn't Totally Work For Me Otherwise

• Super 8's best moment comes very early as the crew of child filmmakers prep for a big train station scene in their zombie epic only to be gobsmacked by Elle Fanning's prodigious screen presence; they almost don't notice that train hurtling towards them, such is the power of actressing. [reviewed]
• X-Men First Class has several fine moments -- almost all of them involving Magneto -- so why didn't the movie work for me? In retrospect I mostly blame the actual first class of dull, less then fully embodied mutant students. [full review]
• Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) comic fish-out-of-water arrogance in the diner amused. [reviewed]

Movie I Didn't See ...Except That I Did

• The Hangover Part 2 - I accidentally saw the first one again during the summer, and based on reviews and internet commentary that means that I did see Part 2 provided I can imagine it taking place in Bangkok which, as it turns out, I can. Saved myself $13!

Ten Best Animals (Ranked)
This list is dedicated to the narrating cat in The Future which I really am going to see soon. What's up with my procrastination?!?

1. Nim (chimpanzee) Project NIM
2. Cesar (chimpanzee) Rise of the Planet of the Apes 
3. Arthur (dog) Beginners 
4. dinosaurs (dinosaurs) The Tree of Life
5. Flora (elephant) One Lucky Elephant
6. Maurice (orangutan) in Rise of the Planet of the Apes
7. Bridal Party Shower Favors (puppies) in Bridesmaids
8. Buck (gorilla) in Rise of the Planet of the Apes
9. Willie Nelson (dog) in Our Idiot Brother
10. Nagini (snake) in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2

Ten Best Movies (Chronologically Speaking)

• MAY: Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, Tuesday After Christmas, The Tree of Life; 
• JUNE: Beginners (review) a dark dark movie month it would've been without this moving film;
• JULY:  Project NIM (which opened just one month too early to capitalize on what an amazing double feature it makes with Rise of the Planet of the Apes -- thoughts on the movie), Captain America: The First Avenger (review) and Crazy, Stupid, Love (thoughts on the movie).
• AUGUST: Rise of the Planet of the Apes and either The Help (review) or Higher Ground... both of which have their problems as films but make up for it with plentiful actressing.

ONE MORE LIST...
and that's yours in the comments. Name your 3 or more favorite anything from Summer 2011. GO! 

Take Three: Melissa McCarthy

Craig from Dark Eye Socket here with Take Three. Today: Melissa McCarthy

Take One: The Nines (2007)
The three things that struck me most about the twisty-turny Ryan Reynolds sci-fi drama were Melissa McCarthy. (Reynolds’ much-bared torso came a close fourth). In the film’s three loose-linked segments she plays: Margaret, a perky PR handler; Melissa, a TV actress version of ‘Melissa McCarthy’; and Mary, a housewife. There’s plenty of mystical musings about 9s being everywhere and meaning everything – though thankfully not as much number mumbling as there was in The Number 23 – but it sort of makes its own kind of brain-beaten logic by the end.

The second and third sections give McCarthy lengthy scenes  opposite Reynolds:  She aces “Melissa”'s cringe inducing pissed off moment where she’s told she’s being dropped from a TV show by this narrative’s version of Reynolds, and in the is-it-a-show-or-is-it-reality? final segment "Mary" gets an emotional scene which nicely shows off McCarthy's vulnerable side; in both segments she’s quietly phenomenal, often showing Reynolds, and everybody else, up. 

But the actress really excels in the first section, as the troublingly bubbly PR keeping Reynolds’ fire-starting actor under house arrest with knowingly witty pleasantries.

I didn’t mean to eat my way into a ten-year shame spiral, but I did! 

There’s an unsettling Truman Show-esque weirdness to this Melissa incarnation that the giggly sarcasm she uses can’t hide. With three roles, McCarthy gets to display triple the versatile character work in one decent movie.

Take Two: The Back-Up Plan (2010)
There’s only one good reason to watch The Back-Up Plan and it’s McCarthy.

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200 Days Until Oscar Nominations. Let's Predict!

200 Days? How about that...it's practically tomorrow.  Kidding! All of the following predictions are thus 100% accurate since every contending film is currently in release and consensus has long since been reached. Kidding²!

Big (speculative) gains for Bridesmaids and Midnight In Paris as they continue to do fantastic leggy box office, The Artist (since it hasn't lost even 1〫of its Cannes heat), and minor gains for films which have recently won distribution like W.E., Albert Nobbs and A Dangerous Method.

Prediction Page Revisions in Progress.
Completed: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay. 

And yes I am feeling really good about that Bridesmaids prediction. Why not, right? Big comedy hits have been nominated before and what a fun way to honor Kristen Wiig who no one expects to show up in Best Actress, you know? Unless of course you're talking Golden Globe Actress in which case, bitch better be there!

Halfway Honors. Best of 2011 Thus Far

This year seems to be off to a slow start but here's what I'd choose as the best of the year thus far. I've excluded films that are still waiting for their proper release like Andrew Haigh's finely tuned miniature gay drama Weekend (which has been collecting festival trophies and which I loved) and Paddy Considine's discomfiting abuse drama Tyrannosaur which I did not love but which boasts impressive acting.

TOP TEN PICTURES (alpha order)
The Arbor, Beginners, Bridesmaids, Certified Copy, Jane Eyre, Midnight in Paris, Poetry, Rango, The Tree of Life and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. You can see a complete list of what I've seen here.

[Notable films that I did plan to see but will have to catch on DVD include: Hanna, The Housemaid and Win Win]

DIRECTOR
Clio Barnard - THE ARBOR
Lee Chang-dong - POETRY
Abbas Kiarostami -CERTIFIED COPY
Terrence Malick -THE TREE OF LIFE
Mike Mills -BEGINNERS

notes: I gave Barnard the slight edge over Apichatpong Weerathesakul mostly because I far prefer "Joe's" earlier effort Tropical Malady to Boonmee. But not without some hesitation. I appreciated the bold experimentation of The Arbor, a documentary/narrative hybrid about the life and work of playwright and screenwriter Andrea Dunbar (Rita, Sue and Bob, Too). I just wish the film had been tighter and less relentless in its last 45 minutes. It had already done so much surgical socioeconomic surveillance damage by that point that rather than feeling devastating it started to feel exhausting. But it's definitely worth a look.

ACTRESS
Juliette Binoche - CERTIFIED COPY
Yun Jeong-Hie -POETRY
Mia Wasikowska - JANE EYRE
Kristen Wiig - BRIDESMAIDS
Michelle Williams -MEEKS CUTOFF

actors and the supporting crop and even a few technicals if you just...

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