Bridge of Martian Spies with Crimson Goosebumps

Family movies continue to be a fairly safe bet for box office glory as Goosebumps took the top spot despite an extremely competitive weekend. Perhaps its secret was that it had no direct competition except for the month old animated picture and, vaguely if you're stretching, the new del Toro picture. People are calling Crimson Peak a flop but that's unduly harsh. With a budget of only $55 million he didn't overspend and, despite media's interest in him, and expectations always saying otherwise he's never been a mainstream director. His biggest hit Pacific Rim certainly didn't earn more than double the gross of any of his other pictures globally because it was awash in del Toro idiosyncracies. It was a straight up, giant robots fighting monsters movie and easy to mistake for Transformers vs Godzilla if you squinted.

Box Office charts and more on the new films after the jump...

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More drama please, Crimson Peak

Here's Murtada to review of the new wide release Crimson Peak.

Visually Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak is a big sumptuous meal. So visually full at all times that it masquerades a thin plot and uninteresting lead character and almosts gets away with fooling us into thinking it a great film. The compelling visuals keep it enticing throughout: Huge frilly sleeves on the dresses; red smoke flaring up from creeks on the floor; a creepy black skeleton hand moving ominously. It never stops.

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Beauty vs Beast: A Better Pan

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast," pitting another dastardly villain against a doe-eyed do-gooder and asking you to choose. We've been anticipating Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak for so very long that it feels crazy it's finally out this week; we're not alone - lean out your window and you can surely hear the Hiddleston fans squealing in the streets. So let's look back at Guillermo's last non-giant-robot non-comic-book-demon based entertainment, the roundly admired if not downright adored Pan's Labyrinth. Can you believe that film is over nine years old? Take a look at a picture of actress Ivana Baquero these days if you don't believe me. Speaking of...

PREVIOUSLY Last week was All About Winslet (not that every week isn't all about Winslet really) with her 40th birthday and the release of Steve Jobs (did you guys see it this weekend? Wasn't it awesome?), and so we faced her off with her foremost collaborator, Leo the second time around in Revolutionary Road. Y'all went with Kate, because of course you did, she's Kate. Said Bryan:

"I love both of them in this movie, but the close up of Kate smoking at the table after Michael Shannon's blow-up is actorly perfection. Maybe the most severe and intense she's ever been. I also love how she threatens to scream if he says another word... I wish more casting directors would take note of her ability at playing unpredictability / mental illness."

Curio: We're at (Crimson) Peak Excitement

Alexa here with your weekly art appreciation.  The internet excitement over the release of Crimson Peak is at a fever pitch: Gothic romance! Tom Hiddleston sex scenes! Giant creepy Victorian house! Tom Hiddleston being sexy!  It's like fanfiction come to life.  Of course, the return of Guillermo Del Toro's visual sumptuousness brings its own excitement, especially for some visual artists out there. Little White Lies filled its latest issue with art inspired by the film; they're also curating an exhibition celebrating all of Del Toro's films, with an artist interpreting each film as a Victorian-era gothic book cover.

Here are some other creations I've spotted recently that were perhaps made during repeat viewings of the trailer. See them after the jump...

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Link or Dare

Film School Rejects on Comic Con leaks and what the studios should worry about instead
Arts.Mic Netflix has the best opening titles
Empire Jennifer Lawrence attached to The Rosie Project, a romantic story of a man with aspergers and a free spirited woman who inspires him
/Film X-Men Apocalypse teaser posters 
Queerty interviews Alex Keshishian on the seismic impact of Madonna's Truth or Dare (1991) back in the day. It changed lives! My friends and I still quote it regularly to this day.

Freier Fall 2 -- um, WHAT? They're raising money for a sequel to that very hot LGBT movie that's streaming on Netflix that stars Max Reimelt from Sense8.   
Awards Daily Sasha compares Oscars to the presidential primaries 
Guardian one million dollar reward in the case of Judy Garland's missing ruby slippers 
i09 first look at HBO's series version of the old sci fi classic Westworld
FSR checking in with Hayao Miyazaki who is still working -- albeit on short films -- and experimenting at 74. 
Variety Guillermo del Toro on his female centric Gothic horror, Crimson Peak 

Off Cinema
B&N Reads Esther Bloom on inappropriate books she read as a tween. I didn't do this but I remember the whispered conversations in school about books we weren't supposed to be reading.
Playbill interviews two of the most talented people in the world: Sutton Foster and Jonathan Groff and talks tv learning curves, their summer productions at City Center, and Groff's fanboy obsession with Foster before he himself was famous. It's sweet 

Pic of the Day
"Chewie's Angels" (from Comic Con via HitFix) Mwahhhaaaaahaaa. L-O-V-E.