Awards 2010: Golden Globe Nominations

Once again, as per usual, the Golden Globes prove that they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. It's impossible to ever predict what will be let in and left out, so lets start with those major surprises. The Motion Picture Comedy category let in plenty of undeserving films, but not Easy A, which probably deserved it more. Instead, what do they nominate? Obviously the newly released The Tourist. The film recently opened to mediocre reviews, so I don't understand what the Hollywood Foreign Press saw in it. For that matter, I don't get why they nominated Alice in Wonderland at all. I understand Burlesque, but only because it's a musical, and sometimes they just can't resist.

I don't think that Red really belonged in that category, but it's better than most of the films nominated. The Kids Are All Right got quite a few nominations, but Mark Ruffalo was shut out of Best Supporting Actor for some nonsensical reason. The Original Song category isn't even worthy of note, so go ahead and find it on your own. You're not getting any help from me in that case. One last thing to notice, True Grit was shut out completely. None of this really means anything in the grand scheme of things, because nobody should really care about the Golden Globes. Take a look at the nominations, and weigh in on your opinion in the comments section!

BEST MOTION PICTURE DRAMA
-Black Swan
-The Fighter
-Inception
-The King's Speech
-The Social Network

BEST MOTION PICTURE COMEDY
-Alice in Wonderland
-Burlesque
-The Kids Are All Right
-Red
-The Tourist

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
-Hally Berry (Frankie and Alice)
-Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
-Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
-Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
-Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
-Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
-Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs)
-Angelina Jolie (The Tourist)
-Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right)
-Emma Stone (Easy A)

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
-Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
-Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
-James Franco (127 Hours)
-Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)
-Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter)

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
-Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland)
-Johnny Depp (The Tourist)
-Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version)
-Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs)
-Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
-Despicable Me
-How to Train Your Dragon
-The Illusionist
-Tangled
-Toy Story 3

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE
-Biutiful
-The Concert
-The Edge
-I Am Love
-In a Better World

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
-Amy Adams (The Fighter)
-Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
-Mila Kunis (Black Swan)
-Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
-Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
-Christian Bale (The Fighter)
-Michael Douglass (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)
-Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
-Jeremy Renner (The Town)
-Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

BEST DIRECTOR
- Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
- David Fincher (The Social Network)
- Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
- Christopher Nolan (Inception)
- David O. Russell (The Fighter)

BEST SCREENPLAY
- Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours)
- Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right)
- Christopher Nolan (Inception)
- David Seidler (The King's Speech)
- Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
- The King's Speech
- Alice in Wonderland
- 127 Hours
- The Social Network
- Inception

Box Office Update: It's A Kind Of Magic

It was a rather fantastical weekend at the box office, with the biggest opening weekend we've had since Toy Story 3 opened in July. Unsurprisingly, but more than welcome, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 took the top spot this weekend, posting the highest opening weekend for the beloved franchise, as well as the second best November opening, behind the infamous Twilight: New Moon. I'm glad to know that our fanbase isn't as crazed or insane as that one. It's still a really impressive take, especially considering that they didn't get the added price that comes with 3D. This definitely paves the way for Deathly Hallows: Part 2 to break some serious records.

Meanwhile, The Next Three Days disappointed, opening in fifth place with a meager amount. Megamind held on exceptionally well, barreling past the $100 million mark. Tony Scott's Unstoppable continues to defy the odds and succeed with audiences. I wish I could say that this weekend was up from the same last year, but for obvious reasons, that didn't happen. Still, it was favored better than the same weekend two years ago, when Twilight began to warp the minds of our teens.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (First Weekend; $125.1 million)
2. Megamind (Third Weekend; $16.2 million)
3. Unstoppable (Second Weekend; $13.1 million)
4. Due Date (Third Weekend; $9.2 million)
5. The Next Three Days (First Weekend; $6.8 million)
6. Morning Glory (Second Weekend; $5.2 million)
7. Skyline (Second Weekend; $3.4 million)
8. Red (Sixth Weekend; $2.5 million)
9. For Colored Girls (Third Weekend; $2.4 million)
10. Fair Game (Third Weekend; $1.5 million)

Box Office Update: Safely Derailed

Well I'm feeling pretty confidant right now. Clearly not confidant enough to come up with a better title for this segment, but we can't expect all the problems with the world to be solved in one day, now can we? Needless to say that Megamind ended up keeping the top spot for one additional weekend, dropping a mere 35% despite the blunt force that Unstoppable was beginning to accumulate. Tony Scott's new thriller has a chance to post a higher total before the weekend is officially over, but I doubt it will end up topping the Dreamworks favorite. 3D sells when it is used properly and in service of a good story. As for Unstoppable, I'd much rather watch this SNL sketch that premiered last night than the actual film. You get the point easily from it.

Skyline didn't post a debut as high as analysts were expecting, though it somehow did break even this weekend due to a short budget. Morning Glory held up much better than I expected, though still nothing too impressive. Due Date dropped 52%, but only went down to third place, so it can still be called a success. Not as huge as The Hangover, but that's too much to hope for. For Colored Girls took to biggest drop of 65%, proving that audiences didn't quite adore it so much as expected. This weekend certainly paled in comparison to the same weekend last year, when 2012 opened in first with $65 million. Expect a huge increase next weekend when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 opens big while setting new records.

1. Megamind (Second Weekend; $30 million)
2. Unstoppable (First Weekend; $23.5 million)
3. Due Date (Second Weekend; $15.5 million)
4. Skyline (First Weekend; $11.7 million)
5. Morning Glory (First Weekend; $9.6 million)
6. For Colored Girls (Second Weekend; $6.8 million)
7. Red (Fifth Weekend; $5.1 million)
8. Paranormal Activity 2 (Fourth Weekend; $3.1 million)
9. Saw 3D (Third Weekend; $2.8 million)
10. Jackass 3D (Fifth Weekend; $2.3 million)

Box Office Update: Mind Over Mindless

This was a pretty phenomenal weekend at the box office, for both films deserving of it and undeserving. Working from the top down, Megamind rightfully took first place thanks to the boost from 3D as well as some positive reviews. It's barely above the opening weekend that How to Train Your Dragon sustained before becoming the sleeper hit of the year. Hopefully positive word of mouth will boost the action-comedy to similar status. Meanwhile, Todd Philips' Due Date took second place with an opening not quite as high as The Hangover. The film was opening against largely mixed reviews that might have narrowed the amount of customers for the new film.

On the bottom of the spectrum for newly released films is Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, which opened to pathetic reviews which dispel any Oscar hopes the film had. However, it is from the illogically appealing Tyler Perry, so I guess it was always destined for box office success. It took third with a rather hefty total, but as with all of Perry's films, it will take a hit from negative word of mouth. Red held as strong as it has been for a while, keeping a solid standing the top five where other have been falling out. Saw 3D took a beating, falling north of 60% to fifth place. In all, this was a huge improvement on last weekend, and the same weekend last year when A Christmas Carol opened at the top spot.

1. Megamind (First Weekend; $47.7 million)
2. Due Date (First Weekend; $33.5 million)
3. For Colored Girls (First Weekend; $20.1 million)
4. Red (Fourth Weekend; $8.9 million)
5. Saw 3D (Second Weekend; $8.2 million)
6. Paranormal Activity 2 (Third Weekend; $7.3 million)
7. Jackass 3D (Fourth Weekend; $5.1 million)
8. Hereafter (Fourth Weekend; $4 million)
9. Secretariat (Fifth Weekend; $4 million)
10. The Social Network (Sixth Weekend; $3.6 million)

Box Office Update: Oh, The Horror

I really do look forward to next weekend when I can get back to a more natural setting at the theaters. We've had quite a few weeks in which there's been only one notable release, and this weekend should've been a complete failure. It's what I expected, and it's what I actually hoped for. Instead, Saw 3D managed to rake in an dishonest living, grabbing the fifth highest opening weekend of the series. Of course, we should still expect it to take a huge dive next weekend, not only from competition in the 3D market with Megamind, but because of negative word of mouth.

Speaking of such word of mouth, it certainly took its toll on Paranormal Activity 2, which suffered a near 60% drop from last weekend. Jackass 3D took a similar drop of the same amount, but that can mostly be attributed to the fact that the film is really a one-and-done sort of affair. In any case, the film still passed the $100 million mark this weekend, so that's a plus. Oddly enough, Red overtook it this weekend, taking a steady 28% drop and remaining in third. In summation, this weekend was a good 8.1% rise from the same weekend last year.

1. Saw 3D (First Weekend; $24.2 million)
2. Paranormal Activity 2 (Second Weekend; $16.5 million)
3. Red (Third Weekend; $10.8 million)
4. Jackass 3D (Third Weekend; $8.4 million)
5. Hereafter (Third Weekend; $6.3 million)
6. Secretariat (Fourth Weekend; $5 million)
7. The Social Network (Fifth Weekend; $4.7 million)
8. Life as We Know It (Fourth Weekend; $4 million)
9. The Town (Fifth Weekend; $1.9 million)
10. Conviction (Third Weekend; $1.8 million)

Box Office Update: High Activity

Marking another splendid weekend of October this year, Paranormal Activity 2 came out on top and set a horror film opening weekend record for the month of August. Given these strong numbers, one can easily expect to see another sequel in the works for release next year. Jackass 3D took a great 57% fall from last week, but that was expected for an opening of such magnitude as well as such hardcore competition opening. Red held on even better with a 31% fall, boding well for the coming weeks. Finally, a fair few film-goers went out to see Hereafter out of curiosity, leading a decent opening weekend, but not Eastwood's best.

1. Paranormal Activity 2 (First Weekend; $41.5 million)
2. Jackass 3D (Second Weekend; $21.6 million)
3. Red (Second Weekend; $15 million)
4. Hereafter (First Weekend; $12 million)
5. The Social Network (Fourth Weekend; $7.3 million)
6. Secretariat (Third Weekend; $6.9 million)
7. Life as We Know It (Third Weekend; $6.1 million)
8. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of GaHoole (Fifth Weekend; $3.1 million)
9. The Town (Sixth Weekend; $2.7 million)
10. Easy A (Sixth Weekend; $1.7 million)

Film Review: Red

I always wanted a nice and perfectly agreeable film as this every week, and we very rarely get it. It's just nice to see people who know how to make good entertainment, and I can't help but think how stupid you have to be to not pull that off. Red comes from a DC Comics series of the same name, so it already has a solid backbone to work off of. However, that's hardly the selling point for this film. So rarely do you get an all star cast for such a small film as this. Then again, most of the films that Bruce Willis deals with these days are short budget mediocre action films. On top of that, Morgan Freeman does a fair deal of unobserved straight-to-DVD work these days. And John Malkovich... well, he's John Malkovich.

The film follows retired CIA agent Frank Moses (Willis), who is being inexplicably and aggresively hunted down by the FBI, along with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), a customer service agent that Frank is attracted to, but has never met before. It's actually a rather sweet and unorthodox love story, which is hardly the point of a film such as this. He gets in touch with his old team members, his mentor Joe Matheson (Freeman), wetwork agent Victoria (Helen Mirren), and an LSD infused whatever Marvin Boggs (Malkovich), and together they decide to track down the man responsible for calling the hits on them.

The cast for the film is spectacular all around. When Bruce Willis walks out of a moving cop car, you know you've made the right choice. Mary-Louise Parker is such an awkwardly funny personality, and I enjoy how her character takes everything in stride with a grain of salt. Malkovich is crazy, and that's probably the only character he was ever born to play. Morgan Freeman adds class to any film, and Helen Mirren fulfills our lifelong dreams with the way she possesses the weaponry she is afforded. Karl Urban adds a hardcore quality to his CIA agent character, who you just know will end up turning into a hero by the end. Ernest Borgnine has a cute and hilarious cameo, and Brian Cox shows up unexpectedly.

The cinematography always feels extremely close to taking that extra leap into an amazing shot, but falls just short of that. It's not bad, but it could've easily been more. The original score by Christophe Beck is exactly what you'd expect it to be. Nothing more. Nothing less. The action in this film is pretty sweet, offering us extreme gun fights (with Helen Mirren) and explosions. What good is an action film without explosions? I'm pointing at you Twilight. The film starts out a bit slow, and takes a while to find it's stride, but when Red does reach that important moment when things take off at full speed, it's a hilarious action-comedy that's actually worthy of the price of a ticket.

B+

Box Office Update: Sweet Simplicity

Lets not pretend like this has been a disappointing weekend, because it certainly wasn't by any degree. Perhaps a failure of intellect at the most, but not of entertainment or profit. This weekend had a lot of people going out to the theaters, mostly to see Jackass 3D. The film managed to garner the highest 3D opening weekend since Despicable Me, and the highest opening in general since Inception. The makers may have sacrificed their very well being by attempting to make this comedic venture become a reality, but if they keep raking in earnings like this, I'd consider it a successful investment.

Even Red was able to scratch out an earning against the competition. While not high for a comic book adaptation, when scaled as an average action flick, it did pretty well for itself. Audience appeal should carry it through the next two weeks before the rush of November. The Social Network kept intelligent audiences intact with a less than 30% drop from last weekend. The only other film to hold similarly was Secretariat, which seems to have the same staying power as The Blind Side had not even a year ago, at least in the box office. This weekend was a high rise from last weekend, even if it didn't quite match up to the same weekend last year when Where The Wild Things Are took center stage.

1. Jackass 3D (First Weekend; $50 million)
2. Red (First Weekend; $22.5 million)
3. The Social Network (Third Weekend; $11 million)
4. Secretariat (Second Weekend; $9.5 million)
5. Life as We Know It (Second Weekend; $9.2 million)
6. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (Fourth Weekend; $4.2 million)
7. The Town (Fifth Weekend; $4 million)
8. My Soul to Take (Second Weekend; $3.2 million)
9. Easy A (Fifth Weekend; $2.7 million)
10. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fourth Weekend; $2.4 million)

The Weekend Report: All Up In Your Grill

There are really just two releases this week, and though it may not seem like it at first glance, they're actually not half bad. In fact, you really can't do much wrong this weekend. The best film in theaters to play your cards on is Red, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren. The film has a great ensemble cast, some nice humor, intriguing action, and little else. As long as a film has at least those three ingredients, it's a pretty safe film to go for. If it weren't for a few scheduling conflicts, I'd be seeing that this weekend. As it is, it'll be a welcome breather come next weekend.

As for tonight, what I will be shelling out cash in order to see will likely end up being Jackass 3D. I wouldn't expect an general review for the movie if I were you, because it doesn't really seem like an actual film. It looks somewhat entertaining, even if there's an extreme likelihood that phallic imagery will fully represented in 3D. If any, it'll test my ability to withstand cringe worthy cinema without puking. If you're over the age of 18, you could very likely go into this movie and enjoy it. It depends on exactly what kind of person you are. It's worth noting that the film got more positive reviews than both Conviction and Hereafter. I'm not sure how that happens, but it does.

For Your Acknowledgement: I Was Hoping You'd Have Hair

To start off this week of release, we have two clips from Red for you, because we don't quite get across the reason why this one is worth seeing in one. I know that this film has an all star cast, but when I first saw the trailer, I just assumed I was probably in for another Bruce Willis action flop. However, the footage I've seen has actually been nicely witty in both the dialogue scenes and the action scenes. It's definitely worth a look.