Andy Griffith, the actor most famous for playing a small-town sheriff on the appropriately titled “The Andy Griffith Show,” died Tuesday at his home on Roanoke Island, N.C. He was 86. “The Andy Griffth” show ran for eight years, from 1960-1968, and 249 episodes – an almost unthinkable amount by today’s standards. It was a ratings […]
Andy Griffith dies at 86 Read More »
“Ted” is the first attempt at live-action filmmaking from Seth MacFarlane, creator of the adult-oriented cartoons “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” and it proves that his efforts should remain relegated to the boob-tube and off the silver-screen. Like MacFarlane’s television shows, “Ted” excels at making irreverent cultural references and observations, which fly fast and furious
With $54.1 million in box office receipts, Seth MacFarlane’s R-rated teddy bear comedy, “Ted,” won the weekend by a wide margin. Clearly, far more than MacFarlane’s “Family Guy” following showed up, as the movie coasted to the biggest opening for an R-rated comedy ever. If “Ted” manages to have the legs of past summer comedies
Weekend Box Office: “Ted” reigns supreme Read More »
“Safety Not Guaranteed” is the latest entry into the burgeoning genre that I like to call “tangential sci-fi” — that is, a loose collective of films that incorporate certain science-fiction elements to enhance intimate human dramas. It is considerably lighter in tone than its predecessors, which range from the devastating dystopian work “Never Let Me
Review: “Safety Not Guaranteed” Read More »
Many agreed that the box office numbers for “Ted” and “Magic Mike” would be big, but nobody anticipated that they would be this big. Between those two movies, plus “Madea’s Witness Protection,” there were just as many sell-outs at megaplexes last night (if not more) than there will be when “The Amazing Spider-Man” opens on Tuesday.
Friday Box Office: “Ted” and “Magic Mike” exceed all expectations Read More »
Despite never receiving proper recognition from the critical elite, Tyler Perry’s infamous character Madea, the boisterous old lady that the filmmaker himself plays in drag, has had her share of classic comedy moments. She took a chainsaw to a couch in “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” coached her niece on how to throw hot
Review: “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection” Read More »
The critics may have been lukewarm on Charlie Sheen’s post-“Two and a Half Men” comeback, “Anger Management,” but viewers were certainly curious to see the show for themselves. The premiere of the new FX series posted the best ratings of all-time for a scripted comedy airing on basic cable. What’s more: it beat every single
Charlie Sheen’s “Anger Management” sets cable comedy ratings record Read More »
Hello and welcome back to Box Office Beat, the column in which I predict the upcoming weekend’s box office grosses. After a series of botched predictions, I truly recovered last weekend, coming within 10 percent of the actuals for openers “Brave” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Let’s hope I can repeat that success this weekend.
Box Office Beat: Weekend of June 29 Read More »
On the rare occasion that Roberto Benigni’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning “Life is Beautiful,” a profoundly strange adaptation of “Pinocchio,” is remembered by Americans, it is usually for the film’s comically bad English-language dub. Certainly, it’s a challenge to make any dub worthy of being taken seriously, but this particular job, featuring once-teen star Breckin
Reviews by Request: “Pinocchio” (2002) Read More »
Had you asked me yesterday to make a list of the filmmakers who were the biggest proponents of shooting on celluloid, Martin Scorsese’s name would have been close to the top. Sure, the veteran director shot last year’s award-winning “Hugo” using the Arri Alexa digital camera, but most of us figured that was only because
35mm loses another key advocate: Martin Scorsese to shoot new film digitally Read More »
