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 »
A new trailer for Len Wiseman’s remake of the 1990 sci-fi action classic “Total Recall” has hit the web. Colin Farrell takes over for Arnold Schwarzenegger (what a switch) as Douglas Quaid, a lowly construction worker in the future who discovers that he might actually be a spy whose memories were erased. The production values
New trailer: “Total Recall” 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 »
When the auteur theory, arguing that a film is primarily a reflection of its director and their creative vision, was originally put forward, another issue was inadvertently raised: content versus execution. Can a director overcome a trite premise and create a masterpiece or, more precisely, can a filmmaker take a seemingly broad and cliche story
Streaming Pick: “Fish Tank” (2009) Read More »
Embedded above is the new international trailer for Rian Johnson’s “Looper,” which lets the viewer in on quite a bit more than the domestic version. However, if you’re already sold on the movie, Johnson recommends via Twitter that you refrain from viewing the spoiler-containing video: “If you’re already set on seeing ‘Looper,’ I’d avoid any
New international trailer: “Looper” Read More »
Composed almost entirely of stock footage from 1966-‘71, “When You’re Strange” is a rock documentary narrated by Johnny Depp on the career of seminal blues-psychedelic band The Doors. On a stylistic level, the film succeeds admirably. The grainy footage gives the audience a sense of what the band must have really looked and sounded like, both
Streaming Pick: “When You’re Strange” (2009) Read More »
Nora Ephron, the writer/director behind celebrated Hollywood rom-coms such as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally…”, died today after a six-year battle with leukemia. She was 71. Ephron, who began as an essayist and novelist in the 1970s, penned her first theatrical screenplay nearly three decades ago, for Mike Nichols’ 1983 film “Silkwood,”
Filmmaker Nora Ephron dies at 71 Read More »
I keep thinking that this is all an elaborate prank — that Disney has allowed Tim Burton to make a black-and-white animated riff on Frankenstein, with children as a part of the target audience, designed to play in IMAX and 3-D. It sounds like financial suicide to me, but that just makes the movie itself
New trailer: “Frankenweenie” Read More »
