New trailer: “Alex Cross”

Tyler Perry is trading Madea’s chainsaw for a gun and badge. In this new trailer, he slips into the shoes of James Patterson’s Detective Alex Cross in the appropriately titled “Alex Cross.” Perry will square off against a sadistic mob hitman played by Matthew Fox. The Alex Cross role was formerly played by Morgan Freeman […]

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“Atlas Shrugged: Part 2” sets release date, hires team of seasoned marketing execs

When producer Harmon Kaslow announced that plans to make an “Atlas Shrugged” trilogy would continue in spite of the first film grossing a paltry $4.6 million at the domestic box office (against a $20m budget), the news was met with a great degree of surprise. But now that the sequel is in the can and

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Weekend Box Office: “Brave” tops chart, “To Rome with Love” sizzles on specialty circuit

If you read my Friday box office report, then you already knew that “Brave” would come in at #1, over tripling the gross of its nearest competitor (“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”). Thus, it should be of more interest to you that Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love” grossed a bang-up $379,000 in its initial

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Review: “Brave”

With “Brave,” Pixar has declared that audiences and critics can stop raving about how inventive and original their latest films are, and can begin classifying them as simple kids’ fare instead. The studio behind heartfelt, gorgeous animated treasures such as “Toy Story,” “WALL-E,” and “Up” demonstrates an astonishing lack of creative energy with their latest

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Friday Box Office: “Brave” slays all competition

As expected, Disney/Pixar’s “Brave” was a far-and-away #1 at the Friday box office, beating its nearest competitor, fellow opener “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” by double-digits. With a $24.5m Friday in the books, the Scotland-set animated flick should post a weekend figure in line with Pixar’s best non-sequel openings ($71m seems reasonable). Meanwhile, last week’s releases

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Casting bits: Jennifer Hudson, Marilyn Manson, and Patrick Wilson join fall TV shows

Three bits of interesting fall TV casting surfaced today, which should earn the established shows a few viewers who don’t normally watch… Jennifer Hudston will get a multi-episode arc on NBC’s musical “Smash,” which stars Katherine McPhee as a young woman working hard to make it on Broadway. Hudson will play a Tony-winner “who reached [her] Broadway dream but

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Review: “Rock of Ages”

Few Hollywood filmmakers have proven themselves to be as tone-deaf as Adam Shankman has during his recent foray into musicals. That Shankman has failed so miserably in the genre is surprising, given his background as a choreographer. But few films–let alone upbeat musicals– are as joyless and utterly lacking an understanding of cinematic kinetics as

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