John’s Movie Musings

Labor Day has passed so it’s time to see how well the Summer movies turned out.

The big winner, of course, was The Dark Knight. Over the weekend, it passed the $500M mark, making it the #2 movie of all time. Titanic is over $600M and there’s not many big movies in the fall to slow Batman down. It might take it.

Two other movies crossed the $300M mark: Iron Man and Indiana Jones. Iron Man comes out on DVD in two weeks, so I can finally watch it. I hear it’s awesome.

Here’s the Top 10 Breakdown:

1. The Dark Knight — $506M (and counting)
2. Iron Man — $318M
3. Indiana Jones — $316M
4. Hancock — $227M
5. Wall-E — $218M
6. Kung Fu Panda — $214M
7. Horton Hears a Who (really?!) — $155M
8. Sex and the City — $153M
9. Prince Caspian — $142M
10. The Incredible Hulk — $135M

The Dark Knight and Wall-E were my favs of the summer. How ’bout you?

(thanks to BoxOfficeMojo for the data)

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of reviews. I’ve been out traveling this week. I’ll be out next week as well, so there won’t be many updates. Unless, of course, there’s something interesting on the flight.

I may have something this weekend. Otherwise, I’ll catch you in September.

Anybody know anything about RSS feeds? As you can see to the left, I’m experimenting with a few different ways of adding the weekend’s Box Office results. The top one uses a simple RSS feed, but it’s all out of order. Anyone know how to alphabetize it?

The bottom one is pretty spiffy, but I think it’s kinda hard to read.

Which one do you guys like?

UPDATE: Yahoo! Pipes is awesome. Thanks Jason!

It’s time again for our Summer Movie Round-Up. Remember back when we were kids, the Summer movies always started on Memorial Day? Not so anymore. Pretty much all of May is now filled with big blockbusters.

Here we go…

May 2:

• Ironman - Robert Downey Jr. makes a flying suit and becomes a super hero. No, I think he’s sober in it.
• Made of Honor – Some chick flick with that dude from Grey’s Anatomy.

May 9:

• Speed Racer – Well, the special effects look awesome.
• What Happens in Vegas – Ashton Kutcher AND Cameron Diaz in the same movie. It’s like they took smaller parts from crappy movies and combined them into a super crapfest.

May 16:

• Narnia: Prince Caspian – I like what they did with LWW. Here’s hoping for another winner.

May 22:

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Indy is back! Yay! But he’s got Shia LeBeouf with him. Nooooooo! N-n-no!
• Postal – Uwe Boll makes another crappy film. But hey, it’s got Verne Troyer in it.

May 30:

• Sex in the City: The Movie – Well here’s a movie that makes castration appealing.
• The Strangers – Meh. Some horror flick. Two in one weekend. Who’da thunkit?

June 6:

• Kung Fu Panda – Dreamworks animated movie that looks hilarious.
• You Don’t Mess With the Zohan – Adam Sandler plays a Jewish hairstylist. I bet “he can do it.”

June 13:

• The Happening – M. Night Shyamalan’s latest. Gonna risk your $10 on this one? I may wait for the DVD.
• The Incredible Hulk – Remember that Hulk movie a few years ago that bombed. This is to help you pretend that never happened.

June 20:

• Get Smart – Steve Carrell certainly fits the part. Might be worth a look.
• The Love Guru – OK, take all of the Austin Powers jokes and tell them with an Indian accent. Behold, the new Mike Myers movie.

June 27:

• Wall-E – Pixar’s latest. Should be alright.
• Wanted – WANTED…..Dead or aliiiiive. This is that stupid movie where they bend bullet trajectories. I suggest you sing Bon Jovi every time you see a poster for it. That’ll be more entertaining.

July 2:

• Hancock – Hey look! A Will Smith movie on July 4th weekend.
• Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery – When you go see Will Smith, pity the fathers getting dragged into this one.

July 11:

• Hellboy 2 – I hated the first one. Was there really demand for a sequel?
• Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D – I still have no idea what to think of this one.
• Meet Dave – Fresh off Norbit, Eddie Murphy makes another movie.

July 18:

• The Dark Knight – Please be good. Please be good. Please be good.
• Mamma Mia! – ABBA returns!
• Space Chimps – If this were Pigs in Space, I’d so be there.

July 25:

• The Longshots – Probably a longshot for being good.
• Step Brothers – Will Ferrell and John C Reilly team up again. So basically it’s Ricky Bobby 2.
• The X-Files: I Want to Believe – I want to believe this won’t suck.

August 1:

• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – Asian mummies. How bad can it be?
• The Rocker – Not a clue what this is. Maybe it’s a chance for another Bon Jovi joke. But hey, it’s got Dwight from The Office in it.
• He Just Not That Into You – That’s what she said.
• Midnight Meat Train – That’s what she said.

August 8th:

• The Pineapple Express – Now here’s a title that makes ya wanna go to the movies!
• Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 - They made a sequel? Looks like I’ll be needing a 2-for-1 deal on those castrations.

August 15:

• Mirrors – Reflect upon this and see if it sucks.
• Tropic Thunder – Ben Stiller movie. I challenge you to speak this title without sounding like a WWE announcer.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Yeah, another Star Wars movie that is seriously lacking in hype. Maybe it’ll be good?

So that’s it for this year. Looks like it could be a strong one.

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay in reviews, but I’m in the middle of Battlestar Galactica, Season 3. Anyone watch this? I caught discs 3 and 4 over the weekend and it’s some of the best Sci-Fi I’ve seen since Firefly. For a pretty simple plot (run from the bad guys), they do a good job of keeping things fresh.

Season 4 is already a few episodes in, but you can catch some missed episodes on Hulu.com. Unfortunately, they don’t stay up very long. Hopefully, they’ll put up the season once it’s over.

• 300 - Some people didn’t like this one. Personally, I think it should be required viewing for any guy to get his “Man Card.”
  
• 3:10 to Yuma – If I had to pick one movie for Best of the Year, this would be it. This is a must see for everyone who loves movies. It’s perfect.
  
• No Country for Old Men – Think Fargo set in Texas. Tommy Lee Jones will probably win the Oscar for his work here. The movie itself could win, too.
  
• Zodiac – This was a creepy movie about a serial killer in California. Well acted and extremely well paced for a movie that covers several years.
  
• Grindhouse - Obviously these two had to make the list. Go watch both of them. Now.

• Wild Hogs - Imagine two hours of jokes about the biker in the Village People. This one’s worse.
• Blades of Glory - I like Will Farrell, I really do. I just don’t like him in any movie where he’s the main star. This was better than Anchorman, but that’s not saying much.
• Bridge to Terabithia - Some of you who saw this will assume I’m a cold-hearted bastard for listing this one. I can handle that. But the movie still sucked.
  
• The Invisible - Worst.Ending.Ever.
  
• Ghost Rider - You know that prank where you set a bag of poo on fire and leave it on your enemy’s doorstep? This is like that, but the bag of poo is in your DVD player.
  

• TIE: Spider-Man 3 / Transformers - Two movies I had such high hopes for, dashed upon the cold, rocky coast of mediocrity.

Yes!!!
Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

(Ain’t it Cool News)