Weekend Box Office: "Inception" stays at number one while "Salt" has a strong debut and "Despicable Me" continues to impress.

After months of rehashes, crap sequels and reboots, original ideas made their presence known at the North American box office and audiences turned out in big numbers. The science-fiction smash "Inception" held up remarkably well in its second weekend, fending off a strong debut of Sony's Angelina Jolie action flick "Salt" to remain at the top of the box office for a second straight weekend. In addition, Universal's hit 3-D animated feature "Despicable Me" continued its winning ways in its third weekend. Overall, the box office was down 10% from last weekend but up 11% from the same weekend a year ago when the wise-ass rodents of Disney's "G Force" debuted with $31.7 million.


Benefitting from excellent word-of-mouth and repeat business, Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dropped a mere 31% from last weekend to take in an estimated $43.5 million this weekend from 3,792 screens, bringing its ten-day total to a superb $143.6 million. The highly-acclaimed film will easily become the filmmaker's second-biggest hit of his young career (right behind "The Dark Knight"). A $275 million domestic gross is a given. The $300 million mark is also a strong possibility. The film exploded into the foreign market this weekend as well, bringing its early total to the $87 million mark.

While it may not have been enough to knock Leonardo Di Caprio and company out of the top spot, Angelina Jolie still kicked up a storm with her new espionage thriller "Salt". With $36.5 million from 3,612 screens, the Philip Noyce-directed thriller offered up something that was all but nonexistent from this summer's movie lineup: an ass-kicking female action hero. Reviews were mixed, but audiences have responded well to the $110 million Sony Production, which portends to a healthy run throughout the remaining summer weeks. One has to wonder how the movie might have done had Tom Cruise stuck around to play the lead and not chosen to do "Knight and Day".

America's love affair with Gru, his little girls and those funny minions of "Despicable Me" continued strongly as the Universal smash dipped a mere 26.5% from last weekend to gross an estimated $24.5 million to bring its three week total to a great $161.7 million. The film should zip by the $200 million mark within the next week or so, and may wind up passing the $235 million gross of this past May's "Shrek Forever After" to become the second-highest grossing animated feature released in 2010.

After a disappointing debut last weekend, Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" only dropped by 45% to an estimated $9.68 million for the weekend and a new total of $43 million. Despite the modest drop, most likely due to some decent word-of-mouth, the film is still a major disappointment for the Mouse House, who poured close to $150 million into the Jerry Bruckheimer production. Domestically, the Nicolas Cage fantasy should finish between $65-70 million at the box office.

While Disney licks its monetary wounds caused by Bruckheimer, they can take solace from animated partner Pixar. Fifth place went to the seven-week old powerhouse "Toy Story 3", which added another $9 million to its coffers to bring its total to an estimated $379.5 million. Off a mere 24% from last weekend's take, Buzz and Woody are looking to pass the $400 million domestic mark sometime in August. Overseas, the film has amassed $351 million so far to bring its global total to the $730 million thus far. With many of the overseas markets just starting to play the movie, there is a good chance that the third entry in the much-beloved franchise could top one billion dollars in ticket sales. If that happens, Disney can lay claim to having two films doing so in 2010, the other being Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland".

Twentieth Century Fox's summertime woes continued this weekend with the debut of "Ramona and Beezus", which was DOA with $8 million from 2,719 screens. While the movie was produced for a mere $15 million and received a fair amount of approval from the nation's critics, the movie's timing couldn't be worse as families are still busy checking out the likes of "Despicable Me" and "Toy Story 3". Like so many of Fox's releases this summer, this film will have to find its audience on home video this fall.

Sony's "Grown Ups" once again held up well, dropping a mere 23% for a $7 million weekend haul and a new domestic to-date take of $142.3 million. Look for Adam and the boys to end their run with a solid $160 million. "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" dropped 47% to land in eighth place for the weekend. Teams Edward, Jacob, Sleepy, Dopey and Bella worked together to gross an estimated $7 million to bring the third film's domestic take up to $279.7 million to date. The film may still pass the $296 million made by the second film, "New Moon".

Rounding out the top ten were two fast-fading sci-fi/fantasy films. Paramount's "The Last Airbender" eased by 46% to $4.1 million and $123.4 million to date, while Fox's other film in the top ten, the sci-fi flick "Predators" landed in tenth place with $2.85 million. Off 60% from the previous weekend, the Robert Rodriguez-produced film has pulled in $46.5 million domestically and another $48 million internationally, which is more than enough for the studio to consider another "Predator" film in the near future.

Next weekend, Paramount invites filmgoers to "Dinner With Schmucks", while Universal releases "Charlie St. Cloud" and Warner unleashes the 3-D sequel "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore", all attempting to challenge "Inception" for the number one spot.

-Shawn Fitzgerald

Weekend Box Office : "Inception" dreams up a big $60.4 million in its debut while "Sorcerer's Apprentice" fails to conjure up box office magic.

As expected, the highly-anticipated Christopher Nolan sci-fi heist flick "Inception" made a big impact in its debut at the North American box office while Disney's fantasy "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" stumbled out of the gate during its premiere. A strong hold by last week's number one film, Universal's "Despicable Me", helped keep ticket sales 10% higher than the top ten a year ago this weekend.


Commandeering a huge 3,792 screen count, of which 197 were IMAX, "Inception" rode the wave of strong reviews, a great ad campaign and huge anticipation from the filmmaker's legion of fans to a huge $60.4 million estimated weekend take. With the inclusion of the $3 million generated by midnight shows at 12:01am Friday's take was $21.56 million. Saturday's take was nearly identical at $21.57 million (which is actually 15% more than Friday's gross minus the 12:01 showings) while Sunday's gross is estimated to land in the $17.3 million range, off 20% from Saturday.

While the film may not have reached the $158 million that "The Dark Knight" did when it opened two years ago this weekend, the opening for "Inception" is still impressive given the film's 148-minute running time, the fact that it is aimed more towards the adult market and that the film lacks the benefit of the higher-priced 3-D tickets, which is what many a pricey blockbuster is now counting on to bring in the big bucks.

But now that the months of anticipation and marketing have led to a big opening, the question is what type of legs the movie will have. Warner knows that Nolan's fans will go back for a repeat viewing or two, but what about the average moviegoer who went on opening weekend after being intrigued by the glowing reviews and cool ads? And will they urge their friends to check it out in the theater, or advise them to stay away from the mindbender action epic (the film scored an "A" from adults polled by Cinemascore, while the younger set gave the movie a "B+") ? The second weekend will be the tell all.

Universal's hit animated comedy "Despicable Me" held strong in its second weekend by easing only 42% to $32.7 million from last weekend's big opening for a solid ten-day haul of $118.3 million. Audiences are enjoying what they are seeing and telling their friends to check out Gru and his minions in the theater. Not only is the film doing solid family matinee business on the weekend, it's also bringing in solid numbers during the week. And what do you know? Plans for a sequel were announced this past week! Until that one arrives in theaters, look for this film to finish in the $185-190 million range.

Disney's live-action summer woes continued this weekend with the weak bow of the Nicolas Cage-starrer "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The effects-heavy family fantasy, inspired by the Mickey Mouse sequence from 1940's "Fantasia", opened on a wide 3.504 screen count and only managed $17.3 million for the weekend ($24.4 million since its Wednesday debut). With this film and May's "Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time" failing to catch on with American audiences, producer Jerry Bruckheimer's reliable golden touch seems to be tarnishing a bit. As with "Persia", which has done a whopping 72% of its business overseas, Disney will have to look to foreign markets to recoup their investment costs on "Apprentice".

After dropping a little less than expected in its second weekend, the new "Twilight" film "Eclipse" took a bigger hit this weekend by dropping 57% to an estimated $13.4 million and a new total of $265 million. The film lost most of its IMAX screens to "Inception" this weekend, which no doubt expedited its decline. Originally expected to finish just past the $296 million generated by last year's "New Moon", "Eclipse" may now be looking to conclude its run with $280-290 million domestically.

In fifth place with $11.75 million for the weekend was the highest grossing film of 2010 so far, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3". With $362.5 million in the North American bank thus far, the movie is inching slowly but surely toward the $400 million mark. Overseas, the film is still in its early release stages (thanks to the World Cup) but has pulled in over $222 million thus far. Not bad for a movie once poised to go directly to home video.

Once again, Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups" defied the odds and held its ground by easing a mere 36% from last weekend to haul in another $10 million in sales. With $129 million collected thus far, the Sony hit should finish its run with a solid $160 million. Not so lucky in seventh place was Paramount's "The Last Airbender", which fell another 55% to gross an estimated $7.5 million from 2,805 screens. With $115 million in the bank domestically, the $150 million production looks to finish its run close to the $130 million mark.

The biggest drop in the top ten belonged to Fox's "Predators", which fell a troubling 72.5% from last weekend to land in eight place. With a $6.8 million weekend haul and a new ten-day total of $40 million, the latest installment in the long-running franchise may have pleased more critics than Fox anticipated, but that did not translate into bringing in new viewers outside of the series' fan base. The Robert Rodriguez-produced flick should finish its domestic run just over the $50 million mark. Overseas, the film has pulled in $17.2 million since its day-and-date launch with North America last weekend.

Fox's other film in the top ten, the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz comedy "Knight and Day", also suffered a large drop in ticket sales this weekend. "Knight" dropped by 53% for a $3.7 million estimated haul. With $69.2 million in the bank so far, the $117 million production looks to be finishing its domestic run with a disappointing $75 million. Following a period that saw the likes of smash hits such as "Avatar", the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" sequel and this spring's "Date Night", Fox appears to be having one bummer of a summer.

Rounding out the top ten was Sony's other big blockbuster, "The Karate Kid", which added $2.2 million to its total, which now stands at $169.2 million. The surprise blockbuster looks to call it a day with $175-180 million in the bank before embarking on a long and profitable run on home video and cable this fall.

Next weekend, Angelina Jolie returns to movie screens with the new spy thriller "Salt", while Fox debuts the live-action version of the beloved children's book "Ramona and Beezus".

Friday Estimates: "Inception" extracts close to $22 million; "Apprentice" fails his first weekend task

Warner scored something that has eluded them all summer on Friday at the North American box office: a number one debut.

Christopher Nolan's anticipated sci-fi mindbender "Inception" rode the wave of hype, anticipation and generally glowing reviews to debut with a potent $21.65 million on its opening day from over 3,700 screens (nearly 200 being IMAX). That total includes $3 million from midnight showings at 12:01 am Friday morning. Depending on which way Saturday and Sunday play out, the film could be looking at $60 million for its first three days.

The news, on the other hand, was not so good for Disney's pricey fantasy "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", which has been underwhelming since debuting on Wednesday. The first two days yielded a flat $7 million and yesterday's paltry $5.2 estimated total wasn't much better. In fact, the movie placed fourth for its first Friday out, behind "Despicable Me" ($11.5 million for Friday), and "Eclipse" ($5 million). The expensive Jerry Bruckheimer-produced family flick starring Nicolas Cage had been tracking terribly over the past few weeks. Bad reviews certainly didn't help matters any. For the weekend, the film may gross $15-17 million making its five-day opener a disappointing $22-24 million.

Check back on Sunday for the weekend estimate report.

Movie Review: Inception

If you're like me and are ready to toss dirt on the coffin of this year’s summer movie season, you can put away the shovel for the time being. Just in time to save us from the likes of Aston Kutcher , wimpy vampires and The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse (aka Sex and the City 2) comes Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated follow up to his 2008 masterpiece "The Dark Knight", the science-fiction head trip "Inception". And unlike most movies shoved down our collective throats this summer (hell, this year), this dazzling motion picture not only matches the anticipation and hype surrounding it, it easily surpasses it.

Without giving too much away (the less you know, the better) "Inception" centers on Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio). Cobb is an "extractor", a person capable of entering the mind of an individual while they are dreaming. Cobb’s talents are largely used best by corporations, who hire him to invade the mind of rival executives to steal their most valued business secrets that are deep within their subconscious. Cobb is hired by a Japanese billionaire named Saito (Ken Watanabe) for a rather unique task: instead of extracting information from a rival of Saito’s (Cillian Murphy), Dom is to plant an inception in his memory that will help cause the demise of Fischer’s corporation.

In order to carry out the job, Cobb assembles a team to help him map out a plan and execute it. His crew consists of a Dreamscape architect (Ellen Page), a "forger" (Tom Hardy) who can change his appearance to control a dream, a chemist (Dileep Rao) and his longtime planner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). While the financial aspect of the assignment will undoubtedly be huge, the personal gain for Cobb will be far greater: if successful, Saito will be able to clear Dom of previous wrongdoing that cost him his wife (Marion Cotillard) and children while making him an international fugitive.

Nolan, having worked on the screenplay for the last decade, isn’t making one film with “Inception”. He appears to be making several at once. The first hour, which covers the assembly of Dom’s crew and the planning of the big mind crime, is classic heist-movie material. The foot and car chases and gun battles across multiple continents are straight out of the Jason Bourne and James Bond playbooks, while the director’s examination of dreams, the danger of holding onto memories and the blurring between perception and reality are the type of deep-thinking materials previously examined in films such as the original “Matrix” and 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and even David Lynch’s 2001 classic “Mulholland Drive”.

Attempting to successfully cover so much ground at once could have resulted in a loud, overbearing, convoluted train wreck of a movie (aka your typical summer event film) that only succeeds in wearing –and dumbing- down the viewer. In most filmmaker’s hands, a project like “Inception” would guarantee a disaster or at the very least a confusing mess. But Christopher Nolan is a rarity. He’s a filmmaker who not only can handle a project of this scope; he can create something truly unique with it. He knows how to balance multiple characters and storylines, intelligently flesh out theories and ideas and execute some kick ass action sequences, all without one cancelling out another. Nolan respects his viewer’s intelligence, challenges them to pay attention and trusts them to come up with their own conclusion to what actually happened as opposed to spelling it out for them. The last time a near-$200 million summer movie did that was two years ago…which was “The Dark Knight”.

To give only Christopher Nolan praise would be an injustice to all involved. To fully flesh out his new world Nolan needed a strong cast to be in place, which is precisely what he has here. Di Caprio’s Dom is a character not unlike the one he played in Martin Scorsese’s mediocre adaptation of “Shutter Island”. T he talented actor does a solid job playing a broken man trying to correct the events of his past, only to make things worse in the process. He’s backed by solid supporting turns from Levitt, Page, Watanabe, Murphy, Cotillard and Hardy. I would also comment on Michael Caine’s performance, but since he is only in the film for all of five minutes (if less), there really isn’t much to say.

Is “Inception” perfect? No. At 148 minutes, it goes on for about ten minutes too long during the third act. And while the movie is technically brilliant in each and every department, it does lack a certain emotional connection. The storyline centering on Dom and his wife, which is meant to be the emotional core of the film, doesn’t quite achieve the impact that Nolan may have been hoping for. There is some, but not enough.

In a season where Hollywood is thriving on sequels, remakes, reboots and product that caters to the level beneath the lowest common denominator, “Inception” stands as a breathtaking accomplishment. The latest feature from my favorite commercial filmmaker of the last decade is a beautiful, thrilling cinematic ride that will stick in your collective memory for days (if not longer) after you see it. Rated PG-13. 148 minutes. Four stars out of four.

-Shawn Fitzgerald

Review: Dinner For Schmucks

"Dinner for Schmucks", the new comedy from "Austin Powers" director Jay Roach, centers around an opportunistic executive named Tim Wagner (Rudd). Tim is in the prime position to make it to the big leagues at the financial company he works for thanks to a winning pitch he makes to Fender (Greenwood), his boss. After the pitch, Fender invites Wagner to a somewhat unique dinner that he holds monthly at his estate: each employee that is invited is required to bring a complete idiot to the dinner for Fender's amusement. The employee who brings the biggest buffoon to the dinner is guaranteed to be in Fender's good graces while climbing the corporate ladder at an accelerated pace. Tim's dinner "guest"? A simpleminded IRS agent named Barry (Steve Carell) who manages to turn Tim's life into a total nightmare from the minute they meet.

Based on the French comedy "The Dinner Game" by Francis Verber (who served as executive producer on the film alongside Sacha Baron Cohen), "Schmucks" is a comedy that has more than enough ingredients to make it a successful adaptation. Aside from Rudd and Carell, the cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement, Ron Livingston and Bruce Greenwood, all talented and quite funny, the original source material was well-liked upon its release over a decade ago (I haven't seen it yet) and the new film is directed by a man who has had his fair share of funny films (the first and third 'Powers' films & "Meet the Parents").


Unfortunately, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. While it's not an outright disaster the way so many American remakes of foreign movies are, "Dinner For Schmucks" (awful title, by the way) just never gets it act together enough to be a success. The source of its issues? The screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, the duo responsible for the godawful 2006 comedy "The Ex" (the only other screenplay written by the duo). It does have some inspired moments of hilarity, but it is also chock full of unlikeable one-note characters (I was ready to kill Barry after a half hour), predictable situations, stretched out slapstick and a neausiating amount of schmaltz. Roach manages to create a few funny sequences here and there, but their impact is dilluted by Roach allowing scenes to play out for far too long and allowing for things to go too far over the top. By the time the film gets to the big dinner in the third act, the film had lost whatever momentum it had.

As for the cast, the performances proved to also be a bit of hit-and-miss. Rudd makes for an amusing straight guy to Carell's schtick, but even he seemed bored by the film's mid-point. Carell, who I am a big fan of on TV's "The Office" and in movies such as "The 40-Year Old Virgin", yields his fair share of laughs in the film. But the character he plays is so irritating and one-note that by the time Roach tries to hit the audience up for sympathy in the third act, we feel animosity toward him more than anything else. Like Barry, Zach Galifianakis' wierdo IRS auditor yields a few yucks before becoming a bore. The same goes for Jemaine Clement performance as wacko artist Kieran Vollard.

"Dinner For Schmucks" marks the second film in a month that Steve Carell has starred in that has underwhelmed me (the first was the animated "Despicable Me"). If the actor is planning on leaving NBC's "The Office" after this upcoming season (Say it ain't so, Steve!), he better focus on picking better projects to star in than this half-baked mess. "Dinner For Schmucks" should have been a full-course meal of genuine laughs. Instead, it's more like something from the McDonald's Dollar Menu: tempting but ultimately not satisfying. PG-13. 112 minutes. Two stars out of four.   

Weekend Box Office: Third "Twilight" film eclipsed by the Minions of "Despicable Me"; "Predators" Debut Bloody Good.

The North American box office continued to show improved signs of life this weekend thanks to the solid debuts of the 3-D animated feature "Despicable Me" and the sci-fi action flick "Predators". The well-received duo joined solid holdovers "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse", "Toy Story 3" and "Grown Ups" to help the box office rise a whopping 44% over the same weekend from last year.

If there was one thing that Universal Pictures desperately needed not just this summer but this year in general, it was a big box office hit. It appears that their wishes have been answered with "Despicable Me", which landed in the number one spot with a huge $60.1 million estimated take from 3,476 screens (nearly 1,500 of those were 3-D screens). The cartoon received favorable reviews from a majority of the nation's critics, and the marketing campaign did a fine job reaching the widest demographic possible (everyone loves funny little minions). The movie's smash debut is the first genuine hit for the struggling studio, who has suffered disappointment after disappointment over the past year or so ever since "Fast and Furious" revved up $70 million in its April 2008 debut. Don't be surprised if a sequel is announced by the studio shortly.

The first two "Twilight" films were front-loaded affairs at the box office, taking a majority of their box office during their first week and a half. The 2008 original did $122.6 million in that period while "New Moon" grossed $235 million. "Eclipse" continues the front-loading tradition with one exception: the second week sales drop wasn't as steep. Whereas the first film dropped 62% in its second weekend and "New Moon" dropped a huge 70%, the estimated drop on "Eclipse" is only 48% from the 3-Day holiday weekend, which means that the movie may prove to have better legs than its predecessors. For the weekend, Team Edward sunk its fangs into an estimated $33.5 million to bring its twelve-day total to $237.1 million. If the film's drop offs continue to be moderate, "Eclipse" should have no problem breezing past "New Moon"s $296.6 million domestic haul as well as the $300 million mark.

The Robert Rodriguez-produced "Predators" landed in third place for the weekend with a solid $25.3 million from a moderate 2,669 screen count. Produced for only $38 million, the Nimrod Anatal-directed entry in Twentieth Century Fox's long-running franchise received more than its fair share of positive reviews (as opposed to the largely negative notices that every entry outside of the 1987 original received). While the film scored positive reviews and came away with a good-sized monetary haul for its debut, its day in the sun might be a short one as the film has dropped off precipitously since opening with a big $10.3 million on Friday. Even if the film does fade fast, it should prove be the one profitable movie Fox releases this summer thanks to its low production costs.

The arrival of "Despicable Me" didn't seem to have much of an impact on Woody, Buzz and company as the Disney/Pixar juggernaut "Toy Story 3" held up very well in its fourth weekend. Dropping a mere 27% from its 3-day holiday gross, the smash hit added another $22 million to its coffers to bring its total up near the $340.2 million range. Without adjusting for inflation, the movie has now passed the studio's 2003 classic "Finding Nemo" as its highest grossing film to date and is still eyeing a final take near $390-400 million domestically.

Bad word of mouth is taking its toll on Paramount's fantasy epic "The Last Airbender", which lost over 57.5% of its holiday business to nab $17.1 million while bringing its 11-day total to the $100 million mark. Produced for $150 million (which does not include marketing costs), the critically lambasted M. Night Shyamalan fantasy is looking to finish its run near the $130 million mark, which may not be enough for the studio to produce the trilogy that filmmaker has in mind (Thank God for small favors, huh?).

After dropping by more than half last weekend, Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups" displayed the best hold in the top ten. The comedy dropped a scant 14% to land in sixth place with a $16.5 million weekend take. The movie has now amassed $111 million in three weeks. "Grown Ups" now marks Sandler's 11th film to gross $100 million or more at the North American box office in the last twelve years. Kind of amazing considering that all of them by and large suck.

Fox's "Knight and Day" also held its ground to nab seventh place. The Tom Cruise action comedy only dropped 24% this weekend to gross $7.8 million to bring its total to the $62 million range. The James Mangold film should finish its gross between $80-90 million. In eighth place was Sony's family hit "The Karate Kid" with $5.8 million for the weekend and a new to-date total of approximately $164.6 million.

Rounding out the top ten were two more films from Fox. "The A-Team" was in ninth place with a $1.8 million weekend take. With $73 million in the bank, Hannibal and company should end their theatrical run near the $80 million mark. Released through their specialty division, Fox Searchlight, the comedy "Cyrus" expanded to 200 screens to see its ticket sales soar 77.5% to $1.375 million for a new to-date take of $3.52 million.

Universal Pictures received more good news this weekend via its Focus Films division thanks to the debut of "The Kids Are All Right" which brought in a fantastic $505,000 from only seven screens. The Julianne Moore/Mark Ruffalo comedy has received some of the best reviews of any movie this year, and the huge per-screen average of $72,143 shows that people were paying attention to those raves. Watch for the film to climb into the top ten as it expands across the country over the next few weeks.

Next weekend brings the long-awaited debut of Christopher Nolan's latest film "Inception" on Friday and Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" on Wednesday.

The 2010 Summer Movie Season: Mid-Term Report Card

The 2010 Summer movie season is halfway done.

Thank God for small favors.

Normally during the summer, I will go to the movies quite a bit. Even in Hollywood's off years quality-wise, I still managed to trek down to the theater and sit through a majority of the films trotted out by the major studios. Screenings were free, I didn't have to take home any work from my job and best of all, the theaters were air-conditioned.

But as the old saying goes, that was then and this is now. I now have a job with plenty of take-home work, I finally broke down and bought a A/C for my apartment and while the screenings are still free, a majority of what has come out this summer has not been worth my time and resources. So while my cinema going has been on the downside of late, I've still seen a bunch of flicks since the beginning of May. And without mincing too many words, I feel that this year's summer selections have been, hands down, the worst I have come across in at least a decade. Whether it was the still-lingering effects of the Writer's Strike from a couple of years ago or the fact that Hollywood has simply given up trying to make decent product, this summer season has by and large been one giant middle finger from Tinseltown to you and I.

Now, it is true that Hollywood is lucky to crank out four or five really good or downright great movies per summer. For example, last year we had "The Hurt Locker", "Star Trek", "UP", "Inglourious Basterds", "District 9", "Drag Me To Hell" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". But we also had the likes of such shit as "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra", "Angels and Demons", "Terminator: Salvation", "Land of the Lost", "Year One" and the unwatchable nerdfest "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

This year is different. I can't even think of one great film that has been released this summer so far, just a few decent ones. Making the dire quality movie scene even more dire is the overwhelming amount of subpar crap: "Robin Hood", "Sex and the City 2" (a movie so bad that even the diehard fans thought it sucked), "Jonah Hex", "Killers", "The A-Team", "Marmaduke", "The Last Airbender", the list goes on. Fortunately, I am in the position to skip such films (okay, I saw a couple of the aforementioned snoozers). Unfortunately, my friends who are critics did not. They've had to sit through each and every one of the aforementioned snoozers (and about a dozen more stinkers on top of that). The past two months has been so bad for mainstream cinema that it's enough to make one swear off new movies from this point on.

But a modicum of salvation may be on the horizon, at least in respect to a few films heading our way this month. Christopher Nolan's trippy "Inception" has been receiving sterling early word-of-mouth from critics, giving hope to moviegoers that one high-concept blockbuster might actually live up to and possibly exceed its hype. Lisa Cholodenko's comedy "The Kids Are All Right" and the Duplass brother's "Cyrus" have also benefitted from raves while slowly expanding its theater count across the country. But the biggest surprise may very well be the new Robert Rodriguez-produced sci-fi actionier "Predators". Based on a press screening my friend attended in Boston, the Nimrod Antal-directed film is apparently a solid genre flick that delivers. Whether those four films can turn a dreary movie season around or not is anyone's guess, but at the very least, the quartet can provide a little bit of moviegoing solace in a sea of truly bad product.

The following are capsule reviews for the films I have seen so far this summer. More will be added as the days and weeks progress.

May 2010

"Iron Man 2" (Paramount. 124 minutes): The first "Iron Man" was a hell of a lot of fun, thanks to a director who understood and respected the source material and an ensemble cast that worked together like a well-oiled machine. The second installment may suffer from too many characters and a lack of freshness, but it still was a very enjoyable follow up. Once again the cast (led by the great Robert Downey Jr.) and director (Jon Faverau) helped elevate the material into solid summer entertainment. Three out of four stars.

"Robin Hood" (Universal. 148 minutes): What the hell were Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe thinking? This slow, dreary prequel to the Robin Hood legend is a convoluted mess that is nicely shot, but nearly insufferable to sit through. Even the action scenes, which Scott handled so well in "Gladiator" and (to a lesser but still successful extent) "Kingdom of Heaven", felt like uninspired outtakes. In fact, one has to wonder why the movie was called "Robin Hood" to begin with since Crowe's character is never referred to that name during the movie! Apparently, there is an extended version coming to home video this fall with a half hour reinstated to the film. Sounds like pure torture to me. One and a half stars out of four.

"Get Him to the Greek" (Universal. 109 minutes): From the director, co-writer and two of the stars of 2008's hilarious "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" comes this crass, consistently funny, well-acted rock comedy that doesn't quite match the creative heights of "Sarah", but it does consistently make one laugh. Russell Brand once again plays rock star Aldus Snow, whose career has hit the skids. Jonah Hill (playing a different character than the one he played in "Sarah Marshall") is a put-upon record company employee who is tasked with bringing the hard-partying rock star to the Greek ampitheater in Los Angeles from London to put on a concert. Chaos ensues along the way. Brand and Hill work perfectly together, while Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is just as hilarious as a profane record executive (this guy really needs to act in more movies). You know where everything is going and what is going to happen to who, but you could care less about predictability when you're laughing so damn hard. Three stars out of four.

June 2010

"Jonah Hex" (Warner Brothers. 81 minutes of my life I won't get back): A production so troubled that it made "Robin Hood"s look like a cakewalk. The end result of switching writers and directors, several weeks of reshoots and a marketing campaign that redefines the word "sucks"? Easily one of the worst films of the year. The story is stupid not to mention slight (the latter might be the result of some major sections chopped out in post-production), the characters non-existent and the action sequences poorly executed. Only Josh Brolin makes any sort of impact as the title character, which stops this film from taking the pole position as the worst movie I have seen in 2010 thus far. One star out of four.

"Toy Story 3" (Disney/Pixar 103 minutes): After scaling such creative highs with "Ratatouille", "Wall-E" and "UP", Pixar plays it safe with its latest summer offering, the third and reportedly final chapter of the "Toy Story" franchise. Despite being about 15 minutes too long and borrowing a fair amout from the 1999 second film, "Story 3" still manages to entertain and deliver a solid emotional punch during its conclusion. The 3-D effects are decent, but totally unnecessary to enjoy the film. Three stars out of four.

"Knight & Day" (20th Century Fox 111 minutes): If you can stomach the schizophrenic first half hour of James Mangold's action/comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, you should find yourself enjoying the other 90 or so minutes. The story is a mess and the tone of the movie veers way too much for its own good. But the performance by Cruise is one of his better ones from the past decade or so (he looks like he's actually having fun) while Diaz offers up some solid support. The duo have some nice chemistry between them, which makes the movie far more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Two and a half stars out of four.

"Despicable Me" (Universal Pictures. 90 minutes): Neither horrible or great, the latest 3-D computer animated comedy has a fair amount of chuckles thanks to the voice talent likes of Steve Carell, Russell Brand and Jason Seagal. The only problem is that it really doesn't have much beyond that. The animation is Pixar-esque and the jokes Dreamworks Animation-esque. But the story is too slight and uninvolving to be worthy of either animation studio's time, which may explain why it ended up with Universal Pictures. Two and a half stars out of four.

North American Box Office: "Eclipse" and "Last Airbender" Rule the Holiday Weekend; "Toy Story 3" Hangs Tough

Vampires, Werewolves and Airbenders arrived at the North American box office this holiday weekend to help sales rise 20% over last year this time as the latest "Twilight" sequel "Eclipse" and the new 3-D family adventure "The Last Airbender" both arrived to big numbers.


Debuting in a record 4,468 theaters, the latest chapter in the popular supernatural teen saga nabbed a massive $161 million since its debut at 12:01am on June 30th. In addition to the $92 million from its first two days on the market, the Friday-to-Sunday timeframe for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" generated an estimated $69 million in sales. The daily breakdown for "Eclipse" was $68.5 million on Wednesday (a record $30 mil at midnight and $38.5 during the day), $24.5 million on Thursday, a slight uptick to $28.5 million on Friday, $24 million on Saturday and $16.6 million on Sunday. Summit Entertainment is estimating a post-holiday uptick on Monday to $20 million which would bring its first six days to an eye-popping $181 million. Overseas, the film sunk its fangs into $100 million in its first weekend.

While the five-day gross of $161 million is astounding no matter how you decipher it, it does also show that the profitable series may be showing some signs of fatigue. For starters, the weekend gross of $69 million is only a slight bit better than the opening day take. As shown above, each successive date showed a fair-sized drop from the previous day (due to the 4th of July holiday, Sunday was expected to be off across the board for all movies).

The "Twilight" films have always been front-loaded in terms of their business. Witness the last chapter, "The New Moon ", grossing more than half its gross in its first four days. But given the screen count, which included higher-priced IMAX screens, as well as the fact that it opened during a big summer holiday weekend, the erosion displayed by "Eclipse" may indicate that a fair amount of the book's fans may have had enough of the cinematic exploits of Bella and company with "New Moon". Depending on the drops from here on out, "Eclipse" should be able to pass the overall gross of "New Moon", which would put the $68 million production in the elite $300 million club. How much further beyond that is anyone's guess. Reviews, which really don't matter when it comes to such a beloved franchise like "Twilight", were somewhat stronger than the ones that greeted "New Moon" last November.

Offering an alternative to moody heroines, sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves, Paramount launched M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" on 3,169 screens on Thursday en route to an estimated $58 million weekend (Thursday landed $16.6 million while the weekend finished with $40.65 million). Despite unanimous pans from critics and some savage online feedback from viewers, the film succeeded in enticing fans of the Nickelodeon anime series the film was based on, "Avatar: the Last Airbender", as well as young males looking for their latest visual effects/action fix. The debut was Shyamalan's biggest since 2004's "The Village" and nearly double the $30 million opening of his last film, 2008's "The Happening".

Dropping down to third place with a 49% ease in business from last weekend, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" added an estimated $30 million to its domestic total, which now stands at a huge $289 million after 17 days. The film will pass Pixar's last effort, 2009's "UP", either tomorrow or Tuesday to become the studio's biggest hit since 2003's "Finding Nemo" (before inflation). Despite direct competition for 3-D and family dollars from "the Last Airbender" and next week's "Despicable Me", the Pixar smash should continue to hold its own over the upcoming summer weeks, which should help Wood and Buzz's final feature-length trip to cinemas (?) finish between $375-385 million.

In fourth place was the Adam Sandler comedy "Grown Ups", which dropped a sizeable 54% to $18.5 million from 3,534 screens for a new ten-day estimated gross of $77 million. The movie's performance at the box office is in line with Sandler's other slapstick comedies, and should finish with a gross slightly north of $110 million, a solid gross to be sure but not quite as big as Sony may have hoped for given the film's $80 million price tag.

Fox's action comedy "Knight and Day" landed in fifth place with $10.2 million for a new total of $45.5 million. Off 49% from last weekend's underwhelming $20.2 opening, the film is looking at a disappointing $60-65 million domestic take. Fox will have to hope for big returns from overseas markets to see profits from the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz flick. Maybe they should have converted the film to 3-D before it was released. Perhaps not.

Kicking up an additional $8 million in estimated sales this weekend to nab sixth place was Sony's reboot of "The Karate Kid". Down 48% from last weekend, the surprise hit remake has grossed an impressive $151.5 million to date. The $170 million range is still a possibility. In seventh place was Fox's "The A-Team" with $3 million in sales for the holiday. Off by half from last weekend, Hannibal and the boys have hauled in $69 million to date and should wind down its theatrical run between $75-80 million.

Two films nearing the end of their run occupied slots eight and nine this weekend. Universal's comedy "Get Him to the Greek" gave up 1,304 screens and fell a steep 62% to $1.1 million for a new total of $57.2 million. Paramount/Dreamworks' "Shrek Forever After" surrendered nearly 1,400 of its screens and dropped nearly 75% for a weekend haul of $800,000 to bring its overall total to the $232 million to date. Aldus Snow should make it to the Greek with $60 million in grosses while Shrek and Donkey will head off into the sunset with approximately $235 million.

Arriving in the top ten this weekend is Fox Searchlight's comedy "Cyrus" with a big $770,000 from only 77 screens to bring its total to $1.5 million so far. The John C. Reilly/Jonah Hill R-rated film arrives riding a wave of raves from critics and will continue to expand across the country over the next few weeks.

Next week, the latest installment in the "Predator" franchise, the Robert Rodriguez-produced "Predators" arrives to take on Team Edward and Team Jacob. The teen dream teams will also find themselves fending off the computer-animated likes of Steve Carell and Russell Brand in Universal's new 3-D animated comedy "Despicable Me".