film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
And kiddie flicks do very well indeed: 1. Avatar: £2.8 million 2. The Princess and the Frog: £1.7 million (3rd week in wide release; up 15%) 3. The Lovely Bones: £1.637 million (NEW) 4. Valentine’s Day: £1.583 million (2nd week; drops 58%) 5. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief: £1.487 million (2nd week; … more…
And it’s nowhere near done yet: 1. Avatar: £4.3 million 2. The Princess and the Frog: £2.2 million (NEW in wide release) 3. Astro Boy: £1.09 million (NEW) 4. Invictus: £1.07 million (NEW) 5. Sherlock Holmes: £.78 million (actual numbers, not estimates) After last weekend, Avatar is now officially the biggest movie ever in the … more…
The 20 pictures in contention for five nominee slots — up from three in recent years — for the upcoming Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature Film category have been announced. They are: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Astro Boy Battle for Terra Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Coraline Disney’s A Christmas … more…
The little horror movie that could just keeps on keeping on: 1. Paranormal Activity: $21.1 million (2nd week in wide release; more than doubled its number of screens; up 8%) 2. Saw VI: $14.1 million (NEW) 3. Where the Wild Things Are: $14 million (2nd week; drops 57%) 4. Law Abiding Citizen: $12.4 million (2nd … more…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but you were planning to fly around the globe this weekend. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, “Hey, did you see Amelia this weekend?” … more…
It’s creepy, and it’s weird, and it’s something like a mecha minstrel show, particularly in how the film pretends to a ‘robots are people too’ theme yet fails itself to treat them as such.
I’m so not a fan of The Boondock Saints, the 1999 pseudo sorta cult flick, though it is one of the most hilariously bombastic bits of wannabe-Tarantino shit that I’ve ever seen. And Overnight, the tell-all documentary about what an ass writer-director Troy Duffy is, is a hoot and a half. So how could I … more…
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… Looks like a little bit Iron Giant, a little bit Transformers, a little bit Robocop. The real question is, however: Is it a little bit Pinocchio? Does Astro long to be a real boy? This is from David Bowers, who cowrote and codirected the wonderfully original Flushed … more…
As of this writing, 15 movies will open wide in North America in the month of October. Which means that even if you’re an active moviegoer and see a movie each week, you’ve still gotta pick and choose (and it’s even worse if you’re in a city on the arthouse circuit, but let’s not make … more…
