film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but there’s all this vengeance to be doled out and all those injustices to be put right. 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, … more…
You’ve seen Paul Schneider in movies like Lars and the Real Girl and Away We Go, and he’s in Parks & Recreation on NBC, which just had its second season premiere last night. And now he’s starring in Bright Star, Jane Campion’s new movie about the poet John Keats and his romance with Fanny Brawne, … more…
Year One: Oh god, there’s gonna be a sequel, isn’t there? Year Two? For the love of Brian, someone make it stop… Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: By the time I see this come Monday afternoon, its debut-weekend fate in the U.K. will already be known. Weird. [trailer] Miss March: Man, we are just dumping … more…
Oh, my head hurts: 1. The Hangover: $32.8 million (2nd week; drops 27%) 2. Up: $30.8 million (3rd week; drops 30%) 3. The Taking of Pelham 123: $23.4 (NEW) 4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: $9.6 million (4th week; drops 34%) 5. Land of the Lost: $9 million (2nd week; drops 52%) … more…
We all know how it is. You’d like to get out to see a new movie this weekend, but you’ve been stuck on a hijacked subway train too many times to find any cinematic amusement in that scenario. But you can have something close to that blockbuster experience at home with the proper application of … more…
1. The Hangover: $44.99 million (NEW) 2. Up: $44.14 million (2nd week; drops 35%) 3. Land of the Lost: $18.8 million (NEW) 4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: $14.6 million (3rd week; drops 40%) 5. Star Trek: $8.3 million actual numbers, not estimates Good thing I wait for the actual numbers, because … more…
opening wide Land of the Lost: The “tachyon amplifier” could have been a technobabblish device as cool as, say, the oscillation overthruster or the flux capacitor. But it ain’t. The Hangover: Or as I like to think of it, Three Idiots and a Baby. My Life in Ruins: Greece is the word. opening limited Away … more…
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… The movie itself is not quite the nonstop zaniness that the trailer appears to suggest it is, but as trailers go, this one is pretty darn good at offering a sense of the film without giving it all away. Of course, it’s not really the kind of … more…
Here we go again. There’s a penis onscreen — in a still image! — during the end credits of The Hangover, and people are freaking out. Sez Bilge Ebiri at New York mag’s blog Vulture (you might want to skip the big blockquote if you don’t want even minor spoilers for the movie): So, we … more…
BUMPED UP to say that I’ve addded another movie to my schedule this week: Blood: The Last Vampire (opens in the U.S. in July, and in the U.K. on June 19; it didn’t open last week as I had indicated in an earlier post) — it’s an English-language telling of a Japanese Buffy. I didn’t … more…
