North American box office: ‘New Moon’ sparkles

It’s official — it’s as easy to pander to girls as it is to boys: 1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: $142.8 million (NEW) 2. The Blind Side: $34.1 million (NEW) 3. 2012: $26.4 million (2nd week; drops 60%) 4. Planet 51: $12.3 million (NEW) 5. A Christmas Carol: $12.3 million (3rd week; drops 45%) … more…

U.K. box office: ‘2012’ opens big

But Christmas Carol is the real winner: 1. 2012: £6.5 million (NEW) 2. A Christmas Carol: £2.5 million (2nd week; up 31%) 3. Harry Brown: £1.3 million (NEW) 4. Up: £.99 million 5. The Men Who Stare at Goats: £.8 million (2nd week; drops 34%) (actual numbers, not estimates) Just as in North America, 2012 … more…

Fantastic Mr. Fox movie review: trip the dark fantastic

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach looked at a sweet-and-sour children’s story through a peculiarly skewed eye and said, This can be so much more. And they turned it into something touching and funny, and magically absurd and at the same time pointedly real. They turned it into something genius.

bias update: November 11

obsession: Doctor Who (and eager for “The Waters of Mars”) boyfriend: Ben Mansfield in Primeval (where did this cutie spring from?) psyched: Up in the Air (more George Clooney? yes, please) girl crush: Emily Blunt in Young Victoria (it’s good to be the queen) dreading: The Twilight Saga: New Moon (vampires who don’t suck suck) … more…

A Christmas Carol (review)

Robert Zemeckis appears to have given up making fantasies for grownups in favor of making theme-park attractions designed to do nothing more than shut the kiddies up for 90 minutes, if they can sit still for that long for the dazzling…