If you're going to watch Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds traipse through the stinker that is Safe House, at least have fun with the unofficial Safe House Drinking Game, courtesy of the fine folks at Film School Rejects: "TAKE A DRINK WHEN YOU SEE: a flag, an explosion, a close-up on a computer screen... TAKE A DRINK WHEN SOMEONE SAYS 'Frost,' 'house,' 'file' or 'files,' the name of a city..." Might I also suggest taking a swig every time you find yourself on the verge of a shaky-cam migraine? Prepare to get wasted. [Film School Rejects]
What a weekend for Dr. Seuss's The Lorax: The environmentally tinged adaptation became the latest of the beloved author's film spinoffs to capture the top box-office perch. Meanwhile, the raunchy Project X settled in quietly behind it, earning roughly a dollar per topless scene en route to second place. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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Hollywood's biggest winners this weekend weren't confined just to the Kodak Theater (or whatever they call it now). A new-release frame well-known for its particularly aromatic qualities nevertheless had its success stories, led by an elite squad of Navy SEALs and our old friend Tyler Perry. Naturally. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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It's only taken a few years, but the success of director Daniel Espinosa's Safe House means that Harvey Weinstein is finally ready to let the filmmaker's Swedish-language hit Easy Money -- née Snabba Cash -- off his shelf on July 27. The distributor cited the eventual Stateside publication of the film's source novel (as opposed to Safe House's $83 million-and-counting domestic haul) as his motivation: “We love the movie, but we needed the book to be out here,” he told the LAT. Right. As always with Harvey, all release dates are subject to change and/or revocation at any time, so remember to mark your calendars in pencil. [LAT]
It was indeed a very happy President's Day Weekend in Hollywood, where studios enjoyed the rare treat of five wide February releases raking in $20 million or more. The bad news? The two newest ones brought up the rear. Sorry, Nicolas Cage and Reese Witherspoon — your Holiday Weekend Receipts are here.
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Congratulations to Hollywood for taking back the weekend from pop stars extant, dead or otherwise and shattering the record for Valentine's Day weekend movie attendance. What a great time to be alive! Ahem. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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Safe House is a twisted claw of a movie, a picture so visually ugly that, to borrow a line from Moms Mabley, it hurt my feelings. Let’s forget, for a moment, about the sub-sub-sub-Training Day plot, in which a wily old-coot operative played by Denzel Washington simultaneously annoys and educates spring-chicken CIA agent Ryan Reynolds. The plot mechanics don’t matter much. What does matter is the inexplicable horror of how lousy this film looks. Movies aren’t strictly a visual medium -- they’re too complicated for that -- but there’s something wrong when the only thing you can think of while watching a picture is, “Damn! My eyes!”
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