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When donnie darko first came out there was enough following to make it a cult classic and a huge success for Richard Kelly on his first debut film. Even though Donnie darko was far from the best film of the year the fans were rabid enough to degrade your family just to prove that it was. They believed that the film was so inventive in it's style and artistic vision that it must mean something fantastic. Unfortunately, they were right and it also proved that Richard kelly is a bit to obsessed with his own artistic ambition and philosophy that he took a great concept and muddled it into an overlong and confusing acid trip. That concept was the story known as The Box.
This movie is derived from the story called Button, Button, and is about a couple who receive a box from a disfigured man who promises them that if they press the button, someone they don't know will die, but in return they will receive one million dollars. Cameron Diaz and James Marsden star as the hammy acting couple who can't decide what to do with the box. Frank Langella stars as the ominous and seemingly evil disfigured man who gives them the box.
I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that after the first fifteen minutes of truly great suspense and filmmaking, a potentially awesome thriller takes a ton of acid and just goes into Richard Kelly's usual demented time travel slash other dimension science fiction garbage. I was really hoping that this film would fare well considering that kelly has plenty of talent and his style is great until he gets so warped in his own twisted logic that his films lose their edge in confusing subplots and become annoying and agitating because of the wasted potential.
i will say that if this was a different story and didn't feel like two giant movies in one that this film would have been great. This film has some truly creepy and truly ingenious moments that can make anyone jump, but they couldn't blend in with each other. A simple moral dilemma went a bit too far into multi dimensional government conspiracies, zombies, and much more. This film had the feel of a greta Twilight zone episode and quite frankly I'd love to see Kelly direct a Twilight Zone movie because it involves heavy science fiction and it's right up Kelly's alley. I'm sure we'll see another Richard kelly film, but I'm hoping that it will be like this in it's artistic ambition without going to far into the WTF territory because we need more artistic commercial films like this.
At least it was better than Southland tales.
Review B
Yep this is it alright.
It would appear that Michael jackson's This Is It! was the nuymber one movie in America to almost nobodys surprise. Paranormal Activity remained in second thankfully and will hopefully keep the number two or one spot until rehab time with the New Moon arrival. Yes I really hate the books and movies as they destroyed the vampire name with their inane stupidity and appeal to tween sheep all around the world.
Anyway here is ther box office round up:
Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative
Gross Rlse
Wks # of
Theaters
1 - Michael Jackson's This Is It Sony Pictures Releasing, Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI) $21,300,000 $32,509,000 1 3481
2 1 Paranormal Activity Paramount Pictures $16,540,000 $84,780,000 6 2404
3 4 Law Abiding Citizen Overture Films $7,303,000 $51,385,000 3 2764
4 5 Couples Retreat Universal Pictures $6,097,000 $86,663,000 4 3026
5 2 Saw VI Lionsgate $5,560,000 $22,824,000 2 3036
6 3 Where the Wild Things Are Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $5,081,000 $61,800,000 3 3645
7 8 The Stepfather Sony Pictures Entertainment $3,400,000 $24,748,000 3 2346
8 6 Astro Boy Summit Entertainment, LLC $3,035,000 $10,891,000 2 3020
9 11 Amelia Fox Searchlight Pictures $3,000,000 $8,306,000 2 1070
10 7 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Universal Pictures $2,809,000 $10,521,000 2 2754
It would appear that the latest limited engagement movie about a singer has proven to be truly one of the best as Michael Jackson lives on through this movie regardless of it was intended to be seen as a full concert or a rehearsal sample.
The movie grossed over 100 million dollars worldwide, and ranged in the 30 to 40 million dollar range in Canada and the United states. This is a great documentary concert film in general and certainly kills any Hannah Montana or tween idol concert that hit the big screen. This was a very entertaining film and I'm glad that it did so well especially since it was the only major film out this week.
Thankfully it did better money wise and quality wise than the Boondock Saints 2.I don't even begin to start on how bad that film was.
Anyway Happy Halloween to all my readers and i'll have several reviews posted tomorrow as well as the weekly box office round up.
this week the ridiculously overdone Saw franchise met it's lowest debut of 16.8 million as it was trumped by paranormal activity at the box office. the little horror movie that could continues to scare in the 20 million range and prove that creativity and independent filmmaking can still be done to Perfection. all the other films dropped in profits from last week, but still remained high on the list. the former first and second are now third and fourth. that's right I'm talking about Law abiding citizen and Where the Wild Things are. The rest of the new releases this week tanked at the box office. That sucks for Paul Weitz who directed Cirque De freak which was panned by most critics and did horrible at the box office which proves to be another Universal studios dud. They better call Spielberg. Paul now has to watch his brother Chris rake in the dough with New Moon.
Here is the box office roundup for this week
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Daddy's Home!
In terms of acting in a horror movie remake you must give dylan Walsh credit. He carries this film as the insanely creepy stepfather who murders families that disappoint him. He plays the part so suttle and natural that he doesn't even have to try to hide his evil as it leaves an emotional resonance with you during the entire film. While his performance is great in terms of reprising a horror movie character the film as a whole falls flat.
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Where the Wild things are topped the box office with 32.5 million which is terrific because it truly shows that an art house film can succeed at the box office. Some people may have been expecting Paranormal activity to be number one, but I'd wait till next week to see that happen. Law Abiding citizen came in second with 21.5 million which just shows two actors cashing checks for a solid pay day before doing a movie that's worthwhile. It also shows that testosterone filled 300 fans still worship Gerard Butler and believe that 300 was the best film of this decade. Paranormal activity moved up to 3rd place with 20.2 million dollars. It would've made more, but sadly the studios have not fully released it in as many theaters nationwide. Alright I understand the previous delay, but this is ridiculous,. they just need to release it in every theater and stay on top of the box office until New Moon reaches theaters and the underage sheep known as Twilight fans take over until Avatar comes out in December. We'll call the New Moon period, the annual rehab period for cinema whenever a new Twilight movie comes out.
Anyway, the success of Paranormal Activity and it's low budget still makes it more successful than Wild Things and Law Abiding Citizen. Let's hope that Paranormal activity can gross towards the one hundred million and become a huge success, and let's hope there is no sequel.
I went to the midnight showing of this movie and even though the ticket price was expensive, i found it to be well worth my time. i loved this film and it's hard to think of anything that was wrong with this film except that it's really only scary for one viewing because you know what's going to happen the second time you watch it. The film had parts that were hilarious mainly due to the cameraman who is funnier than Hud from Cloverfield. The actors used their real names in this film and none of the cast has their names credited to the movie as it's released like an actual video tape mockumentary which adds incredible quality to this amazing horror gem.
Don't worry for as funny as this movie is there are always scary moments. This film will mess with your head and you'll have trouble sleeping because it hits you hard in the final moments of the film. It's not for the faint of heart. This film used the rumbling sound of a base to amp up the creep factor and very practical effects to follow it which worked well because the audience was screaming and nearly crying during the final moments and the intense paranormal attacks
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The good news is that the distributors are showing Paranormal Activity at theaters at midnight before it reaches it's competition known as Where the Wild Things Are. It's really the only competition because we're not really anticipating The Stepfather or Law abiding Citizen accept for the crazy 300 fans who refuse to let go of how beautifully mediocre their personal classic was much like the Twilight fans refuse to accept the term real vampires or reality.
Anyway gather at the regal or whatever theater is in your area and get ready to see this marvelous film which is still the best horror movie of this decade that's an actual horror movie without any comedy like Drag Me to Hell or Zombieland
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Thier standing in my tears of misery after watching this movie.
Well my friends invited me to see a movie with them and I had found out it would be Couples Retreat. Despite the fact that I knew it was going to suck from the very beginning, I agreed to see it anyway. The highlight of the evening was a delicious burger at Duffy's. I sat through the miserable two hour film and was shocked by how the audiences were laughing like crqazy during every juvenille scene in the film. If you're wondering what I mean by juvenille look at the fact that the most mimportant subplot is about a son who mistakes store toilet displays for his own home toilets
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Their standing in my tears of horror after watching this movie.
Unfortunately for me, I saw this film in order to critique it and it truly is almost as bad as All About Steve. Well common sense doesn't seem to affect audiences in bad movies or studios from making bad movies so two bads equal something even worse and that worse was Couple's Retreat. It was the number one movie in America where it earned 35.5 million dollars. Wow that's 75% of what Terminator Salvation made in total in it's American release.
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Comment by Christopher Waldeck
on Paranormal activity demands at over 700000
Dunk Films