50FirstDates Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cinematical Seven: Most Contrived Rom-Com Scenarios
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Cinematical Seven », Lists »
Let me make this clear: when I say that I'm compiling a list of the most contrived rom-com scenarios, I'm not saying that they're automatically the worst -- although a glance at the titles doesn't exactly stray far from that correlation. Tomorrow's The Proposal finds Sandra Bullock forcing Ryan Reynolds into marriage for the sake of holding off immigration authorities and keeping her/their jobs (I guess it's not too soon to remake Green Card and Picture Perfect after all), so we're talking about seven plot points along those lines of high-concept, close-quarters thinking, with some (dis)honorable mentions along the way...
Weekend Box Office: 'Friday the 13th' Ensures Continued Stream of Horror Remakes
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office »
New Line insists on "reimagining," but from reading the reviews I take it nobody's buying.Anyway. Friday the 13th set a horror remake opening weekend record, grossing $40.7 million over the three days and $45.2 including President's Day Monday. That beats Marcus Nispel's Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake by more than $12 million. It's also roughly the second best President's Day weekend opening ever, behind only Ghost Rider and just about tied with 50 First Dates and Daredevil.
Confessions of a Shopaholic opened to a halfway decent $17.3 million, while The International more or less flopped with $10.7 million; the marketing for the latter really pushed the evil bank concept, complete with a shot of an ATM offering "murder" "corruption" and "extortion" as options instead of "withdrawal" "deposit" and "check balance." Maybe people thought it was a comedy.
It was another good weekend for holdovers, with Taken, Coraline and -- once again -- Paul Blart: Mall Cop all doing well. Taken's $81-million-and-counting is really remarkable. $120 million is assured at this point, with more possible. "Sleek, preposterous and breathlessly entertaining" appears to be a good formula. Meanwhile, maybe if I stop mentioning Paul Blart in these posts, it'll go away? Seems unlikely.
Leading up to the Oscars, Slumdog Millionare should be close to $100 million by the big night. The Reader also saw a late bump this weekend; a Kate Winslet win on Sunday can't hurt.
The full 4-day top 10 after the jump.
Mulroney Takes Davis for 'Driving Lessons'
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Casting », Cinematical Indie »
Imagine how happy your life would be if you forgot the last 15 years. That would mean you no longer had any memory of a certain nude scene in About Schmidt. But it would also mean you no longer have any memory of the rest of About Schmidt. Anyway, the reason I mention that movie is because two of its stars, Hope Davis and Dermot Mulroney, will be reunited for a film about memory loss titled Driving Lessons. Not to be confused with the British coming-of-age movie starring Harry Potter's Rupert Grint, this Driving Lessons is about "a troubled family who gets a second chance at happiness when the mother (Davis) suffers a memory loss and can't recall the last 15 years of her life." That synopsis sounds a bit sad to me. It sounds like the family did something unforgivable to the mother but now they can celebrate thanks to her amnesia. Sure, Mom suffers, but at least they all have a second chance at good times. I guess memory loss is often the subject of laughs and duplicity. Think Overboard. Think 50 First Dates. Think Good Bye, Lenin! -- sort of. Don't it all just make you want to maybe knock your mother or girlfriend or a rich lady you want to pretend is your mom or girlfriend in the head in the hope she'll receive a blank slate? OK, well don't it at least make you want to watch another movie about something akin to that? Driving Lessons was scripted by Mark Lisson (Return to Horror High) and will be helmed by Finnish director Vivi Friedman. Shooting begins in March.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
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