deck the halls Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Over on his blog at the Chicago Tribune, critic Michael Phillips (a very nice and knowledgable guy who James Rocchi and I chatted with at Sundance earlier this year) has a fun piece up on movies that he's walked out on. Then he asked a bunch of Tribune staffers to share what films they've walked out on.

Some of the picks are predictable -- Evita, Reservoir Dogs (one of my own least favorite movies of all time, though I actually sat through the entire violent mess), and Forrest Gump (blech) are on there, along with a few I wouldn't have thought of, like Prince's Under the Cherry Moon and Cat People, which I remember watching with a certain fondness as a midnight movie on TV in my youth (it wasn't that bad, was it?)

I'm one of those sadistic movie fans who will generally force myself to sit through anything, even at a film fest, when a lot of folks will slip out with the excuse that they need to catch something else that's overlapping a film they really just want to walk out on anyhow. I generally try to avoid up front seeing a film I know I'm really going to hate, but sometimes I'm assigned to review something, and it can't be helped -- I just have to suffer through it so I can write the damn review. Here are a few movies, though, that I suffered through but wish I hadn't. If only I'd known then that even print folks at a place like the Tribune walk out on films, I might have saved myself some misery ...

This story should come as no surprise to anyone: religious groups are upset with the horror flick Black Christmas bloodying up their holiday. Matthew Staver of Liberty Council called the release "ill founded" and Jennifer Giroux of Operation Just Say Merry Christmas said the movie has "assualted" the most sacred of holy days. If I was head of Dimension, I'd use those quotes in an ad.

Dimension has at least issued a statement in response to the complaints: "There is a long tradition of releasing horror movies during the holiday season," the company said, "as counter-programming to the more regular yuletide fare." That's the truth. A power search on the IMDb of Christmas and horror reveals 53 titles (sure not all of them really apply here).

What I want to know is, how many Christmas movies made these days do Staver and Giroux approve of? Certainly Black Christmas and other holiday horrors aren't as bad as some truly inappropriate and damaging Christmas movies. I'm not even referring to cynical flicks like Bad Santa and Christmas Vacation. I mean the badly written family films that center on the consumerist Christmas yet insincerely present a moral tale about how family is more important than presents. Or, worse, the awful slapstick Christmas comedies like Deck the Halls that have no redeeming association with Christmas whatsoever. C'mon, there are so many movies that are more sacreligious than Black Christmas. Care to name a few?

Related posts:

Guilty Pleasures: Silent Night, Bloody Night

12 Days of Cinematicalmas : The World's Most Obnoxious Xmas Comedies

John Waters Jingles for Christmas and Evil

Review: Deck the Halls

For the third weekend in a row, Happy Feet took first place at the box office, and for the third weekend in a row Casino Royale was not far behind. Though a ton of folks are questioning its messages and sexual undertones, the animated kiddie flick still managed to take home $17 million; Casino Royale almost topped it, but fell short with only $15 million. Deja Vu ($11 million) looked familiar enough for it to hold onto third place, bringing its total thus far to $44.1 million.

Mixed reviews coupled with a poor (according to me, at least) marketing campaign limited The Nativity Story to a dismal $8 million and third place. Considering the flick opened in 3,183 theaters, those numbers are, well, horrific. Its $8 million is the second lowest in history for a film opening in more than 3,100 theaters -- 1998's The Quest for Camelot still holds top honors in that category with a pitiful $6 million in its debut. And speaking of things that are horrific and dismal, Deck the Halls rounded out the top five with $6.6 million.

As far as this weekend's other wide releases, no one cared much for a bunch of teenage organ donors (even if the scenery looked nice), as Turistas finished eighth with $3.5 million. National Lampoon's Van Wilder sequel, The Rise of Taj, proved that straight-to-DVD probably would have been the safer move -- it barely squeaked into the tenth spot with $2.3 million.

Full numbers after the jump.

New Line decided to push back the release of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny by one week in order to steer clear of Casino Royale and Happy Feet's openings, as well as to capitalize on a five-day Thanksgiving weekend. Did the move pay off? Hardly. Pic, which debuted on Wednesday, fell short of even landing in the top ten taking home a measly $3.3 million (counting Friday through Sunday only). So much for that whole destiny part, huh?

The big winners this weekend were, not surprisingly, Happy Feet ($37.9 million) and Casino Royale ($31 million) -- both of which finished number one and two respectively. The animated penguin flick crossed the $100 million mark in only 10 days, grossing an estimated $51.5 million over the course of all five days. Bond was not far behind, racking up $94.1 million throughout its first 10 days. The names Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer and Denzel Washington were enough to land Deja Vu ($20.8 million) in third place, while the abysmal (according to Kim, at least) Deck the Halls captured the fourth spot with $12 million. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan continued to impress, as it too jumped into $100 million territory -- pic rounded out the top five with $10.4 million, for a grand total (so far) of $109.3 million after four weeks. As expected, Darren Aronofsky's latest trippy adventure, The Fountain, didn't do too well in its opening weekend, yet managed to snag the ten spot from Tenacious D with $3.7 million.

Full numbers (Friday through Sunday only) after the jump.

Odds and ends from Friday:

• Even though summer is right around the corner, it's never too early to talk Christmas films. Kristin Davis, Alia Shawkat and twins Sabrina and Kelly Aldridge have signed on to co-star in the family comedy, Deck the Halls (previously known as All Lit Up). Pic, which also stars Matthew Broderick and Danny Devito will tell of two neighbors who go to war over the excessive decorating of one's house for Christmas. As always, somewhere along the way, everyone discovers the true meaning behind December's electric bill.

• New Line has thrown Dax Shepard into the starring role of their corporate comedy, The Retreat, with Tom Brady set to direct. Story will center on a Chicago Cub's hotdog vendor who lands a corporate job and climbs to the top by utilizing his knowledge of selling franks. Yeah, I don't get it either. Anyway, after learning on a company retreat that he's being targeted by a disgruntled employee, Dax must do something about it ... or risk everything!

• When asked recently who his dream cast would be for Rush Hour 3, director Brett Ratner threw out the name of basketball player Yao Ming as someone he's extremely interested in. Why Yao? Well, Ratner wants to re-create the fight scene from the Bruce Lee film in which he fights Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ... but he wants to do it in reverse. Yeah, I don't get it either. Also on the Rush Hour dream team are Aishwarya Rai, Gong Li and Tony Jaa. Unless he throws Brad Pitt into the starting lineup, I can't see this group making it to the playoffs.