taken Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you are somebody who is a little 'cinematically inclined', then I'm sure one of the questions you ask any new friend or foe is "So, what are some of your favorite movies?" Now I'm going to be honest here and tell you that if I'm trying to impress someone new, I might leave out a few of the less than 'high-minded' selections in favor of earning a little cool quotient by name dropping something underground or foreign. But, we've all got our dirty little secrets, and over at The Guardian Film Blog, Ryan Gilbey has taken the first step by admitting his top five embarrassing film obsessions.

Coming in at number one for Gilbey was John Landis' The Blues Brothers. As it turns out, Gilbey's love for the blues comedy faded as soon as he passed puberty and now his beloved film is "flat and joyless". But some of his other choices might surprise you, like Conan The Barbarian (which earned him plenty of commenter heat), and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (you can read the full list over at The Guardian). A little while back, Elisabeth bravely admitted that she was the owner of a DVD copy of Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic Australia (and what a relief it was to discover I wasn't the only one who fell prey to the infamous 'bucket scene') But, as shameful as that purchase might be, I think I might have it beat. Because, for my top five embarrassing favorites, unlike Gilbey, I'm not blaming them on my youth or nostalgia. Nope, my love of these five movies is just downright mortifying, so let's begin, shall we?

After the jump; My most humiliating movie favorites...

Taken
Another action fest from District 13's Pierre Morel, this time Liam Neeson gets to rescue his daughter from slave traders. These glowing words from Eric D. Snider say it all: "it is welcome as a delightfully dizzying balm to soothe the pain inflicted by recent action films that have failed to deliver. It subscribes to the less-talk-more-rock school of thought, intentionally free of nuance but overbrimming with relentless, efficient, energetic mayhem. It plays out like a season of 24, crammed into 90 minutes." Buy it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Passengers
Anne Hathaway has been making waves with her critical successes (Rachel Getting Married), and migraine-inducing romcoms (Bride Wars). But in the midst of all this, Passengers came and went without much more than a glance. A "conspiratorial supernatural thriller," Hathaway plays a grief counselor facing foul play when crash survivors begin to disappear. Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

S. Darko
It's such an unnecessary sequel, is there any more to be said? Even if it contains Daveigh Chase? The one surprise -- Elizabeth Berkley as a religious fanatic. Skip it, but I shouldn't need to tell you that.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Also out: The Grudge 3

It's a rule that big blockbusters with big openings take big hits their second weekend, but Watchmen's 67% drop is more akin to notoriously frontloaded horror films than to tentpole releases. Look for $120 million in North America at the end of the day, which is shy of the $150 million production budget -- though the foreign number, already up to $50 million, should help. Elisabeth has more on the implications of this here.

Race to Witch Mountain won the weekend with $25 million, which is strong but not outstanding: didn't everyone think that the Rock would be a huge superstar draw by now? He didn't open this film; Witch Mountain's success is due to Disney's shrewd (and accurate) marketing of it as breezy family sci-fi -- and the only new family offering since Coraline.

The Last House on the Left opened to $14.6 million and third place, which won't put it in the horror remake pantheon, but probably makes Universal happy -- the film was cheap, and it opened on under 2500 screens (chump change these days). The goofy sex comedy Miss March opened to a meager $2.4 million, squeaking into the top 10. And in its seventh weekend of release, the Liam Neeson actioner Taken continues to groove along, dropping under 10% and passing $125 million.

The full top 10 after the jump.

It would be a shame if the stinging loss the Jonas Brothers suffered at the hands of fellow Disney Channel pop superstar Hannah Montana doesn't give those nice-looking boys an inferiority complex. Still, it's hard not to note how the $12 million debut for Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience compares to Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Tour's $31 million bow. Adding insult to injury, Hannah Montana managed the feat on just under 700 screens, while les freres Jonas had 1,300 to work with. I'm not too up on the trends in tween girl entertainment, so I invite analysis in the comments. I thought the Jonas Brothers were nearly as much of a sensation as Hannah/Miley.

The Jonases did kick the crap out of the aging, ailing Street Fighter franchise, the latest installment of which opened to a powerful $4.65 million (albeit on around 1200 screens). The best part is that, though Fox declined to screen the film for the press (junketeers excepted, natch), it scheduled midnight shows for the film around the country. I was required to attend last Thursday night, and I was one of five people in the theater. Interest in the film may have been wildly overestimated.

The whiffs from Jonas and Street Fighter (relative from Jonas; absolute from Street Fighter) allowed Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail another week atop the box office, despite the hefty 60% second weekend drop typical of the Perry franchise. With a total gross of nearly $65 million, Madea Goes to Jail is already the most lucrative Tyler Perry movie ever.

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.

This past weekend at the box office brought us the fairly mediocre Push, in which Dakota Fanning (roughly 14 at the time of filming) played a snappy psychic 13-year-old with rebel streaks in her hair, whiny quips at every turn, and an unfortunate penchant for short skirts and shots.

The weekend before that gave us the fairly entertaining Taken, in which Maggie Grace (24 or 25 at the time of filming, by our best guess) played a seemingly psychotic 17-year-old with a U2 fascination, a disturbingly giddy run not unlike the one at the 5:20 mark here, and a fortunate (for us) habit of getting snapped up by European human traffickers and thus not proving to be a distraction while Liam Neeson goes all out of bubble gum on the streets of France.

So, among those of you who saw both films, which teen did you find to be more aggravating with their respective performance: Fanning or Grace? (Or, for the real saints out there, were you irritated by neither?)

I am anything but a rom-com fan (there's maybe one good one a year, by my reckoning), but even I was charmed by the lovely, funny trailer for He's Just Not That Into You. A bunch of genuinely funny people -- Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Long, Drew Barrymore -- in what appeared to be a breezy, clever rumination on romance (that voicemail Goodwin leaves, starting out as a practiced, casual come-on and deteriorating into a panicked digression about how "more women are admitted to law school now than men," made me laugh every time): I wanted to see it. I haven't yet -- the unversally bad reviews dampened my enthusiasm -- but apparently the rest of the country wanted to see it too. The two-hour-plus film won a busy weekend with $27.5 million dollars, beating out a sci-fi thriller, a broad comedy with Steve Martin, and a 3-D animated wonder.

The latter, Henry Selick's Coraline, settled for third with $16.3 million. That may not seem like much, but consider that the film had no brand (with the possible exception of the "from the makers of A Nightmare Before Christmas label) and that the marketing did little to hide its deep-seated creepiness. On the other hand, Push, the gorgeous-but-incoherent sci-fi thriller only managed $10.2 million, a disappointing opening for what could have been at least a minor event film. Blame a crowded weekend and the fact that Summit Entertainment is still a relative newcomer to this whole wide distribution thing.

It's awesome, somehow, that Liam Neeson (along with some nifty marketing, it's true) can open an action movie to the tune of $24.6 million. Maybe it's the fact that Taken's debut at #1 comes after two depressing weeks when Paul Blart: Mall Cop inexplicably dominated the charts (and indeed, Paul Blart continues to rake in big bucks, falling off only 35% to second place). Taken opened in just about every other part of the world in 2008 and has already grossed nearly $70 million worldwide; put this one into the win column for Luc Besson and his production team.

The Uninvited's third-place, $10.5 million bow is a disappointment -- to Dreamworks, but also to me, since I think it's superior to most of the PG-13 horror that's been doing so well lately. (Certainly it kicks The Unborn's ass six ways from Sunday.) I think the advertising was a bit too stately, emphasizing Elizabeth Banks in creepy mode rather than the shock effects that tend to draw the crowds. Not a tragedy for the relatively inexpensive film, but perhaps a missed opportunity.

New in Town was defeated by a beatdown of scathing reviews, a wimpy, girly-man 1900-screen release, and a marketing effort that wasn't up to the task of capitalizing on Renee Zellweger's star power. Zellweger eats $6.75 million for breakfast.

For the first time since January 9th, Slumdog Millionare made less than it did the previous weekend, but it's up to a not-too-shabby $67 million cume. I wouldn't rule out $100 million before it leaves theaters.

The full top 10 after the jump.

For the past several years, there has been a tug-of-war in the world of action films. Some, like the Jason Bourne and recent James Bond movies, have sought to establish moodier, more introspective heroes who face realistic dilemmas in the midst of the usual shooting and car chases. Others, like Shoot 'em Up, Crank, and The Transporter, have gone the other way, decreasing characterization to almost nothing and focusing entirely on over-the-top action. Both philosophies are viable; the only problem is when a film tries to have it both ways, like Quantum of Solace and Transporter 3 did.

It's very pleasing, then, that after playing nearly everywhere else in the world, the French-produced (but English-language) Taken has finally come to American shores, where it is welcome as a delightfully dizzying balm to soothe the pain inflicted by recent action films that have failed to deliver. It subscribes to the less-talk-more-rock school of thought, intentionally free of nuance but overbrimming with relentless, efficient, energetic mayhem. It plays out like a season of 24, crammed into 90 minutes.

Our Jack Bauer is named Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neeson -- and yes, they found a way to make Oskar Schindler into an action hero. Mills used to be a CIA operative, but he quit and moved to Los Angeles to be closer to his teenage daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), who lives there with her mother (Famke Janssen) and filthy-rich stepfather (Xander Berkeley). Mills regrets letting his work ruin his family life, and he wants to make up for lost time.

Two weeks in a row with Paul Blart at number one, dropping a mere 32%? Did NOT see that coming. Of last week's two new releases, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans did the best, taking the number two spot. Inkheart only took in $7.6 million, placing it in seventh for its first week. Here's the top five:

1. Paul Blart: Mall Cop: $21.6 million
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans: $20.8 million
3. Gran Torino: $16.2 million
4. Hotel for Dogs: $12.8 million
5. Slumdog Millionaire: $10.6 million

We've got three new releases this week covering laughs, thrills and scares.

New in Town
What's It All About: Renee Zellweger plays a Florida executive who finds herself transferred to Minnesota in the middle of winter where she finds tons of snow and perhaps the love of her life in Harry Connick Jr.
Why It Might Do Well: The film has two likable leads and I'm sure this will be huge in Minnesota.
Why It Might Not Do Well: As of this writing the film is getting a devastating 0% rating on Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 1,900
Prediction: $7 million

Taken
What's It All About: Liam Neeson stars in this thriller about an ex-soldier on the trail of the slave traders who have taken his daughter.
Why It Might Do Well: Lots of people are probably as curious as I am to see how a Jedi Knight handles conventional weapons, and I think this will be the one to knock Paul Blart out of number one.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 52% at Rottentomatoes.com is a bit underwhelming.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $15 million