The Force is still strong, but The Revenant is the first to challenge it. After a $41.6 million weekend, Star Wars: The Force Awakens becomes the first film in history to cross the $800 million mark in North America, bringing its mounting record domestic haul to $812 million in just its 24th day of release - [...]
Month: January 2016
Cinemark Classics For Jan/Feb 2016
The new Cinemark Classics Series slate is set for January and February of 2016. A nice, diverse lineup, with a couple of Bogart classics I'm particularly looking forward to (Madre especially). Click on the image above to read dates and showtimes (movies screen on Sundays and Wednesdays). Click on the image below to find a participating theater near [...]
Gripes Of “THE FORCE AWAKENS is just a NEW HOPE carbon copy” Seriously Need To Stop (VIDEO)
To everyone who's been complaining that The Force Awakens is just a lazy New Hope redux: STOP! Please read - and watch (video below) - the following. If you still have something to complain about, then at least you'll be complaining about the right thing. (I also addressed this at more length in my Force Awakens breakdown/predictions [...]
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Is The #1 Movie Of All Time
For the first time in 18 years, a Star Wars movie sits atop the All-Time Movie Box Office List. But what's truly historic - even shocking - is how fast it got there. By only its 20th day of theatrical release in North America, Star Wars: The Force Awakens tractor-beamed in $764.4 million to become the #1 Movie [...]
WRITERS GUILD Noms Marked By Big Exclusions (AWARDS 2015)
There's a lot of big Oscar contenders missing from The Writers Guild of America's list of Best Screenplay nominees...but then that's par for the course, given the guild's extremely picky rules (nominees must be guild members, must be working under their jurisdiction, etc.). Quentin Tarantino, for example, hasn't been eligible for years (he's not a guild member), yet while [...]
Grumpy George Lucas Disses The New STAR WARS Movie (VIDEO)
Based on how different The Force Awakens is from the Star Wars prequels - both in tone and visual style - it should come as no surprise that creator George Lucas doesn't particularly care for the latest entry into the saga that he began. Still, to hear him actually say it is another thing. After Episode VII's premiere, at which the most praise [...]
Oscar Harbinger PRODUCERS GUILD Nominates 10 for Best Picture (AWARDS 2015)
Straight Outta Compton is a lock for a Best Picture nomination. That's basically the major tea leaf from today's announcement by the Producers Guild of America for their Best Film nominees of 2015. Traditionally, this guild's choices are virtually the equivalent of the Academy's Best Picture slot, and while the picks between the two don't always line up 1-to-1, [...]
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Is The Most Anticipated Movie of 2016
No disturbance in the Force here: on the cusp of The Force Awakens becoming The Biggest Movie Ever, the upcoming first-ever Star Wars Anthology film is now the most anticipated movie of 2016. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - which opens nationwide on Friday, December 16th, 2016 - will be the first non-episode "stand alone" live action feature in the franchise's history. Set [...]
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle – *my crew* – Names SPOTLIGHT Best Film of 2015
The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC), of which I'm a member, opened the new year as they traditionally do - on the first Monday - by announcing their choices for the best in film from the previous year. They joined a growing chorus of other critics groups in naming Spotlight as the Best Picture of 2015. The thoughtful, [...]
Nat’l Society Of Film Critics Name SPOTLIGHT Best Pic; CREED’s Michael B. Jordan Best Actor
After two weeks of Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominating the cinema world - and a pause in the year-end critics group awards during that same time - The National Society of Film Critics have resumed the Oscar race on January 3rd by naming Spotlight the Best Film of 2015. While no film has swept the various Oscar harbingers, [...]