Transform This
Monday, July 4, 2011 at 9:43PM I skipped Transformers: Dark of the Moon this weekend -- too much going on chez moi -- but that didn't stop me from thinking about robots or transformations.
My water pressure is weak. As is my willpower.
Weekend Box-Office (Actuals)
figures via box office mojo
01 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON new $97.8 (cum. $162.6)
02 CARS 2 $26.2 (cum. $117.2)
03 BAD TEACHER $14.5 (cum. $59.9)
04 LARRY CROWNE new $13
06 MONTE CARLO new $7.4
07 SUPER 8 $7.9 [thoughts] (cum. $108.4)
07 GREEN LANTERN $6.5 [review] (cum. $102.2)
08 MR POPPER'S PENGUINS $5.5 (cum. $50.5)
09 BRIDESMAIDS $3.6 (cum. $153) ♥
10 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS $3.5 (cum. $33.7) [podcast]
"I also have an announcement."Related box office news: Bridesmaids is now the highest grossing film from the Apatow school of filmmaking, having knocked Knocked Up from its perch. X-Men First Class [review] recently passed The Incredible Hulk (2008) to become the 19th highest grossing live action superhero flick though it's sadly the lowest grosser in the X-franchise. (So the question is: Did Last Stand and Wolverine, both high grossers despite anger about their quality, kill off the interest in this franchise or was this summer just too full of superheroics?) Finally, you may have heard that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [review] passed the billion dollar mark worldwide (sigh) indicating that 3 more sequels was a smart studio gamble despite the fact that the franchise has literally never demonstrated any reason for existing. The first film is excellent, yes, but one film does not a franchise make and it's been all weak xeroxing ever since.
What did you see this weekend?
Which household items do you wish would transform for you? Did you enjoy the long weekend?
Reader Comments (21)
Saw THE GREEN LANTERN which was - well, turgid and little else. Also saw BREAKFAST AT TI FANNY'S which was, of course, infinitely better but I still can't love Audrey Hepburn as an actress. She's lovely, but I can never muster up more than a somewhat vague appreciation most of the time.
Saw Larry Crowne on Friday, forgot most of it by Sunday.
Saw both X Men and Transformers this weekend. X Men had a decent sory but the script felt very rushed and in need of a rewrite. Lots of scenes to explain motivations missing. Still enjoyed it.
Transformers was ... Fine. No strong reaction either way. Meh.
I've been watching "House." Just started season 3. I absolutely love it, even though it's highly silly and repetitive.
Saw "The Tree of Life" with the missus. The art house that screened it gets a substantial fraction of its audience from the Social Security set...one couple near us in the same row had their hearing aids turned down and talked fairly loudly throughout, asking varitions of the question, "Did you understand that ?"
In fairness, their hearing aids may not have been the issue - there were problems with sound levels during the showing so it was difficult to catch some of the softer audio. Not that sound was particularly central to the film. It was gorgeous.
Saw "Beginners" and thought it was excellent ... Plummer and Ewan were both very good, especially Ewan .... was blown away by Melanie Laurent...
I wish my computer was a man.
Will Universal even try to campaign for Kristen Wiig? Outside of the sure thing (Meryl Streep) it would be nice to see this performance and performer recognized for a comedic performance for Best Actress.
Saw Midnight in Paris a second time since none of my friends wanted to go see Tree of Life and I refused to go see Transformers (though to their credit they didn't want to see it either). Hence, more Woody Allen!
/3rtfull -- i imagine she'll get a Golden Globe Comedy campaign. I thought about making my desktop computer a transformer but couldn't decide on what it would do.
Ryan T --This weekend Midnight in Paris was a big topic of "want to see" among friends and acquaintances. I'm still pleasantly surprised how long it's hanging on in the conversation.
Mike -- this is exactly why i can't watch it. I've seen a few episodes and they're all interchangeable (just like L& O) weird 1-in-a-million medical dilemma comes up. House manages to solve it miraculously while people disbelieve his theory/procedure. He turns out to be right. The end.
Andrew -- you are not alone in this. I know other non-believers.
To answer your question about First Class, Nat...it's both. It'll still turn a decent enough profit for Fox to greenlight a sequel, though. It has the second highest multiplier of the franchise.
I saw "Bad Teacher" on Saturday night with a friend, and -- SURPRISE -- it's not nearly as bad as people have been making it out to be. Actually, it's quite funny despite the fact that it's fairly sexist, racist, and generally stupid. I'm almost altogether convinced that had it been headlined by a man, folks wouldn't have been in such a rush to call it the worst thing to hit the screen in years.
Things I saw via Netflix and Red Box: "The Horde," "My Bloody Valentine" (remake), "The Rite," and "The Roommate." With the exception of "The Horde," which is actually a pretty engaging French zombie movie, everything was expectantly awful -- not simply bad, awful.
Via Netflix - "The Ghost Writer". So glad to see Ewan back acting again in good roles (and not romping around on his cycle, or showing up in purile shit like Angels and Demons); I loved the whole cast (Pierce Brosnan was all kinds of perfect for the role) except for Kim Cattrall - so miscast; but you already know that, Nat. The ending was superb - but then again it's Polanski, so that should be no surprise. (He really made that landing stick, as they say.) I was reminded anew of the pleasures of watching a film made for adults, by adults.
BTW - is it wrong of me that I find that drawing of you in the shower super-cute and kind of sexy?
Janice - it wasn't my intention but i'm never going to claim it's wrong on the rare occassions that someone says "sexy" in my general vicinity. LOL
Troy --i've never heard of The Horde but i've become so burnt out on zombie movies.
Tony -- the multiplier thing is a good point. i guess we'll see a "second class" albeit not titled that.
Saw half of 'Legend of the Fist' starring Donnie Yen. Half way through the movie, I got bored and turned off the dvd. It's pretty bad and I'm sorry that I wasted $20 on such drivel.
Oh, to answer your X-Men question, I think that 'X-Men: The Last Stand' and 'Wolverine' did harm the franchise. It's likely people aren't as apt to run out and see the lastest x-men film after those two disappointments. Plus, there's a glut of superhero movies out in the market now, so there's more choice for the movie goer. Then there's the fact that 'X-Men: First Class' doesn't have any big name movie stars that are guaranteed to put people in the theatre. The magic of McAvoy and Fassy not withstanding, they're not exactly big name stars yet.
I think X-Men is doing very well worldwide, over 300 mil, it might see a sequel. They would be smart to reinvent the series with such a well-reviewed film to kick things off.
This is probably a regular occurrence at the Box Office, but I realized this week that the top 5 films of the weekend all had a majority of negative reviews on RT. Seven of the top ten had less than 50% on the tomatometer.
Way to go, America... Happy 4th of July to us and our excellent taste.
Evan -- ugh. that's so true. it's especially depressing when you go back and look at older years in those charts and notice that the top ten of the year used to be this agreement between critics and audiences as to "quality" and it gets suckier and suckier as the years go by until there's very few crossovers anymore -- and even if something becomes huge that is critically and Oscar beloved, like say THE KING'S SPEECH, it still doesn't crack the top ten of its year because you gotta make room for movies like SHREK FOREVER AFTER which everyone has already forgotten all about ;)
I was inspired by "midnight in paris" to see a Bunuel film this weekend. Saw "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" which i *thought* was going to be the one referenced by "woody"-- about a dinner party in which the guests can never leave. Instead it was the one in which the guests can never get their dinner party started. still pretty fun. oh well-- SAY LA VEE.
Finished the fifth season of Dexter. I really love that show. And now I've started watching Mad Men.
Films I've seen this week, My Life, Se7en (again), The Misfits & Wizard of Oz. God I love the holidays!
seth -- ooh, i love that movie though.
nina -- sounds like a cinematic party all right (though your mood must have been ricocheting all over the place)