The Anchorman Continues...

Amir's Weekly Box Office Report

chart repurposed from boxoffice.com

Ron Burgundy and his news team were the story of the weekend with Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, though their numbers are anything but a big deal. The film opened at the lowest end of its expected spectrum and I have yet to come across anyone who’s liked this film unreservedly. I was never a big fan of the original, which I got around to a few years too late. (I expect this one to hit my rental queue sometimes in 2017). It opened behind The Hobbit, for which the amount of critical goodwill hasn’t been nearly strong enough to convince me something better than the insufferable first episode is in store. Smaug smug as it may sound, I can think of quite a few better things to do with two and a ½ hours.

American Hustle expanded beyond New York and Los Angeles and all the way to snowy Montreal, where I was able to watch it. (Personal story: this is the third time in my life that I’ve went to le cinema on trips to Montreal, after the first Sherlock Holmes installment and Ted. The experiences are very slowly but surely improving. I expect to catch a real good one on my 2017 trip.) Hustle is Russell’s unruliest but least energetic offering, though it’s totally worth watching because of Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper’s perm. At $20m, it doesn’t seem positioned to beat Silver Linings Playbook’s gross, but The Fighter’s should be within reach.

chart repurposed from Boxoffice.com

Further below, the stellar Inside Llewyn Davis continued its slow expansion and is hovering just outside the top ten. Like virtually any other film by the Coen Brothers, it is an essential watch. Spike Jonze’s Her is also playing now, though only on six screens. I’m less enthused than most, though there are certainly worthy elements about it – Hey! Look! Amy Adams again! – but Jonze is such a unique, vital voice. We should treasure this film before he hides for another three or four years.

Finally, Asghar Farhadi’s The Past has opened, though on even fewer screens than Her. This one’s really grown on me with repeat viewings so I encourage you to see it. Oh, and read my interview with Mr. Farhadi. Anyway, my weekend has consisted of Short Term 12 (I’m sorry Nathaniel) and American Hustle so far and will continue with whatever else goes with the mood on the train ride back home. What did you watch this weekend?

Late Night Link

The Wrap the new triangular Oscar logo
French Films About Trains "Category is: 2013 Realness" 
i09 Paul Rudd to play Hank Pym aka Ant Man in the future Marvel movie for Edgar Wright
Digital Spy... and Edgar Wright shares his ten favorites of 2013 (and Short Term 12 is on it so I love him even more now)

Cinema Blend Hugh Jackman to play the villain in the new Peter Pan film for Joe Wright... but he's not Captain Hook
Deep Cuts the best music scenes in movies this year
Film School Rejects 3 films getting Oscar rereleases and 3 that deserve to get the same treatment
Variety 'how American Hustle conned the critics' a scathing review of... um... either the movie or its reviews. 
Vanity Fair David O. Russell's last minute decision to cast Jennifer Lawrence
Vulture Taylor Kitsch on The Normal Heart, Lone Survivor and his resistance to doing a Friday Night Lights movie
Cinema Blend Superman heirs still seeking back the rights. So much drama with superman. (Shouldn't he be in the public domain soon anyway? Damn corporate America and its perversion of copyright laws!) 

National Film Registry
Finally, the Library of Congress announced the 25 new titles they're adding to their list of culturally important films. The honor is mostly symbolic since nothing actually happens to the films in question. It doesn't grant them funding for cleaning of their negatives or restoration or guarantee a Blu-Ray release or any some such but it's still a lovely tradition. Mary Poppins is included this year which only prompted "that wasn't already in there?!?" from me followed by a 'well, that's suspiciously good timing for its 50th anniversary Blu-Ray release and the Oscar campaign of Saving Mr Banks." But I love Mary Poppins (here is evidence) so i'm thrilled.

The 25 Films:  Bless Their Little Hearts (1984), Brandy in the Wilderness (1969), Cicero March (1966), Daughter of Dawn (1920), Decasia (2002), Ella Cinders (1926), Forbidden Planet (1956), Gilda (1946), The Hole (1962), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), King of Jazz (1930), The Lunch Date (1989), The Magnificent Seven (1960), Martha Graham Early Dance film (1931-44), Mary Poppins (1964), Men & Dust (1940), Midnight (1939), Notes on the Port of St. Francis (1951), Pulp Fiction (1994), The Quiet Man (1952),The Right Stuff (1983), Roger & Me (1989), A Virtuous Vamp (1919), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), and Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

Which ones that you haven't seen are you most curious about? I'm thinking I should finally get around to The Quiet Man because Maureen O'Hara. And though I've seen it already I should probably revisit / write up The Right Stuff because it's so good and people just don't talk about it enough.

"Critics Choice" Nominees - 19 Years of American Hustling

If they made a biopic of the BFCA it would be called 12 Years a Pundit... er, excuse me. 19 Years a Pundit. The BFCA (of which, full disclosure, I am a member) is in its 19th year of Oscar prognostication movie awardage and this year we've fallen hard for 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle both of which won three acting nominations and 10 additional nominations each. The "Critics Choice" list is the last big set we'll get before Oscar sounds off in one month's time.

So what have we got here?

Click to read more ...

American Hustle... 'you know, for kids!'

Text from a friend:

Too bad about their period piece aversion because New Jersey's political history, Abscam, and combover jokes are otherwise such big draws with the kids!

Posterized: Christian Bale

In the Posterized series we look at a whole career though the most enduring bit of movie marketing: the poster. You'd think that when two of your first three film roles as a young boy were Oscar nominated wonders (Henry V and Empire of the Sun), there'd be nowhere to go but down. In the case of Christian Bale, you'd be wrong. His rise to the top, though, was not without its long stretches of 'this might not happen at all.' Younger readers might not realize that Bale was a fan favorite in the 1990s -- "Baleheads" they called his stans -- long before fandom was empowered by the internet. His star might have risen a lot faster if tumblr had been in existence during his slow climb.

Bale is back. And so is his yo-yo dieting

Now, of course, his career is very much happening / has happened.  The literally shape-shifting A lister has two new movies opening this weekend (Out of the Furnace) and next (American Hustle) and he's skinny in one and thick in the other as is his way. Also his way: winning "Great Actor" reviews for every single performance. It's always an unpleasant surprise to remember that he's only ever been Oscar nominated once (The Fighter). At least he won on his first and only shot at gold to date.

Let's look at his career from the very beginning. How many of these 36 have you seen? 

Click to read more ...