“Appaloosa” wanders a little like the old western trail… it could have held the average audience better with tighter editing

 If you like Westerns, you’ll like this movie more than the average audience… and while its central theme of the friendship between the characters played by Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen will keep you interested, its lingering moments and lengthy shots may have you checking the time until this nearly two-hour long movie wraps up.

 “Appaloosa”

(2008) (rated: R for some violence and language) (1 hr, 54 min)

Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, Renee Zellweger, Timothy V. Murphy, James Gammon, Timothy Spall, Tom Bower, Rex Linn, Lance Henriksen, Luce Rains, James Tarwater

Genre: Western/Drama

The Plot: Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.

MY TAKE (spoiler free):

Please don’t get me wrong… I appreciate great landscapes and cinematography… they are a great device for putting the audience in the setting and reminding them they are still there… but where so many great movies use the device to perfection, it may be “Appaloosa”’s achilles heel.

Of course, I did go into this movie with the knowledge that (more…)

“Beverly Hills Chihuahua” number one again at weekend box office

New movies last Friday: “Body of Lies”, “City of Ember”, “Quarantine”, “The Duchess” (wider release)

“Quarantine” was 2nd - more than making up its entire $12 million budget in one weekend… which is good because it was disappointing to a lot of viewers, so its numbers ARE GOING TO DROP NEXT WEEKEND… 
“Body of Lies” (15 to see this Fall/Holiday Season) should have opened stronger given the cast of Crowe and DiCaprio, but the subject matter may have kept some away…
“The Express” was 6th - perhaps because the general public didn’t realize it was about more than just college football… 
“City of Ember” made about what I thought it would when I first saw the trailer, but I thought last week’s success of another family movie (”Chihuahua”) would have helped it to higher than 11th place…. 
“The Duchess” move into wide release moved it up from #20 to #9.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $17.50 million
(2nd week, 2nd week at #1, lost 40% of its audience from last week)

2. “Quarantine” - $14.21 million (1st week)

3. “Body of Lies” - $12.88 million (1st week)

4. “Eagle Eye” - $10.91 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 38% of its audience from last week) (more…)

Ed Harris talks to Laff at the Movies about his new movie “Appaloosa”

  CLICK ON THIS TO WATCH

Ed Harris talks to Laff at the Movies about his roles as Producer/Director/Writer/Star of the movie “Appaloosa”, getting the cast of Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zelwegger, and Jeremy Irons to join the project, the risks/rewards of doing a Western, and the new tax incentives bringing movies to Michigan… that he hadn’t heard of… until our interview on October 1st.

(clips from ”Appaloosa” courtesy Warner Bros., clip from “A History of Violence” courtesy New Line Cinema)

enjoy

CHECK OUT my interview with Joe Pantoliano (”Risky Business”, “The Sopranos”, “The Matrix”, “Bad Boys”)

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/aaronlafferty

“Beverly Hills Chihuahua” number one at weekend box office

New movies last Friday: “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”, “Appaloosa” (limited), “An American Carol” (limited), ”Flash of Genius” (limited), “Blindness” (limited)

I didn’t make a prediction going into last weekend, but if I did, I can honestly say that I didn’t think “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” would be your number one movie this week… c’mon people… I know its a fun family movie from the folks over at Disney… and the other good looking movies were in limited release…. but it was #1 by more than $11 million dollars… yikes… at least I know it will get bumped by “Body of Lies” or “City of Ember” this coming weekend.

So make that back to back weeks with a surprise, last week’s surprise #4 - the Christian themed “Fireproof” starring Kirk Cameron was #8 this week… I was hoping for better numbers for 2 of my 15 to see this Fall/Holiday Season:“Appaloosa” and “Blindness” BUT THEY are not in wide release *yet*.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $29.30 million (1st week)

2. “Eagle Eye” - $29.20 million

(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 39% of its audience from last week)

3. “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” - $11.31 million (1st week)

4. “Nights in Rodanthe” - $7.37 million

(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 45% of its audience from last week)

5. “Appaloosa” - $5.05 million (1st week - wider, but limited release) (more…)

UPDATED September 24, 2008 at 1:00pm:

“Release Dates Are Subject to Change” … glad I added that to this list… because one date change pushed a movie completely out of the Fall/Winter season… “Taken” moves from September 19th to January 23rd !!!  Also moving: “Crossing Over” moves from October 24th to December 3rd and “Blindness” moves from September 26th to October 3rd.

That means “Blindness” moves into to my “15 to See”:

“Blindness” (October 3rd) - everyone is going blind.. except for Julianne Moore… sounds crazy!

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And that means “The Lucky Ones” (September 26-limited release) moves on to my “Honorable Mentions” list…

Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, and Michael Peña star as three soldiers that meet one another as they have all returned from Iraq, and circumstance unites them for a road trip across the country.

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Originally Published: September 5, 2008 at 10:48am:

The first week of September… its a signal of back to school and the end of the summer movie season… and I’ve got 15 movies for you to look forward to during the Fall/Holiday Movie Season…

Laff’s Fall/Holiday Movie Preview - 15 to see

15 is a bonus… some people give you a Top 10… but I’m giving you 15…  15 movies over the next 4 months that are likely to be big at the box office and/or fill out the ballots for Academy Award consideration !!!!

(release dates are subject to change)

“Burn After Reading” (September 12th)

New comedy-drama from Ethan and Joel Cohen… with a great cast and cool trailer!!!

Watch the “Burn After Reading” trailer at trailerspy.com

Starring: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, J.K. Simmons

Plot: A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.

Early look at “Burn After Reading”

—-

“Righteous Kill” (September 12th)

I was ready for this one as soon as they announced Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino would be in the movie together … and they are both police officers.. and the trailer solidified it for me!

“Righteous Kill” trailer at trailerpsy.com

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy

Plot: Two veteran New York City detectives (De Niro and Pacino) work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?

—-

“Taken” (now January 23rd )

I can’t wait to see Liam Neeson back in a leading role kicking some butt !!

Watch the ”Taken” trailer at trailerspy.com

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, (more…)

The first week of September… its a signal of back to school and the end of the summer movie season… and I’ve got 15 movies for you to look forward to during the Fall/Holiday Movie Season…

Laff’s Fall/Holiday Movie Preview - 15 to see

15 is a bonus… some people give you a Top 10… but I’m giving you 15…  15 movies over the next 4 months that are likely to be big at the box office and/or fill out the ballots for Academy Award consideration !!!!

(release dates are subject to change)

“Burn After Reading” (September 12th)

New comedy-drama from Ethan and Joel Cohen… with a great cast and cool trailer!!!

Watch the “Burn After Reading” trailer at trailerspy.com

Starring: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, J.K. Simmons

Plot: A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.

Early look at “Burn After Reading”

—-

“Righteous Kill” (September 12th)

I was ready for this one as soon as they announced Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino would be in the movie together … and they are both police officers.. and the trailer solidified it for me!

“Righteous Kill” trailer at trailerpsy.com

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy

Plot: Two veteran New York City detectives (De Niro and Pacino) work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?

—-

“Taken” (September 19th)

I can’t wait to see Liam Neeson back in a leading role kicking some butt !!

Watch the ”Taken” trailer at trailerspy.com

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, (more…)