Hugh Jackman is great returning as Wolverine, the character that put him on the movie map, but “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is not  the best movie in this franchise.

I waited to write this review, because as a fairly die hard fan of X-Men, I have to say this prequel has me going back and forth on how great it is… or isn’t, mostly because some of the things I thought I knew about the characters in the X-Men universe were quite different in this movie.

After walking out of the theater when the end credit clip was finished (you should stay to the very end), I had the movie rated an 8.5… but I’ve decided that’s too high.

The action is great, the fighting sequences are solid, the story is well crafted, the special effects and editing and photography are good and most of the casting is spot-on.

For the fanboys: Ryan Reynolds was a great choice as the wisecracking Wade Wilson (Deadpool), Liev Schreiber is good as Victor Creed (Sabretooth), Danny Huston does well as the younger Col. William Stryker, Daniel Henney was good as David North (Agent Zero), Kevin Durand does well as Frederick J. Dukes (The Blob), and Will i Am does well as John Wraith.

I’m not saying Taylor Kitsch was bad as Remy LeBeau (Gambit), he just wasn’t the loner with a cajun accent and rebel attitude that I’m used to.

There’s a lot of creative licenses the filmmakers took with several storylines (and obviously timelines) that had me puzzled… and will have other fans scratching their heads.  For example the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth, the progression of Wade Wilson’s character, the physical difference between Sabretooth in this movie and the less intelligent, more feral one played by Tyler Mane in the original “X-Men”, etc.

It was cool to see some fun cameos by characters from the other “X-Men” movies.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

(more…)

New at Theaters (Friday): “12 Rounds”, “The Haunting in Connecticut”, “Monsters Vs. Aliens”

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Big Stan”, “Bolt”, “The Cake Eaters”, “Quantum of Solace”

New at Theaters (Friday): “12 Rounds”, “The Haunting in Connecticut”, “Monsters Vs. Aliens”

BEST BETs: “12 Rounds” looks like a good action thriller from the trailer, but we’ll have to see… “Monsters Vs. Aliens” is just okay for an animated sci-fi/action movie with so much hype… and “The Haunting in Connecticut” is not really my kind of movie, so horror fans, chime in when you see this one.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Big Stan”, “Bolt”, “The Cake Eaters”, “Quantum of Solace”

BEST BETs: If you’re like me and haven’t see the Oscar nominated animation “Bolt”, this is the week to do so.
“Quantum of Solace” is an above average James Bond movie, but not as good as Daniel Craig’s first Bond film “Casino Royale” (2006)… if you do see it, make sure you see “Casino Royale” first because “Solace” continues the story about 30 minutes after “Royale”.
“The Cake Eaters” is a fairly well reviewed, but small romantic comedy starring Kristen Stewart of “Twilight” fame.
“Big Stan” is a straight to video Rob Schneider comedy, so beware… straight-to-video is a red flag.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

(more…)

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Big Stan”, “Bolt”, “The Cake Eaters”, “Quantum of Solace”

New at Theaters (Friday): “12 Rounds”, “The Haunting in Connecticut”, “Monsters Vs. Aliens”

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Big Stan”, “Bolt”, “The Cake Eaters”, “Quantum of Solace”

BEST BETs: If you’re like me and haven’t see the Oscar nominated animation “Bolt”, this is the week to do so. “Quantum of Solace” is an above average James Bond movie, but not as good as Daniel Craig’s first Bond film “Casino Royale” (2006)… if you do see it, make sure you see “Casino Royale” first because “Solace” continues the story about 30 minutes after “Royale”.   “The Cake Eaters” is a fairly well reviewed, but small romantic comedy starring Kristen Stewart of “Twilight” fame.  

“Big Stan” is a straight to video Rob Schneider comedy, so beware… straight-to-video is a red flag.

New at Theaters (Friday): “12 Rounds”, “The Haunting in Connecticut”, “Monsters Vs. Aliens”

BEST BETs: “12 Rounds” looks like a good action thriller from the trailer, but we’ll have to see… “Monsters Vs. Aliens” is just okay for an animated sci-fi/action movie… and “The Haunting in Connecticut” is not really my kind of movie, so horror fans, chime in when you see this one.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

(more…)

It was a slower weekend nationally, perhaps because it was the last shopping weekened before Christmas, or the bad winter weather across a majority of the country could have also been a factor.  

Either way, the weekend’s three new releases came out on top, with Jim Carrey’s comedy Yes Man edging out Will Smith’s latest drama Seven Pounds for first place while the family movie The Tale of Desperaux barely beat last weekend’s number one The Day the Earth Stood Still for third place.

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 
1. “Yes Man” – $18.16 million  (1st week)

2. “Seven Pounds” – $16.00 million  (1st week)

3. “The Tale of Desperaux” – $10.51 million  (1st week)

4. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” – $10.15 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 66% of audience from last week)

5. “Four Christmases”  – $7.75 million
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 40% from last week)

(more…)

The Day the Earth Stood Still #1 in Weekend Box Office

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 
1. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” – $31.00 million  (1st week)

2. “Four Christmases”  – $13.27 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 22% from last week)

3. “Twilight”  – $8.01 million
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 39% from last week)

4. ”Bolt”  – $7.46 million
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 24% from last week)

5. “Australia”  – $4.17 million
(3rd week, was #4 last week, lost 41% from last week)

(more…)

Four Christmases tops box office for second straight week

It was a down weekend for theaters and studios, with numbers down significanty from Thanksgiving weekend.  The weekend’s poorly reviewed new release of Punisher: War Zone and the limited distribution of the other new releases Cadillac Records and Nobel Son and the fact that this wasn’t the big movie watching Thanksgiving weekend all added up to a loss of 50% nationwide and the 3rd lowest total box office since kids went back to school in September.   Twilight and Australia both moved up one spot from last week as they lost less of their audience than Bolt and Quantum of Solace.

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (studio estimates)
1. “Four Christmases” – $18.18 million
(2nd week at #1, lost 42% of its audience from last week)

2. “Twilight” – $13.20 million 
(3rd week, was #3 last week, lost 50% of its audience from last week)

3. “Bolt” – $9.70 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 64% of its audience from last week)

4. “Australia” – $7.00 million
(2nd week, was #5 last week, lost 53% of its audience from last week) 

5. “Quantum of Solace” - $6.60 million
(4th week, was #4 last week, lost 65% of its audience from last week)

(more…)

Of the four new movies, the holiday comedy Four Christmases was the highest earner of the new bunch, making more money than the other 3 new movies combined during the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend.

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (studio estimates)
1. “Four Christmases” – $31.68 million (1st week)

2. “Bolt” – $26.60 million
(2nd week, was #3 last week, gained 1% more than its audience from last week)

3. “Twilight” – $26.37 million 
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 62% of its audience from last week)

4. “Quantum of Solace” - $19.50 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 27% of its audience from last week)

5. “Australia” – $14.82 million (1st week)

(more…)

A critics’ favorite for Animated Movie comes to DVD, and tweens get set to flood the box office for “Twilight”…

**********************************************
On DVD (Tuesday): “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2″, “Tropic Thunder”, WALL-E”

In Theaters (Friday): “Bolt”, “Twilight”, “Boy in the Striped Pajamas” (expanded release), “Special” (limited)
**********************************************

     MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW ON DVD: One of the critics’ favorites for Best Animated movie of the year is “WALL-E”, a box office hit “Tropic Thunder”, and a popular summer movie sequel for teen girls “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2″ also hits DVD.  Unfortuantely, I have yet to see any of them.

   MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW IN THEATERS: While Disney’s “Bolt” is getting good reviews and will make some money this weekend, it will lose some of its potential audience to the families with tweens and young girls going to see “Twilight”, the most anticipated movie for tweens this season.  “Twilight” is looking like the next Harry Potter phenomenon – a popular book turned into a movie franchise – that will bring in a lot of money at the box office, some theaters in West Michigan are already seeing an increase in ticket sales.  In expanded release, but in fewer theaters is the Drama set in the time of the Holocaust “Boy in the Striped Pajamas”.  

MY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTION:

(more…)