New on DVD (Tuesday): “Blindness”, “Frozen River”, “Miracle at St. Anna”, “My Name is Bruce”, “Nights in Rodanthe”, “Soul Men”, “W.”

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BEST BETs: A solid group of movies coming out on DVD, highlighted by the Oscar nominated performance by Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”… the Oscar/Golden Globe buzz movies that weren’t nominated, but well reviewed: “W.” and “Miracle at St. Anna”… the thriller “Blindness”… and the romantic drama “Nights in Rodanthe”.

YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN: “Soul Men” got mixed, but mostly negative reviews… and “My Name is Bruce” is more for Bruce Campbell fans (”Evil Dead”).

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New at Theaters (Friday): “Confessions of a Shopaholic”, “Friday the 13th” (2009), “The International”

Watch the trailer for “Confessions of a Shopaholic”

Watch the trailer for “Friday the 13th” (2009)

Watch the trailer for “The International”

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BEST BETs: “The International” is a good looking and decently reviewed action thriller, and “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is the romantic comedy based on best selling novels for women that opens just in time for Valentine’s Day.

YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN: I was not able to make it to the screening of “Friday the 13th”… so horror movie fans… you’re on your own… although I have a feeling you may like the original better.

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

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“Max Payne” tops weekend box office… knocking off “Chihuahua”, but overall box office still down again

New movies last Friday: “Max Payne”, “W.”, “The Secret Life of Bees”, “Sex Drive”

The total box office of $84.76 million is down 2% from last weekend… marking two weeks of decline, but it is $6 million more than this time last year ($78.48 million) !!!

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “Max Payne” - $17.64 million (1st week)

2. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $11.42 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 35% of its audience from last week)

3. “The Secret Life of Bees” - $10.53 million (1st week)

4. “W.” - $10.51 million (1st week) (more…)

Not what you think: “Nights in Rodanthe”

This is not your typical romance, its not a boyfriend-girlfriend date movie, because this movie deals with some heavy issues… its also not typical because it doesn’t go exactly the way you think it might.

“Nights in Rodanthe”

(2008) (rated: PG-13 for some sensuality) (1 hr, 37 min)

Starring: Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Christopher Meloni, James Franco, Viola Davis, Scott Glenn, Pablo Schrieber, Mae Whitman

Genre: Drama/Romance

The Plot: A doctor who is traveling to see his estranged son sparks with an unhappily married woman at a North Carolina inn.

MY TAKE (spoiler free):

“Nights in Rodanthe” marks a reunion of sorts for Lane and Gere, the two hadn’t been on screen together since 2002’s “Unfaithful”, and 1984’s “Cotton Club” but this is not a chick flick in the way you may be used to… this movie deals with a lot of heavy issues like divorce, death of a family member, medical ethics, and broken relationships with family.   This isn’t a date movie for a young couple… more of a date movie for a couple that has been together longer and can handle the emotional ups and downs this movie takes you through.

While this is in some ways different, it is very predictable up to the movie’s twist - which I will not ruin.   The acting is (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…)

“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…)

“Eagle Eye” leads weekend, “Fireproof” makes a surprising showing

The political/conspiracy thriller “Eagle Eye” did not disappoint, but the other new movies this weekend didn’t do as well as I expected: “Nights in Rodanthe” was 2nd, but about $2 million less than my prediction.

I’m really surprised that “Miracle at St. Anna” was #9 and earned only $3.50 million considering the huge marketing push and Academy Award buzz around the movie… but sometimes war movies just don’t do well at the box office. 

The surprise of the week is “Fireproof”… a small budget/independent movie in limited release this week, starring Kirk Cameron, but it had the 2nd highest per screen average, second only to “Eagle Eye”.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (studio estimates):

1. “Eagle Eye” - $29.20 million (1st week)

2. “Nights in Rodanthe” - $13.57 million (1st week)

3. “Lakeview Terrace” - $7.00 million (more…)

“Eagle Eye” leads weekend, “Fireproof” makes a surprising showing

The political/conspiracy thriller “Eagle Eye” did not disappoint, but the other new movies this weekend didn’t do as well as I expected: “Nights in Rodanthe” was 2nd, but about $2 million less than my prediction.

I’m really surprised that “Miracle at St. Anna” was #9 and earned only $3.50 million considering the huge marketing push and Academy Award buzz around the movie… but sometimes war movies just don’t do well at the box office. 

The surprise of the week is “Fireproof”… a small budget/independent movie in limited release this week, starring Kirk Cameron, but it had the 2nd highest per screen average, second only to “Eagle Eye”.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (studio estimates):

1. “Eagle Eye” - $29.20 million (1st week)

2. “Nights in Rodanthe” - $13.57 million (1st week)

3. “Lakeview Terrace” - $7.00 million (more…)

Wide variety of options in the theaters this week

In Theaters (Friday): “Eagle Eye”, “Miracle at St. Anna”, “Nights in Rodanthe” My Take: There won’t be many moviegoers that can’t find what they’re looking for this weekend… thanks to the 3 new movies debuting this weekend (and the movies already playing in theaters).

You want an Action/Thriller blockbuster this week? You got it! (“Eagle Eye”)

You want a Drama with Academy Award buzz? You got it! (“Miracle at St. Anna”)

You want a Romantic movie? You got it! (“Nights in Rodanthe”)

—- “Eagle Eye” starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan,
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Okay, I haven’t done this for several weeks… its been a very busy time, but…. here ya go…

My predictions of the winners and losers at the box office this weekend:

This week, 3 new movies hit theaters in Wide Release on Friday: “Eagle Eye”, “Miracle at St. Anna”, “Nights in Rodanthe”…

…while one of the movies: “Miracle at St. Anna” is likely to get the most Academy Award attention, and “Nights in Rodanthe” is the big date-movie this weekend, the action/thriller “Eagle Eye” will stack ‘em up at the box office this weekend!!!

I also think this is the weekend when “The Dark Knight” could get knocked out of the top 10…

My predictions:

1. “Eagle Eye” – $22 million

2. “Nights in Rodanthe” – $16 million

3. “Miracle at St. Anna” – $12 million

4. ”Burn After Reading” – $10.5 million

5. “Lakeview Terrace” – $10 million (more…)