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: 

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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: 

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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“Quantum of Solace” tops the box office

No real surprise here… Bond is always a big moneymaker… it wasn’t a question of it would be #1, just a question of how much money it would actually make. 

Back on track???  This will be the first time since the summer that I correctly predicted all of the top 10 box office spots.

"Quantum of Solace" tops box office with $67 million

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results)
1. “Quantum of Solace” - $67.53 million (1st week)

2. “Madagascar 2: Ecsape to Africa” – $35.02 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 44% of its audience from last week)

3. “Role Models” – $11.15 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 42% of its audience from last week)

4. “High School Musical 3” - $5.66 million
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 38% of its audience from last week)

5. “Changeling” - $4.25 million
(4th week, was #4 last week, lost 41% of its audience from last week)

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Quantum of Solace is a riveting sequel with tons of action, but its not as good as Daniel Craig’s first James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006

Quantum of Solace

(2008) (rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content) (1 hr, 46 min)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, Jesper Christensen

Director: Marc Forster

"Quantum Of Solace" good, but not as good as "Casino Royale"

Genre: Action/Adventure

The Plot: Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country’s water supply.

MY TAKE (minor spoilers): As you’d expect from the opening sequence of a Bond movie, Quantum takes little time to get going, jumping right into a vicious car chase through Italy.  As previously reported, this is a direct sequel, as the story picks up about an hour from the end of Casino Royale… with Bond racing to his HQ.

Daniel Craig is great again as 007, Judi Dench is awesome as usual as M, Jeffrey Wright and Jesper Christensen were good again in their limited, but important roles as Felix Leiter and Mr. White.   New Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is solid as the female agent trying to conduct her own covert operation on new villian Dominic Greene, played convincingly by Mathieu Amalric.

There’s tons of action in this one – but if you didn’t see Casino Royale, you may be surprised at the style and type of action – its a lot more Bourne Identity that your grandfather’s smooth talking shoot and punch Sean Connery of the classic Bond movies.   Craig’s James Bond is fleet of foot, jumps from rooftop to rooftop, dangles from ropes, shoots, punches, and jumps some more.  But as we saw in Casino Royale, this Bond is also more conflicted and a little darker than the just charming and cool Bond’s of the past – this Bond has many layers and troubles that has M in a constant state of concern.

The script and character development were good as you’d expect after Casino Royale, eventhough Quantum has a different director.

Its fun to see the opening scene going through a construction site again as it did in Casino Royale… all of the action scenes were great: a car chase, a boat chase, foot chases, and an airplane dogfight.

BUT…. there are 2 very noticeable issues that set this apart from the last movie:

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"Casino Royale" poster courtesy MGM

If you haven’t already seen “Casino Royale” (2006), you should rent it, borrow it, buy it, find it on TV, because the new movie is a DIRECT SEQUEL of the last!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:

“Quantum of Solace” is the 22nd official Bond movie.

“Quantum of Solace” was originally set to release last weekend Nov. 07 (o07 – that marketing would have been cool).

The movie is 1 hr., 46 min. long and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content.

Daniel Craig returns for his 2nd Bond movie… he hearned a BAFTA (British Film Award) for his 1st performance as James Bond in 2006’s ”Casino Royale.”

Judi Dench returns as “M”… her sixth time in the role.

Jesper Christensen returns as “Mr. White”… Jeffrey Wright returns as American CIA agent “Felix Leiter”… and Giancarlo Giannini returns as “Mathis”

"Quantum Of Solace" poster courtesy MGM

Bond movies are known for their intense opening scenes that don’t waste time getting you into the action and it sounds like…

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A Bond weekend coming up at the box office, and a variety of options coming out to rent/buy on DVD this week.

On DVD (Tuesday): “Beer for My Horses”, “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”, “Star Wars The Clone Wars”, “Sukiyaki Western Django”, and “This Christmas.”

In Theaters (Friday): “Quantum of Solace”, “Slumdog Millionaire” (limited), and “A Christmas Tale.”

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