The little horror movie keeps on truckin’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ hit number one at the box office today, pulling in USD $21.1 Million, despite being out for several weeks already (grossing a total of $61.6M so far). Have you seen it yet? We’ve been holding out to get as close to Halloween as possible, and we hope it gets us in the mood. ‘SAW VVIIXX’ debuted at # 2 ($14.1M) and the action flick ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ came in 4th at 12.4M. Sadly, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ dropped two spots to #3, but SOMEHOW the apparently terrible ‘Couples Retreat’ is still hanging on at #5 ($10.6M). Mira Nair’s ‘Amelia’ wins the worst debut of the week, at #11 with a paltry $3.9M.
We tend to be a bit critical when it comes to remakes and ‘reboots’ – our logic is, why ruin a good thing? We do understand that sometimes remaking a mediocre movie gives it a chance to be great, but mostly we’re seeing sub-par ‘who cares’ editions of everything from ‘
Taking of Pelham One Two Three
’ to clear abominations like the upcoming Jaden Smith / Jackie Chan ‘
The Karate Kid
’ (whyyyyy!!!!!???). But here’s a remake that you may be interested in, the Coen Brother’s adaptation of ‘
True Grit
’ starring (potentially) Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges. Although the Coens rarely do wrong, remember that their last remake was the terrible ‘
The Ladykillers
’. If ANYTHING, please use it as an excuse to watch the original. Oh, and if these Keira Knightley ‘
My Fair Lady
’ remake rumors are real, then buy or rent the original please before your eyes and ears are laid to waste.
A controversial rumor we heard this week – did James Cameron steal the story idea for his upcoming ‘Avatar’? Supposedly it sounds pretty similar to some obscure sci-fi novels – I guess they’ll hear from lawyers soon if that’s the case. The Tom Cruise masterpiece ‘Cocktail’ is apparently headed to Broadway as a musical. Mad Max 4 is coming (yay!). And in TOTAL GEEK NEWS, Stallone’s ‘The Expendibles’ is chugging along, and guess who acted in a scene together for the first time ever – Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our expectations are only getting higher for a film that could easily disappoint. In some sad news, we’ve been waiting for Werner Herzog’s ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans’ (the um, update or sequel? of the unforgettable Harvey Keitel vehicle) but apparently it’s going straight to DVD? Oh well.
We’ll put the original '
Bad Lieutenant
' on our list of DVD’s to buy, but since the new release may be quite a few months in the future, we’re looking at some new releases that are enticing. ‘
Whatever Works
’, Woody Allen’s latest starring Seinfeld creator Larry David quietly entered and exited the theatres, but we’re willing to give it a try. ‘
Monty Python: Almost The Truth
’ will have fans rejoicing; for your sugar rush, ‘
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
’ will happily rot your teeth. But our pick of the week is Wim Wenders classic ‘
Wings of Desire
’ – this lyrical, contemplative film isn’t for everyone, but you’ll never see anything like it.
Talk to you next week!