DVD Talk Forum - Movie Talk

Blind Side - Sandra Bullock

JimRochester — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:12:17 GMT

I did a search and nothing came up. If there is another thread please merge.

I saw this tonight and was very entertained. As you might expect from a feel good stroy, there were definite tear jerker or sentimental moments that felt a bit forced or manufactured. However overall I felt the movie was a success and worth the price of admission. I give it a B. Sandra Bullocks performance was excellent. Of course I'm in love with her anyway.

Humanity Is Dead - New Moon Breaks Midnight Record: Weekend Box Office 11/20 - 11/22

Matthew Chmiel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:05:22 GMT

God help us all. Nikki Finke, of course, was first to post this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deadline Hollywood

BREAKING NEWS! FRIDAY AM: Rival studios are telling me this morning that Summit Entertainment's New Moon debuted with $23M-$24M in 12:01AM screenings. That would set a new midnight opening record, smashing The Dark Knight's $18.4M set on July 18, 2008, and Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince's $22.2M set on July 15, 2009. Summit has yet to release an official number for the Twilight sequel's midnight debut in 3,514 theaters.

I'd like to state that I didn't help the cause as I was enjoying the Cafe Tacuba 20th anniversary concert followed by an amazing dinner at In 'N Out --- and my hard earned movie going money will be going to New York, I Love You this weekend instead. ;)

Any news on a new Star Wars film?

OutRun2 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:08:47 GMT

I know the last three movies left a bitter taste in a lot of fan's mouths, but I still yearn for more SW. Has Lucas said anything lately on what his plans are for the franchise as far as future live action films go? Hopefully they'll do something that takes place between RotS and ANH.

Movies Anticipated Before They Were Even Movies (adaptations, etc)

Dr. DVD — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:45:24 GMT

While most anticipated movies nowadays come from huge marketing campaigns, there are some I anticipated before any deals were made to even shoot them. Most of these would be adaptations of material or something you just thought would be cool to see on the big screen. FWIW, let's not include the Star Wars prequels, as they were something that came from an already established series.

Examples for me:

Lord of the Rings- wanted to see it on the big screen once I finished reading the books, which was a good eight years prior to the first movie being released.

Spider-Man-was waiting for a big-screen version since I was eight years old; 25 when the movie finally hit.

EDIT: I meant for the thread to say "Movies You Anticipated" as opposed to just "Movies Anticipated", as it will be different for everyone.

jackass 3D

droidguy1119 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:51:45 GMT

http://chud.com/articles/articles/21...ENT/Page1.html

Oh yes.

The Top 10 Overpaid Stars

JumpCutz — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:07:59 GMT

Pretty interesting...

LOS ANGELES -- This summer's "Land of the Lost" was one of those epic Hollywood disasters that makes outsiders question why anyone is in the movie business. The concept seemed like a good idea: pair funnyman Will Ferrell with a cult kids show from the '70s and hilarity is bound to ensue.

Or not. The film ended up costing an estimated $100 million and earned only $65 million at the worldwide box office. Universal studio heads Marc Shmuger and David Linde were subsequently fired. (For more on the movie's origins, see: "A Sleestak Comeback.")

"Land of the Lost"'s dismal box office helped land star Will Ferrell at the top of our annual list of Hollywood's Most Overpaid Stars. Ferrell is no longer the sure bet he seemed after hits like "Elf" ($220 million worldwide box office) and "Talladega Nights" ($162 million box office). Ferrell's 2008 film "Semi-Pro" earned only $43 million. "Step Brothers" did better with $128 million, but it wasn't enough to help Ferrell -- mainly because the star commands a high salary in comedies where he plays his trademark man-child role.

For every dollar Ferrell was paid, his films earned an average $3.29. Compare that to Shia LaBeouf, who topped our list of Best Actors for the Buck in August. For every dollar LaBeouf was paid, his films earned an average $160.

Second-worst? Ewan McGregor. The Scottish actor, best known for his work in films like "Trainspotting" and "Star Wars" (where he played a young Obi-Wan Kenobi), doesn't earn as much as some of the higher-profile actors on our list. But his recent movies have performed poorly, making him a terrible investment for producers. For every dollar McGregor was paid, his films earned an average $3.75.

To create our list, we looked at the 100 biggest stars in Hollywood. To qualify, each actor had to have starred over the last five years in at least three movies that opened in more than 500 theaters. (In McGregor's case, we didn't include the 2008 Woody Allen movie "Cassandra's Dream," because it played in only 107 theaters.)

We didn't include animated films, because the actors aren't really the draw -- and they tend to take pay cuts for voice work.

We calculated each star's estimated earnings on each film, including up-front pay and any earnings from the film's box office receipts, DVD and TV sales. We then looked at each movie's estimated budget (not including marketing costs, which are susceptible to accounting chicanery) and box office, DVD and television earnings to figure out an operating income for each film.

We added up each star's compensation on his or her last three films and the operating income on those films and divided total operating income by the star's total compensation to come up with each return-on-investment number.

Besides Will Ferrell, other big names on our list include Eddie Murphy and Tom Cruise. Murphy (who ranks fourth) has commanded one of the highest quotes in Hollywood for his work in family comedies, thanks to the performance of movies like "The Nutty Professor," which grossed $274 million at the worldwide box office.

But lately his return on investment has fallen off a cliff. Last year's "Meet Dave" was a box office disaster, earning only $50 million worldwide. This year's "Imagine That" did even worse, bringing in $18 million. Murphy escaped being named the most overpaid star thanks to 2007's "Norbit," which earned $160 million. For every dollar Murphy was paid, his films earned an average $4.43.

Cruise ranks sixth with a return on investment of $7.18. The star has worked out unusual deals on past films where he takes nothing up front in return for a large chunk of first-dollar gross -- that means on stinkers like "Lions For Lambs," Cruise earned even if the studio (in this case, his studio, United Artists) didn't recoup its money. These are just the kinds of deals studios are trying to avoid.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/forb...aid-stars.html

Clone Wars start?

leahcim — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:04:54 GMT

I am getting into SW The Clone Wars and just bought the S.1 BR set. Just wondering if watching the Clone Wars movie or the original Clone Wars animation from 3 or so years ago is a must to be into the current story line?

Salt (Noyce, 2010) � Jolie & Ejiofor in spy thriller written by Kurt Wimmer

The Bus — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:00:06 GMT

HD Trailer | IMDB | 23 July 2010

As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt (Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt’s efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: “Who Is Salt?”

This looks pretty good.

Movies that you missed on the big screen and regret

james2025a — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:42:10 GMT

I still remember seeing the trailer for Point Break and saying to my friend that it would be great to see on the big screen. Never did and regretted it. Great movie. Growing up i did regret not seeing Blade Runner, but after its many re-releases i have seen it a number of times now on the big screen.

So what about you guys?

Leap Year -- January 2010 (Adams, Goode, Scott)

Superman07 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:31:56 GMT

Yes this appears to be a typical date movie, but it looks more on the original low budget side. Perhaps a good afternoon showing with the significant other.

Shouldn't NEW MOON be called FULL MOON?

Boba Fett — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:50:17 GMT

What's the deal with the title? Werewolves change under full moons and even if these are magic werewolves that change whenever, the movie should be called FULL MOON.

How much will NEW MOON make opening weekend?

GizmoDVD — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:08:16 GMT

Because we needed another New Moon/vampire thread...

How much do you think New Moon will make opening weekend (Fri-Sun).

It's now Fandango's #1 pre-sale movie ever beating out TDK, Star Wars III and Twilight. For reference, TDK did $155 Million opening weekend.

Titanic (1997): Cameron's unfair depiction of 1st Officer William Murdoch spoilers

Buttmunker — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:31:15 GMT

In reality, First Officer William Murdoch dies. We do not know how, but we can assume he probably died of exposure (fancy way of saying "froze to death in the icy waters").

In reality, it came to light through the years that someone possibly took their own life with a pistol. This "evidence" can be seen through letters written by different surviving passengers to their kinfolk.

I think it was grossly unfair for director/writer James Cameron to have made that someone First Officer Murdoch. Not only does Cameron have this brave man killing himself, but also shows him murdering two passengers, to boot.

If Cameron wanted that scene in, he could have made up an "unidentified Officer" instead of a real one. Cameron's apology to Murdoch's nephew (and the film company's donation) is lame when compared to one's name being dragged through the mud, unnecessarily.

The 2nd Most Important Zombie Question

DeputyDave — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:36:08 GMT

Of course the number one debate regarding zombies is whether you prefer the slow walking or fast running kind. The second question brought up when I�m around my fellow living dead heads is how exactly a zombie is created.

There is Romero�s version (and the one I prefer) in which all dead bodies in the world reanimate as zombies. Whether the earth is passing through the tail of a comet (Star Wormwood?) or hell is simply full, ALL corpses get up and try to feed on the living. Romero also established that being bitten by a zombie causes a normal person who would have normally survived such a small wound to die and become a zombie within a few hours. How this obvious infectious zombie bite ties into how they were reanimated I have no idea and really doesn�t make sense. Were I to make a zombie movie I would remove the bite aspect.

Then there is the newer trend (brilliantly written about in Max Brook�s World War Z) to make zombies �more realistic� and say it is caused by an infection. One must be bitten by a zombie in order to become a zombie. I don�t like this theory because it seems like it would be too easy to contain, requiring direct contact with zombies to create more. Also if you look at a movie like the remake of Dawn of the Dead (which I did like) the majority of the zombies were pretty fully intact but when zombies make their kill they generally tear apart and mostly devour their victims. Where are all of these whole and complete zombies coming from? The only people turning into mobile (and therefore dangerous) dead are those who got bitten but managed to escape before being too damaged. That would greatly limit the number of zombies you need to worry about.

That accounts for a vast majority of zombie movies but I figured for fairness sake I�d mention two others:

Because I love the Return of the Dead series (at least the first three) I�ll bring gas into the mix. Any dead (including animals) that came in contact with Trioxin gas became brain starved zombies. So here we have a case of taking Romero�s �everything dead reanimates� idea and limiting the effect over a small area. Although that area can be greatly increased through smoke from burning (or nuking) the zombies.

Finally there is that old chestnut that has been around Hollywood for ages (and done brilliantly by Lucio Fulci in Zombie 2): zombies are created by voodoo magic.

So, any thoughts on my favorite sub genre? Care to weigh in on the second most important debate of our age? The thing that makes zombies so terrifying to be is not just that they are dead, but that they are EVERYWHERE in overwhelming numbers

RIP: Edward Woodward

Boba Fett — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:56:19 GMT

Very shocked there wasn't a thread for this.

Edgar Wright does a great personal tribute to a man he only worked with once, but grew up admiring.

http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2009/...ard-1930-2009/

I'm very sad to hear of his passing as McCall is one my favorite TV characters. I can only think of himself and Ian McShane as being the toughest men to ever grace a TV screen, despite being in their 50s-60s.

He was great on the big screen too, most notably in The Wicker Man, Breaker Morant, and Hot Fuzz. Unfortunately, some of the films Wright references in his tribute are MIA on DVD.