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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End manages to break its own record, opening with $139.8 million (against $135 million of last year’s Dead Man’s Chest), but fails to overpower Spidey’s $155 million opening.
At two, Shrek the Third drops a heavy 56%, with $67 million in its second week. Total now stands at $217 million while Shrek 2 managed $260 million in the same week.
At three, swinging just a tad more slowly is Spidey with $18.1 million.
New comers round out the top 5, Ashley Judd starrer Bug opens with $4.02 million, while fourth week release (but first week wide) Keri Russell starrer Waitress earns a $4.01 million tip.

Interesting movie and a very personal view on how the “authorised” biography of Howard Hughes came to life. On most levels it’s equivalent to 2003’s Shattered Glass, both where you can see how one lie can be a fertile ground for manymore. Both have overall good acting involved, and the story is engaging because of how the lies are perceived and how it evolves. But unlike the dark and moody Shattered Glass, there seems to be an subdued but always present light-heartedness to this movie.7½.

The pirates are showing their age, and they’re definitely getting tired. Like the last one, it was less sea-worthy (yet managing to break box office records for opening, and total), but there’s more.
There’s still nothing really going on with the characters, with less than a handful of meaningful dialogues. The rest gets mixed in with the story, which is utter chaos. Inside the chaos, there’s the occasional backroom backstabbing dealmaking, supposedly to make the story more interesting. But there’s really nothing new to tell.
But the worst part is, there’s nothing new to show as well. Had we new creatures and ships in the last one, it’s all aboout the same here. Had the last one a few nicely executed stunts, it’s all the same here.
That leaves you only with the quick jokes and the need for closure, and that’s really not a lot.6.

After 3 weeks, a more muscular creatures bumps the spider off the top. While Shrek the Third breaks its own record, $122 million in its first week, it doesn’t beat the $151 million Spidey took in earlier this month.
With no other adversaries, Spidey hangs on at the runner-up spot, with another $28.5 million. While breaking the all time opening record, the total ($281.9 million) is already behind the tally of the previous Spideys in their third week (resp. $285.6 million and $302.3 million). Trend these days are bigger openings, but higher fall-off rates, resulting in a lower total in the end.
Rounding out the top 5 is 28 Weeks Later with $5.2 million, Disturbia with $3.7 million and Georgia Rules with $3.5 million.

People usually don’t line up for a serious Jim Carrey movie, but for once, they were right. Then there’s the film noir aspect of this movie (while actually still filmed in color), which I usually don’t like either.
As a thriller, it’s all just too far-fetched to even entertain the remote possibilities of what’s going on, plus the whole continuous reliance on the nightmare effect is a putdown again. The more reality bound ending makes up for just a bit for that, but overall, it’s slightly leaning to being boring.6-.

Ol’ fashioned thriller with bits of courtroom drama. This time it’s Ryan Gosling facing a formidable opponent in the latently menacing Anthony Hopkins. Ryan holds up quite well, already proven his acting qualities in last year’s indie drama Half Nelson.
Thriller-wise, it’s not really personal, yet engaging nonetheless. Story seems pretty smart, but when you really think about it, it’s doesn’t have a full body, rather focusing on one or two elements throughout the movie. While I figured out most plot points halfway through, it’s wrapped up nicely enough with the few story points, and sometimes funny dialogue.7½.

A very able cultural light family drama that tells a story of a man from India and his life after moving to the States. You’ll get a bit of insight in their customs and values, but luckily that’s not the main intent of the story. Without the forced perspective so many of these movies have, the cultural and generation gaps take a subtle backseat, and strangely, a single name acts as the strand of the story.
While I’m always extra weary when it comes to foreign movies (in this case, only half of it is), the acting seems to be the strenght of this movie.7+.

Spidey is still swinging at the top for another week. With a considerable drop (60%), it still has a more than comfortable lead on the rest with $60 million.
Not even close behind is 28 Weeks Later with $10 million. It’s a sequel to 28 Days Later, though having no stars, writers, directors from the first low budget sleeper hit.
Georgia Rule ends up at number 3, with $5.9 million. Drama/comedy is Jane Fonda’s second movie since her decade and a half long retirement (after Monster-in-Law), and also stars Lindsay Lohan.
Disturbia drops to number 4 in its fifth week with $4.8 million. Rounding out the top 5 is the unanimously (critics and viewers alike) voted bomb of the week, Delta Farce, a supposedly comedy, with $3.5 million.

Religious scare, a God or Satan fearing flick. Yeah. Not Really. Nothing actually scared me ever since The Excorcist, and this one just tips the plate, nothing more. Instead of REAL scare, you will get countless hallucination sequences (which actually numbs you further and further), and for the rest, special effects will take over. Nothing really crawling under your skin.
Having Hilary Swank playing a strong lead makes up for some of it, but there’s only one major plot twist. You’ll just have to do with a strong start, and a downhill trip.6+.

Will Ferrell and Jon Heder pair up for this ice skating comedy. Both characters are victims of typecasting, so there’s nothing new there. Comedy wise, it’s nothing spectacularly smart, nor is it outrageously funny. With all things midde-of-the-road, the story manages to keep your attention, but it’s a very close call, with no significant B-stories to liven things up. So have a few beers before you enter the theater.6½.

Everythin Darren Aronofsky touches, will become too weird to be described. I’ve seen the ultra-depressing Requiem for a Dream, but the story outline for this movie even mentioned sci-fi elements. So why not give the guy another chance.
*NNGGGG* Wrong move. In this one, he tries to marry 3 absolutely unrelated stories into one, with all the inconsistencies still attached. And he does it in the boring way, where you wanna chew off your own leg before the first half hour is over. You can try to focus on his composer buddy Clint Mansell’s score, you can try to admire the acting of Hugh Jackman/Rachel Weisz, but you still wanna break off your own fingers.
All in all, if you wanna indulge in this meta-physical surreal bull-crap for 90 minutes (and you like his previous work), this is probably for you. Otherwise, save yourself, run away, whatever it takes.5-.

Spidey 3 comes slinging in, and that in a big way. The most expensive movie ever manages to smash all records and webs in $148 million (beating Pirates 2, last year with $135.6 million).
Leaving most movies empty-seated, Disturbia settles for a nice second place, with $5.7 million. Fracture actually climbs one spot to number 3, with $3.5 million (still dropping 49%). Rounding out the top 5 are miserable left-overs The Invisble with $3.1 million and Next with $2.8 million.

The biggest movie around (beating King Kong’s and Titanic’s previous record budget), and second sequel for this franchise. With a comfortable 3 year gap (previous gap was 2 years), things are looking good. This just had to be better than the phenomenal Spider-Man 2.
But details on paper though, had a few other things that could concern you. Academy Awards winning SFX producer John Dykstra took off, and there are no experienced screen writers on board (previously David Koepp and duo Alfred Gough & Miles Millar).
After seeing the movie, I think the last negative points did influence the outcome a bit. There were quite a few instances where you didn’t have to look hard to find the CGI actor replacements on the screen, whereas previously you kind of had to really guess.
Also, the story setup isn’t like it was before. Less coherence, to adjust for less well-written villains, in an effort to appeal to a wider range of audience. Screenplay is now in the hands of Sam Raimi himself, with help from his brother Ivan. But I think they’ve become a bit rusty, and lacking depth. Even then, the topics are less identifiable (even a tad other-worldy) and resonates much much less than before (and hence, less memorable).
That being said, it’s still one hell of a popcorn-flick. You’ll enjoy it, but not quite as much as the previous wallcrawlers.7½.

Extremely quiet at the box office, and that means more ogling at the neighbours at the top spot for the third straight week. Disturbia takes in $9 million and a total of $52 million, which isn’t bad at all for a low-budget teen thriller.
Another teen thriller (with mystery/fantasy elements), The Invisible enters at number 2, and its lack of opacity might have influenced its lowly $7.7 million premiere.
Next up is Next, the uneventful action-thriller takes in $7.1 million, enough for a spot at number 3. I don’t need to see in the future to know this movie will bomb big time.
Left-overs round out the top five, with Fracture and Blades of Glory resp. $6.8 and $5.1 million.

I fear foreign films more than Supez dreads kryptonite. Be it Italian, German or French. It doesn’t matter, I’m always afraid of the outcome. But I had to beat that fear, since this movie was unanimously praised by critics and viewers alike (resp. a Metacritic score of 98(!!!) and 84).
And I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised. Most kudos go to the story, a sweeping drama, with subtly fantasy elements. Second, kudos to the eleven year old child star (Ivana Baquero) who plays the most pivotal role in this ensemble drama. All integrated well by director Guillermo del Toro (who previously made the forgettable Hellboy and Mimic), makes this strange (in a good way) movie well worth remembering for quite a while.8.