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Marketed as a low budget, matching Jet Li without the wires movie, it’s kinda overhyped. Best comparision would be a Jackie Chan movie without the slapstick. And that, of course, leaves you with not very much. The acrobatics are quite good, to be honest. But from the very beginning you see the story unfold, only to serve the fight and chase scenes. That is no way to make a movie, but still, it’s being done. This makes it reminisce the early Jean-Claude van Damme movies (including multi-angle replays), bad acting, stereotype characters, but still enjoyable if you’re into it. Definitely not for the casual movie-goer.6.

Will Smith goes solo in I, Robot, and still manages to kick a spider off the number one spot, and have his one personal record. Without a partner (like in Bad Boys or Men in Black), he draws his best opener yet, $53.3 million.
Spidey 2 takes a hit from the mechanical beings, taking in only $24.2 million, another manageable 48% drop, good for number 2.
Third spot is for Hillary Duff starrer A Cinderella Story, a charming, yet uninspiring $13.8 million. No. 4 with $13.4 million is Anchorman and no. 5 with $7.0 million is Fahrenheit 9/11, almost ready to cross the $100 million barrier.
At number 6 is King Arthur, as predicted a 54% loss ($6.9 million), it’s like having an Excalibur stricken through your heart (Disney’s that is).

For me, this was the most highly anticipated movie this year had in store. Luckily, I wasn’t let down. Sam Raimi, again, brings a nice balance to the audience, finetuning the drama, romance, action and humor. Also in balance, is the amount of fantasy versus humanity. Surely, the superhero and villain are quite amazing, but the touch of humanity keeps the movie grounded, firm on its two feet (luckily Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock isn’t the one dimensional bad guy you see far too often). Not only that, it’s also the special effects that blend in nicely, never overpowering and only there when needed. Sam also gives us some exquisite camera movements during the high paced action packed aerial fights. Making sure not a moment gets dull, yet giving the story time to breath here and there, giving all the characters some key scenes, instead of letting them be simple set decoration. A fine job indeed, and if I were Marvel, I wouldn’t trust Spidey 3 (tentative release date 2007) to anyone else but Sam Raimi.9+.

Spidey hangs on his strong natural web, as he’s able to remain ungrabbable on top of things with $46 million. A predicted 48% decline from last week.
Second, this just in, is Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell’s proof he’s able to headline a movie all by himself. $28 million. Slightly lower than his $31 million opening of Elf, but that was during a holiday season without a superhero breathing down his neck.
Third is Antoine Fuqua’s retelling of King Arthur without the fantasy elements. With a lowly $15.2 million, Disney must be feeling what Keira Knightley’s feeling (have you seen the leather strap pushing her bosoms up ?), as a high budget fiasco is definitely not what they’re waiting for after bombs like The Alamo and Around the World in 80 Days.
Fourth is another strong sesh for a documentary, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 hauls in another $11 million.

This might be the final nail in Renny Harlin’s coffin, and it might not even be his fault (okay, Deep Blue Sea was definitely his own fault, and so is Driven). This time, it’s the standard group of people on an island getting killed one by one story that does it. The arrival of the people on the island gives Renny the room for his one shot at the signature Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer style with air shots, and slow-mo group walk. After that, it’s crampy thriller time. Mix in some psychological mumbo jumbo, and you have yourself a big pretentious thriller that has the dialogue not to explore the characters, but to get the story moving. That, of course, is always a mistake, as the result will expose your wrongdoings no matter how hard you try to cover it up. In the end, the character are mostly inconsistent, and you lose interest as the story continues the transform into a big lump of cheese, the one with big holes of air in it. Using timely deadlines sometimes makes you wink your eyes now and then, but cheap tricks can’t save a film. Not satisfied the characters would stand out enough (and sadly, they don’t), they cast a few actors with major accents that border to speech problems. If you have truly nothing else to do, and you can detach your brains for a few hours, this could be for you. If not, this is a movie you wouldn’t be sorry to have missed it.5½.

Spidey crawls all the way to number without breaking a sweat. With a total of $88.3 it didn’t do as well as the first movie, which had a recordbreaking $114.8 million opening, but that’s because this one opened on Wednesday. And not without merit, as it had the biggest Wednesday opening ever with $40.5 million. Spidey now also wears the six day cume crown, with a whopping $180.1 million.
Second place is for Fahrenheit 9/11, with almost no decline from last week, $21 million. Third is for White Chicks, not too shabby with $12 million. The top 5 closes with Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story ($10.4 million) and The Notebook ($10.3 million).

With no time to lose, we jump straight back into the world of ogres and fairy taily thingies. And yes, it’s another 90 minutes full of laughter. While the story isn’t too complicated, it’s well thought out, and the screenplay is as solid as an ogre in a swamp. As the story progresses new elements are brought in, mixing the old (Eddie Murphy’s Donkey character is still on a roll) with the new (exceptionally great voice casting of John Cleese and Jennifer Saunders), giving it a fresh feel. Same goes for the amazing graphics, of course. All in all, this one is very sequel worthy (or the other way around).8.

This week’s box office must have Bush cringing for sure, as Michael Moore’s docu Fahrenheit 9/11 heads the top honors. With $21.8 million, it’s a record breaking opening for a documentary, and it’s more that the total income of his previous docu Bowling for Columbine.
Number two has the Wayans bros as FBI agents, undercover as White Chicks, good for $19.6 million.
Third is last week’s topper, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, a satisfying $18.5 million. Fourth place is for The Terminal with $13.9 million. Opening at 5 is a tear-jerker, The Notebook computes a $13 million premiere.

Another one of those sad cases where the trailer actually beats the movie (in quality, that is). From the beginning of the movie, it feels like an engine that just doesnt’ want to start. The dull dialogue uttered by an unconvincing Casanova that is Adam Sandler, doesn’t improve atmosphere. But hey, at least he’s not as irritating as he was in, let’s say, Little Nicky. Or Waterboy. Drew Barrymore, of course, is as sweet as she always is, so at least it wasn’t a complete waste of time. The story itself is simple (and copied and mixed), naturally not lending itself too well for this comedy. Hence the laughs are kept to a minimum, and while the story concludes, you realise you still have another hand left to keep the count. So, just watch the trailer, take my word for it that’s all you need to see, accept the fact that Adam Sandler didn’t have a better role since the Wedding Singer, and rent that one instead.5+.

Funnyman beats stranded man. Ben Stiller’s on top of things again with Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, his fourth movie this year already. Another satisfying $30 million opener makes up for the few missteps in the past (Envy, Duplex).
Tom Hanks strands himself at the number 2 spot, with The Terminal, flying in some $18.7 million, still moderately satisfying.
For young Harry, the magic is starting to wear off, as he falls from nr. 1 to 3 with $17.4 million.
At number 4, Shrek 2 is heading for the $400 million mark, taking in another $13.6 million.
The biggest disappointment this week is the Jackie Chan/Steve Coogan starring big budget Around the World in 80 Days. Opening with $6.8 million, it doesn’t really matter how fast it will take you to go around the world, the $110 million budget will probably never break even.

A nice character-driven piece of drama which lingers towards a tragedy. The movie starts off pretty easy, outlining a few characters, and only one incident will set off a chain of dramatic events. While there will be some extreme things happening, it’s all within character, carefully written so it feels more natural and not contrived. With the drama taking over, James Horner’s overtures will sweep you through the second half of the movie. First time director Vadim Perelman doesn’t only focus on the characters though, he also know how to evoke emotion with pleasant scenery, usually colorfol sunrises and foggy atmoshpheres, inbetween scenes.
Well written, _very_ well acted, this is definitely a movie for people with a sweet tooth for drama.8-.

The young wizard is still on top flicking his wand, but it’s tough spell to swallow nonetheless. With steep 65% drop from last week, it managed to conjure another $35.1 at the box office. If this continues, it might lag far behind the grosses of the previous Harry adventures.
Second spot was for the sequel to Vin Diesel’s entry into Hollywood (in 2000, Pitch Black). The Chronicles of Riddick is good for $24.6 million. That’s pretty much the budget of the previous movie, and a quarter of the current budget.
The best earning toon monter Shrek is third, with $24 million, surpassing Finding Nemo’s totals. Fourth is Frank Oz’ remake of The Stepford Wives, a $22.2 million premiere.
Last but not least, is Garfield: The Movie, the cat snatches $21.7 million.

Surprisingly good movie. The script is solid, and so is the acting. While it may start off a bit slow, character driven dialogue give the story more body, and as we get to know the characters a bit of drama can be introduced. This nice blend moves along naturally to a satifsying end. It’s a good diversion from the big blockbusters crowding this summer.7½.

Cutie ogre gets beating by magically cutie Harry Potter, with a second best opening ever, around $92.7 million in its first weekend.
The ogre breaks another record on his runner up post, this week it hauls in another $37 million, with a record breaking 18 days to pass the $300 million mark, besting a certain spider that took 22 days.
Third place is for The Day After Tomorrow, good for $28.1 million. Not a total disaster, as its total will end up higher than Troy and Van Helsing.
Raising Helen takes in a modest $6.7 million in its second week, good for number 4.
5th place is for Troy with $5.7 million, its total barely beating that of the lousy Van Helsing.

There’s a long list of the most obvious changes. First there’s the darker material filmed in a darker setting and a darker tone. Then there’s the growing up of the junior actors, both physically and professionally. It’s nice to see them less stiff after 2 movies. This make the movie flow with a less contrived feeling than before.
Then there’s the focus on Harry’s character, which cuts off screen time for most of the other characters. Magically strange though, it’s the past that drives the future, yet we get to know almost nothing new of it. Harry seems slightly more mature, and magic comes more easy to him, even to a point where you finally get the feeling he’s more special than the others (where the previous movie had the other characters do more magic than Harry)
The changed actor (unfortunately, to replace the late Richard Harris) for the Dumbledore character might have been the hardest thing to swallow. With a whole other demeanor and style (which might be done intentionally ?), the change is too big to take it all at once. You will get used to it though.
Then there’s a short list of things that are the same. Character-wise, you learn almost nothing new. The story layout is mostly the same, but it’s still as enjoyable as before, even with less jokes to laugh at.8-.