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Starting out really cozy in a seemingly happy family home, you wonder why you chose to see a sub-low budget independent film again. Then the psychological thriller thingy starts kicking in, which by any means, seems quite good at times. Then, it kinda hovers over the same subject over and over again, and in the end, it’s almost a Requiem for a Dream like experience. So, definitely not for the faint of heart. Go see a standard blockbuster movie if you want any worth yer money.6-.

The Matrix Revolutions revolutionised the worldwide box office alright, but back home it racked only a $50.2 million for the normal time span measured for the box office. It was, of course, good enough for the first place. Second place was for Will Ferrell’s comedy Elf, $32.1 million for the second place. Disney’s Brother Bear hangs on the third place with $18.6 million, while the public still wants to be scared by the 4th ranking Scary Movie 3, with a $11.1 million. Fifth place still has strong signals, Cuba Gooding Jr’s Radio is 5th with $7.4 million. Limited released Love Actually (starring a whole trailer park of English star actors) was loved indeed by the public, nr 6 with $6.6 million.

Worldwide performance record was broken again by The Matrix Revolutions, with a 5 day income of $200+ million, while The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers had a $188 million run last December. Time for the King to show his teeth.

While definitely a must-see movie, this concluding part of the trilogy has a few points to bar the experience from being totally fulfilling. The story somehow seems much less complicated, and while the suspense is still there, it’s not as extreme as it could have been. The ending is done nicely, but still has a predictable feel to it. As for the special effects, it’s more massive then you’ve seen before, but the overall baffling ingenuity of the previous effects is much less in this one. Still worth having on DVD though.8.

A scary drop of no less than 56%, but Scary Movie 3 still retains its nr. 1 spot with $21.1 million Probably a tradition, “Yay, it’s Halloween, let’s see a Scary Movie !”. Ah well, it works, obviously.
Disney’s classic animation Brother Bear opens with a $18.5 million, good for a second place, but with the Matrix Revolutions opening next week, it won’t be a box office $100+ million hit.

Overly exaggerated, but still tolerable. I thought I couldn’t handle another Clooney “comedy”, but this short story isn’t that bad. Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas is as charming as ever, though cunning underneath it. Mildly entertaining if you don’t like the Coen brothers’ work, and very entertaining if you do like them. I’m of the first catagory.6½.

Scary Movie 3 (opens here 18 Dec) blasted its way into the box office with a frightning high number, $49.7 million. Blasting the opening score of the previous Scary Movies, it seems dropping the Wayans Brother wasn’t a bad idea after all. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre drops a 50% income, getting in some $14.7 million. Radio (opens here 18 Mar) received good reviews for Cuba Gooding Jr. but opens small for now, $14 million.

Critically acclaimed by some 90% of the big name reviewers, yet I left the movie theatre with some mixed feelings. Clint Eastwood obviously pushed the actors to give him the best performances possible, but with the story and the drama going on, it still feels like something vital is missing. The movies also feels too long (and probably is, clocking in over 2 hours), and even the end seems to be made to put us off balance. The first half is a well executed exploratory piece of drama, while the second seems somewhat predictable. Eastwood is able to get the atmosphere continuously on a level where you keep your eyebrows raised worryingly throughout the movie though. Also, Sean Penn is on an Oscar performance level here. It’s difficult to catagorise this movie, but it’s definitely not standard Hollywood, so if you’re into that, by all means, go see it.7.

Look out for some more old TV series going silver. Next year, Starsky & Hutch will turn comedy, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. But after that, The Six Million Dollar Man, will be changed to a rapid fire laugh machine too. Jim Carrey just signed the starring and developing/producing role on this project. Expect it in 2005.

With no big names attached to it, and only a remake stamp on it, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (opens here 22 Jan) slashed a $29.1 million slice of the box office. In its second week, Kill Bill Volume 1 managed to get some too, $12.5 million, almost down 50% from last week. Runaway Jury (opens here 11 Mar) has enough big names to take the top spot, but strangely lands a nr 3 spot with only $12.1 million. School of Rock finishes fourth with an admirable $11.3 million. Critically acclaimed Mystic River (opens here 23 Oct), helmed by Clint Eastwood, finishes the top 5 with $10.3 million, showing promise, as it opened in far less theatres than the others.

Well, there are still pirates in the Carribean, as the director put the stamp on the sequel, with Johnny, Orlando and Keira already signed to star. With a $300 million domestic US Box Office, I can only imagine mr. Disney’s and Bruckheimer’s smiles that would make the Joker jealous.

Almost a typical independent movie which radiates intimacy and depth of character. The way the story is told (with good actors all around) and how it moves towards the end makes this a nice little cute movie with the power to tear a jerk (or the other way around), but also pulls off a smile here and there. Must see if you’re trying to break free from the box office styled movies.7+.

Quentin Tarantino’s 4th movie, Kill Bill: Volume 1 (opens here 20 Nov), slaughtered the box office with a $22.2 million opener. Quite a feat for the usually mellow October month. Jack Black proves he can make a lot of people laugh with second week’s School of Rock, down 22% from last week, $15.4 million is good for nr. 2. Intolerable Cruelty seems not so intolerable at the number 3 spot with a $13 million opening.

Right from the start you get into the flowing dialogue of Will and Martin, like nothing really changed since the first part. As a team they’re still strong, and it shows well on the screen. And so the action begins. And the funny dialogue. And the suspense. And the car chases. All the way through the full two and a half hours. Michael Bay, seemingly a standard action director, pulls off some nice inventive shots too. As an homage to the late Don Simpson it’s produced under the Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Productions banner, and Jerry made sure we got a LOT of bang for the normal ticket price.8.

While this movie has its ups and downs, overall, it’s a good written story with nice ideas. Unlike most slasher movies, this one has a real drive behind it, with much more real characters. The director creates a nice atmosphere, while cutting up the events in an interesting way.7+.

Nicolas Cage as a neurotic conman does another wonderful job in this cute movie. Being a character driven story, it moves along nicely, while getting a nice twist at the end. A delight between all the standard issue movies released lately.8-.