TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY:  Worth A Ticket – An Epic of Betrayals   John LeCarre is (I guess one should say “arguably”) the greatest of all spy novelists, and his 1974 TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY is “arguably” his finest work.  Incredibly, the 1979 BBC miniseries adaptation lived up to the level of the novel, […]

YOUNG ADULT: Worth A Ticket – Theron + Oswalt = The Real Thing   Charlize Theron plays the hell out of her character Mavis Gary in the new YOUNG ADULT.  Theron has had a curious Hollywood career, with the usual big-budget flops (remember Aeon Flux?) mixed with a clearly wholehearted commitment to difficult, independent projects […]

>Two new films open this weekend, a formulaic romantic comedy from director Garry Marshall and an R-rated comedy starring Jonah Hill that looks like it will come and go very quickly.  New Year’s Eve will be #1 this weekend but not at a particularly impressive level.  And none of the Thanksgiving holdovers look to gross […]

  NEW YEAR’S EVE:  Not At Any Price – Calling it a “Sit-Com” Insults TV   NEW YEAR’S EVE is such a calculated piece of commercial manufacture that it deserves a Powerpoint presentation more than a review.  Although strictly speaking it isn’t a sequel to Valentine’s Day (and in fact a few of the same […]

> Like any showbiz stripper, the Sundance Film Festival has left its most notable revelations for last:  after releasing its Competition Entries and its Midnight and Other Fringe Titles, today the Festival announced its highest-profile Premiere films, both scripted and documentary.  They seem a bit lower-key than usual this year, with stars and filmmakers notable […]

>The week after Thanksgiving is always a let down in movie attendance, and 2011 was even softer than the past few years.  Another week or so of limited business and then the box office will explode as Christmas turns to New Year’s.  Last year, for example, the week of December 6-12 grossed $105 million, followed […]

>Click “read more” to see the latest international box office chart for recent releases.  Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 is now over $600 million projected worldwide, while The Adventures of Tintin is closing in on $400 million, assuming it doesn’t tank stateside. With the downward adjustment in domestic box office and very limited overseas […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has some early numbers for the weekend’s overseas boxoffice.  (Remember:  comparisons of international boxoffice receipts aren’t necessarily apples-to-apples, as films follow different distribution patterns with respect to number and size of markets.)  As in the US, BREAKING DAWN PART 1 is in the lead, with a projected $40M from 73 territories […]