Super 8 was the winner of the box office this weekend but it was far from a blockbuster.  The movie made $37 million, which is better than some recent similar movies like District 9, Battle: Los Angeles and The Day the Earth Stood Still but was less than it’s cousin Cloverfield (which made $40 million) and far less than The Karate Kid’s opening last year at this time.  Paramount is saying that Super 8 will probably have a long tail so we’ll have to see how much it drops off this coming weekend.  Speaking of drop offs, X-Men: First Class had a 54% drop off from last weekend with $25 million.  It’s just shy of $100 million.  Hangover, Kung Fu Panda and Pirates rounded out the top 5.  The other new release from last weekend, Judy Moody, was a disaster, opening with just under $7 million, putting it in seventh place.

It seems like March is quickly becoming the appetizer for summer blockbuster season and the most recent March release, Battle: Los Angeles, would be right at home among all the other blockbusters.  Despite having pretty much every war movie cliche you can think of, the action and special effects make Battle: Los Angeles an awesome thrill ride.

Scientists around the globe have been tracking multiple meteors approaching Earth and predict they will impact many coastal cities.  The Marines are called in to help with an evacuation but the evacuation quickly turns into a desperate defense of the city of Los Angeles when an invasion force of alien troops launches a worldwide assault.  Staff Sergeant Mike Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) and his squad are sent on a rescue mission to find a group of civilians at a local Santa Monica police station and get them out before an airstrike levels the entire area.

The main negative aspect of the movie before I get to all the positives is that the dialogue and characters are all about as cliche as you can get.  There’s the rookie who starts freaking out, the guy getting married, the wise cracking tough guy, the disciplined doctor, the bad ass, etc.  Aaron Eckhart gets two cliched characteristics as the guy “one day from retirement” and also the guy who suffered some horrible tragedy on his last mission.  Fortunately Eckhart manages to quickly get rid of the retirement aspect as his character just accepts that he’s being pulled back in and does whatever shit needs to get done.  The second part of his character is slightly more clumsily handled as he bonds with a kid and is confronted by the brother of one of the men who died under his command.  Still, Eckhart definitely is one of the key aspects holding the movie together.

As far as positives go, the action and special effects are spectacular.  There are numerous amazing shots of the skyline of Los Angeles getting leveled by alien ships and one of the opening shots features the Marines getting flown in by helicopter and you can see this ever expanding line of smoke and fire creeping toward downtown.  Huge props to Jonathan Liebesman for having almost all the action take place during the daytime.  Lots of action movies lately fall into the trap of having most of their action take place at night and, combined with the shaky cam that is all the rage, makes it almost impossible to see anything.  You get a clear view of everything in Battle: Los Angeles and once the action kicks in, it’s almost non stop for the rest of the movie.

I also really liked the design of the aliens and their technology.  The aliens are sort of bio-mechanical hybrids and the movie constantly throws new pieces of their technology at you, starting with the grunts and leading up to the massive control ship.  I also appreciate the fact that they give you a fairly simple explanation for them wanting to attack Earth (they want our resources) and doesn’t get bogged down in trying to explain their intentions, which keeps the movie moving at a brisk pace.

If you’re a fan of war movies like Black Hawk Down or alien movies like District 9 and wondered what a mashup of the two genres would look like, look no further than Battle: Los Angeles.  It definitely satisfied my craving for big summer action and, if you’re an action/sci fi fan, it’s definitely worth a trip to the theater.

4.5 out of 5

Potentially this year’s Cloverfield or District 9 is the low budget monster/alien invasion movie Monsters from director Gareth Edwards.  Set in Mexico six years after a US space probe broke apart over the country, a large part of the country has been quarantined due to the fact that something on the probe caused new life forms to evolve.  People who have seen it already say it’s much more character based than your average creature feature but it still looks like it has a great atmosphere, especially since it cost less than $100,000 to make.  Check out the trailer below and you can see the movie on demand at the end of September.

Earlier today the Oscar nominations were announced and it was pretty much what everyone was expecting.  Avatar and The Hurt Locker are the leading contenders and they’re going head to head in Best Picture and Best Director.  Inglourious Basterds and Precious also got a bunch of nominations and the expanded Best Picture category brought in fan favorite District 9 and the shoe in for Best Animated Picture Up.  Check out the complete list of nominees below and be sure to join us on March 8th for our live blog.

BEST PICTURE:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

DIRECTING:
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Neill Blomkamp and – District 9
Nick Hornby – An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche – In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Oren Moverman and – The Messenger
Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Pete Docter and Bob Peterson – Up

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ajami  – Israel
El Secreto de sus Ojos – Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow
Une Prophéte  – France
The White Ribbon – Germany

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Maurio Fiore – Avatar
Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

FILM EDITING:
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron – Avatar
Julian Clarke – District 9
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis – The Hurt Locker
Sally Menke – Inglourious Basterds
Joe Klotz – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Best Reboot (also Most Lens Flare)

Star Trek

Best Action Sequence in an Otherwise Boring Movie

The Guggenheim Shootout from The International

Best Opening Credits

Watchmen

“The Wicker Man” Acting Award

Chris Klein in The Legend of Chun Li

Best Couple

Paul Rudd and Jason Segel in I Love You, Man

The “Nicolas Cage actually had an OK movie this year?” Award

Knowing

The “Trying really hard to be Die Hard with a Vengeance” Award

12 Rounds

Best Middle Finger to Physics

Fast & Furious 4: Land Train

Vin Diesel slides a car under a rolling and exploding fuel tanker

The Lincoln Hawk Memorial Over the Top Award

Crank 2: High Voltage

Best Potential Franchise Killer

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Best Cameo

CGI Arnold in Terminator Salvation

Best References to The Rock

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

The “I’m not crying, there’s something in my eye” Award

Up

The “What Happens in Vegas” Award

The Hangover

Best use of Computer Processing Power

Devastator’s Testicles in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The “Never watch this Movie with Your Parents” Award

Bruno

The “Shown up by Webisodes” Award

One episode of GI Joe: Resolute was better than the entirety of Rise of Cobra

Best Weapons and Splatter Effects

District 9

Worst Hair

Bruce Willis’ Surrogate in Surrogates

Funnest Apocalypse

Zombieland

Best Movie Marketed to Children that Wasn’t for Children

Disney’s A Christmas Carol (The first shot of the movie is a corpse)

World’s Greatest Limo Driver

John Cusack as Jackson Curtis in 2012

Most Eye Bulgingly Gorgeous

Avatar

Most Creative Kill

Dolph Lundgren kills a man with the power of Rock in Command Performance

Best Steven Seagal Vehicle

Steven Seagal: Lawman

Best Recovery

24 Season 7

Ass Kicker of the Year

Liam Neeson in Taken

]]> http://www.everythingaction.com/2009/12/31/the-kick-ass-awards-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.everythingaction.com/2009/12/22/new-release-round-up-1222/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-release-round-up-1222 http://www.everythingaction.com/2009/12/22/new-release-round-up-1222/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:13:33 +0000 Zach http://www.everythingaction.com/?p=2549 Quite an eclectic mix for this Christmas week; We have one of the best movies of the year, District 9, the new Family Guy Star Wars special and one of the worst movies of the year, and possibly of all time, All About Steve.

Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something Dark Side

(500) Days of Summer

District 9

All About Steve

Extract

It Might Get Loud

The idea has been kicking around for a while but it looks like the A-Team movie might be ramping up.  It was announced a while back that Liam Neeson was to play Hannibal and that Bradley Cooper was going to play Faceman.  Last week news came out that UFC star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was going to play B.A. Baracus.  The most recent news is that Jessica Biel and Sharlto Copley were the newest cast members added.  Copley, fresh off of District 9, is being offered the role of Howling Mad Murdock and Jessica Biel is being offered an as yet unknown role.  The movie is being produced by Fox and is being directed by Joe Carnahan, who previously directed Smokin’ Aces and Narc.  Ridley Scott is supposed to be on board as a producer.  What do you think of a remake of the A-Team and what your ideal new A-Team be?  Let us know in comments.

Zach: District 9 was a fantastic way to (almost) end the summer.  It has fantastic action and suspense and a brain on it’s shoulders to boot.  Blomkamp makes the universe of the film completely believable with the introductory documentary style and all the little touches like signage and grafitti expressing people’s opinions of the aliens.  The movie then pretty seamlessly transfers into a more traditional narrative as our “hero” Wickus leads an eviction operation into District 9 and gets contaminated by an alien power cell.  The transformation he goes through is horrific and very reminiscent of David Cronenberg classics like The Fly.  Sharlto Copley needs to get some sort of recognition come award time because he is amazing in his ability to run the entire gamut of emotions and makes you at numerous times either hate him, like him, feel disgusted by him or pity him.  The amazing thing is that you also care about his alien “co-star” Chris Johnson, who has figured out a way to jump start the ship and get his people home. The CG of the alien “Prawns” is amazing and has set the bar pretty high for movies like “Avatar” which are promising photo realistic CG.

Blomkamp can handle the drama but he can also handle action, as seen in the last 45 minutes/hour of the film.  Wickus and Chris use some awesome weapons including a gun that fires what looks like electricity that instantly explodes whatever it comes in contact with and Wickus eventually pilots a super powerful mech in an all out battle through District 9.

There is really not a lot to say that’s negetive about the movie.  I guess the main thing would be that everyone besides Wickus is pretty much a stereotypical character, there’s the evil bureaucrats, sadistic military men and the worried wife.  None of the humans are in the same league as Copley in terms of performance.

District 9 is an original, fun, thrilling and also thought provoking movie from someone who is surely going to be a director to watch for in the future.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you go and check it out.

5 out of 5

Brian: I may not be a filmmaker, but I know that making a good action movie with some cultural relevance is hard. Sure, “Rambo” contained a deep current events issue with the atrocities in Myanmar, but you didn’t really learn anything from it. “District 9″ is a movie that takes place in South Africa and contains a story about a group separated from culture and treated horribly… but doesn’t straight-up allude to apartheid.

The thing I found most remarkable about this movie about aliens and a scrappy underdog action “hero” was that it seemed so real. Blomkamp has a knack for using the “mockumentary” style to give us a good look at just what is going on at the beginning of the movie. While this techinque has been over-played recently in films, Blomkamp uses it to familiarize the audience with the predicament.

Even though District 9 has the intention of being a movie with a message, it also balances the drama with the action to keep the casual moviegoer interested. When we are introduced to Wilkus he’s the perfect shrimpy little nerd… but by the end of the movie, he has something to fight for. He becomes the little guy to root for.

Not to mention, the special effects are just awesome. The aliens are definitely realistic, but I found the weapons and explosions to be particularly impressive. District 9 may not win Best Picture, but it does more to keep itself from being more than a moronic movie with shit blowing up. (You hear me, Mr. Bay?) It’s a surprise hit with reason. Let’s hope Hollywood learns from this success instead of beating us over the head with superheroes and transforming robots.

5 out of 5

Two horror franchises met in teen killing grudge match this weekend and The Final Destination managed to pull of the win with $28.3 million., making it the best opening in the series. Halloween 2′s Michael Myers wasn’t able to defeat the Nazi scalping Basterds, coming in third with $17.4 million while Inglourious Basterds moved down a spot to number two with a little over $20 million. District 9 moved down to the fourth spot with a little over $10 million and bringing it’s total gross to over $90 million, effectively triple it’s budget. The other fairly wide release new movie, Taking Woodstock, debuted in ninth place with about $3.8 million. So the summer blockbuster season is over for yet another year but there’s still plenty of good stuff coming up. Keep reading the site for all the details.

The Basterds managed to slice and dice their way to number one this weekend with $37.6 million, making it Tarantino’s best opening since Kill Bill Vol. 2. District 9 dropped down to number two this weekend with $18.9 million and bringing it’s total to over $73 million. Since it cost $30 million to make it’s more than doubled it’s budget. GI Joe dropped down another slot to number three with $12.5 million and has made over $120 million in total. Julie and Julia and The Time Traveler’s Wife rounded out the top 5. The two other movies this weekend, Post Grad and Shorts both didn’t really register. Shorts debuted at sixth and Post Grad barely made it into the tenth spot, barely beating last week’s The Goods.

No known stars + unknown to the masses director + aliens= The number one movie at the box office. Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 came in at number one this weekend with $37 million. With a budget of $30 million it looks like they might already be in the black. GI Joe fell back to second place with an almost 60% drop off and pulling in another $22.5 million. Another of the new movies, The Time Traveler’s Wife, came in third with $19.2 million. The other new movies did not fare that well. Jeremy Piven’s “The Goods” came in fifth with $5.3 million, Ponyo came in ninth with $3.5 million and Bandslam barely even registered with $2.3 million and a thirteenth finish. Rounding out the top 5 were Julie and Julia at fourth and G-Force in fifth.

District 9

Starring: Sharlito Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Mandia Gaduka

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

Plot: A race of aliens become stranded in South Africa and are confined to the slum like District 9.

Rottent Tomatoes Freshness: 93%

Critic Consensus: “Technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching, District 9 has action, imagination, and all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic.”

The Time Traveler’s Wife

Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams

Directed by: Robert Schwentke

Plot: A man has a condition that causes him to involuntarily time travel and he visits his wife during different periods in her life.

RT Freshness: 45%

Critic Consensus: “Though it may satisfy fans of the novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife‘s plot contrivances and illogical narrative hamper its big screen effectiveness.”

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

Starring: Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, James Brolin, David Koechner

Directed by: Neal Brennan

Plot: Don Ready and his crew of insane salesmen come to the aid of a failing used car business in Temecula, CA.

RT Freshness: 13%

Critic Consensus: “Despite the talent in front of and behind the camera, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard largely misfires, proving a squandered opportunity for all involved.”

Ponyo

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus, Matt Damon, Tina Fey

Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki

Plot: A young goldfish named Ponyo wishes to become human and becomes friends with a boy Sosuke.

RT Freshness: 96%

Critic Consensus: “While not Miyazaki’s best film, Ponyo is a visually stunning fairy tale that’s a sweetly poetic treat for children of all ages.”

Bandslam

Starring: Gaelan Connell, Vanessa Hudgens, Alyson Michalka, Lisa Kudrow

Directed by: Todd Graff

Plot: A group of friends form a band to compete in the yearly Battle of the Bands contest.

RT Freshness: 77%

Critic Consensus: “Bandslam is an intelligent teen film that avoids teen film cliches, in an entertaining package of music and coming-of-age drama.”

Gamer

Zach:  In the future people will control over people in video games, and everything will still be shooters.  Nothing too exciting about this one but it could be fun in a Death Race or Running Man kind of way.  Michael C. Hall looks like he’s having fun as the insane host of the game and when Gerard Butler isn’t making romantic comedies he’s usually a bad ass.

Brian: I appreciate the return of the directing one-two punch that is Neveldine/Taylor (Crank, Crank 2) but I’m just not loving this trailer. It gives me “Wanted” vibes. But like Zach said, good to see Gerard Butler in an action film again. I’m holding my judgment on this movie though.

Whiteout

Zach: Another graphic novel based movie, Whiteout is about a US Marshall who has to investigate a murder in Antarctica.  It looks like it could be a decent thriller and Antarctica is underrepresented as far as movie go. (The Thing says hi)

Brian: Seems like “The Thing” meets “Sphere”, so… mixed? Looks like it could provide some decent thrills but I’m just not sold yet. Also, lots of snow. And blue.

9

Zach:  Only Tim Burton could think up living sack dolls who must fight off marauding robotic animals.  The movie looks gorgeous and has a great voice cast including Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau and Crispin Glover.  I could live without the Coheed and Cambria at the end but otherwise it looks extremely interesting and I might have to go check it out.

Brian: That Coheed and Cambria song is so overused, but I have a soft spot for it in trailers if it’s used to hype up bad-ass action. (Which it does in this case.) I wasn’t expecting much from the start of the trailer but this looks like an exciting thrill ride. Can’t argue with this voice cast either.

Extract

Zach:  What else can you say except it’s Mike Judge and I don’t think he’s ever steered us wrong before so I’m expecting this to be just as hilarious as everything else he’s done.  I’m glad that this is actually getting promoted and in more than 4 theaters, unlike the criminally mishandled Idiocracy.  Also, how can you go wrong with Jason Bateman?

Brian: Ew, Affleck. Oh well. I’ll stomach his turn as the goofy “stoner” friend because I like the rest of the cast. Trailer has some good laughs, but I didn’t bust out until Jason’s little smoke up at the end. Hilarious. Mike Judge has proven himself to be a very funny guy, and I don’t see this movie being any different. At least they’re giving it a chance in theaters.

The Informant!

Zach: So apparently Matt Damon can kick ass and also be hilarious, he’s a double threat!  This movie looks awesome and has kind of Coen brothers feel to it, Lebowski Coen brothers not “kill everyone with a cattle gun” Coen brothers.  With Steven Soderbergh directing and Joel McHale and Scott Bakula co-starring hopefully it’s able to deliver.

Brian: If the movie is as funny as the trailer, deal me in. Damon’s nerdy little goofball executive is amusing, and this movie seems like a bunch of smart slapstick. I’ve trusted Soderburgh before, “Traffic” and “Ocean’s Eleven” are excellent. But it’s good to see him move to a straight up comedy for a change. Could be good or great.

Welcome to our trailer commentary feature cleverly called “Trailer Park”.  In this edition we take a look at a couple of upcoming disaster movies, aliens visit Africa and Scorsese’s latest.

2012

Zach: Conspiracy theory nuts have been going apeshit about the Mayans supposedly predicting the end of the world at the end of the year 2012.  Disaster master Roland Emmerich has apparently taken this idea and ran with it for 2012.  The thing that stands out to me is that the special effects looking fucking ridiculous, that aircraft carrier smashing into the city at the end? Awesome.  I’m hoping it’s more fun Independence Day style destruction than preachy environmental destruction like The Day After Tomorrow.  I really hope it’s better than his last one, 10,ooo B.C., which was really stupid.  We can see Roland’s take on the 2012 hype in the middle of November.

Brian: Judging from this trailer, approximately half of this movie involves the characters in an airplane escaping from a disaster. Emmerich is known for movies with lots of cool effects but little else. “2012″ will be an interesting escape and nothing more. A brainless summer movie from what it seems like.

Zombieland

Zach: Definitely more light hearted than 2012 is the upcoming zombie movie Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson. They’re going for a Shaun of the Dead style horror/comedy as Woody leads a group of teens in the zombie filled wastelands.  I got an almost Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy vibe from the narrator of the trailer.  I like that they have some original ideas as well, like fighting zombies at the carnival.  Hadn’t heard anything about this one until the trailer came out yesterday but it looks like it could be fun.

Brian: Love the comedic vibes, the casting of Woody Harrelson and the amusement park setting. The scenes of normalcy invaded by zombie terror were pretty funny too. Looking forward to this one a little bit.

District 9

Zach: With the transition from KAMPC to EA we didn’t get to talk about the trailer for District 9.  The original short film is amazing and I can’t wait to see what Neil Blomkamp can do with a bigger budget.  The basic premise is that aliens get stranded in rural Africa and must integrate into society.  There’s lots of allusions to apartheid and looks to be more of a thinker than the typical summer movies.  Hopefully people check it out in August, because I know I am.

Brian: Get the mockumentary vibe from this trailer about the alien menace in South Africa. It’ll be interesting where they will take it. Reminds me of “V” a little bit too. Curious about the aliens look like and the reason behind their existence on Earth. Eerie.

Shutter Island

Zach: Martin Scorsese’s newest movie sees Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo investigating the mysterious Shutter Island, a place that makes Arkham Asylum look like a day spa.  An patient escapes and US Marshalls Tony and Chuck are called in to investigate.  It looks like they get more than they bargained for when strange things start happening and an apparent conspiracy starts to reveal itself.  DiCaprio looks like he’s gonna be great in this one and I think he’s trying to compete with Tom Hanks for accents in movies.  It’s also nice to see that Ben Kingsley finally dragged himself out of the muck that is Uwe Boll movies to deliver an actual performance.

Brian: Scorcese and DiCaprio is usually a good bet movie wise, and I am glad they are working on a movie like this. An old-fashioned mystery suspense movie. Glad to see Ben Kingsley too, not to mention the underrated Mark Ruffalo. I expect a strong performance from DiCaprio and really really hope they don’t resort to M. Night type trickery. Gonna see this one.