Category: Announcement

Following the events of the first movie in which the Reverend Cotton Marcus re-discovered his lost faith and sacrificed himself to taking down the demon Abalam from hatching it’s plans, it seems that the only survivor of the event was the object of Abalam’s possession, the young girl Nell Sweetzer. Nell has escaped her fate and now begins to put her life back together, with help from the people of a halfway house in New Orleans. Nell starts to turn her life around, but soon discovers that Abalam wasn’t destroyed at all, and soon her life begins to take another horrific turn.

That’s the premise to The Last Exorcism Part II, once again from producer Eli Roth, but this time with a new director and writer in tow, director Ed Gass-Donnelly who also serves up the screenplay with writer Damien Chazelle. It’s certainly understandable why a sequel to the first would be made; it was a cheap production and it made a boatload of dough… and, it just happened to be a pretty darn good movie as well. Even though the title of the first would indicate that it should be the only word on the subject, I’m certainly willing to give a the idea of a sequel a shot as long as it offers up something that’s just as catchy as the original.

Unfortunately, that’s just not the case with The Last Exorcism Part II and what we have here just seems to totally dilute the effectiveness of the original. The first film is very much part of the “found footage” sub-genre, and it’s pretty effective, but what adds to it’s effectiveness is the other story which was what Cotton Marcus was doing in trying to expose the “reality” of exorcisms. That character was absolutely magnetic in the first film thanks to one terrific performance from actor Patrck Fabien. This sequel decides right off the bat that it’s not going to go the “found footage” route and that it will present itself as a traditional narrative, with the main focus being on the Nell Sweetzer character. No disrespect meant at all to actress Ashley Bell who’s reprising her role here, but the way this is presented, she’s just not strong enough to carry the film. But that’s only the start of the film’s problems.

As this movie starts off, it pretty much follows horror tropes that you’ve seen time and again. The opening few minutes are pretty good, but after that it falls into predictability- Nell starts to get better, she makes friends, she gets a job, she discovers a boy her likes her and it’s all peppered with little bits that act as jump scares that slowly start to unhinge the character again. That’s fine if you can come up with a way in which it all pays off effectively, but here, the solution from the filmmakers comes at us from left field.

Spoilers ahead here – two thirds through the film, the footage from the documentary that was being made around Cotton Marcus is discovered and has made it’s way to YouTube. Nell is discovered by a guy on the street who recognizes her from the video and soon starts to suffer from the consequences of that. As a crowd starts to gather, Nell is grabbed by a VooDoo practitioner named Cecile who says that her “group” has been watching her since she’s come to New Orleans, though this is the first overt way that we the audience are seeing it. Cecile takes Nell and tells her about her group, I believe it was called the Order of the Red Hand, and then they in turn try to help Nell by performing another exorcism on her. Now this would be all well and good if this group had been introduced right from the start, but as it is introduced, it just comes out of nowhere and just feels like it was put in because the filmmakers couldn’t think of anything else to do. What should’ve been done (or at least what I would’ve done- though I like to think I wouldn’t even have made a sequel in the first place) is that the “found footage” format should’ve been retained and this group should’ve been introduced from the start, filming what they were doing as a matter of posterity. You could’ve gone through the same motions of “curing” Nell, but seeing this from a group that was absolutely counter to the first group who were trying to raise Abalam with the “found footage” format adding much more needed immediacy to the events. In addition, this could’ve added a character or two (say like a more fleshed out Cecile) who could’ve added a whole other layer to the film, just as Cotton Marcus did in the first.

Ashley Bell isn’t the only actor from the first film to reprise her role here. Louis Herthum, who played her father is also back. Nell’s father starts to show up as tempting visions from Abalam to try and reclaim Nell. Again, not a bad idea but the execution is what’s at question; in the first film Herthum was clean shaven and when he shows up here he has a beard. Now when I first saw him with the beard, I didn’t even think it was the same actor, but as he showed up later, I did recognize him. This is just sloppy visual continuity, and there’s no excuse for it, or there should be no excuse for it (I get the feeling that the production was only going to get Herthum for a brief time, he needed the beard for another part and couldn’t shave it off for the time frame that he was needed for).

I don’t know who is ultimately to blame for this mess, but really this project should never have even been greenlit in the first place. I’ve read an interview with Eli Roth in which Roth has talked about decisions to go certain ways here, and I’d like to think that he should know better, but really I can’t say how much control he even had in the first place. I didn’t write a review of it, but I can say the same thing a movie from last year that Roth also produced called The Man with the Iron Fists written, directed and starring The RZA. This was also a pretty sloppy mess and what I came away from with was that as a writer, director and actor, The RZA is a good musician. I got the feeling that Roth’s connection with that was to basically make sure the train was running on time and I get the feeling that may be the case with The Last Exorcism Part II as well.

To be fair, I do think Ed Gass-Donnelly has a good eye and I certainly like the composition of the shots here. I also think the idea of the Order of the Red Hand is a good one, I just wish it hadn’t been so clumsily inserted in the film and instead it should’ve been the focus of the movie. Even with that said, The Last Exorcism Part II is still a huge mess and should just be avoided entirely. Between this and Texas Chainsaw 3D, so far 2013 isn’t a good year for horror films.

Long ago, in the kingdom known as Cloister, a young peasant boy named Jack and the young princess Isabelle are simultaneously being told the story of a land of fierce and deformed giants that’s suspended in the sky, the giant beanstalk that connects the two and the ferocious appetite that the giants have for the taste of human flesh. To the children, it’s just a simple bedtime story but as they grow older, they soon discover that there’s truth to this tale.

Jack, now in his late teens, lives with his uncle, after his father has passed away. Times are tough for the two and the uncle charges Jack with the task of selling their horse and cart for enough money to repair their home. Isabelle has grown to want to have big adventures before she has to live a life of responsibility and eventual marriage to the suspicious Roderick who has his own devious plans for the kingdom. Soon the paths of both Jack and Isabelle cross, and that’s when they discover that the bedtime story of their childhood was indeed very true.

That’s a simplified premise to Jack the Giant Slayer the latest movie from director Bryan Singer, who’s best known for films like The Usual Suspects, the first two X-Men movies, Superman Returns and Valkyrie. I’m certainly a fan of Singer’s and was pretty keen to see what he’d do with this. We’ve seen a few classic fairy tales get a big-screen update, two of those, Red Riding Hood and Snow White and the Huntsman I can’t say I was very interested in seeing. The third, Hansel & Gretel; Witch Hunters was different for me and I enjoyed the movie very much. The biggest selling point for Jack the Giant Slayer was indeed the fact that Bryan Singer was directing it, and I gotta say, I had a lot of fun with this.

Now to be honest, there really isn’t a lot of huge depth to this story or to it’s characters. In fact, the characters are very two-dimensional, but in the context of the style of the film, I really don’t mind that. And the style of the film is pure broad spectacle and absurd action with the characters being the simplest strokes of good and evil. That in itself will probably be a huge turn-off for some, but for myself I was glad to see this “tall tale” approach taken to the classic story. Now of course, by what I described with the premise above, there’s liberties being taken here, but thanks to a clever little bit of business at the end of the film, that’s all put in some nice context to the nature of tall tales and how they change over the course of generations.

The movie is absolutely gorgeous and I’d even go so far as to say that I think it’s Singer’s best-looking film to date. The visual effects are spectacular and I really like the look of the giants. The look of the giants here, at least to me, share a commonality with the look of the trolls in the movie Troll Hunter in that they all look like they’re more designed to resemble the look of classic storybook illustrations instead of being overdone in a more realistic way. I chose to see the movie in 3D and I’m glad I did, Singer’s got a good understanding of what he wants to accomplish with it and he gets a world that’s very immersive as a result. Sure, it also has a smattering of “in-your-face” 3D effects, but immersion is the bigger result.

I was very impressed with the sheer absurdity of various situations and action in the film. There’s a bit midway through where one of the giants is preparing to eat a defender of the princess (Elmont played by Ewan McGregor) and he literally wraps him up in dough and puts him next to two pigs treated the same way, “pigs in a blanket” indeed. It was shown in the trailers, and I thought it was clever there, but seeing it in context was of course even more fun. Late in the movie, the giants of course start to attack Cloister and in the course of their attack they start to fling flaming trees into the village. This sort of action strikes me as the type of thing that you might see in a Monty Python film or more specifically a Terry Gilliam film, and while it makes sense that the giants do this, there’s also something that’s just very broad about it that I find totally appealing.

As I said, the characters are very two-dimensional, but here I don’t take that as a slight in the least. I think it serves Singer’s purpose and further, I think he’s cast it quite well. Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson play Jack and Isabelle respectively. I’m not really that familiar with Tomlinson, but Hoult gave a memorable performance as Hank McCoy, the X-Man known as The Beast, in X-Men: First Class. I think the two are extremely likable and have nice chemistry with each other. There’s a few aspects to Hoult’s Jack that make me think of Nigel Terry’s young King Arthur from the movie Excalibur and I think this kid will be one of those to watch out for in the future, to be sure. As mentioned above, Ewan McGregor plays Elmont, one of the kingdom’s elite warriors, and I think McGregor’s having a ball here, sort of giving us a combination of what you might get if Eddie Izzard played Obi-Wan Kenobi. Stanley Tucci plays Roderick and he’s very appropriately cast for the part, Roderick is full of smarm and that’s certainly been a big part of a lot of the character roles that Tucci’s played in the past. Ian McShane plays the King of Cloister and while the actor doesn’t get to be as showy as he’s been in past roles, his presence certainly adds gravity to being the king.

Not exactly for sure how the giants were created here- oh sure CGI is obvious but just not for sure if motion capture was involved using the real actors. The great Bill Nighy is credited with the part of General Fallon the two-headed leader of the giants with John Kassir being credited as playing his small head. I found it amusing to watch the two heads interact even though those interactions are fairly simplistic, but still you’d hear one grunt at the other in a knowing way and I’d certainly like to think there was some play between the actors on that, but I don’t know for sure. But still it’s a nifty character as are Fallon’s lead warriors, Fee, Fye, Foe and Fumm.

I know some will probably just find Jack the Giant Slayer totally boring just because there isn’t great depth to the story or the characters, but I just don’t think that was the point. I think Bryan Singer set out to make a basic good versus evil story and just wants to entertain you with the sheer spectacle of the idea. Will that be enough? Well, it certainly worked for me and I was surprised at just how much I had a smile on my face during the film and gently laughed over the absurdity of some of the situations. For that, of course, I can’t help but recommend it… this is fun stuff.

#1 Identity Thief from Universal rose from #2 to #1 with a gross of $14 million (-40.8%) in 3,222 theaters (+57).  Total gross to date is $93.6 million.  Budget was $35 million.

#2 Snitch from Summit Entertainment opened at #2 with a gross of $13.2 million in 2,511 theaters.  Budget was unknown.

#3 Escape from Planet Earth from Weinstein Company rose from #4 to #3 with a gross of $10.7 million (-32.8%) in 3,353 theaters (+65).  Total gross to date is $34.8 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#4 Safe Haven from Relativity fell from #3 to #4 with a gross of $10.5 million (-51.1%) in 3,223 theaters.  Total gross to date is $47.6 million.  Budget was $28 million.

#5 A Good Day to Die Hard from 20^th Century Fox fell from #1 to #5 with a gross of $10.2 million (-59.1%) in 3,555 theaters (+2).  Total gross to date is $52 million.  Budget was $92 million.

#6 Dark Skies from Weinstein/Dimension opened at #6 with a gross of $8.2 million in 2,313 theaters.  Budget was $3.5 million.

#7 Silver Linings Playbook from Weinstein Company rose from #8 to #7 with a gross of $5.8 million (-7.9%) in 2,012 theaters (-190).  Total gross to date is $107.2 million.  Budget was $21 million.

#8 Warm Bodies from Summit Entertainment fell from #5 to #8 with a gross of $4.8 million (-45.6%) in 2,644 theaters (-253).  Total gross to date is $58.2 million.  Budget was unknown.

#9 Beautiful Creatures (2013) from Warner Bros. fell from #6 to #9 with a gross of $3.6 million (-52.4%) in 2,950 theaters.  Total gross to date is $16.8 million.  Budget was $60 million.

#10 Side Effects from Open Road Films fell from #7 to #10 with a gross of $3.4 million (-46.5%) in 2,070 theaters (-535).  Total gross to date is $25.1 million.  Budget was unknown.

#11 Zero Dark Thirty from Sony/Columbia fell from #10 to #11 with a gross of $2.2 million (-25.6%) in 1,197 theaters (-325).  Total gross to date is $91.5 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#12 Argo from Warner Bros. held at #12 with a gross of $1.8 million (-16.3%) in 802 theaters (-101).  Total gross to date is $129.7 million.  Budget was $44.5 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $88.3 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

The Barrett family appears to be your average, ordinary family of four. The father, Dan, is an unemployed architect who’s trying to find work. The mother, Lacy, is earning a supplemental income in real estate sales. the oldest son, Jesse, is just discovering girls and getting into trouble with his best friend, Kevin. the youngest son, Sam, is an average kid playing with his friends and listening to scary stories told to him by his brother. Everything appears normal for this family until a series of disturbing events start to happen to them and then they learn that something is very much out to get them.

That’s the basic premise for the generically titled Dark Skies, a movie about an extraterrestrial encounter (that’s no real spoiler, it’s pretty much told in the trailers for the film) for an ordinary family. It’s the latest movie from writer/director Scott Stewart who’s previously directed the movies Legion (which I wasn’t that thrilled with) and Priest (which I actually liked quite a bit). Dark Skies doesn’t really do anything new with the genre, but for the most part, it’s pretty well executed and has a pretty effective ending.

As the events start to unfold, it all pretty much happens by rote- strange events happen, family gets worried, authorities are called in and are pretty dismissive of what happens, wanting to chalk it up to something happening internally in the family. This all happens at a pretty slow-burn pace, but starts to pick up some steam in it’s back third when Daniel and Lacy seek out the advice of an expert, Edwin Pollard, who warns them of what to expect next.

The movie has an overall good look to it, and in some places, it looks to me like Scott Stewart’s been studying some of what Stanley Kubrick has done with his storytelling approach, which I certainly think adds to the atmosphere. One of the nice things that I think Stewart gets across quite well is just the sheer isolation that the Barretts experience while this is happening to them. You’d like to think that if this sort of weirdness was starting to happen to you that you’d expect some sort of support through your friends and neighbors. The only support that the Barretts receive comes from Pollard and even then, it’s not so much support as it is expecting the inevitability of their situation.

Josh Hamilton and Keri Russell play Daniel and Lacy, and they’re both very good at projecting the everyman quality that this family should have (and I just want to shout out Keri Russell a little further here for the fine work that she’s currently doing in the new FX series, The Americans) Dakota Goyo and Kadan Rockett play their sons, Jesse and Sam respectively, and they’re certainly quite believable. The great J.K. Simmons plays Edwin Pollard, and it’s a pretty different performance for Simmons in that he’s a pretty beaten character who’s now totally resigned to the fact that he can’t do anything about any of the situations that he’s encountered.

While I enjoyed Dark Skies, it’s not exactly the sort of movie that I’m going to tell you to run right out and see in a theatre. For the most part, this seems like pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, but it does get saved by a pretty effective back third. The work here by both Stewart and the cast is certainly solid, but it’s pace is maybe a little too relaxed up front. It’s certainly worth seeing, but I think most will find it more entertaining as home video viewing than making the effort to go to a theatre to see it.

#1 A Good Day to Die Hard from 20^th Century Fox opened at #1 with a gross of $24.8 million in 3,553 theaters.  Total gross to date is $33.1 million.  Budget was $92 million.

#2 Identity Thief from Universal fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $23.7 million (-31.5%) in 3,165 theaters (+24).  Total gross to date is $71 million.  Budget was $35 million.

#3 Safe Haven from Relativity opened at #3 with a gross of $21.4 million in 3,223 theaters.  Total gross to date is $30.2 million.  Budget was $28 million.

#4 Escape from Planet Earth from Weinstein Company opened at #4 with a gross of $15.9 million in 3,288 theaters.  Budget was $40 million.

#5 Warm Bodies from Summit Entertainment fell from #2 to #5 with a gross of $8.9 million (-21.9%) in 2,897 theaters (-112).  Total gross to date is $50.1 million.  Budget was unknown.

#6 Beautiful Creatures (2013) from Warner Bros. opened at #6 with a gross of $7.6 million in 2,950 theaters.  Total gross to date is $10.1 million.  Budget was $60 million.

#7 Side Effects from Open Road Films fell from #3 to #7 with a gross of $6.3 million (-32.6%) in 2,605 theaters.  Total gross to date is $19.1 million.  Budget was unknown.

#8 Silver Linings Playbook from Weinstein Company fell from #4 to #8 with a gross of $6.2 million (-2.9%) in 2,202 theaters (-607).  Total gross to date is $98.6 million.  Budget was $21 million.

#9 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters from Paramount fell from #5 to #9 with a gross of $3.5 million (-38.9%) in 2,103 theaters (-1,182).  Total gross to date is $49.7 million.  Budget was $50 million.

#10 Zero Dark Thirty from Sony/Columbia fell from #7 to #10 with a gross of $3 million (-25.2%) in 1,522 theaters (-1,040).  Total gross to date is $88 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#11 Mama from Universal fell from #6 to #11 with a gross of $2.7 million (-36.5%) in 1,648 theaters (-1,029).  Total gross to date is $68.2 million.  Budget was $15 million.

#12 Argo from Warner Bros. fell from #8 to #12 with a gross of $2.2 million (-8.1%) in 903 theaters (-502).  Total gross to date is $126.8 million.  Budget was $44.5 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $126.1 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Jack McClane, the estranged son of New York Police Detective John McClane is now living in Russia and has gotten himself caught up in some nasty bit of business that has him ready to be sent to jail. John McClane, wanting to do the right thing, plans a little “vacation” to Russia to see what he can do for his son. Of course, once John McClane gets there all hell starts to break loose as he soon discovers the real reasons why his son is there.

That’s a real loose description to the premise to A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth film in the Die Hard series, all featuring star Bruce Willis as the intrepid John McClane. It’s also the latest in a series of action films featuring the return of big name action stars of the 80s and 90s doing what they do best. This started with Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables and has continued with the recent releases of The Last Stand with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bullet to the Head again with Stallone. All of these have been fun movies which I’ve certainly enjoyed.

I guess it was time that the streak ended. It’s just a shame it has to do it with the Die Hard series.

A Good Day to Die Hard comes to us from director John Moore, who’s previously directed films like Behind Enemy Lines, Max Payne and the re-makes of The Omen and Flight of the Phoenix, and screenwriter Skip Woods, who’s written such movies as The A-Team, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Swordfish. Of Moore’s movies, I actually like Behind Enemy Lines a great deal, but thought he faltered with the others and there’s aspects of Woods’ prior work that I like , but I don’t think the whole of each ever quite came together. The thing is, I find it pretty hard to blame either of these guys totally for the mess that A Good Day to Die Hard is.

No, instead I’ll blame the bigwigs at 20th Century Fox for wanting to put this in production. They’re trying to keep it on the cheap by moving it’s production entirely out of this country and not wanting to invest in ay sort of casting beyond Willis that could’ve brought more to the table. I think both Moore and Woods fit into the budget that Fox wanted to give this and rushed this into production to get it to ride this wave of action star comebacks.

Other than Willis being here as McClane in name only, there’s really nothing here that says this is even a Die Hard movie in the first place. The set-up of the tension between the McClanes is ill-conceived, the action is way over-the-top in the most cartoonish of ways, there’s nothing to make you give a damn about either of the McClanes (who of course are both invincible to everything that gets thrown at them) and the villains of this piece are nowhere near the same league as what has been seen in the prior films.

Hitting a couple of these points individually, yeah sure, you expect John McClane to save the day in these films, that’s certainly a given. Some of the nicer aspects in the first three movies show at least a hint of vulnerability in the action, especially the first film. I mean who can ever forget the idea that John McClane is running about Nakatomi Plaza in just a t-shirt and pants and has that grueling bit of having to cross a floor filled with glass in his bare feet? That sort of thing gets carried through the movie, but here, Jack McClane gets a hunk of metal lodged into his gut, takes it out and doesn’t feel a thing the rest of the film.

A hallmark of the other films are really good villains that get as much good show as Willis does. Alan Rickman, William Sadler, John Amos and Timothy Olyphant all had good turns in the prior films to various degrees, but here our villainous side of the cast is made up of foreign actors who you simply will not remember after the film ends. They may very well be top-notch talents, but this film doesn’t give them the opportunity to really show it. Again, I’ll blame the idea of a rushed production that doesn’t give it’s writer the chance to do some memorable work with these characters.

Instead, this film hopes to succeed on the idea of John McClane being there and churning out a few one-liners while big-ass fireworks are going off in the background. It hopes you’ll get invested in it emotionally with it’s tired trope of the strained relationship between the father and the son and it all just feels like it’s in there by rote more than anything else.

As much as I want to blame Fox for this, I also have to throw some of that credit Willis’ way as well. I’d like to think that Fox is holding something over his head by committing him to this, but you’d still like to think he’d know better. Bruce Willis is certainly still capable of good action work as witnessed most recently in last year’s Looper, but here, it’s more like he’s just running this by the numbers and just cashing the check. Jai Courtney is cast as his son, Jack, and I think he’s certainly got the physical chops for this sort of thing, but there’s really nothing there in the character to get behind other than the fact that he’s John McClane’s son.

Supposedly, there’s still a sixth movie in this franchise to come and the idea there is that it’ll be the last in the series as well. I’d like to think that this franchise could still be brought back to glory as long as Fox doesn’t rush it into production and takes the time to invest in a script that lets you get fully behind it’s characters and a director who can show you just how special the Die Hard film series is. I’d like to think that anyway… but if A Good Day to Die Hard is any indication of how Fox wants to take this series, then maybe they should just let it die with this one. Your best bet here- miss this one entirely and watch any of the other ones (preferably any of the first three) again, you’ll have a far better time.

#1 Identity Thief from Universal opened at #1 with a gross of $34.6 million in 3,141 theaters.  Budget was $35 million.

#2 Warm Bodies from Summit Entertainment fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $11.4 million (-44.2%) in 3,009 theaters.  Total gross to date is $36.5 million.  Budget was unknown.

#3 Side Effects from Open Road Films opened at #3 with a gross of $9.3 million in 2,605 theaters.  Budget was unknown.

#4 Silver Linings Playbook from Weinstein Company fell from #3 to #4 with a gross of $6.4 million (-17%) in 2,809 theaters.  Total gross to date is $89.5 million.  Budget was $21 million.

#5 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters from Paramount fell from #2 to #5 with a gross of $5.8 million (-38.9%) in 3,285 theaters (-90).  Total gross to date is $43.8 million.  Budget was $50 million.

#6 Mama from Universal fell from #4 to #6 with a gross of $4.2 million (-35.8%) in 2,677 theaters (-104).  Total gross to date is $64 million.  Budget was $15 million.

#7 Zero Dark Thirty from Sony/Columbia fell from #5 to #7 with a gross of $4 million (-22.6%) in 2,562 theaters (-309).  Total gross to date is $83.6 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#8 Argo from Warner Bros. rose from #11 to #8 with a gross of $2.4 million (+17.1%) in 1,405 theaters (+470).  Total gross to date is $123.6 million.  Budget was $44.5 million.

#9 Django Unchained from Weinstein Company fell from #8 to #9 with a gross of $2.3 million (-23.3%) in 1,502 theaters (-275).  Total gross to date is $154.5 million.  Budget was $100 million.

#10 Bullet to the Head from Warner Bros. fell from #6 to #10 with a gross of $2.1 million (-54.3%) in 2,404 theaters.  Total gross to date is $8.3 million.  Budget was unknown.

#11 Top Gun 3D from Paramount opened at #11 with a gross of $2 million in 300 theaters.  Budget was unknown.

#12 Lincoln from Buena Vista fell from #10 to #12 with a gross of $1.9 million (-22%) in 1,517 theaters (-239).  Total gross to date is $173.6 million.  Budget was $65 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $86.2 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

#1 Warm Bodies from Summit Entertainment opened at #1 with a gross of $19.8 million in 3,009 theaters.  Total gross to date is $20.4 million.  Budget was unknown.

#2 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters from Paramount fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $9.4 million (-52.1%) in 3,375 theaters (+3).  Total gross to date is $34.7 million.  Budget was $50 million.

#3 Silver Linings Playbook from Weinstein Company rose from #4 to #3 with a gross of $7.7 million (-18.1%) in 2,809 theaters (+168).  Total gross to date is $80 million.  Budget was $21 million.

#4 Mama from Universal fell from #2 to #4 with a gross of $6.6 million (-49.6%) in 2,781 theaters (+99).  Total gross to date is $58.1 million.  Budget was $15 million.

#5 Zero Dark Thirty from Sony/Columbia fell from #3 to #5 with a gross of $5.2 million (-46.6%) in 2,871 theaters (-58).  Total gross to date is $77.7 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#6 Bullet to the Head from Warner Bros. opened at #6 with a gross of $4.5 million in 2,404 theaters.  Budget was unknown.

#7 Parker from FilmDistrict fell from #5 to #7 with a gross of $3.3 million (-52.9%) in 2,238 theaters (+14).  Total gross to date is $12.5 million.  Budget was unknown.

#8 Django Unchained from Weinstein Company fell from #6 to #8 with a gross of $3 million (-39.3%) in 1,777 theaters (-230).  Total gross to date is $150.9 million.  Budget was $100 million.

#9 Les Miserables from Universal held at #9 with a gross of $2.42 million (-42.6%) in 1,848 theaters (-353).  Total gross to date is $141.5 million.  Budget was $61 million.

#10 Lincoln from Buena Vista rose from #11 to #10 with a gross of $2.4 million (-37.8%) in 1,756 theaters (-153).  Total gross to date is $170.8 million.  Budget was $65 million.

#11 Argo from Warner Bros. rose from #18 to #11 with a gross of $2 million (+12%) in 935 theaters (+300).  Total gross to date is $120.4 million.  Budget was $44.5 million.

#12 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Warner Bros. held at #12 with a gross of $1.9 million (-43.8%) in 1,300 theaters (-375).  Total gross to date is $296.2 million.  Budget was unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $68.4 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

James Bonomo, an aging New Orleans-based hitman and Taylor Kwon, a Washington, DC detective form a bit of an uneasy alliance after watching both of the partners killed in situations that are tied together. Taking place in New Orleans, both are now working their way up a food chain of bad guys to go after those responsible.

That’s a pretty simplified premise to Bullet to the Head the latest movie from director Walter Hill and star Sylvester Stallone who plays Bonomo (also know as Jimmy Bobo) and it’s an adaptation of the graphic novel Du plomb dans la tête from writer Alexis Nolent and artist Colin Wilson. I haven’t read the graphic novel, though I have seen parts of it and it looks quite impressive, but I can’t say if this is a faithful adaptation or not. This isn’t unfamiliar territory for director Walter Hill though, as he’s teamed the cop up with the crook before in the movie 48 Hrs. and he’s certainly no stranger to gritty action films with such movies as The Warriors, Streets of Fire and Last Man Standing to his credit.

From the initial trailer, my expectations for the film were pretty low, but I’m a fan of both Stallone and Hill and wanted to see what they’d cook up here. Watching the trailer, Stallone’s character seemed to me to be even more punchdrunk than Rocky Balboa on his worst day and that was something that I was just a little wary of at the start. Fortunately, there’s way more to Jimmy Bobo in the movie itself and I just think it’s a little unfortunate that that’s not shown in the trailer, though it’s understandable why it isn’t.

The story here is pretty straightforward and it’s nothing that you haven’t seen before, which as I’ve said in other reviews, doesn’t really bother me as long as it’s presented well. Bullet to the Head does it pretty well and I ended up enjoying this one more than I thought I would though that’s due largely to the work of two of the players in the film Sung Kang (from the Fast & Furious movies) as detective Kwon and Jason Momoa (our newest Conan) who plays Keegan the chief enforcer of our main bad guy, Morel (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

The thing that I like about Stallone here, and it’s certainly been true to his work in The Expendables films as well, is that’s he’s willing to acknowledge his age and play with that in the film. Jimmy Bobo has seen better days, but his years of experience play a huge role in his task at hand. Sung Kang has certainly done well with supporting parts in the past and it’s cool to see him stand his ground with Stallone, while playing the counterpoint of a detective who’s very much a technophile. The big surprise for me though here was Jason Momoa. I thought Momoa was terrific in Conan the Barbarian and I think he’s even better here. Momoa’s got real presence and commands the screen just about every time he’s on-screen. He’s a terrific threatening presence and I certainly look forward to seeing him in more movies down the road.

I mentioned Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje above, and while I’ve certainly liked his work in the past, here he seems a little out of place. His character, Robert Morel, carries himself on crutches through the movie and it just sort of seems to me like the part would’ve been better suited to an older actor who’s maybe a little less fit than Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Sarah Shahi plays Lisa Bonomo, Jimmy’s daughter and a possible love interest for Kwon. She’s certainly solid here though again it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. Another surprise though was Christian Slater who plays Morel’s laywer, Marcus Baptiste. Slater’s only in the movie a brief time, but he certainly plays his part to the hilt and is especially entertaining during a scene when he’s being interrogated by Bobo and Kwon.

Bullet to the Head is an entertaining 80s throwback action piece that’s certainly a nice little diversion at the theatre. Sylvester Stallone can still very much do this sort of part and it’s certainly wise on his end to acknowledge his age along the way. The best part of the film though is watching up-and-comer Jason Momoa in action. This kid’s got real chops and his presence is positively magnetic. In the end, I’d certainly recommend the movie, but it’s not necessarily the sort of thing that you have to run out and see right away on the big screen, unless you’re a Stallone fan and want to continue to catch the current wave of the return of the big action stars of the past.

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