June 17th, 2020
There are a lot of smaller releases on this week’s list and nothing that truly stands out as a potential hit. However, almost everyone should find something worth watching. The Soul Collector should please fans of low-budget horror movies. Roger Waters Us + Them is worth the money for fans of Pink Floyd. The indie drama The Short History of the Long Road is earning a lot of praise. The Cameraman is the best movie on this week’s list, but the Blu-ray is the better deal than a VOD rental.
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November 18th, 2019
Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a live-action adaptation of a kids cartoon aimed at preschoolers. Is it going to entertain older kids who grew up on Dora the Explorer? Will it entertain adults? Or does it fall in that awkward space between those two demographics?
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January 17th, 2014
Machete had one of the strangest origins. It began as a fake trailer in Grindhouse, but the fake trailer was so popular they turned it into a real movie. Unfortunately, while that movie earned good reviews, the target audience for Grindhouse cinema is too small to thrive in theaters. It must have done well enough to justify a sequel in someone's mind, albeit a sequel with a greatly reduced production budget being released by a smaller studio. But can the sequel live up to its predecessor?
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October 21st, 2013
This week on the home market is... well... it's short. Last week, according to Amazon.com, there were 459 new releases or reissues. This week there are 161. Fortunately, there are a few releases of note, including The Conjuring, which pulled in more than $300 million worldwide on a production budget of just $20 million. Fortunately, it really deserved this success and the DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack are contenders for Pick of the Week. Other contenders include Before Midnight on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack and The Way Way Back on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack. In the end, it was literally a coin toss and The Conjuring won.
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October 8th, 2013
There are a couple first-run releases on this week's list: After Earth and The Hangover: Part III. However, neither film won over critics and both bombed in theaters, when compared to their production budgets. That said, The Hangover: Part III will likely be the best selling release of the week. As for the best new release, including a number where I'm still waiting for the screener. Ignoring those, the two best are Robot Chicken: Season Six on DVD or Blu-ray and Much Ado About Nothing on DVD or Blu-ray. Both are must haves, but I'm going with the latter over the former for Pick of the Week.
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October 1st, 2013
October is an awkward month. It sits between the dumping ground that is September and November, the unofficial start of Awards Season / holiday blockbuster season. For the most part, September was stronger than average for the month and there's reason to be optimistic going forward. After all, box office success tends to feed on itself, as does box office struggles. That said, there are not a lot of sure hits over the coming four weeks. Of the nine or ten films opening wide this month, only Gravity has a better than 50/50 chance at $100 million. Captain Phillips could have a shot at the century mark, but only if it becomes a serious Awards Season player. Its early reviews suggest that could be a possibility. Last October, there were two films to reach the $100 million mark, Taken 2 and Argo. On the other hand, pretty much everything else that opened that month crashed and burned. While this October doesn't have as strong a top end, it will hopefully have much better depth.
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