May 30th, 2024
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The Memorial Day weekend box office turned out to be a disappointment in what should have been a healthy four-day stretch to kick off the Summer movie season. Topping the domestic charts were two of the three newcomers, with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga narrowly edging out The Garfield Movie, with $32.34 million to $31.26 million from Friday through Monday. This weekend will undoubtedly see the two reigning leaders remain on top, although there’s a good chance the roles will be reversed.
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August 31st, 2023
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It will be one week and done for Blue Beetle as the widest release as this weekend’s only new wide release makes its way into theaters and to the top of the list in the form of the third installment of The Equalizer franchise. While Blue Beetle pulled in a solid $12 million in its second weekend, it was stymied by newcomer Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, along with the continued success of worldwide phenom, Barbie, which took the first and second place prize respectively at the box office.
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September 11th, 2019
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There are two monster hits coming out this week, Aladdin and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, and this has scared away almost all of the competition. Fortunately, John Wick is amazing and a clear Pick of the Week contender. There was only one other film in contention for that title, Echo in the Canyon. Granted, I like Parabellum more, but it was already awarded the Pick of the Week when it hit VOD, so Echo in the Canyon gets the honor this week.
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May 2nd, 2018
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It is a really shallow week. There are releases that are fighting for a spot in the top five that normally would be so far down the list that we wouldn’t even cover them. That doesn’t mean there are no releases that are worth picking up. In Between was a limited release that earned near perfect reviews. The 1970s film, Legend of the Mountain, got a recent release and its reviews are even better. I reviewed Mary and the Witch’s Flower last week and it nearly won Pick of the Week then. I reviewed Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: The Complete Series this week and it is one of my favorite recent Anime comedies. It was a really close race between these four films and in the end, it came down to a coin-toss with Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid coming out ahead.
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May 1st, 2018
When Please Stand By opened in limited release, it missed the Mendoza Line by a large margin. However, it was also a Video on Demand, so its box office numbers were essentially immaterial. Now that it is out on DVD or Blu-ray is it worth picking up? Or is it strictly a rental?
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January 26th, 2018
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Padmavati is the biggest release of the week and unlike most Indian films, it is earning a lot of buzz. It could be a crossover hit. There are also a couple of films earning 100% positive reviews: the Chinese Indie animated film, Have a Nice Day, as well as Kickboxer: Retaliation. I don’t think the latter’s reviews will remain 100% positive for too much longer.
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March 10th, 2017
It is not a particularly busy week for limited releases, but there are a few that are earning good reviews and louder buzz. My Scientology Movie, Personal Shopper, and Raw all fit that description, but Personal Shopper probably has the best shot at box office success.
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February 1st, 2017
January turned out to be a good month. Granted, it didn’t live up to last January, but its box office was one of the top five Januarys of all time, so that’s still a good start to the year. Also, we will have our first $100 million movie released in 2017 and that doesn’t happen this early very often. As for February, there’s potentially the first $200 million hit of the year, The Lego Batman Movie. Fifty Shades Darker and The Great Wall both have a shot at $100 million. That said, it is more likely that both will miss that milestone than both will get there. As for the rest of the films, there are a few that are aiming for solid midlevel hits, like John Wick: Chapter Two and Get Out, while there are very few potential bombs. By comparison, last February there was one monster hit, Deadpool, and a lot of bombs. No other movie besides Deadpool made $50 million. No movie opening this month will match Deadpool, but we won’t have as many bombs either, so hopefully that will balance out and 2017 won’t fall further behind 2016.
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October 21st, 2016
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Several films coming out this week are earning nearly unanimously positive reviews. This includes a few documentaries, but also a couple of narrative films that have a shot at some box office success. Moonlight is clearly aiming to win awards and it might do so. The Handmaiden should help grow Chan-wook Park’s fanbase here.
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December 9th, 2015
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The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced today and there are at least a few surprises to talk about. Trumbo led the way with three nominations, but there were six films with two nods apiece. Six!
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April 3rd, 2015
It is a busy week, but not a good week for limited releases. The two biggest releases, Effie Gray and Woman in Gold, are both earning weak reviews. The film on this list I'm most interested in seeing is Cheatin'. I own a number of Bill Plympton movies / shorts and this one looks like it is worth adding to my collection.
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March 3rd, 2015
This is not a great week for new releases on the home market. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 is by far the biggest new title and its DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack is going to sell a ton of units. However, its reviews are not up to the level required to make it our Pick of the Week. Conversely, Foxcatcher is award-worthy, but the DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack doesn't have enough extras to be a Pick of the Week. It seemed like every choice for Pick of the Week wasn't quite up to the level needed, so I'm going to go outside the box and pick To Write Love On Her Arms on DVD, which is a film I've been waiting to see for about three years.
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December 20th, 2014
The final installment of our annual Holiday Gift Guide involves books, music, and whatever DVD and Blu-rays I forgot the first time around. Also, like every year, I use this as an opportunity do go over some screeners that arrived late and that I didn't have time to go through in-depth. Like I've said the first three times, I didn't feel like there was a huge amount of DVDs and Blu-ray that came out this year, so I really hope I didn't miss out much. We can start out with...
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September 23rd, 2014
This is both a great week on the home market, as well as an amazing week on the home market. There are by my count, at least a dozen releases that could be considered must haves or perfect Christmas gifts, which is great. What makes it amazing is the lack of filler. There are a couple of weak releases here and there, but the hit to miss ratio is as good as I can remember. The biggest release of the week, according to Amazon.com, is the Halloween Complete Collection, but it is not the best release. Contenders for Pick of the Week include a couple of limited releases: Ida - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray and We Are the Best! - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray. However, in the end I went with a TV on DVD release, Modern Family: Season Five - Buy from Amazon: DVD.
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August 29th, 2014
It's not a great week for limited releases as there are only two films earning overwhelmingly positive reviews: The Congress and Starred Up. Both of those films are playing on Video on Demand as well, so their box office numbers are likely going to be weaker than their Tomatometer Scores. Cantinflas does have an outside shot at tenth place, so at least there's some good news as far as limited releases are concerned. Swearnet: The Movie might turn out to be the biggest hit of the weekend north of the border, but it doesn't open in the States till next month.
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June 2nd, 2014
The Motel Life opened in limited release, as well as Video on Demand, back in November of last year. It earned good reviews, but not great reviews, and failed to find an audience in theaters. Granted, most films that open on Video on Demand fail to find an audience in theaters, but would this film have struggled even if it debuted in theaters without the Video on Demand? Or is it not strong enough for limited release?
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June 24th, 2013
A couple of weeks ago, Disney released three of their more recent animated films on Blu-ray for the first time, each of which included the direct-to-DVD sequel. This included The Emperor's New Groove Double-Shot and Atlantis: The Lost Empire Double-Shot. I was only able to get Lilo and Stitch Double-Shot. Are the two films worth checking out? And is the Blu-ray worth the money?
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June 19th, 2013
Hayao Miyazaki is one of the best animators working today, if not they best. He's created a number of masterpieces and even his weaker efforts are worth watching again and again. Recently two of his films were released on Blu-ray, Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro. The screeners arrived a little late, but I finally got to the reviews this week. Where do they fit in Hayao Miyazaki's filmography? And are they worth picking up?
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