How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
February 8, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who like surveillance cameras: Paranormal Activity 2
For a good long while, Halloween would come ‘round, and Lionsgate would release a Saw movie. Didn’t matter what year it was. It’d just be a year later, the franchise would tack on a different Roman numeral to the end of its name and people - those who enjoy watching people unrelated to them get tortured and ripped to bits - would show up in droves. In every case, the latest Saw would earn back its budget over opening weekend (if not on opening day alone), and then another chapter in the series would get greenlit.
It was all quite amazing, really, and I don’t know that the franchise would have completed itself - or so they say! - had it not been for the phenomenon that was Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity embarrassed Saw in more ways than one, be it over the weekend they first went head to head (PA: $21.1 million, Saw: $14.1 million), or, a year later when Paranormal Activity 2 grossed $40.6 million in three days, a feat Saw failed to do after seven tries. Even 3D-inflated ticket prices left Saw 40% shy of PA’s second round.
No longer the phenomenon, but still edgy and cool - more so than Blair Witch 2 ever was - Paranormal Activity 2 picks up around the time of its predecessor. Instead of a handheld, it’s a home equipped with surveillance. And yes, Katie is still possessed by a demon.
Disc includes: N/A
For people who don’t know how to change diapers: Life as We Know It
Right away - like, requiring zero post-trailer digestion time - Life as We Know It looked like a hilarious way to squander money on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Are you with me? I know a few people who weren’t, including my dear mother who assumed Life as We Know It to be the Next Great Hollywood Romantic Comedy (or something like that). I told her it’d be a waste of time and the rest of it, but alas, my opinion fell on deaf ears. I tasted sweet redemption, though, when I heard back from mother not too long after she decided to go. (“Man, Eric, that was a waste of time.”)
I don’t know. I do find it interesting how some moviegoers - romantic comedy “enthusiasts” in particular - have what may be an innate inability to discern the good from the bad. This isn’t to say I’m perfect at this, because I’ve certainly had my fair share of miscues. But I feel like, with anything, time and practice leads to better decision-making, and, hopefully, a better movie going experience that “next time.”
I do think, though, that a movie like Life as We Know It gives us a chance at least to rattle Katherine Heigl’s feathers a bit. I mean, the actress spurred a boatload of reaction when she cursed Judd Apatow and his supposed sexist screenplays. This, of course, coming from the head of an actress who, post-Knocked Up, went on to star in such acclaimed masterpieces like 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth. It’d be like if TMZ publicly slapped the New York Times on the wrist for not beefing up its coverage on current affairs in Egypt.
Anyway, Life as We Know It proved yet again that people like movies about people who think they have nothing in common but actually have quite a bit in common (and, yes, can raise a small child together to boot). Either that, or people just like seeing Christina Hendricks in supporting roles that has little to nothing to do with Mad Men.
Disc includes: A Survival Guide to Instant Parenting featurette, Katherine Heigl: Becoming the Best Mom Ever featurette, Josh Duhamel: The Triplet Tamer featurette
For people who want a warm up before Scream 4: My Soul to Take
‘Tis a shame that the dude behind Freddy Krueger, the original Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes and a string of Scream movies no longer has the kind of leverage that soundly defeats a holdover movie like Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (relatedly, a prime candidate for longest movie title ever). Wes Craven’s 3D-infused My Soul to Take earned just $6.8 million over its opening weekend and, had Gulliver’s Travels been released straight-to-DVD, would be the dubious holder of lowest opening weekend of a 3D film released at 1,500+ engagements. Perhaps it’s fitting, considering My Soul to Take boasts a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (Among the nation’s top critics? Zilch).
The first movie since New Nightmare that Wes both directed and wrote, My Soul to Take centers around a serial killer who returns to his hometown to murder seven children who have a birthday on the same date that the killer allegedly died. Conventionally, we’ve heard this kind of “return to town” game before - My Bloody Valentine, Halloween - and I don’t know that it offers any sort of fresh spin.
Disc includes: N/A
February 8, 2011
Blu-ray
Air Show Extreme: The Sky's The Limit
Amarcord (Criterion Collection)
America The Beautiful
Barb Wire
Beauty & the Briefcase
Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2
Chicken Little
Dinosaur
Discover Planet Ocean
Downtown Abbey
Enchanted
Equator Extremes: Battle For Light / Paradox Of An
Five Corners
Flipper
For Colored Girls
I Spit On Your Grave (Director's Cut)
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Legends Of The Fall
Life as We Know It
Meet the Robinsons
Middle Men
My Soul to Take
National Treasure
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
Ocean Odyssey: Blue Realm
Old Dogs
Ong Bak 3 (Collector's Edition)
Paranormal Activity 2
The Princess and the Frog
A Private Function
Rediscover The Ancient Mysteries Of Egypt
Repo Chick
A River Runs Through It
The River Wild
Still Walking (Criterion Collection)
Tamara Drewe
Thelma & Louise (20th Anniversary Edition)
The Ultimate Jordan (Limited Edition)
Uncle Buck
Waist Deep
When Weather Changed History
The Wild
Wild Target
You Again
DVD
Amarcord (Criterion Collection)
Beauty & the Briefcase
Doctor Who (2 Disc Collector's Edition)
Five Corners
For Colored Girls
The Guardian: The Complete Series (Set)
The Guardian: The Final Season
House of Payne: Volume 6
I Spit On Your Grave (Director's Cut)
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Life as We Know It
Middle Men
My Soul to Take
Ong Bak 3 (Collector's Edition)
Paranormal Activity 2
A Private Function
Project Runway: The Complete Eighth Season
Repo Chick
Still Walking (Criterion Collection)
Tamara Drewe
Thelma & Louise (20th Anniversary Edition)
The Ultimate Jordan (Limited Edition)
Wild Target
You Again