If you were spending millions of dollars more each year to make and market a product, then sold less and less of it, you would be scared, too.
Sadly, this is where Hollywood is heading when it comes to business in the United States, and this summer was no exception.
Last summer, Hollywood studios brought in $4.4 Billion at the box office, which rose to $4.5 Billion in Summer 2011.
However, ticket sales are going downward. Last summer, 551 million tickets were sold, but only 543 million were sold in summer 2011. To give you some perspective, 653 million tickets were sold in the summer of 2002. The gain in revenue comes from higher prices, and people are starting to rebel against the 3D movies that are driving the higher prices.
Set in 1997, Helen Mirren stars as Rachel Singer - a highly renowned Israeli hero and retired Mossad agent who teamed with Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson) and David Peretz (Ciaran Hinds) to sneak into East Berlin in 1966 to find a Nazi war criminal and bring him to Israel to stand trial for his horrific crimes. Rachel's daughter has written a book about the whole, historic affair, but our heroine starts to think back to those monumental days in East Berlin, and gives the audience a chance to see what really happened.
Has the legend grown so large the truth can never be told?
Beyonce's pregnancy has caused the delay of her next movie, A Star is Born, directed by Clint Eastwood.
Originally scheduled to start filming in February, the remake of the classic, often told tale will not be able to go into production until Beyonce gives birth and has time to recover. That may not be a bad thing.
While Russell Crowe had been rumored to play the role of a fading rock star who starts to mentor Beyonce, and, eventually, fall in love with her, the male lead remains uncast.
Another rumor has it Leonardo DiCaprio, Eastwood's collaborator on the upcoming Oscar contender J. Edgar, declined the role, and no one has been signed to star opposite the singer.
Nothing will be as scary as that earthquake (even being married to Tom Cruise), but this week we have a movie that is willing to try.
Bailee Madison stars as Sally - a cute little girl sent from the West Coast to the East Coast to live with her father, Alex (Guy Pearce), and his girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes) in a big, creepy, old, mysterious, isolated mansion (Uh-Oh). As if the transition wasn't hard enough for this kid, she discovers a long hidden basement to this eerie, empty mansion, and strange voices are beckoning to her each night (Double Uh-Oh).
When the beings behind these voices start to enact their evil plan, will anyone believe Sally when she tries to explain who is behind all of the scary stuff happening around the house?
Will the evil voices get her before she can escape?
Paul Rudd stars as Ned - a hippie farmer sent to jail after being entrapped for selling marijuana to a uniformed police officer (yes, it is as stupid as it sounds, but works to establish who Ned is and how he views the world). Upon his release, Ned finds out his girlfriend, Janet (Kathryn Hahn) has found a new guy, barred him from returning to the farm, and stolen his dog (his dog Willie Nelson).
With nowhere else to turn, Ned stays with each of his sisters, only to upend their lives, but, also make them reconsider those lives and how to lead them (It's like a Hippie version of Highway to Heaven or Touched By An Angel).
Our Idiot Brother is being sold to audiences as a goofy comedy, but the movie you buy a ticket for is more of a mix between drama and comedy, which loses the comedy and the narrative too much towards the end.
When all is said and done, we aren't going to remember the Debt Ceiling Debate and Debacle, Iowa Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty's abbreviated run for President, Flash Mobs, controversies over Presidential vacations, The Green Lantern stinking beyond stink, or how you met this amazing woman at a pool party, but forgot her phone number and realize you just missed out on the love of your life (OK, that one might sting for a while).
We will all remember Summer of 2011 for where you were at 1:51 PM on August 23. We had an earthquake.
The gal from Transformers: Dark of the Moon might be the best piece of eye candy men saw this summer, but she didn't make enough of an impression to where we can remember her name, did she? I dare you to name her without checking out IMDB.com. Go ahead. Didn't think so.
But, we all remember Kristin Wiig, who starred in and wrote the best comedy of the year - Bridesmaids. Wiig proved smart and funny is sexier and more interesting every day of the week. She's a winner who is helping pave the way for a generation of hilarious women.
As summer starts to wind down, the kids are heading back to school and all of the best movies have had their turn to dazzle us, it's time to take a look at who had a good summer, and who can't wait for fall and winter to start making our days and nights a bit chillier, so we don't realize how chilly their careers have become.
Sadly, we are starting the series with a look at one of Summer's biggest losers - Tom Hanks.
This is the movie for people who like blood, violence and topless women. Who is still reading this review?
In this remake/reimagining/reboot, Jason Momoa is Conan the Barbarian - the last of his clan after an evil king, Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), murdered Conan's Dad (Ron Perlman, did the Governator cost too much?) and slain everyone in his village while attempting to find a missing piece to an all powerful mask that would give him unimaginable powers to rule the world (a very complicated plot for a movie that is this simple, most people are only buying tickets to see the blood, violence and topless women).
Now, Conan wanders the continent looking for Khalar Zym, (topless women) and his chance at revenge, while the evil king searches for "the pure one", Tamara (Rachel Nichols), who is integral to compete his ascension to god-like being.
Will Conan find Khalar Zym and kill him before it is too late?
You know you are in trouble when the highlight of the movie is the song they are playing over the credits.
In One Day, Anne Hathaway is Emma - the dowdy gal with the tart tongue, while Jim Sturgess is Dexter - the carefree, party boy cad with a heart of gold. After one magical, only-in-the-movies day of romance, we check in on these pals every July 15th over the course of 20 or so years to see they are so clearly crushing for each other, but screwing it up every year and driving each other further and further away.
No vampire is sparkling in Fright Night. All is right with the world.
Anton Yelchin stars as Charley - a high schooler in Las Vegas who used to be a geek, but suddenly became a stud. Instead of hanging with his less popular long time pal, Ed (Christopher "I dare you to call him McLovin" Mintz-Plasse), Charley is dating the hottest gal in school, Amy (Imogen "such a beautiful woman, such an ugly name" Poots). While senior year should be awesome, Ed is worried about all of the people who have been mysteriously disappearing around town.
After some cajoling, Charley joins Ed in the investigation, and starts to believe his next door neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell), might be a vampire. And, Jerry knows that Charley knows, so, now, he has to kill the little bugger.
Yep. They made another one. I guess you really don't need me to tell you if you are interested or not, but here we go.
Nicholas D'Agostino stars as Sam - a wannabe chef working at a paper company (Presage, hahaha) to help make ends meet. He and his co-workers are set to head off on one of those corporate retreat team building weekends, when he has a premonition aboard the bus as they pass over a bridge under construction. Sam jumps off the bus, and takes several of his pals with them, which saves them all from horrible doom.
Of course, it doesn't end there. As the survivors are warned by a mysterious coroner (Tony Todd), "death doesn't like to be cheated," so death is coming after them one-by-one.
If you know the real story, you might find it hard to believe this is a comedy.
Even if you don't know the real story, you might find it hard to believe this is a comedy.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as Nick - a pizza delivery guy in Grand Rapids, MI whose life is about to be upended and changed forever. Dwayne (Danny McBride) is a blowhard, delusional loser who wants to hire a hitman to kill his father, so the bum can inherit Dad's wealth. To get the money to pay the hitman, Dwayne and his buddy, Travis (Nick Swardson), decide they will kidnap Nick, strap a bomb on him, and force the kid to rob a bank, or else he will be blown up (kind of complicated when you can just rob the bank yourself, or poison the father to kill him, but let's not let logic get in the way).
While many movies have caused great controversy on Capitol Hill over the years, this one could be the biggest controversy of all, but should it be?
As you may know, Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) and writer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) have been working on a movie detailing the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, but the access granted to them and the planned release date have earned the ire of Congressman Peter King (R-NY), who is the Chair of the Homeland Security Committee.
Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett and set in the early 1960's, Emma "soon to be filing a restraining order against a certain husky movie critic" Stone stars as Skeeter - a recent college grad returning back home to Jackson, MS to take a job at the local newspaper. While her current gig has her writing homemaking advice, Skeeter has come across something more substantial that could be her ticket to the big time.
All of her friends have grown into the stereotypical, well-to-do Southern housewives who lunch, belong to social clubs and have African-American domestic help who raise the kids and take care of the homes (we should be lucky Bravo did not exist and we weren't subject to Real Housewives of Jackson). However, Skeeter's pal, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard), has started a campaign to force all homeowners to build separate, outdoor bathroom facilities for the help.
As you can imagine, this is the final straw for many, including Aibileen (Viola Davis), who decides to help Skeeter write her book about the way the women who work in the homes in Jackson are treated.
Will Aibileen and Skeeter be able to put together enough material to write an entire book?
What will happen if someone finds out about the book?
You know you have struck a nerve when the publicist refuses to return your email asking about the press release they sent to you.
AMC Theatres (putting the R before the E in theatres makes it classier and more British, which could be backfiring on them considering all of the riots and stuff going on across the pond these days) is trumpeting the addition of an IMAX screen to the AMC Georgetown 14 this fall, which will debut with the release of Contagion: The IMAX Experience on September 9. However, the experience might be disappointing for most.
If you are like me, when I hear IMAX, I start to have visions of massive screens in my head, which is why I saw Fantasia 2000, Star Trek and The Dark Knight in full-fledged IMAX theaters (or is that theatres?).
However, a few years ago, IMAX decided to redefine the expectations of what makes a screen an IMAX screen in an effort to expand the number of "IMAX" screens in the market (and allowing everyone involved to charge higher or premium prices for the experience more often).
A traditional IMAX screen is up to 76 feet by 97 feet in size, which is massive! The trend in IMAX screens being installed in multiplexes, like the AMC Georgetown 14, is for a size of 28 feet by 58 feet. It is bigger than your normal screen, but it isn't 76' by 97'.
However, IMAX does not make a distinction between the different sizes. Is this an attempt to make you believe you are paying extra for the massive screen, since IMAX was marketed for many years as a bigger visual experience?
As far as IMAX is concerned, they say IMAX is about more than just the size of the screen. They say it is also about the crisper resolution and better sound, so, if you go to see Contagion: The IMAX Experience, when Gwyneth Paltrow's character gets the bird flu, you will be amazed by the crystal clarity of the snot coming from her nose, and the vibrant sound of her puking her guts out.
IMAX also argues the immersion of the audience member is greater even at the smaller screen size since you will be closer to the screen in the smaller multiplex theater. In essence, the screen looks massive because you are closer, which is not a crazy thought. This is why you sat as close as possible to the TV when you were a kid and laughed when your mother said you would go blind from it.
I have a feeling I might be invited to see Contagion: The IMAX Experience when the movie is released in a few weeks, unless IMAX, AMC Georgetown 14 and/or the local publicists are so angry over this story they ban me.
I will let you know if the experience is worth the extra money, even if I have to take it out of my own pocket.
First, James Franco destroyed the Oscars. Now, he is destroying the planet. Way to go, genius.
Franco stars as Will Rodman - a scientist in San Francisco desperately trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's, since his father (John Lithgow) is suffering from the disease. However, the experiments conducted on chimpanzees go horribly wrong, and the company orders them all put down.
Not willing to give up on finding a cure, and unable to let the company destroy a baby chimpanzee he names Caesar, Will brings the baby home, starts to raise him, and discovers the drug he created has made little Caesar smarter than any animal or human of his age.
When Caesar starts to act out and gets put in a facility with other apes, we find out just how much smarter he is than everything and everyone else.
It's Freaky Friday with dudes! That doesn't make it better.
In The Change-Up, Jason Bateman is Dave - the married guy with the wonderful wife (Leslie Mann), 3 kids and a career path leading to partner at his law firm.
Ryan Reynolds is Mitch - the irresponsible ladies man and failed actor who gets to party all day and all night with all sorts of beautiful women.
Of course, each one wants the other's life, and they get their wish after a night of drunkenness that leads to them relieving themselves in a mysterious fountain, while asking to switch lives.
Gee, do you think each one might realize the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence?
Can they find the fountain when they realize the horrible mistake they have made?
In one of the most controversial decisions in recent years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced Oprah Winfrey will be the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which is an honorary Oscar given to a person in the industry whose humanitarian and charitable acts bring honor to the industry.
While past recipients include Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and more titans of Hollywood history, some are a bit confused over Oprah's selection.
In case you missed it this weekend, Matt Damon was in DC in support of teachers at the Save Our Schools March.
However, Matt's best moment came when he was interviewed by a reporter with an agenda.
Reason.TV, which promotes a Libertarian point of view, sent a very pretty reporter to ask some dumb questions about what motivates teachers (this is why reporters should know something about their subject instead of being more concerned about their makeup and hair).
While the Libertarian view that people are motivated to work harder for more reward is not idiotic, this reporter was. See the results below, and be warned. Matt uses some salty, not safe for work or children language. Stick around for the interchange between Matt and the camerman after the Good Will Hunting clip that was tossed in for no good reason.
If you were spending millions of dollars more each year to make and market a product, then sold less and less of it, you would be scared, too. 
