01/13/11

The Golden Globes: Come this Sunday, January 16 a whole lot of good looking people will dress up, smile lots, receive expensive gift bags stuffed with iPods and sunglasses, laugh at awkward situations Ricky Gervais creates and go to a few after parties. Some will win awards, some will make bad jokes on stage and a couple of attendees (Christian Bale and Natalie Portman) will most certainly win well deserved awards. What’s that you ask? Do I have any more predictions or harsh opinions? Yeah, of course. The Social Network will win best Best Drama; The Kids Are All Right will win best Comedy/Musical (in an especially weak year for the category); Colin Firth will win Best Actor in a Drama; almost everyone will wonder why The Tourist received nominations; Christopher Nolan should (but won't) win Best Director; and, without a doubt, Toy Story 3 will win Best Animated Feature. Other opinions? Psht, you bet. For one, I’m hoping Amy Adams will win Best Support Actress and Christian Bale will give a whopper of an acceptance speech after he wins Best Supporting Actor. As far as the television categories go, I plan to all but disregarded that portion of the show, seeing as how “Treme” didn’t receive a single nomination but “Glee,” “Hung” and Jennifer Love Hewitt all did. Anyhow, here it comes, another big and expensive awards show - rich people honoring richer people while poor people watch from their couches, drinking soda and eating Doritos. Yum. Burp. Zzz. Never mind.  

Opening This Weekend: While all of us with any taste and/or souls continue waiting for movies like Blue Valentine, 127 Hours, Another Year, I Love You, Phillip Morris and Rabbit Hole to come to town, the Ron Howard-directed The Dilemma opens everywhere. Also coming to town is The Green Hornet, the Michel Gondry-directed action/comedy hybrid based on the comic book of the same name. Starring Seth Rogen (who wrote the script with writing partner Evan Goldberg), the movie - which many have been predicting will be a train wreck - has actually been testing very well thus far. With Gondry at the helm, I won’t be a bit surprised if it all somehow works. But, ya know, this from the guy who loved Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection.

Tops at the Box: The Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit takes the No. 1 spot at the box office during the holiday break, ahead of Little Fockers, the new Nic Cage movie and Tron Legacy?! Who’d have thunk it? Awesome. Amazing. Already their highest grossing film ever, the Coen’s movie topped the $100 million mark last weekend, bringing in another $15 million with True Grit. Personally, I thought the movie was good, not great (and by Coen standards, nowhere near the top of the heap). Gimme Fargo, A Serious Man, No Country For Old Men or Barton Fink any day. Hell, give me The Man Who Wasn’t There.

More From the Box: Coming in at No. 2 last weekend was the Paul Weitz-directed, John Hamburg-written franchise comedy Little Fockers, starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman and Babs. Booo! Just kidding. I enjoy those movies just fine, especially late at night, after a bad day, when I can’t fall asleep or find joy in the bottle. The movie made about $14 million last weekend, upping it’s 17-day total to $124 million. Taking the No. 3 spot last weekend was Season of the Witch, bringing in just under $11 million over its first three day. Zzz. Taking the No. 4 and No. 5 spots were Tron Legacy (Zzz) and Black Swan (!!!), grossing $9.8 million and $8.3 million each. Awful-looking drama Country Strong stole just over $7 million from poor, helpless moviegoers over its first three days. You poor saps; please try to make better life choices from here forward.

New to Home Video: Out last Tuesday, January 11: Alpha and Omega; The Freebie; Piranha 3D; The Social Network; reissues of Dances with Wolves and Once Upon a Time in America (!!!); a first-run Blu-ray edition of Raging Bull (!!!, !!!); season 14 of “ER;” season five of “The Universe;” and “Louis C.K.: Hilarious.” Out this coming Tuesday, January 18: Stone; Takers; Buried; and season one of “Justified.”