Here’s a video of Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) singing a song with The Swell Season (Once).  At first I thought he was actually going to play a serious and sweet song… I’m ashamed that I thought that.  Luckily, he performed a hilarious pop ballad with the digits to a phone number that has been disconnected.  Bravo.

Studio Estimates for Nov. 20-22:

1.  New Moon – $140.7 million
2.  The Blind Side – $34.5 million
3.  2012 – $26.5 million
4.  Planet 51 – $12.6 million
5.  A Christmas Carol – $12.3 million

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So I’m sure you all heard abouto this little movie called New Moon that hit the theaters this weekend.  If you were unfortunate enough to be caught in the craze during Friday, then you have my sympathy.  Not only did New Moon break the record for midnight showings with $26.3 million, but it broke the record for opening day gross with $72.7 million!  Wow.  Just wow.

Even though the film dropped off on Saturday, New Moon still grossed $140.7 million, third biggest opening of all-time behind only The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3.  And to no surprise, Summit’s exit polling had 80 percent of the audience was female.

Onto the other success story of the weekend, The Blind Side came in second place with a whopping $34.5 million.  I’m still not sure how it made so much money.  I didn’t find the commercials too compelling, but maybe others did.  Or maybe it’s because it’s a football drama in the middle of football season?  Most likely, its strong word-of-mouth catapulted this movie into the “must-see” list for many movie-goers this weekend.

Meanwhile, 2012 made $26.5 million for third place.  The newly released animation Planet 51 snagged the fourth spot this weekend with $12.6, even though being blasted by critics with negative reviews.  And rounding out the Top 5 was A Christmas Carol with $12.2 million.

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As for our predictions, Dan was the closest to predicting New Moon’s grand total.  I wasn’t too far behind, but Sheehan and Phil greatly underestimated the power of flocking females running and screaming for Team Edward and Team Jacob.  Also, none of us predicted the success for The Blind Side.  Needless to say, The Predictions Panel had a very poor outing this weekend.  We’ll try to do better next time.

The new releases for this Thanksgiving weekend come out on Wednesday and include:  Ninja Assassin, Old Dogs, and the wide expansion of The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

All right, I’ve been purposely avoiding the while Twilight Saga on my blog for so long, mainly because I don’t want to write about it (which is probably a bad move when it comes down to viewership).  But now it’s inevitable.  The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released today (cue thousands of teenage girls screaming).  Anyway, here we go.

New Moon will hit 4,000+ theaters this weekend.  We all saw what the first film, Twilight, accomplished: $70 million its opening weekend.  There’s no doubt there is a lot of hype for the sequel with the switch of directors and the dominant Team Jacob storyline (that’s right, I know some stuff about Twilight).  It really isn’t a question what film will top the box office this weekend, it’s how much New Moon will gross.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Surprisingly, there are two other movies being released this weekend.  There’s the family-friendly animation about aliens titled Planet 51.  And guess what?  It’s not in 3-D!  Say what?!  It seems rare these days to see an animated film in the theaters without having the opportunity to put on some awesome 3-D glasses.  Although this film isn’t receiving the same kind of buzz like other top animated films get, it’ll probably still draw a decent audience.

Finally, Sandra Bullock is back in action in a sports drama titled The Blind Side.  Based on a true story of Michael Oher, the reviews have been favorable with ads claiming it’s Sanda Bullock’s best acting performance of her career.  But unless word of mouth is strong, this movie could easily fall off the map this weekend.

Here are our predictions:

My Predictions:

1.  New Moon – $100 million
2.  2012 – $30 million
3.  The Blind Side – $17 million
4.  Planet 51 – $15 million
5.  A Christmas Carol – $13 million

Dan’s Predictions:

1.  New Moon – $105 million
2.  2012 – $20 million
3.  The Blind Side – $18 million
4.  A Christmas Carol – $7 million
5.  Precious – $4 million

Phil’s Predictions:

1.  New Moon – $80 million
2.  Planet 51 – $30 million
3.  2012 – $28 million
4.  The Blind Side – $15 million
5.  A Christmas Carol – $11 million

Sheehan’s Prediction:

1.  New Moon – $79 million
2.  2012 – $35 million
3.  A Christmas Carol – $15 million
4.  Planet 51 – $14 million
5.  The Blind Side – $10 million

Precious: Based on the Novel By Sapphire (2009)
109 minutes
Rated – R
Directed by Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey

Grade:  A-

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Packed with a number of outstanding acting performances from the most unlikeliest candidates, Precious is a dark and raw film that surprisingly has an uplifting moral to tell.

Taken place in Harlem 1987, the protagonist, Precious Jones, is played by Gabourey Sidibe who is extremely riveting in her acting debut.  She is an overweight African American who lives in a world of poverty and abuse.  At 16-years-young she’s been raped by her father, had a child with down syndrome, lives off of welfare, is physically and emotionally abused by her mom, and is pregnant with her second child.  Nothing is going right with Precious until two women take the spotlight in her world and impacts her.

First and most importantly is her alternative schooling teacher, Miss Rain (Patton).  With a passion for teaching and a strong will to get through to her students, Rain goes the distance getting to know Precious and offers her kindness and love that has been barren to her throughout her life.  Inside that small classroom, Precious finally feels important and can have her voice be heard by the rest of the students.

But when she’s not at school she’s stuck at home with her abusive mother, Mary (played spectacularly by stand-up comedian Mo’Nique).  If there is a more complex character than Precious in this movie, it’s Mary.  With glimpses of tenderness and motherly love, she is corrupted by selfishness and a cheating husband.  But instead of being mad at him, she’s upset at Precious for stealing her man and takes it out on her in the cruelest ways.

Precious is forced to talk about her problems at home with social worker Ms. Weiss (Mariah Carey) in order to apply for her welfare checks.  Opening up to her unloads a great weight that has been on Precious for quite some time.  In the stunning and emotional conclusion between Precious, Mary, and Ms. Weiss, a lot is revealed that is as shocking as it will tug at your heart.

With such serious material coming from the best-selling novel by Sapphire, Lee Daniels (Monster’s Ball) is able to do a hell of a job balancing out the movie, giving it a intriguing look at the life of Precious.  He never over-steps any of the social issues, but he doesn’t play it safe either.  Here is a well-paced, engaging story that has you emotionally invested in the characters… not an easy accomplishment.

Onto the performances, Sidibe’s Precious is stellar.  You just know she has a lot to say, but internalizes most of it.  She’s talented and is smart, but when you’re told otherwise for your whole life it’s impossible to not believe it.  Sidibe is able to capture this type of torment and peril in Precious.

And then there’s Mo’Nique’s performance that a lot of critics are already saying is “Oscar worthy.”  While I cannot disagree, giving her that title is probably a bit pre-mature.  She portrayed Precious’ mother with a relentless assault while emotionally giving the audience an understanding for her actions, something I didn’t think was possible.  The role she played is difficult but was powerfully rewarding at the end.

Overall, Precious isn’t an easy film to watch but is one of the better films I’ve seen this year.  It tackled social issues right at the source and told such an important story in a way for the public to relate to and understand.  A film like this doesn’t come around too often.  Do yourself a favor and see it.

Studio Estimates for Nov. 13-15:

1.  2012 – $65 million
2.  A Christmas Carol – $22.3 million
3.  The Men Who Stare At Goats – $6.2 million
4.  Precious – $6.1 million
5.  This Is It – $5.1 million

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Roland Emmerich has done it again with his recent end-of-the-world, disaster flick ‘2012.’  Over the weekend, the film grossed an estimate of $65 million.  This follows the success of Emmerich’s past disaster films ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and ‘Independende Day.’ 

Meanwhile, A Christmas Carol grossed $22.3 million during its second weekend.  The Men Who Stare At Goats barely secured the third spot with $6.2 million. 

Securing the fourth spot was Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire.  Expanding from 18 to 174 theaters, the film grossed $6.1 million, which is the second-highest grossing weekend for a movie playing in less than 200 sites (Paranormal Activity is first). 

Rounding out the Top 5 was Michael Jackson’s This Is It grossing $5.1 million.

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Check back next weekend when three new releases hit the theaters:  the highly anticipated Twilight sequel ‘New Moon’, the animated family film ‘Planet 51′ and the Sandra Bullock sports drama ‘The Blind Side.’

The Academy Is… / Mayday Parade
The Alternative Press Fall Ball ‘09 Tour

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On Wednesday night (Nov. 11, 2009) I attended the Fall Ball Tour with co-headliners The Academy Is… and Mayday Parade at The Fillmore, formerly known as Irving Plaza.

I arrived to the show purposely tardy, with the intention to only watch the co-headliners.  But I was able to catch the entire set of Set Your Goals.  Not familiar with their music, I can only say that they have a variety of music styles blended into their fast-paced and energetic songs.  Their live performance was uneven, and I’m not a big fan of the two-singers format.  While they had a decent amount of people singing the words to their songs, I don’t think they have what it takes to graduate from being openers to headliners.

One problem I have with co-headlining tours is that I never know which band is supposed to play first and which band will play last.  But as the buzz in the crowd grew with anticipation, Mayday Parade finally walked out onto the stage and went into their incredibly catchy hit “Jamie All Over.”  This is the first time I’ve seen Mayday Parade perform and I was quite impressed by their energy and extremely poppy hooks.  The lead singer, Derek Sanders, was doing his best Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday) impression by swinging the microphone and moving around the entire stage.

Mayday Parade’s pop-punk excellence was showcased in sing-a-long choruses from tracks like “Kids In Love” and “Anywhere But Here.”  In the middle of the set, Sanders got intimate with the audience and performed “Miserable at Best” while playing the keyboard.  The result was the majority of the crowd singing with Sanders, sometimes drowning him out.  Finally, Mayday Parade performed their closer, “Jersey” which had the crowd jumping and moving around non-stop.

While I wasn’t entirely familiar with Mayday Parade’s songs, there’s no doubt they put on an entertaining show and have a very good following in the pop-punk genre.

I was disappointed to see that during the switch-over from Mayday Parade to The Academy Is, that almost half of the crowd exited the venue.  But that didn’t stop everyone who stayed to give it their all during the set.

The Academy Is with frontman William Beckett were very professional in the way they took the stage and performed their set.  Their sound was tight and Beckett was full of charisma, packing a powerful voice and encouraging the crowd to bounce to every song.  Opening with “Almost Here” and “Neighbors”, The Academy Is displayed their indie-rock sound with a hint of fun as they played their songs with smiles and passion.

Songs like “About a Girl”, “Classifieds” and “Summer Hair=Forever Young” were the crowd favorites, along with their very catchy and angry hit song “Checkmarks.”  When they performed the meaningful “40 Steps”, dedicating the song to all of their fans old and new, the audience showed their appreciation by listening to the ballad with their undivided attention.  And for their finale, The Academy Is played “Slow Down” off their first album.

Overall, the show was full of enjoyable performances by a few of the scene’s best pop-punk acts.  I’m glad that after my high school era with great pop-punk bands like The Starting Line, The Ataris, and Brand New playing “Your Favorite Weapon”, that the genre is still thriving.

With only one major release this weekend, there’s really not much to talk about.  Well, let me get right to it then.

It’s the end of the world for John Cusack in this super destructive, action-thriller titled 2012.  Expect major special effects and insane visuals throughout this 158-minute flick.  Oh, and also expect major bucks to flow in from the theaters.  There is absolutely no competition against 2012 this weekend.

Debuting in approximately 900 theaters is Pirate Radio starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.  The story revolves around a group of DJs that broadcast rock music in England after it was banned in the 1960’s.  This film will mainly target a mature audience.  I doubt this movie falls into the Top 5 for this weekend, but hey I could be wrong.

Also, the extremely hyped up Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is receiving an expansion from 18 to 174 theaters.  There’s a chance this film could reach the Top 5 since the competition is so weak this weekend.

Here are our predictions:

My Predictions:

1.  2012 – $54 million
2.  A Christmas Carol – $22 million
3.  The Men Who Stare At Goats – $8 million
4.  This Is It – $7 million
5.  Precious – $6 million

Phil’s Predictions:

1.  2012 – $40 million
2.  A Christmas Carol – $17 million
3.  Pirate Radio – $10 million
4.  This Is It – $7 million
5.  The Men Who State At Goats – $5 million

Dan’s Predictions:

1. 2012 – $30 million
2. A Christmas Carol – $19 million
3. The Fourth Kind – $13 million
4. The Box – $12 million
5. The Men Who Stare At Goats – $8 million

Two Lovers (2008)
110 minutes
Rated – R
Directed by James Gray
Starring:  Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw

Grade:  A-

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Two Lovers is an example for why I absolutely love well-made dramas.  It’s a wonder why studios don’t push for these more since they’re inexpensive to make and contain layers of power, but I guess I can understand the limited audience who actually enjoy these type of films.

The movie evolves around Leonard (Phoenix), a troubled and sensitive middle-aged man looking for something in his life to change for the better.  His tragic past resulted in suicidal tendencies that he supposedly passed.  But it’s clear that he’s far from being happy.

Enter Sandra (Shaw), a pretty and loving woman who has expressed her interest in Leonard.  She shows a concern to his evident depression and wants to help him get better.  She is exactly the kind of girl that Leonard needs.  On top of that, the idea of the two of them getting together is making both of their Jewish families overwhelmed with joy.  But even though this seems like a good thing, Leonard still doesn’t smile.

Until he meets Michelle (Paltrow).  Leonard is immediately fascinated by her beauty and adventurous personality.  His first encounter with her was inviting her inside his apartment, saving her from one of her father’s fits.  As one of his neighbors, she is easily accessible, which also affects Leonard as well.  But one thing is clear, even before he got to know Michelle well, you knew he wanted everything to do with her.

This desire results in a lot of pain and trouble for Leonard.  Her flirty and friendly personality misleads Leonard on until she spills the beans that she’s currently in a relationship with a married man.  But as the good friend who is hoping for more, he is always there for Michelle no matter how inconvenient the situation.  He’s there for her to talk to, to give advice to, to drive her to the hospital, stay by her side until she sleeps, and more.  There’s something poetic about these two damaged individuals that makes you think they could heal each others’ wounds if they were just given a chance.

Towards the conclusion of the film there are some very touching moments between Leonard and his mother (Isabella Rossellini).  The love Leonard has for his parents just shows how much love he has inside of him, begging to be released on someone he truly cares about.  In this case, this woman is Michelle.  And even with a better life with benefits staring right in his eyes with Sandra, he throws all his chips in and opts for the windy, unknown road.

Writer/director James Gray takes such a delicate love-triangle and allows the well-casted actors to shine in this film.  There isn’t a moment that drags since you’re completely invested in the characters and the continuing plot.  Joaquin Phoenix gives one of his purest performances of his career.  And the two girls are such opposites that it makes for such a compelling argument.  Paltrow’s Michelle is extremely needy and reckless, while Shaw’s Sandra notably soothes Leonard’s pain.

Two Lovers dives into and develops the theme of familiarity versus risk.  Should one be content with the safe choice?  Should one be willing to risk the comfortable choice for a possible better life… with a possible consequence of something worse?  That’s really where the phrase “all or nothing” comes into play.

The plot isn’t thick at all and the pace could be tiring for some, but within every frame is an observation on how the characters act and react to each other.  What they want is simple, but to achieve it is where the road is long.

(SPOILER ALERT!)
I think the ending of the film will give everyone a different feeling.  For me, it was a bittersweet conclusion.  The way Leonard is willing to throw away everything to create a new and fresh life with the woman he loves displays the passion he has for Michelle.  But inevitably, her chaotic lifestyle leaves him in the dust.  I want to believe that Leonard and Michelle would’ve crashed and burned in the end, just to give a positive reinforcement that everything happens for a reason.  The reason here is that Sandra is really the girl who was meant to save Leonard.

According to Entertainment Weekly, multiple inside sources claim that Fox informed ‘Dollhouse’ creator Joss Whedon that they won’t be continuing the sci-fi drama.  The good news (if there is any good news in this situation), it will still air the rest of the second season during December.

This is just a bummer.  I was really enjoying the second season as it became darker and more horror-like.  And I was looking forward to where many of the story-lines were headed.  Now we might never know… unless Whedon has something up his sleeve.  Spin-off movie anyone?

Studio Estimates for Nov. 6-8:

1.  A Christmas Carol – $31 million
2.  This Is It – $14 million
3.  The Men Who Stare at Goats – $13.3 million
4.  The Fourth Kind – $12.5 million
5.  Paranormal Activity – $8.6 million

6.  The Box – $7.9 million

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The first weekend of November wasn’t exactly up to the hype that everyone expected, but the numbers that rolled in were still solid enough.  The Christmas Carol topped the box office with a slightly underwhelming $31 million.  According to Disney, 74 percent of its gross came from 2,045 3-D presentations, also including $4.5 million at 181 IMAX sites.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It was the runner-up film this weekend with $14 million, bringing its total gross to $57.9 million in 12 days.  Meanwhile, other new releases like The Men Who Stare at Goats ($13.3 million) and The Fourth Kind ($12.5 million) landed in the Top 5.  And the phenomenon that is Paranormal Activity is still collecting on its hype with $8.6 million, good enough for the fifth spot.

The Box just missed the Top 5 with $7.9 million.  The biggest news of the weekend was the limited release of Precious: Based on teh Novel “Push” by Sapphire.  In just 18 sites, the drama grossed $1.8 million.  That’s a $100,000 per screen average, which may have set a box office record.  Look for this powerful film to be in the early Oscar talks.

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As for our predictions, this was a tough weekend for the Predictions Panel to guess.  Only Phil and I predicted A Christmas Carol to top the box office correctly.  Meanwhile, all of us (except for Sheehan) expected The Fourth Kind to do a lot better than it actually did.  Dan adn I were the only two who predicted all of the Top 5 movies correctly, but not in the right order.  As for our gross estimates, Phil edged barely edged me out but Phil’s prediction that The Box would make the Top 5 wound up causing him the title for this week.  The points ended up being:  Me (44), Phil (35), Dan (32), Sheehan (26).

Check back on Friday for our new predictions.  There’s only one major release:  the action/thriller 2012 starring John Cusack and a lot of CGI.  Also, Pirate Radio staring Philip Seymour Hoffman will hit under 1,000 theaters.