Quantum of Solace

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my selections below, you can also add Zack Snyder's animated Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter to your queue.

Quantum of Solace
It seems like just yesterday we were puzzling over the title of the newest Bond flick and now here it is, out on DVD. The man with the killer looks and dreamy eyes, Daniel Craig, reprises his role as superspy James Bond, who is still pretty peeved at having been betrayed by Vesper Lynd, the woman he loved in the previous film. He wishes to take revenge on the company that blackmailed Vesper, though, and in his search he and M (Judi Dench) uncover plans of a shady leader of an environmentalist company to take control of Bolivia's water supply.

Bond also meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who has her own vengeful plan in mind. There's a lot of international locales included as well as Craig locking and loading guns throughout some intense action sequences — what more do you need?

Special features include the music video for "Another Way to Die," a featurette titled "Bond on Location," and commentary from director Marc Forster.

Two more still to come, so read more

Reese and Vince proved a potent pair at the box office once again as Four Christmases came in at No. 1 for the second weekend in a row. The holiday comedy earned an estimated $18.2 million over the weekend, bringing its overall total since debuting to $70.8 million. Meanwhile, Twilight continues to plow full steam ahead, coming in at No. 2 and bringing its overall total to an impressive $138.6 million. The top five was rounded out by Bolt in third, Australia in fourth, and Quantum of Solace at No. 5.

There are a lot of "specialty" offerings at the moment, many of which are doing very well given how many theaters they're playing in. Cadillac Records had a decent debut at No. 9, and both Slumdog Millionaire and Milk continue to thrive thanks to great buzz.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying Four Christmases starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn, and maybe some of the early buzz from others who also liked it helped the holiday comedy win the Thanksgiving weekend box office this year with an estimated $46.7 million since opening Wednesday.

Meanwhile the highly anticipated Baz Luhrmann epic Australia opened at No. 5 after Quantum of Solace in fourth place, Twilight (which passed the $100 million mark this weekend) in third, and Bolt in second place. Gus Van Sant's biopic Milk also did very well for a limited release, coming in at No. 10 over the weekend.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Anticipating Twilight might just be this weekend's big box office winner, I asked you guys to ring in with some possible box office headline puns for the news this morning. Well, briggs313's suggestion in the post was awesome, so I went ahead and used it — thanks briggs313!

Twilight's debut on the big screen was a smash success, earning $70.6 million over the weekend and breaking several records. It has the honor of being the biggest debut ever "for a female director and also beats the $57 million debut of Sex and the City in May." The studio was so impressed with the buzz around the screen adaptation of the popular book that they went ahead and announced plans for the sequel, New Moon, on Saturday.

It seems Twilight sucked up all the young adult love, which may have contributed to the disappointing opening of Disney's Bolt over the weekend. The animated pup earned about $27 million and came in at No. 3, behind Quantum of Solace which had the No. 2 spot. The top five was rounded out by Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa in fourth place followed by Role Models in fifth.

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

• Quantum of Solace took the top spot at the box office this weekend with $70.4 million, the highest opening for a James Bond film ever. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa came in second. — BuzzSugar
• Barack and Michelle Obama had their first post-election interview on 60 minutes last night and spoke about the economy, re-deploying troops out of Iraq and much more. — CitizenSugar
• Comedian Wanda Sykes revealed she's "proud of being gay" at a Proposition 8 protest in Las Vegas on Saturday. — AP
• Proposition 8 protestors are rallying people to boycott Sundance Film Festival since it is in the state of Utah and the Mormon Church supported the ban on same-sex marriage. — E! Online
• The SEC has charged Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, with insider trading after selling shares of Mamma.com the day before they announced private financing and avoiding $750,000 in losses. — Wall Street Journal
• The O.C's Autumn Reeser is engaged to her college sweetheart, writer and director Jesse Warren. — Us Weekly

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

The new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, leaped to box office success in its opening weekend, coming in at No. 1 with an estimated $70.4 million. This was a record breaker, in fact: According to Variety, it was "the biggest opening ever for a James Bond title and a major victory for a film franchise nearly half a century old."

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa came in at No. 2, followed by Role Models, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and Changeling rounding out the top five.

Another movie earning a bunch of buzz, Slumdog Millionaire, also did well over the weekend in a limited opening. I'm excited to see that one myself. Did you head out to see Bond? What did you think?

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

I was one of thousands who went to see Quantum of Solace on Friday night and sat in a packed theater with everyone else who had paid $10.75 to get their 007 fix. Yes, seeing Daniel Craig on the big screen was worth every penny, but I couldn't help but think back to a time when movie tickets weren't so expensive. How much do tickets cost for movies in your city?

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Where Casino Royale was bright, shiny and breathtaking, Quantum of Solace is cold, steely, and flat. Don't get me wrong — the explosions, gun play, and dry quips are all present and accounted for. But where there might've been a compelling narrative there's just a string of action sequences and chase scenes, interrupted by the occasional heart-to- cold, mistrusting spy heart. It's not bad, it's just that it seems like there's no real pulse beating behind Bond's deadly calm veneer.

Daniel Craig reprises his role as superspy James Bond, who is still consumed by anger at having been betrayed by Vesper Lynd, the woman he loved. Still, he wishes to take revenge on the company that blackmailed Vesper and in his search, he and M (Judi Dench) uncover the plans of Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), the shady leader of an environmentalist company, to take control of Bolivia's water supply from the equally shady General Medrano (Joaquín Cosio). In the midst of all this, Bond meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who has her own vengeful plan in mind for General Medrano. Camille and Bond then become partners in crime (literally) in their efforts to take down Dominic and Medrano. For some more of my take on all this, read more