Step Brothers

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 picks below, you can also bring home the comedy Step Brothers today.

X-Files: I Want to Believe
Rejoice, X-Files fans: The most recent addition to the beloved sci-fi saga has arrived on DVD. The movie didn't receive stellar reviews but I don't think that will matter to those who are looking forward to seeing Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) get back on a case together. This mystery involves a missing FBI agent and a psychic priest (played by Billy Connolly). Amanda Peet also appears in the movie as a young agent.

Special features include audio commentary by show creators/movie collaborators Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, a special makeup effects featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Two more good ones up next, so read more

Interestingly, neither a BFF movie nor a stoner action-comedy could dethrone The Dark Knight in its fourth weekend. Having already surpassed the $400 million mark in domestic ticket sales, the superhero movie pulled in another $26 million over the weekend.

According to Variety, the movie has now taken the place of Shrek 2 to "become the third highest domestic grosser of all time with a cume of $441.5 million. It’s expected to beat Star Wars in the next week before finally settling at No. 2."

Pineapple Express came in second place with $22.4 million (however, it has earned a total of $40.4 million since it opened last Wednesday), followed by The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in third, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 in fourth, and Step Brothers in fifth place.

What do you think? Will The Dark Knight score five weeks in a row at No. 1?

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

For the third weekend in a row, The Dark Knight was No. 1 at the box office, narrowly beating The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for the top spot. The Mummy earned about $42.5 million while The Dark Knight earned $43.8 million. Thanks to this win, The Dark Knight has just about crossed the $400 million line in domestic ticket sales.

Variety notes that most box office watchers had predicted this would be the weekend Batman would lose his crown, but I'm not all that surprised. The third addition to the silly action-adventure Mummy franchise failed to meet even the lowest critical expectations earning far worse reviews than the two before it.

Somewhat hilariously, Brendan Fraser now has two movies in the top five box office earners this week, as the 3-D adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth is holding strong at No. 5. So that would make him. . . a fairly hot box office commodity. Wow.

Elsewhere in the top five, Step Brothers came in third place and Mamma Mia! took fourth.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

In its second week in theaters, The Dark Knight continued to trample both the competition and box office records. According to Variety, it brought in $75.6 million from the 4,300 theaters screening it. This means that the Batman sequel brought in $300 million in less than 10 days, and grossed more than any other film has in its second weekend, a record previously held by Shrek 2.

Batman's competition mostly came from Step Brothers. The R-rated comedy took in $30 million which secured it the no. 2 spot. It seems that much of America did not have Will Ferrell fatigue after all.

Mamma Mia! grabbed the third spot with $17.2 million, bringing its total to $62.7 million.

The rest of the top five included The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which brought in $10.2 million, a very small number for what was expected to be a Summer blockbuster. To put that into perspective, the first X-Files film earned just over $30 million its first weekend during June of 1998. Journey to the Center of the Earth took fifth place, earning $9.4 million.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Step Brothers is yet another entry into the canon of movies that have resulted from the collaboration between director Adam McKay, star Will Ferrell, and (. . . wait for it) producer Judd Apatow. After mining all kinds of scenarios for comedy (anchormen, race car drivers, the '70s in general, etc.), even these funny guys have to hit the bottom of the barrel sometime. I imagine the concept that would result from that rock-bottom brainstorming session would go something like this: "How about instead of making a movie about a guy who has a grownup job but sometimes acts like a childish loser, we literally just make a movie about a childish loser?" In other words, it would look a lot like Step Brothers.

And so it goes, with Ferrell of course taking the overgrown-child role. Add to the mix a crew of esteemed supporting actors including Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins, and you end up with a familiar comedy that explores some unfamiliar territory (Ferrell's private parts — I'm not even joking). The movie had me buckled over in my seat laughing about half the time, but I spent the rest of it horrified and a little bored with how standard it all felt. To see what I loved and what I'm tired of, read more

Welcome to the Caption It game on BuzzSugar! Every other Wednesday, I'll post a photo still from a TV show or movie here and challenge you to think of the most hilarious caption possible. I'll announce the finalists the following Tuesday, and you'll get to vote for the best caption; the winner will get a fabulous BuzzSugar T-shirt!

Now that you guys chose a winner for the photo from The Bachelorette we can officially put that rose ceremony business behind us (until next Summer. . .). Congratulations to Great Sommelier! I love how she captured DeAnna's inner monologue with the following:

DeAnna knew Darren was out of the running when she realized he couldn't pick up the simple turn, turn, kick, turn, shimmy, shimmy, slap your mamma, side step, kick, turn choreography.

Now on to today's challenge from the upcoming comedy Step Brothers:

Leave your captions in the comment space below before 5 p.m. PDT on Monday, July 28, to be considered for a spot in the voting round. Have fun! To see a photo of the BuzzSugar T-shirt, just read more