Russian gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko has lost his ever-lovin' mind. We found a priceless video of him warming up the Olympic crowd with his figure-skating routine to Tom Jones's "Sex Bomb," complete with foam muscles and a gold bikini bottom. Gyrating, mugging, and generally making a fool out of himself, Evgeni proves that when retires his skates, Chippendale's will welcome him with open arms. This is truly cheese-tastic.
Despite earning the top spot at the box office, the predictable laughs in Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro only earned $15.3 million over the weekend. This is considered a disappointing sum, especially compared to opening weekends of other Ferrell films like Talladega Nights and Blades of Glory. Variety reports that this underwhelming performance by the basketball comedy may have been due to mediocre reviews and an R-rating.
Vantage Point was only bumped down one spot to No. 2 over the weekend followed by The Spiderwick Chronicles at No. 3. The adaptation of Buzz Book Club's February selection The Other Boleyn Girl took the fourth spot earning an estimated $8.3 million. Penelope starring Reese Witherspoon and Christina Ricci also opened this weekend coming in at No. 8 behind Jumper, Step Up 2 The Streets, and Fool's Gold.
Filling out the top ten were Oscar-nominated films No Country for Old Men and Juno.
Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema
By now the Will Ferrell formula is apparent: Find some job or sport or fashion era that has loads of inherent humor, give the main character some insurmountable challenge to face, and . . . action! This time it's basketball in the 1970s. Not that I’m complaining, really; the movie's predictable laughs are still laughs.
In Semi-Pro we find Will Ferrell shoving his gigantic, blindingly white self into a super tight unflattering outfit — not unlike the gimmicky tight costumes in Blades of Glory, only this time it's a basketball uniform. The movie follows one-hit wonder Jackie Moon's (Ferrell) team, the Flint Michigan Tropics, as they fight for a place in the NBA. Though the Ferrell train sometimes seems to be running out of steam, I still think it's worth jumping on board one more time with this movie. I'll tell you why if you read more
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.
"Heroes" — Season 1
The first season of NBC's hit sci-fi drama "Heroes" is now available on DVD and it's extras-tacular. The show follows "ordinary" people who happen to have extraordinary powers (invisibility, regeneration, flight, mind reading, time travel, etc.). The 7-disc set features a good number of extras, including (but not limited to): audio commentaries, the 73-minute unaired original pilot episode (along with the option of commentary by Tim Kring), deleted scenes and a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff, like a stunt featurette and a profile on artist Tim Sale. On the HD-DVD you can expect more interactive features, like something called a "genetic abilities test." If you missed this season when it was on TV (and then online), you can catch up with the DVDs before the second season begins September 24.
Three more new releases so read more
The many of you who want to see Disturbia are not alone: The teenage thriller held steady at No. 1 at the box office, raking in $13.5 million. With the plethora of thrillers out now, three out of the top five movies this weekend were of the genre, with Fracture claiming the No. 2 spot and Vacancy coming in fourth.
Will Ferrell's Blades of Glory was at No. 3 while the family flick Meet the Robinsons held its own at fifth place. Hilarious British comedy Hot Fuzz straggled in at sixth. As one might have expected, not even Adam Brody's cute face could save In the Land of Women from its pitiful opening weekend, bringing in a paltry $4.9 million and landing in eighth place after Ice Cube's Are We Done Yet?
Disturbia has a chance of keeping its top slot this weekend since there aren't too many good-looking films coming out, but it should prepare to be slaughtered by a certain web-slinger come the weekend of May 4.
Photo courtesy of Dreamworks
Shia LaBeouf is everywhere, and don't expect him to go away any time soon, because this weekend proved the young star has serious star power. His new movie, Disturbia, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend, reports Variety, taking in $23 million.
Carry-overs Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons took second and third place, while the dreadful Halle Berry vehicle Perfect Stranger landed in the fourth spot, bringing in $11.5 million. There was also more bad news for Grindhouse, which saw revenues fall 63 percent in its second weekend of release.
I'm glad to see Shia LaBeouf and Disturbia succeed. The movie accomplished what it set out to do very well, and the same can be said for its box-office performance. The PG-13 thriller was obviously designed to get teens into theaters, and that's precisely what happened.
Photo courtesy of DreamWorks
Mediocrity topped curiosity at the box-office this weekend, with two tepidly reviewed holdovers — Blades of Glory and Disney's Meet the Robinsons — landing in the No. 1 and 2 spots with $23 million and $17 million in ticket sales, respectively. Both movies beat out Grindhouse, the groundbreaking double feature directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, which earned just $11 million.
Grindhouse getting trumped by Blades of Glory doesn't surprise me; after all, it's easier for hordes of movie-going teens to flock to a PG-13 flick than two hard-core R movie. What's tragic is that Grindhouse didn't even manage to win the race against the new Ice Cube movie, Are We Done Yet?, which sounds fairly dreadful. What movies did you guys see this weekend?
What good is a mindless Hollywood comedy if it doesn't win big at the box office? Fortunately, Blades of Glory didn't have to find out. Not surprisingly, the latest Will Ferrell movie, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend, Variety reports.
According to the weekend box-office estimates, the entertaining if somewhat idiotic men's figure-skating comedy took in $33 million in its opening weekend. (Be sure to check out my review.)
Coming in at second place was Disney's animated feature, Meet the Robinsons, which brought in $25 million. TMNT, last week's first-place finisher, was in the No. 4 spot, with 300 in third.
I didn't love Blades of Glory — sure, it made me laugh, but the script wasn't exactly groundbreaking or complex. However, I am glad to see Ferrell doing well for himself. Did you guys see any movies this weekend? If so, what do you think of the latest box-office news?
Photo courtesy of Paramount
Will Ferrell's endearing, off-kilter acting style seems to have spawned its own genre: call it, simply, the Will Ferrell Movie. While I find too-similar routines obnoxious in some actors, Ferrell movies are often so easily digestible that I crave them when I need a lighthearted film fix. In honor of Ferrell's latest triumph, Blades of Glory, I thought I'd pay tribute to the man in this week's Movie Night.
Old School
On the surface, this "dude buddy" kind of movie sounds kind of repellent, but whether it's the clever script or Ferrell's inoffensive demeanor, I absolutely love Old School. Frustrated by the realities of adulthood, three buddies in their 30s (including a priceless Vince Vaughn) create their own fraternity, partially to keep from being evicted by the ornery dean. What's funny is that these aging college friends are still desperately trying to "fight the man" when they are at a point where they could easily be "the man." It's silly, ridiculous, and easy to watch.
For my other favorite Ferrell movies, read more
