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Box Office: High School Musical Dances to No. 1

BuzzSugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:00:23 -0700

We knew High School Musical was a huge television hit but now it's a bona fide silver screen success. The third installment of the perky Disney musical bonanza scored the top spot at the box office over the weekend, earning an estimated $42 million.

Meanwhile, Saw V did excellent business over the weekend as well, earning an estimated $30.5 million in the No. 2 spot. Variety notes that both titles were record breakers:

The top two films each entered record territory. Disney’s High School is by far the biggest musical bow ever, besting Mamma Mia! Lionsgate’s Saw franchise is within $2 million of eclipsing Friday the 13th to become the top-grossing horror series ever.

Max Payne and Beverly Hills Chihuahua came in at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, with the top five being rounded out by the Ed Norton cop thriller Pride & Glory.

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Pride and Glory: An Ordinary Story About Dirty Cops

BuzzSugar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:30:29 -0700

We've all seen plenty of movies about police corruption and while it's not necessary to avoid this storyline altogether, it should be avoided if there's absolutely nothing new or interesting brought to the table. Today we even have another new movie that deals with a similar issue (dirty cops) - but in a compelling way. I really enjoy Edward Norton's work, and I wanted to give Pride and Glory a chance for his sake. But while he does a fine job in the film, he can't save it from being a rote, disappointing knockoff of many movies to have come before it.

Norton plays Ray Tierney, whose whole family - including his father Francis Sr. (Jon Voight), his brother Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich), and his brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell) - is involved in the NYPD. Ray begins the investigation of a case involving slain cops and as he digs deeper, signs begin pointing him toward his own fellow officers and worse - his own brother and brother-in-law. Soon the family is torn over whether to go public with the truth about the case which would destroy careers (including Francis Jr.'s, while his wife is battling cancer), and the overall reputation of the NYPD. For some of my thoughts on all this, read more.

Edward Norton puts in a good-faith effort here and he's always a relief to see on the screen instead of most of the others (though Colin Farrell does well as a fairly one-note thug type). Jon Voight is well-cast as the aging, alcoholic family man at the head of this cop family, but Noah Emmerich appears to be incapable of keeping up in the heavy, dramatic scenes he's given.

There's one horrifying scene that really does seem to be shockingly violent just for the sake of being shocking and violent, and most of the time I had to roll my eyes at what seems to be a movie about little boys trying to act tough. One of the most intense conflicts of the movie is settled by, literally, a fistfight. By that point, the movie is nearing its end and the audience is hoping for more than this. Soon after the fistfight, everything wraps up rather neatly for this family of cops caught up in a dangerous mess, so while they must be relieved, we're left wondering why we went through the whole rigmarole in the first place.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Buzz News Roundup, 8/27

BuzzSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:31:32 -0700

Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns is becoming a TV series for TBS. - Hollywood Reporter
The cop drama Pride and Glory will open the Woodstock Film Festival on Oct. 2. - Variety
After some controversy, the Mad Men Twitter accounts have been restored. - Silicon Alley Insider
The Jonas Brothers can celebrate their second week at No. 1. - Billboard
Cuba Gooding Jr. is coming to TV (briefly) for a TNT TV movie. - Zap2it
Woody Harrelson has signed on for the lead in a horror movie, Zombieland. - ComingSoon
Morgan Fairchild and Alias's Carl Lumbly are among the latest guest stars for Chuck. - Entertainment Weekly
Two writers of The Office, Gene Stupinsky and Lee Eisenberg, have sold a feature film script called Bad Teacher. - Variety

Source

Movie Preview: Pride and Glory

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:30:00 -0800

It seems like police corruption has been a popular theme in movies from the past year or so (The Departed, We Own the Night, American Gangster), and Pride and Glory falls right in step with these other dramas. Opening March 14, 2008, Pride and Glory stars Edward Norton and Colin Farrell as brothers who grow up to do what their family expects of them: be NYC cops. Before long, however, corruption within the force threatens to tear them apart. From the preview it looks like the movie might be well-made (especially from the jarring beginning of the trailer), and it seems to feature the same high-caliber acting we've come to expect from Edward Norton, but is this theme becoming a bit tired?

You can take a look at the trailer and tell me what you think if you read more