BuzzSugar

Chihuahua's Bark Is Loud at the Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:30:31 -0700

You know, the reviews for Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua were not as bad as I thought they might be, so that coupled with the fact that it's a family film meant that the movie about little talking dogs took the No. 1 spot at the box office over the weekend. The top dogs brought in a seriously impressive $29 million. That's about the same amount that Eagle Eye earned last weekend. This weekend, the Shia LaBeouf action-thriller came in second place.

Meanwhile, some smaller movies (a.k.a. "specialty films") also did well. Both Bill Maher's documentary Religulous and Anne Hathaway's Rachel Getting Married had terrific opening weekends. This was especially striking as "three of the new wide releases didn’t even crack the top 10 chart," including Flash of Genius, Blindness, and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

Finally, both Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Appaloosa enjoyed solid debuts, coming in third and fifth respectively. Lots of options this weekend! Which one did you see? (And come on, you can admit it if it was the chihuahua movie - this is a safe place.)

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Blindness: To See, a Brutal Gift

BuzzSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:30:08 -0700

I saw Blindness by myself, with nothing to occupy me on the way home but a copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Bad idea. This movie requires a funny friend or mindless magazine afterward to decompress. I don't shy away from depressing films, but Blindness is one of the bleakest things I've ever seen on screen. At times bleaker even than Babel or Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. But cheery isn't really an option when portraying a dystopia plagued by a mysterious epidemic "immune to bureaucracy."

Based on the novel by Nobel laureate Jose Saramago and directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardner), this apocalyptic allegory is imperfect but powerful. Reminiscent of Children of Men and old zombie flicks, Blindness begins with a man going blind while driving. His eye doctor (Mark Ruffalo) is puzzled by the affliction, in which eyesight is obscured by white rather than cloaked in dark. But soon the doctor is also rendered blind by the contagion, so read more.

To prevent an epidemic, the blind are quarantined - first by the handful then by the hundreds - in an abandoned sanitarium. Apart from the viewers, the only person who can see what filth results when a bunch of newly blind people are essentially abandoned by their government is the doctor's wife (Julianne Moore), who retains her sight but keeps it a secret. As food rations become scarce and the conditions more squalid, the ward devolves into a sinister, Lord of the Flies-like atmosphere ruled by an opportunistic villain (Gael Garcia Bernal).

Painted in a washed-out palette, the horror is heightened by the fact that as viewers, we're prevented from getting our bearings. Some of the techniques are predictable but effective - interludes of white between scenes, an overall jumbled tone - while others are downright arresting. We never learn the characters' names, and the nameless setting - shot in Sao Paolo, Tokyo, and Toronto - is beautiful and disorienting.

But Meirelles also draws attention to our sightedness by making us witness some sickeningly ugly truths - actions that you can imagine unfolding in such a dystopia but that are very difficult to watch nonetheless. (The people next to me walked out during a particularly disturbing scene.) The horrors are not without a message - to me, how hunger and suffering can drive people to immoral ends - but I certainly didn't leave the theater feeling good. Though I haven't read Saramago's novel, I'd imagine that message of Blindness is better made through literary allegory than a hyperrealistic film. But depending on your movie tolerance, Blindness is worth seeing for both its beauty and its brutality.

Photos courtesy of Miramax

Teaser Trailer for Blindness With Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

BuzzSugar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:31:17 -0700

Don't be fooled by the chipper, easy-breezy morning routine at the beginning of this teaser trailer for Blindness - it gets scary. Really scary. Based on the novel by Portuguese Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago, Blindness is an apocalyptic thriller in which an entire town - save one doctor's wife - succumbs to a blindness epidemic.

The cast is fantastic: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Sandra Oh, among others. Just watching this teaser trailer gave me chills, so I'm a little afraid of the final full-length movie. Then again, I have until October 3 to build up some courage. Have you read this book? You can check out the teaser trailer if you read more.

Link Time! 6/5

BuzzSugar — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:01:50 -0700

According to Cinematical, Mark Ruffalo is replacing Daniel Craig in the movie Blindness (which I told you about back when Craig was first cast and I was giddy over the news).
Stereogum recounts the bizarre saga of the dude who thinks Arcade Fire stole his basketball when the band played at UC Berkeley. Arcade Fire denies the charges.
According to PopCandy, BJ Novack (Ryan on "The Office") was a prankster in high school, recording fake audio tours for the Boston Museum of the Fine Arts.
The Movie Blog thinks casting a magician to play a magician is a good idea, referring specifically to Criss "Mindfreak" Angel who has been cast in Mandrake the Magician, based on a Depression-era comic strip. Well, he's certainly comical.
I Guess I'm Floating finds Wilco's explanation for selling its songs to a VW campaign.
CHUD (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) has a source who heard something about a remake of Meatballs.
TV With MeeVee reviews the "Heroes" 360 Experience.
Earvolution says the Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr. is writing a play.

Source

Dreamy-Eyed Daniel Craig Considers Blindness

BuzzSugar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:06:45 -0700

I always love an excuse to write about Daniel Craig - it means looking for photos of him, after all - but this news is particularly cool. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the James Bond actor is in talks to star in Blindness, a movie based on the Jose Saramago novel of the same name.

Julianne Moore is also being considered, which is interesting, since the premise reminds me a bit of Children of Men. According to the HR, "the story chronicles an epidemic of blindness that sweeps through an unnamed contemporary city." The only person left with the sense of sight is a doctor's wife and, thankfully, the filmgoers. The film will be directed by Fernando Meirelles, whose resume includes such captivating movies as The Constant Gardener and City of God. I haven't read Blindness, but now I really want to. If you have, tell me what you think.

Source

Which November Movie Do You Want to See the Most?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:30:21 -0800

There are only two months to go in 2009, which means Hollywood is quickly rolling out the rest of its heavy-hitters. November offers up a wide selection of comedy, drama, action and indie, but tell me - which film is at the top of your list?

Reese Witherspoon Plays by the Rules

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:30:39 -0700

It seems like Reese Witherspoon has been laying lower than usual this year. (She voiced Monsters vs. Aliens, but we haven't seen her face on screen since Four Christmases!) Now her career is speeding up again. The A-lister just signed on to produce and star in Rule #1, which will follow Witherspoon as a New Yorker who gets chummy with a young Puerto Rican girl with ADD.

Those are the only storyline details as of now, but it sort of reminds me of those promos for Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side - a woman taking a challenged kid under her wing, etc. Hopefully it will steer clear of the sappiness we typically get from those types of films and show off Witherspoon's serious acting side instead.

What do you think? Does this new project sound like Oscar bait - or just another formulaic weep-fest?