Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Hunt For Dead October AKA Dartflix Edition #66

I reviewed the film adaptation of "Surrogates" last week and needless to say it was a watered down, soulless translation of both powerful cyberpunk graphic novels. I was pissed off that the film was mediocre but moreso that they completely pissed on the core ideas of the source material. As disappointed as I was in the final product, it earned just under $15 million dollars it's opening weekend for 2nd place at the North American box office. Since it sucked (both critics and fans found it lacking), it dropped 51% the following week and has made approximately $28 million in the 13 days since it was released. Meh.

"Pandorum", a film that I actually enjoyed had a horrible opening weekend and finished 7th on the box office list by only generating $4.4 million dollars in box office receipts. While fans and critics who actually saw the film actually enjoyed it, it was buried by other films and didn't fare well against a 3D CGI kid's film and a sci fi flick starring Bruce Willis. It was further buried by the release of "Zombieland" the following week. On the positive side, the DVD will be out by the holiday season. *Sticks the Blu-Ray DVD of Pandorum on my Netflix queue* The big story of the month? The steady growth of the horror film "Paranormal Activity".


First of all, "Paranormal Activity" was in a few film festivals and it finally opened but on in 12 theaters back on September 25th. After it's opening weekend on those 12 screens it raked in a respectable $77, 873 and film fans across the nation began to request that it open it more screens via the internet. The following week it expanded to 33 venues and it brought in a staggering $532, 242 for a 583% increase from the previous week. Right now, there's a huge campaign via the internet & Twitter to bring "Paranormal Activity" to theaters nationwide. This film will pass the $1 million dollar mark while being shown on only 33 screens (12 the first week) in two weeks of release. Hopefully, it will be in Boston soon. I've heard good things.


I saw "Zombieland" and I loved it. I loved it so much that I'm hoping they make a sequel soon. It turns out that I wasn't alone and $24.7 million later it's officially a hit. It was well received by both critics and fans alike. It's hilarious that this film was originally supposed to be a TV show that every single network passed on. In my opinion, this could be a great franchise...shit, if there's a "Saw VI" then there should be a "Zombieland 2". The Coen Bros. "A Serious Man" also opened as well. I'll be back with the next installment of Dartflix on October 16th, look out for it.


Films I recommend in theaters (10.1.09 -10.15.09) or to add to your queue early or for rental from either Netflix or Redbox:

Zombieland
Capitalism: A Love Story
A Serious Man
Whip It
The Invention Of Lying
More Than A Game
Good Hair
Couples Retreat
Trucker
The Assassination Of A High School President
American Violet
Adoration
Chops
The Proposal
Drag Me To Hell
The Killing Room
New World Order
How To Be A Serial Killer
Paraiso Killer
American Meltdown
Bones-The Complete Fourth Season (series)
Nip/Tuck-Season 5, Part 2 (series)
The Lola Falana Show (series)
The F Word-Series Three (series)
Futurama: The Complete Collection (animated series)
Marvel Animation: 6 Film Box Set (animated)
D. Gray-Man: Season Two, Part One (anime)
Mushi-Shi: The Complete Box Set (Viridian Collection) (anime)
Bakugan, Vol. 5 (anime)
Moribito Vols. 5 & 6 (anime)
Tokyo Majin: The Complete Series Box Set (anime)
Uzumaki (anime)
Chinatown [Blu-Ray]
Hard Day's Night [Blu-Ray]
Natural Born Killers (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-Ray]
Stop Making Sense: The Talking Heads Live [Blu-Ray]
Bob Dylan: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (documentary)
Eyes Of The Sniper: Ultimate Combat Edition (documentary)
Katt Williams: Pimpadelic (comedy special)
The Informant!
Pandorum
Paranormal Activity
Lymelife
Observe And Report
Away We Go
Management
Shrink
The Girlfriend Experience
Rage
Filth And Wisdom
Traffik
Secrecy
The Storm Riders
Gamer
Extract
Carriers
9
Dorian Gray
State Of Play
Sleep Dealer
Take Out
Grace
Shadow Boxer
Inglorious Basterds
Five Minutes Of Heaven
Halloween II
Big Fan
Surveillance
Duplicity
Adventureland
Sunshine Cleaning
The Informers
The Last House On The Left
Fighting (Unrated)
Shinjuku Incident
Trouble The Water
Julia
Tyson
Mirush
The Fighter
Cold Souls
District 9
The Time Traveler's Wife
Paper Heart
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
It Might Get Loud
The Soloist
Gomorrah
I Love You, Man
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
(500) Days Of Summer
Funny People
The Answer Man
Shrink
In The Loop
Thirst
Watchmen (Director's Cut) (Two Disc Special Edition)
Visioneers
An Empress And The Warriors
Bart Got A Room
Public Enemies
Blood: The Last Vampire
Soul Power
Knowing
Dead Snow
Death Trance
Night Train
Five Fingers
Resolved
Horsemen
[REC]
Explicit Ills
Waltz With Bashir
Sword Of The Stranger
Tokyo!
The Hangover
The Taking Of Pelham 123
Moon
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete [Blu-Ray]
Angels & Demons
Drag Me To Hell
Bane
Killshot
Star Trek
Angels & Demons
The Limits Of Control
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Incendiary
Caprica
Martyrs (Unrated)
As The Technics Spin
The Escapist
Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter & Under The Hood
Elegy
Special
Timecrimes
Battle In Seattle
50 Dead Men Walking
B13: Ultimatum
Protege
Chocolate
Baby


Dart's Movie Recommendations (I personally cosign all of these joints):

Zombieland
Capitalism: A Love Story
A Serious Man
Whip It
The Invention Of Lying
More Than A Game
Good Hair
Couples Retreat
The Assassination Of A High School President
American Violet
Uzumaki (anime)
Chinatown [Blu-Ray]
Hard Day's Night [Blu-Ray]
Natural Born Killers (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-Ray]
Stop Making Sense: The Talking Heads Live [Blu-Ray]
Bob Dylan: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (documentary)

Rent/Watch these movies at your own risk:

Anvil: The Story Of Anvil: Nope

Contact [Blu-Ray]: No

Audition: Collector's Edition: AVOID THIS MOVIE AT ALL COSTS IF YOU VALUE BEING ABLE TO SLEEP

Year One: Turrible. Jes' turrible! © Charles Barkley

The Number 23 [Blu-Ray]: What a horrible movie. I thought that M. Night Shymalan wrote it for a minute

Imagine That [Blu-Ray]: Another terrible Eddie Murphy movie? Imagine that!

Land Of The Lost: I know where this movie belongs...the GARBAGE! *Tosses into trashcan*

The Mighty Boosh Special Edition DVD: *Makes sure there's still space in the garbage can, tosses this in with it, ties it up & throws it into the dumpster out back*


Coming (relatively) Soon To A Theater (or computer) Near You:


One.

No comments: