Television Tops 2015: Paul Asay’s Year-End Picks
They say we’re spoiled by our television riches. Shows have never been so rich in character, so deep in theme. Alas, the last several years have given us a new depth in abysmal content, too. The Walking Dead is getting ever gorier. Jessica Jones has taken superheroes in a new, tawdrier direction. And trust me, […]
Mockingjay Sings Its Way to Another Win
The proud, plump turkey reigned supreme over the holiday break, and many of us are still packing away the leftovers. But another bird was pretty popular, too: the Mockingjay. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 continued to gobble lots of money from the domestic box office this weekend, stuffing an estimated $51.6 million into […]
Hunger Games Earns Some Capital
When it came to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2′s chances of winning the weekend’s box office crown, we knew that the odds would ever be in its favor. We’re talking about a Hunger Games movie, after all—not some plucky upstart from a backwater district. The first three movies collectively earned nearly $1.2 billion […]
Spectre Lives Another Day
Thought that James Bond’s newest movie couldn’t top the box office for a second straight week? Never say never again, people. The world’s most famous secret agent used his gold finger to climb to the top again, renewing Spectre‘s license to make a killing. Spectre rolled another strike with its thunderball, earning an estimated $35.4 […]
The Hunger Games a Game No More
The grand, bloody finale of The Hunger Games series—The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2—will plant its flag in theaters next week. Some have wondered how the movie will stay within the PG-13 rating, given how wrenching the book is, and I’m anticipating that it’ll be difficult for me to sit through. Which, I think, […]
Spectre Issued a License to Win
When James Bond goes out on a mission, the accounting department of MI6 holds its collective breath. Moviedom’s favorite superspy apparently has a license to kill his per diem, given the number of cars he destroys, planes he crashes, city blocks he blows up and tuxedos he ruffles. Good thing his movies make so much […]
The Martian Gets Another Treat
In The Martian, Mark Watney shows a remarkable ability to survive, and even thrive, for weeks upon weeks in an environment incredibly hostile to life. I guess the same could be said of the movie itself. For the fourth time in five weeks, Ridley Scott’s The Martian won the box office crown—though this time it […]
The Martian Makes More Little Green Dollars
Generally, we love our new things. We get the latest phones, slip on the latest fashions and practically swoon over the whiff of that new car smell. And movies? They have a shorter lifespan than a batch of speckled bananas. Unless, of course, the new movies already look a little spoiled themselves. After a weekend […]
Getting Goosebumps at the Box Office
Fall is in the air. In many parts of the country, people are kicking aside their shorts and sliding into their wool sweaters, dumping their iced tea for hot chocolate and watching for their collective breath to turn all misty. Why, even in the enclosed confines of the local multiplex, folks are getting the shivers. […]
The Martian Sears Pan
In his review of Pan, Mashable’s Josh Dickey said that Pan was “so bad, so resoundingly rotten in every way, that you should absolutely leave the house this weekend and pay good money to see it.” Alas for the folks at Warner Bros., not many took that advice. Instead, moviegoers—an estimated $37 million worth of […]