_Designated Targets_ by John Birmingham is the excellent follow up to his earlier alternate history science fiction novel, _Weapons of Choice_, a novel that began with the basic premise that a U.S.-led multinational naval task force from the 21st century is accidentally and suddenly transported to the Pacific right in the middle of the Battle of Midway. As most of this fleet came into the possession of the Allied countries (basically the United States), one might think that the advanced weap
Two newcomers, The Possession and Lawless topped the overall box office over Labor Day weekend, ending a summer that ended with not much of a bang. Overall, the Summer theatrical season fell nearly 3% from last year, winding up at $4.275 billion (vs $4.4 billion). The Expendables 2 , which had topped the box office for two weekends, made a landing in the third spot with only slightly less screens. Today’s grosses reflect a Friday through Monday Labor Day weekend numbers. The per cent change in revenue vs. the previous weekend only considers Friday – Sunday numbers. 1. The Possession Gross: $21.3 million Screens: 2,816 (PSA: $7,564) Week: 1 The end of the unofficial summer period proved softer than the beginning, though Lionsgate’s The Possession ended The Expendables 2 two-week reign atop the box office with a solid $21.3 million opener over the Friday through Monday Labor Day weekend. Last year, late summer arrivals Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Help gave an end of season push with those two films alone grossing $286.8 million to the 2011 summer box office through Labor Day. 2. Lawless Gross: $13 million (Cume: $15.14 million – Wed. opening) Screens: 2,888 (PSA: $4,501) Week: 1 The Weinstein Company opted for a wide roll out of John Hillcoat’s Cannes crime drama Lawless . Still with a bevy of stars including Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman, the box office results weren’t particularly spectacular. 3. The Expendables 2 Gross: $11.2 million (Cume: $68.559 million) Screens: 3,334 (PSA: $3,359) Week: 3 (Change: – 34% vs three day gross of $8.9 million) After two weeks at number one, Expendables 2 skidded to the number three spot in its third weekend. The Friday – Sunday gross came in at $8.9 million for a 34% overall decline for the same days the previous weekend. The pic remained in nearly the same number of theaters vs. one week prior, which stood at 3,355 though the decline in screens likely indicates the title has piqued. 4. The Bourne Legacy Gross: $9,377,345 (Cume $98,375,785) Screens: 3,131 (PSA: $2,995) Week: 4 (Change: – 22% vs three day gross of $7,326,540) The Bourne Legacy settled at number four over Labor Day weekend after placing second the previous weekend. The Universal release lost 523 theaters though its screen average actually jumped over the previous week to $2,995 from $2,540 and its overall revenue drop was only 22% (in a straight Friday – Sunday comparison) despite the fairly steep loss of venues. 5. Paranorman (3-D, Animation) Gross: $8,817,758 (Cume: $40,292,002) Screens: 3,085 (PSA: $2,858) Week: 3 (Change: – 24% vs three day gross of $6,550,735) Paranorman lost 370 screens Labor Day weekend, but also saw its screen average rise to $2,858 over the previous weekend’s $2,473. In a straight Friday – Sunday comparison, the title was only down 24% from the previous Friday – Sunday gross, not bad considering the decline in capacity. 6. The Odd Life of Timothy Green Gross: $8.502 million (Cume: $38.38 million) Screens: 2,635 (PSA: $3,227) Week: 3 (Change: – 12% vs three day gross of $6,249,000) Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green held steady in the sixth position in its third weekend. The title added 37 locations and its Friday – Sunday revenue dropped only 12% from the previous Friday – Sunday period. 7. The Dark Knight Rises Gross: $7.93 million (Cume: $433,246,000) Screens: 2,187 (PSA: $3,626) Week: 7 (Change: – 16% vs three day gross of $6.1 million) 8. 2016: Obama’s America Gross: $7,086,686 (Cume: $20,253,719) Screens: 1,747 (PSA: $4,056) Week: 8 (Change: – 14% vs three day gross of $5,586,686) The anti-Obama doc took on a good amount of extra capacity over the holiday weekend, adding 656 theaters. It’s overall Friday – Sunday gross dropped 14% from the previous week. The title has now grossed more than Michael Moore’s previous effort, Capitalism: A Love Story , which totaled $14,363,397 domestically. 9. The Campaign Gross: $7.02 million (Cume: $74,597,000) Screens: 2,941 (PSA: $2,387) Week: 4 (Change: – 24% vs three day gross of $5,665,000) The comedy dropped from fourth to ninth place in its fourth weekend, also losing 361 locations over the prior week. 10. Hope Springs Gross: $6 million (Cume: $53,357,000) Screens: 2,441 (PSA: $2,458) Week: 4 (Change: – 18% vs three day gross of $4.7 million) Hope Springs landed in the top 10 over Labor Day weekend after placing ninth last week. The title added 39 screens.
How do you get in touch with Jeffrey Dean Morgan , who lives with his family far outside the confines of Hollywood “in the woods,” to ask him to be in your film? If you’re like The Possession director Ole Bornedal, you go old school. “The script was sent to me with a really nice letter that Ole had written asking me to be a part of it,” Morgan told Movieline. “It sat on my desk for a couple of days, but I kept reading this letter.” Eventually Morgan read the script and, enticed by the familial relationships at the center of the demonic possession tale, got over his reluctance to take on the “overdone” horror genre to play a father desperately trying to reconnect with his daughter — and, in the process, save her from an evil spirit. In this weekend’s The Possession Morgan plays Clyde Brenek, a career-focused college basketball coach whose pending divorce is taking a heavy toll on his two young daughters, one of whom — Em (Natasha Calis) — has formed a strange attachment to an antique Jewish box found at a yard sale. (The film is inspired by the real life account of the Dybbuk Box, a Hebrew wine cabinet allegedly haunted by an evil spirit which reigned down terror and ill fortune on multiple owners.) Movieline caught up with Morgan last month at Comic-Con , where the Watchmen veteran planned on walking the floor to find geek treasure for his son (“Sometimes it gets a little unruly for me down there, but I dig this world”), marveled at the maturity of his young co-stars (“I’ve worked with kids that are just horrendous, and it’s mostly because of their parents”) and discussed Karyn Kusama’s The Rut , in which he’d play dad to Chloe Moretz’s teenage huntress. What made you want to jump into a story like this? Because it was an actual story . I certainly wasn’t looking to do a horror movie — I think they’ve been kind of screwed up lately, all the found footage, it’s just been kind of overdone. The script was sent to me with a really nice letter that Ole [Bornedal] had written, asking me to be a part of it. I didn’t read the script; I was like, ‘Oh God, it’s a horror movie — it’s just not what I’m looking to do.’ It sat on my desk for a couple of days, and I kept reading this letter. What did it say? It was just very sweet and complimentary about my previous work, and it was really well-written. Do you get a lot of those letters? Sometimes! I guess I do, because I’m never around. I live in the woods, so really the only way you can get to me is if you send a letter. You’re like Bill Murray ! [Laughs] I love Bill Murray, but I’m not quite Bill Murray. I wish! So you got a letter from Ole. So, I got this letter — and I read the script and I was like, “Crap, this is a really good script.” The story’s there, it’s really character-driven, it’s not a typical horror movie. Demonic possession is its own storied subgenre within horror. What set it apart, beside the dybbuk aspect? I guess it’s a little Jewish. But I think it was the dynamic of these characters that sets it apart. The only way this movie works, the only way any movie works, is if somehow the audience can get invested in these characters. And again, I don’t know if this genre has capitalized on getting to know characters very well. I think this movie had that aspect to it. Then I watched a couple of Ole’s films and thought, this guy has a singular look that I haven’t seen. Him and his DP are so good at setting a mood and knowing where to put a camera — and you’d think all directors know this stuff but they really don’t, it’s a crap shoot. I felt like you really knew what he was doing behind the camera. I had a couple of conversations with him on the phone. He was like, “Don’t think of this as a horror movie,” and what he saw and what I saw were really meshing. You’ve played a lot of fathers, but here so much rides on finding the right young co-star. That was the other key for me — how are you going to find this little girl? You’re asking a lot of any actor, much less a young actor, to make this believable. Her performance is what makes this movie work or not work. He sent me a DVD of an audition/work session that he’d done with her, and only after I saw that did I agree to do the movie. I saw that audition and was like, holy God, this girl is something. And she really is something. The stuff she pulled… was amazing, and I don’t know how she did it and what kind of life experience she has to be able to draw from. It was terrifying to act opposite of. I guess that helps? Yes, but I was really worried for Natasha, going into some really dark places. For one, I didn’t know where she was going and getting this darkness. How old was she at the time? She was 11. Eleven! So it kind of blew my mind. Did you draw on your own life experience, being a father yourself, to tap into your character? Yeah. I love kids, which helps. And the opportunity to be the dad to Natasha [Calis] and Madison [Davenport] in this film, they were such great little girls and had such great senses of humor. They didn’t take themselves too seriously and they were actually little girls. Instead of miniature grown-ups? Yeah! I can hear her talk now and she’s grown up a lot since I last saw her, but she was just a kid! An eleven-year-old kid who was just a kid. She wasn’t some actor-y [child performer]. And Ole gave us an opportunity to not just stick to the page, so I was able to infuse some humor and other stuff that maybe wasn’t there, that kind of shows the father-daughter relationship, especially going through the divorce that my character is going through. So there are just some really real moments in this movie that were my favorite things to film. Natasha was so great at falling into that, I think I learned from her somehow. I thought I was going to have to be babysitting a kid, but she was probably more babysitting me. I’m just truly blown away by what she did and I give a lot of credit to her parents for raising her – I’ve worked with kids that are just horrendous, and it’s mostly because of their parents. [Laughs] Off- and on-camera. But off, yeah. They’re little beasts! Little holy terrors. And you always worry about that, you know? There’s that rule, don’t work with kids and animals. There’s a reason for that! But it was great, it was truly great. I think the relationship we formed between takes and off-camera really shows on screen. How would you describe Sam Raimi ’s influence as a producer on The Possession ? He’s sort of the innovator. I don’t know how much, but Sam would get the dailies after the first week and the notes stopped. I know that Sam was prepping his Oz movie at that time and he was watching the dailies, but all the feedback we were getting from Sam was really positive. He just sort of oversaw from afar. You have so many upcoming projects! Do you foresee any of them bringing you back to the genre fold again, the Comic-Con fold? None of them, really –— which means I need to find another one so I can come back! Maybe they’ll do something with the Watchmen stuff, the prequel stuff. Maybe we’ll get to do something there. You’re attached to a Karyn Kusama project called The Rut , which would be one of multiple projects with Chloe Moretz. I’m very excited about that. That’s one of those countless movies that you’re just waiting for all the pieces to come together, finances and all that, but I’m so thrilled to be working with her and Chloe, who I’ve done a couple of things with already. Chloe has established her reputation as the preeminent young lady ass-kicker. That’s exactly right! She’s doing Carrie now. She’s amazing, Karyn is amazing, and I think they got Ray Liotta to be the heavy in this. It’s a really cool script. It’s Winter’s Bone meets… Hanna , maybe? A little bit of Hanna ! I loved that movie, by the way. Good one. But I’m very excited about this movie. We need a winter location in the woods somewhere. Well, you do live in the woods. I know, and don’t think I haven’t said it! Because I do actually know where we could shoot this movie… The Possession is in theaters today. Read Movieline’s review here . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Los Angeles traffic is famous for getting rotten when big happenings hit town, but George Clooney ‘s fundraising bash for President Obama promises to make the Friday commute even more dreadful. And so, in the grand tradition of traffic-paralyzing presidential visits of the past (or: Obama-jams!) and 2011’s infamous “Carmageddon” (remember that?), POTUS’s social visit tomorrow to Clooney’s canyon pad — for a $40,000-a-plate shindig expected to raise $15 million for the Obama re-election campaign — has a name: Starmageddon . “Obama at George Clooney’s house: Neighbors brace for starmageddon” screamed a headline yesterday in the Los Angeles Daily News/Silicon Valley Mercury News ), kicking off a catchword frenzy. The visit to Clooney’s Studio City home marks the president’s first non-studio trip to the Valley, notes the paper. As for the traffic madness that may or may not ensue, Los Angelenos with places to be should avoid the following places on Friday evening: LAX, where Obama lands around 6pm; Studio City/Laurel Canyon north of Ventura Blvd., where Clooney’s party will have street closures in effect from 5pm to 8pm; and Beverly Hills later that night, where the President is reportedly staying. And if you’re lucky enough to live close to Clooney, be prepared to show I.D. to access your own home from 8pm to 10pm that night. “Starmageddon” is a fitting name for the star-studded Hollywood-meets-Washington affair — Clooney and Obama, joining forces for the future of America. If there was an asteroid hurtling toward earth, is there any question that these two could save us all? I mean, obviously. Then again: I can’t be the only one imagining Clooney dancing animal crackers up and down Obama’s belly as the plaintive wailing of Steven Tyler fills the air. (Do you think it’s possible that anyone else in the world will be doing this very same thing at the very same moment tomorrow night?)
It’s really easy to be cynical about horror movie posters. Most of them are garish, Photoshop nightmares unworthy of a second look. But we really owe it to ourselves to bask in the sublime surrealism of the one-sheet for The Possession . A poster like this one, for a low-budget horror film with a decent pedigree (Sam Raimi is among the producers) that will play as late-summer counterprogramming in multiplexes around the country, comes around, oh, never. I’ll grant you that it is of questionable construction. It’s flat and nearly monochromatic, the Photoshop is sloppy in spots (especially where the wrist meets the mouth), and it feels like a detail from the poster for another Raimi film, Drag Me to Hell : Still, there’s beauty in the simplicity. Take away the title, taglines, and credit block and you instantly know this is a person-possessed movie. No weird upside-down people , no impossible-for-even-the-most-elastic-yogi posing , no one stuck to the ceiling — just a person being mauled from the inside out by a demon clawing its way out of that person’s maw. Any other image meant to illustrate “possessed” looks like unicorns and rainbows in comparison. And why not? Reality is always stranger — and scarier — than fiction, and, my God, this really happened! Somewhere, out in the world, someone is telling the story about that time a girl they knew vomited up a gnarled ghoul hand that then ripped her face off. That’s the takeaway, anyhow, when “Based on a True Story” is placed above the poster’s horrific, inspired image. It’s an audacious juxtaposition. For nearly a decade, horror movies brandishing their ripped-from-reality bonafides have hewed to relatively realistic depictions of their content. The Exorcism of Emily Rose , for example, is atmospheric and unsettling in its depiction of a girl lost in foggy desolation. Similarly, the remake of The Amityville Horror exists in a scuzzy, off-balance suburbia, but it’s one that feels relatively in-step with our world. Even the ridiculous, porny poster for The Devil Inside feels grounded in some perversion of reality. Not so for The Possession . It’s a true story spewed forth from the interior worlds of Lovecraft and Dalí. Our first instinct is to laugh at the absurdity of selling a movie using this image as “based on a true story.” But disbelief quickly gives way to something like awe. On one hand it’s a complete inversion of how to market a real-person-possessed movie. Instead of people contorted by unseen supernatural forces — that is, something we can go in believing actually happened — we’re getting a person brutally face-hugged by a tangible hellspawn, a practical and realistic impossibility that subverts the scare power of these sorts of movies. It’s not frightening, after all, if we know it can’t really happen. (Shock cuts only go so far.) On the other hand, it’s a deft commentary on these kinds of films. We all know they’re ridiculous. But you’d never know it to look at their posters. From the images to the copy, they’re humorless voids of self-righteousness, like an ad for a sanctimonious documentary or a foreign art-house film. Except these are ads for movies about a kid puking, what, smoke? A scarf? Oil? Liquid gold? Or being suspended upside down, against one’s control . And on and on. The Possession one-sheet, in the grand Raimi tradition, is self-aware and calls attention to how ridiculous it all is while simultaneously giving us a good, solid modern horror movie image. I’d be surprised if the image on this poster is ever brought to life in The Possession (but here’s hoping!), and time will tell how grossly it misrepresents the tone and content of the film. But all that seems beside the point when you have a poster of such sly wit and artistry. PREVIOUSLY IN ONE-SHEET WONDER The Simple, Fan-Driven Pleasures of Moonrise Kingdom ‘s First Poster Dante A. Ciampaglia is a writer, editor and photographer in New York. You can find him on Twitter , Tumblr , and, occasionally, his blog .
What do you get for the cinephile who has everything? Start with a six-figure loan, I guess, and then check out the ongoing auction for “[t]he finest and most desirable item in Hollywood collecting — the original Oscar awarded to Orson Welles for best ‘Original Screenplay’ for Citizen Kane. This Oscar statue, awarded by The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is the very same statue presented to Orson Welles on 26 February 1942 at the Biltmore Hotel. [… F]or years it had gone missing and the Academy issued a replacement to Beatrice Welles, Orson’s youngest daughter and sole heir. The original had all along been in the possession of cinematographer Gary Graver, who tried to sell it in 1994.” [ Nate D. Sanders via THR ]
New data revealed on Thursday shows that Vermont state government spends more than $700,000 annually to pursue Vermonters for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Based on the new findings, state Rep. Jason Lorber (D-Burlington) announced plans Thursday to introduce a bill that would decriminalize the possession of less than one ounce of cannabis. http://www.jackherer.com/archives/pursuing-small-marijuana-cases-costs-vermont-7… added by: JackHerer
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Jonathan Wong, 23, of Goodricke College, was arrested after hardcore child po-rnography was found on his computer by fellow students, according to The Press of York, in UK. The audio files can be viewed via the university#39;s internal network by registered users with a password. Child po-rnography videos, some featuring girls as young as six and some lasting longer than an hour, were found in the possession of a Ministry of Education (MOE) scholar studying in Britain. Singaporean Jonathan Won
