Tag Archives: errol-morris

Weekend Receipts: The Lorax Sends a Very, Very Green Message

What a weekend for Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax : The environmentally tinged adaptation became the latest of the beloved author’s film spinoffs to capture the top box-office perch. Meanwhile, the raunchy Project X settled in quietly behind it, earning roughly a dollar per topless scene en route to second place. Your Weekend Receipts are here. 1. Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax Gross: $70,700,000 (new) Screens: 3,729 (PSA $18,960) Weeks: 1 What can I say? A generation is indoctrinated to the left! Lou Dobbs will be outraged ! Malia Obama for president in 2036! 2. Project X Gross: $20,775,000 (new) Screens: 3,055 (PSA $6,800) Weeks: 1 Not so bad an opening for the critically reviled bit of mayhem from the mind of Todd Phillips — but good enough for a sequel? Project Y , coming to DVD and Blu-ray by the holidays? Hell, the way these things are shot, maybe by Memorial Day. 3. Act of Valor Gross: $13,700,000 ($45,239,000) Screens: 3,053 (PSA: $4,487) Weeks: 2 (Change: -44%) The Navy SEALs-against-the-world propaganda exercise held up reasonably well in its second week, setting up next weekend’s crucial Lorax vs. Valor ideology face-off for fourth place — or maybe even third place, considering the smallish release for Eddie Murphy’s A Thousand Words . Place your bets. Or I can just wake you when it’s April, your call. 4. Safe House Gross: $7,200,000 ($108,200,000) Screens: 2,533 (PSA $2,820) Weeks: 4 (Change: -34.1%) I can only imagine the back-and-forth between Denzel Washington’s WME team and Ryan Reynolds’s CAA crew this morning as they struggle to take primary credit for their stars’ stunning collaborative success. If I didn’t know any better, I’d just attribute the whole phenomenon to Harvey Weinstein, because what triumphs hasn’t he wrought in the last seven days? 5. Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds Gross: $7,000,000 ($25,745,000) Screens: 2,132 (PSA $3,283) Weeks: 2 (Change: -55.1%) Tyler Perry is nothing if not consistent, on track for another mid-$30 million performer sans the Madea muumuu. He’d argue that a wider release would sweeten the box office, and for this one in particular I’d agree — though I’d rather simply see him split the franchise difference and attempt Why Did I Get Married 3-D . They’ve got The Rock in the series now! Seriously, blockbuster city. [Figures via Box Office Mojo ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .

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Weekend Receipts: The Lorax Sends a Very, Very Green Message

Star Wars Concept Artist Ralph McQuarrie Dead at 82

“Ralph McQuarrie was the first person I hired to help me envision Star Wars . His genial contribution, in the form of unequaled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph’s fabulous illustrations and say, ‘Do it like this.'” [via WSJ ]

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Star Wars Concept Artist Ralph McQuarrie Dead at 82

Get Ready For Errol Morris’s Full JFK Investigation

Remember the short documentary that Errol Morris released last year in commemoration of the 48th anniversary of JFK’s assassination? Not for nothing, but there’s plenty more where that came from — and it sounds… interesting : “I wondered why [he drove] because we offered to fly him in. So I’m interviewing him. He gets up. He walks off. He comes back. And he has a Mannlicher-Carcano, just like the one Oswald used. He wanted to demonstrate for me the enormous difficulty of firing those shots in rapid succession.” [ Smithsonian ]

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Get Ready For Errol Morris’s Full JFK Investigation

REVIEW: When Humans Aren’t On-Screen, The Muppets Achieves Pure, Distilled Joy

Can something be considered fan fiction if it’s also an official, canonical studio product? I’m going to argue yes, absolutely, because with The Muppets , Jason Segel has crafted what can only be described as the most extravagant work of fan fiction ever, Mary Sue-ing himself into the Muppet universe as a character who helps reunite the gang in order to save their old theater and the day. Segel, who co-wrote the film with Nicholas Stoller, even leaves his own tentative mark on Jim Henson’s beloved ensemble by inserting a personal addition in the form of alter ego Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), his character’s Muppet brother and the group’s most devoted fan even when the rest of the world seems to have forgotten about them. Fandom can be a precarious thing — someone’s devotion to the source material he or she is adapting to screen can sometimes lead to being too cautious with it, too respectful to do what’s best for the movie instead of only for the hardcore supporters. But the love Segel has for the Muppets is a genuine, perceivable and positive quality that suffuses this good-hearted revitalization of the franchise, and if some wish fulfillment sneaks in there too, it seldom gets in the way of the enjoyment to be had.

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REVIEW: When Humans Aren’t On-Screen, The Muppets Achieves Pure, Distilled Joy

Revisit the JFK Assassination with a New Errol Morris Short

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 48 years ago today in Dallas, Texas, prompting what would become the biggest single market in conspiracy theories until 9/11. Many of them came bundled in such staggeringly ambitious work as Oliver Stone’s JFK , Don DeLillo’s Libra , and Josiah “Tink” Thompson’s exhaustive Zapruder film study Six Seconds in Dallas — the latter of which filmmaker and Movieline favorite Errol Morris reconnects with today for an intriguing new short exploring the legend of that fateful day’s “Umbrella Man.”

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Revisit the JFK Assassination with a New Errol Morris Short

Brett Ratner ‘Banged’ Olivia Munn, and Other Stories You’ll Be Talking About Today

Happy Friday! Also in Today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Darren Aronofsky to team with Lou Reed and Metallica… the hits keep on coming for Hilary Swank… Melissa McCarthy looks ahead… Errol Morris gets sued… and more.

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Brett Ratner ‘Banged’ Olivia Munn, and Other Stories You’ll Be Talking About Today

REVIEW: Errol Morris’ Tabloid Tells the Sordid Tale of a Love-Crazed Nutter

Errol Morris’s Tabloid isn’t quite as juicy as its title might lead you to believe, but it does tell a suitably twisted, outlandish tale: In 1977 Joyce McKinney, a North Carolina-born beauty queen who’d been ditched by her Mormon boyfriend — he “disappeared” because he’d been called on his mission — trekked to England to snatch him from the clutches of his church.

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REVIEW: Errol Morris’ Tabloid Tells the Sordid Tale of a Love-Crazed Nutter

Errol Morris on Tabloid Truth, Media Fury and Kissing Reality Goodbye

For a guy who has spent the last three decades mapping the contours of human frailty and folly, director Errol Morris is awfully upbeat about the future. Of course, his is not just any map: It illustrates redoubts of genius ( A Brief History of Time , Mr. Death ) and islands of quirk ( Gates of Heaven , Vernon, Florida ) in vast seas of systemic failure ( The Thin Blue Line , the Oscar-winning The Fog of War , Standard Operating Procedure ). Its moral compass points mysteriously inward, challenging viewers to orient themselves accordingly. His latest film, Tabloid , exists as its own sort of hemisphere in this schema, marking milestones of crime, gossip, sex, religion, love, science and indiscretion in the jaw-dropping story of Joyce McKinney.

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Errol Morris on Tabloid Truth, Media Fury and Kissing Reality Goodbye

Kristen Wiig Will Topline Passion Project Imogene

Hot off the critical and commercial success of Bridesmaids , Kristen Wiig will channel her higher profile and star power into Imogene , a NYC -set comedy about a playwright (to be played by Wiig) who fakes suicide to win back an ex and finds herself stuck in the custody of her gambler mother, trapped among family. More details within!

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Kristen Wiig Will Topline Passion Project Imogene

Paul Rudd to Star As a Cryonics Nut In Errol Morris’s Next Feature Film

While we patiently wait until the end of August to see Paul Rudd star as a shaggy-haired idealistic stoner in Our Idiot Brother , the comedic actor already has his sights set on a surprising new project with Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.

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Paul Rudd to Star As a Cryonics Nut In Errol Morris’s Next Feature Film