The general belief is that the Summer 2014 Box Office is down significantly from previous years. And the numbers prove it. Back in April I wrote a blog predicting how the big May releases would do. In it I pointed-out that while the May 2013 films grossed more than $1.4 billion domestically, the 2014 crop […]

The World Cup has ended, NFL Training Camps are still a few weeks away, and baseball is in its Mid-Season break. So why not give out honors to all the hard-working athletes? One awards show has been doing this in mid-July for 20 years, but a new, direct competitor is looking to steal some of […]

Normally I’m not the biggest fan of extended preview clips (even most trailers give away too much of the movie). But when Disney/Marvel announced a special IMAX 3D First Look screening of “Guardians of the Galaxy”, consisting of 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage, nearly one month before the August 1 release date, I knew I […]

The 4th of July weekend box office was down significantly from last year. And while many analysts are surprised by the poor results over the holiday, I predicted that “Tammy”, “Deliver Us from Evil”, and “Earth to Echo” would all struggle, mostly because they aren’t designed to be Independence Day blockbusters. Last year, “Despicable Me […]

DUSTY CROPHOPPER AND I WANT TO WISH ALL OF YOU AN INCREDIBLE FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND! Lights Camera Jackson (a.k.a. Jackson Murphy) began his career as a film critic in 2006 at the age of 7. To date, Jackson has written nearly 1,000 reviews of new releases and, in total, has seen more than 1,500 films. […]

We’re six months into the year and there have already been several excellent films. Here are the 10 best from the First Half of 2014: 1. “Locke” Tom Hardy gives a nomination-worthy performance in writer/director Steven Knight’s moving and effective psychological drama. The premise couldn’t be simpler: a man driving his car, talking to a […]

Time for my movie awards for the first half of 2014: Best Picture “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” “Edge of Tomorrow” “Heaven is for Real” “The LEGO Movie” “Locke” Best Director Josh Boone – “The Fault in Our Stars” Steven Knight – “Locke” Doug Liman – “Edge of Tomorrow” Phil Lord and Christopher Miller – […]

July 2014 could go down as one of the wackiest scheduling months in Movie History. The extended Independence Day weekend, which starts on Wednesday the 2nd, features a uniquely weak crop of new releases, because none are designed as blockbusters. The Melissa McCarthy comedy “Tammy”, Relativity Media’s “E.T.” knock-off “Earth to Echo”, and the Eric […]

What a difference 25 years can make…or maybe not. Hollywood clearly likes to recycle, and this strategy has produced some huge franchises – many which have been reborn since their inceptions in ’89. 25 years ago this week, Tim Burton’s big-screen version of “Batman” was released. Starring Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader and Jack […]

Not every film is specifically designed to gross $250 million or receive numerous nominations (aka “Awards Bait”). Some directors simply want to make movies for the best possible reason: to tell interesting stories in interesting ways. This seems to be the case with Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys”. From the trailer, […]