Top 10 at the Weekend Box Office

Notes:

• 2012 crushed the worldwide box office, grossing an estimated $160 million at the foreign box office and an estimated $65 million domestically for a total haul of $225 million.
• Reviews of 2012 and Precious can be found here.
• Click on the chart to enlarge.
• All figures are industry estimates. Actual figures are released on Monday.
• Sources: Nielsen EDI, ew.com, Variety

Movie Review: You've Been Warned!

2012

Let me start off by saying that I love a good big-screen disaster movie. Sure, you have to suspend reality, accept the fact that there will be cheesy acting, laughable spoken lines and plots with huge holes -- but you're bound to be entertained by some fun action and special effects, right? Well that's with a good disaster movie. 2012 is not a good disaster movie -- it's just a disaster.

Clocking in at nearly two-and-a-half hours, the film feels longer than the actual three years we have left to live -- that is if you believe in the Mayan lore that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Director/co-producer/co-writer Roland Emmerich is a master of the genre, but 2012 does not live up to his past successes (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow). Why? Where do I start? Miscasting, a bad script, limited action, sub-par special effects, ridiculous ethnic stereotyping and the movie's unnecessarily long running time are all factors.

Starting in 2009, an academic researcher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) leads a group of people in a fight to counteract the apocalyptic events that were predicted by the ancient Mayan calendar -- and are suddenly proving right with scientific support. Luckily, the U.S. Chief of Staff (Olive Platt) and President (Danny Glover) believe him -- and they start an international effort to plan for the inevitable. Too bad the plan can only save a small fraction of the world's population. How on earth will they decide who should be saved? And can they pull it off in such a short amount of time?

Flash forward three years and we meet Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), an unsuccessful science fiction book writer who now works as a limousine driver. In formulaic fashion, Curtis is estranged from his wife and his two kids. On a trip to Yellowstone, Curtis stumbles upon a whack-job radio jockey (played by Zombieland's Woody Harrelson) who convinces him that the end of the world is truly going to happen. And you guessed it -- Curtis now has a chance to redeem himself with his ex-wife (Amanda Peet) and kids -- if only he can save them from the disaster quickly ensuing all around them. I'm sure you can guess the ultimate outcome.

For the most part, the cast members seem to be cringing with each line of ridiculous dialogue. Danny Glover's performance is downright laughable. And John Cusack (Say Anything, Being John Malkovich, Serendipity), who has found success in so many different genres before, is ill-suited for action-adventure. He is not convincing as a strong lead in peril -- but how can you blame him? It must not be easy to act -- or react -- to things that aren't really there, but added later by today's technology. Sadly, the computer-generated special effects fall mostly short. Except for a few thrill rides in flight, the images look fake. Studios need to step it up now that audiences expect more-realistic effects. To sum up -- just in case we really only have three years to live -- don't waste your valuable time with this ridiculous film. [Rated PG-13; opens today]


Grade: C


Note:

• Click here for an alphabetical archive of all movie reviews -- including last week's review of Precious -- which opens wider today.
  

Free MusicMonday Downloads Return

After a one-week break to bring you all that Pearl Jam news, free music downloads are back here in the weekly MusicMonday column. This week's new offerings:

• Walmart has a free Carrie Underwood song for download here. Code: CHANGE.
• Singer/songwriter Matt Wertz has made an entire 17-track album available for free download. Click here to get If it Ain't Broke - Live from Seattle.
• Amazon is offering a free Veteran's Day album -- with songs from bands in our armed services. Click here for the download.
• Amazon also has a country sampler with the likes of Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett available for free download here.

And don't forget to continually check the following sources for more free downloads -- new songs covering all genres are added frequently. Just click on the links below and enjoy some new tunes.

• AbsolutePunk
• Amazon
• Fuse.tv
• Spinner
• Stereogum
• Walmart

One more reminder: enter "MusicMonday" in search box at upper left to review previous Monday posts for more available songs plus music news.

Top 10 at Weekend Box Office

Notes:

• On only 18 screens, Precious grossed $1.8 million for a per-screen average of $100,000 — the largest per-screen average ever for a movie opening in more than ten theaters. Read review of Precious here.
• Review of Where the Wild Things can be found here.
• Click on the chart to enlarge.
• All figures are industry estimates. Actual figures are released on Monday.
• Sources: Nielsen EDI, ew.com, Variety

Movie Review: PRECIOUS

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Clareece "Precious" Jones is an obese, illiterate 16-year-old living with an incredibly vile mother (Mo'Nique) in 1987 Harlem. Precious already has one kid (and you'll be horrified when you learn why the child has Down Syndrome) -- and she's pregnant again. Kicked out of her high school, she is invited to an alternative school -- where she hopes to finally move her life in a new direction. A better life -- that for now, she's only been able to fantasize about in her daydreams.

Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe is excellent in the title role as the teen whose hopes and dreams have been continually squashed due to her troubled home life. How is it possible that this girl even has dreams and a sense of humor after enduring so much physical and verbal abuse? Mo'Nique is superb as the worst mother on the planet -- she makes Mommie Dearest Joan Crawford look like June Cleaver. For any actress to pull this off would be amazing -- but for a comedian to do so is nothing short of a miracle. The rest of the supporting cast is also top-notch. Kudos to Mariah Carey for abandoning her real life glitz and beauty in a smaller, but strong role as a social worker. Finally, Glitter is deservedly behind her. Meanwhile, I didn't even recognize fellow singer/actor Lenny Kravitz until the credits rolled. All of these stars transformed so much for their roles -- it's truly a wonder to behold. Paula Patton (Idlewild) rounds out the fine cast as the teacher of the alternative school.

Warning -- this drama, expertly directed by Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer), is NOT an easy movie to watch. But you'll be glad you did because it will remind you that no matter how bad you may think your life is, someone always has it worse than you. And hopefully it will remind you that the human spirit is so strong -- it can prevail over any horror -- if you only let it.

With Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey as executive producers, the movie has been getting a lot of buzz -- and deservedly so. The film has already won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama at the Sundance Film Festival -- and the equivalent of the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival. With ten films to be nominated for an Academy Award next year, this one is a definite shoo-in for a coveted spot. And if the Academy gets it right, we will see Oscar nominations for performances as well. It's a powerful film -- and it should not be missed. [Rated R; opens in limited release today, wider 11/13]

Grade: A

Note:

• Click here for an alphabetical archive of all movie reviews.

MusicMonday: Recap of Pearl Jam's Philly Concerts

Pearl Jam, the greatest American rock band, wrapped its four-night gig in Philadelphia this past weekend -- culminating with a Halloween show that was the LAST event ever at the famed entertainment arena, The Spectrum. Here's a recap:

• Yours truly sat out the opener, but attended the other three nights -- and thanks to fan club seniority, had great floor seats!
• The band played a total of 131 songs over the four concerts -- including 103 different songs.
• Of the band's total 110 studio album tracks, they played 83!
• Set lists for all nights can be found here.
• The three early shows clocked in around 2.5 hours each, with the final show a whopping 3.5 hours.
• Rumored guests for the final night were just that, rumors. Maybe Bruce Springsteen would have been there if he didn't attend the funeral for his cousin and road crew member earlier that day. And maybe Elton John would have been there if he wasn't in a London hospital recovering from the flu and an E. coli infection. Whatever the reasons, when you're a band of this caliber, you don't need guests to make the night memorable.
• Highlights for the final night including hearing "Bugs" and "Sweet Lew" for the first time live.
• And let's not forget it was Halloween night -- so in the spirit of the holiday, the band came out dressed like Devo and performed "Whip It" -- it was truly a classic moment -- which was captured by a fellow fan in this video here.
• As the band was in their final Spectrum encore performing Neil Young's "Rockin in the Free World," red, white and blue balloons and confetti fell from the rafters -- captured in the video here.
• Comcast-Spectacor and Live Nation representatives presented the band with Spectrum seats, bearing plaques commemorating their finale at the historic venue. Click here for more on the venue's history.
• For the Philadelphia Inquirer's coverage -- including a photo gallery -- click here.
• For coverage from Rolling Stone -- including another look at the Devo homage, click here.
• For coverage from Billboard, click here.
• My reviews: I continue to be amazed at how well the band is able to pull off integrating their new songs with the old. With other bands, you'll feel the crowd energy slip down when bands don't play their hits and try to feed you new tunes. But that is not the case with Pearl Jam. Every song -- whether old or new -- is savored by the strong fan base. And each night only built in terms of fan and band energy, so my final concert grades are as follows ~ 10/28: B+, 10/30: A-, 10/31: A. Not too shabby when you figure I'm pushing 50 total concerts by the band.

Note:

• A special thanks to @DirtyFrankDahmr for some of the supportive information.
• The free music download section will be back NEXT week. Click here for last week's list.

Top 10 at the Weekend Box Office

Notes:

• Reviews of Where the Wild Things and Amelia can be found here.
• Click on the chart to enlarge.
• All figures are industry estimates. Actual figures are released on Monday.
• Sources: Nielsen EDI, ew.com, Variety