Top 10 at the Weekend Box Office

Notes:

• Click on the chart to enlarge.
• Both of the two big newcomers outpaced expectations. Universal's 3-D animated family feature Despicable Me topped the weekend box office with an estimated $60.1 million. Meanwhile, Fox's R-rated horror thriller Predators earned $25.3 million to debut in third place.
• Elsewhere, Summit Entertainment The Twilight Saga: Eclipse earned $33.4 million in second place during its second weekend. The sequel's cumulative box office is now at $237 million through 12 days in release. Its immediate predecessor in the series -- The Twilight Saga: New Moon – rang up $235.7 million in its first dozen days as part of a $296.6 million domestic run.
• With $22 million this weekend, the cumulative total for Toy Story 3 is now $340.2 million -- making it the #1 movie of 2010 so far (overtaking Alice in Wonderland which finished at $334.1 million).
  
• Collectively, the weekend top 10 rung up $191 million, or a whopping 44% more than top performers in the same frame last year.
• Reviews of Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, Grown Ups, Cyrus and other movies not in the top ten can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
• All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures are released on Monday.
• Sources: Nielsen EDI, ew.com, Hollywood Reporter
  

Movie Review: Another Animated Must-See

Despicable Me

Anyone else notice the latest Hollywood trend? The most inventive, and therefore most critically-acclaimed films over the past several years are animated features. From Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment, Despicable Me is the latest computer-animated 3-D feature film -- releasing right on the heels of the extraordinary Toy Story 3 from Disney/Pixar. And it's nearly as entertaining.

Steve Carell excels as the voice of Gru, an evil super-villain who is trying to outdo Vector, another super-villain (voiced by Jason Segel from I Love You, Man). Along the way, we are treated to an army of mischievous little minions and an arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle-ready land and air vehicles. But it's the heart-warming interaction with three little girls that enter Gru's life that will leave the biggest impact. Can someone so super-bad change his ways?

There are some top-notch 3-D effects in the film -- so I would recommend you spend the extra bucks this time and put on those goofy glasses. And definitely stick around for the closing credits because some of the best 3-D visuals appear there. The great voice cast also includes Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Miranda Cosgrove and Kristen Wiig (Extract, Adventureland). Co-directed by Pierre Coffin, Sergio Pablos and Chris Renaud, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the 2006 animated short, No Time for Nuts. [Rated PG; opens tomorrow]

Grade: A-


Note:

• Click on the Film Reviews icon at left to read other recent reviews -- including Cyrus, Grown Ups and Toy Story 3.
  

MusicMonday: More Free Summer Downloads

Hope you all had a great Independence Day weekend -- sure was a hot one here. If you're not lucky enough to be at a beach, it's best to stay inside with the A/C cranked listening to some new tunes. So here are this week's free offerings:

• The third annual Mayhem Festival kicks off this Saturday and will be co-headlined by Korn and Rob Zombie. Click on the image at right for a list of tour dates. And click here to get a free, 9-song Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival Tour digital sampler, featuring Mayhem artists Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, Hatebreed, Winds of Plague, 3 Inches of Blood, In This Moment, Norma Jean and Atreyu.
• Landmark Music Summer 2010, the new digital compilation featuring 11 new songs, is now available for free download! Compliments of the movie theater chain and Filter Magazine, the new edition of Landmark Music features songs by Jessica Hoop, Andrew Bird, The Watson Twins, Trevor Hall, Merle Haggard, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan and more. You can select individual tracks for download or take the entire playlist for your personal collection. Click here to download.

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 singles
  
• Amazon albums
• The BoomBox
  
• Fuse.tv
• KickKickSnare
• Mashable
  
• MTV
  
• Spinner
• Stereogum
• VolumeVote
  
• Walmart

Top 10 at the Weekend Box Office

Notes:

• Click on the chart to enlarge.
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse topped the box office this weekend with $69 million. But the latest Twilight movie fell short of its predecessor at the North American box office despite selling a hefty $161 million worth of tickets during its first five days. The previous film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, earned $179 million in its first six days in November, without the benefit of a holiday.
• Distributor Summit Entertainment now predicts Eclipse will end up with a six-day haul of about $181 million after sales for the U.S. Independence Day holiday on Monday are counted. The studio originally forecast a six-day tally of $199 million.
• Despite mostly poor reviews, The Last Airbender exceeded expectations and opened at #2 with $40.6 million for the three-day period. Including Thursday sales, the latest from director M. Night Shyamalan stands at $53.2 million.
• Meanwhile, Toy Story 3 slipped to #3 with $30.2 million. Its total rose to $289 million, making it the 10th biggest title in Disney history, the company said
• Reviews of Toy Story 3, Grown Ups, Cyrus and other movies not in the top ten can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
• All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures are released on Monday.
• Sources: Nielsen EDI, ew.com, AP
  

Movie Review: A Sundance Hit Opens Wider

Cyrus

The most talked about indie film at the moment was a big hit at Sundance and other recent film festivals. But is Cyrus worth the hype? Not really -- I think it's good, not great. Written and directed by brothers Jay and Mark Duplass (Baghead), this dark comedy is stronger than its material thanks to terrific acting by the cast.

John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Boogie Nights) stars as John -- he's in a real rut as his ex is re-marrying while he hasn't seemed to find a way to move on. He meets Molly (Marisa Tomei from The Wrestler) at a party and instantly they fall for each other. The only problem is Cyrus (Jonah Hill) -- a 21-year-old man-child, mama's boy who will do anything in his power to keep his mother Molly and John from moving forward. It's in the demented scenes between Reilly and Hill that the film excels. Hill (Get Him to the Greek) is a revelation as the disturbed young man, and O'Reilly continues to prove that he can handle a mix of comedy and drama to near-perfection.

The problem is, despite the great acting and some funny moments, it was hard for me to embrace the characters because they were both somewhat unbelievable and unlikable to me. Am I really supposed to believe that John's ex-wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) would put up with his moroseness for the seven years since their divorce? Do people as beautiful as Molly really fall for ogres like John? So since I really didn't care about any of the characters, I wasn't totally vested in how things would end up.

In sum, don't believe all the hype -- Cyrus won't be the greatest indie film you'll see this year -- but don't totally dismiss the movie either. The great acting alone makes the film so much more enjoyable than most of the huge-budget crap the big studios are churning out this summer. [Rated R; in select cities]


Grade: B


Notes:

• Cyrus continues to roll out this month. Click here to learn when the film will be in your market.
• The good news about a slow roll-out? Free advance screenings are still available for some major cities. Click here for passes in select cities.
  
• Click on the Film Reviews icon at left to read other recent reviews -- including Grown Ups and Toy Story 3.
  

Movie Review: A Summer "Comedy" to Skip

Grown Ups

Last summer at this time, we were treated to one of the smartest comedies to come along in a while -- The Hangover. This summer, we have the complete polar opposite. Despite a cast full of some funny people, Grown Ups is a dumb movie -- and not very funny.

Five best friends (Kevin James and Saturday Night Live alumni Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider) from junior high reunite years later in the wake of the death of their old basketball coach and decide to spend the July 4th weekend together with their families at the lake house where they celebrated their championship. Rounding out the cast are their wives -- including another SNL alum, Maya Rudolph (Away We Go), Maria Bello and Salma Hayak -- and some former basketball competitors -- yep, more SNL alum in the form of Colin Quinn and Tim Meadows.

Co-written by Sandler, the film is directed by one of his frequent collaborators, Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, The Benchwarmers, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry). Sadly, this film is one of the weakest of the bunch. It's being marketed as a family comedy -- but it's rarely funny and not appropriate for kids. The only good thing I can say about this movie is that it tries to relay a couple of good messages: 1) kids should put aside their cell phones and game system remotes and head outside for fun and 2) grown ups should put aside the work stress and concentrate on each other more. There you have it, I just saved you $10. [Rated PG-13; opens tomorrow]


Grade: C


Note:

• Click on the Film Reviews icon at left to read other recent reviews -- including one for the highly-recommended Toy Story 3.
  

MusicMonday: Free Summer Downloads

Happy Summer!

Here are this week's free downloads:

• The Vans Warped Tour, one of the hottest summer festivals, kicks off this week! Click on the image at right to download ten free tracks from participating bands! Offer expires August 31.
  
• Sign up for the mailing list of G. Love and Special Sauce here -- and download all "Track of the Week" mp3s for free.
  
• Mashable offers up ten free tracks each Monday! Here are all the recent offerings.

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 singles
  
• Amazon albums
• The BoomBox
  
• Fuse.tv
• KickKickSnare
  
• MTV
  
• Spinner
• Stereogum
• VolumeVote
  
• Walmart