Fearless, Flawless Box Office Predictions

Okay, Friday housekeeping: I'll be back later with a Last Airbender review, but I know you're all taking off early to get your "blowing stuff up for freedom" on. So, be safe this weekend, don't drink and f**king drive, and don't blow your genitals off. That's about the best advice you could give for such a thing.

Oh, and maybe one more, don't see Twilight. I know your girlfriend (or boyfriend) wants you to, but you're better than that. I can allow that the books may be able to be injected with your own imagination enough to make them passable, but there's no way you can listen to Robert Pattinson and Shirtless McTinyNipples for two and a half hours and not lose part of your soul. I'm not exactly advocating that you go see The Last Airbender either. So, maybe go outside or watch Toy Story 3 again? I don't know.

Okay, last thing before we get to this: I'm a flaming liberal, as you can tell by a ton of my jokes. Somewhere along the line it became common thinking that somehow we're less patriotic or supportive of our troops than the other side. That's just not true. I love this country, from our continued commitment philosophically as a nation to beautiful ideals to the continued belief that we can and will rise above any problem at any time. And I love the troops that are far braver than me who do what I could never do in order to make people in this nation and (just as importantly) many others safer. Thank you to the troops, I love you to America, and let's do some box office haikus.

Oh, and these are for grosses from Friday through Sunday, even though Twilight came out Wednesday and Airbender came out Thursday. What ever happened to releasing movies on Friday like normal people?

1.) Twilight: Eclipse - $98 million

This title fits well.
When it comes to eclipses,
you don't look at them.

2.) The Last Airbender - $38 million

STOP WRITING, M. NIGHT!
You are a fine director,
and a shit writer.

3.) Toy Story 3 - $36 million

Kudos to Pixar
for what will be their top flick.
Keep it going, gang!

4.) Grown Ups - $19 million

I have a question.
When it comes to Kevin James,
when is it enough?!?!

5.) Knight and Day - $10.5 million

So sorry, Tommy.
You should listen to me now.
Go play a villain.

WILDCARD - The Karate Kid - $9 million

I would pay to see
Jaden Smith matched up against
the airbender kid.

Okay, that's it! Happy 4th everyone!

Ryan's Junk Drawer

Hello...is it me (junk) you're looking for? I can see it in your eyes. That opening is obviously brought to you by Lionel Ritchie, one of many singers to get famous for a song that sounds like it glorifies stalking. Seriously, if that song went on for another minute, it would end with lines like "I'm wearing your skin as my face." It's creepy. Speaking of creepy, as you likely know by now (if you know me at all), Thursday is the day I sort through all the itty bitty news that didn't grow up into a full blog post and dump into my imaginary "junk drawer." I then go around on twitter and facebook making jokes about my junk. I'm apparently 12. Also, I usually start with a peek into what I believe is shown in the clearly demonic illustration above that I took from "Highlights" magazine. Today's item is Kermit the Frog's detached larynx in the upper right corner! Looks like someone finally had enough John Denver duets. By the way, The Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" ever. Discuss. Feel free to incorporate how it's called a carol but nobody sings.

Moving onward and upward, here's the top 5 news stories that wanted to get their own posts but have to learn that life is full of disappointment.

1.) Space lies, part 743 - I've made a whole bunch of comments in the past about the possibility, probability, and potential of a new Star Wars movie. In short, it certainly could happen, but probably not soon and I want one to redeem the series. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if someone other than Lucas gets his/her hands on the material, the ship can be righted. The latest total rumor that is so proposterous I feel like a ninny (yeah, I said ninny) even repeating it comes from Thomas Dolby, who is responsible for this:



On his blog Dolby revealed conversations he's had with Paul Sebastien of Lucasarts. When recapping what the friends had discussed (besides eyesight loss due to technological advancements), Dolby let loose the statement that there may be a new Star Wars movie in the works, in addition to the live-action TV show and more video games. Now, if you can't take the word of a synth-pop 80s rocker repeating second-hand information from a guy who works for Lucas, who can you trust?

2.) Bigger suck - IMAX made The Dark Knight better for me. IMAX may be the reason Avatar is palatable. IMAX is not going to make Twilight better. That isn't stopping them from making Twilight: Eclipse into an IMAX endeavor. Oh, sure, will you be able to see every pore on Kristen Stewart's bored, dispassionate face. You'll be able to count every one of Robert Pattinson's intentionally misplaced hairs. You'll be able to examine each of Tayler Lautner's 17 ab muscles (he had a few transplanted). It won't make any of it better, but it will be bigger. Just pray that they don't go 3D, as I can't stand the thought of Pattinson hair flopping at me. Or smell-o-vision. Don't do that either. Stewart smells like burning hair and Pattinson smells like dead hamster...oddly enough, Lautner smells like cinnamon.

3.) A Wachowski says "what?" - Huge shockwaves were sent (in my pants) when I heard from Slashfilm that the Wachowskis were making a "futuristic war movie" that had gotten all the way to production withouth any scrutiny. Who broke the story? Arianna Huffington. Seriously. The intriguingly accented lady even posted a shot of her "on set" in front of a green screen. Supposedly it had something to do with "Iraq from the prospective of the future," which makes as much sense as anything, I suppose. Then along comes Devin from Chud.com to say "nope, total bullshit." Basically, Devin says that the Wachowskis are in the process of TESTING for their next film. So, really, it sounds like splitting hairs as the difference here seems to be that they aren't ALREADY shooting a futuristic war movie we haven't heard of but they're ABOUT to shoot a futuristic war movie we haven't heard of. Also, apparently this may have something to do with the book "Cloud Atlas," which sounds crazy. Most notably, that sourceless wiki I just linked to suggests Tom Twyker is attached to write....weirdness. So, Arianna Huffington may or may not be starring in a futuristic movie which may or may not be based on a book and Tom Twyker may or may not be adapting it. Sweet.

4.) Where's the evil brooms? I miss the evil brooms. - What do you do with a live-action adaptation of a segment from Fantasia starring Nic Cage in what may be his most ridiculous hair ever (yeah, we're talking beyond Con Air here)? I mean, it looks sort of weirdly fun, but it also looks batshit crazy...and where is the loyalty to the original story? I mean, the main villain should be tyrannical brooms rising up against their master. It was an allegory for the subjugated worker, right? Check out what "the man" has done to the story in the trailer below:



5.) After a decade, I get closure - This is a cut from the Blu-Ray of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, so the quality ain't great and there's a bit of "behind-the-scenes" rambling preceding it...but this is the first glimpse at part one of The Deathly Hallows. I've been moderately positive with this series, which has increased in quality almost every time out, but I'm ready for the damn thing to be over. In fact, I'm really quite excited to see the finale play out on the big screen, having spent almost a third of my life with these movies. You think I'm kidding, but go back now and watch that first movie; those actors are like tiny babies. You'll feel REALLY bad about what you said regarding Hermione.


Dh Preview One - Click here for more blooper videos