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Our Favorite Movies of 2010

Sandy Schaefer — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:55:01 +0000

We’ve spent the last few days carrying on about the worst films of 2010 and the biggest disappointments in the hopes of healing our and your collective psyches from the damage sustained after watching inane movies like Jonah Hex or Furry Vengeance (*shudder*).

Now we turn our attention to the high points of 2010 – namely, the movies that met or exceeded our expectations and entertained us enough so as to earn a permanent spot on our personal favorites films list.

While a favorite movies list does not strictly correspond with a best movies list (case in point – flicks like Citizen Kane or The Seventh Seal aren’t traditionally considered proper choices for a fun Saturday night viewing), there’s certainly a good deal of crossover between the two. A number of this year’s ...

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Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech & More Ineligible For WGA Screenplay Awards

Ross Miller — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:39:08 +0000

When awards season rolls around every year there always seems to be a group of films that are tapped to pick up their share of the major awards. 2010 is no exception and this year the likes of Toy Story 3, Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, Black Swan and The Fighter are among those which have won awards already and look likely to pick up some Oscars as well.

However, when it comes to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), there are rules which often prohibit certain awards favorites from winning in some of the big categories offered by awards ceremonies.

Following the Oscars deeming the scores for Black Swan, True Grit and The Fighter ineligible for ...

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2011 Golden Globe Nominations Announced

Sandy Schaefer — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:27:11 +0000

Celebrities Josh Duhamel, Katie Holmes, and Blair Underwood dragged themselves from the comfort of their beds early this morning to announce the nominations for this year’s other big cinematic awards, the Golden Globes.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has unveiled its nominations for the 68th annual Golden Globes and, like any year’s crop of nominees, there are a few surprise choices, some unexpected snubs, and a number of highly anticipated selections.

Leading the movie pack with seven nominations is the period drama The King’s Speech, which began to garner serious awards buzz back when it toured the festival circuit this past fall. David Fincher’s The Social Network has already snagged a handful of critic’s choice awards and secured six Gold Globe nods, matching that of this month’s true-life boxing drama, The Fighter. Indie breakout hits
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AFI Lists Top 10 Movies and TV Programs of 2010

Rob Frappier — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:40:56 +0000

The American Film Institute announced its list of the Top 10 movies of 2010 today, giving film fans a likely glimpse at many of the movies in contention for the Best Picture Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards.

AFI’s Top 10 films represent a wide range of styles, from the brainy big budget action film Inception and the animated Toy Story 3 to the low-budget indie films Winter’s Bone and The Kids Are All Right.

Several of the films on the list, including True Grit and The Fighter, have yet to make nationwide releases, but are already racking up major points with critics. Our own Kofi Outlaw gave The Fighter a perfect five star review.

Check below for the full list of the AFI’s Top 10 films for 2010, as well as a ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: October 31st, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 21:18:58 +0000

This Week:

A lot of people see Saw; get ready to meet Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; prepare for The Demonologists, Paul Haggis goes to prison; Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor go hunting; Pete Segal has a Grudge, Daniel Craig’s Dream House is a nightmare; Kilmer and Coppola are Twixt Now and Sunrise and lots more.

Box Office

Saw 3D (read our review and Saw in 6:66 feature) ousted Paranormal Activity 2 from the top spot and secured the lead over the Halloween weekend. The 3D horror sequel brought in an estimated $24.5 million to scare the beejeezus out of audiences- not bad for a film with a $20 million budget. While it’s not the best start for the franchise, it does beat the debut of last year’s installment. This might not be the last Saw after all.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: October 17, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:17:47 +0000

This week:

Jackass 3D hits the top spot at the box office while Bruce Willis sees Red; J.J. Abrams is Infinitely Polar Bear; Samuel L. Jackson heads Holmes with Hawkshaw; Joe Carnahan tackles Umbra; Catherine Hardwicke moves from Edward & Bella to Romeo & Juliet; Noomi Rapace sets sail on The Last Voyage of The Demeter; Luke Evans and Alice Eve join John Cusack in The Raven and there’s lots more.

After several weeks of serious adult-skewed films holding the top spot at the box office, it looked like audiences wanted to let loose and relax by watching grown men getting hit in the crotch with the full 3D experience. This thirst for pain is the reason that the number one position was filled by Jackass 3D (read our review here). The $20 million budgeted comedy brought in a stellar $49.5 million, easily capturing the number one spot.

Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: October 17, 2010

Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: October 10, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 18:20:38 +0000

This week:

The Social Network has more friends than Life As We Know It; Paramount Pictures acquires Young Adult; Hanks and Depp eye Sleeping Dogs, Robert Downey Jr is the new Steve McQueen in Yucatan; we get a first look at Nic Cage and Nic Kidman in Trespass; there are two Iceman movies on the way and Val Kilmer isn’t in either one; life is a Battleground for ABC and get ready for some Awkward Family Photos.

Box Office

It was a close race for pole position this weekend at the box office, with Life As We Know It and last week’s number one film The Social Network both fighting it out for the number one spot. David Fincher’s Facebook movie took the top spot after collecting another $15.9 million. The film has now banked a total of $46 million.

Katherine Heigl’s Life As We Know It had to ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: October 3, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:24:07 +0000

This Week:

The Social Network clicks with audiences for the number one spot; Ron Howard and Jodie Foster have a Stroke of Insight; DiCaprio, Maguire and Seyfried eye The Great Gatsby; Keke Palmer is a Runaway; Ciaran Hinds and Violante Placido saddle up with Nic Cage for Ghost Rider 2 and ladies rejoice - Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep unite for the ultimate chick flick.

Box Office

David Fincher’s Facebook drama The Social Network (read our review here) found a few friends over the weekend, enabling the $40 million drama to capture the top spot at the box office. The film should score about $23 million over the weekend, and could continue to do well due to strong reviews and positive word of mouth. The Aaron Sorkin-penned film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, and Rooney Mara who is set to star ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: September 26, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:26:34 +0000

This week:

The box office never sleeps as Wall Street 2 makes bank; Emma Stone might be moving to Jump Street; Del Toro talks casting At the Mountains of Madness; J.J. Abrams gets sent to Alcatraz; Charlize Theron has Two Staring Eyes; Anthony Peckham helps Chris Pine know Jack; X marks the spot for James McAvoy; Chloe Moretz is Strange and lots more.Box Office

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (read our review) captured the top spot at the box office and banked $19 million worth of coin over the weekend. Michael Douglas stars with Oliver Stone directing the fiscal film which has an impressive supporting cast including Shia LaBeouf and Josh Brolin.

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (read our review) should fly into second with a weekend take of $16.1 million. ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: September 19, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 11:49:56 +0000

This week:

Ben Affleck is the man about Town; Shawn Levy is the Deadliest Warrior; Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion spreads; Sony Pictures is Insidious; Ron Perlman gets ready to Drive; Al Capone goes to Cicero; Harrelson, Foster, Cube, Buscemi, Heche, Nixon, Weaver and Wright visit Rampart; and more.

Box Office

Ben Affleck is back! The Oscar-winning star has topped the box office with The Town. The film, which he directed, starred, and co-wrote, brought in an estimated $23.6 million over the weekend. Affleck has had quite a decade, after his breakout hit Good Will Hunting alongside pal Matt Damon, he went on to star in a string of hits (and misses), headlining quite a few big budget action films. However, his relationship with Jennifer Lopez caused a tabloid frenzy, leading to over-exposure in the media – leading Affleck to shun the limelight in favor of supporting roles in smaller pictures. He made ...

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‘The Town’ Review

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:56:23 +0000

Screen Rant’s Kofi Outlaw Reviews The Town

In 2007, Ben Affleck’s feature-length directorial debut Gone Baby Gone hit theaters, proving something that few of us had ever dared to imagine: that Ben Affleck is a pretty good director. Back then, the actor/writer/director/die-hard Boston native still had the shadow of his tabloid celebrity image clinging to his back, but the quality of work he put out with Gone Baby Gone was enough to reverse that perception and return some of the respect that Affleck had lost while living in front of the perpetual light of paparazzi flash bulbs.

With his second directorial feature, The Town, Affleck seemed poised to silence even the most ardent critics who refuse to accept his transition back from pretty boy celeb to the gifted artist who sprung to fame in the ...

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‘The Town’ International Trailer & Clip

Sandy Schaefer — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:07:51 +0000

The countdown continues to Ben Affleck’s next directorial effort, The Town, a cops and robbers drama due to arrive in theaters this September.

An international trailer for the feature has been released along with some new footage from the violent crime thriller. Yahoo! Movies has also posted a clip from the The Town, which is an adaptation of the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan.

The film stars Affleck in the role of Doug MacRay, the leader of an accomplished group of bank robbers operating out of Charlestown – a Boston neighborhood lovingly referred to as “the bank robbery capital of the world” by some. Trouble presents itself in the form of Claire (Rebecca Hall), a woman taken hostage by MacRay and his men during their most recent job.

Doug and his fellow ...

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Screen Rant’s 2010 Fall Movie Preview

Kofi Outlaw — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:17:36 +0000

Summertime and all that easy living is now done, and unless you’re one of those people who lives where the sun is always shining then the onset of Fall means four things: colder weather, earlier sunsets, heavier clothing and movies galore.

Yes, the summer has all those big blockbusters we’ve been waiting all year to see, but Fall is the time when we actually want to be in the movie theater: when being outdoors is no longer an attractive alternative and the cinema offers many, many, award-worthy films. A few of them even stand the chance of being pretty good.

Of course the Fall movie landscape has been changing pretty radically in the last few years: September is now a “showcase for unique genre films” instead of just a studio dumping ground ...

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SR Pick [Video]: 2010 Fall/Winter Movie Trailer Mashup

Ben Kendrick — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:11:13 +0000

It’s been a somewhat lackluster summer movie season – with only a few highly anticipated films living up to their hype. While box office numbers are still strong there were plenty of high-profile films that failed to impress audiences.

The somewhat disappointing summer has left an empty void in a lot of moviegoers – a void that the Fall 2010 film season is prepped to fill.

We locked Screen Rant’s Mike Eisenberg in his production office, with only week old saltine crackers and water, until he successfully produced a Fall preview trailer worthy of the bar he set with his Ultimate 2010 Summer Movie Trailer. Once again he’s taken the most popular upcoming films and mashed them together into one epic Fall Preview – set to “The Final Arrow” by Marc ...

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New TV Spots For ‘Legend of the Guardians’ & ‘The Town’

Sandy Schaefer — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:29:30 +0000

Although the 3D animated pic Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and the gritty cops & robbers drama The Town could not be more different, both look to be a hit with moviegoers when they arrive within a week’s time of one another this September.

Legend of the Guardians is based off the children’s fantasy book series by Kathryn Lasky and revolves around Soren, a young owl who must seek the aid of the famous guardians when he and his fellow owlets incur the wrath of the vicious Pure Ones (they’re owls too, see ).

The film features voice performances from some pretty solid names, including Helen Mirren, Sam Neil, Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, and Hugo Weaving – alongside younger stars like Abbie Cornish and ...

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Poster Friday: ‘Resident Evil 4′, ‘Piranha 3D’, ‘Saw 3D’ & More!

Ross Miller — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:11:59 +0000

It’s time again for us to round up all those movie posters that have hit The Web recently. This Friday’s round-up includes posters for some of the most highly anticipated and discussed movies on the horizon:

Resident Evil: Afterlife, Piranha 3D, Saw 3D, Legend of the Guardians, Buried, Monsters, The Town, The Last Exorcism, Due Date, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and Yogi Bear (okay maybe that last one isn’t that anticipated…).

We also have a limited edition art poster for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which opens today, and a poster for the re-release of Avatar.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

First up we have a bunch of posters and banners for Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth installment in the successful video game zombie franchise. We got ...

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Intense Trailer For Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’

Sandy Schaefer — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:50:31 +0000

One of the new trailers that will premiere in front of Inception this weekend in that for the film The Town, a cops & robbers drama/thriller set in Boston and directed (appropriately) by none other than actor Ben Affleck.

The Town is based off Chuck Hogan’s novel The Prince of Thieves and revolves around Doug MacRay (Affleck), the leader of a successful gang of bank robbers working the Boston area. Complications arise when Doug becomes romantically involved with bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) – the woman he and his crew held hostage on a recent job – and begins to question his life.

Affleck previously helmed the well-regarded film Gone Baby Gone, which itself was a Boston-set crime drama based off a novel. The Good Will Hunting writer/star selected to remain behind the camera in ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: September 6, 2009

Niall Browne — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:13:38 +0000

This weekend:

It’s Gamer over as the box office has a Final Destination; Kevin Smith loses his Dicks; Blake Lively moves into Affleck’s Town; Liam Nesson and Bono are introduced to The Virgin of Las Vegas; Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy and Gabriel Byrne swim with Two Birds and Keanu Reeves helps solve Henry’s Crime. Woah!

Box Office
It’s Labor Day weekend again and that can only mean one thing – low box office. Horror franchise film The Final Destination 3-D held onto the top spot with a pretty decent $12 million 3-day take. It should have $15 million in the bag by the close of business Monday giving it a $50 million total. This is going to be the highest grossing film in the series, so expect another installment – soon.

Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper should capture the runner-up ...

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Hall & Hamm Go To “Town” With Ben Affleck

Niall Browne — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:54:25 +0000

Ben Affleck is stepping back behind the camera following the success of 2007′s Gone Baby Gone.

The Oscar-winner will direct and star in The Town, based on a novel by Charles Hogan.The film will also star Mad Men star Jon Hamm and Vicky Christina Barcelona‘s Rebecca Hall.

Ten years ago Ben Affleck was one of the hottest young stars in Hollywood. Following the commercial and critical success of the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, Affleck and his best friend Matt Damon were the toast of Hollywood.

Then after a few questionable career choices (Gigli, Daredevil) and a high profile relationship with Jennifer Lopez, it appeared that Affleck had come to a crossroads with his career. After spending a couple of years avoiding the spotlight he took supporting roles as George Reeves in Hollywoodland and State of Play opposite Russell Crowe.

It looks ...

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Movie News Wrap Up: March 30, 2009

Niall Browne — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:44:37 +0000

This week:

Monsters Vs Aliens tops the box office; the Coens remake John Wayne’s True Grit; Val Kilmer talks up a reteam with Robert Downey Jr; Matthew McConaughey is The Lincoln Lawyer; Tobey Maguire knows The Limit; Ben Affleck and Matt Damon hunt for Good Will after Bourne again and Affleck hits The Town.

Box Office

Monsters Vs Aliens was the big winner this weekend with a powerful gross of $58 million. It’s the best opening gross of a movie this year (beating Watchmen). Also, horror isn’t dead with The Haunting in Connecticut scaring up $23 million in ticket sales.

Nicolas Cage’s Knowing dropped a decent 40% with a weekend take of almost $15 million giving the action flick a total gross of $46 million – despite bad reviews.

I Love You, Man managed another $12,7 million, while the Julia Roberts- Clive Owen heist movie Duplicity banked another $7.5 million for a $25 ...

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