Box Office Predictions May 30-June 1: A Million Ways to Die in the West Gets a Little Maleficent

As one of the two big films being released this weekend, Seth MacFarlane brings us his follow-up to 2012's Ted, this time basing this film in 1882 Arizona. This one is called A Million Ways to Die in the West. MacFarlane has quite the fan-base because of his work in television as the creator of …

Blended (2014)

Released: May 23, 2014. Directed by: Frank Coraci. Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Wendi McLendon-Covey. Runtime: 117 min. Adam Sandler and co bring us a rom-com that's heavy on the romance, light on the comedy. Six or seven good laughs throughout the feature is no impressive feat, but is okay for Sandler's current streak, considering …

Box Office Predictions, May 23-26 – X-Men: Days of Future Past to mute Adam Sandler’s Blended

This weekend, X-Men: Days of Future Past eyes an opening north of $100 million over the Memorial Day frame. Films similar to this open at $84.2 million. A reason I don't see this being huge, like a $125 million opening, is because X-Men films have generally been on the decline in numbers lately. The opening …

Godzilla (2014)

Released: May 16, 2014. Directed by: Gareth Edwards. Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston. Runtime: 123 min. Gareth Edwards brings his latest film to life with ambition and a great scope. Edwards previously dabbled in the monster genre with his refreshing low-budget film called Monsters, which was impressive in its effectiveness. This time, Edwards …

Drinking Buddies (2013)

Released: July 25, 2013. Directed by: Joe Swanberg. Starring: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick. Runtime: 90 min.  Drinking Buddies is an experimental romantic drama/light comedy directed by Joe Swanberg that follows best buddy brewery workers Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) who also like each other, but they both have other romantic interests. …

Box Office Predictions May 16-18: Godzilla has a Million Dollar Arm

  The big opener this weekend will be Godzilla from director Gareth Edwards (director of the cool, low-budget flick Monsters). It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen. I'm pretty excited for this one, partly due to a fantastic advertising campaign. It's debuting at nearly 4000 theatres this weekend, working on a budget of $160 …

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

  Released: March 28, 2014. Directed by: Wes Anderson. Starring: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe. Runtime: 100 min. Wes Anderson's films are an acquired taste. It is a taste that I am starting to like after two of his films. I think 2012's Moonrise Kingdom is good, but boring when the laughs weren't there. This …

Neighbors (2014)

Released: May 4, 2014. Directed by: Nicholas Stoller. Starring: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron. Runtime: 96 min.  Nicholas Stoller, a graduate of the so-called Apatow school of comedy, directs Neighbors, a film that is uncharacteristically short for Apatow's brand of filmmaking. In this way, Stoller makes this film his own. The film follows a …

Box office predictions May 9-11: Dorothy has a Mom’s Night Out with a few Neighbors

Neighbors is definitely the new release pick to dominate the box office this weekend. Even This is the End, which had too strange of a premise to attract a huge audience in its opening weekend still made a good $20 million and because of some great word-of-mouth, and because of a smart move by Sony …

God’s Not Dead (2014)

Released: March 21, 2014. Directed by: Harold Cronk. Starring: Shane Harper, Kevin Sorbo, Dean Cain. Runtime: 113 min.  God's Not Dead is yet another weak Christian drama, and a simplistic narrative and a repetitive nature is partly to blame. It follows university freshman Josh Wheaton (a half-decent Shane Harper) who enters a philosophy course taught …