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Review: 5 Reasons To Love ‘Tragedy Girls’

Tragedy Girls
Tragedy Girls opens in New York and Los Angeles October 20, but thankfully it’s not a flick that comes out and is gone before the blink of an eye (leading to an immediate run on Blu-ray and streaming). If you’re a horror/comedy genre fan (Scream franchise comes to mind), Tragedy Girls should be your cup of tea (actually it’s more like a double espresso shot to the soul). Below are five reasons why I absolutely love (and highly recommend) Tragedy Girls.

Continue reading “Review: 5 Reasons To Love ‘Tragedy Girls’”

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‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Takes Box Office Crown With Over $10 Million Weekend

It was another predictable weekend at the box office, as Guardians of the Galaxy was the #1 film, followed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The biggest surprise is the staying power of smaller profile flicks If I Stay and Let’s Be Cops, two movies that have performed above expectations.

Here’s this weekend’s top 10:

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy – $10.16 million this weekend, bringing its domestic total to over $294.5 million.
  2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $6.5 million
  3. If I Stay – $5.75 million this weekend and it’s a sleeper hit with a total domestic haul of $39.66 million (its production budget was $11 million).
  4. Let’s Be Cops – $5.4 million and it’s a solid hit for Fox with a worldwide gross of $75.9 million.
  5. The November Man – Pierce Brosnan’s return to James Bond territory yields mixed results. $4.2 million this weekend.
  6. As Above/So Below – $3.72 million
  7. When The Game Stands Tall – $3.7 million
  8. The Giver – Jeff Bridges’ lifelong passion project takes in $3.59 million.
  9. The Hundred-Foot Journey – $3.2 million
  10. Lucy – $1.9 million this weekend and one of this year’s biggest hits with a worldwide haul of $313.4 million.

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‘Guardians’ Continues Box-Office Reign With $16.3 Million

 

Guardians of the Galaxy’s box-office dominance continued through the Labor Day Weekend, as it beat all comers with a $16.3 million take. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also did well, coming in second with $11.7 million, with the romantic drama If I Stay checking in at #3 with $9.26 million. In its second week of release, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For slipped out of the top ten and finished at #14 with a disappointing $2.17 million.

Here’s the top 10 (through Sunday):

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy – $16.31 million
  2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $11.75 million
  3. If I Stay – Chloë Grace Moretz drama has amassed $29.8 million domestically, a solid figure for this tearjerker. This weekend, it’s made $9.26 million.
  4. As Above/So Below – Not above or below. Just average. $8.43 million
  5. Let’s Be Cops – Buddy comedy has turned in over $57 million domestically, making it a sleeper hit for Fox. This weekend’s numbers: $8.2 million
  6. The November Man – Pierce Brosnan returns to James Bond territory with unsatisfactory results. $7.6 million
  7. When the Game Stands Tall – Jim Caviezel sports film makes $5.65 million.
  8. The Giver – $5.25 million
  9. The Hundred-Foot Journey – $4.6 million
  10. The Expendables 3 – $3.5 million
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‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Takes #1 Box Office Spot, ‘Sin City’ Disappoints

Guardians of the Galaxy continued its box-office dominance, as it took in $17.6 million to beat out newcomers If I Stay (#3, $16.3 million), When The Game Stands Tall (#5, $9 million), and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (#8, $6.47 million).

The weekend’s biggest surprise was the tepid box-office numbers for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Although the film continues the film noir, gritty graphic novel spirit of Sin City, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez didn’t strike oil the second time around. A huge reason for the film’s tepid reception is that sometimes absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder (Sin City came out in 2005), and audience members have apparently moved on (or will just wait when the movie hits digital, DVD, & Blu-ray).

I actually loved Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and hope it gets a fair shake down the road. Here’s the top 10:

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy – Groot, Star-Lord, and his buddies collect even more dough for Marvel, as the flick made $17.63 million.
  2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – $16.8 million
  3. If I Stay – Chloë Grace Moretz tearjerker does a solid $16.35 in its first weekend.
  4. Let’s Be Cops – Budgeted at $17 million, Let’s Be Cops is a sleeper hit with a $45.25 domestic haul. This weekend, it turned in $11 million.
  5. When the Game Stands Tall – Football film starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Chiklis debuts with $9 million.
  6. The Giver– $6.73 million
  7. The Expendables 3 – The third time wasn’t the charm. A $6.6 million showing in its second weekend is, for lack of a better word, expendable.
  8. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For – She may be worth killing for, but is she worth watching? A poor showing of $6.47 million proves otherwise.
  9. The Hundred-Foot Journey – $5.56 million
  10. Into the Storm – $3.8 million

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Chris Pratt On ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Rock Hard Physique

 

Unless you’re playing Blob or the Kingpin, getting into tip top shape is a requirement in playing your average Marvel comic book superhero. Although he’s had memorable supporting roles in Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty, Chris Pratt still needed to sculpt his physique to play Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy (check out his eye-opening selfie in this Zap2it.com article).

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Chris Pratt as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel Studios)

Like most normal dudes, Chris Pratt loves eating and drinking beer (he and wife Anna Faris ate to their hearts’ content on a 2012 episode of Top Chef), but sometimes one has to put one’s healthy appetite to the side – especially if you’re working in show business.

During the Guardians of the Galaxy press conference, a journalist asked Pratt about his own body image, and he gave a really funny answer. Click on the media bar below to listen to Chris Pratt.

Guardians of the Galaxy, co-starring Vin Diesel and Zoe Saldana, opens August 1.

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Vin Diesel Rocks “I Am Groot” Shirt At ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Premiere

Marvel's"Guardians of the Galaxy" European Premiere

The Guardians of the Galaxy press tour blitz continued last night in London, as actors Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and director James Gunn were on hand to celebrate its European premiere at the Empire Leicester Square.

Vin Diesel + Chris Pratt at Guardians of the Galaxy Europen premiere at the Empire Leicester Square (James Gillham/StingMedia.co.uk)
Vin Diesel + Chris Pratt at Guardians of the Galaxy Europen premiere at the Empire Leicester Square (James Gillham/StingMedia.co.uk)

Vin Diesel is no stranger to successful franchise flicks, thanks to his work on the Pitch Black and  Fast and Furious films. He has an inevitable hit on his hands with Guardians of the Galaxy, and this time out he explains why playing the mighty tree Groot was a therapeutic and gratifying experience.

Part of his inspiration for playing Groot came from his kids, who wanted him to play the role. Diesel may be known for his physical prowess, but Guardians of the Galaxy required him to flex his voice acting muscles. It’s a craft he developed while playing the lead voice in Brad Bird’s evocative animated feature The Iron Giant.

Click on the media bar below to hear Vin Diesel talk about the beauty of sharing his Guardians of the Galaxy experience with his children:

Directed by James Gunn (Super, Slither), Guardians of the Galaxy opens August 1.

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Chris Pratt Takes “Big Swings” With ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel Studios)Chris Pratt and company may receive their share of accolades for Guardians of the Galaxy, but he understands filmmaking is a collaborative process. And while it’s filled with such A-listers as Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel, a huge part of the movie’s creative success centers on James Gunn’s direction, Ben Davis’ cinematography, and the pinpoint editing from Fred Raskin, Hughes Winborne, and Craig Wood.

During the Guardians of the Galaxy press conference, Pratt was asked how he developed Peter Quill’s (aka Star-Lord) cocksure personality. “Kind of the whole process with me on this one was just trusting James (Gunn), really, and taking big swings and sometimes falling flat on my face,” said the actor, whose previous credits include Zero Dark Thirty and Moneyball. “The big challenge for me was  just trying to ignore the embarrassment of being an actor.”

Pratt obviously doesn’t believe acting is an embarrassing profession, but in the audio clip below he explains why his craft can, in context, be a humbling experience:

Guardians of the Galaxy hopes to get audience “hooked on a feeling” when it opens nationwide August 1st.

Chris Pratt - Guardians of the Galaxy World Premiere (CR: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy World Premiere (CR: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

 

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‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Trailer Gets Us Hooked On A Feeling

Like such super groups as The Defenders and the Squadron Supreme, the Guardians of the Galaxy has always taken a backseat to Marvel Universe’s super teams of The Avengers and the (uncanny) X-Men. Credit Marvel for hiring filmmaker James Gunn, who proved he can expertly blend tragedy, vigilantism, and kinetic action with his low budget superhero offering Super.

Guardians of the Galaxy, opening August 1, has Chris Pratt (Zero Dark Thirty) playing Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, an unpredictable (and from the looks of the trailer, extremely witty) space traveler whose discovery of a mysterious orb leads to his inevitable conflict with a world beating villain named Ronan (Lee Pace). Helping Star-Lord’s in his battle are fellow outsiders Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Baustista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel).

The trailer is fantastic, and one of the many reasons why I’m pumped for the film is it’s shot by Ben Davis, a cinematographer who previously worked with director Matthew Vaughn on Layer Cake,Stardust, and Kick-Ass.

Check out the trailer, which features one of B.J. Thomas’ most popular tracks. From what I’ve seen from photos as well as this clip, I’m definitely (excuse the pun) “Hooked on a Feeling.”