By Phil Contrino When speaking with Jim Kopp, Owner of the Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre in North Carolina, about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the issue of the film being animated hardly comes up. What seems to be most important to Kopp, as well as many other fans across the country, is that no matter how the content is presented, this is still Star Wars. Located in Henderson, North Carolina, Kopp's theatre is one of only seven operating drive-in theatres in the state and there are only 398 still functioning throughout the country.
Read moreBy Phil Contrino Tropic Thunder will hit theatres nationwide tomorrow and it's easily one of the most anticipated comedies of the summer. Unfortunately, not everybody is laughing. Thunder has drawn its share of controversy from disability groups who are objecting to what they view as the exploitation of people with disabilities to gain laughter. Members of the Special Olympics, as well as supporters of the organization, staged a protest during the Thunder premiere and are now calling for a boycott.
Read moreJust a quick postscript for anybody who was intrigued by our recent review of What We Do is Secret , Rodger Grossman 's excellent bio-pic on seminal LA punk band The Germs and their doomed lead singer Darby Crash . As I mentioned in the review, several sequences are frame-for-frame restagings of footage from Penelope Spheeris' ground-breaking 1981 punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization ...
Read moreBy Phil Contrino Four weeks into its theatrical release, The Dark Knight is still breaking records. This weekend it was able to edge past Shrek 2 as the third highest grossing film of all time. In addition, it should also easily top the second highest grosser, the original Star Wars with $460.9 million, by this coming weekend. Whether or not Knight will be able to top Titanic 's all-time leading haul of $600.
Read moreBy Phil Contrino While Woody Allen has worked very consistently over the last couple of decades, he no longer has the same level of mainstream popularity he enjoyed during his late-70's heyday which produced classics such as Annie Hall and Manhattan. Vicky Cristina Barcelona could change that. Barcelona, which stars Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, hits theatres on August 15th and it brings with it a lot of buzz. Since debuting at Cannes, the film has been receiving its share of critical praise and its cast is white hot.
Read moreBy Phil Contrino It looks as though the marijuana-fueled antics of Seth Rogen and James Franco in Pineapple Express are going to lead to a strong box office debut. According to studio estimates, Express brought in $12.15 million yesterday, which set a new record for the highest Wednesday opening in the month of August. 2004's The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement previously held the record with an $8.5 million gross on August 11th of that year.
Read moreBy Phil Contrino The records keep coming for the The Dark Knight. With a gross of $6.28 million yesterday, the film crossed the $400 million dollar mark and it was only the 18th day of its theatrical release. In order to understand how staggering this new record is, consider that Shrek 3 previously held the record as the fastest movie to hit $400 million and it did so in 43 days. In the weeks to come, The ...
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