With his new documentary Fat Head, comedian Tom Naughton has made a pretty strong case against the ideas that most people have regarding healthy diets. Fat Head uses the ideas put forth by Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me as a launching point. Spurlock shot to fame after his anti-McDonald's doc grossed a solid $11.5 million domestically in 2004 ($13.3 million when adjusted for inflation) and its following grew on DVD. The premise of the film is that a diet consisting of large amounts of fast food can be extremely harmful to ones health. Yet for all the film's supporters, it also had its share of detractors such as Naughton.
Read moreWhile Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are making their way into the Kodak Theatre for the Oscar ceremony amid a flurry of flashing bulbs, another group of artists will be quietly taking everything in as they find their seats. Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science nominates a handful of short films in three categories: Live Action, Animated and Best Documentary (Short Subject). By doing so, they're able to shine the spotlight, if only for a brief moment, on some very deserving filmmakers. B OXOFFICE had the chance to speak with some of those filmmakers about being nominated for an Oscar.
Read moreAs 2009 gets underway, America finds itself in its greatest economic slide since the Great Depression. According to the credit-reporting agency Experian, our nation’s credit card debit has grown by more than 50% since the beginning of the millennium, and the average cardholding American finds him or herself more than $16,000 in debt. Hardly a welcoming atmosphere for messages of conspicuous consumption. But it is in this very torrid economic climate that Confessions of a Shopaholic, the spending-happy fluff comedy starring Wedding Crashers scene-stealer Isla Fisher, is slated to open this weekend.
Read moreWith the current release of Fanboys, the love letter to Star Wars geeks everywhere can finally be seen in theatres. Much debate has been made over the political tug of war between director Kyle Newman and distribution heavyweight Harvey Weinstein including how the film should be made, marketed and eventually released. Entire plotlines were re-shot, the film was delayed for almost three years and in the end producer Kevin Spacey stepped in to smooth things out between Newman and Weinstein. The online community was heavily involved in backing the film from the beginning, especially since it hits directly to the fanboy culture they represent.
Read moreA little more than a year after the success of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour, movie theatres will need to prepare for another huge wave of excited girls. Interest levels are high for Disney's Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, which is set to hit theatres three weeks from now on February 27. Tickets for the film went on sale earlier this week, and eager fans are already scooping them up. In order to help promote advance purchases, both Fandango and MovieTickets.com are offering a free download of a music video for the song called "Tonight."
Read moreFor those of us who attended Sundance this year, where Lee Daniels’ adaptation of an Oprah-sanctified novel of inner city struggle under the fulsome title Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire received a virtual coronation (but was not acquired), the last 24 hours have been amusing. The New York Times ran a piece yesterday under the cart-before-the-horse title of “Wrenching Film Poses Marketing Challenge,” about how “eyebrows arched all over Hollywood” over Lionsgate’s allegedly reckless acquisition last Monday of Push: Sapphire for $5.
Read moreDo you shop? When I read the books ( Confessions of a Shopaholic is based on a series of books by Sophie Kinsella), the one thing that I didn’t get was shopping because I’m not a big shopper. But you know, all men think they aren’t big shoppers because a lot of us don’t spend money on clothes, or shoes or makeup – we just don’t. But what we will spend money on – at least me – is gadgets, books, DVDs. For some reason, I don’t consider that shopping. I don’t know why. But once with my wife, we worked out what we spend in a month and our tally revealed that I had spent more on gadgets and books than she had spent on clothes.
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