Shawn Levy won this weekend box office by TKO. His sci-fi / boxing drama Real Steel made a very solid $27 million to easily claim the weekend over George Clooney’s The Ides of March. I guess boxing robots are more attractive than presidential candidates. The boxing drama cost a lot though, a reported $120 million, not included the huge marketing campaign, and it will need to hold well in upcoming weeks to start making cash back for its studio. It should also be a hit overseas, as spectacular action movies filled with CGI usually does. Dreamworks think they have a franchise on their hands and already green-lighted a sequel. Regardless of my personal opinion of Real Steel, it scored a respectable 59% tomatometer, which is quite good considering the genre. Continue Reading

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In Internet years, this is a mega old news, but I wasn’t aware that a sequel to this weekend box office champ, Real Steel, was already in development. Apparently, Dreamworks felt confident enough before the movie was even in theatres to greenlight a sequel.

That Shawn Levy can shoot a movie every year while Paul Thomas Anderson have difficulty making the same every three years is one of the reason Hollywood sucks so much these days.

So, when is Real Steel vs Terminator coming, eh?

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Opening Shot is a weekly column where I analyse the very first shot of a given movie. It is usually published on Wednesday.

This week in Opening Shot, I’ll look back at one of the most interesting film of the past decade in term of visuals. Michael Mann has been working and experimenting with video and HD since the firsts few professional cameras were available. He’s one of the only mainstream director who doesn’t try to hide the effect of digital video; he wants to show digital for what it is, not try to merely emulate the celluloid feeling. Although those experiences with photography sometime don’t quite work, as in the period piece Public Enemy, here, in Collateral, they integrate the story fluidly. This is an example were the form serves the content well; it isn’t just some director’s playground. From the very first shot, this is a gritty movie, with washed out colors, grainy picture and maybe even grittier characters, all set on a fluid camera and a jazzy soundtrack that evokes the night mood of Los Angeles. Let’s see how. Continue Reading

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Not so surprising considering the very good theatrical re-release of The Lion King (which earned more than $75 million so far), distributor Buena Vista just announced that they’ll proceed to more 3D theatrical re-release of their classics. Continue Reading

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