March Box Office Challenge Results

The Popcorn Guide absolutely destroyed Dave's Movie Reviews in the March Box Office Challenge. Dave's Movie Reviews had first pick for the month, but made a huge blunder by picking Greenzone instead of Alice in Wonderland. The Popcorn Guide picked the top 6 movies of the month. Domination of this magnitude is very unlikely in future months. I expect April to be much closer. Below is a breakdown of the results.

March Draft
1. Green Zone (DMR)
2. Alice in Wonderland (PG)
3. How to Train Your Dragon (PG)
4. Repo Men (DMR)
5. She's Out of My League (DMR)
6. The Bounty Hunter (PG)
7. Shutter Island (PG)
8. Brooklyn's Finest (DMR)
9. Our Family Wedding (DMR)
10. Remember Me (PG)
11. Diary of a Whimpy Kid (PG)
12. The Runaways (DMR)
13. Hot Tub Time Machine (DMR)
14. Cop Out (PG)
15. Avatar (PG)
16. Greenberg (DMR)

Below are the $ Totals for the month

1. Alice in Wonderland ($299,459,690)
2. How to Train Your Dragon ($57,883,758)
3. Shutter Island ($46,077,365)
4. The Bounty Hunter ($41,617,393)
5. Diary of a Whimpy Kid ($39,469,281)
6. Avatar ($34,579,935)
7. Green Zone ($31,549,470)
8. She's Out of My League ($26,783,009)
9. Brooklyn's Finest ($26,491,906)
10. Cop Out ($25,519,663)
11. Hot Tub Time Machine ($18,418,318)
12. Remember Me ($17,610,682)
13. Our Family Wedding ($17,584,148)
14. Repo Men ($12,329,935)
15. The Runaways ($1,580,559)
16. Greenberg ($1,299,906)

Monthly Totals
1. The Popcorn Guide ($562,217,767)
2. Dave's Movie Reviews ($136,037,251)

Best Pick
Alice in Wonderland (2) - The Popcorn Guide

Worst Pick
Green Zone (1) - Dave's Movie Reviews

Points for the Month
The Popcorn Guide (10)

Total Points
The Popcorn Guide (20)
Dave's Movie Reviews (0)

Below is April's Draft. The Popcorn Guide is looking for another victorious month.

The Popcorn Guide
1 Clash of the Titans
Dave's Movie Reviews
2 Hot Tub Time Machine
Dave's Movie Reviews
3 How to Train Your Dragon
The Popcorn Guide
4 Date Night
The Popcorn Guide
5 Alice in Wonderland
Dave's Movie Reviews
6 Kick-ass
Dave's Movie Reviews
7 Losers
The Popcorn Guide
8 The Last Song
The Popcorn Guide
9 Death at a Funeral
Dave's Movie Reviews
10 The Runaways
Dave's Movie Reviews
11 Afterlife
The Popcorn Guide
12 Tyler Perry's Why did I Get Married Too
The Popcorn Guide
13 The Backup Plan
Dave's Movie Reviews
14 Leaves of Grass
Dave's Movie Reviews
15 The Greatest
The Popcorn Guide
16 Letters to God

February Box Office Challenge Results

February Winner: The Popcorn Guide
February Box Office Numbers:
The Popcorn Guide = $335,275,007
Dave's Movie Reviews - $314,488,314
Best Draft Pick - Avatar (9th Pick - The Popcorn Guide)
Worst Draft Pick - Extraordinary Measures (8th Pick - The Popcorn Guide)
Highest Grossing Movie - Avatar
Lowest Grossing Movie - Extraordinary Measures
Biggest Surprise - Avatar (I know it's the highest grossing movie of all time, but it's been out for nearly 3 months now. It's unbelievable how well it's still doing. Are people watching it 3 and 4 times or are have people still not seen it (for the record I have not)).

So Dave's Movie Reviews made it close in the end, but The Popcorn Guide prevails in the first month of this box office challenge. The March Draft will be posted shortly.

The Popcorn Guide = 10 points
Dave's Movie Reviews = 0 points

Box Office Challenge 2010

The Popcorn Guide is back! I've been watching about 1 movie per week and I've seen some good, some bad, some great, some terrible movies. I have an exciting announcement. I have challenged Dave's Movie Reviews to a Box Office Challenge. The basic rules to this challenge are below:
Each person picks 8 movies each month. The person whose movies make the most money at the box office for the month will be awarded 10 points. At the end of the year there are 3 Bonus awards. 5 points for the person who picked the movie with the highest $in a single month. 10 points for the person had the highest $ in a single month. 15 bonus points awarded to the person who has the highest annual $. Total Points Available = 140 (11 months = 110 points, 3 bonus awards = 30 points)

David at Dave's Movie Reviews is a much more experienced and well informed movie watcher so I am certainly the underdog in this challenge, but I think I've got a good shot to win in February. Below are our picks.

The Popcorn Guide
1. Shutter Island
2. Dear John
3. When in Rome
4. Extraordinary Measures
5. Avatar
6. Legion
7. The Book of Eli
8. Tooth Fairy

Dave's Movie Reviews
1. The Wolfman
2. Edge of Darkness
3. From Paris with Love
4. Peircy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
5. Valentine's Day
6. Cop Out
7. My Name is Khan
8. The Crazies

I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks how the match up is going. Happy movie watching. Now that you see our picks, vote on who you think will win the February Box Office Challenge seen on my sidebar.

Semi-Pro (2008)

Title: Semi-Pro (2008)
Genre: Sports Comedy
Rating: R (language, sexual situations)
Running Time: 100 minutes
Director: Kent Alterman
Starring: Will Farrell, Andre Benjamin, Woody Harrelson, Andrew Daly, David Koechner, Andy Richter

My Take

When I heard that Will Farrell was making a basketball movie I must admit I was excited, but not as much as I once would have been. After getting excited for his previous sports related movies - Kicking & Screaming (2005), Talladega Nights (2006) and Blades of Glory (2007) - and ultimately being disappointed, I expected much of the same immature and gay humor. What I got instead was the best Will Farrell movie since Anchorman (2004) and one of the funniest sports comedies I've ever seen. The story is goofy like most of Will Farrell's movies, but the absence of the usual gay comedy was a pleasant change. Will Farrell was his usual hilarious self and he doesn't need to change in my opinion as long as he can stick with good and hilarious scripts. I know what I'm going to get out of Will Farrell, but this movie proved to me that he can be in a great movie without changing what makes him such a great comedic actor. The supporting cast was solid and the movie was great entertainment. I wish they could have eliminated a couple words which would have easily made it a PG-13 rating. With an R rating, several young adults were not able to watch and several adults probably avoided it assuming much more of the raunchy usual. Those who missed this movie missed out on a hilarious comedy that actually has very little objectionable content. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and like it so much that I'm considering buying it and watching it again. "Love Me Sexy" is one of the funniest songs I've heard. I give this comedy two thumbs up and hope that Will Farrell continues making movies like this in the future and less movies like Blades of Glory.

Ranking the Top 5 Best Will Farrell Movies (That I have Seen)

1. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy & Wake Up Ron Burgundy (2004)
2. Elf (2003)
3. Semi-Pro (2008)
4. Wedding Crashers (2005)
5. Old School (2003)

Honorable Mention

1. Talladega Nights (2006)
2. Starsky & Hutch (2004)
3. Bewitched (2005)
   

Ranking the 5 Worst Will Farrell Movies (That I have Seen)

1. Melinda & Melinda (2004)
2. Kicking & Screaming (2005)
3. Blades of Glory (2007)
4. A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
5. Austin Powers Series of Movies (1997-1999)

Dishonorable Mention

1. Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
   
2. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
3. Zoolander (2001)

Movies I Haven't Seen/Not Included

• Several of Farrell's older movies
• Boat Trip (2003)
• Winter Passing (2004)
• The Wendell Baker Story (2005)
• The Producers (2005)
• Curious George (2006)
• Step Brothers (2008)
  

I want to hear from you. Disagree with my lists? What are your favorite Will Farrell movies? Are you tired of seeing Will Farrell comedies? I want to know what you think!

Popcorn Rating

movie theater popcorn

Sweeney Todd (2007)

Title: Sweeney Todd (2007)
Genre: Musical
Rating: R (Bloody Violence)
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jaime Campbell Bower

My Take

Tim Burton and Johhny Depp have done it again. They have made a unique movie that appeals to the masses, and Sweeney Todd might be their best movie to date. Let me begin by saying I don't like musicals, and in fact I hate musicals generally speaking. The only musical I liked before Sweeney Todd was Sound of Music. Sweeney Todd is a musical, but it is not your typical musical. Of course with Burton and Depp you know you are getting anything but typical. In any musical, vocals and soundtrack are essential and it was rock solid in Sweeney Todd. Depp proves again with his singing in this movie he is the most diverse actor of his time. I think Depp has the ability to take on any role and make it fantastic. The story in Sweeney Todd was told in a brilliant way and kept me engaged throughout. The nature of the story is grotesque, but somehow Burton was able to make light of even the darkest of situations. I think this is part of what I liked so much about the movie. It has lots of bloody violence, which keeps me from recommending this to anyone and everyone.


Unfortunately for those who can't stomach bloody violence, you can't simply close your eyes at a certain spot because the blood is frequent and not always predictable. That said, the blood is not realistic, and it is so over the top that it is comical. I found myself laughing hysterically during much of the movie. Depp was not the only actor of note in Sweeney Todd. Alan Rickman also put in a solid performance as well as several others. The reason I know this is a good movie is because I have been thinking about it even days after I've watched it. I want to watch it again, and I rarely watch movies twice. I even own some movies that I've only seen once. When I woke up this morning and started shaving I started singing... "Pretty women..." Thankfully I didn't cut myself shaving. I don't know that I can ever go to a barber again. I don't know how exactly, but once again Burton and Depp have made something of a masterpiece that only they could pull off. The bloody violence could keep some away, but there was no nudity or sexual situations and minimal bad language to speak of, so it was generally clean if you take away the blood. I strongly recommend this movie. I will watch it again.

Popcorn Rating

Movie Theater Popcorn

Hot Rod (2007) - Short

Synopsis

Title: Hot Rod (2007)
Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG-13 (Language, Adult Situations)
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Starring: Andy Samburg, Isla Fisher, Jorma Taccone, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Ian McShane, Will Arnett

Should you watch?

This is a very silly movie. I found it VERY comparable to Napolean Dynamite. If you were a fan of that movie, you should absolutely love this movie. Andy Samburg is hilarious as Rod. The comedy style may not be for everybody, but I really enjoyed the movie. WHHHOOat did you say? WHHHY am I talking like WHHHat? It's short in length at just an hour and a half so it doesn't drag out too long. It is well worth a rent.

Popcorn Rating

Buttered Popcorn

Ratatouille (2007) - Short

Synopsis

Title: Ratatouille (2007)

Genre: Animation/Comedy

Rating: G (Great Family Movie)

Running Time: 111 Minutes

Directors: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava

Starring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo

I enjoy most animated movies and this one was no exception. I don't know if it is head and shoulders above several other good animated movies, but it was good. This is another perfect movie for the whole family to enjoy

Popcorn Rating

Buttered Popcorn