edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

Upcoming

July 2

Hancock

July 3

The Whackness

July 4

Diminished Capacity

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Holding Trevor

Kabluey

We are Together

July 9

Full Battle Rattle

July 11

A Man Named Pearl

August

Eight Miles High

Garden Party

Harold

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Meet Dave

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The Stone Angel

July 18

A Very British Gangster

Before I Forget

The Dark Knight

The Doorman

Felon

Lou Reed's Berlin

Transsiberian

July 22

Two Tickets to Paradise

July 23

Boy A

Weekend tracking

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Neil LaBute's The Wicker Man, which Warner Bros. won't show to the press, is apparently going to be the biggest peformer this weekend. 72% general awareness with a 34 definite interest and a first choice of 11. We're looking at a four-day weekend (Labor Day holiday is on Monday, 9.4) so figure somewhere between $15 and $20 million.

Crank will probablycome in second among the newbies -- 45 general awareness, 32 definite intrest, first choice 8.

The Illusionst, which I finally saw two or three nights ago and is better than I figured it would be, is going wide. And there's also Crossover, the decent-looking black basketball movie from Screen Gems.

Samuel Goldwyn'sLassie, a first-rate family-geared film that I saw on DVD last night, could do some real business if it had a more aggressive distributor. The problem is that Goldwyn doesn't have any money. Their rep is "good taste, no pockets." If you go with Goldwyn, it's touch and go because they don't spend anything.

Early tracking on All The King's Men (Columbia, 9.22) is in -- 36 general awareness, 24 definite interest, 2 first choice. It's early (three weeks out) but right now it needs to chug a can of Monster.

The two hottest looking titles for 9.15 are The Gridiron Gang and Universal's The Black Dahlia -- both are tracking decently. Paramount's The Last Kiss isn't at this stage.

Among the 9.8 releases, Focus Features' Hollywoodland has a semblance of a soft pulse; The Protector is nothing; ditto The Covenant.

Spewings from Mr. Down-head<< previous | next >>Jackson's WWII flick

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 31, 2006 at 11:27 AM

comment #1

The Winchester says ...

For what it is, The Protector is a pretty badass martial arts flick. Tony Jaa is ridiclous, like old Jackie Chan or Jet Li. The movie's about a young man's quest to find his pet elephant. But really it's about a man's quest to break as many arms as humanly possible in 100 minutes.

I don't understand why this movie's not in the Oscar bubble, to be honest.

Posted by The Winchester at August 31, 2006 12:13 PM

comment #2