Late last week, the box office prognosticators speculated whether The Dark Knight Rises would eek out a triumph over newcomer Total Recall. The pendulum would swing in either direction as the weekend approached, but in the end TDKR easily beat out Total by every measure. In fact, the film only really managed to measure-up to its original, but in 2012 dollars

As far as The Dark Knight Rises still being in first place, that is probably as it should be. But the fact that it only made as much as the original but in today’s dollars — which actually means it’s doing far worse — is something of…

Gilroy’s latest project, “The Bourne Legacy,” has had a complicated journey to the screen. Damon’s character was popular but had already solved the central problem of the trilogy, which was finding his true identity. A fourth movie entered the murky territory of Internet rumors until Damon and the director Paul Greengrass disengaged themselves from the project. (Damon had some rather harsh words for Gilroy’s work that he shared in a “GQ” cover story that he later apologized for, and Gilroy is more or less mum on the matter.)

Other people were interested in making a fourth, though,…

I have been looking forward to the release of Hulu on the Apple TV for more than a year. As a consumer, I see them as a perfect pair. Who doesn’t want on-demand TV by way of a pretty black hockey puck with the Apple logo on it? For those of us that have cut the cable cord it is ideal.

Hulu and the studios do not feel the same way. But let us cut to the chase: on demand media devices, like the Apple TV, are the future available today; just like Hulu itself was four years ago. The networks are slow to understand this.

I thought when Hulu Plus came to Apple TV that all the features of the…

Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo topples Citizen Kane at the top of critics’ list in the last Sight & Sound survey for the “best movie of all time.”

“What is Vertigo,” You ask? It’s a fair question to ask, seeing as how few people count it as the best film by its director, Alfred Hitchock. But as far as the most authoritative poll of critics the world over is concerned, it’s the best motion picture of all time.

If this movie still isn’t ringing a bell for you, here is a summary of Vertigo in the words of Jonathan Romney at The Independent:

… Based on a novel by the French duo Boileau and…

The story of a man named Brady and his irritatingly chipper blended family is as much a part of ‘70s pop culture as shag rugs and free love, maybe more; neither of those dated phenomena lived on in the popular consciousness as tenaciously, and exhaustively, as The Brady Bunch. The series already enjoyed five seasons, an afterlife in syndication, many lesser spin-offs, and — the true marker of any Hollywood institution — an E! True Hollywood Story. So who really thinks we need another Brady Bunch reboot?

Vince Vaughn, that’s who!

This sounds like such a bad idea on so many levels. I…

Friday’s Total Recall reboot trades heavily on brand enthusiasm for Paul Verhoeven’s original 1990 dystopian sci-fi actioner, but its makers had to be careful not to invoke too much of the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. And cool as it would’ve been to see the former Governator pop up in the new, grittier reimagining starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, and Bryan Cranston, director Len Wiseman (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard) explained to Movieline why he chose not to indulge his inner fanboy.

I feel like this was the right call. Granted I have not see the original…

When the creator of Harry Potter decides to build an adventure playground for her children, you expect something magical.

But even by JK Rowling’s standards the 40ft high, two-storey tree houses planned for the back garden of her Edinburgh mansion are something spectacular.

The Hogwarts-style towers — estimated to cost around £150,000 — are so big that they need planning permission.

I debated posting this, because who really cares? I mean it’s her money, and it’s going to be a private playground for her kids. Still, it’s kind of fun and I really love the Harry Potter books and…

Leonardo DiCaprio leads the ensemble cast; Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner and Kyle Chandler also star.

Matthew McConaughey has joined the cast of Red Granite Pictures’ The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The film, which begins shooting this month in New York, is based on former broker Jordan Belfort’s best-selling memoir. Red Granite is fully financing and producing the movie. Continue reading

I thoroughly enjoyed Hugo, which was a far cry from Martin Scorsese’s normal flair. Even so, it is one of the most renknown movies of…

There are few “hooks” in the movie-music world that are as grabby as the Bourne Identity Soundtrack riff (starts at 0:29). Like the movie series, its intensity commands attention. We just had to figure out a way to use it. In our usual style, we thought we’d create an “action movie soundtrack” that combined this and a piece of classical music. In the early 1700’s Antonio Vivaldi wrote a concerto for an instrument that was then largely “undiscovered” by the music world—the cello. Among the first cello solo pieces ever written, Vivaldi was gutsy enough to write it for not only one, but TWO…