22: "The Hobbit" Tops "Anchorman," "American Hustle" Scores

This weekend The Hobbit beat out Anchorman 2 for the #1 spot, but almost everything that opens on this particular weekend of the year has crazy strong legs over the next couple months, so it's pretty much good news for every movie. The Hobbit fell 61% and pulled in $31 million, while the heavily promoted Anchorman 2 scored $26 million over the weekend, but $40 million since opening on Wednesday. The movie got a "B" Cinemascore, which isn't terrific, but probably not very meaningful in this case, since the movie will play very well over the holidays as the only comedy in release, and the Anchorman movies tend to benefit from repeat viewings in the first place. In any case, it's already made half of the original's total domestic gross ($85 million).

In third was Frozen with $19 million, which is holding on insanely well, and set to pass $200 million in the next week (and likely to continue on strongly, as winter break for the kids is here and there are still no other viable family films in release). American Hustle took fourth with $19.1 million, which is almost identical to Argo's wide release opening last year. The movie also got a fairly average "B+" Cinemascore, but time will tell if that's meaningless as well, considering the holiday season. It's a major Oscar contender with outstanding reviews, which will likely drive its box office high in the coming weeks, especially after the nominations come in in January. It's a similar story for Saving Mr. Banks, which opened wide to about $9 million, not very impressive, but still on course to do well with Oscar buzz and the Christmas break. It also got a better rating from audiences, with a solid "A," and played to an older crowd (over 35), which comes out for movies at a slower pace, so for now it's on a pretty good track.

Top 5

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $31.5 million
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues- $26.8 million
Frozen- $19.2 million
American Hustle- $19.1 million
Saving Mr. Banks- $9.3 million

Walking With Dinosaurs bombed this weekend, with just $7 million from over 3,000 theaters, so the audience just was not there for this intended family film, which also got terrible reviews. Meanwhile, Inside Llewyn Davis expanded to 148 theaters and took in an impressive $1.1 million. Next week it's Christmas, which means a LOT of new releases, including The Wolf of Wall Street, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 47 Ronin, and Robert DeNiro and Sylvester Stallone in Grudge Match, with limited releases for August: Osage County, Lone Survivor, and Labor Day. See you next week!

Movie of the Day: "Batman Returns" (1992)

Another Tim Burton choice, but believe it or not, this one is entirely appropriate because Batman Returns is a full on Christmas movie. Set during the holiday season, Batman battles both Catwoman and the Penguin while Gotham rests under a heavy snowfall. This sequel is actually more of Tim Burton's unique style than the first Batman, as the director put all his focus on the villains, with Danny DeVito playing up the Penguin in grotesque fashion while Michelle Pfeiffer gives us a Catwoman for the ages. Catwoman pretty much owns this movie as the best and most memorable version of the character ever put to screen (sorry, but Anne Hathaway's doesn't hold a candle to her), and Burton's gothic-horror-noir vision of Gotham City is on full display. It's all eye candy and darkly twisted desires, Tim Burton's idea of true Christmas cheer.

Original 1992 Trailer:

9 Foreign Films Shortlisted for the Oscar

The Academy has narrowed down the 76 submissions in the Foreign Language film category to just 9, from which the five nominees will be selected:

The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
The Hunt (Denmark)
Two Lives (Germany)
The Grandmaster (Hong Kong)
The Notebook (Hungary)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
Omar (Palestine)

Some surprising snubs here, including Asghar Farhadi's The Past, and Wadjda, from Saudi Arabia. Most thought those films were locks to be nominated, and with the year's biggest foreign film, Blue is the Warmest Color, ineligible for submission because of its release date in France (bet France is kicking themselves for that), this is a pretty open category. My guess is the five will be The Hunt, The Great Beauty, The Grandmaster, The Missing Picture and Omar. But that's kind of a stab in the dark- I'm only confident about The Hunt and The Great Beauty, which I think are the only real contenders for the win.

Trailer for Italy's The Great Beauty, which is getting a lot of attention lately from various European awards:

TRAILER #2: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

New trailer focusing on the characters in Wes Anderson's latest movie. It's kinda hard for me to see anything of his without thinking about that SNL spoof now, but here it is, coming out next March:

REVIEW: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" (2013) Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman. Dir. Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson's Hobbit series has not been wildly impressive so far, with this second entry only marginally more entertaining than the first. I've never been a Lord of the Rings fanatic, but the original trilogy was a thrilling cinematic achievement, with each film moving at a quick pace and clearly headed for a distinct endgame, something that this series so far lacks.

A major reason for this is obvious, as Peter Jackson and his team had to really stretch one novel, The Hobbit, into three nearly three hour films, while the LoTR trilogy was clearly delineated, with each film based a single book, and the screenwriters forced to cut the fat from each one. The task currently underway requires a lot of padding, and in this case, stretches scenes and sequences way beyond their welcome, to the point where even in this film, which has action scenes that are more entertaining and exciting than the first, events get bogged down into an endless, dragged out series of climaxes that start off interesting and end up tiresome. It often feels like a slog to get through.

This time around we pick up from the last film with the gang moving on, only to be attacked by giant spiders (hasn't this happened before in a LoTR movie?) in the first action sequence that goes on too long, but reintroduces us to Legolas, this time an older and slightly fatter Orlando Bloom reprising his role from the original trilogy. It's nice to see him again, even though he doesn't get a lot to do, and with him comes the very welcome introduction of gasp, a female character! She's the elf Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly in a fairly wooden performance (Lilly's limited range has not expanded since Lost) but even the presence of a woman in this universe is so rare that it brings something of a refreshing change in atmosphere, which Jackson must have known, because he really had to reach to even get her in here (her character isn't in the book at all). There's a hint of a romance between Tauriel and the dwarf Killi, but it's very minor and only slightly developed, which makes one wonder if it was necessary at all.

Martin Freeman's Bilbo remains the best part of these Hobbit movies, but unfortunately he's sidelined for much of the film to keep the focus on the freewheeling action. It's really a shame because he's got great comedic timing that's only occasionally deployed for effect, and you can see in the rare scene where he does put it to use that he could be of greater service to the character if he was only allowed the room to improvise. The journey continues into the mountains where the group meets up with Smaug, the fire-breathing dragon who's guarding treasure stolen from the people of Lake-town, and voiced by the sinister sounding Benedict Cumberbatch. Bilbo's face to face interaction with Smaug is awe inspiring and the dragon is a breathtaking effect, but of course, the verbal encounter soon turns into a physical battle between the dwarves, Bilbo, and Smaug- and just as quickly descends into incoherent chaos that goes on for at least twenty minutes and leads to an extremely abrupt and disappointing ending.

You get the sense that if the movies were structured a little better in pacing and action, or most of all, if this whole enterprise had been one epic three hour film, the adventure would have worked more smoothly, transitioning from one event to the next and forced to keep moving, rather than spending so much time dragging scenes out. But as it is, the movie feels sloppily edited, overlong, and worst of all, exhausting by the time the end credits finally start to roll. As I said before, it is marginally better than An Undiscovered Journey, but that hardly makes it worth the price of admission.

* *

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Utah Critics Choose "Gravity;" Nevada Sticks with "12 Years"

The Utah Film Critics Association has answered my prayers and given us a totally different set of winners, including a couple we've never seen, like The World's End for screenplay and Bill Nighy from About Time for Supporting Actor. Good on them for defying groupthink. Nevada's selections are more typical, except for some affection for August: Osage County, where Meryl Streep picks up her first critics prize.

UTAH:

Film: Gravity
Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Actress: Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Supporting Actor: Bill Nighy, About Time
Supporting Actress: Scarlett Johansson, Her
Animated Feature: Frozen
Foreign-Language Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Documentary: The Act of Killing
Cinematography: Gravity
Adapted Screenplay: Before Midnight
Original Screenplay: The World's End

NEVADA:

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Film: 12 Years a Slave
Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Actress: Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Cinematography: Gravity
Production Design: Gravity
Visual Effects: Gravity
Ensemble: August: Osage County
Animated Film: Frozen
Youth Performance: Sophie Nelisse, The Book Thief

First Trailer for the Oscars

Ellen dances in the first ad for the Oscars, airing March 2nd.

Movie of the Day: "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)

A beloved cult classic from director Henry Selig and producer Tim Burton that's the perfect alternative Christmas choice. Jack Skellington (voiced by Danny Elfman), leader of Halloween Town, grows tired of the holiday and decides he wants to take over Christmas instead, so he and his gang kidnap Santa and proceed to do Christmas their way. It's a macabre delight, filled with memorable songs and a terrific score (probably Danny Elfman's best ever). This is also a good Halloween movie, but it's meant to work as a dark, weird alternate Christmas choice too, and for that reason it's essential to this list.

Original 1993 Trailer:

Alliance of Women Film Journalists and Black Film Critics Circle Choose "12 Years," Village Voice Goes for "Inside Llewyn Davis"

The 12 Years train keeps on rolling, with wins today from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the Black Film Critics Circle, but the Village Voice Film Poll (comprised of 96 critics) weighed in and honored Inside Llewyn Davis instead:

VILLAGE VOICE FILM POLL

Film: Inside Llewyn Davis
Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Actress: Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Supporting Actor: James Franco, Spring Breakers
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Screenplay: Before Midnight
Undistributed Film: Stray Dogs
First Feature: Fruitvale Station
Documentary: The Act of Killing
Animated Feature: The Wind Rises

BLACK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Actress: Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Original Screenplay: American Hustle
Cinematography: Gravity
Animated Film: Frozen
Documentary: 20 Feet From Stardom
Foreign Film: Blue is the Warmest Color
Ensemble: 12 Years a Slave

ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Film: 12 Years a Slave
Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Original Screenplay: Her
Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Documentary: Stories We Tell
Animated Film: The Wind Rises
Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Ensemble: American Hustle
Editing: Gravity
Cinematography: Gravity
Music or Score: Inside Llewyn Davis
Foreign Language Film: The Hunt
Woman Director: Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said
Woman Screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said
Female Action Star: Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Animated Female: Anna (Kristen Bell), Frozen
Breakthrough Performance: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Actress Defying Age and Ageism: Sandra Bullock
Female Icon Award: Angelina Jolie
Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry: Haaifa Al-Mansour, Wadjda

14th Annual Black Reel Awards Nominations

Here are the nominees for the Black Reel awards, in a what was a very competitive year for black filmmakers and films:

Picture

12 Years a Slave
42
Fruitvale Station
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Lee Daniels' The Butler

Actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Isaiah Washington, Blue Caprice
Forest Whitaker, The Butler

Actress

Halle Berry, The Call
Rosario Dawson, Trance
Daniel Gurira, Mother of George
Lisa Gay Hamilton, Go for Sisters
Nia Long, The Best Man Holiday

Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
David Oyelowo, The Butler
Nate Parker, Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Tequan Richmond, Blue Caprice
Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12

Supporting Actress

Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station
Naomie Harris, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler

Director

Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Lee Daniels, The Butler
Malcolm D. Lee, The Best Man Holiday
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
George Tilman, Jr., The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete

Screenplay

Fruitvale Station
The Best Man Holiday
Black Nativity
12 Years a Slave
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete

Documentary

20 Feet From Stardom
Free Angela and All Political Prisoners
God Loves Uganda
The Trials of Mohammed Ali
Venus & Serena

Ensemble

12 Years a Slave
42
The Best Man Holiday
Fruitvale Station
The Butler

Foreign Film

Better Mus Come
Home Again
Nairobi Half Life
Storage 24
War Witch

Score

The Best Man Holiday
Fruitvale Station
42
The Butler
12 Years a Slave

Song

"Desperation," 20 Feet From Stardom
"Happy," Despicable Me 2
"In the Middle of the Night," The Butler
"Queen of the Field (Patsey's Song)," 12 Years a Slave
"You and I Ain't No More," The Butler

Breakthrough Actor

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Chadwick Boseman, 42
Skylan Brooks, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
Tequan Richmond, Blue Caprice
Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12

Breakthrough Actress

Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station
Danai Gurira, Mother of George
Lindiwe Matshikiza, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Tashiana Washington, Gimme the Loot

Voice Performance

Keith David, Free Birds
Snoop Dogg, Turbo
Samuel L. Jackson, Turbo
Beyonce Knowles, Epic
Maya Rudolph, Turbo

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TRAILER: "How to Train Your Dragon 2"

The trailer for the sequel to the Dreamworks hit How to Train Your Dragon is here. The movie's coming out next June:

Movie of the Day: "Die Hard" (1988)

The 1988 classic Die Hard is one of the best holiday action movies you can watch this Christmas Eve. The whole thing takes place the night before Christmas, as ordinary, off-duty cop John McClane (Bruce Willis in the role that made him a superstar) is called into action by accident when a bunch of European terrorists seize the building in L.A. he just happens to be visiting in order to win back his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia). The situation provides a pretty surefire way to them to reunite as McClane battles bad guys in a wife beater and all but singlehandedly saves the day. Alan Rickman is one of the most memorable movie villains ever, sneering his way through campy one-liners and getting one unforgettable death scene. The movie may be corny in places now, but it's still a lot of fun and a perfect alternative Christmas choice this week.

Original 1988 Trailer: