Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "The City of Lost Children" (1995)

This week a modern cult classic of French cinema has its 20th anniversary blu-ray edition come out, and it's a sci-fi film really worth seeing that will likely blow your mind with the visuals and sheer strangeness of the universe. Co-directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet, whose other films Delicatessen and Amelie also employ a surreal and fanciful style, this one is about a little girl who teams up with a young Ron Perlman to go on a journey to retrieve his little brother from a mad scientist who kidnaps children and steals their dreams. The world they inhabit is inspired by a steam punk look and the mere sight of everything in this film is awe-inspiring. I urge you to check this one out- it's a gem.

Trailer:

Academy Honors Spike Lee, Gena Rowlands, Debbie Reynolds

The Academy Governor's Awards were held on Saturday night, and among the honorees were the usual slew of people campaigning for Oscars this season- casts from the movies Room, Brooklyn, Spotlight, The Hateful Eight, Joy, Bridge of Spies, all the expected players this season, which has turned the event into one of the primary campaign stops of the year, when it's actually supposed to be the one place that's really about the recipients. But you can't stop anything from being political, can you? The speeches were classy though, and always worth listening to. It's a shame they can't find a place for lifetime achievement awards on the actual Oscar telecast, especially since it's the only award given out that's probably not political in nature.

Spike Lee came last and gave the most interesting speech of the night:

Gena Rowlands receives her honorary Oscar:

Denzel Washington to Receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award

This year's very deserving recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Cecil B. DeMille honor is Denzel Washington- it's hard to believe we're at the point where major stars of the 90's are going to start getting their lifetime achievement honors, isn't it? Denzel is a very worthy winner though, with hits consistently for the entirety of his career and still ongoing...Glory, Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Courage Under Fire, The Preacher's Wife, The Hurricane, Training Day, Inside Job, American Gangster, Man on Fire, Remember the Titans, Flight, The Equalizer, and on and on. He won his two Oscars for Glory and Training Day. The Golden Globes will be held on January 10th, 2016.

BOX OFFICE 11/13-11/15: James Bond and Charlie Brown Hold On to the Top Two Spots

New releases flopped this week, ensuring that Spectre and The Peanuts Movie had great holds and no problems hanging onto their places from last week's chart. Spectre grossed another 35 million, falling just about 50 percent, and though it's not catching Skyfall's record here for the highest grossing Bond film ever in the U.S., it's already at 130 million and will probably make it past 200, which is nothing to sneeze at. Besides, overseas it's a monster, earning 48 million in China for the weekend, making it the biggest opening ever there for an international 2D film.

The Peanuts Movie fell just 45 percent as well, coming in with 24 million and benefiting from the being the only family audience movie on the market right now after Hotel Transylvania 2- its total so far is at 82 million. There was nothing much to report on for the low key new releases- the Diane Keaton starring family ensemble holiday movie Love the Coopers came in third with just 8 million, while the Chilean mining drama The 33 took fifth place with almost 6 million. It was bested by The Martian though, which has now crossed 207 million to become the sixth biggest movie of the year.

Top 5:

Spectre- 35.4 million
The Peanuts Movie- 24.2 million
Love the Coopers- 8.4 million
The Martian- 6.7 million
The 33- 5.8 million

In limited release, Angelina Jolie's pretentious marital drama By the Sea bombed, earning a dismal 9k per screen average on 10 screens, while Spotlight continues to shine, earning over a million for the weekend expansion in 60 locations. Brooklyn is also doing well, holding a PTA of around 26k, having not expanded much yet, so those two heavy Oscar hopefuls will continue to play for the next few months in specialty release as awards nominations come in. Next week is a big one, with the final Hunger Games movie opening against Seth Rogen's The Night Before, and the limited openings of Cate Blanchett's Carol and Julia Roberts' The Secret in Their Eyes. See you then.

Han Solo Appears in New 'Star Wars' TV Spot

JJ Abrams has said there will be no more trailers for Star Wars, so from now on it looks like we're getting a series of TV spots to be rolled out by the Disney machine- this particular one debuted after last night's Scandal and was introduced by Shonda Rimes herself. How's that for corporate synergy? John Boyega finally speaks in this one and even though he's a Brit, it looks like he's putting on an American accent, so again I wonder if Daisy Ridley just couldn't pull it off.

Shailene Woodley Stars in New Trailer for 'Allegiant'

If anyone cares, the official trailer for Allegiant is out today, but I think this has to be the least hyped, least exciting franchise in the recent slew of YA adaptations. I think even the Maze Runner series might have more fans. I'm actually surprised they're still putting these out, to be honest.

Movie of the Day: "Coming Home" (1978)

It's a one off Movie of the Day today, in honor of Veteran's Day, even though we have a whole month of wartime movies that commemorate them in the November movie page. Here's another one that's specifically about veterans- those from the Vietnam War in particular. Jane Fonda is a woman whose husband, Bruce Dern, is off fighting while she's left at home alone, and she drifts into an affair with wounded vet Jon Voight, who's returned crippled from his injuries and is now battling his own reservations about the war. It's a touching romance and a feat of great acting, as Fonda and Voight both won Oscars for this film. But I'd be lying if I didn't say one of the very best things about it is the soundtrack, packed with great and little used late 1960's rock. Happy Veteran's Day, everyone.

Original Trailer:

Seth Rogen in the Red-Band Trailer for 'The Night Before'

Boy does this look awful. The new red band trailer does it zero favors- in fact, I'm starting to wonder if the whole Apatow/Rogen schtick is starting to wear on anybody else's nerves or just mine. It feels outdated and it's not even that old.

'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' Gets a Trailer

The most unnecessary sequel of 2016 gets a trailer, although I guess with Bridget Jones's Diary also getting another sequel, and Zoolander 2 on the way next year, the time for rebooting movies that are 15 years old is now. I kind of always hated the original movie anyway, and this one looks just as funny as that one was. Which is to say, not at all. Can't wait.

The Nemo Gang Returns in Trailer for 'Finding Dory'

I know a lot of people have a really strong attachment to Finding Nemo, but I have to admit that for me it's not one of my personal favorite Pixar films. I think the Toy Story movies hit me in that nostalgic sweet spot, and as for their best, my votes go to the Brad Bird ones, Ratatouille and The Incredibles. And Dory herself wasn't even my favorite character in the original movie- Albert Brooks' Marlon was by far the best, and hearing him again excited me more than Ellen Degeneres's Dory does. Still, I'm sure there are millions who are pretty psyched about this long awaited sequel next year, so here's your first look at it. Funny, I guess not a whole lot of time has gone by, since Nemo hasn't grown like, at all in the intervening 13 years.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Trainwreck" (2015)

Amy Schumer's Trainwreck was a big hit this summer, and I was one of those who liked it for essentially being the kind of old-fashioned romantic comedy that they don't bother to make much anymore. I also thought it was a refreshingly honest and candid look at a woman who sees herself as possibly being more screwed up than she really is. The only quibble that I had with it was that, as sweet and frank as it was, I actually didn't think it was much of a laugh riot- it was amusing enough, but I don't think I had any real laugh out loud moments with it, which I was probably meant to. Even so, I liked it a lot anyway and it's definitely worth seeing, so check it out, especially if you're a fan of the genre.

Trailer:

'Star Wars' TV Spot Focuses on Rey

Again, this new tv spot for the movie puts the focus squarely on Daisy Ridley and this time all but tells us with the "same eyes" voiceover tease that she's a Skywalker- which kinda pisses me off. I know I'm probably the only person who's upset by this, but I'm sorry, if she's Luke OR Leia's kid, why the hell does she have a british accent? Neither one of them were English and neither was Han. I don't accept it. They should have cast an American or told her to drop the accent.