Friday, September 14, 2007

Home Of The Brave

A trio of new releases will greet movie-goers this weekend...



Director Neil Jordan returns to theaters with the revenge flick--The Brave One (reviews); The comedy Mr. Woodcock (reviews) will try hard to make people laugh; And the action-fantasy Dragon Wars (reviews) looks like it falls short of passing for entertainment...

Pamela McClintock and Dave McNary of Variety:

Jodie Foster returns to the bigscreen this weekend as a vigilante in Neil Jordan's "The Brave One," which Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures bow in 2,755 locations.

Violent, R-rated drama, which also stars Terrence Howard, has a clear shot at the weekend crown.

Other wide entrants are South Korean English-language monsterfest "Dragon Wars," which Freestyle takes out in 2,275 locations. New Line opens laffer "Mr. Woodcock," toplining Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott and Susan Sarandon, in 2,231.

New players will compete with the soph session of Lionsgate and Relativity Media's "3:10 to Yuma." Directed by James Mangold and starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and Ben Foster, the Western remake showed surprising strength in its debut, grossing $14 million and nabbing one of the top debuts for a dramatic oater. Pic plays 2,667 locations...

"Brave One," produced by Joel Silver, marks Foster's first toplining role since "Flightplan," which opened to $24.6 million in September 2005 on its way to a domestic cume of $89.7 million. "Panic Room," released in 2002, opened at $30 million on its way to a domestic cume of $95.3 million.

More recently, she appeared in "Inside Man."

With "Brave One," Foster continues her penchant for playing tough women.

"Brave One" marks the first film for the eclectic Jordan ("The Crying Game") since the 2005 indie title "Breakfast on Pluto," released by Sony Pictures Classics.

New Line hopes to get the yuks going at the box office with "Woodcock," directed by Craig Gillespie, and, like Warner with "Brave One," it is hoping to draw auds based on the star factor.

"Dragon Wars," a hit in South Korea earlier this year, is going for the fanboys. Sci-fier, in which creatures destroy downtown L.A., was directed by Shim Hyeung-rae...


Click here for the entire article...

Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly:

This weekend, the bankable actress' action flick ''The Brave One'' will kick the crap out of its meager competition...

Of the three films, "Brave One" leads the pack with the critics as the best new release...Considering the quality of the trailers for the other contenders, that's no great shock....

Next Up. It's the end of everything again in Resident Evil: Extinction; Jessica Alba teams up with Dane Cook for the romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck and the incredibly cute Amanda Bynes puts a new spin on a classic tale as Sydney White...

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