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Terry Gilliam releases short film starring David Arquette

New York, NY (October 10, 2010) – Award-winning filmmaker Terry Gilliam will premiere his short film THE LEGEND OF HALLOWDEGA starring David Arquette and Justin Kirk with special appearances by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip and more on October 31st, 2010. The film, produced by AMP Energy Juice and @radical.media, will premiere on Halloween Sunday with the first chapter to debut on ESPN just prior to the start of the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Starting Halloween night, the film will be available in its entirety on www.LegendofHallowdega.com. THE LEGEND OF HALLOWDEGA is the first short film for Gilliam.

Director Terry Gilliam says, “To bring our little circus into the world of a truly monster circus was a thrill.”

The comedy, THE LEGEND OF HALLOWDEGA, explores the mysteries around Talladega Superspeedway as the host of an investigative news show (Justin Kirk) joins forces with a techno-geek paranormal expert (David Arquette) to dodge close-calls and chase crazy leads to get to the bottom of THE LEGEND OF HALLOWDEGA.

‘The Social Network’ makes it 2 weeks in a row!

‘The Social Network’, a movie many thought to be just a film for teens,  took in $15.5 million, taking the No. 1 spot at the box office for the second straight weekend.

The ‘Facebook’ movie, as others call it, raised its 10-day total to $46.1 million.

In second place, Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel’s romance flick, “Life as we Know it” came in at a close second with $14.6 million. This rom-com was a charming look at the romantic destiny between two people.

“Secretariat,” the horse-racing drama starring Diane Lane, came in third with $12.6 million.

Here’s the top 10 box office breakdown:

1. “The Social Network,” $15.5 million.

2. “Life as We Know It,” $14.6 million.

3. “Secretariat,” $12.6 million.

4. “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” $7 million.

5. “My Soul to Take,” $6.9 million.

6. “The Town,” $6.4 million.

7. “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” $4.6 million.

8. “Easy A,” $4.2 million.

9. “Case 39,” $2.6 million.

10. “You Again,” $2.5 million.

Splice

Rated: R for disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.
Release Date: 2010-06-04
Starring: Vincenzo Natali & Antoinette Terry Bryant
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.splicethefilm.com/

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‘Splice,’ is in this critic’s opinion, one of the worst, if not arguably the worst movie of 2010. There are so many wrong things with it on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. Actually, I do know where to begin. Let’s start with the plotline that Warner Bros. has up on their press website for the film:

Superstar genetic engineers Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) specialize in splicing DNA from different animals to create incredible new hybrids. Now they want to use human DNA in a hybrid that could revolutionize science and medicine. But when the pharmaceutical company that funds their research forbids it, Clive and Elsa secretly take their boldest experimentation underground — risking their careers by pushing the boundaries of science to serve their own curiosity and ambition. The result is Dren, an amazing, strangely beautiful creature of uncommon intelligence and an array of unexpected physical developments. At first, Dren (spelled ‘NERD’ backwards, wink, wink). exceeds their wildest dreams. But as she grows and learns at an accelerated rate, her existence threatens to become their worst nightmare.

The story sounds compelling and gripping, piquing ones interest of the outcome. Regrettably, when you finish experiencing this disjointed effort, the results are baffling and incomprehensible. There are numerous leaps of logic – instances when the protagonists act in a fashion that only characters in a comedy would. It’s as if the screenwriters wanted to hammer home how idiotic these scientists really are. Ultimately, our heroes actions in the second act are aberrations of consistent implausibilities.

The character of Elsa played by Sarah Polley is a vexing figure who is pigheaded, ambitious and arrogant. She’s not a likable character, you don’t root for her but rather against her. Her behavior towards volatile situations and tense moments are obtuse and supercilious. Brody on the other hand is cautious, correct in his ways, but eventually turns out to be a milksop of a man who lets his unstable woman take charge of critical situations and of his morals. The movie finally collapses when several Freudian occurrences transpire without any rhyme or reason. I can only describe them as some of the most preposterous, unlikely and outrageous twists I have seen in movies (‘Orphan’ by Spaniard director Jaume Collet-Serra comes a close second).

The fright horror we were putatively in for was diminished to only special effects editing and dimwitted risible scenes of absurdity, nothing more. Not once was I scared (unlike The Strangers or The House of The Devil recently). I kept placing my hands on my face, but in disbelief for the inanity unfolding before my very eyes. The trailer is patrly the culprit. It misleads us into expecting a flat out terror film full of suspense building sequences matched with high-intense graphics. Rather, it delivers a science fiction drama of the likes of Species, to be exact. Horror is only a secondary thought here.

Guillermo Del Toro served as a producer and did a descent job in creating Dren and most of the special effects with the budgets he was provided. Director Vincenzo Natali shot a beautifully dark and mysterious production that is visually appealing, but the payoff is painful not only to the viewing experience but to the pocket as well. If you can, stay away from this film, unless you want to see how bad it is. That sometimes happens to me too.

‘The Social Network’ is#1 at the box office!

The Facebook movie “The Social Network” found millions of friends in theaters over the weekend, taking in $23 million and earning the No. 1 spot at box offices.

By contrast, other releases of the weekend kicked off with weakness. The Paramount horror film, Case 39, starring Renee Zellweger, came in seventh place with $ 5.35 million, while Let Me In, the vampire story of Overture Film, debuted eighth with 5.3 million .

Meanwhile, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps at 20th Century Fox, the last weekend topped the list, dropped to third place with $ 10.1 million and 35.9 million accumulated in total.

The Social Network joined a list of plays for adults who are reigning in theaters, along with the sequel to the film Wall Street, The Town, starring and directed by Ben Affleck, which was ranked fourth, with $ 10 million. In its three weeks has brought 64.3 million.

Here are the top movie ticket sales Friday through Sunday, with estimated weekend receipts and total receipts since the movie opened. The number of weeks opened is in parentheses.

Weekend Total in millions of dollars
1.    The Social Network: $23 Million
2.    Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – $10.9M
3.    Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – $10.1M
4.    The Town – $10.0M
5.    Easy A – $7.0M   
6.    You Again – $5.6M   
7.    Case 39 – $5.4M
8.    Let Me In – $5.3M
9.    Devil – $3.7M   
10.   Alpha and Omega – $3.0M