Sometimes I wonder why we have movie critics. With all due respect to all of them, it appears movie audiences are not heeding their advice.
The No. 1 movie last weekend was Taken 2 and according to Rottentomatoes.com, only 19 per cent of movie critics liked it.
However, 76 per cent of the audience did, which resulted in a box office take of $50 million.
Frankenweenie had 85 per cent of the critics liking it, but landed at No. 5 with $11 million.
Even Hotel Transylvania grabbed $27 million in its second weekend even though only 45 per cent of critics liked it.
That being said, it is much more light-hearted and colourful than Frankenweenie which is darker in tone being both black and white and stop-motion, which seems to be a double negative for audiences.
Movie critics are like our parents, telling us that we should eat our vegetables, but what we really want is comfort food.
But that does not mean we can completely ignore what is good for us. Argo is not only critically acclaimed, but looks like a very entertaining piece of American history (with a Canadian connection).
Ben Affleck serves as both director and star in this stranger-than-fiction thriller about a covert operation to rescue six Americans during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.
Although 52 people were taken hostage in the American embassy in Tehran, six managed to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found and killed, a CIA specialist comes up with what can only be described as their best bad idea to get them out: Pretend to be a Canadian film crew using Iran as a location to make a fake science fiction movie.
The great cast includes Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Taylor Schilling.
I would say to listen to the critics on this one.
It’s rare that critics get behind a horror movie, but Sinister is grabbing their attention. From the writer-director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the producer of the Paranormal Activity films, it is the story of a true crime novelist (Ethan Hawke) who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies that plunge his family into a nightmarish experience of supernatural horror.
Unlike most horror movies, having an acting heavyweight like Hawke will allow it to rise above many of the middling scary movies of late.
Kevin James has always been one of my favourite stand-up comedians, due to his very physical act. That is what makes him perfect for Here Comes the Boom, in which he plays a teacher who moonlights as an MMA fighter to raise money for his school which is facing cutbacks.
It is not going to win any awards for its story, but if they handed out Oscars for comedic pratfalls, James would win every year. Also starring Salma Hayek and Henry Winkler.
Rick Davis is the
general manager of
Landmark Cinemas 8 in West Kelowna.
landmarkwk_gm@landmarkcinemas.ca
