Movie Reviews

Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself opened at number one this past weekend at no surprise, banking just over $23 million, making it the third highest grossing Perry movie ever. Tyler Perry has become a brand of unstoppable force. It would be disappointing had his film not opened to number one, but that said, not much is every to be expected from a Tyler Perry movie. They recycle the same material repeatedly to attract the same audience that makes it to the theaters on opening weekend, and they fizzle out quickly in the weeks to come. 9, a new animated film from newcomer Shane Acker and based on his acclaimed short film, opened to a moderate $10 million, considering the lack of effective publicity, which stepped away from promoting the big-name voices and focused more on visuals. Inglourious Basterds followed up the top 3 with just over $6 million, making it on track to becoming the highest grossing Tarantino film ever, with a total of nearly $104 million, on the coattails of Pulp Fiction’s $107 million. Other new releases included Sorority Row and Whiteout, which both opened to just about $5 million. Sorority Row attempted to capitalize on the success of The Final Destination and keep the horror, date-night audience coming, but it failed because of its regurgitated slasher premise and inexistent franchise to help back it up. Whiteout only had one thing going for it—Kate Beckinsale. The promotions for the film were schizophrenic, leaving the open-ended to being either a thriller of sorts or a monster horror film. The unique location of Antarctica was also heavily prevalent in the advertising, but viewers have yet to consider Beckinsale a leading lady, and they didn’t by into the ambiguous plot—bravo.