Nov 19, 2009

Weekend Box Office RWeekend Box Office Results

Weekend Box Office Results

Category Movies

The 20 Highest Grossing Films for the Weekend of November 13 - 15, 2009

MOVIE

SCORE

WEEKEND

WEEKS

SCREENS

CUMULATIVE

1

2012

49

65,000,000

1

3,404

65,000,000

2

A Christmas Carol (2009)

55

22,325,000

2

3,683

63,289,000

3

The Men Who Stare at Goats

54

6,200,000

2

2,453

23,376,000

4

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

78

6,090,000

2

174

8,915,000

5

Michael Jackson's This Is It

67

5,100,000

3

3,037

68,211,000

6

The Fourth Kind

34

4,744,000

2

2,530

20,588,000

7

Couples Retreat

23

4,253,000

6

2,509

102,133,000

8

Paranormal Activity

68

4,200,000

8

2,712

103,847,000

9

Law Abiding Citizen

34

3,932,000

5

2,071

67,326,000

10

The Box

47

3,185,000

2

2,635

13,206,000

11

Pirate Radio

58

2,869,000

1

882

2,869,000

12

Where the Wild Things Are

71

2,415,000

5

2,090

73,437,000

13

Astro Boy

53

1,651,000

4

1,354

17,913,000

14

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

26

1,008,000

3

251

2,469,000

15

Amelia

37

925,000

4

830

13,145,000

16

The Stepfather

33

880,000

5

858

28,846,000

17

An Education

85

736,000

6

120

3,292,000

18

A Serious Man

79

646,000

7

240

6,824,000

19

Saw VI

30

460,000

4

777

27,455,000

20

Coco Before Chanel

65

445,000

8

256

4,869,000

Casting Call: Brad Pitt lights up 'Dark Void,' Brittany Murphy rings 'Caller'

Brad Pitt has fallen for a video game.

The "Inglourious Basterds" star will produce (via his Plan B company) and possibly star in an adaptation of video game "Dark Void," according to Variety. The game, due out in January 2010, follows a pilot lost in the Bermuda Triangle who must prevent evil aliens from killing off a Stone Age human race.

So yeah, those of you who had Pitt riding a saber-toothed tiger in your "up next" pool can collect a few dollars.

-- Brittany Murphy has dialed in on "The Caller." She'll play the lead in a thriller about a divorcee who begins receiving mysterious phone calls, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Other details are scarce, though we know the movie co-stars Luis Guzman and "True Blood" vampire Stephen Moyer.

"The Caller" begins filming Nov. 20.

Movie Review - 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'

The novel demands that Bella and Edward be kept apart, robbing the movie of the crazy love that made 'Twilight' such a guilty pleasure. And about the director ....
"This is the last time you'll ever see me," Edward Cullen says to Bella Swan. As if.
'The Twilight Saga: New Moon': Related:  The Twilight Saga: New Moon review  Hollywood Backlot: On the set of The Twilight Saga: New Moon  The Twilight Saga: New Moon trailer  The Twilight Saga: New Moon times and tickets  Full The Twilight Saga: New Moon coverage  More ‘Twilight’ news & buzz

Spoken early on in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," that promise is one of the least likely to be kept in movie history. With most of that film still to unfold, and two more adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series in the works, the next due out as soon as next summer, the world is going to see as much of Kristen Stewart's melancholy Bella and Robert Pattinson's undead Edward as it can take. Maybe more.

In the short term, however, Edward is as good as his word and "New Moon" suffers as a result. Constrained by the plot of the novel, the film keeps the two lovers apart for quite a spell, robbing the project of the crazy-in-love energy that made "Twilight," the first entry in the series, such a guilty pleasure.

"New Moon," which has been grandly titled "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" in honor of that first episode's huge success, marks the franchise's entrance into the self-protective, don't rock the boat phase of its existence, which is inevitable but a bit of a shame.

In place of "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke, a filmmaker of intense, sometimes overwhelming and out of control emotionality who seemed to feel these teenage characters in her bones, "New Moon" has gone with the more polished Chris Weitz.

A smooth professional whose credits include such adaptations as "The Golden Compass" and "About a Boy," Weitz makes the vampire trains of Melissa Rosenberg's capable script run on time, but he almost seems too rational a director for this kind of project. This lack of animating madness combined with the novel's demands give much of "New Moon" a marking time quality.

Yes, I know, "New Moon's" emotional energy is supposed to come through Bella's putative attachment to newly buff best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). But though audiences gasp when Jacob uses his shirt to staunch Bella's blood (don't ask) and reveals a torso that would make Charles Atlas swoon, the connection between these two is so self-evidently non-romantic that it turns out not to be much of a diversion.

More interesting is Jacob's discovery that as a member of the fierce Quileute tribe he is prone to turning into an exceptionally large wolf at a moment's notice, a wolf whose main objective in life is to safeguard humans from vampires. In addition to pining for Edward, Bella suddenly finds herself in the middle of age-old and bitter enmities. This is one hard-luck young woman.

Before all this can happen, however, Edward has to break up with Bella. It's not like you can't see this coming, what with all the bickering these two do about whether she should be changed into a vampire, with Bella in the affirmative and Edward, worried, it seems, about her immortal soul, preferring she stay in human form.

Finally, weary of having family gatherings turn into howling crises whenever Bella gets a paper cut, Edward tells Bella he and his clan will be leaving town and see her no more. Given everything that passed between them in the previous film, this is a wildly unconvincing moment, but Bella is devastated and proceeds to spend much of her high school senior year sitting in her room watching the weather change.

At a certain point, Bella realizes that should she get into trouble, Edward will appear to her, much like a Bernadette of Lourdes-type glowing vision, offering sound advice (what a guy). This turns her into something of an adrenaline junkie, courting disaster after disaster just for a glimpse of the one that got away.

All this gets to be so troublesome and confusing that Edward decides to make a dramatic and possibly life-changing appearance before the Volturi and their minions, the closest thing vampires have to a they-who-must-be-obeyed ruling class. These folks are so powerful, they are played by high-profile actors like Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning. As Jimmy Durante might have said, where vampires are concerned, everybody wants to get into the act.

'Thor' Begins Set Construction

s the production which is scheduled to be started in January next year is approaching, the set for the film is being built, say chief of Marvel Joe Quesada and comic scribe Brian Michael Bendis.

Following announcement about the shooting schedule, the set of "" has been built. The news was brought by editor in chief of Marvel Comics Joe Quesada, who tweeted, "I could listen to [director Kenneth] Branagh talk about Thor all day long. Cast is in place, sets are being built and screenplay is brilliant. Marveldom rules!"

Beside Quesada, comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis is among some people who were able to see the set for the first time. "Broadcasting live from marvel west. Thor movie meeting with Ken branagh was over the top amazing. Visited the sets! I was in Odin's chamber!" he wrote on his Twitter page on Wednesday, November 18.

Previously, Production Weekly claimed they obtained information that the film will kick off its principal photography in the middle of January next year in Los Angeles. Later, in March, the production will be moved to Santa Fe in New Mexico until late April.

"Thor" is an epic adventure that spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. The story centers on Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior, who is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans after his reckless actions reignite an ancient war. He later learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

In the movie, who has been set to portray the title character will share screen with , who will star as Thor's first love Jane Foster. Additionally, Jaimie Alexander is brought in to play skilled Asgardian warrior Sif, and Colm Feore is expected to take on a villain whose identity remains a secret. Stellan Skarsgard has also been reported to have joined the cast in an unspecified role. Paramount Pictures is set to distribute it in U.S. theaters on May 20, 2011.

Tim Burton on His Possibility Directing 'Breaking Dawn'

The helmer says Jamie Campbell Bower is 'being biased' when saying he should direct 'The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn', while Ashley Greene supports his 'New Moon' co-star's opinion.

Although nothing has been set in stone for "The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn", "The Twilight Saga's New Moon" star Jamie Campbell Bower has previously expressed his desire to see Tim Burton as helmer for the film. Recently, the man behind "Alice in Wonderland" commented on the actor's opinion on him to direct the latest installment of the vampire drama movie.

"He's being biased, because I worked with him on 'Sweeney Todd'," Burton said with laugh when he was interviewed by MTV at the opening of a retrospective of his work at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "But that's nice to hear. In case potential jobs run out, it'd be nice to know someone."

While Burton chose to be grounded when asked about his possibility to be involved in the fourth "Twilight" film, Ashley Greene has agreed with Bower. "I think that would actually be a really great choice," she said when met during the same occasion. "It would be completely different."

"But if you look at what we've done from 'Twilight' to 'New Moon' to 'Eclipse' director-wise, they're all completely different, because the tones are different. The fourth one's a little odd, a little weird, and I definitely think that Tim Burton would put an amazing spin on it," she additionally explained. "You never really know what to expect. You never know what you're going to get, and I think, artistically, he's just brilliant."

In related news, scriptwriter for the first three "Twilight" films Melissa Rosenberg has talked about the status of "Breaking Dawn". Although Robert Pattinson previously claimed the film is likely to happen, the scribe was not as sure as the British actor. "'Breaking Dawn' is kind of a no comment situation," she told Film School Reject. However, she added, "Obviously I'd be a fool not to want to write it and complete the process. But nothing has been decided at this moment so we will see."

"The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn" will serve as the follow-up to the third "Twilight" film, "The Twilight Saga's Eclipse". It will still revolve around the love story between Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen. Previously, there was a rumor that the fourth book may be split up into three movies, while the author, Stephenie Meyer, believes it should be made into two films.

Download The Twilight Saga: New Moon Movie

Coming Soon to Cinemas 20/11/09

Director: Chris Weitz

Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Dakota Fanning

Year: 2009

Running Time: 130 mins
Rating: 3 stars 12A


In the second of the Twilight series, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). However, her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested.

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Kidman: 'Sexual fetish quotes were out of context'

Nicole Kidman<BR><A  href="http://movies.msn.com/movies/infocus/nicole-kidman" target=""  type=Msn.Entertain.Server.WebControls.LinkableHyperlink LinkType="Page"  GLink="0" Arg="79626">More photos</A>
Nicole Kidman

(WENN) -- Nicole Kidman has laughed off reports she incorporates sexual fetishes into her marriage -- because her comments about experimentation were actually about her movie roles.

The "Moulin Rouge!" star caused a stir following a recent interview with British GQ magazine, when she seemingly admitted to trying "strange sexual fetish stuff"

But the actress insists her quotes were taken out of context, vowing never to reveal the secrets of her love life to the press.

She tells Access Hollywood, "That's what I said in relation to my work. They left that part out. In terms of my work, yeah, I'm interested in exploring love, and so that comes in all different forms... In terms of my private life, I'd never reveal what I've explored in my private life."

Download Glorious 39 Movie

Film details…

UK Cinema Release Date: Friday, 20 November 2009

Classification: 12A

Director: Stephen Poliakoff

Cast: Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, David Tennant, Juno Temple, Eddie Redmayne, Asier Newman, Christopher Lee, Charlie Cox, Hugh Bonneville, Jenny Agutter, Jeremy Northam

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Glorious 39 Movie Review

Glorious 39

Stephen Poliakoff’s first feature film for 10 years goes back to the beginnings of the Second World War for inspiration and brought on board a stellar British cast for a mystery thriller. Steeped in English heritage as both an ode to the last weeks of freedom in the 1930s and its sudden end brought by the outbreak of war making for an atmosphere of suspicions, Poliakoff’s return serves more as a history lesson than entertainment.

Glorious 39 depicts an idyllic pre-Second World War Britain where the upper class enjoy peace in their countryside stately homes. The Keyes family headed by father Alexander (Nighy) mix in the circles of power, keeping company with politicians such as Hector (Tennant), a man close to Alexander’s daughter Anne (Garai) and keen to see measure taken to prevent the war, and secret service men such as the shady Balcombe (Northam). While they have dinners together talking about the inner workings of governments, Anne has a more relaxed life with her brother Ralph (Redmayne) and sister Celia (Temple), but all that changes when she finds a recording which seems to be evidence of a sinister Nazi appeasement plot. When a close friend turns up dead, Anne tries to get the recording into the right hands, but instead finds herself fearing for her own life.

Glorious 39 is a mystery thriller that conspires against itself after a promising opening. The tranquil setting is all happy families where Anne’s dreams of fulfilling her potential of becoming a successful actress seem destined to become a reality – she has no worries as she recalls the days she would run around her home playing games with Ralph and Celia. Alexander, Balcombe and Hector hint at the tension arising between Germany and England, but there are no signs anything will disrupt Anne’s life, especially on Alexander’s watch – he is a man of leisure who seems quite unfazed by the war. Equally when Anne finds the recordings among Alexander’s file storehouse, hardly an eyelid is hardly battered to suggest they could be anything more than a dull documentation of generic government meetings.

Of course they aren’t, and nor are we fooled that is the case. With mystery thrillers that seed of doubt is there to grow and Anne’s hand is forced when Hector is found dead and she feels the urge to deliver the recordings to her love, Foreign Office official Lawrence (Cox). Initially Poliakoff sustains the tension as it isn’t clear who might be Anne’s enemies as she takes on the role of spy in reality, however much of the mystery is lost in a missing baby episode which hints at far more than it should. From there, the subtle warnings intended to be recalled at the end when the twist is revealed are signposted, the final scenes play out as awkward and confusing as to the motives for the extreme measures taken to keep certain people silent. When the mystery is lost, much of the thrill goes too.

Despite the weaknesses in the plot, the performances from some of British cinema’s finest such as Nighy, Julie Christie and Christopher Lee in a cameo fit their billing perfectly and Romola Garai is excellent as Anne, experiencing a rollercoaster of emotion trying to figure out who is toying with her attempts to do the right thing. As a depiction of how an age so brimming of innocence and freedom turned into one of suspicion and death by the outbreak of the Second World War, Glorious 39 succeeds in showing how far the line became blurred before it was crossed fully for many innocent victims. It’s just a shame it’s so easy to see it coming.

Reviewer Score: 6/10

Download A Serious Man Movie

Film details…

UK Cinema Release Date: Friday, 20 November 2009

Classification: 15

Director: Joel & Ethan Coen

Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus

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A Serious Man Movie Review

Serious Man

A reference to Rabbinic Judaism may seem an odd place to start a review of the new Coen Brothers movie, but bear with me. The Jewish tradition is one of long discussion, mulling over questions, telling stories and seeking to grow in wisdom through these exchanges. It’s the tradition that Joel and Ethan Coen have clearly grown up in, and if A Serious Man is their genuine response, they don’t seem too happy about it. I’m fully aware that I’m on dangerous ground here, as nothing is straightforward when the Coen Brothers are concerned, and making judgments about their films’ meanings is not advised. This is probably even more true than usual in the case of A Serious Man, a film that’s as difficult as it is brilliant.

Unlike the pure idiot-mockery of Burn After Reading, or the detached precision of No Country For Old Men, this film feels personal, and therefore complicated. Like every Coen Brothers film it is populated with unforgettable characters who are flawlessly performed and, in their beautifully-drawn idiosyncracies, very funny. But if all you do is laugh at them you could miss the fact that they are dealing with some of life’s most serious (there’s that word again) questions.

From its bizarre yet perfectly ominous pre-credits sequence onwards, the film is about uncertainty: how can a person be sure of anything in this world? And further, when there seems to be no guiding principle as to why one person suffers and another’s life is ‘blessed’, what is the right way to live? Is God there and is he interested? Why aren’t there any answers?

The Coens put these questions primarily in the mouth and mind of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish physics professor who has the rug well and truly yanked from under him when his wife tells him she wants a divorce. Not only that, she is already planning to get re-married to Larry’s friend Sy, a patronising bear of a man, so they require a ‘get’. What’s a get? You may well ask, as many do, in one of the script’s recurring comic asides.

These are just the beginnings of Larry’s troubles, and the way the Coens add layer upon layer to this story is masterful indeed. When Larry reaches the point of not knowing if he’s dreaming or awake, we feel the same confusion. Similarly accomplished is the discipline and focus of the filmmakers: every scene centres on the whys and hows of life; every character clearly offers a different way of coping, or not, with the tension that these questions create.

It’s reasonable to ask whether the Coens are really interested in these questions in the world beyond this film. They have created these characters and are the ‘god’ of this world. They see all, and can decide where Larry’s life is going to go, regardless of his actions. The film’s final moments are quite terrifying in what they suggest, but they also could represent the Coens saying “there is one thing we can be sure of – we are in charge of this world, and we can do whatever we want with it”. Perhaps that’s the only sure conclusion A Serious Man can offer.

Reviewer Score: 8/10

Nov 17, 2009

Now available on DVD

BrunoThirst
Wild ChildMy Sister's KeeperStar Trek


November 17, 2009
Bruno 88 min. D-
My Sister's Keeper 106 min.
Star Trek 126 min. A-
Thirst 133 min.
Wild Child 99 min.






Download Wild Child (2009) Movie - DVD Release


Release Date: TBA 2009
On DVD: November 17, 2009
Genre: Comedy
Director: Nick Moore
Writer: Lucy Dahl, Kate Kondell, Daisy Donovan
Cast: Emma Roberts, Natasha Richardson, Shirley Henderson, Alex Pettyfer, Aidan Quinn
Studio: Universal Pictures
Official site: wildchildmovie.net
Running Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some crude sexual content, language and drinking - all involving teens.

Sixteen-year-old Poppy (Emma Roberts, "Nancy Drew") is a self-obsessed, incorrigible brat who lives a pampered life in her L.A. world. Though she's handed credit cards with unlimited balances and surrounded by countless hangers on, Poppy can't escape the mounting frustration she feels with her family situation. And she makes sure that everyone knows it.

After an over-the-top prank pushes her father (Aidan Quinn) one step too far, Poppy is shipped off to an English boarding school....

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Download Thirst (2009) Movie - DVD Release


Release Date: July 31, 2009 (Limited)
On DVD: November 17, 2009
Genre: Suspense, Horror
Director: Park Chan-wook
Writer: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Kim Ok-bi
AKA: Bakjwi
Studio: Focus Features
Official site: thirstmovie.com
Running Time: 133 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated R for graphic bloody violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content, nudity and language.

A priest becomes a vampire…another man’s wife is coveted…a deadly seduction triggers murder. Thirst is the new film from director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). Already a boxoffice smash in Korea, Thirst was honored with the Prix du Jury [Jury Prize] at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Continuing his explorations of human existence in extreme circumstances, the director spins a tale that he conceived and then developed over...

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Download Star Trek (2009) Movie - DVD Release


Release Date: May 8, 2009
September 4, 2009 (IMAX)
On DVD: November 17, 2009
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writer: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Cast: Zoe Saldana, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Marlene Forte, Jimmy Bennett
AKA: Star Trek 11, Star Trek XI
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Official site: startrekmovie.com
Running Time: 126 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content.

The greatest adventure of all time begins with "Star Trek," the incredible story of a young crew's maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. On a journey filled with action, comedy and cosmic peril, the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind.
The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James T. Kirk (Chris...

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Download My Sister's Keeper (2009) Movie - DVD Release

My Sister's Keeper

Release Date: June 26, 2009
On DVD: November 17, 2009
Genre: Drama
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Writer: Jeremy Leven
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Abigail Breslin, Jason Patric, Thomas Dekker, Sofia Vassilieva, Joan Cusack
Studio: New Line Cinema
Official site: mysisterskeepermovie.com
Running Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, sensuality, language and brief teen drinking.

Based on the novel "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never challenged...until...

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Bruno (2009) Movie Review

There are movies that make you laugh, and movies that make you cry in hysterics because what you're watching is so disturbing and foul you can't believe it. These movies take you off guard and hit you in the funny bone just right, offering a new experience based on surprise, shock and amazement. That film was called Borat. A couple years later, we get its de facto sequel Bruno, and you realize everything good about its predecessor has shriveled up and died.

I watched Borat for the second time a month ago, and that should have been an indication. The comedy-documentary was still entertaining, but not nearly as much as I remembered. You knew what was coming and all shock value was gone. The funniest scenes had lost some of their edge, including the naked fight sequence, which was easily the most "I can't believe they did that" moment of Borat.

Still, going into Bruno, I expected that we'd get more outrageous scenes set against a backdrop of real and suspecting people. The movie is about a gay Austrian fashion critic who, after destroying his career in Europe, decides to head to the United States to resurrect himself. Presumably, he would travel around the country flaunting his homosexuality and evoke all kinds of bigoted behavior from unsuspecting people.

Unfortunately, Bruno tries to go bigger and better with this sequel; what results is a complete and utter failure. Bruno is so bad that my friend and I nearly walked out; if it weren't for morbid curiosity to see how bad things could get and the fact the movie is only 80-some minutes long, we would have. I wish we had, because Bruno was a complete waste of time. At least my friend bought the ticket.

There are three key problems with Bruno:

1) So much more of the movie is staged and scripted - or at least obviously staged and scripted - than in Borat. The first act seems almost entirely devoted to story, which is truly unnecessary. It is here where we're greeted to Bruno's sex games with his pygmy boyfriend, his failed attempts to regain his stature, blah blah blah. Much of the second act has a lot of scripted moments as well, as if Sacha Baron Cohen forgot what made Borat so funny. These scenes are so stupid, so pointless, so not funny that by the time you get to any of the good stuff, your brain is fried.

2) The good stuff isn't that good. Watching Bruno undress in front of Presidential candidate Ron Paul is amusing, but not that funny. While Paul's flustered reaction and use of the word "queer" shows uneasiness with gay people, it's not like Cohen was just flirting with him; he quickly turns an awkward situation into a legitimately uncomfortable one. Can you really fault Paul that much? Bruno meets with a pastor who has committed his life to turning gay people straight; amusing, but Bill Maher got a much better reaction out of a similar guy in his film Religulous (also directed by Borat/Bruno director Larry Charles). The bottom line: most of the "real" footage seems like dull afterthoughts that wouldn't have even made the cut in Borat.

3) When there is good stuff, we've already seen it in the previews or at least heard about it in the news. Yes, Paula Abdul seats herself on a chubby Mexican guy who looks like Saddam Hussein. Yes, Cohen takes himself on a camping trip with several Alabama hunters and starts comparing them to the Sex and the City girls ("That is such a Samantha thing to say!"). Yes, he goes on an African-American Christianity talk show to explain how he swapped an iPod for an African baby named O.J. These are funny bits, but we all saw them in the previews. Almost all of the great punch lines in the movie have already been revealed, and so most of the shock value is gone. That's where Borat succeeded and Bruno fails miserably.

Examining these elements together, we see some underlying issues that caused Bruno to be such a disaster. Much of it takes place in Los Angeles apparently, not exactly the homophobic center of the world. It also feels as though Cohen struggled mightily to get enough footage to put the movie together; after Borat, he may be a little too well known to pull off such crazy antics. And lastly, with Bruno, he has shifted the joke from his victims on film to those sitting in the theater stands; though some shock value came at our expense with Borat, the most defendable laughs came when he was making a mockery of real people on screen. In Bruno, Cohen seems desperate to evoke some kind of reaction, so he has filled his film with intentionally shocking moments just for the audience, like the aforementioned sex games with his boyfriend or multiple shots of his penis swinging around like a tennis ball in a sock. These scenes are made for us, but what's the point? Cohen's audiences are the liberal left, the ones who don't care as much about gays and race and stuff like that. We paid to see him make fun of everyone else and expose their deep-rooted bigotries, and not to just see a bunch of cock and balls and uninteresting jokes.

Bruno is shocking, but only in how terrible it is. The movie does pick up in the final act as Cohen dives more into drawing reactions from real people, but you'll have to struggle through nearly an hour of unnecessary setup and flat jokes. Avoid this one at all costs.

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