Ben Affleck's The Town gets a trailer.

I know, I'm a little tardy on this one, but life has been a bit hectic of late. I've defended Ben Affleck the actor for years, pointing out his good-to-great work in films like Changing Lanes (his best performance), State of Play, Boiler Room, and the director's cut of Daredevil. But his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, needs no defense, as it is one of the very best directorial debuts by a name actor in my lifetime. So, ironically, despite years being mocked as an actor, director Ben Affleck is being treated like royalty, with his next project considered one of the must-see events of the fall movie season. The Town certainly looks like a rock-solid genre picture. The cast (Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper), is sparkling, while the action scenes look engaging and intense. So why don't I feel more excited about it? Well, frankly, the story (about a bank robber who romances a traumatized hostage from a prior heist) feels a bit contrived. The second half of the trailer seems to degenerate into yet another 'but he cries at opera' type fantasy, where a murderous bank robber is really an okay guy because he tries to protect his new girlfriend from his criminal cohorts. I'll be the first to admit error if the film is less cliche than Warner's sell is indicating, but for now this gets a big, fat 'we'll see...'.

Scott Mendelson

Inception grosses $62 million opening weekend, while Sorcerer's Apprentice really shouldn't have opened on Wednesday. Weekend box office (07/18/10).

Playing like an old-fashioned general-audiences blockbuster, Chris Nolan's Inception opened at the higher end of realistic expectations with $62.8 million over the weekend. That's a 2.89x weekend multiplier, which means that front-loading was moderate but not severe (the film actually rose a token amount from Friday to Saturday). Word of mouth is relatively positive, as the film earned a B+ from Cinema Score but an A from the under-25 crowd (73% of the audience was under 34 years old and 54% was male). In a world filled with remakes, reboots, and franchise-intended adaptations (many retrofitted for 3-D), Inception stood out as an original 2-D would-be tent-pole not based on any existing property. It was, to paraphrase Nolan's last film, attempting to be an original film in an unoriginal time. As such, it scored the fifth-largest opening weekend ever for a completely original live-action picture, behind Avatar ($77 million), The Day After Tomorrow ($68.7 million), Bruce Almighty ($67.9 million), and 2012 ($65.2 million). If you take away holiday weekend-infused openings, then Inception is the third-such opening behind Avatar and 2012.

Inception opens with $21 million, Sorcerer's Apprentice grosses $5 million (that's what you get for opening on Wed!). Friday box office for 07/16/10.

Right in line with the highest expectations, Chris Nolan's Inception pulled in $21.6 million on its first full day, including $3 million in midnight sneaks. Depending on whether it plays like a general-audiences hit or a frontloaded genre picture, it could do anywhere from $55 million to $65 million over the weekend. In the realm of live-action films that are completely original and not based on any other prior property, Inception's opening day ranks fourth , behind Avatar ($26.7 million), The Day After Tomorrow ($23.5 million) and 2012 ($23.4 million), while ranking just above M. Night Shyamalan's Signs ($20.8 million) and The Village ($20.3 million). It's a doozy of a start, and it will be absolutely fascinating to see just what drew audiences to this epic puzzler (the concept, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Chris Nolan). It looks like Chris Nolan has joined the exclusive club of marquee directors (James Cameron, M. Night Shyamalan, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg) who can open a high-concept picture partially on their name in the ad campaign.

Review: Inception: An IMAX Experience (2010)

Inception
2010
148 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

I have never understood the idea that Chris Nolan is a cold man who makes cold films. While he is a brilliant craftsman and a technical genius, his films have always had a vibrant heartbeat at the center. Whether it's amnesiac Leonard struggling to retain his humanity, rival magicians Robert and Alfred slowly wrecking their lives in a pointless game of one-upmanship, or James Gordon trying to fight corruption in a city that runs on graft, Nolan's films generally remember to put the human element above the spectacle or gimmickry. But, for the first time, Christopher Nolan has made a film that embodies the Chris Nolan stereotype. Inception is a visually dazzling, exceedingly intelligent, and possibly ingenious puzzle box. But the human element takes a backseat to the visual wonderland and the plot mechanics. For the first time in a Chris Nolan film, I didn't have any real emotional investment in the characters.

M. Night Shyamalan-produced Devil gets a trailer.

Devil is the first film from 'the Night Chronicles', which will hopefully be an ongoing series of M. Night Shyamalan-produced horror pictures. This is frankly just the sort of thing M. Night Shyamalan should be doing with his free time. Say what you will about his output in the latter half of the decade, but he has worthwhile ideas and tells stories worth telling. So, if he's not going to go full-Hitchcock and do a weekly TV series, why not use his name to give other filmmakers a boost and the chance to make an M. Night Shyamalan movie better than M. Night himself? It's not exactly Stephen King selling the movie rights to his short stories for $1, but it's worth celebrating. As for the preview itself, it looks like a sharp and satisfying little horror tale. And since my wife is terribly frightened of elevators, I'll be sure to drag her to this one.

Scott Mendelson

Green Lantern images leak from Entertainment Weekly.

Tomorrow's Entertainment Weekly is all about next week's Comic-Con, so the lead-off article concerns Martin Campbell's Green Lantern film. As such, we've got the first real photos of the film and its cast. As for the cover image, I can't really understand what some geeks are complaining about. It's Hal Jordan Green Lantern, for better or worse. We all knew that the suit itself was going to be a combination of motion capture and CGI, so it's basically a light-and-magic show atop Ryan Reynold's frame. This is no different than the complaining that occurred after the first teaser for Hulk premiered over the 2003 Super Bowl. It was a giant green monster-man with purple pants, what exactly were you expecting? Anyway, more earthbound images were released as well for those who care after the jump. The verdict? The cast looks solid, Blake Lively looks terrific as a brunette, and the tone seems to be relatively solemn at the moment. Expect to see a trailer either at the actual Comic Con next week, or attached to either Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore on July 30th or (if they can wait that long), Zack Snyder's Legend of the Guardians on September 24th.

Guest Review: Inception (2010)

Once again, DVD Future critic R.L. Shaffer offers a guest critique of an upcoming release. In this case, it's Chris Nolan's Inception. The All-Media screening in LA isn't until Thursday night, which is also the same day as my daughter's field trip. If I can make said IMAX screening, I'll have a review on Friday morning. But until then, enjoy...

Inception
2010
148 minutes
rated PG-13

by R.L. Shaffer

I have very mixed emotions regarding Christopher Nolan's latest opus, a mind warping adventure about dream thieves. On some level, Inception is a brutally imaginative spectacle -- an amazing achievement on nearly every level, from cinematography to visual effects to story, performances -- you name it. It also seems to complete an informal trilogy for Nolan which started with the mind-bending thriller, Memento, and continued in the equally twisted 2006 film, The Prestige.

But, on another level, the film simply isn't emotionally satisfying. Sure, we like the motley crew of heroes and villains, who all seem borrowed from a Mission: Impossible episode. Sure, we like our confused anti-hero lead (DiCaprio). He plays like a sci-fi variant of James Bond. And yes, the story provides enough layers of complexity for the hardcore geeks to chew on all while relating that material to the mainstream in a very accessible way, which is no easy feat.

That said, Inception still feels empty, much like a dream. Or rather, like Blade Runner, the beloved cult classic (and allegedly Nolan's favorite film) that questions the fabric of reality and also happens to have an oddly emotionless core. It seems Nolan's desire to create his very own Blade Runner has forced him to copy the film's structure, from it's procedural narrative, to it's moody melodramatic score and tortured, underdeveloped characters.

Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
2010
110 minutes
rated PG

by Scott Mendelson

For what it's worth; The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a lot closer to Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl than The Haunted Mansion. Like the two above examples, the film takes a small portion of Disney culture and makes a movie out of it. But while The Haunted Mansion attempted to graft an Eddie Murphy family-comedy template into a standard haunted house comedy that contained various portions of the famous Disneyland ride, Pirates of the Caribbean took bits and pieces of their respective theme park attraction and then created an entirely original world and a completely original picture. Director Jon Turteltaub tries the same trick this time around, taking a brief cartoon from Fantasia and using it as a jumping off point to create original characters and an original narrative. While the film tells a plainly generic story, the picture works because of, shockingly enough, the witty writing and knowing performances.

A fan-made trailer for The Expendables that puts the Lionsgate efforts to shame.

Even if you choose to take offense at the whole gender wars thing concept (you shouldn't, it's funny), the actual editing in this trailer makes the film seem far more exciting than it looks in any of the 'real' trailers released thus far. Yes this absolutely should be sold as a hardcore 'guy movie to end all guy movies'. This is as much a project fueled on nostalgia as Freddy Vs. Jason. This is about nostalgia both for the 80s/90s action heroes that are showcased as well as the kind of unapologetically hard-R action vehicles (violence, nudity, vulgarity!) that used to be the backbone of genre filmmaking. Oh, and the anti-torrent message is a nice touch too. A wonderful piece of effective marketing that also happens to be a joke. Even better than the real thing indeed.

Scott Mendelson

Blu Ray review: Batman: Under the Hood (2010)

Batman: Under the Hood
2010
76 minutes
rated PG-13 (violent content and some drug references)
Available from Warner on DVD, Blu Ray, OnDemand, and iTunes on July 27th

by Scott Mendelson

When approaching a comic book arc, one must critique both the story being told and the manner in which it is presented. Judd Winick's "Under the Hood", which ran in Batman from February 2005 until April 2006 is a fast-paced, exciting, and wittily-written crime story that suffers from a single fatal flaw: its narrative basically undoes a good sixteen years of continuity purely on the whims of Mr. Winick's personal fandom. However, this DC Animated Universe feature does not have the burden of its comic book heritage. Since it is not connected to any particular continuity and has no bearing on future stories, it can stand on its own as a sharply plotted and entertaining little Batman story.