The 2009 Razzie Award Nominations

The worst of the year will be "honored" at the Razzie Awards, which are handed out the night before the Oscars. I still contend that the second best performance of Halle Berry's life was showing up to suffer the slings and arrows for Catwoman. That was downright a very cool move. This year, any number of nominees could take the top prizes, but I don't expect any of them to actually show up.

As in previous years, this isn't exactly a thoroughly researched list of the worst of the year, but rather a dog pile. They just select movies that were the butts of a lot of jokes and nominate them multiple times, so you see plenty of Transformers, G.I. Joe, All About Steve, and Land of the Lost. This time around, as a special treat, we get the nominees for a decade of futility, so the worst film, actor, and actress of the past ten years will be handed out on Razzie night, too.

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Rejoice: No More 'Pink Panther' Movies!

I am heartened by director Shawn Levy's white flag of surrender, not so much for me, but for the children. Levy says there will be no more Steve Martin Pink Panther movies, and it's really, really hard to contain my excitement. Really.

The irony in all of this is if the first movie had been as good as the second - which is a relative statement - then I wouldn't have minded it as much. It's still one comedian graverobbing a better, more influential comedian and stealing his signature character, but the second flick, in theaters earlier this year, was just dumb. The first one was dumb and offensive. Here's where it gets curious: The first movie made a ton more money, even though it's a plague on quality.

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Box Office - 'Into You' Wins, 'Taken' Holds Strong

Although He's Just Not That Into You claimed the top spot at the box office this weekend, I think the real story is Taken. Last week's number one film only dropped one position this weekend - despite four new movies in theaters - and kept a remarkable 82% of its audience from the previous stanza. It's typical for a film to lose 40 or 50% of its audience between the first and second weekends, so this tells us the word got out about the Liam Neeson revenge movie, which now appears headed for at least $80 million in U.S. ticket sales. Box Office Mojo reports that Into You earned $27 million this weekend, slightly more than was expected, but certainly not a number that anyone thought was outside the realm of possibility. In fact, the other new releases provided more surprises, with the animated Coraline, easily the film with the least mass appeal of the four, landing in third place with $16 million. Dakota Fanning's other film, Push, died a quick death, only managing $10 million. And The Pink Panther 2, a sore subject around these parts, also had an underwhelming debut, winding up in fourth place, barely ahead of the month-old Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The Top Five:
1 - He's Just Not That Into You ($27.5 million)
2 - Taken ($20 million)
3 - Coraline ($16 million)
4 - The Pink Panther 2 ($12 million)
5 - Paul Blart - $11 million

Box Office - $10 Million Friday for 'Not That Into You'

The conventional wisdom said that He's Just Not That Into You would win this weekend, beating back the competition from the more family-oriented Pink Panther 2. No problem so far.

Into You soared out to a $10 million Friday, according to Box Office Mojo, which could mean a $27 - $31 million weekend. Usually, we like to say that the opening weekend means about 33% of the overal business a film will do, so that projects nicely for an $85 - $100 million finish for this romantic comedy. Taken might make $20 million again, which is a little surprising. More than likely, that number will around $16 million or so, but that's still quite impressive for a second weekend, given that Liam Neeson is not exactly Will Smith at the box office.

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Dear Mr. Martin:

I have been aware of your work for 30 years. Even as a kid, with "King Tut" on the radio and the arrow through the head gag, I knew you were different than other comedians of the time. Somehow, I genuinely connected with your style even though the arrow through the head was definitely not aimed at me. It is ironic that in 2009, a new generation of children can laugh at your work, since your comedy has become about the lowest common denominator in almost every case. There was not another Steve Martin when The Jerk established you as a movie star, nor was there another Steve Martin in 1987 when Roxanne showed how graceful your comedy could be. There is not another Steve Martin now, the star of The Pink Panther 2 - a has-been who's perfectly content to embark on the film version of the faded rock band's tour of casinos and state fairs. Even Robin Williams has retained a little dignity. But there was a time when your films dared to be different. You remember, of course, The Jerk, The Man with Two Brains, All of Me, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Pennies from Heaven, and The Lonely Guy. They weren't all great - only three of them could qualify - but they were not expected, not the usual. But even with your run through the 1980s, which also included the overrated Three Amigos, plus Roxanne, Parenthood, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, you have made more bad movies than good ones. In other words, when people pay to see your movies, they're getting ripped off more than half the time. You're in debt to us now, and it's time to make good movies again.

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