The Film That Dethrones AVATAR is . . . Dear John?

by Ryan

Yea, the Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried chick flick turned in a record breaking Super Bowl weekend opening, and did something that Sherlock Holmes, The Book of Eli, and It's Complicated couldn't do. Avatar was dethroned for the first time in seven weeks, making a still respectable $23 million dollars; Dear John made over $32 million dollars according to boxofficemojo. The total box office take for Avatar sits at over $2 billion dollars, larger than the GDP of many third world countries.

When you first hear that Dear John(29% on RottenTomatoes) dethroned Avatar, you might be surprised. A flimsy chick flick takes down the highest grossing film of all time. Even though Avatar has been out for seven weeks now it still seems far fetched. Looking under the hood could show why this was such a success. According to E! online, around 80% of the tickets bought for Dear John were by females and 60% of tickets sales were under 21. Sooo, the twinies floated another film!

It'll be interesting to see what happens next weekend when the normal movie go-ing crowd returns to theaters. Avatar could return to the top, considering most of Dear John's fan base has already seen the film. However, it could stay up top when wives and girlfriends bring their boyfriends back to the theaters for Valentines Day.

I put my stake in Avatar, what do you think? Drop us a comment!

Sherlock Holmes

Reviewed by: Ryan

Ryan
3/4 Banana Peels

Matthew
2 and a half/4 Banana Peels

I have now seen this film twice and enjoyed it just as much the second time as the first. Guy Ritchie tells the story of Holmes in a gritty way, akin to Snatch. His style is superb, but questionable at moments. The pictures he puts on the screen are beautifully bleak and dirty yet colorful, right down to the extras chosen. Robert Downey Jr. shines as a more eccentric and physically brute Sherlock than the original, this works to his advantage and mesh's with Ritchie's style better. Jude Law too does a wonderful job as Dr. Watson, and coupled with Downey Jr., make the movie as good as it is.

In the second viewing, however, a few flaws that had previously been glanced over stuck out like sore thumbs. Most dealt with continuity problems in a script that wove many early events with later events. Other issues had to do with the assumptions made and the logic used by Holmes to solve the mystery. Both of these issues are minor in comparison to the total film, and the logical assumptions and leaps are needed to keep the story interesting and fresh and is possibly a non issue. Another issue is the villain, at best he was mildly intimidating but mostly bordered on corny. He often disrupted the otherwise masterful work that has been laid down by his counterparts.

I highly encourage the viewing of this movie.